It’s been 22 years since I last worked in Kenya.
As with everywhere, it has changed, and not really for the better.
The area I was in is almost devoid of wildlife, security issues make it difficult to get things done and although Nairobi has come a long way, I think the rest of the country has maybe gone backwards, or at least not moved very far forward.
One of the things that really destroy things for everyone is the NGOs.
One of the projects that we ran across because one of our lines crossed the area, was run by a French NGO. They decided that what the local people needed to improve their lives was crops.
So they, the NGO paid a group to clear a bunch of farm land.
Very nice.
But firstly the people in the area are not farmers, and secondly, last time I checked, crops needed water. And of course the NGO put absolutely no thought into that.
I can just imagine the discussion at the NGO Conference in Paris next year:
Bonjour Monsieur Parasiter, how is your crop program in Kenya going?
Bonjour Monsieur Dégoût, zee crops she is a failure
Mon Dieu, what is the problem? We spent millions (on your salary, nice apartment and all expenses parties)
Well, we clear zee land, and we plants zee seeds, but nothing she grow. It must be zee Oil Company he poison zee land.
Whilst it would be easy to blame the French penchant for doing silly things, the problems run much deeper (not all NGOs are French!). The NGOs have become self-serving businesses these days, starting projects all over the place that are at best poorly thought out, at worst, nothing more than a way for accountant types to maintain a nice lifestyle while appearing to be respectable. Contrary to what a lot of people think, an Oxymoron is not an American with a gas welding set – it is a contradiction in terms, and ‘A respectable accountant’ is a perfect example.
What is even worse of course is that the oil companies get so much bad press. They are not Lily White of course, but 2010 is not 1910 either. The industry and the companies have come a long way in terms of social responsibility, protection of the environment and support of local communities. On this job, almost as much effort was put into Community Development projects as was put into the exploration. And a lot more was achieved than by any of the NGOs in the area. At least the Oil Company engaged the local communities to see what they wanted and needed rather than coming in and pursuing unwanted projects that were unsuitable and unsustainable. I take my hat off to the oil companies, they achieve more in one brief exploration season than all the NGOs put together achieve in years of self serving, unsustainable projects. And that is not just in Kenya. All over Africa and indeed the world, Oil Companies do things that even governments don’t – look at the mine clearance work in Sudan and Egypt to name two. To be totally fair, this is so the exploration can be done, but is of huge, long lasting benefit to the local populace too.
Anyway, enough of NGOs.
I was lucky in that most of the serious problems had been sorted out before I got to crew, so the job ran quite smoothly. It was a BGP crew again, and as I have come to expect from BGP, it was a well run, professional and comfortable operation. Actually one of the best set up and tidiest base camps I have seen in my entire 30+ years in seismic.
It was a 2D job with SN408 and sadly VibPro for the vibrators. The 408 of course performed perfectly, but the VibPro did as it always does. I really hope it gets changed out before we start the next phase of the project. I’ve said it before – IO make the best Vibrators in the world with the AHV-IV, and Sercel make the best acquisition and control electronics with the 408 and 428 + VE432/464. So, IO should stop making electronics and Sercel should stop making Vibs. A partnership would be the best. Doubt we will ever see it though.
Going back in about 3 weeks. Would rather a nice comfortable job based in Surabaya of course, but since that is unlikely, will take what I can get. And the oil company involved is very nice to deal with (you reading this Allan?).