Photographs

This is one of ten "Teamsites" where UN military observers live.  The site is relatively self-sufficient.  All electrical power is provided by two diesel generators, one of which is running at any given time.  Food and drinking water is either flown or trucked to the site and diesel fuel is trucked to the site.   Non-potable water for bathing and sanitary needs was provided by one of the two belligerent parties, depending on which side of the cease-fire line one was on.  There is a desert airstrip near each teamsite.  The vehicles in the picture are Nissan Patrols, also diesel powered.  The structures are Canadian military "Weatherhavens" designed and originally intended for use in the Arctic.  However, they work very effectively in the desert.  The four long rectangular box-shaped objects are trailer-truck containers (CONEX) in which all the site equipment was originally delivered.  These were left in-place for storage and for the eventuality that the UN mission would end and the sites would be repacked and shipped elsewhere.  The wall around the site was built by local labor from local mud brick.  The small structure at bottom right is the "privy," "loo," "water closet," "toilet," or whatever it is you are accustomed to calling it.  A few water closets  had water tanks on top, providing enough water pressure to flush the toilet, but in most one carried in a bucket of water to sluice into the trough afterward.  A few teamsites had western-style toilets but most had a porcelain trough in the floor (a real trial by fire for those of us accustomed to a place for our fannies to sit). 

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