Move One marches ahead into troop-filled Djibouti

On the shore of the Red Sea, near waterways teeming with cargo ships and suspected terrorist plots, Move One and its sister company AES Cargo have set up their first Africa office.

American and European soldiers have been massing in the small nation of Djibouti to train for anti-terror missions and search for al Qaeda members fleeing to the region from Afghanistan. So help with military shipments is greatly needed.

The main highway in Djibouti

Move One managing director Curt Clements also foresees a growing need for household moves in the region.
"We think it's going to be a strategic gateway to Africa," he said of Djibouti. "We'll use it as a base for household goods moving in Ethiopia and Eritrea."
Move One and AES Cargo have provided some service in Africa before. Now Andy Harris, who previously worked in Move One's Afghanistan office, is heading to Djibouti to handle operations there.
The U.S. State Department describes Djibouti as a developing country with a stable political climate, partly due to a strong French military presence. (Djibouti won its independence from France in 1977.)
But internal stability doesn't mean that all dangerous elements can be kept out.
A recent Associated Press report said that "the region is still regarded as a potential haven for terrorists with its porous borders, as well as harsh terrain and lack of resources that make it difficult for even willing governments to tackle a terrorist problem."

Djibouti in brief Location: Eastern Africa, between Eritrea and Somalia, bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden Population: 472,810 (July 2002 estimate) Capital: Djibouti (also called Djibouti City) Ethnic groups: Somali 60%, Afar 35%; French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian 5% Religions: Muslim 94%, Christian 6% Languages: French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar Random fact: Djibouti's Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa. Source: The World Factbook, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

Djibouti is a main transit port for the area and also attracts avid scuba divers to its waters. But the country suffers from limited facilities, bad roads, and scarce rainfall that inhibits crop production. Unemployment is estimated at 50 percent.
In addition, any visitor to the capital city, also called Djibouti, can see another factor that saps the country of its productivity: a widespread dependency on a stimulating drug called khat. Visitors have described seeing trucks dump sacks of the chewy twigs onto the capital's streets so that crowds of people can get their daily fix.
Clearly, one thing can be expected: Djibouti should bring new challenges and opportunities galore for Move One.
The Djibouti office can be reached at djibouti@moveone.info.

As Move One grows, so does the Move One family...

Terence and Emilia

Congratulations to Move One managing director Curt Clements and his wife, Erika, who recently welcomed a new baby girl!
Emilia Divina Clements was born in Budapest at 7:30 a.m. on January 22. She was a healthy 54 centimeters (21.26 inches) and 3.38 kilos (7.5 pounds).
Emilia is little sister to Terence, who is two years old and was also born in Budapest, where the family lives. Both Curt and Erika are from the United States, and Erika is managing director of the Expat Relocation Center, Move One's sister company.

Facing the uncommon cold of Central Asia

Imagine sitting under your truck with a fiery torch to keep your fuel from freezing. Or using an icy river as a highway. Or trying to change a tire at minus 45 degrees.

Welcome to winter in the moving industry in Central Asia, where the phrase "extreme cold" is an understatement.

AES truck in snowy Afghanistan

Trucks need reliable heaters and tough drivers. Fuel lines freeze on trucks and at gas stations, a nd avalanches cascade onto trucks, burying them for days or weeks.
All Move One trucks are equipped with salt and sand, and sometimes it's necessary to hook snowplows on the front, because snow removal services are almost nonexistent in many areas.
In the ultimate teeth-chattering conditions, gasoline, the lifeblood of the transport industry, typically doesn't freeze solid. Instead, it starts to resemble gum or wax as it sluggishly clogs up engines.
Worse grades of fuel need to be warmer to work well, while higher grades can operate at much lower temperatures.
Fuels can vary widely. For example, a poor grade of diesel fuel might need to be at 45 degrees Farenheit (7 degrees Celsius) to work well, while a high grade of fuel might be all right at -65 degrees Farenheit (-53 Celsius), scientists say.

Truck in Afghan-Salang

But regardless of the fuel, sometimes the frigid temperatures of Central Asia mean that unusual measures are called for.
On more than one occasion, AES's Jay Cziraky said, "We had to put plugged-in light bulbs into the gas tanks to thaw out the gas."
AES managing director Curt Clements said, "Sometimes people build fires under their gas tanks. I saw a truck blow up once!"
Tires also feel the freeze; when the mercury plummets, the air pressure in tires drops as well, necessitating regular checks. Batteries also lose power in cold weather.
But not to worry; spring does arrive. Then, says Curt, "The winter snows often wash out the few roads in the area, and the threat of mudslides and roads caving away is an everyday occurrence."

New Prague manager plans to keep on giving

There's a new manager in Move One's Prague office, and the match couldn't be more apt. Especially where charity events are concerned.

Between shipping household goods and wrangling with customs officials, many moving professionals still make time to get involved with charity. The Move One Prague team has been extremely active in worthy causes, even when they themselves were affected by trouble.

Manager of the Prague office Jason Cahill

During last summer's floods, one Move One staffer was evacuated from her home for several weeks, and the waters also kept other employees from getting to the office. And yet the team managed to deliver donated clothing to flood victims.
In December, the Prague team trucked in Christmas trees to local schools and encouraged the students to bring presents for orphans. Move One then brought the presents to a Czech orphanage.
The Prague office also cosponsored an American products table at a Christmas bazaar. Sales of Starbucks coffee and other Stateside treats raised thousands of dollars for the homeless, elderly, and disabled.
So it seems that Jason Cahill, the new Prague manager, will fit right in. Jason previously managed the Move One offices in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Albania, where he seemed to be everywhere at once, working hard and organizing benefits.
One of Jason's most memorable projects was an April affair that combined a cocktail party with an opportunity for Macedonian artists to exhibit and sell their work, with a percentage of the sales going to charity.
Those proceeds netted 57 pairs of sneakers for the 57 children at the 25 Maj Orphanage in Skopje, and new desks for the orphanage's office. The kids were thrilled, and so was Jason.
Later on last year, Jason worked with other members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Skopje to organize a tennis tournament. This time, the proceeds meant new school desks for the orphanage and sports equipment for a home for troubled children.
An American who previously lived in New York and Texas, Jason joined AES in 2000.

Recalling the Move One dogs of war and peace

In the rubble and chaos that follow a war, hordes of creatures run free. These are the wild dogs.

"People discard their pets, and then the animals breed and become mutts, packs of dogs," Move One managing director Curt Clements said.
Soldiers stationed in unstable regions often befriend the stray canines. Some even bring their new pals back home when the overseas assignment is finished.
"Everybody knows these dogs. They practically own this base," an American soldier in Afghanistan recently said of two local puppies, as quoted on www.dogsinthenews.com.

Piva in Uzbekistan.

As Move One has set up offices in war-torn areas from the Balkans to Central Asia, it's not surprising that many wild dogs have become pets and mascots, holding honored places in company lore. There was Boris, a Moscow Newfoundland who liked to sleep outside the office in the snow. And Piva in Uzbekistan, named after a Russian drink of grain alcohol and beer called Piva Baltica 3. ("After a few of those, you probably see dogs like these," Curt said.)
Move One' newest mascot is Bakchich in Afghanistan, named after a local word that means "tip" or "bribe."
In recent years, packs of dogs swarmed areas of the former Yugoslavia that had been hit by fighting. The World Society for the Protection of Animals came in to set up an emergency shelter in an abandoned cattle farm in Kosovo in 1999.
"WSPA estimates that hundreds of thousands of Kosovo's animals have died as a result of the recent conflict, either from starvation, disease, gunfire or landmines," the organization reported at the time.

Erik Hemphill and Andy Harris with Bakchich.

During this unsettled period, many dogs took up residence at Move One offices.
In Kosovo, Hoppy earned his name after being hit by a truck.
The Sarajevo team adopted a Bosnian military guard dog, who got stolen, and Pisti, who ran away in a snowstorm. A hapless three-legged puppy known as Lego also ran off, after an employee fed him a fast-food burger.
But perhaps the most vivid memory comes from the first Move One Bosnia apartment, which, it might be said, was not lacking in creature comforts.
"There were no beds, so four or five of us slept on the floor," Curt recalled. "The front door didn't close. There was no electricity and no running water, and it was 100 degrees."
To further enrich the situation, the downstairs neighbor kept goats and was known to hang up goat carcasses, which attracted the dogs. And the goats liked to wander.
"We'd wake up on the floor and all these goats would be in our apartment, eating scraps," Curt said.