Many Irish troops will be settling in in Liberia for Christmas, and their loved ones will be left to wait and worry, writes Rosita Boland
'Daddy won't be here this Christmas - but Santy will," Shane Brady (5) says; the first part of the sentence all sad, and the second full of palpable relief. When you're five and your soldier father is going to be in Liberia, far away from home for Christmas for the first time in your short life, you can at least get some comfort in knowing the other man in your life at this time of year will be around.
Christian Brady (32) is a sergeant in the Army and is on peace enforcement duties in Liberia until June, along with 471 other colleagues. There will be a total of 833 members of the Defence Forces posted overseas this Christmas. The two main missions are Liberia (472), Kosovo (261) and the Balkans (40). There are also small delegations in Afghanistan, Brussels, New York, East Timor, Israel and Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, West Sahara, and Congo.
The Irish troops in Liberia left Ireland in mid-December, and they will serve six-month terms on rotation until 2006, after the elections planned for the end of 2005 are over.
Christian lives in Sallins, Co Kildare, with his wife Sarah, and children Shane and Lara (3). "I've been away for Christmas before, in the Leb, but that was before the children were born," he says, just days before his departure. "I haven't a clue what I'll be doing this Christmas Day. It's just another day of the week when you're out there; you write it off."
Practical gifts from the family went out in advance shipments: a basin for washing and shaving, a mirror, and an airbed to make the canvas army cot more comfortable. The Liberian headquarters are basic: a tented camp, with shared accommodation and facilities. Christian also packed lots of books, among them The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; "I'm raging I'm going to miss the third film!"
At Lara's preschool, the teacher has been showing the class Liberia on the globe, and telling them about the animals in Africa, by way of helping them understand where her father is going. "They don't really understand, though," Sarah says. "All they know is that Daddy is going away and will bring back presents; but they'll be expecting him back in a few days, not in six months time."
Christian doesn't know it yet, but there will be a surprise for him on Christmas Day. Without his knowledge, Sarah secreted a special parcel into his advance luggage. "Cards the children made themselves for him, photos of the children, a letter from me. He'll appreciate those more than other kinds of presents."
She will be e-mailing regularly over the six months, but also writing letters. "I'll be getting the children to make cards for him too. E-mail is good, but it's nice to get something into your hand, that you can keep."
Thomas Cunningham (36) is a gunner, based in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, where he lives with his wife Martina and children Sarah-Louise (13) and Joshua (10). He was posted four times to the Lebanon, but this will be his first time away for Christmas. "We don't know too much about Liberia yet, but there are 60 of us fellas altogether going from Mullingar," he says.
"Liberia? It's in Africa," Joshua says. "But I don't know where it is really, or anything about it. What I'm going to really miss this year is Daddy helping us putting our toys together. And he's good with the pudding at dinner."
"Daddy always plays with us, and puts the batteries into the toys and puts them together," Sarah-Louise confirms.
"I hope they do something for them over there at Christmas," Martina confides. "I think he will be lonely. We always cook the dinner together, so he will definitely miss that."
"What I'll miss most is seeing the kids opening their presents," Thomas says. He didn't send out any foodstuffs for himself in his parcels, but he did put in three teddy bears. "They each gave me one of theirs, special ones, to remind me of them," he confesses. "Joshua's one is missing an ear. He's told me he'll want it back eventually."
They have already decided to postpone their family Christmas dinner; they'll be having it instead in June, when the troops are back. "Yes, turkey and Christmas pudding - in June!" says Martina.
At Caim, six miles from Enniscorthy, there are already presents under the tree in the Fortune family home. Sinéad Fortune (25), who will be an acting corporal while in Liberia, has left gifts to be opened in her absence. Unlike the others, she has done her research on Christmas in Liberia.
"The fellas out there were calling back and they say there are loads of palm trees to decorate and we have lights and ceiling decorations."
She expects a traditional turkey-and-ham Christmas lunch (all food supplies are shipped from Ireland), served to them by the officers, as is the army ritual at Christmas. What will she miss most about Christmas in Caim? "Daddy's cooked breakfast. Rashers, Petitt's sausages, eggs and brown bread. He's famous for his breakfast."
Sinéad, who has been in the Army six years, has served in Lebanon and Eritrea. Unlike those postings, this time no parcels will be delivered. As there are no scheduled flights to Liberia, the Irish Government will be paying DHL to deliver goods; since DHL charge by weight, it's letters only to the troops in Liberia. Thus, soldiers have had to send out in advance any personal items and luxuries they think might help get them through the next six months. Sinéad has sent out two boxes of cheese-and-onion Taytos and "a sack" of biscuits and sweets: Bourbon and Jersey creams, chocolates, jelly sweets and the cola bottles beloved by generations of schoolchildren.
Her family, mother Goretti, father Brian, and siblings Paul and Orla are more concerned about this posting than her other two.
"This time it's peace enforcing, rather than peace-keeping. You're jumping to hear every bit of news you can," Goretti says. The death of soldier Derek Mooney in a road accident in November upset them all. "But at least he wasn't shot," Brian says. "It was tragic but it was an accident. But the front looks very volatile - all these young kids carrying AK-47s."
Is she scared? "When I arrived in Lebanon, it was dark, and I did cry," she says. "But this time we're arriving in daylight. That makes a difference. And the lads who were phoning back to me say it's very quiet so far."
There will be 10 computers in the camp this time, and everyone will be set up with an e-mail address. There is also a satellite phone.
"We like to ring every second day," Goretti says. "I have a very fertile imagination, and I do worry. All I want is to hear her say 'Hiya Ma'. Then I know she's OK."
Sinéad goes out of the room for a few minutes. It's a wild, damp day in Wexford and, even through the closed windows, the wind lifts the blinds inside a little and things rattle. The house is exposed, and the surrounding landscape is flat and green. Goretti looks out the window.
"If this wind keeps up Sinéad will be staying with her nanny in Enniscorthy tonight," she says. Sinéad has served in Lebanon and Eritrea but, according to her mother, "the one thing that really frightens her is the wind".