BAKU, Nov 22 (IPS) – The ride home is uneventful. Our Bolt drivers are careful drivers. The bright half-moon marks a joyous end to an evening of song and delicious food. We spent our last night as an IPS team at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
A short, friendly exchange about who would have plenty of leftovers was resolved and my phone slid from my lap to the floor. Forgotten.
About an hour later I returned to the room and found my phone. My backpack is torn. I checked my jacket pockets, checked them again, and checked them again. It simply disappeared.
“Call 112,” my colleague Umar Manzoor Shah tells me on WhatsApp. I know he’s still awake because he has to write a story the next day, and we convinced him to leave his post and join us for dinner. WhatsApp Web is still working on my computer. “Please call the landline in your room.”
Then when I realized I had called emergency services, yes. I told a very friendly woman that I had lost my phone. It’s not an emergency, I just lost my phone.
“We can help.” She insisted, and a few minutes later (and this time it was almost midnight), there was a knock on my door. I did something unthinkable in South Africa and found three smiling young men there.
I explained the phone. I explained that it could be at the Bolt or it could be on the shuttle from The Grand to Polo Residences. This is what it looks like: my name, phone number, and every possible detail.
It’s always a little embarrassing because it’s a call and not an actual emergency, and the only loss is that it will be inconvenient. And we would have lost the adorable video of the amazing singer of Kasa Masa with whom we dined. Colleagues singing the Titanic theme song. Videos are uploaded only over Wi-Fi.
A group of men leave with the promise that I will have a phone tomorrow. I am impressed by their interest, but I think the interest shown in these lost phones, which most people rarely see at home, is incredible.
I decided to make some tea, open my computer, and try to track my phone. iPhones are easy to track, so check online for ‘how to’, check ‘Find my device’ and voila, your final trace is at The Grand.
I called the emergency services again to tell them I had found it, and a few minutes later the three young men reappeared.
We confirmed the location again and this time we are traveling back to the village on the Bolt. It pings online because it sounds loud. Someone responds. They call him on my phone. They video called him and he showed me my phone. I identified the phone by its colorful floral cover.
The men laugh and joke. I will be back in 30 minutes with my phone. We arrive. So I recovered.
No one is more surprised than me. This service is truly amazing. I’m not expecting anything different, but maybe life will surprise me by the next blue moon in 2037.
IPS UN Secretariat Report
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