Day Thirteen - Potholes NOT People or Animals

I woke up to the roosters...I finally got a real night of sleep. I credit the bed and the awesome mosquitoe net which covers the whole bed and leaves room for movement. Could be because the bed is huge but still. AND I have foam between me and the bedframe unlike at Transmillenium.

It was very humid and overcast this morning. From my side of the bed, I could hear roosters, water dripping, goats bleating and besides that it is silent. No traffic noise at all. As I am getting ready for the day I grab my backpack which was up against the wall and guess what just so happened to be creeping behind my bag? A spider the size of a tennis ball, it was flat, it may have even been as big as a baseball...regardless disgusting and way to big.

We didn't get on the road until 9:40 which was way too late for how long of a drive it is to Gok Mashar from Aweil. The drive takes 2 hours on a very very very very bumpy road. It shouldn't take this long but from what I understand a main bridge has been washed out by the rains so this road is our only option to get to Gok.

The drive...People. people in trees. on bikes. walking. Trees everywhere. Huts. Children. Men and women working the soil with hoes. The bumps take my breath away making breathing surprisingly difficult. A very strange feeling. Passed villages. Passed one check point (which is actually Aweil Town city limits). Herders and their cattle are everywhere. Along with broken down trucks. We have a Toyota HiLux and it handles the roads like a champ. I would not want to be riding in a land cruiser. At this point, my overly oily chippati and eggs are sitting very heavy in my stomach....not ideal. A full stomach and a very bumpy road are a bad combination. I am reminded of the lion king as we drive down the road...it's the circle of life!!!! We pass by girls who wave their hands at us to slow down...they go unnoticed as we fly past them leaving behind a sheet of red dust. There were speed bumps in one of the villages. And we pass over one bridge called the Wattok Bridge. I was so nervous the driver was going to hit someone or something...he is a great driver but man, I would not want to drive these roads. BRAKE-BUMP-SWERVE-BUMP-ACCELERATE-REPEAT. This sums up the 2 hours of driving each way...

We are doing data collection, focus groups and case studies in Gok Mashar. The organization we are working for is having us do a livelihoods assessment to obtain information about returnees, women and youth in the area. It is very interesting. I worked with 5 men who we have hired for our data collectors. It was really nice to be able to start doing the work instead of hearing about it and trying to learn how to do it on paper. We sat in plastic chairs in the middle of an empty dirt floored concrete room with 6 windows and a door. In the afternoon children were gathering around the windows and doors to gawk at the foreigner...it was cute.

We left Gok Mashar at 4, and our driver drove a little faster on the way home, so the bumps were magnified. He was driving faster for a purpose. Aweil Town closes it gates at night from any time between 5 and 7:30 so if we don't make it back before they close the gates, we have to park the truck and walk til we find a ride to take us to the compound. Not an ideal situation. Regardless of this rule, we made it back to UMCOR compound in one piece, rather shaken and tired, but we made it.

The food here is, well it is food. Yesterday we had rice with chicken and broth. And today was rice with, I think beef and broth. I ate some rice with broth, no meat or chunks...

Tomorrow is our day off, but due to time constraints and deadlines we will surely be working tomorrow.

Leaving you with this...there are jumping spiders just bigger than a nickle...EWW.

Wau Airport (that is what my plane to Aweil looked like)

On the way to Gok Mashar

Dusty bumpy road

Hello:)

Until next time...PEACE!