Day Fourty-Nine - 6 Weeks

I have been in South Sudan for 6 weeks. Hard to believe. It is a hot and sunny Sunday, our day off. And we can actually have the day off. No work to be done today.

We were almost forced to move out of UNMIS compound this morning. The staff who’s rooms Lawrence and I are staying in were to return to Malakal today so that meant we had to move into town. By lunch time it had been determined that there was no way that they could get security clearance on a Sunday so we got one last day at UNHCR. It was good to be able to stay put, relax and not have to deal with finding hotel rooms in town.

Lunch was delicious today. A flavor filled dish with eggplant in it. And there was pasta so a really nice change from rice. Lawrence found a Chinese film to watch on TV, which required me to go take a nap. The majorly unrealistic fighting scenes are just too much for me to handle. After a lovely 2 hours nap, I had some dinner. It was not as good as lunch but still filled me up.

The landscaping in the UNHCR compound is very nice. The sidewalks are lined with the beautiful flowers which I put in my last post. The flowers were all different colors even though they were all from the same plant. It was very intriguing. Like there were flowers of different shades of pink, orange, and red on the same plant. So beautiful.




It is amazing how 6 weeks here feels like twice the amount of time. Being gone for a year is going to be a whole new experience. Being in Cairo for 4 months felt like I was there for 8 months so maybe being here for 1 year will feel like 2 years. Only time will tell.

PEACE.

Day Fourty-Eight - Saturday

We made it to the market by 10 this morning. We were late every single day by at least an hour. Our data collectors complained but we knew they actually didn’t care because they would rather sit and drink tea than walk around interviewing people. I did retailer interviews all day. It is always interesting doing interviews.

Lunch was at Jai’s Restaurant. Foul and bread. It was good foul. Feta cheese on top. What a luxury.

Mud Puddle Background:
Malakal is still not a peaceful place to be, hence why UN staff have to be in the compound by 5pm and why UNHCR moved from in town to the UNMIS compound to protect their national staff. Staying in town was too dangerous. Like everywhere else in South Sudan, Malakal is recovering from past violence.

Malakal is in Upper Nile state in the northeast, on the banks of the White Nile. The nile is much cleaner here, but still dirty. Not as bad as Cairo… People in Malakal come from the Dinka, Ngok, Nuer and Shilluk ethnic groups.

Since independence the north has blocked the road preventing anything from leaving the country. This is a major issue because all the supplies/goods in Malakal come from the north and with no access to the only road from the North means none of the businesses can re-stock their shops. While we were there they ran out of salt. Not a major problem but this is just the beginning if the border is never opened. Any other way of shipping goods to Malakal are too expensive for the people living there. There are no roads to Juba and using the river takes 11 days.

The whole time I was there I really wanted to wear what is called a laowa, which is a large piece of fabric, tied at one shoulder and around the ankles. Lawrence would not allow me to wear the thing so I refrained from purchasing one. I later found out that only women who are married wear these, but if I do ever wear one I will get attention from women and not men, which would be fine with me. One day I will wear one…

Day Fourty-Seven - Mud Puddle

The dirt here is very strange. Any amount of rain turns the roads into mud puddles and makes for a very treacherous walk. Many of the locals take off their shoes or slippers and walk barefoot. It was tempting because I was not having much success walking in my sandals, but the risk of cutting my foot and getting typhoid was too high. And I think Lawrence would ban me from walking anywhere if I did that. So I have started calling Malakal Mud Puddle instead. It suits the location much better. If we would have been there any longer I would have invested in a pair of gum boots.
Oh AND it was sooo cool when the donkey carts (they are everywhere) went through the mud. The splashing looked like fireworks, or something like that. I of course got very excited when I saw this so was made fun of by Lawrence or just given very strange looks from people.

I finally met the SSRRC director, after walking to the office in the mud attempting to not fall on my butt or face.

I have to wait until Monday to meet with community leaders because 1000s of returnees just came by boat today so they are occupied with getting them organized.

I started some retailer interviews today. Yay. Being productive!

Friday nights are party nights at the UNMIS compound in Malakal. And by party nights, I mean people go to the Hard Rock Café, drink beer and listen to bad music in an over-air-conditioned room. I would go crazy if I had to live in Malakal. Being cooped up in a UN compound every day and not being able to leave after 6pm does not sounds like it would be fun. It would get old very fast.

Day Fourty-Six - "Africa Day"

This morning I was greeted with empty pipes in my bathroom. No water. The water was finished and no one thought it would be a good idea to refill the water tank. Lovely. Breakfast changed my mood due to the fact that I got an ORANGE! Along with bread and tea. Yay fruit!! This certainly made up for the lack of running water.

I wish I wouldnt have left my peanut butter behind in Juba though. With all the plain bread I have been eating the thought of PB is wonderful. The last 2 times I have been in the field I have not used it so I was trying to be smart and save on luggage but in hindsight it was a bad idea to leave it behind.

We ended up waiting 3 hours at UNHCR today for a ride into town. Absolutely ridiculous. My patience was sure tested this trip. UNHCR only has one driver at the time because they sent all their other drivers to the field to deal with security problems and the mass amount of returnees in places near the border. I don’t remember the names of the places they were sent. So we waited while being told, “just 10 more minutes” and “the driver is coming”. I went straight to the SSRRC office when we finally made it to town. Unfortunately I missed the director once again. So in my frustration with that I made my way to the ARC compound to talk to someone about the conditions of the market. It was quite helpful and the man I talked to was very kind. I went back to Lawrence, we had lunch and called it a day. Yet another unproductive day but I can’t do any of my work until I talk with the SSRRC director or someone from there.

Day Fourty-Five - The C.C.

Of course the time when I go to the field without my pillow there is no pillow in my room. Not ideal. Breakfast was some sort form of oatmeal, bread and tea. I have opted for tea instead of coffee because instant coffee is not very good without fresh milk and the existence of fresh milk rarely happens. So Yellow Label Lipton tea it is.

We got a ride into town around 10:30. It is roughly 10 minutes into town on a very bumpy road that is always lined with people walking to and from UNMIS compound.

We met with my translator and Lawrence’s data collectors at a restaurant in Souq Kabir Market. They are nice. The one guy always looks like he is about to ask a question so that was quite entertaining.

We met with the County Commissioner to inform him of what we were going to be doing in Malakal and for the first time he directed me to someone else, the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC). I was quite surprised with this because in every other place the County Commissioner has the ultimate authority. So we went footing (this is what people say instead of walking…very odd) to the SSRRC office. The director was not there meaning there was nothing I could do in the markets until I informed the director of what Lawrence and I were going to be doing for the next 8 days. Everything is very official here, which is a good thing. The C.C. appreciates being called 'Your Excellency". If you call him that he will know you are giving him your utmost respect. It is a little intimidating going into the County Commissioner office but a very necessary part of my work.

Back to UNMIS we went to relax for the rest of the day. A very unproductive day but that is the way it goes.

We got dinner (they do not call it supper here) at the UNHCR compound. The cook Beatrice is Kenyan and good at what she does. It was just a mix of peas and rice for me. There was the option of meat stew but no thank you. Because I am vegetarian here, they have to make me special dishes, which I am very grateful for.

Day Fourty-Four - Off to Malakal

Today I woke up and packed all of my very damp/still wet clothes to go to Malakal for 10 days. It rained the past 2 days, therefore my clothes only got washed yesterday meaning none of them had dried and I needed them in order to clothe myself while in Malakal. It most definitely added like 5kg to my bag.

Lawrence and I flew to Malakal at 12:00. I slept the whole flight, which was just over an hour. We landed in Malakal, which has a much nicer airport than in Juba and proceeded to wait 2 hours for a pick up. It turned out the contracting company did not even know we were coming so they were not prepared to send a vehicle to come and get us from the airport. After quite a few phone calls and patiently waiting, Lawrence and I took matters into our own hands and called for a taxi. We took a taxi to the compound, the driver tried to royally rip us off the taxi fare, we refused to pay him what he wanted. We got into the compound to find only security guards there. We discovered that due to security issues the contracting company compound has moved to UNMIS compound outside of the town. So we called another taxi to drive us 10 minutes to the UNMIS compound. This taxi driver was even worse than the first one with trying to over charge us. The stupid thing about this is that if Lawrence was alone (Lawrence is Kenyan) he wouldn’t have been charged that much, but because I was there obviously white people have money and don’t know what they are doing so the taxi drivers tried to get money from us. Such is the way it goes here.
We finally made it to the office. They were surprised to see us. They had no accommodations for us in the compound so we had to drive into Malakal town to find somewhere to stay. After 2.5 hours of driving around, we discovered there was only 1 room for 255SDG/night available. We informed the company of this fact and magically 2 rooms in their compound opened up for us. So we made our way back to the compound to get set up in our self-contained air-conditioned rooms. There is really nothing like having your own bathroom, which you do not have to walk outside to use.

Overall today was a gong show but in the end everything got sorted out and we were not homeless in Malakal.

Day Fourty-Three - 25 ON THE 25TH

Sadly I have 14 days to catch you up on and I of course do not have the time to properly describe what has gone on in my life since Independence Day. I will try to sum it up as well as I can with all the best stories included.

July 10th - Recovered from the Independence day celebrations and a long day in the sun by sitting by the Nile with friends until late evening and an early bedtime.

July 11th - While at Nimule working, we met a lawyer who looked like John Candy. It was weird.

July 12th - I got bit by, what Lawrence tells me, is a Nairobi fly and had a reaction to the bite. Disgusting.

July 13th- Eastern Equatoria. Left for Torit with our driver Angelo and Lawrence. It was a 2.5 hour drive. The roads were decent. The scenery was gorgeous once we got further away from Juba. Very mountainous, a ton of trees and crops. Very beautiful and much more pleasant to look at than Juba. We found accomodations at the Eastern Equatoria Guest House. Nice double bed but shared bathrooms. Downer. There is not much in Torit. It has its basic ammenities, and that is all. So many goats everywhere. And they are not afraid of vehicles. They stay in the middle of the road. Stupid goats.

July 14th - After many phone calls to different NGOs we got organized for our trips to Magwi and Abara. Supper = beans and rice.

July 15th - I went to Magwi and Abara with my translator Henry. It took 2.5hours on very bumpy roads to get to Magwi. Abara took 30 minutes on a road that looks like a dried up river bed. Some thing broke on the truck on our way home and we ended up being towed by Plan International. Plan's driver found a log, and used it to tied the two trucks together. Very strange but relatively effective. The whole time I was thinking, why don't you have chain in your truck for moments like this. Hahah. I guess it is the African way. Lunch and Supper = Beans, rice and cabbage

July 16th - I did focus groups with youth today. I was supposed to meet with community leaders but it was Saturday so they didn't work. I get my days mixed up sooo often here. Not convenient at all. I had a very drunk woman follow me all day around the market. She didn't know her name because she drinks too much. She was harmless but very annoying. Lunch in the Magwi and Supper in Torit at Safari Link Hotel = Beans, rice and cabbage

July 17th - There were seriously intense thunderstorms during the night. I barely slept because of the thunder and the wind. It was also our day off. We relaxed. Attempted to use the internet, it was so slow I couldn't even open my gmail. Lunch was yet again beans rice and cabbage. For supper Lawrence and I splurged and got fish with rice. It was pretty good and the fish was a nice change.

July 18th - Everybody, data collectors, translator and Lawrence left for Magwi. We almost drove off without my translator. Packed into the truck. It was a serious workout trying not to crush Lawrence in the front seat and keep out of the way of the gear shift for Angelo. A different drunk woman followed me around today. The drive home went relatively quick. We ate at a local place, and had beans and bread.

July 19th - We went to Abara today on the riverbed road. There are these brilliantly red birds that are always flying around. I like them. We also see monkeys. We got rained out in Magwi and had to camp out in the truck for most of the afternoon. We ate supper at a place called Los Angeles. It was very good food and our waitress was Kenyan, Lawrence is also Kenyan, so she was super nice to us.

July 20th - Abara community leaders meeting under a tree today. There is something so awesome about being outside for a business meeting. During interviews in the afternoon some random man hit me on the head and just walked away. I am not sure if it hurt more or if I was just so shocked that it felt like it hurt a lot. The thing is with drunk and crazy people in these markets, people do not judge them. So when I get harassed or hit on the head they just say "Take it easy". My response was definitely not take it easy. I don't react well to people hitting me or grabbing my arm trying to get money out of me. It was all good though. I survived and made it out without giving any of my money away.
One of the data collectors told me that in their tradition, if a woman is travelling with only men, she is to carry a stone for protection on the road. I am quite certain he meant safety on the road and not protection from the male. But that is a very superstitious thing but interesting either way.

July 21st - Abara focus groups with youth. Abara is very small. The market was a 1/4 of the size of Magwi so collecting our information was relatively easy because there were few people to interview. Lunch was roasted cassava and sweet tea. Not much available here. And supper was...you guessed it, beans, rice and cabbage.

July 22nd - Today was our last day of research. I mostly sat in the truck typing up notes because I was finished with my interviews. I saw 2 people I know from Juba on the side of the road on our drive back to Torit. They were doing so agricultural research. It was very random and unexpected. We ate supper at Los Angeles and had our same waitress. She was very happy to see us and even gave me a huge hug. It was funny. I spent the evening doing work.

July 23rd - We drove back to Juba today after breakfast of tea and chipati. The drive was dusty. I was covered in layers of dirt, just like I had been everyday since we left Juba. It felt good to be back in Juba except I missed the beautiful scenery of Eastern Equatoria. I did some work in the afternoon and then we went to a party Vivacell was throwing. I am quite certain that every single ex-pat living in Juba was there. I met my two new co-workers. They are both going to be here for 6 months so that is great. While I was in Torit, all I wanted was fruit but there was none to be found. I bought 2 apples here in Juba and they were the most delicious things ever. FRUIT!!

JULY 24TH - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSANDRA!!! I hope you day was lovely. It being my day off, I slept until 9:30, which was the time it become a sauna in my tent and I couldn't sleep any longer. I bought a pair of sandles in the market. The only pair that was my size I could find are red with silver jewel type things on them. They are not exactly my style, but they are super comfortable and a nice change from my other shoes. They were only $10 so I couldn't go wrong...I celebrated my birthday today because 2 of the girls were leaving for the field in the morning. We ate supper by the Nile and then relocated for surprise cake (which read Happy Birthday Caryr. Hahah). I knew something was up because Akshaya was being very suspicious all day so I assumed she was planning something and I was correct. I didn't let he know I had caught on though. It was so great of her to do that for me. A very good birthday celebration. We did stay up past midnight so I got birthday wishes on my actual birthday.

July 25th - Happy Birthday to me. I am 25 on the 25th. That's pretty stellar I say. I got a phone call from the parents in the morning. Mom stayed up until 11pm to call me! So impressed. I have been working at the office today trying to get everything done, because tomorrow I go to the field again!. I thought we were leaving on Wednesday so when I discovered we were leaving tomorrow morning I got a little panicked. Hahah. Oh well. I will be ready to go. Lawrence and I are going to Malakal. I am excited to see a new place.

So there is the last two weeks in a very small nut shell.

PEACE!

Day Twenty Seven - SOUTH SUDAN OYEE!

All of the people of South Sudan celebrated the victory of nationhood today, after a very long struggle. They are “free at last”. The 54th country in Africa and the 196th country in the world! The Dawn of a New Nation!

The official celebrations started at 10am at the Dr. John Garang Mausolem and lasted until late afternoon with a parade, and many official speeches.

Our celebration started at 9am at Arkel where we had breakfast and got prepared to walk to the mausoleum because there was no vehicle movement besides foreign dignitaries and police, so footing it was for us. Natalie, Nawaz, Nicole, Akshaya and I all walked together. Not even five minutes into our walk we were stopped by the police...This is how the conversation went:
Police: “Hey! You. Come here!” (pointing at us Kawaja’s (foreigners))
Us the Kawaja’s: Sheepishly walk over to the truck full of police men.
Police: “Take these and give them to people”
Us the Kawaja’s: Take the pile of South Sudan paper flags and sticks, say thank you and happy independence day.

We were quite relieved to know we were not in trouble or that they didn't tell us to go home. Haha. We were stopped due to our lack of national pride! We weren’t being patriotic enough because we didn’t have flags! Good moment of the day.

One of the strangest sights of the day was the airport actually. It was like a parking lot for planes. I don’t think Juba has seen so many aircrafts in such a short period of time. AND it is so weird that there were flights at night. The airport is usually only open from 8-5 and we live right near the airport so hearing planes at all hours of the day was odd.

It took about an hour and a half to get to the mausoleum. Along the way we passed out the flags to soldiers, children and other random people. Natalie actually met one of the guys she worked with in Cairo. She hasn’t seen him since 2008. Very small world. We made it to the parade after a lot of hello’s to soldiers and Oyee’s to everyone. Oyee is a cheer and basically means hooray....every other word was Oyee yelled at the top of people's lungs. The parade was amazing. Tons of traditionally dressed groups of people, cattle herders, dancers, soldiers, orphans and widows of the war, and many many other groups. Once we got to the mausoleum there wasn’t much too look at except the amazingly huge crowd. We did see President Salva Kir’s envoy drive past. That was cool. And also at this point in time, we walked past a man who he had a mask on and was splashing water on everyone as he passed. We later found out that this dressed up man was a fertility blesser/doctor/I don’t know what the proper term is. So apparently if you got splashed with the water you would be blessed with great fertility…we were not at all impressed that we were splashed with "fertility water". Haha.

After all of this walking and spectating I was very thirsty, very hot, very sweaty and so ready to find some lunch and water, which is precisely what we did. We had a delicious late lunch with plenty of water. Very nice.

It was way too hot to stay out at the mausoleum and attempt to hear the speeches. So we opted to walk home and watch the speeches on tv, which we watched at Transmillenium.

Akshaya and I went to Nimule afterwards and went for a lovely swim. It was so nice. Nimule has a beautiful pool which we have so kindly been given permission to use for now. We met some diplomats children, they were at the mausoleum but complained so much they were bored their father sent them to go swimming. They were very cute. We unfortunately had to vacant the pool due to a thunder and lighting storm.

I called home today. Figured it was a good day to call and see how everyone was doing. Mom was quite speechless at first. It was funny.

Akshaya and I ate supper at a very small and very local shop down the street. Ugali, greens and eggs. Good to fill the stomach and cheap which is excellent.

We went to De Havana again for the continued celebration of Independence. It was fun. Very packed. I also ventured next door to Logali house and I met 2 of the late John Garang’s sons. Very interesting, very cool. I have met many people who are working with or for the president, SPLA or other important sectors and have had major influence in the liberation of the people of South Sudan. It is unreal.

Only regret of the day is that I did not have my camera. We weren’t sure what security would be like so with the size of my camera it may have been difficult to take pictures, but sadly it would have been totally fine. I know from experience I should ALWAYS bring my camera, but oh well. Even though I was not able to document the day, I was able to fully take in the moment without looking at everything through my lens.

Signing off today from the newest country in the world!!!

PEACE!

Day Twenty Six - Eve of Independence

A new country is born tomorrow. Incredible. I am quite amazed that I am living in the country the day it becomes independent. Certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity, and long time coming for the people of South Sudan.

After a late start to the day, Akshaya and I made our way to Nimule and worked on the report. At 2:30 we had to leave and go to Natalie’s because the UN put their people on a lockdown so that meant we had to get closer to home. The lockdown did not mean that there was imminent danger. It just meant that due to all of the foreign dignitaries flying in from everywhere meant that security was high and being out on the streets was probably not the best idea. A lot of people made themselves scarce during yesterday and today because of how intense security on the streets was. We actually started a game of how many seconds are there between soldiers. I think the average was around 8 seconds. SO MANY MEN IN UNIFORM. So to say the least our work for the day was finished. It is quite hard to concentrate and be motivated to do work when you are living in a place that in under 24 hours is to become the newest nation in the world.

We started the evening out at Arkel. There was a poker tournament going on and it is within walking distance of Transmillenium so one of our only options at that point. I of course did not join the game, only spectated. I didn’t feel like losing money because I certaining would have lost. After a few hours of hanging out there we got tired of poker (kinda boring) so we made our way to a club with some friends because Arkel was not the place we wanted to spend the night before independence and we were given permission to go out on the town and join the celebrations! De Havana was jam packed with people, spirits sky-high. I do not know if I have seen people any happier than the people that were at De Havana. It was amazing. The streets were alive with people celebrating the eve on independence. It was difficult to drive in certain places because the streets were so full of people. It was an excellent night full of joy and celebration, which I will never forget and never experience anything like it again I am sure.

Day Twenty Five - "The Field" In Picture

Another day spent at Nimule, staring at my computer screen, attempting to write the report for the UMCOR project. Not really anything too exciting to write about today…so picture post it is… All of these photos are from my trip to Aweil and the markets in Gok Machar and Ariath...

Day Twenty Four - Christine's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Christine!! I can’t believe it is already July 6th. I hope you had a lovely day in Canmore. Miss you and love you!

I woke up to a man talking loudly on his phone and a baby crying…not ideal. We parked ourselves at Nimule for the morning. They served a delicious breakfast, probably the best since I came here. I worked most of the morning on stuff for the report.

Nicole and I were to meet Natalie for a business meeting at 1 but we ended up being locked in the Nimule compound for a half hour. They weren’t letting anyone in or anyone out so we were forced to wait. This was probably due to the fact there are some important people staying at Nimule for independence so they were probably doing something with security at that time, inconveniently for us. Once they finally let us out, the soldiers searched our bags and asked if we had guns, maybe a joke but doubtful. We obviously had no guns.

We took a trip to JIT after the meeting. It is basically a North American style grocery store. I bought some peanuts and peanut butter. Very excited about that. They will be great for in the field. We drove past the tower which has the countdown for Independence Day and I am going to say it was malfunctioning…1 DAY 34 HOURS 2024 SECONDS LEFT UNTIL JULY 9TH INDEPENDENCE!...An odd way to countdown I would say…

I went to a Thai restaurant, Home and Away, for supper with Akshaya and a big group of her friends she has met here in Juba. It was nice. I had a good conversation with a woman from Japan and a doctor from Arizona. From here we went to the ICRC compound for a short while. I met a guy from Harvard who's wife is from Edmonton. That was interesting. I never actually asked where he was from originally...maybe next time.

So here is a brief history of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Aweil… NBeG is one of the 25 states of Sudan(I think there are 25 states, there may only be 12, I better look that up). It borders South Darfur, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Warab and Abyei. Aweil is the capital of the state. Throughout the year rural villager from Aweil are forced to seek refuge in the city due to floods during the rainy season. I certainly can understand this because we were affected by the rains and it is just the start of the rainy season. Dinka is the language and people group in this area. The Dinka are one of the largest tribes in the South, and are easily recognizable. Very tall and thin, with high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes. On the foreheads of the men are deep scars, running along their brows and meeting in the middle. Very distinguishable. From what I understand this is an initiation boys receive when they are a teenager and the scars are to resemble horns. I have seen other patterns of these scars but do not know what they mean.

So there you go.

PEACE!

Day Twenty Three - The Report Writing Begins

I woke up curled up in a ball shivering at 2am this morning. I had to loot around in my bags for the sheet I brought from home because the ladies failed to provide me with one, and I failed to realize this before I went to sleep. Once I got curled up under my sheet I slept until my alarm went off.

The new office, which is located at the Compass organization office a half hour drive from Tong Ping, has no power so we went to Jebel lodge for our staff meeting. We got delicious French press coffee and sorted through a whole lot of things. I am leaving for Magwi and Abara with Lawrence on July 13th for more research work. We can drive there so no flying this time. I think I will be gone for 10 days but it may only be a week. I kindly interrupted our meeting due to a spider dropping into my lap. I of course had a full cup of coffee in my hand so I proceeded to freak out that there was a spider on my lap, splashing coffee everywhere and making a great first impression with Lawrence and Chelly (our new accountant). I recovered and cleaned up the coffee, but it took a while for my heart rate to go down… Nicole and I sat at Jebel until 4 working on the UMCOR report. I spent the whole time making tables for data entry. It was more difficult than it should have been but I slowly caught on what I needed to do by the end.

We switched locations and went closer to home, Nimule restaurant, which had no internet except for a months pass. We eventually swindled our way into getting free internet for the rest of the day…excellent. This place has a gorgeous pool which looks ever so inviting but it is only open to people staying in the hotel here. Tear.

Us girls went for a walk at UNMIS. I was really looking forward to going for a run but we were talking about work stuff so I had to stick with the pack. Boo. Maybe next time. I did get to watch a beautiful sunset and moon rise.

Akshaya, Lawrence, James and I went out for supper. We started at some place I do not recall the name but they did not have any vegetables, and I wasn’t in the mood for meat and Akshaya is a vegetarian so we left. We went to Panache, an Indian restaurant. It was really good. A bit pricy but good.

As I was getting ready for bed, a horrible sound came from my roof. It sounded like a half dead or very injured animal was dragging itself across my roof. I didn’t know if it was better to run out and hide in Nicole or Akshaya’s tents or to jump under my mosquito net and hide. I chose the mosquito net. No way I was going outside to be jumped on by a strange unknown injured or dying animal. It was not cool to say the least.

Day Twenty Two - 4th of July in Sudan

Happy Independence Day to all you Americans out there.

I was packed and ready to head to the airport at 7am this morning. It was very overcast, therefore nice and cool. Nicole and I waited at the airport until 10:30 when my little plane arrived. I scored a window seat right behind the pilot on the flight to Wau. It seemed like it took longer than 30 minutes to get from Aweil to Wau, but I sat back, enjoyed the view and some good tunes.

I think I would like to meet James Maskalyk, author of Six Months in Sudan. Have a conversation with him. It would be very interesting. He seems like a person I would enjoy talking to. I recommend this book to all of you out there….

Back in Juba at 3:30 after a horribly turbulent flight. UGH…I was so nauseous for most of the hour and 15 minute flight. It was raining when we landed. Our driver James picked us up and took us to Transmillenium, where instead of a tent, I was given a room at the back. It has walls and a concrete floor. Quite luxurious except for the fact there was no outlet…which was a problem because all my electronics were dead.

Nicole, Natalie and I went to the UNMIS compound and walked the track there, which is really just the road around the compound. It was very muddy but next time we go I want to try running instead of walking. I think it would be a decent distance run and I certainly don’t want to lose my endurance entirely…it is probably already gone after 3 weeks of not running. We went for supper at the restaurant in the compound, My Place. I had fish and rice, which was delish. It was a nice evening.

Now I am back at camp, writing this on my computer with the plan to post it later. I am quite sleepy and my bed in this room has a legit mattress that does not have a worn out spot where the previous people have slept. Bam! Nice mattress.

There is a giant locust in the bathroom stall with the toilet…I must say I was very excited to use a real toilet and not a squat toilet but that locust has dashed my hopes of that…

T-minus 5 days until Southern Sudan’s Independence.

Day Twenty One - Powerless

I have 50 minutes of battery left on my computer before it dies. The generator is out of fuel so that means no power for us today. It is quite unfortunate than all of the things I have for entertainment need power, except my book. Being relient on power is an unfortunate thing in a place where fuel is not always available and the power is unreliable. I have survived. And it is back to Juba in the morning so I can charge up my stuff there.

I woke up at 7 this morning and could not get back to sleep due to my spot on the bed being so overheated from me lying there all night. Being up early on my day off is not ideal but when you can’t sleep you can’t sleep.

I sent all of the data we collected at the markets and attempted to start working on the report but I did not get much done.

Nicole and I went to a place called Unique for lunch. I waited an hour for them to cook some beans because I was not interested in trying their chicken or beef stew. It was good, but waayy too big of a portion and they don’t really do take away here…

We had a relaxing afternoon. It absolutely poured rain for about an hour. Torrential downpour. The windows in my room were open so there was a nice big puddle beside my bed. Thank goodness my stuff didn’t get wet. The rain is a welcomed break from the heat. It really cools the air and makes things fresh. That is the only good thing about the rain. I am sure the road conditions are worse than before and hopefully the rain stays away until we fly out tomorrow or else the air strip may be closed….knock on wood that doesn’t happen.

We went to UNMIS for supper. I had lentils and chips….my last night for chips. Gotta stay fit… Our nice evening stealing electricity and eating a meal in a air conditioned room was interrupted by the loudest longest thunder I have heard in a very long time. I kind of scared me. Hahah. We hurried our butts home after that because we definitely did not want to walk home in the rain.

AND we came home to a dark compound and a 6 inch long centipede sitting in our room by the door. I could have cried. EWW! It took me like 5 minutes to step over the darn thing and go to the bathroom. I repeat EWW!

Day Twenty - Monkeys!

The sunrise was beautiful today. A perfectly round ball of red and orange layers in the sky. Our driver was late this morning, surprise surprise, so we ended up with the HiLux again this morning with the driver who left me in the wrong market all day yesterday.

I spent the morning in Gok Machar again, instead of in Ariath. There wasn’t enough room for all of us in the truck just like yesterday so I waited and hoped my data collectors were doing their job and that the truck actually comes back to pick Nicole, our translator and me up to take us to Ariath. To my relief the truck showed up at 12:30 and we made the 40 minute trip to Ariath. I saw MONKEYS!! There were like 25 of them all of the road and wandering off into the trees. My first African animal sighting in Sudan… We made it to Ariath in decent time and had some lunch, which consisted of lentils and bread. It was good. My data collectors did a good job and finished the work we needed to get done. Such a relief to be finished. I did two interviews in the market for Nicole. I talked to a woman who makes and sells ground nut paste and another woman selling vegetables and milk. I liked doing the interviews.

The sun was out in full force today. My goodness gracious. My sweat was out of control even in the shade. I have also discovered that even when sitting in the shade the sun can still get you. Sudan’s sunshine is intense.

There are a ton of kids in the market that polish shoes. Some set up in front of tea shops but others walk around with their supplies with noise makers, or tins full of pebbles to get customers. Men are always having their shoes polished.

The drive home was shorter due to the fact that we were already halfway back to Aweil but it felt longer because we were subjected to the squealing radio of our driver. Oh my goodness. Even with my noise reducing headphones, I could hear the squealing and it was horrible. I was about ready to rip the radio out of the dash.

I saw 3 teenage boys on a bike today. I was very impressed with the boy peddling. That must have been difficult with 2 passengers…

Nicole and I went to UNMIS for supper again. I had lentils and chips. My last meal of fries I have decided. I sat there eating my food and could see people running and playing volleyball in the compound. I miss being able to go out for a run. Not really possible here or in Juba. Mind you Juba does have a running track so I will have to hit that up…

I have taken the night off work because I know that I will have to do work tomorrow…

Day Nineteen - CANADA DAY

So I may or may not have let the fact that today was Canada Day slip my mind, but thanks to Mom I didn't totally forget it. Originally I was supposed to be going back to Juba today so July 1st was just the day I was leaving Aweil, not Canada Day. I swear I like my country, my days just get away from me here...

I slept almost 10 hours last night. I woke up a few too many times but I still felt rested in the morning and MUCH better than I did yesterday. I swear I had a fever yesterday. I sweated sooo much through the night.

I have dubbed today as "an Africa day". I did get bread with honey for breakfast but that is where the good of my day stopped. The driver was late and he showed up in a vehicle too small to carry 9 people, 40 minutes to the market we were supposed to be working in today. So without any cell service to seek some solutions to our vehicle problem, I sent the data collectors to Ariath, the other market 40 minutes from Gok Machar, and then the driver was supposed to come back and pick me and my translator up. The driver never came. I sat at Nylonge's tea shop all day once again and had no work to do. I was supposed to be interviewing women with businesses in Ariath but that was not going to happen. So the driver and the data collectors showed up at 4 and off I went to drive 2 hours with my driver and his squealing radio station. Even my sound minimizing ear buds could not totally drown out that noise.

Nicole said I looked like I needed a good meal, not chicken broth and rice, so we went to the UNMIS (United Nations Missions in Sudan) compound and got supper. I had a tuna sandwich and fries. It was quite satisfying and I was so full after one half of the sandwich. I definitely appreciated not having to eat a bowl of rice for supper...

On the drive home there are always little boys at certain places along the road filling in the massive holes in the road with dirt. Some of the boys have pieces of cardboard to pick the dirt up with but most of them just use their hands. For as big as the potholes are, I feel like it will take them forever...they need backhoes and a grader on these roads...anything smaller will be useless.