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…