We were delayed by rain, which decided to fall right at 8:30 when I was supposed to meet my translator. My plans to go to the river and find a fisherman to interview but that had to be cancelled. The rain didn’t stop until 10:30, which was the time I was to be meeting with the SSRRC director. I made it just in time for that meeting. We drove 20 minutes to the outskirts of town to talk with returnees. Most of the people who have recently returned have to move out the villages, which is not entirely safe. There is nowhere for them to live in town. People’s belongings are sitting in piles outside. It being the rainy season makes this quite an issue. Belongings are being ruined and there is nothing they can do about it. After my interviews I made friends with 5 of these adorable little children. They were stalking me during my interviews, and coming up and touching my arm, then giggle and run away. So cute.
I talked with a man who sells sheep. The sheep here do not look like the sheep back home. They have the weirdest tails. They are long and very wide. It almost looks like a deformity. Very strange. And then I talked to a cattle keeper. He was a nice old man, with a very large family. I got an excellent photo out of the interview.
I did a lot of walking this afternoon. I feel like I walked around half of Malakal. Probably not a possibility but I sure did walk a lot. And I was definitely sitting in the sun without my knowledge when I was interviewing the women returnees…
We ate supper at the hotel tonight. 25 SDG for a plate of barely warm food. Very pricey compared to my 4 SDG bowl of foul.
Tomorrow we head back to Juba. I think both Lawrence and I are very happy about the fact we are leaving Malakal. Malakal was not very nice to us.
Farewell Malakal. Don't worry, I won't miss you too much.
Those kids are too cute!
ReplyDelete