Saturday, December 31, 2011

Day 201 - Another Year...

Another year is over. 2011 will end in less than 24 hours. A whole lot has happened this year. It has been an incredible year. Full of small moments that I have totally forgotten about by now and by big grand moments that I will never forget.

It is hard to believe that this January I was unemployed and living it up in Winnipeg looking for something new. All I found was an awesome house to live in for 2 months, discovered that I can never and will never ever again work as a telemarketer, I spent a ton of quality time with friends and learned that couch surfing is not so bad.

I gave blood for the first time in March.

I moved back home the end of March to get back to the wonderful job of painting with the best co-worker/boss anyone could ask for. This involved a 15-hour road trip with a good friend in a jam-packed car and my wonderful cousins picked me in Calgary to take me the rest of the way home.

I experienced my niece grow and change day by day. Rolling, crawling, ‘talking’. Many moments.

In April an email came. I got a job in South Sudan. Major life changing moment. Yay!

Another first for this year…In May I ran in the Mother’s Day Race in Calgary in the rain with my cousins and Aunt. My first organized 5K race ever. My good friends had their first adorable little baby boy! Hiked to Troll Falls with two of my favorite people in the world. I ran my second organized race in the end of May in Calgary. It was a beautiful day.

June 13th I was on a plane to Cairo to begin my Sudan adventure. Three months working with a research firm, travelling around South Sudan, seeing an amazing country, meeting amazing people, hearing amazing stories and doing great work. Experiencing so many new and different things.

I experience the birth of a new country. South Sudan’s Independence was on July 9th. A day I will never forget. Incredible.

In August I was living it up in Rumbek where it was confirmed that South Sudan is a bold country. Bold bugs. Bold men. BOLD!

September was a quite month. Learned a lot about myself and just how much I can handle. One word: Perseverance!

October I met amazing little children who live at the Juba Orphanage. Hangman is an excellent game to play with children who do not speak the same language as you. AECOM decided I was awesome enough to hire. Hello job, goodbye being a Juba bum! AND I climbed Jebel Mountain.

I moved to a new compound in November. Moved from a tent to a compound with my own room and personal bathroom. This was huge. Life lesson: enjoy the small things in life, such one’s own bathroom, four solid walls and a comfortable bed.

December I anticipated the best surprise of my life. Going home for Christmas without telling anyone. So great. Many moments with family and getting to see my niece, who has changed so much and continues to grow into an amazing, beautiful little girl.

This is only a small glimpse into the events and moments that took place this past year.

Top things I learned this year:

Being an Auntie is one of the best things ever.
Telemarketing is not for me.
Painting is a great skill to have.
South Sudan is an amazing country.
Dirt runways really do exist.
10 seater planes are the best to fly on.
Connections and networking are essential to life.
Mosquito nets are your friend.
Living in a tent is not so bad.

Happy New Year’s Eve My Dear Friends!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Day One Hundred & Eighty Nine - The Surprise

The moment I saw the Rockies from my window on the plane I was fidgeting and smiling like an idiot. I was like a kid on Christmas morning. I could not have walked through customs fast enough. The anticipation to see my parents face at the airport was overwhelming. Everything felt like it took twice as long. Waiting to get off the airplane. Walking to customs. Going through customs. Waiting for my luggage, which I was so scared didn’t actually make it to Juba because the luggage system in the Juba Airport consists of you waiting in line for a really long time, someone putting a luggage tag on your bag and then proceeding to throw it in a pile which is right beside all of the other airlines baggage. Juba has obviously been functioning with this system for a while so I should not have had any doubt about my luggage arriving with me in Calgary.

As I rounded the corner of international arrivals I was scanning the large crowd furiously to catch my parents faces but alas there were way too many people and I could not find them. They found me first. I saw my Dad first and it was the best hug ever and instant tears. Mom’s face was priceless. Sheer disbelief and shock. One of the best moments in my life for sure. And you know what my Mom said to me after saying “It’s you. It is really you!” over and over again. “Where is Jessica?”. I of course said she is not coming. Hahha. They had a picture of Jess printed out and even a sign saying Jessica H. SO CUTE. Apparently they almost ran down two girls they thought could be Jessica. Haha. But once my dad saw me those were useless.

I think my Dad scared everyone who was around him and made them think he was crazy because apparently the moment he saw me come around the corner he started yelling at me and calling me a brat. Hahah. Good way to part the sea of people waiting for their loved ones though. Good strategy dad :)

My older sisters were the next to find out by phone call. Calling from the home phone sure confused them. They didn’t want to sound stupid and ask if I was calling from home because they knew I was not there. Cherilyn was too shocked to really react. She even walked past me without noticing. Haha.

Lisa, the greatest girl ever, gave the most entertaining and dramatic reaction. I loved it. Tyson answered the door, let out a shocked exclamation and seconds later Lisa was screaming, bounding up the stairs and in my arms, legs wrapped around me. Greatest welcome home reaction.

So to say the least, my surprise was a success and I am very happy to be home surrounded by my family and the people I love.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Day One Hundred & Eighty Seven - Flying

Feelings of sadness, anxiety and excitement are skipping around in my body. I am going home. Can hardly believe it. After a slight delay in Juba, my flight took off. I thought I was going to die. The plane sounded like it was going to fall apart and the takeoff and landing were horrendous. But alas, I survived. It was not until I reached Cairo that the adrenaline coursing through my body at high speeds stopped. I was so worked up in Juba. Once I landed in Cairo I found my luggage and headed out on the town and wooeee was it overwhelming and slightly chilly considering it was 18 degrees. Once I bargained a deal with a taxi driver I was off. It all felt very normal to be in Cairo but the sights and sounds were overwhelming. I think that people in Juba drive like maniacs until I go back to Cairo. Drivers there are insane. My driver was speeding down the very smooth tarmac, racing past buildings and people and architecture that Juba certainly does not have, with his radio blasting and a smoke in his hand. Me in the backseat. Eyes closed trying to calm myself and hope that I do not die in a car crash. I made it to my desired destination. I tried to walk and find myself some koshari but my search was futile. Each person I asked told me to walk in a different direction to a different koshari shop. So I stopped and had some fresh juice instead. My bags were getting too heavy to continue carrying around. Once I was done I caught a taxi, I asked him if he spoke English. His response was yes so I hopped in only to discover 12 seconds later that, no he certainly does not speak English, not one bit. So that taxi didn’t get my money. The next taxi did the same thing, however he knew a bit more English so I kept him. I got him to take me to a koshari place where I got my ‘small’ dish of koshari then headed to the airport. A good thing I did this when I did because traffic was insane. I only ended up having 2 hours to kill at the airport. Cairo to Frankfurt was my sleeping flight. I did wake up at one point, looked out of the window and there was Orion starring back at me. This was the first time I have seen stars from an airplane. It was amazing.

I had 4 hours to pass by in the Frankfurt airport. These hours seemed to pass by relatively quickly. It felt really good that this was the last plane I would be getting on before Calgary. This flight turned out to be the best. 10 hours on a plane, a seat to myself meaning 2 pillows and 2 blankets, which were certainly needed on the cold airplane. The last hour of the flight dragged by so slow. The moment I saw the Rockies I started getting very impatient and super excited I could not sit still.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Day One Hundred & Eighty Five - The Problem With Boda Bodas



The Deputy Minister of Interior recently ordered the banning of bodas from entering city center her in Juba. This order is the result of high rates of accidents caused by and involving motorists.

I can understand why they are being banned. They really are a hazard because of the way people drive here. Most of the boda boda drivers drive crazy and the people driving vehicles also suck at driving. Boda bodas come out of nowhere when you are driving down the road it is a surprise there are not more accidents. So for safety sake of many many people this is good. On the other hand, people are now criticizing the ban on boda boda routes. This ban is obviously going to hurt all the boda boda drivers business. But really, it is going to be very nice to not have to dodge boda bodas on the main streets, which are the busiest streets and really congested. The justification from the Ministry of Interior for implementing this ban may not entirely make sense or be correct but the choice is made. Now it has to be enforced, which means at least 5 soldiers at every round about and intersection in the areas where bodas are banned.

An excerpt from a news article:

“We thought that South Sudan is about the marginalized and the disadvantaged, but obviously this is not the case. High food prices, poor health care, inadequate education system, appalling sanitation and foreign dominated investment, to create unaffordable and shortages of accommodations and the list is long. These are all haunting and affecting the poor and those with low incomes, with the consequence of widening the gap between the have and have not. So if the bodas could be banned why not banning alcohol, traffic breakers especially those big cars who are causing chaos by turning at any point, wherever they wish, are these also not road safety hazards? By government banning bodas and stopping boda users from attending their daily service is not a comprehensive solution, neither for boda users nor for the bodas. At least some alternatives and appropriate replacements should be put in place before issuing such a discriminating order.”

They are the only cheap mode of transport aside from walking. Having used bodas in the past I can understand why people are upset.

Politics and the way things are done here in South Sudan are certainly interesting, sometimes puzzling and seem not entirely thought through, but it is what it is and we all have to deal with it.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Day One Hundred & Seventy Five - A Sad Day

Today one of our little puppies that we rescued died. Tear. She was a poor little thing that got kicked by a soldier, we took her in, she was doing alright but just wasn't strong enough to fully recover. Zoe you were a cute little thing...

Friday, December 2, 2011

Day One Hundred & Seventy Three - Something Different

I did something I have never done in South Sudan tonight.

I watched the movie, 'I AM SLAVE' under the bright half moon and stars this evening. I had great company and the movie was quite good.

A sad reality portrayed, with a fortunate happy ending.