Day 370 - Wahid Sena

I departed Canada on June 13^th and arrived in Juba on June 17^th meaning that it has been one year to today since I arrived in South Sudan. When I arrived it was not yet a country. It was still part of Sudan. Today, South Sudan is its own struggling country.

I have gone 6 months at a time not seeing my friends and family. I decided to stop eating meat a year ago. I have experienced first hand the importance of a mozzie net and the strange comfort it provides when it surrounds you. I have gone through checkpoints and I have also learned the back roads you can take in order to avoid these checkpoints. I have driven on the atrocious roads that Juba has so kindly neglected and survived. I have learned how to drive manual and I am rather good at it. I have travelled to Kenya. I have floated down the Nile. I learned some Swahili and Juba Arabic. I met the US Ambassador for South Sudan. I have rode a boda boda many times and survived. I have trekked through the mud to get to work way too many times. I have experienced the shocks of what conflicts with neighboring countries does to the economy and way of life. 

 

For five months I was privileged enough to experience living in one of the last existing tent camps in Juba. I was surrounded by 30 plus people, sharing a living space; sharing 2 showers, one toilet, one squat toilet and one sink with roughly 10-15 women. In order to have my clothes washed I collected it in a pile on the floor in the morning and when I returned in the evening it would all be hanging on the clothes line strung up from my tent poles.

For four months I flew and drove in an out of Juba living for weeks in other towns and states learning about the different cultures and customs. I experienced six different states within South Sudan. I met community members, county commissioners, NGOs and the like. Sat under mango trees, lived on beans and rice. Experienced what driving on a dried up riverbed is like.  Drove through the beautiful mountainous Eastern Equatoria.

 

The birth of a new nation. The newest country in the world. The 193^rd country on record. I was here to experience that. To experience the unending joy of the South Sudanese people. To be carried away in to the overwhelming emotions of Independence. To become a part of it. Once in a lifetime experience.

I have met people from all over the world who have to South Sudan for various reasons. There are two classifications for the ex-pats here: 1. There are the ex-pats who have come here to work with an organization of company to help the people of South Sudan and help build the country. 2. The other ex-pats are the ones that have come here for the business opportunities $$$. I am sure you can guess which group I belong to…

I have lived in the  Barracks for almost 8 months now and live to tell about it. (Strangely when I tell people our compound is within the  barracks they become very concerned and say that must be scary. It really is not. It is a decent location, very nice for going for runs. The security is just higher than elsewhere and outsiders are not particularly welcome. The soldiers at the gate know us by now and do not give us any grief.)

I have worked for a massive American company, providing medical training for soldiers. I have obviously not done the training but I am behind the scenes. I help to ensure that the courses are organized and supplies with all the equipment and materials required to make them function. It has been a challenging and rewarding experience.

I have experienced, from a distance in Juba, the never-ending disputes with Sudan and inter-tribal fighting. I experienced the repercussions of the fighting with seeing the influx of casualties in the  Hospital, which is our neighbor.

I have been able to get a glimpse of what South Sudanese people have been through and continue to go through each day. No matter the negative opinions many people surrounding the country have about the South Sudanese people, I believe that they are a resilient people. To survive what this country has gone through says nothing less. 

I have experienced so much more than just what I have written here. I have experienced so much it is almost hard to remember everything all at once. The experience will continue and memories will be made. I am excited.