My desk is located in what we call the Conference Room. For the last two weeks I have had this whole room to myself, save for the people walking through and anyone who needs something from me. It is a big room. Four desks and a large conference table…all to myself. It is oddly quiet at times but I welcome it. Quiet means that no one is interrupting me.
The people I work with are a very interesting bunch. We are from all over the world. Currently I am the only North American. We represent Australia, New Zealand, England, Fiji, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan. So many people from so many different countries all working together to make our project function.
If someone from home were to come to my workplace I think they would be quite surprised. It is different. Now that there are not was many people working for the project it is a whole lot quieter compared to about a month ago, however, the office can get rather chaotic. And at times silly. Other times extremely stressful and frustrating (I am sure it feels like I am describing your work place).
I had a moment today where I was totally overwhelmed with the fact that I work and live with 23 people who I know only snapshots of who they are and what they did before coming to South Sudan but regardless of how little I know about the people I work with personally we are all a big family. We work together, joke together, we eat together, we relax after work together and we live together. I know that back home I can experience the same sort of work environment, get along well with your co-workers, however because I am in South Sudan it is totally different. I think I have said this before but Juba/South Sudan brings a certain kind of individual to its land. I think everyone who comes here has a certain type of personality or quality inside of them that keeps them in Juba for a long period of time. It is hard to explain without you meeting the people I am surrounded by, but that is the best explanation I can give you. It must have a lot to do with the fact that at the end of the day we don’t go our separate ways.
Office dynamics are of the special kind here.
I like it...most days :)
Yes you could probably be describing almost any office but here we go our separate ways at the end of the day! I think in the type of work you do a certain type of individual is definitely attracted to that vocation/lifestyle! I guess the soil of Juba gets under your skin but I can always send you some good black soil if you need a reminder of your roots!
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