Day Sixty-Seven - Farewell Rumbek

Rumbek I will miss you. You treated me well with your cooler temperatures, nice people, nice roads and your night skies.

Incredibly our flight left on time. We did not have to wait at the airport for very long. The flight was over in a blink of an eye it seemed. Due to the small number of people on our 50-seater plane, the landing was less than desireable. Quite bumping and stomach jolting. Gross.

On our walk to the terminal we were blasted with a nice gust of wind and filth from what I presume was a passing plane. Once in the terminal we had to wrangle our way to our luggage. It is diffcult to get people to move out of the way for you so a little shove is usually necessary.

We went to work at Arkel...remember those deadlines I was talking about...

Today was a disappointing food day. The Ethipian restaurant and the Chinese place both let us down.

I found Orion's Belt last night for the first time. It made my day! Due to the fact that I am halfway across the world my sense of direction is a little off and the constellations are in different places in the sky and are all facing other directions. For instance Orion back home is vertical in the sky, here he is laying on his side. A very different perspective.

I was also givena Dinka name by a man who was working at Safaria Style. The name he gave me was Amir. I haven't accepted it yet because I do not know what it means but it is still pretty cool. I will keep you posted on whether or not I figure out what it means...

Day Sixty-Six - Gum Boots

I bought a pair of gum boots (what I call rubber boots) today. Slightly against my own will but I think it was a necessary purchase and I will not ever regret buying them. Alexandra would not have let me leave Rumbek without purchasing them anyways so I had no choice. Haha. I will forever be reminded of the acreage/the farm when I slip on a pair of rubber boots. Now I am one of the kawajas who wear gum boots around...

This morning I had tea in the market at a shop who's generator had just started working so they were taking full advantage. I do not know if I will ever get used to the ruckus made by generators. It is so invasive and disruptive to your senses. I was sitting on blue chair, beside a blue door, drinking my "heavy tea leaves and little sugar" tea, out of a ceramic coffee mug. I have noticed that here in Rumbek glass mugs without a handle are not very common. I was sitting somewhat out of sight of people walking past the tea shop so I could observe and people watch without much disturbance.

Day Sixty-Five - Prairie Towns

I am sitting listening to the rain fall on my tin roof and watching out the window as it falls on the ground. I like Rumbek. Maybe it is due to the fact that I have a lovely room, with real windows, doors, and I do not have to walk out side to use the toilet or the shower, but I really do think from what I have experienced and observed, Rumbek seems like a decent place to live. I like the atmosphere. The way it makes me feel. It is good. I was told today that Rumbek is at its best this time of year. It is green and lovely, the weather is cooler, rain is always welcomed here. In February it is apparently just gray. I can imagine it. I am sure it is much like how Southern Alberta falls are. Everything is blah. No color. Just brown. Maybe I will come to Rumbek in February. I would definitely like to come back here one day.

The ground here in our hotel compound is very interesting. It is different colors and I have made the conclusion that the color determine whether or not you will sink into it or not, or how deep you will sink, or if you are just going to slip on the surface. There is light brown, dark brown, greenish brown and then there are distinct paths which are sporadic but have been made from red rock. There may be another color of dirt but tiredness has fogged my mind. You certainly want to avoid the greenish brown ground. You will slip and fall. The dark brown ground will leave you with a mud caked shoe or sandle. The light brown ground or redish path are the best kind of ground to walk on. Ultimate ground to walk on!

Today was another day I was reminded how small our world is, and it was confirmed that Rumbek is an interesting place that has good people living here. I met a woman today, who is actually a friend of Natalie's. We did the normal where are you from small talk and such. She had mentioned Canada so I figured I was safe to say that I was from Alberta. She looked at me and said, "I am from Calgary". I said I was from Olds, just on the chance that she knew it and her jaw dropped a little. She has family living in Didsbury! I NEVER thought I would come to Sudan and have someone here who would know where I was from and grew up in the same area.

Day Sixty-Four - The Dinka Way

I may or may not have called very loudly/yelled at one of my data collectors from across the market today. That is right. I was the kawaja yelling from the other side of the street today. I did not care if it was appropriate or not. My patience had run out after waiting for almost an hour for my last data collector to come back at the end of the day. Benedicte and I did get to ride in a rickshaw for the first time, well the first time for me. It was fun. A good way to brighten my not so pleasant mood caused by my lack of patience at the end of the day...

I had a conversation about my age and my martial status with my data collectors and some random men who have become my Rumbek friends. I find it interesting how this is such a hot topic with the majority of men that I meet here. The problem with it is that I have a hard time lying about the fact that I am single and certainly do not have any children. When I choose to tell the truth I always end up regretting it. Haha. I have to get it in my head that making up stories are the best ways to avoid inappropriate marriage offers. After saying all of this, I did tell these men that I am engaged, or promised to a man back in Canada. One of the guys asked what kind of dowry was given for me. I said matter of factly that in Canada we do not have dowries. Wrong thing to say if I was looking for a way to end this conversation topic. The men were interested because they said if they see a pretty girl like me and find out she is promised to another man, they will find out what the dowry is and if they can, they will offer the girls family more than the man who already has her did to take her as his own. Wowza.

Lesson learned: I need to make up extravagant stories about how I am very happily married with many children back in Canada.

Best advice heard: This comes from Natalie. If a man does suggest that he would like you to become one of his wives the thing you need to say that "in my culture women do not share their men. We are selfish woman and want our man all to ourselves so there is no possible way I could become a 2nd, 3rd or 4th wife". This would be a very respectful way of turning down the proposal.

Best thought had in the Rumbek market to date: Next time some random person comes up to me and tries to talk with me, I may just pretend that I do not speak English. I think I know enough spanish to make that believable. "No hablo engles. ?Como esta? !Vete!" I think it is brilliant.

Day Sixty-Three - Remined of a Small World

Many things happened today.

I met a woman today. This woman (I unfortunately do not recall her name) had heard we were new people working in town so wanted to get to know us and introduced herself as working in the area with a North American organization. Of course being from North America I asked which one and in reply she said MCC. Awesome. Random. The mennonite world is small. She knows 2 people who I know from CMU. And there were even 2 people who graduated from CMU years ago also working here. I did not catch their names due to the fact that we were heading out to go finish doing our work. But my goodness everywhere it always amazes me how small the world really is.

I got to drive today AND the stearing wheel was on the wrong side! It felt surprisingly normal. Mind you I did not have to drive on the opposite side of the road but still not normal for me to be sitting on the right side of the vehicle driving. It was awesome. It made me want to have my own personal vehicle, except the thought of driving in Juba is a little scary. I could do it though. I am aggressive enough I could drive in Juba.



I also went swimming and basked in the glorious sun which my body was craving today. I think the last 2 days have been too overcast and my skin was revolting against the clouds. It got sun. Plenty of it. Benedicte and I even got to entertain a group of young children, who I think were mostly boys, while we were swimming. We were there for about 2 hours and while laying on the nice wooden sun beds, we noticed some snickering near us. The fence to the hotel compound is next to public property so anyone can walk past. Hence the small children snickering and staring at us. I am sure we were quite a sight with our kawaja skin showing in our bathing suits. They were probably overwhelmed with our whiteness. The total head count was 9. Then they were chased away by one of the staff from the hotel and oh man did those kids run. Haha.



We were attacked by a bold beetle at dinner. Actually Alexandra was attacked. Well her soup was attacked. Unfortunately I was sitting right beside Alexandra and when she freaked out about the massive beetle that had just landed in her carrot soup (which tasted like the chicken soup from the previous evening it was just orange tonight) I also freaked out because I then saw the massive black thing in her bowl. The staff and the one man sitting at the next table were all very concerned about all of the commotion coming from our table. I reassured them that we were ok, it was just a bug, and to ignore us. (This was not the first time I had to do this) Their faces were priceless though. They must think we are crazy. We must have looked so ridiculous. I swear if the bug was any bigger or would have landed in Alexandra's lap the table would have been upended. I think if it would have landed in my soup something would have been spilled. This was our dinner adventure.

Living in luxury...minus the attack of the bold bugs.

Day Sixty-Two - Bites

Today is my friend Ashley Reimer's birthday! Happy Birthday my dear!

If I were to get malaria, today would be the day. I was attacked by mosquitoes last night. Seriously. They were out for my blood and succeeded in their mission to get it. I HATE MOSQUITOES. I woke up scratching my arms. It was pretty awful.

I had my usual breakfast. I think tomorrow I will ask for an omelet…I have also realized that I talk a lot about what I eat on my blog. I guess it is because I am going through my day and obviously eating is part of that. I think this trip is a little different because we are being slightly spoiled with the food here. They are very accommodating and it is quite different from what I usually eat when I am in the field.

Going with the trend of food, lunch was vegetable pizza and watermelon. Delish.

I finished training this morning and started data collection, which meant I had free time to get some work done on one of the reports I am doing some writing for. I sat under a tree outside and worked for about 2 hours. I was busy typing listening to music on my computer when I noticed the wind had picked up significantly. That could only mean one thing. RAIN. I packed up my computer and other things and relocated to a covered pad. I did this all just in time. The moment I sat down under the covered area it started to pour. So much rain! We were stranded for 30 minutes waiting for the rain to settle down. It did not. The puddles seem to form instantly. Roads here in Rumbek are must better than in Malakal in the sense that they do not turn to mud puddles and they seem to be relatively easy to walk on. The issue here is that rivers form on either side of the road. Crossing roads becomes a big issue. I am very thankful that UNHCR has been so good at providing us with a driver/vehicle. I do not know what we would do without that.

Tomorrow is our day off, although writing needs to get done so we shall see how much time we get to spend doing nothing. I am really hoping for sunshine so I can chill by the pool, which we have not been able to use yet. Sunshine please come out to play tomorrow.

Day Sixty-One - Training Begins

I woke up at 6am today due to bad dreams and voices in my room. I may have to blame that on the malaria pills…or my insanity. Not a pleasant speaking experience. Due to my early rising I was able to get in a sufficient amount of time on the internet which was actually functioning well enough to use skype. Mom, Dan and Cherilyn were fortunate enough to get to talk with me for an hour and see where I am staying at the moment.

Saidi gave me 3 crepes, I asked for only one, for breakfast today along with some beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. I used my peanut butter for my crepes and it was delicious.

I started training my data collectors today. We found a nice place near the market to do the training, Green View Hotel and Bar. Training went well, we even started training on the phones today.

I got spaghetti with cheese for lunch today! Comfort food! It was very good.

Cattle here have the biggest horns ever. They are very impressive. Seriously one of the cows I saw looked like the weight of its horns was heavier than its backside.

I had tea this afternoon in the market. It was very mediocre. It actually made me miss Malakal. The tea was soooo good in Malakal.

I watched a goat eat a tissue today.

Peace.

Day Sixty - Rolls

I combed my hair for the first time in 6 weeks this morning. It actually felt pretty good. Tangle free for at least a few hours…

I had a decent breakfast of tomatoes, cucumber, beans and 3 pieces of toast and a crepe. They always give me extra bread because of the fact that I don’t eat meat…they must not want me to wither away and see filling me up with carbs will help.

All three of us went to meet with the County Commissioner, who was not in his office, so we went to the SSRRC office in the mean time. The formality of these meetings always makes me nervous. My tendency to giggle due to nerves decided to surface today. I managed to control it through most of the interviews though, thankfully. We made our way back to the C.C. office and met with the executive director while we waited for the County Commissioner. He was a very knowledgeable individual and actually gave us more information than the county commissioner did. Because we did not have our data collectors or translator at this point it was a short day out on the town. We did go to the market where I was able to purchase a new pair of slippers since I left mine in Juba and almost killed myself in the shower without my slippers on…and we got some water due to the fact a small bottle of water costs 4 SDG here at Safari Style.

We took lunch and then prepared for our meeting with our potential data collectors at 2pm. We actually interviewed a woman, which is very rare, but unfortunately her English was not as good as we needed it to be to be one of our data collectors. I was very disappointed. We managed to track down a 3rd data collector by the end of the day so training can begin tomorrow.

We now eat at 8pm to avoid the swarms of mosquitoes. Seriously there are thousands of them at dusk, they just hover around your head it is disgusting. By 8 it is dark and half the mosquitoes disappear. There is still way too many of them at this time. Tonight there was chicken soup so I didn’t have any but asked for one of the rolls. What does Saidi our waiter do for me? He brings a plate of 8 rolls to our table. Seriously. It was hilarious. Alexandra doesn’t eat them so there were 8 rolls to share between Benedicte and I. I think my mother has some competition over who is more concerned with my eating habits, her or the people here at Safari Style.

Day Fifty-Nine - Airport Fever

There is a reason why WFP (World Food Programme), which is the plane we take when flying, has had the acronym WFP altered to mean WFP (Waiting For a Plane). After experiencing the exquisite atmosphere of the Juba airport waiting room for 6.5 hours, yes six and a half hours, it was starting to lose its Juba charm. With the oh-so-stuffy air and dilapidated couches it was not where I would have chosen to spend the majority of my Wednesday.

We arrived at the Juba airport at 8am, after many phone calls to our late driver. Much to our dismay it really did not matter that we were late. We rushed through a breakfast of eggs and untoasted toast accompanied by a delicious latte (first one ever in Sudan). 8:50 we walk back through security and find a seat in the waiting room. 9:00am rolls slowly past, which was our original flight time. By 9:30 I was not surprised that the plane was late. It’s Juba, it is going to happen. A voice came over the incredibly crackly loud speaker and made an unintelligible announcement. The only words the three of us understood were Rumbek and Wau so we got in line, cattle-lined our way on to the bus to take us to the tarmack, exited the bus and were immediately told to get back on, this was not our flight. OH JOY.

There were only 10 people on the 50-passenger plane. I cried a little inside at the though of how wasteful and harmful to the environment our flight was just to get 10 people to Rumbek. *sad face*

We made it to Rumbek after a much needed nap. What did we do when we landed? Found a tree to sit under and wait for UNHCR to pick us. They never came/we didn’t have any contact information for any of the Rumbek staff so we asked the men sitting under the tree if there were taxi’s or boda boda’s we could take. We settled for the boda boda, but then some random guy called the hotel we are staying at to come pick us. It worked out wonderfully. A nice Kenyan man named John picked us and drove us the short distance to Safari Style Hotel.

We got settled into our lovely self-contained rooms. They are huge! Bachelor suite size minus a kitchen, I definitely appreciate it. I have a wardrobe! I can hang up my clothes. So fancy. I am not going to want to leave. AND my mattress! Oh my goodness. Let me tell you about my mattress. There is no evidence of any other person sleeping in this bed. It is the same thickness no matter where you lie. Fancy that eh? No mattress groove = happiness. There is a pool here. It looks nice. And internet which seems to only work at strange hours during the day and of course when it is not raining.

All of our meals are prepared here at the hotel. It is nice not to have to search for a place to eat. I have informed them of my vegetarian needs and they are very accommodating.

There is some breed of deer roaming around the hotels compound. The little ones are cute.

Day Fifty-Eight - Yogurt

This morning I got a head start on packing for the field. Packing ahead of time. Extra points for me!

We were picked from Transmillenium and Benedicte or maybe Alexandra, can’t remember which, had the brilliant idea of stopping at the supermarket to get something for breakfast considering there is nowhere near the office to get breakfast food that is not a rolex. That something turned out to be a nice container of yogurt, which immensely enjoyed. It was such a treat. I ate the whole container throughout the morning. I got mango but will most likely get plain next time. It was a little too sweet but still sooo good

FYI: a rolex is a chapati with egg rolled into it. It was relatively good the first 2 weeks I was here but now I can't really enjoy the thought of eating one now. Not sure why that is. Chapati is unleavened flatbread, usually drowned in oil then fried. Without the generous helping of oil and the egg they are quite tasty with a cup of tea.

We worked all day. I even did a little bit of writing again. I learned that “bi” means with and “bidun” means without. And contrary to what I was told in Cairo, no problem is “mish mish cala” not “mish mish cada”.

Quote of the day: “Ants are bold here. Really ant do you want to crawl on me because I will crush you” – Alexandra. Mosquitoes may not like her but ants sure do.

Today I had the best dinner ever! The most vegetables I have seen since coming to Juba. It was delicious. So many flavors and different vegetables. The Ethiopian place is the greatest. That is going to become a regular meal for me, guaranteed!

Rumbek bound tomorrow.

Day Fifty-Seven - Rain

The sound of rain woke me up at 6 am today. I thought to myself that I should get up and look outside because it seriously sounded like there were buckets of water being poured on top of my tent, but I was way to tired to function properly to crawl out of bed. I may have been imagining the intensity of the rain in my half asleep state but it really did sounds like buckets of rain.

I had tea with real milk, as opposed to powdered milk, and it was delicious. YAY CALCIUM…

Benedicte, Alexandra and I found a restaurant just 5 minutes from the office today. It is very nice. Great food and great price. And the location is awesome considering we only have one vehicle for 6 people. We had cabbage, beans and rice. It brought e back to my days in Torit but it was still delicious. We are definitely going to become regulars there. Only essential thing we need to learn is how to ask for small amount and half beans and half cabbage. One bowl of rice they give each of us could feed a small family. Between the three of us we propbaly know 20 words in Arabic and half of those are Egyptian Arabic which are not understood here in Juba. We are unfortunately lacking in our ability to speak Juba Arabic.

Day Fifty-Six - Working on a Day Off

Normal daily routine. Wake up. Get ready. And go to work. Deadlines are a real big downer on a day off.

I had my first banana in South Sudan for breakfast today. It was delicious. Mother has expressed concern about my getting enough protein. Rest assured I am getting enough protein. What you should be concerned about is getting scurvy. Vegetables and fruit seem to be lacking all the time. I am slowly discovering ways of obtaining these things on a regular basis. We discovered that the Ethiopian restaurant we went to the other day has the most amazing vegetable dish and salad. Seriously vegetable overdose! Most amazing meal ever. Vegetables couldn’t taste any better! Scurvy avoided!

I wrote for one of our reports today and survived. Yay.

We successfully had lunch at Migingo, the place that we attempted to eat at that was smoky and super loud due to the generator. It was good. No smoke or generator. A way more pleasant atmosphere during the lunch hour.

My little miss Medea is 11 months old today! I can’t believe it.

Day Fifty-Five - "Training"

I woke up at 6am to what sounded like buckets of water being dumped on my tent.
Sleeping in was an option today but of course I did not. The rain kept me awake. I did have a relaxing morning though.

We left for Arkel in the pouring rain. It didn’t stop raining until noon.

Knowing a little bit about what the road to Arkel is like is important in this story. The road from Transmillenium to Arkel takes about 10 minutes by foot provided it has not rained. When it had rained you have a whole other situation to deal with. For those of you who have grown up on a farm or ever been out to the section out at the Flinn farm, the access roads to the fields are a good comparison to the road here except I think the road here may be worse. There are good parts and there are horrible parts. There is a section very close to Trans that turns into a lake when it rains. Then there is a small ditch that turns into a creek when it rains. And then there is what I have dubbed “the ditch” which turns into a river when it rains. Seriously. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it today. Thank goodness we were in the car. It is becoming clear to me that I need to invest in a pair of gumboots. I may have said that already but I will be purchasing some in the future.

This is a section of our road, not the river though, just one of the lakes...very tricky to walk around, especially at night.



We had Forcier Consulting training today. It was more conversation about any issues we were having and learning how to determine whether or not our translator is doing his job correctly. Learning to decipher whether the translator is not telling you everything or translating what you are saying incorrectly is crucial for our work. You may ask the question, “what are the issues facing the youth in your community?”, the translator may say, “she is wondering about the youth and what they are doing”. There were better examples in the meeting, which made me laugh because they were so ridiculous but I don’t remember them. Basically you need to make sure you are very clear with your translator and if you say 10 words and the translator only says 3, he obviously is not translating correctly. And the same if the person you are talking to talks for 5 minutes and the translator only says a few sentences back to you. He is not doing his job. It would be perfect if I were able to download languages into my brain. That would be amazing!

We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch and it was so delicious. They were slow but the food was worth the wait. We will certainly eat there again.

Training was finished at 4.

We attempted to try a new restaurant for dinner but when we got there it was terribly smoky, the generator was deafening and all of the tables were full. There was no way we were going to enjoy a meal in in that environment so to Wonderful Chinese place we went. We had a very hilarious experience. Alexandra spent a year in China so knows Mandarin. There was a group of men speaking Mandarin behind us and I notice Alexandra was quite distracted listening to them. She leaned over the table and said to us, those guys have been talking about how beautiful we are for the last 20 minutes. And then…one of the guys was very drunk and came over and talked to us and they found out that Alex could understand them. They were horrified to find that she knew what they were saying. It was hilarious.

Peace!

Day Fifty-Four - Locked Out

We went to the office, which is a 30ish minute drive from Transmillenium, at 9 to find that none of us were in possession of the key for the pad lock on the door. So we made our way to the teashop down the road. Rose is the name of one of the ladies who works there. I am sure we will get to know her well. One of them has a daughter and she is so precious. She stands there and stares at us. We enjoyed a cup of coffee, which has some sort of spice in it, possibly cinnamon and some bread. Not a well-balanced breakfast but it would hold us until lunch. We sat for probably an hour and eventually got into the office.

We worked until 6 in our office. All 6 of us crowded in the relatively small room, which has been invaded by ants. They are everywhere! They seriously crawl out of our computers. When we have that many people breathing in the small room it gets warmed up pretty quickly. It is a bit of a relief when people leave to go run errands and such.

Once we got back to Thong Ping, we had an unplanned pre-dinner walk because we could not find the restaurant we wanted to eat at. It is a Kenyan place called Karibuchoma. We did find it after walking back and forth and around the block twice. In this adventure there was a man bold enough to not call us Kawaja but shout out, “White ladies! White ladies!”. The restaurant was actually quite disappointing. We were attacked by mosquitoes, and none of us got what we ordered, AND we ate in the dark. Haha. Probably won’t go back to that place any time soon.

I talked to Lisa this evening. It was excellent. She was at work painting and I of course thought about how my painting arms are certainly not as strong as they used to be. I may need to scrounge up some painting projects while I am here to keep my arms buff and strong…

Day Fifty-Three - Return to Juba

I woke up at 7 and felt exhausted. I was so cold all night, therefore did not sleep well. We had breakfast. Mandazi is a locally made bread/donut type thing. It is quite good. Reminds me a little bit of Gramma’s homemade donuts. UNHCR actually came and picked us up to take us to the UNMIS compound for a de-brief and then back to the airport. I was impressed. They finally did something right. We got to the airport just after 9 and waited at the airport until 12:30. Our landing in Juba was very rough. I do not like turbulence one bit.

Akshaya and I spent the afternoon together at Nimule lounging in the sun. It was very relaxing. She is leaving tomorrow so it was good to spend one last afternoon with her.

I had the best vegetarian pizza for supper and we enjoyed a night out on the town to celebrate Askhaya’s last night here.

Days for travel are lost days in my mind. Nothing ever really gets done on a day of travel, no matter how long you are travelling for. I am totally fine with that. It makes a good excuse to have a day off.

Day Fifty-Two - Malakal Finished

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.

Day Fifty-One - Malakal Teachings

Always assume you will be rained on at least once a day.

Accept mud covered feet and pants.

Gum boots would have been a good investment.

Never trust a taxi driver who tries to majorly over charge you the first time…he will do it again.

People run on their own agenda here.

I have to learn to be patient. As Cherilyn tells me, my grip reaction is to panic and over-react. I need to switch from panic to patience. Think it's possible?

The tea is delicious. It almost tastes like chai tea from home.

People are always enamored with a kawaja.

Dress code matters in the field. According to a certain someone, not naming names here, tights are NOT pants no matter how long the top you are wearing is anywhere besides Juba. AND tank tops are a no-no. Pants and covered shoulders = increased safety and appropriateness but not immunity to the stares from locals.

The laowa is a traditional article of clothing for women in Malakal to wear. I learned this from the woman who was fascinated with my eyebrow ring. She couldn’t believe it was actually pierced through my skin.

There are many different forms of scarring for each different tribe. I would be very interested to learn the meaning of each kind. I know it differentiates tribes but I am not sure if that is the only thing.

Water is brown here. Just have to accept the facts.

Agriculture and fishing are dangerous occupations for locals.

Malakal is not the safest place at night.

One small orange cost 2 SDG.

Lemons are tiny and green.

A white girl in a small market creates overcrowding and staring from 15 children and 10 adults and many more stares from passerbys.

Day Fifty - Patience

It's August!

I have lost all my patience and a little respect for Malakal UNHCR. After having to leave our accommodations in UNMIS compound, we had to wait for 3 hours waiting to get a ride into town. The whole time they told us “just wait, the driver is coming in 10 minutes”. Longest 10 minutes of my life.

I dreamed last night that we were late because of UNHCR delaying us and I missed my meeting with the SSRRC. I woke up in a panic, and already knew that this morning was going to be like every other morning at the UNHCR office. My dream was only partly accurate. We were horribly late but I still managed to meet with the SSRRC director.

Our only option for accommodations in town was at the New Sudan Hotel for around 300 SDG!!! Too much money but we had no choice. The rooms are huge and self contained and very nice. I thought it was a double bed but it was actually just two single beds put together…disappointed but not complaining.

We ate lunch at our usual place. I got lentils today! They were very good and a welcomed change from the foul.

I worked on case studies this afternoon but was cut short due to rain. I talked with a woman who owned a restaurant who insisted that I take her home with me to Canada, even after I said that I was not going back to Canada but to Juba. She was cute.

With an hour of rain the roads became nearly impassable. I even had to get Lawrence’s assistance in crossing some of the larger puddles. I did not feel like being the kawaja covered in mud for the rest of the afternoon.

The water at this hotel is absolutely filthy. I feel as though it is counter productive to shower with dirty water. Washing one layer of dirt off while adding a new one. It is probably straight from the Nile. I seriously thought that I had that much dirt on my person, until I realized that was a ridiculous thought and it was not possible that I was that dirty. Brown water = Malakal quality.

I would also like to take the time to point out that I have spelled forty wrong in all of my day forty posts and no one made a comment....don't I feel like an idiot...

Day Fourty-Nine - 6 Weeks

I have been in South Sudan for 6 weeks. Hard to believe. It is a hot and sunny Sunday, our day off. And we can actually have the day off. No work to be done today.

We were almost forced to move out of UNMIS compound this morning. The staff who’s rooms Lawrence and I are staying in were to return to Malakal today so that meant we had to move into town. By lunch time it had been determined that there was no way that they could get security clearance on a Sunday so we got one last day at UNHCR. It was good to be able to stay put, relax and not have to deal with finding hotel rooms in town.

Lunch was delicious today. A flavor filled dish with eggplant in it. And there was pasta so a really nice change from rice. Lawrence found a Chinese film to watch on TV, which required me to go take a nap. The majorly unrealistic fighting scenes are just too much for me to handle. After a lovely 2 hours nap, I had some dinner. It was not as good as lunch but still filled me up.

The landscaping in the UNHCR compound is very nice. The sidewalks are lined with the beautiful flowers which I put in my last post. The flowers were all different colors even though they were all from the same plant. It was very intriguing. Like there were flowers of different shades of pink, orange, and red on the same plant. So beautiful.




It is amazing how 6 weeks here feels like twice the amount of time. Being gone for a year is going to be a whole new experience. Being in Cairo for 4 months felt like I was there for 8 months so maybe being here for 1 year will feel like 2 years. Only time will tell.

PEACE.

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…

Day Fourty-Seven - Mud Puddle

The dirt here is very strange. Any amount of rain turns the roads into mud puddles and makes for a very treacherous walk. Many of the locals take off their shoes or slippers and walk barefoot. It was tempting because I was not having much success walking in my sandals, but the risk of cutting my foot and getting typhoid was too high. And I think Lawrence would ban me from walking anywhere if I did that. So I have started calling Malakal Mud Puddle instead. It suits the location much better. If we would have been there any longer I would have invested in a pair of gum boots.
Oh AND it was sooo cool when the donkey carts (they are everywhere) went through the mud. The splashing looked like fireworks, or something like that. I of course got very excited when I saw this so was made fun of by Lawrence or just given very strange looks from people.

I finally met the SSRRC director, after walking to the office in the mud attempting to not fall on my butt or face.

I have to wait until Monday to meet with community leaders because 1000s of returnees just came by boat today so they are occupied with getting them organized.

I started some retailer interviews today. Yay. Being productive!

Friday nights are party nights at the UNMIS compound in Malakal. And by party nights, I mean people go to the Hard Rock Café, drink beer and listen to bad music in an over-air-conditioned room. I would go crazy if I had to live in Malakal. Being cooped up in a UN compound every day and not being able to leave after 6pm does not sounds like it would be fun. It would get old very fast.

Day Fourty-Six - "Africa Day"

This morning I was greeted with empty pipes in my bathroom. No water. The water was finished and no one thought it would be a good idea to refill the water tank. Lovely. Breakfast changed my mood due to the fact that I got an ORANGE! Along with bread and tea. Yay fruit!! This certainly made up for the lack of running water.

I wish I wouldnt have left my peanut butter behind in Juba though. With all the plain bread I have been eating the thought of PB is wonderful. The last 2 times I have been in the field I have not used it so I was trying to be smart and save on luggage but in hindsight it was a bad idea to leave it behind.

We ended up waiting 3 hours at UNHCR today for a ride into town. Absolutely ridiculous. My patience was sure tested this trip. UNHCR only has one driver at the time because they sent all their other drivers to the field to deal with security problems and the mass amount of returnees in places near the border. I don’t remember the names of the places they were sent. So we waited while being told, “just 10 more minutes” and “the driver is coming”. I went straight to the SSRRC office when we finally made it to town. Unfortunately I missed the director once again. So in my frustration with that I made my way to the ARC compound to talk to someone about the conditions of the market. It was quite helpful and the man I talked to was very kind. I went back to Lawrence, we had lunch and called it a day. Yet another unproductive day but I can’t do any of my work until I talk with the SSRRC director or someone from there.

Day Fourty-Five - The C.C.

Of course the time when I go to the field without my pillow there is no pillow in my room. Not ideal. Breakfast was some sort form of oatmeal, bread and tea. I have opted for tea instead of coffee because instant coffee is not very good without fresh milk and the existence of fresh milk rarely happens. So Yellow Label Lipton tea it is.

We got a ride into town around 10:30. It is roughly 10 minutes into town on a very bumpy road that is always lined with people walking to and from UNMIS compound.

We met with my translator and Lawrence’s data collectors at a restaurant in Souq Kabir Market. They are nice. The one guy always looks like he is about to ask a question so that was quite entertaining.

We met with the County Commissioner to inform him of what we were going to be doing in Malakal and for the first time he directed me to someone else, the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC). I was quite surprised with this because in every other place the County Commissioner has the ultimate authority. So we went footing (this is what people say instead of walking…very odd) to the SSRRC office. The director was not there meaning there was nothing I could do in the markets until I informed the director of what Lawrence and I were going to be doing for the next 8 days. Everything is very official here, which is a good thing. The C.C. appreciates being called 'Your Excellency". If you call him that he will know you are giving him your utmost respect. It is a little intimidating going into the County Commissioner office but a very necessary part of my work.

Back to UNMIS we went to relax for the rest of the day. A very unproductive day but that is the way it goes.

We got dinner (they do not call it supper here) at the UNHCR compound. The cook Beatrice is Kenyan and good at what she does. It was just a mix of peas and rice for me. There was the option of meat stew but no thank you. Because I am vegetarian here, they have to make me special dishes, which I am very grateful for.

Day Fourty-Four - Off to Malakal

Today I woke up and packed all of my very damp/still wet clothes to go to Malakal for 10 days. It rained the past 2 days, therefore my clothes only got washed yesterday meaning none of them had dried and I needed them in order to clothe myself while in Malakal. It most definitely added like 5kg to my bag.

Lawrence and I flew to Malakal at 12:00. I slept the whole flight, which was just over an hour. We landed in Malakal, which has a much nicer airport than in Juba and proceeded to wait 2 hours for a pick up. It turned out the contracting company did not even know we were coming so they were not prepared to send a vehicle to come and get us from the airport. After quite a few phone calls and patiently waiting, Lawrence and I took matters into our own hands and called for a taxi. We took a taxi to the compound, the driver tried to royally rip us off the taxi fare, we refused to pay him what he wanted. We got into the compound to find only security guards there. We discovered that due to security issues the contracting company compound has moved to UNMIS compound outside of the town. So we called another taxi to drive us 10 minutes to the UNMIS compound. This taxi driver was even worse than the first one with trying to over charge us. The stupid thing about this is that if Lawrence was alone (Lawrence is Kenyan) he wouldn’t have been charged that much, but because I was there obviously white people have money and don’t know what they are doing so the taxi drivers tried to get money from us. Such is the way it goes here.
We finally made it to the office. They were surprised to see us. They had no accommodations for us in the compound so we had to drive into Malakal town to find somewhere to stay. After 2.5 hours of driving around, we discovered there was only 1 room for 255SDG/night available. We informed the company of this fact and magically 2 rooms in their compound opened up for us. So we made our way back to the compound to get set up in our self-contained air-conditioned rooms. There is really nothing like having your own bathroom, which you do not have to walk outside to use.

Overall today was a gong show but in the end everything got sorted out and we were not homeless in Malakal.

Day Fourty-Three - 25 ON THE 25TH

Sadly I have 14 days to catch you up on and I of course do not have the time to properly describe what has gone on in my life since Independence Day. I will try to sum it up as well as I can with all the best stories included.

July 10th - Recovered from the Independence day celebrations and a long day in the sun by sitting by the Nile with friends until late evening and an early bedtime.

July 11th - While at Nimule working, we met a lawyer who looked like John Candy. It was weird.

July 12th - I got bit by, what Lawrence tells me, is a Nairobi fly and had a reaction to the bite. Disgusting.

July 13th- Eastern Equatoria. Left for Torit with our driver Angelo and Lawrence. It was a 2.5 hour drive. The roads were decent. The scenery was gorgeous once we got further away from Juba. Very mountainous, a ton of trees and crops. Very beautiful and much more pleasant to look at than Juba. We found accomodations at the Eastern Equatoria Guest House. Nice double bed but shared bathrooms. Downer. There is not much in Torit. It has its basic ammenities, and that is all. So many goats everywhere. And they are not afraid of vehicles. They stay in the middle of the road. Stupid goats.

July 14th - After many phone calls to different NGOs we got organized for our trips to Magwi and Abara. Supper = beans and rice.

July 15th - I went to Magwi and Abara with my translator Henry. It took 2.5hours on very bumpy roads to get to Magwi. Abara took 30 minutes on a road that looks like a dried up river bed. Some thing broke on the truck on our way home and we ended up being towed by Plan International. Plan's driver found a log, and used it to tied the two trucks together. Very strange but relatively effective. The whole time I was thinking, why don't you have chain in your truck for moments like this. Hahah. I guess it is the African way. Lunch and Supper = Beans, rice and cabbage

July 16th - I did focus groups with youth today. I was supposed to meet with community leaders but it was Saturday so they didn't work. I get my days mixed up sooo often here. Not convenient at all. I had a very drunk woman follow me all day around the market. She didn't know her name because she drinks too much. She was harmless but very annoying. Lunch in the Magwi and Supper in Torit at Safari Link Hotel = Beans, rice and cabbage

July 17th - There were seriously intense thunderstorms during the night. I barely slept because of the thunder and the wind. It was also our day off. We relaxed. Attempted to use the internet, it was so slow I couldn't even open my gmail. Lunch was yet again beans rice and cabbage. For supper Lawrence and I splurged and got fish with rice. It was pretty good and the fish was a nice change.

July 18th - Everybody, data collectors, translator and Lawrence left for Magwi. We almost drove off without my translator. Packed into the truck. It was a serious workout trying not to crush Lawrence in the front seat and keep out of the way of the gear shift for Angelo. A different drunk woman followed me around today. The drive home went relatively quick. We ate at a local place, and had beans and bread.

July 19th - We went to Abara today on the riverbed road. There are these brilliantly red birds that are always flying around. I like them. We also see monkeys. We got rained out in Magwi and had to camp out in the truck for most of the afternoon. We ate supper at a place called Los Angeles. It was very good food and our waitress was Kenyan, Lawrence is also Kenyan, so she was super nice to us.

July 20th - Abara community leaders meeting under a tree today. There is something so awesome about being outside for a business meeting. During interviews in the afternoon some random man hit me on the head and just walked away. I am not sure if it hurt more or if I was just so shocked that it felt like it hurt a lot. The thing is with drunk and crazy people in these markets, people do not judge them. So when I get harassed or hit on the head they just say "Take it easy". My response was definitely not take it easy. I don't react well to people hitting me or grabbing my arm trying to get money out of me. It was all good though. I survived and made it out without giving any of my money away.
One of the data collectors told me that in their tradition, if a woman is travelling with only men, she is to carry a stone for protection on the road. I am quite certain he meant safety on the road and not protection from the male. But that is a very superstitious thing but interesting either way.

July 21st - Abara focus groups with youth. Abara is very small. The market was a 1/4 of the size of Magwi so collecting our information was relatively easy because there were few people to interview. Lunch was roasted cassava and sweet tea. Not much available here. And supper was...you guessed it, beans, rice and cabbage.

July 22nd - Today was our last day of research. I mostly sat in the truck typing up notes because I was finished with my interviews. I saw 2 people I know from Juba on the side of the road on our drive back to Torit. They were doing so agricultural research. It was very random and unexpected. We ate supper at Los Angeles and had our same waitress. She was very happy to see us and even gave me a huge hug. It was funny. I spent the evening doing work.

July 23rd - We drove back to Juba today after breakfast of tea and chipati. The drive was dusty. I was covered in layers of dirt, just like I had been everyday since we left Juba. It felt good to be back in Juba except I missed the beautiful scenery of Eastern Equatoria. I did some work in the afternoon and then we went to a party Vivacell was throwing. I am quite certain that every single ex-pat living in Juba was there. I met my two new co-workers. They are both going to be here for 6 months so that is great. While I was in Torit, all I wanted was fruit but there was none to be found. I bought 2 apples here in Juba and they were the most delicious things ever. FRUIT!!

JULY 24TH - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSANDRA!!! I hope you day was lovely. It being my day off, I slept until 9:30, which was the time it become a sauna in my tent and I couldn't sleep any longer. I bought a pair of sandles in the market. The only pair that was my size I could find are red with silver jewel type things on them. They are not exactly my style, but they are super comfortable and a nice change from my other shoes. They were only $10 so I couldn't go wrong...I celebrated my birthday today because 2 of the girls were leaving for the field in the morning. We ate supper by the Nile and then relocated for surprise cake (which read Happy Birthday Caryr. Hahah). I knew something was up because Akshaya was being very suspicious all day so I assumed she was planning something and I was correct. I didn't let he know I had caught on though. It was so great of her to do that for me. A very good birthday celebration. We did stay up past midnight so I got birthday wishes on my actual birthday.

July 25th - Happy Birthday to me. I am 25 on the 25th. That's pretty stellar I say. I got a phone call from the parents in the morning. Mom stayed up until 11pm to call me! So impressed. I have been working at the office today trying to get everything done, because tomorrow I go to the field again!. I thought we were leaving on Wednesday so when I discovered we were leaving tomorrow morning I got a little panicked. Hahah. Oh well. I will be ready to go. Lawrence and I are going to Malakal. I am excited to see a new place.

So there is the last two weeks in a very small nut shell.

PEACE!

Day Twenty Seven - SOUTH SUDAN OYEE!

All of the people of South Sudan celebrated the victory of nationhood today, after a very long struggle. They are “free at last”. The 54th country in Africa and the 196th country in the world! The Dawn of a New Nation!

The official celebrations started at 10am at the Dr. John Garang Mausolem and lasted until late afternoon with a parade, and many official speeches.

Our celebration started at 9am at Arkel where we had breakfast and got prepared to walk to the mausoleum because there was no vehicle movement besides foreign dignitaries and police, so footing it was for us. Natalie, Nawaz, Nicole, Akshaya and I all walked together. Not even five minutes into our walk we were stopped by the police...This is how the conversation went:
Police: “Hey! You. Come here!” (pointing at us Kawaja’s (foreigners))
Us the Kawaja’s: Sheepishly walk over to the truck full of police men.
Police: “Take these and give them to people”
Us the Kawaja’s: Take the pile of South Sudan paper flags and sticks, say thank you and happy independence day.

We were quite relieved to know we were not in trouble or that they didn't tell us to go home. Haha. We were stopped due to our lack of national pride! We weren’t being patriotic enough because we didn’t have flags! Good moment of the day.

One of the strangest sights of the day was the airport actually. It was like a parking lot for planes. I don’t think Juba has seen so many aircrafts in such a short period of time. AND it is so weird that there were flights at night. The airport is usually only open from 8-5 and we live right near the airport so hearing planes at all hours of the day was odd.

It took about an hour and a half to get to the mausoleum. Along the way we passed out the flags to soldiers, children and other random people. Natalie actually met one of the guys she worked with in Cairo. She hasn’t seen him since 2008. Very small world. We made it to the parade after a lot of hello’s to soldiers and Oyee’s to everyone. Oyee is a cheer and basically means hooray....every other word was Oyee yelled at the top of people's lungs. The parade was amazing. Tons of traditionally dressed groups of people, cattle herders, dancers, soldiers, orphans and widows of the war, and many many other groups. Once we got to the mausoleum there wasn’t much too look at except the amazingly huge crowd. We did see President Salva Kir’s envoy drive past. That was cool. And also at this point in time, we walked past a man who he had a mask on and was splashing water on everyone as he passed. We later found out that this dressed up man was a fertility blesser/doctor/I don’t know what the proper term is. So apparently if you got splashed with the water you would be blessed with great fertility…we were not at all impressed that we were splashed with "fertility water". Haha.

After all of this walking and spectating I was very thirsty, very hot, very sweaty and so ready to find some lunch and water, which is precisely what we did. We had a delicious late lunch with plenty of water. Very nice.

It was way too hot to stay out at the mausoleum and attempt to hear the speeches. So we opted to walk home and watch the speeches on tv, which we watched at Transmillenium.

Akshaya and I went to Nimule afterwards and went for a lovely swim. It was so nice. Nimule has a beautiful pool which we have so kindly been given permission to use for now. We met some diplomats children, they were at the mausoleum but complained so much they were bored their father sent them to go swimming. They were very cute. We unfortunately had to vacant the pool due to a thunder and lighting storm.

I called home today. Figured it was a good day to call and see how everyone was doing. Mom was quite speechless at first. It was funny.

Akshaya and I ate supper at a very small and very local shop down the street. Ugali, greens and eggs. Good to fill the stomach and cheap which is excellent.

We went to De Havana again for the continued celebration of Independence. It was fun. Very packed. I also ventured next door to Logali house and I met 2 of the late John Garang’s sons. Very interesting, very cool. I have met many people who are working with or for the president, SPLA or other important sectors and have had major influence in the liberation of the people of South Sudan. It is unreal.

Only regret of the day is that I did not have my camera. We weren’t sure what security would be like so with the size of my camera it may have been difficult to take pictures, but sadly it would have been totally fine. I know from experience I should ALWAYS bring my camera, but oh well. Even though I was not able to document the day, I was able to fully take in the moment without looking at everything through my lens.

Signing off today from the newest country in the world!!!

PEACE!

Day Twenty Six - Eve of Independence

A new country is born tomorrow. Incredible. I am quite amazed that I am living in the country the day it becomes independent. Certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity, and long time coming for the people of South Sudan.

After a late start to the day, Akshaya and I made our way to Nimule and worked on the report. At 2:30 we had to leave and go to Natalie’s because the UN put their people on a lockdown so that meant we had to get closer to home. The lockdown did not mean that there was imminent danger. It just meant that due to all of the foreign dignitaries flying in from everywhere meant that security was high and being out on the streets was probably not the best idea. A lot of people made themselves scarce during yesterday and today because of how intense security on the streets was. We actually started a game of how many seconds are there between soldiers. I think the average was around 8 seconds. SO MANY MEN IN UNIFORM. So to say the least our work for the day was finished. It is quite hard to concentrate and be motivated to do work when you are living in a place that in under 24 hours is to become the newest nation in the world.

We started the evening out at Arkel. There was a poker tournament going on and it is within walking distance of Transmillenium so one of our only options at that point. I of course did not join the game, only spectated. I didn’t feel like losing money because I certaining would have lost. After a few hours of hanging out there we got tired of poker (kinda boring) so we made our way to a club with some friends because Arkel was not the place we wanted to spend the night before independence and we were given permission to go out on the town and join the celebrations! De Havana was jam packed with people, spirits sky-high. I do not know if I have seen people any happier than the people that were at De Havana. It was amazing. The streets were alive with people celebrating the eve on independence. It was difficult to drive in certain places because the streets were so full of people. It was an excellent night full of joy and celebration, which I will never forget and never experience anything like it again I am sure.

Day Twenty Five - "The Field" In Picture

Another day spent at Nimule, staring at my computer screen, attempting to write the report for the UMCOR project. Not really anything too exciting to write about today…so picture post it is… All of these photos are from my trip to Aweil and the markets in Gok Machar and Ariath...

Day Twenty Four - Christine's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Christine!! I can’t believe it is already July 6th. I hope you had a lovely day in Canmore. Miss you and love you!

I woke up to a man talking loudly on his phone and a baby crying…not ideal. We parked ourselves at Nimule for the morning. They served a delicious breakfast, probably the best since I came here. I worked most of the morning on stuff for the report.

Nicole and I were to meet Natalie for a business meeting at 1 but we ended up being locked in the Nimule compound for a half hour. They weren’t letting anyone in or anyone out so we were forced to wait. This was probably due to the fact there are some important people staying at Nimule for independence so they were probably doing something with security at that time, inconveniently for us. Once they finally let us out, the soldiers searched our bags and asked if we had guns, maybe a joke but doubtful. We obviously had no guns.

We took a trip to JIT after the meeting. It is basically a North American style grocery store. I bought some peanuts and peanut butter. Very excited about that. They will be great for in the field. We drove past the tower which has the countdown for Independence Day and I am going to say it was malfunctioning…1 DAY 34 HOURS 2024 SECONDS LEFT UNTIL JULY 9TH INDEPENDENCE!...An odd way to countdown I would say…

I went to a Thai restaurant, Home and Away, for supper with Akshaya and a big group of her friends she has met here in Juba. It was nice. I had a good conversation with a woman from Japan and a doctor from Arizona. From here we went to the ICRC compound for a short while. I met a guy from Harvard who's wife is from Edmonton. That was interesting. I never actually asked where he was from originally...maybe next time.

So here is a brief history of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Aweil… NBeG is one of the 25 states of Sudan(I think there are 25 states, there may only be 12, I better look that up). It borders South Darfur, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Warab and Abyei. Aweil is the capital of the state. Throughout the year rural villager from Aweil are forced to seek refuge in the city due to floods during the rainy season. I certainly can understand this because we were affected by the rains and it is just the start of the rainy season. Dinka is the language and people group in this area. The Dinka are one of the largest tribes in the South, and are easily recognizable. Very tall and thin, with high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes. On the foreheads of the men are deep scars, running along their brows and meeting in the middle. Very distinguishable. From what I understand this is an initiation boys receive when they are a teenager and the scars are to resemble horns. I have seen other patterns of these scars but do not know what they mean.

So there you go.

PEACE!

Day Twenty Three - The Report Writing Begins

I woke up curled up in a ball shivering at 2am this morning. I had to loot around in my bags for the sheet I brought from home because the ladies failed to provide me with one, and I failed to realize this before I went to sleep. Once I got curled up under my sheet I slept until my alarm went off.

The new office, which is located at the Compass organization office a half hour drive from Tong Ping, has no power so we went to Jebel lodge for our staff meeting. We got delicious French press coffee and sorted through a whole lot of things. I am leaving for Magwi and Abara with Lawrence on July 13th for more research work. We can drive there so no flying this time. I think I will be gone for 10 days but it may only be a week. I kindly interrupted our meeting due to a spider dropping into my lap. I of course had a full cup of coffee in my hand so I proceeded to freak out that there was a spider on my lap, splashing coffee everywhere and making a great first impression with Lawrence and Chelly (our new accountant). I recovered and cleaned up the coffee, but it took a while for my heart rate to go down… Nicole and I sat at Jebel until 4 working on the UMCOR report. I spent the whole time making tables for data entry. It was more difficult than it should have been but I slowly caught on what I needed to do by the end.

We switched locations and went closer to home, Nimule restaurant, which had no internet except for a months pass. We eventually swindled our way into getting free internet for the rest of the day…excellent. This place has a gorgeous pool which looks ever so inviting but it is only open to people staying in the hotel here. Tear.

Us girls went for a walk at UNMIS. I was really looking forward to going for a run but we were talking about work stuff so I had to stick with the pack. Boo. Maybe next time. I did get to watch a beautiful sunset and moon rise.

Akshaya, Lawrence, James and I went out for supper. We started at some place I do not recall the name but they did not have any vegetables, and I wasn’t in the mood for meat and Akshaya is a vegetarian so we left. We went to Panache, an Indian restaurant. It was really good. A bit pricy but good.

As I was getting ready for bed, a horrible sound came from my roof. It sounded like a half dead or very injured animal was dragging itself across my roof. I didn’t know if it was better to run out and hide in Nicole or Akshaya’s tents or to jump under my mosquito net and hide. I chose the mosquito net. No way I was going outside to be jumped on by a strange unknown injured or dying animal. It was not cool to say the least.

Day Twenty Two - 4th of July in Sudan

Happy Independence Day to all you Americans out there.

I was packed and ready to head to the airport at 7am this morning. It was very overcast, therefore nice and cool. Nicole and I waited at the airport until 10:30 when my little plane arrived. I scored a window seat right behind the pilot on the flight to Wau. It seemed like it took longer than 30 minutes to get from Aweil to Wau, but I sat back, enjoyed the view and some good tunes.

I think I would like to meet James Maskalyk, author of Six Months in Sudan. Have a conversation with him. It would be very interesting. He seems like a person I would enjoy talking to. I recommend this book to all of you out there….

Back in Juba at 3:30 after a horribly turbulent flight. UGH…I was so nauseous for most of the hour and 15 minute flight. It was raining when we landed. Our driver James picked us up and took us to Transmillenium, where instead of a tent, I was given a room at the back. It has walls and a concrete floor. Quite luxurious except for the fact there was no outlet…which was a problem because all my electronics were dead.

Nicole, Natalie and I went to the UNMIS compound and walked the track there, which is really just the road around the compound. It was very muddy but next time we go I want to try running instead of walking. I think it would be a decent distance run and I certainly don’t want to lose my endurance entirely…it is probably already gone after 3 weeks of not running. We went for supper at the restaurant in the compound, My Place. I had fish and rice, which was delish. It was a nice evening.

Now I am back at camp, writing this on my computer with the plan to post it later. I am quite sleepy and my bed in this room has a legit mattress that does not have a worn out spot where the previous people have slept. Bam! Nice mattress.

There is a giant locust in the bathroom stall with the toilet…I must say I was very excited to use a real toilet and not a squat toilet but that locust has dashed my hopes of that…

T-minus 5 days until Southern Sudan’s Independence.

Day Twenty One - Powerless

I have 50 minutes of battery left on my computer before it dies. The generator is out of fuel so that means no power for us today. It is quite unfortunate than all of the things I have for entertainment need power, except my book. Being relient on power is an unfortunate thing in a place where fuel is not always available and the power is unreliable. I have survived. And it is back to Juba in the morning so I can charge up my stuff there.

I woke up at 7 this morning and could not get back to sleep due to my spot on the bed being so overheated from me lying there all night. Being up early on my day off is not ideal but when you can’t sleep you can’t sleep.

I sent all of the data we collected at the markets and attempted to start working on the report but I did not get much done.

Nicole and I went to a place called Unique for lunch. I waited an hour for them to cook some beans because I was not interested in trying their chicken or beef stew. It was good, but waayy too big of a portion and they don’t really do take away here…

We had a relaxing afternoon. It absolutely poured rain for about an hour. Torrential downpour. The windows in my room were open so there was a nice big puddle beside my bed. Thank goodness my stuff didn’t get wet. The rain is a welcomed break from the heat. It really cools the air and makes things fresh. That is the only good thing about the rain. I am sure the road conditions are worse than before and hopefully the rain stays away until we fly out tomorrow or else the air strip may be closed….knock on wood that doesn’t happen.

We went to UNMIS for supper. I had lentils and chips….my last night for chips. Gotta stay fit… Our nice evening stealing electricity and eating a meal in a air conditioned room was interrupted by the loudest longest thunder I have heard in a very long time. I kind of scared me. Hahah. We hurried our butts home after that because we definitely did not want to walk home in the rain.

AND we came home to a dark compound and a 6 inch long centipede sitting in our room by the door. I could have cried. EWW! It took me like 5 minutes to step over the darn thing and go to the bathroom. I repeat EWW!

Day Twenty - Monkeys!

The sunrise was beautiful today. A perfectly round ball of red and orange layers in the sky. Our driver was late this morning, surprise surprise, so we ended up with the HiLux again this morning with the driver who left me in the wrong market all day yesterday.

I spent the morning in Gok Machar again, instead of in Ariath. There wasn’t enough room for all of us in the truck just like yesterday so I waited and hoped my data collectors were doing their job and that the truck actually comes back to pick Nicole, our translator and me up to take us to Ariath. To my relief the truck showed up at 12:30 and we made the 40 minute trip to Ariath. I saw MONKEYS!! There were like 25 of them all of the road and wandering off into the trees. My first African animal sighting in Sudan… We made it to Ariath in decent time and had some lunch, which consisted of lentils and bread. It was good. My data collectors did a good job and finished the work we needed to get done. Such a relief to be finished. I did two interviews in the market for Nicole. I talked to a woman who makes and sells ground nut paste and another woman selling vegetables and milk. I liked doing the interviews.

The sun was out in full force today. My goodness gracious. My sweat was out of control even in the shade. I have also discovered that even when sitting in the shade the sun can still get you. Sudan’s sunshine is intense.

There are a ton of kids in the market that polish shoes. Some set up in front of tea shops but others walk around with their supplies with noise makers, or tins full of pebbles to get customers. Men are always having their shoes polished.

The drive home was shorter due to the fact that we were already halfway back to Aweil but it felt longer because we were subjected to the squealing radio of our driver. Oh my goodness. Even with my noise reducing headphones, I could hear the squealing and it was horrible. I was about ready to rip the radio out of the dash.

I saw 3 teenage boys on a bike today. I was very impressed with the boy peddling. That must have been difficult with 2 passengers…

Nicole and I went to UNMIS for supper again. I had lentils and chips. My last meal of fries I have decided. I sat there eating my food and could see people running and playing volleyball in the compound. I miss being able to go out for a run. Not really possible here or in Juba. Mind you Juba does have a running track so I will have to hit that up…

I have taken the night off work because I know that I will have to do work tomorrow…

Day Nineteen - CANADA DAY

So I may or may not have let the fact that today was Canada Day slip my mind, but thanks to Mom I didn't totally forget it. Originally I was supposed to be going back to Juba today so July 1st was just the day I was leaving Aweil, not Canada Day. I swear I like my country, my days just get away from me here...

I slept almost 10 hours last night. I woke up a few too many times but I still felt rested in the morning and MUCH better than I did yesterday. I swear I had a fever yesterday. I sweated sooo much through the night.

I have dubbed today as "an Africa day". I did get bread with honey for breakfast but that is where the good of my day stopped. The driver was late and he showed up in a vehicle too small to carry 9 people, 40 minutes to the market we were supposed to be working in today. So without any cell service to seek some solutions to our vehicle problem, I sent the data collectors to Ariath, the other market 40 minutes from Gok Machar, and then the driver was supposed to come back and pick me and my translator up. The driver never came. I sat at Nylonge's tea shop all day once again and had no work to do. I was supposed to be interviewing women with businesses in Ariath but that was not going to happen. So the driver and the data collectors showed up at 4 and off I went to drive 2 hours with my driver and his squealing radio station. Even my sound minimizing ear buds could not totally drown out that noise.

Nicole said I looked like I needed a good meal, not chicken broth and rice, so we went to the UNMIS (United Nations Missions in Sudan) compound and got supper. I had a tuna sandwich and fries. It was quite satisfying and I was so full after one half of the sandwich. I definitely appreciated not having to eat a bowl of rice for supper...

On the drive home there are always little boys at certain places along the road filling in the massive holes in the road with dirt. Some of the boys have pieces of cardboard to pick the dirt up with but most of them just use their hands. For as big as the potholes are, I feel like it will take them forever...they need backhoes and a grader on these roads...anything smaller will be useless.