Wet Handshake

After spending a few days in a row at Acumcum compound I needed a change of scenery, so I went with some colleagues to visit a project site a few kilometres out of Wau town.

 

Janet, my work colleague and I decided that we needed to buy a water pot each for our tukuls, so we were in luck when driving into Wau a group of ladies were walking along the side of the ride carrying pots on their heads to the market. We bought one each ($6USD) and nursed them in the vehicle like babies so that they would not break.

 

As we were passing the Wau Airport I noticed that there are about 4 planes scattered close by or alongside of the tarmac - obviously planes that crashed at some stage and have remained in their 'plane graveyard'. It does not make one enthusiastic to fly here!

 

We arrived at the project site, a new suburb on the outskirts of Wau where the government has allocated land to South Sudanese people who have returned home from the North after the civil war ended in 2006. It was so hot and dusty I could barely be bothered greeting people and just wanted to lie down in the shade of a tree.

 

After shaking a number of peoples hands I then went to shake the hand of a very elderly man. He was happily shaking my hand and speaking to me in Arabic. My colleagues were trying to tell him that I do not speak Arabic but he didn't seem perplexed and continued in any event.

 

My colleagues started speaking to other people and the old man with milky eyes continued to talk to me and lifted my hand towards his face. I thought that he may kiss my hand but as it came closer to his mouth he turned it over and spat in the palm of my hand! I was shocked and looked around but no one else had witnessed this event. I sat for the next 15 minutes with my hand hanging limply beside the chair.

 

As soon as I got in the car the antibacterial gel was out and my colleagues could not stop laughing. I asked the meaning and did spitting in someone's palm have some cultural significance? One said he must be a drunk old man, while another other said it means I am promised to marry him, while another said that he is a witch doctor and telling me that I will be protected in that area. Whatever the meaning it was not an event that I want to experience again!

A Few Photos

Map of South Sudan identifying the 10 States. I am in Wau, WBG

World Map showing South Sudan



 



Row of tukuls in the compound

Water pot and broom

 









My tukul

Daily Life

After spending a week at the compound in Acumcum I have come to know the routine of daily life here.

08:00 - Breakfast consists of either boiled cassava or taro and tea or instant coffee. No fresh milk, only powdered! Twice per week there may also be some oranges.

09:00 - 13:00 - The generator comes on and if you are staying at the office you walk 100 metres next door, switch on the internet and fans and start work.

13:00 - 15:00 - Lunch consists of ugali (sorghum flour cooked with water to form a porridge) or rice or cassava and broth. Usually we have a rest in the communal building or our own tukul but it starts to become unbearably hot.

15:00 - 17:30 - The generator comes back on and it is back to work.

17:30 - 19:30 - A group usually gather under a tree and listen to the radio or talk.

I find that by 18:30 it is cool enough to go for a walk, occasionally others come but I may go on my own. This is a nice time to see the villagers going about their daily life - women and children collecting water from the pump, boys herding cattle and men coming back from farming or groups gathering for a drink of the local brew. Whenever you cross paths with someone there is always a polite exchange of greetings - always a hand shake followed by the Arabic saying 'kheif' (how are you?) and reply 'tamam' (well).

It becomes dark by 19:30 and it is nice to sit outside and watch the stars and moon emerge. As it is dry season there is never a cloud in the sky. You can hear drumming from the village. This is to call the stray cattle home.

20:00 - The generator comes back on and the TV is brought outside. As it is currently the African Cup and lead up to elections in Kenya the program consists of the news, soccer, Kenyan politics or cheesy Nigerian soap operas. Dinner is eaten outside in front of the TV. Some form of bread, ugali or rice and stock will be served - with home grown and slaughtered chicken or dried meat or dried fish.

Sometime throughout the evening it is shower time - also known as a small bucket of water and wash time! As the days are so hot and dusty it is such a nice feeling to put clean clothes onto a clean body.

23:00 - The generator is turned off and the peaceful sound of rural life takes over while everyone heads to bed.

Occasionally throughout the night I hear cattle, but it is usually the sound of rats running through the tukul roof that wakes me up.

Tukul for One

As I put my bags on the scales to board the UN flight from Juba to Wau I was told my luggage was over limit and therefore I could not travel. I had not been told that this leg of the trip would be limited to all baggage being under 20kgs. I quickly started packing all of my heavy toiletries into my back pack to leave for 'someone' to bring in a weeks time when a nice gentleman offered to 'take' some of my luggage kilos as part of his.

After landing at Wau and driving through the streets of Wau town I started to feel very isolated and out of my comfort zone. I observed many 'street kids' the ones whom I am supposed to be helping while here, but in saying that there are probably also many people who are not on the street but are so poor that they have limited clothing and appear very dishevelled. Donkeys pull carts of water through the streets alongside armed soldiers walking the streets with large guns.

I was asked if there was anything I needed to buy before we head to Acumcum - the village where I will be based and and I wasn't sure what they meant as I did not know what was available. In any event I bought some bottled water, instant coffee, powdered milk and six cans of beer.

It took 40 minutes to drive to Acumcum via 4WD, along unsealed and dusty roads, passing people herding long horned cattle and goats. It is so dry and arid here it is difficult to know how anyone or anything survives, yet I am told it is the dry season and when it rains, grasses can grow up to three metres tall. We then passed the Acumcum market but all I could see for sale were wooden poles for building huts.

Turning off the road into a wire fenced in area, I could tell by the sign at the front that this would be my new home. Inside the compound there are three rows of tukuls - mud huts with straw roofs and a cement rendered building next door. The building is the HARD office where we have access to internet when the generator is on. I was shown to "my" tukul. Inside consists of a double bed with a mosquito net, a TV (that doesn't work) and a single bed. There is also lock on the tin door!

The toilet is a mud brick out house with a hole in the ground. Next door is the bathroom - comprising of another mud brick hut with a cement floor and a big container full of water. No running water, no flushing toilet and no toilet paper. I have brought significant amounts of toiletries with me from Australia and now think - will I actually be able to use any? I started to think "What have I got myself into? Can I survive this? What happens when I get sick?"

Despite the excrutiating heat, rats running through the roof and trying to attack my packet of tim tam biscuits, I survived the first night in my tukul in Acumcum.

Touchdown

My interest in South Sudan developed after I found myself representing many refugees and migrants from the Sudan through my employment as a Solicitor with Legal Aid. A colleague and friend from South Sudan linked me with a grassroots not for proft community development organisation in Western Bahr El Gahzal state in South Sudan and so I have now put my money where my mouth is and the journey begins.

 

I will spend the next two and a half months in South Sudan, helping the organisation - Hope Agency for Relief and Development "HARD" to assess the needs of street children in Wau city and develop a plan of action.

 

My first thoughts when flying into South Sudan were that the landscape and isolation is similar to that of Cape York, Australia in the dry season - dusty and red with rivers snaking through the country side, however as we flew lower I could see paths linking huts together and women walking between them in traditional dress.

 

The first round of culture shock hit me when I walked into the airport - one very small, hot and sweat infused room that combines immigration, customs, baggage collection and arrivals. There was a shove of people trying to get a visa and luckily I had John, a local from the organisation to help me. I was told I could only get a visa for one month and then write to the government for an extension.

 

Of course it was my luck that after 30 hours of travel my bag did not arrive. I was told by the baggage handler to come back when the next flight arrives. I asked John if the airline would arrange for the bag to be delivered to my hotel - he looked at me and then let out the biggest laugh as though I had told him the funniest joke. After the second treck to the airport my bag did arrive on the next flight and I managed to stay my first two nights in South Sudan in comfort.

 

Thankfully I brought US Dollars with me to change into South Sudanese pounds as no where accepts credit cards and you can't withdraw money from the bank unless you have a local account!