Weekend of Luxury

For many weeks I decided to have a break from Acumcum and spend the weekend at a hotel in Wau. There are two hotels that cater to the international community and I decided to stay at the one with the best pool. It is called Amarula Lodge. It is situated out of town, opposite the United Nations compound.

 

I woke up on the Friday with an awful head cold and spent the day lying in my tukul. Of course I was disappointed that I would be away for the weekend and not feeling a 100%. On Saturday morrning I got dropped into Wau and spent the day in and around the pool, enjoying cold drinks. A friend joined me for dinner at the hotel and then we went on a night motorbike tour of Wau - not much to see as there is no electricity, only a few generators here and there.

 

It was so nice to sleep on a firm bed and have a flushing toilet and hot shower. On the Sunday I was not feeling well and spent the day drinking soda water instead of enjoying the food! I met some really nice people around the pool and it is interesting to hear what they are all doing in South Sudan. In particular I had some really good conversations with two men who work for the United Nations in de-mining. They have been doing it for years, travelling through various war torn countries disabling land mines.

 

Sunday night at the hotel was very quiet. Apparently there is no money circulating in Wau, so local people have limited money to spend on food and beverages at restaurants or bars. In addition to that, there has been a curfew in place since December, after serious shootings occurred in town. That means that international personnel, particularly UN staff do not go out and about after the curfew because if something happens to them they will not be covered by insurance or be provided with UN assistance.

 

Unfortunately I woke up on the Monday morning with a stomach bug. I have never been so relieved to have a flushing toilet close by! Luckily for my health situation the work car had some problems that needed to be fixed so it was in the mechanics for most of the morning. I managed to rest, take a lot of medication and then got picked up and went to Mapel for a community meeting. The road to Mapel is the main road heading to Juba, the capital city yet the conditions are awful. It is so bumpy with huge craters everywhere.

 

Thankfully I survived the day and the community meeting went really well. The information I received will help me to write my next project proposal that is due this weekend.

Wau Town Photos

 Some photos of daily life in and around Wau Town

Locals walking in town



 



Busy Street and Markets in Wau






 

Waiting to cross the main road


 

Eastern Bank - Suburb on the other side of the river from Wau Town



 

Local Car Wash



Water boys - delivering water to the compound in town



Thoughts on Development in South Sudan

It has now been over a month I have been in South Sudan and in that time I have written as much of the report on street children in Wau that I can until I gather further information, developed and written a project proposal for increasing women's participation in public and political life at the local level and have assisted colleagues to write budget narratives for a World Food Program project and humanitarian relief project.

 

There are many challenges and frustrations faced when working within the development sector in South Sudan. From my short time in South Sudan observations are that international donors have more funding available for emergency and humanitarian projects rather than long term development and setting up vocational training. The civil war ended in 2006 and most people who fled have since returned to their homelands, yet funding is still being allocated in large quantities to returnees and internally displaced persons.  

 

It seems that it is easier to fund 'hard' projects - that is the provision of material supplies or goods, rather than investing large sums of money to  help develop the capacity of the government and indviduals. For example, there is a primary school and health clinic in Acumcum village. These buildings were built and paid for by international donors, yet the clinic has not been open one day that I have been here. It is the responsibilty of the government to staff the clinic, yet the government does not have adequate funds to pay the salaries of health workers and any health professional that would accept a low paying job at the clinic would be from outside the village and therefore living expenses would have to be paid as well.

 

It is currently school holidays so the local school is not open, but I have been told that the quality of teaching in South Sudan is getting lower. Teachers receive minimal salaries and large numbers are now changing professions. Because the quality of teaching is low, many families decide not to send their children to school and instead have them help with chores.

 

There is no easy answer to South Sudan's problems and how things may be fixed, but my view is that the international community and donor funding may be assisting in some areas but may also be creating additional problems that the Sudanese people will have to deal with in generations to come.

Bodies and Bathing

It should be noted that basic sanitation in South Sudan is very poor and people do not have toilets or running water inside their house or tuktul. If one is industrious or a little more well off, there may be a latrine pit outside, protected by bricks, grass or bamboo sheeting. Looking around the expanse of tukuls throughout the suburbs of Wau I often wonder how people find the place or privacy to relieve themselves or bathe.

 

Having spent a few weeks in South Sudan I am able answer this question based on my own observations. It is a common sight while driving along the main road into Wau, or even in the town intself, to see a man standing on the side of the road urinating without a care in the world. Although not as common, I have seen many women just squat where they are, lift up their skirt and do what they need to do.

 

The other day as I was going for a walk in the village I went past the water pump. There were some children collecting water, some animals having a drink and an older teenage boy washing his clothes and having a wash with nothing on. I think I was more embarassed than him.

 

Another day we were driving to an outer suburb of Wau. There was a small body of water by the side of the road and I saw that people were washing trucks in it. I thought to myself 'that's interesting, I will need to get a photo of that next time I come past.' As we drove back the driver slowed down so I could get a photo. As I put my camera out the window the trucks had gone but there were about six men stark naked having a wash!

 

Yesterday while waiting at our office in Wau I thought I would be adventurous and go for a walk to the corner shop to get a bottle of water on my own. It is not that I feel unsafe but I am usually with a colleague. It is also an unusual sight to see a white person walking around Wau so I do get many stares, handshakes and children yelling out 'kawaja' meaning white person.

 

An older lady stopped me in the street and we did the usual greeting in Arabic and managed to exchange names. She continued to talk to me in Arabic, saying the same thing over and over. I repeated 'No Arabic' and shrugged my shoulders. She then leant towards me and firmly touched both of my breasts. I have no idea what she was trying to say but I managed to get my bottle of water and get safely back to the office.

 

Acumcum Village Photos



Playing around with the kids

Proud Family in front of their Tukul

 

 

 



Evans digging with some local kids



Proud Family showing me their tobacco garden

 

 

Acumcum Market

Janet pumping water
 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Tukul in the village by moonlight

 

 

Friendly Faces

As the weekend came around I wondered what we would do at the compound in Acumcum. The local workers went home to their families and so it left Janet, Evans and I to do the same thing as any other day - wake up, breakfast, office, lunch, rest, office and afternoon jog / walk.

 

On the Saturday afternoon we decided to go for a jog. Janet and I managed to complete one full lap of the old airstrip while Evans did two. After our jog we started doing some stretches and noticed that we had some spectators. A group of 6 local boys gathered about 50 metres away from us and started mimicking our movements. It was a hilarious sight.

 

We later went over to greet them and they showed us their local mouse traps - dry grass woven into long tubes. Once the mouse goes in it can't back out. The boys had been successful as I noticed a few legs poking out the sides. One of the mice was even skinned ready for roasting!

 

On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk through the village. We walked past a family's hut and the women and children were very kind and showed us their small tobacco garden and let us look inside the tukul. I nearly had to get on my knees to go inside the tukul as the entrance was so low. Inside was very dark as there are no windows. The tukul consisted of a mud floor with a small fire for cooking in one corner, chickens in another and some bedding in another. About 4-6 people sleep inside on the hard floor.

 

I asked if I could take a few photos and the women were very proud to pose with their garden. As soon as the camera was out the children came running from tukuls near and far. They all wanted to be in the pictures and then look at themselves. There was a lot of giggling and sign language going on between us. Despite the weekends in a rural community being uneventful and slow to my normal life, little things have happened that make me appreciate simple things.

 

I have been trying to upload more photos onto the blog but it is not happening. Don't worry. I will keep persisting!

Lessons on Health & Safety

South Sudan is a developing country and therefore it makes sense that matters such as occupational health and safety, or actually any form of health and safety, may not be up to the standards that one expects to see in the West. I learnt this lesson over the space of a few days this week and made myself a reminder list of things to be aware of while in South Sudan.

 

1. Never operate the generator

While having dinner at the compound one night we were discussing the generator and its current mechanical problems. I heard the words "Deng, four teeth, Manut, eye, hospital." After asking more questions I discovered that in the space of one month, Deng and Manut (compound workers) sustained serious injuries while starting the generator; Deng losing four teeth and Manut seriously damaging one eye and vision. They are both back on the job with no complaints but I will stay well away from the generator.

 

2. Wear shoes in the latrine 

The compound has two pit latrines and on average there may be 10 people in the compound at any given time. For hygiene purposes it is a given that I would not go to the latrine without shoes on, but the other night this was highlighted to me even more. As I stepped into the latrine I felt something squish under my shoe. As I moved my torch over my foot to see what I had stepped on, there was a semi-squashed scorpion on the ground thrusting its tail towards me.

 

3. Carry a spare tyre - preferably one that is not threadbare

Driving along the bumpy dirt road to Wau, the vehicle suddenly swerved off the road. As we got out to see what had happened the rear tyre was completely flat. Not only was it completely flat, but it was completely bald and threadbare. As the driver opened the back door of the troopy he yelled out "No tyre." Realising that we had no spare we had to wait on the deserted road for help. Some local boys on a motorbike stopped and said that they would get a message to someone in the village. Thankfully a colleague came to the rescue soon after.

 

4. Caution should be taken when handling feral animals

While driving through Wau Town and looking at the donkeys pulling carts of water, I thought to myself "I could get a pet donkey for the compound. Not only could he help fetch water from the bore but I could have something to do on the weekend - go for walks, wash my donkey, find grass for him." While still contemplating the idea of a pet donkey, a colleague and I went for a drink at a bar on Friday afternoon. There was a stray cat and kittens wandering around the bar and the Manager of the bar was more than happy to offer me a kitten. I thought to myself 'This is a much better idea than a donkey!' When he bent down to pick up the kitten, it went completely feral, scratching and biting him to the extent that he had to release it and nurse his wounds. Perhaps when I next go to the bar to get my new pet, some gloves, food and a cardboard box are a requirement!