A new look: South by south-south

For all those who may still be linked to this blog, it's getting a new name and a new slant for 2020.

Musings along the Nile has been retired -- I'm shifting to NeciaInTheSouth to match my twitter handle. Watch this space for more provocative musings from the global, geographic, and/or the political south. 

 

Musings in Cali

Old post: 2009

Sometimes I forget how difficult a place Sudan is to live in. Well, ok, to be honest, I never forget it, but being back in California has highlighted a few of the challenges. For instance, last night I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies (my sister had mentioned them earlier in the evening). In Sudan I would have to go to bed unsatisfied, or hope that a cup of hot cocoa would do the trick. In the US, I can go to my sister's freezer, pull out ready-made cookie dough in a perferated block and break-off the number of cookies I want and then bake them up. Wow! Now that is civilization at its zenith. :-)

The New House

What a difference a year makes...

My new house:

My new bedroom:

My new bathroom:

The garden:

Am I really still in Juba?

my shoes

It is a sad day. My favorite pair of shoes have finally worn out and no amount of glue or duct tape could come to the rescue.

I shouldn't be so sentimental, but I purchased these shoes about 8 years ago and they've been a staple on all of my Africa trips. They have slogged through the muds of the forest region of Guinea during the rainy season; they have kept my feet cool on the hot sands of Timbuktu, Mali; they have met the pygmy king of western Uganda; they've been with me on safari in Kenya and South Africa; they have protected my feet from the mines of southern Sudan (ok, that one is a stretch!) and even kept me balanced on the rough cobble stones of Boston.

And now, they are lying in a trash heap in Wau, S. Sudan, because it wasn't worth bringing them back from their last trip.

The worst thing about it...only one of the shoes was ruined!

RIP.

Malakal

In June, sometime between the bout of malaria and the vacation to Jordan, I took a trip to visit our project office in Malakal. Malakal is in Upper Nile State and is along the disputed north/south border of Sudan (northern Sudan vs. southern Sudan). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malakal

I'd never been to Malakal before so this was an exciting trip. There you never know what will get you first: glue-like mud, killer crickets, or stray gun fire from unexpected violence. Fortunately we made it through the trip with just the crickets.

In Malakal we visited a number of schools where our project is giving partial scholarships to orphaned girls and boys. Here is a staff member from the central ministry of education speaking with students from one of the schools we sponsor.

Here is one scholar we're sponsoring. Check out the scarification on this Nuer boy's forehead.

Here is a photo of one section of a once-famous teacher training institute. Many great Sudanese teachers were trained here before the second civil war. At it's peak, it turned out 1000 teachers a year. Now it is grazing land for goats and squatters homes.

Here is another view of the training center.

Our project is supposed to support this institution, but we can't because it isn't operating due to a lack of resources for the boarding facilities (food, water, power). The government should be paying for these things but there is no political will do do so. There's a lot of work to do here!

Apparently mayo is more dangerous than water?

I am now back in Juba after a refreshing 6 weeks away - vacation and then working from Kenya during the Sudanese elections. Before returning to Juba earlier this week I made the usual pilgrimage to Nakumat (the Target of Kenya) to purchase all the food items you just can't get in Juba. Besides cheese (oh, how I love cheese) I brought good jam, pancake mix, maple syrup, healthy cereal, and a few other things. I also had with me a jar of mayonnaise and a jar of dijon mustard, the both of which brought to me by a loving sister via our vacation rendez-vous in London. As usual my check in bag was outrageously heavy, and filled to capacity, so, with a brief thought of "I wonder if mayo qualifies as a liquid?" I tossed the 2 jars into my handbag and headed to the airport.

Now, anyone who has traveled through the Nairobi airport can attest to its lax security for regional flights. And anyone traveling from Nairobi to Juba can attest that the airport staff really could care even less about travelers to Juba. We're shuffled off to the furthest gate, located at the end of lengthy hallway, down some back staircase, and through another maze of hallways. It is at this gate that hand baggage is checked for liquids, and I have typically obediently downed all my water to get through the security check point. Of course, once or twice I have NOT finished off my water, and it made it onto the plane as well.

This time through, I met with an extremely "careful" security person who, upon seeing the mayo and mustard, gave me all sorts of trouble about my "liquids." Having worked in Africa for some time now, I'm rather adept at talking my way through situations like these, and I was intent on getting that mayo into Juba no matter what I had to say/do. I showed her the list of non approved liquids, rationalizing that mayo is not really in liquid form and not really a cream, it is basically solid. She wasn't having any of that and sent me back to the airline security officer who shrugged it off, not really caring what I brought on the flight. He tagged my bag and sent me through security again, saying to tell the officer it was ok with the airline. Back and forth several times between the two, the one man wanting to help me get my food through (obviously he knows about the food in Juba) and the woman officer obsessed with not letting my liquids on.

In the end, I walked through security with the airline staff who created a diversion and I just walked away with my mayo. And all the while I had a half drunk bottle of water IN MY HAND which was never questioned. Apparently mayo is more dangerous than water!

The GEE Residence

The residence was completed at the end of September at which point I happily moved out of communal compound living.The move wasn't without its discomforts, however. For the first 4 weeks we had major problems with power - the generator broke and the city power which had just arrived to our part of town was off and on, mostly off. I threw out so much spoiled food in the first 2 weeks that I gave up grocery shopping for next next few weeks, instead dropping a load of cash (meals in Juba cost easily $20 - 40 per meal) at nearby restaurants. I also had some challenges with the water - it took a bit to get a system down for when city water would arrive, when to open the valves, when to pump water from the lower tank (connected to the city water) through the filter and into the upper tank (which feeds into the house). There was also the issue of the guards. One night I came home and couldn't get beyond the front gate because the guard wasn't responding. Fortunately the security hotline was quick to respond and deal with the guard who was actually drunk on the job. Now the guard thing is sorted, though my favorite guard has malaria and yellow fever and hasn't been at work for weeks! There was also the problem of the locks. Sudanese locks are pretty low quality - they will just decide to freeze up on you and there is no getting in. The residence has 2 exterior doors and one door has had the locks freeze twice and the other froze once. There was one evening I couldn't get into the house because both doors had frozen locks. It was dark out, and the city power and generator were both not working. I called a colleague who ended up climbing through my window which, fortunately, I had forgotten to close in the morning while trying to dress in the semi-darkness. Now the locks are sorted out...we have padlocks and they work great! The final challenge was the Internet which wasn't working (part of the reason why my blog is so far behind!) But it seems to be working, unless there is sever thunderstorm, as does the satellite TV. Here is a photo of our livingroom. The furniture is very comfortable, though outrageously expensive (about twice what we should have paid. Welcome to the Juba economy!) But it was either that or plastic chairs and I decided to be high maintenance after going for a month with nothing to sit on. I lost out on the cute throw pillows (maybe I can get some in Nairobi). You may notice a gawdy pink foam pillow - you'll see a close up in a subsequent post - that's the closest I've gotten so far to my "splash of color."

Here is my housemate and our dinning area. We inherited the cheap pink plates, which will be replaced as soon as one of us gets to Nairobi again. . Here is my room. My only complaint is that the bedposts lean because the carpenters were in too great of a rush to put the bed together and didn't let the wood dry properly. They still hold up the mosquito net so I shouldn't complain too much. It's just hard to see things *almost* done well

 Finally, here is my bathroom. Notice the missing shower curtain...the Sudanese don't seem to do shower curtains.