Why is it that I don’t seem to be able to keep a new Nalgene bottle for more that a few days? The first I left on the foreign exchange counter in Nairobi airport. This second one got nicked along with about 100 radios when we were rushed by a community on my most recent distribution. I was feeing very bitter about that, but later found out that that night the town was raided by cattle thieves. They lost cows and house was burned. Fate is at least fair, and a bit of plastic isn’t too much to worry about.
The vacation to London was fun, but I didn’t return energized for the work. I didn’t really expect to, though. The time away was very good and I stocked up on all the things I wanted. It took 3 days, 5 stops and $1400 to get there, but the 8 days was very much worth it, if just to speak to my mother on a clear phone line and to thank my anal-retentive brother for neatly storing all of my stuff in his attic. He even shrink-wrapped my rucksack for me. Now that’s love. In between seeing family and buying all the stuff I needed, I actually had very little free time, but did manage to catch up with some friends. It was particularly nice to be cycling again, too. On leaving I managed to get everything into the suitcase, had 0.2kgs of luggage allowance to spare, got back to Rumbek in half the time it took to go and didn’t even have to bribe anyone to get out of the airport. So, all in all, a very good trip.
I faced some harsh criticism in the UK from a friend from whom I didn’t expect it. I was hoping that my time out of Sudan would give me the chance to cast a critical eye over my experiences of the last couple of months, and a positive outcome of his criticism was that it pushed me to do it. For this I’m grateful.
The charges were:
1) I have the air of a colonial.
2) I like telling people what to do.
3) I have little understanding of the culture.
4) I lack basic respect for the people and the culture and I owe it to them and to myself to leave.
Points 1 and 2 = yes, fine, ok, true. But I take as much as I give, and I’m the first to take the piss out of myself.
Point 3, also guilty, but that’s partly because I’ve not stopped moving since I arrived in an attempt to get these bloody radios out before the rains close off every road to everywhere.
Point 4 is what hurt the most, and this is why:
I visited a friend of a friend a year or two ago in Cambodia who was working for the UN. I was most grateful for the offer of accommodation and was suitably impressed by the plush centrally-located apartment, for which the rent was apparently extortionate. I was shocked, though, when I started asking him about the city and the country to find that he knew very little. He’d been there almost 2 years. How could you not know about the place in which you lived, especially as an expatriate working for a major development organization who has an influence on every part of society? Surely you NEED an understanding of the culture if you’re going to advise and put in place systems of governance for the country?
I didn’t express these thoughts to him, but picked up the following from conversations we had. His reasoning was that he was there to do a job at which he was more than competent and he offered skills that you couldn’t find in Cambodia. Importing them was the only option.
I disagreed. I felt there was a hidden cost to the presence of an expat. His employer paid his extortionate rent in hard currency. That landlord will never accept anything else again, nor will the neighbouring landlords. A similar inflation will happen in all the goods and services the foreigner buys. It’s good for the sellers but crap for the locals who live alongside the foreigner and who see everything they buy go up in price, because the foreigner and his army of colleagues don’t mind paying a dollar for a coffee. That’s cheap on their international salary, but still would take an unreasonable chunk of, say, his Cambodian admin assistant’s salary for just one drink.
And then there’s the culture thing. Surely an understanding of the culture is vital in order to be effective at your work, no?
Apparently not. It depends on who’s evaluating the efficacy of the work.
So based on this and on my experiences as a volunteer for two years in rural Ghana, I concluded that being an expat on an international salary in a developing country was a bad thing. If you’re going to be there, you should be doing and living like the locals, not ensconcing yourself in an air conditioned expat bubble.
I think I came to this conclusion a little too easily though: partly because I’m a little presumptuous, and mostly because I still desperately wanted a career in international development but had yet to make any headway into it. Criticizing made my position more comfortable.
I thought more on the issues. I spoke them over with a number of friends. I noted the salaries and benefits of said international positions. I re-concluded: there are a lot of international development jobs out there. I’m asking moral questions that most of the people who take these jobs don’t even consider. I’ve lived the volunteer life and have been passed by a big white UN vehicle whilst I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. I know how the other half lives. If I’m not in one of those jobs, one of them will be.
I knew I was opening myself up to criticism when I came here. I knew I’d be treading a thin line. I guess I was disappointed that the friend who I thought knew me so well, apparently missed such a sizable dilemma in my life.
I must apologize if anyone else is offended by my expressed demeanor or disdain, but I feel I have good reason for it. I feel I am consistent. I was disdainful whilst in Atlanta, Birmingham, London and Amman. I am equally disdainful here. It’s not a very nice quality, I know, but if I weren’t consistent, then I think there’d be a problem.
I have a basic respect for every person I meet for the fact that they are person and they have a story. Each may have suffered in their own personal way, but relative to each other I feel some warrant more time and effort. For example, those with access to free schooling and healthcare versus those with no access to basic sanitation. I do judge, also a bad habit.
Do I have respect for Sudanese culture? No, no not much, in all honesty. I haven’t seen much, nor learnt more that a few words of Dinka, but from what I have learnt, I can conclude that there is little Sudanese culture. Evidence of Cambodian culture hits the visitor immediately. Nothing like that happens here. There are not the practices and arts that you normally see of cultures that have pride: like Ashanti Kente, Jordanian Mensef, or English music concerts.
Instead, there is a pervasive practice of opportunism that is almost brutal, particularly against foreigners. If I am ever in a car accident/incident, I will be jailed and fined. If I fire one of my employees, even for drunkenness or theft, the courts will rule in his favour and I will have to pay compensation. Theft is a way of life.
Short-term thinking also pervades: get now, don’t invest time, money or effort in things that may pay off even as soon as tomorrow, such as a returning customer. Business owners fiddle the bills and over charge because you are here today, best take advantage.
There is little understanding or appreciation of the cause-effect relationship. My Sudanese employees do not appear to understand that by not doing a job properly now (like by slipping a few radios to a couple of guys nearby), there will soon be consequences (every guy nearby will rush at us to get one). The first instinct when something such as this goes wrong is to blame someone or everyone else: in this case the community was obviously insane.
The non-Sudanese employees and business owners are immediately apparent.
And then there’s the nepotism, corruption, tribalism...
So a lot of these you find anywhere on the planet, especially the nepotism, corruption, and fiddling of bills. The other issues we might explain by having just come out of a long-running war where you didn’t know how long you were going to live and knowing who your allies were governed whether you’d make it to the end of the week. What cause or effect is there, when if I’m connected I’ll be saved, if you’re not you won’t. Little else mattered. Incidentally where there was just as much South-South conflict as North-South conflict. Does this justify such behaviour today?
No, I think. But the fact that there was a war means I can better understand why it all happens. The best I can do, perhaps, is teach those I interact with that there is a better way. Or can I? Is that not being all colonial and imposing and disrespecting of local culture?
I recognize the atrocious and very long experience this country has faced, and respect that only 2 years after the formal end of the civil war, that there is little evidence of battles having been fought. But in almost every experience I have gone into since arriving, I have gone into with an open and neutral mind. I have later berated myself, in almost every instance, for not being harder or more brutal and for being a pushover. I leave with little respect for those I have interacted with, for the apparent harm they are doing to themselves. It gets to me after not too long.
It is because of this that, after even my short time here, I say that I see little promise and have little faith or respect for local culture. It’s harsh, but so is the environment. This isn’t across the whole country, of course. Just here in the Dinka strongholds of the South. Wau, a town about 4 ours away is a comparative paradise. We’ll be moving our office there in the coming months.
Ya, so you see the outcome of my critical thought and week-long vacation. My next vacation will have to be somewhere where I’m not allowed to self-analyze as much.
Why stay at all, you might be asking? There are pleasant experiences: wild monkeys on the road. Vibrant blue, red and yellow birds everywhere. No commute to work. Knowing that I am making a direct and immediate improvement to someone’s life. Frequent offers for marriage. Sunshine. Thunderstorms and lightening that put fireworks displays to shame. Being the only white guy in the mosque and seeing people’s reaction to me there. Eggs, chapattis and sweet tea by the roadside for breakfast. They’re not many, but they’ll do for now.
I’m still applying for jobs. I barraged the WHO with applications, but no love so far. Anyone know anyone who works for them who can put a good word in for me? Well, when in Rome…
Hope all are well.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
All about me
Ok, now I’m bored of this. I know, it’s only been 2 months, I have the attention span of a gnat and in professional terms I’ve only been here 2 seconds. But as the novelty wears off and the annoyances mount, I’m beginning to see this whole experience for what it really is: a job.
I’m benefiting, no doubt. It is a well-paid job and the journey each day down an appalling road to a different distribution location with the now normal obstacles of mud and water sure as hell beats the daily and repetitive commute to Islington town hall. The challenges are novel and most surmountable: get to place x, budget accordingly, make repairs on the way, buy and carry fuel, arrange distributions in these locations, avoid those locations, notify now for distribution to happen then, keep team motivated throughout... A lot of it is fun and tiring in a good way.
But there’s a lot that’s not so fun. I’m doing something that I’m slightly opposed to morally. Whilst in Ghana I came across an American woman there on behalf of the Baptist church whose mission (both God and church-given) was to distribute toys to children. Thinking at that time was that actually they could do better with water, sanitation and education. Are radios any better than toys? In many ways I think no.
It’s not that I think giving people access to reliable information at any time they wish is a bad thing, it’s just that a couple of white guys showing up and doling out shit for free is completely not the type of thing I agree with. If someone wants something, should they not be willing to work for it? Whilst I do not tolerate the physical threats that are unsettlingly numerous, I no longer get upset when people in the communities we go get angry when we run out of radios. Why have we favored some to give them a radio and not another? Are we really unbiased? Am I more likely to give a radio to someone who’s attractive, has a nice smile, greets me and is Moslem? Probably, yes.
We threaten dire (though secretly unenforceable) consequences if we find someone trying to sell their radio. Each has a serial number that is recorded with their name when they collect it. I actually think we should be encouraging them to do what they want with the things – sell it for money, dissect it to learn how it works, trade it for favors – now that’s what I call empowerment. The information we gather about populations and their make up is no doubt finding its way to someone who wants it (it’s a US government project). And the most fantastic irony: we encourage people to listen to a particular program about Sudan’s development broadcast by Sudan Radio Service. The program is on each morning from 8-9am in Arabic and English. The vast majority of our female recipients, who are fully occupied during the morning hours, speak neither language. Our funding organization is staffed by women who all remind me of Bridget Jones. They seem very vague about what they want, what they are trying to achieve and how they are going to do it.
I’ve mentioned before that the culture is hostile one. A few more incidents have brought this home recently. We came across a 20-ton truck stuck in the mud on a road on our way home this past week. The Somali driver begged us, with what seemed like genuine fear, to try to pull him out even though his vehicle far out-sized my two combined. I soon understood his concern. Nearby was an army barracks and the soldiers, wanting him to give them a lift to their destination 40km away, chose to abuse him rather than work to get him (and their only transport) free. The driver and his mates had been beaten and had their cargo and diesel stolen. We managed to pull the truck free (I wish I’d had camera for that, and for the expression of joy on the driver’s face), but the celebrations were killed off when the MP who was looking on took a swing at me when I refused to carry him. Prick. This is what happens when you give idiots guns.
Whilst I could rely on my team in the face of an outright threat like this, I questioned them later. We ran out of money and I was looking to exchange some of my personal stash of USD. You get poor rates for small bills and even poorer rates for notes of older series. Many places won’t even accept notes from prior to 2001. This pisses me off because they’re all accepted by the central bank. Each exchanger claims to need to protect his interests (from what I’m unsure). As I went to reluctantly change a bill from 1998 for 20% less than one from 2004, one of my team stopped me and offered to change it for me at the same rate: he wanted dollars and knew he could get a better rate when we reached back to Rumbek. My first thought was “git, if you’ve got cash, loan it to us so we can get home,” but by that point I was tired and hungry so gave him the $. I guess he wanted to protect his interests too.
My boss and I have butted heads few times. It took one particular argument to remind me, very vividly, why it was that I decided to leave the US: the pervasive sense of selfishness. Having been sent on two consecutive days to locations that failed to be notified that we were coming for the distribution (his responsibility) I had to face an inquisition on my return over why I had not distributed all the radios I carried out. In one location I had to drag guys off the car. An email that he sent back to the our head of programmes addressing our funders concerns of our going too fast and cutting too many corners read something like “I’ve always addressed each of these points personally in my distributions. I don’t know what Shareef has been doing, but I’ll make sure he does it as I do from now on.” This is utter bollocks. The corners I’ve learned to cut, I’ve done so from watching him. I guess as program manager, he has interests to protect, too.
It is instances like these, particularly the latter two where a threat comes from within, that really drives the message home: you are on your own.
So, what’s the remedy?
1) Start acting the same way and 2) go on vacation.
Things aren’t so bad that I’m having to look for other jobs – but I am looking, nonetheless. I think it’s best I keep my eyes open and feel no sense of obligation to this project or my colleagues. I do hold the title of consultant, after all. I’m aware of many overpaid and underworked UN positions so might look to give one a try. Maybe I’ll also stay content if I remain solidly mercenary. I will stay as along as I’m learning and am being well paid for it.
Regarding the vacation: it’s been 2 months, which means I get a week of break and a grand to leave the country to anywhere I want. Talk about cushy, huh? I want to go somewhere with where I can act to my own schedule, eat fruit and vegetables and a variety of foods and fish, drink fruit juice, enjoy a fast internet connection, use a kitchen and a clean flushing toilet, buy music and movies, and have a good possibility of getting nookie. And because I’m starting to think all about and around me, I’m not going to tell you where it is.
xx
I’m benefiting, no doubt. It is a well-paid job and the journey each day down an appalling road to a different distribution location with the now normal obstacles of mud and water sure as hell beats the daily and repetitive commute to Islington town hall. The challenges are novel and most surmountable: get to place x, budget accordingly, make repairs on the way, buy and carry fuel, arrange distributions in these locations, avoid those locations, notify now for distribution to happen then, keep team motivated throughout... A lot of it is fun and tiring in a good way.
But there’s a lot that’s not so fun. I’m doing something that I’m slightly opposed to morally. Whilst in Ghana I came across an American woman there on behalf of the Baptist church whose mission (both God and church-given) was to distribute toys to children. Thinking at that time was that actually they could do better with water, sanitation and education. Are radios any better than toys? In many ways I think no.
It’s not that I think giving people access to reliable information at any time they wish is a bad thing, it’s just that a couple of white guys showing up and doling out shit for free is completely not the type of thing I agree with. If someone wants something, should they not be willing to work for it? Whilst I do not tolerate the physical threats that are unsettlingly numerous, I no longer get upset when people in the communities we go get angry when we run out of radios. Why have we favored some to give them a radio and not another? Are we really unbiased? Am I more likely to give a radio to someone who’s attractive, has a nice smile, greets me and is Moslem? Probably, yes.
We threaten dire (though secretly unenforceable) consequences if we find someone trying to sell their radio. Each has a serial number that is recorded with their name when they collect it. I actually think we should be encouraging them to do what they want with the things – sell it for money, dissect it to learn how it works, trade it for favors – now that’s what I call empowerment. The information we gather about populations and their make up is no doubt finding its way to someone who wants it (it’s a US government project). And the most fantastic irony: we encourage people to listen to a particular program about Sudan’s development broadcast by Sudan Radio Service. The program is on each morning from 8-9am in Arabic and English. The vast majority of our female recipients, who are fully occupied during the morning hours, speak neither language. Our funding organization is staffed by women who all remind me of Bridget Jones. They seem very vague about what they want, what they are trying to achieve and how they are going to do it.
I’ve mentioned before that the culture is hostile one. A few more incidents have brought this home recently. We came across a 20-ton truck stuck in the mud on a road on our way home this past week. The Somali driver begged us, with what seemed like genuine fear, to try to pull him out even though his vehicle far out-sized my two combined. I soon understood his concern. Nearby was an army barracks and the soldiers, wanting him to give them a lift to their destination 40km away, chose to abuse him rather than work to get him (and their only transport) free. The driver and his mates had been beaten and had their cargo and diesel stolen. We managed to pull the truck free (I wish I’d had camera for that, and for the expression of joy on the driver’s face), but the celebrations were killed off when the MP who was looking on took a swing at me when I refused to carry him. Prick. This is what happens when you give idiots guns.
Whilst I could rely on my team in the face of an outright threat like this, I questioned them later. We ran out of money and I was looking to exchange some of my personal stash of USD. You get poor rates for small bills and even poorer rates for notes of older series. Many places won’t even accept notes from prior to 2001. This pisses me off because they’re all accepted by the central bank. Each exchanger claims to need to protect his interests (from what I’m unsure). As I went to reluctantly change a bill from 1998 for 20% less than one from 2004, one of my team stopped me and offered to change it for me at the same rate: he wanted dollars and knew he could get a better rate when we reached back to Rumbek. My first thought was “git, if you’ve got cash, loan it to us so we can get home,” but by that point I was tired and hungry so gave him the $. I guess he wanted to protect his interests too.
My boss and I have butted heads few times. It took one particular argument to remind me, very vividly, why it was that I decided to leave the US: the pervasive sense of selfishness. Having been sent on two consecutive days to locations that failed to be notified that we were coming for the distribution (his responsibility) I had to face an inquisition on my return over why I had not distributed all the radios I carried out. In one location I had to drag guys off the car. An email that he sent back to the our head of programmes addressing our funders concerns of our going too fast and cutting too many corners read something like “I’ve always addressed each of these points personally in my distributions. I don’t know what Shareef has been doing, but I’ll make sure he does it as I do from now on.” This is utter bollocks. The corners I’ve learned to cut, I’ve done so from watching him. I guess as program manager, he has interests to protect, too.
It is instances like these, particularly the latter two where a threat comes from within, that really drives the message home: you are on your own.
So, what’s the remedy?
1) Start acting the same way and 2) go on vacation.
Things aren’t so bad that I’m having to look for other jobs – but I am looking, nonetheless. I think it’s best I keep my eyes open and feel no sense of obligation to this project or my colleagues. I do hold the title of consultant, after all. I’m aware of many overpaid and underworked UN positions so might look to give one a try. Maybe I’ll also stay content if I remain solidly mercenary. I will stay as along as I’m learning and am being well paid for it.
Regarding the vacation: it’s been 2 months, which means I get a week of break and a grand to leave the country to anywhere I want. Talk about cushy, huh? I want to go somewhere with where I can act to my own schedule, eat fruit and vegetables and a variety of foods and fish, drink fruit juice, enjoy a fast internet connection, use a kitchen and a clean flushing toilet, buy music and movies, and have a good possibility of getting nookie. And because I’m starting to think all about and around me, I’m not going to tell you where it is.
xx
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I do hope this is skimmed milk
Another couple of weeks, another bunch of remote places, another few thousand radios. Ok, I’m getting used to this now. There were trees, more mud huts, more mud and lots and lots of black people. Does this crate the necessary imagery in lieu of my lack of camera? There are actually more pictures on flikr, none taken by me, but all from my most recent journey out in to the bush.
This trip (two combined in one) was actually different in a lot of ways. Most notably because I was running the show for 2 weeks - my boss was on leave. This, in and of itself was thrilling, and from this fortnight I understand why managers get paid just that little bit more. Christ, it was like babysitting. Bickering aside, there were some very good days and I think this is because I’ve heeded the advice of a good friend in a similarly uncivilized location (Dudley, UK) and am much less fighting the situations in which I find myself, and more just letting them unfold. In most cases the situation does not go exactly as I planned, but the outcome is as I wanted and those who felt that they should have been in control, felt so. A win – win situation all round. What’s been good:
I’ve discovered that I speak the language of civil servants. I knew my time in local government would pay off. I’ve found myself addressing groups of County and Payam (level below a county) Administrators – in a very Humphrey Appelby manner - and getting exactly the response I was hoping for. I quite enjoyed this, as you can imagine.
I stayed for a few days at a UN compound upcountry in a town called Rubkona. I now have first hand proof that the UN does almost nothing apart from swanning around in white vehicles that non UN staff are not allowed to look at let alone ride in. But I got to stay in one of their plush converted shipping container-turned rooms (cut 2 holes for windows, one for door and one for AC). The AC felt particularly decadent, but it was my birthday – also celebrated by an orange, apple, grapefruit, and mango. I was having fantasies about fresh fruit, and almost immediately as if by divine intervention, I saw a man selling fruit on the side of the road (the first I’ve seen in Sudan). I made him very wealthy. I’ve been blessed by such moments at just the right intervals over the last couple of weeks to keep me generally quite happy. Another was finding a woman who makes strong Arabic-style coffee, but with ginger and tea with cinnamon, and sitting in the back of the tent the was serving from, letting the smoke from the sandalwood burned to chase flies away also hide me, and shade the bright afternoon light that streamed in.
In one community, Mankien, I experienced something else new. I think this was in part because until now we’ve been working at a frenetic pace. It was a good sign when we arrived and a woman approached the car simply to greet the newcomers. In every place I have been up until now, people have approached to ask for something. Here was the first where it felt like we were firmly on the receiving end. And it got better.
Peter, Mankien’s head catechist, had been plying me with food and drink since my arrival late in the night a few days before. He found me within 20 minutes of my arrival in the town. I'd not been allowed to buy even a bottle of water for myself, and it was only narrowly that I convinced him that he didn't need to house or wash the clothes of me and my 6-member team (plus 2 drivers). I conceded to have dinner each night and breakfast with him each morning and by 7:45 on the morning of the planned distribution I was washed, dressed and drinking my second glass of strong, sweet and milky tea. It had taken me two days to piece together two facts here: 1 – the milkiness was really full flavored and there was a skin on top of the tea, like you get with fresh milk, 2- there were three cows in the corner of the compound. As I begun to pray that mixing with hot tea would equate to pasturization, my thought process was interrupted by a visitor who wished to speak specifically to me.
I couldn’t guess her age, but she moved slowly. The softness in her eyes was framed by a story of something much harder, as the deep wrinkles mingled with her tribal markings. She introduced herself via Peter, and wanted to thank us for bringing her and her community the opportunity of knowledge by giving them these radios. She was praying for God to bless us.
I stammered a comparably feeble response along the lines of "I'm just deliverin em, luv,” (I blame it on the milk) but Peter translated this into what he seemed to think I should have said and the woman was happy.
And she was just one of many to express her gratitude. Because the surrounding communities were inaccessible by vehicle, the members of those communities who received blue pre-distribution cards had come Mankien. Most had arrived the previous day. Their, up to 4 hour, walk across the swamps had not abated their excitement and processions of drumming and singing weaved their way around Mankien until late in the night. They started again early the following morning. In another community I cocked up the numbers and arrived with too few radios. The local administrator was very worried about trying to explain this to the community, for fear that they would accuse him of keeping them for himself, so he asked me to address the crowd. I did so (more Evita than Humphrey Appelby here), apologizing and asking for their forgiveness. A bold girl at the back shouted in response “it’s ok, what you’ve brought is enough for us”. Mwaaaaa.
That was all sharply contrasted to the place I’ve just come from, where the villages were crawling with soldiers and a lot the men wear women’s dresses – not because cross-dressing is popular, rather because the men have intercepted aid goods intended for women. They fought over everything and fought us at every step of the way. The County administrator’s first question to me was “where is the radio for me?”
When we arrived in the town, we greeted a man and asked for direction to the catholic mission. “You’re not from here,” he replied and studied us for a good moment before reluctantly pointing the way.
I think it’s a result of ethnic homogeneity. Down here in the South it’s almost 100% Dinka, whereas up North it’s a mix of indigenous Nuer, Dinka from the South, Arabs from North Sudan and black Muslims from Darfur. In Mankien they resented the colossal green mosque in the middle of their primarily Christian town (a handdown from the war when the town was occupied by the Northern army), but the ethnic Arab traders who stayed on have become a part of the community. As they all brush up against each other there is friction, but they all seem to recognize the difference. And that probably makes each reflect on himself.
Not down here in Dinkaland, where there is a dangerous combination of pride and ignorance. They are closed off from the rest of the country and the rest of the world. As far as they are concerned, outside has nothing to offer. Our distribution had to stop as a minor riot broke out and ran over someone’s house. All aid organizations have pulled out of this area, stating complications when trying to work with the community.
Ah well, some people got radios. I hope they use them, appreciate them and learn of the world beyond their towns. If I could, I’d have taken the batch back up to Mankien. But maybe these demonstrably ignorant and aggressive people one are the ones in greater need. It’s just good to feel appreciated, I guess. It’s interesting, though, that given that the war ended just 2 years ago, the ex-occupied towns are the most hospitable and developed. This says something about preparedness for independence.
Don’t worry, my arrogance isn’t carrying me away. A couple of things that brought me back to earth: I got sick again (not Brucellosis). I think a touch of Cholera this time – it was not pretty, but I’ve made a full recovery, thank God. Also a near car crash where a goat ran in front of me at 80kph on a dirt road. I really can’t remember what I did with the pedals and the wheel, but I’m quite certain that it wasn’t governed by much logic. The result was a skid down into the ditch on the right side of the road, then up, over and down to the left side of the road, then back to the middle in a large (albeit graceful) arc the left us pointing in the opposite direction. I thanked God for saving us and restoring my humility.
Off again today.
xx
This trip (two combined in one) was actually different in a lot of ways. Most notably because I was running the show for 2 weeks - my boss was on leave. This, in and of itself was thrilling, and from this fortnight I understand why managers get paid just that little bit more. Christ, it was like babysitting. Bickering aside, there were some very good days and I think this is because I’ve heeded the advice of a good friend in a similarly uncivilized location (Dudley, UK) and am much less fighting the situations in which I find myself, and more just letting them unfold. In most cases the situation does not go exactly as I planned, but the outcome is as I wanted and those who felt that they should have been in control, felt so. A win – win situation all round. What’s been good:
I’ve discovered that I speak the language of civil servants. I knew my time in local government would pay off. I’ve found myself addressing groups of County and Payam (level below a county) Administrators – in a very Humphrey Appelby manner - and getting exactly the response I was hoping for. I quite enjoyed this, as you can imagine.
I stayed for a few days at a UN compound upcountry in a town called Rubkona. I now have first hand proof that the UN does almost nothing apart from swanning around in white vehicles that non UN staff are not allowed to look at let alone ride in. But I got to stay in one of their plush converted shipping container-turned rooms (cut 2 holes for windows, one for door and one for AC). The AC felt particularly decadent, but it was my birthday – also celebrated by an orange, apple, grapefruit, and mango. I was having fantasies about fresh fruit, and almost immediately as if by divine intervention, I saw a man selling fruit on the side of the road (the first I’ve seen in Sudan). I made him very wealthy. I’ve been blessed by such moments at just the right intervals over the last couple of weeks to keep me generally quite happy. Another was finding a woman who makes strong Arabic-style coffee, but with ginger and tea with cinnamon, and sitting in the back of the tent the was serving from, letting the smoke from the sandalwood burned to chase flies away also hide me, and shade the bright afternoon light that streamed in.
In one community, Mankien, I experienced something else new. I think this was in part because until now we’ve been working at a frenetic pace. It was a good sign when we arrived and a woman approached the car simply to greet the newcomers. In every place I have been up until now, people have approached to ask for something. Here was the first where it felt like we were firmly on the receiving end. And it got better.
Peter, Mankien’s head catechist, had been plying me with food and drink since my arrival late in the night a few days before. He found me within 20 minutes of my arrival in the town. I'd not been allowed to buy even a bottle of water for myself, and it was only narrowly that I convinced him that he didn't need to house or wash the clothes of me and my 6-member team (plus 2 drivers). I conceded to have dinner each night and breakfast with him each morning and by 7:45 on the morning of the planned distribution I was washed, dressed and drinking my second glass of strong, sweet and milky tea. It had taken me two days to piece together two facts here: 1 – the milkiness was really full flavored and there was a skin on top of the tea, like you get with fresh milk, 2- there were three cows in the corner of the compound. As I begun to pray that mixing with hot tea would equate to pasturization, my thought process was interrupted by a visitor who wished to speak specifically to me.
I couldn’t guess her age, but she moved slowly. The softness in her eyes was framed by a story of something much harder, as the deep wrinkles mingled with her tribal markings. She introduced herself via Peter, and wanted to thank us for bringing her and her community the opportunity of knowledge by giving them these radios. She was praying for God to bless us.
I stammered a comparably feeble response along the lines of "I'm just deliverin em, luv,” (I blame it on the milk) but Peter translated this into what he seemed to think I should have said and the woman was happy.
And she was just one of many to express her gratitude. Because the surrounding communities were inaccessible by vehicle, the members of those communities who received blue pre-distribution cards had come Mankien. Most had arrived the previous day. Their, up to 4 hour, walk across the swamps had not abated their excitement and processions of drumming and singing weaved their way around Mankien until late in the night. They started again early the following morning. In another community I cocked up the numbers and arrived with too few radios. The local administrator was very worried about trying to explain this to the community, for fear that they would accuse him of keeping them for himself, so he asked me to address the crowd. I did so (more Evita than Humphrey Appelby here), apologizing and asking for their forgiveness. A bold girl at the back shouted in response “it’s ok, what you’ve brought is enough for us”. Mwaaaaa.
That was all sharply contrasted to the place I’ve just come from, where the villages were crawling with soldiers and a lot the men wear women’s dresses – not because cross-dressing is popular, rather because the men have intercepted aid goods intended for women. They fought over everything and fought us at every step of the way. The County administrator’s first question to me was “where is the radio for me?”
When we arrived in the town, we greeted a man and asked for direction to the catholic mission. “You’re not from here,” he replied and studied us for a good moment before reluctantly pointing the way.
I think it’s a result of ethnic homogeneity. Down here in the South it’s almost 100% Dinka, whereas up North it’s a mix of indigenous Nuer, Dinka from the South, Arabs from North Sudan and black Muslims from Darfur. In Mankien they resented the colossal green mosque in the middle of their primarily Christian town (a handdown from the war when the town was occupied by the Northern army), but the ethnic Arab traders who stayed on have become a part of the community. As they all brush up against each other there is friction, but they all seem to recognize the difference. And that probably makes each reflect on himself.
Not down here in Dinkaland, where there is a dangerous combination of pride and ignorance. They are closed off from the rest of the country and the rest of the world. As far as they are concerned, outside has nothing to offer. Our distribution had to stop as a minor riot broke out and ran over someone’s house. All aid organizations have pulled out of this area, stating complications when trying to work with the community.
Ah well, some people got radios. I hope they use them, appreciate them and learn of the world beyond their towns. If I could, I’d have taken the batch back up to Mankien. But maybe these demonstrably ignorant and aggressive people one are the ones in greater need. It’s just good to feel appreciated, I guess. It’s interesting, though, that given that the war ended just 2 years ago, the ex-occupied towns are the most hospitable and developed. This says something about preparedness for independence.
Don’t worry, my arrogance isn’t carrying me away. A couple of things that brought me back to earth: I got sick again (not Brucellosis). I think a touch of Cholera this time – it was not pretty, but I’ve made a full recovery, thank God. Also a near car crash where a goat ran in front of me at 80kph on a dirt road. I really can’t remember what I did with the pedals and the wheel, but I’m quite certain that it wasn’t governed by much logic. The result was a skid down into the ditch on the right side of the road, then up, over and down to the left side of the road, then back to the middle in a large (albeit graceful) arc the left us pointing in the opposite direction. I thanked God for saving us and restoring my humility.
Off again today.
xx
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Rough riding
Should I try this, or should I try to the left? I have little time to decide: I’m moving at about 50kph and I need to keep my momentum up because if I slow I’ll start sinking. Stopping is not an option. Straight ahead looks like about 20 meters of lake, with only the highest points of the grooves carved into the soft mud showing, made by the 20 tonne truck that passed on this ‘road’ when it was last ‘passable’. After those 20 meters the tracks curve to the right out of sight and God knows what lies beyond. I am tense and anxious and the pace and frequency with which such obstacles keep appearing in front of me is relentless.
So should I try it, or try to the left? I have no idea how deep that water is and my steering wheel will be of little use. The car will plunge a couple of feet as I enter the water. I’ll probably be bucked and bounced as the tires alternate between finding something to grip and sinking sharply into the soft mud under the surface. If I’m wearing my seatbelt, the force with which I’m thrown forward when I hit the water and upward with every bump will cause the belt to tighten again and again, stopping me from reaching the steering wheel quickly enough to at least try to avoid any solid object I might be careening towards. If I’m not wearing my seatbelt I’ll be bucked out of my seat and hit my head on the ceiling of the cabin so hard, I’ll see stars. Dashboard warning lights will flash (oil, battery, air intake) and belts will start to slip and squeal as the car tries to suggest that I really shouldn’t be doing this to it.
So should I try it or try to the left? I’m not even convinced this is the road. I’ve driven this 2 hour stretch in both directions for the last 3 days, but each time it’s a different combination of time of day and proximity to the last rain to make it look like a completely different path. And they are all just paths through the bush. There are few clues as to exactly where I am. I passed couple of mud huts a few kilometers ago and also a cattle camp, but there is little else to remark.
So should I try it or go to the left? Left looks like marshland the other side of that tree and I’ve no idea if it’s passable or if it will bring me back to the direction I’m wanting to go. I can’t go to the right: there’s a dense cluster of young tress that are not old enough to have grown a sufficient root system to support me and not small enough for me knock over with the front bumper. And I really want to try to avoid killing more trees: I’ve scraped past so many as I’ve tried to edge my way around crater-like holes, under a few as I foraged for a semi-dry path around a lake like the one I’m currently facing, and knocked a couple flat as the arse end of the vehicle has slid sideways and the steering mechanism served only to change the direction in which the mud is flying.
So should I try it, or try to the left? If I get stuck I’ll be humiliated, and will have to wait for another vehicle to pull me out. It’ll be a good few hours before another passes, if at all. I need to get to the day’s distribution point and start moving these radios so that I can start back in good time. I don’t want to be out here at night again. I’ve gotten considerably better at driving in these conditions so I’m not as terrified as I was a week ago. It was a hellish journey to get here: 11 hours and at night following a heavy rain when the world shrunk to only what was illuminated by my one working headlight and none of those 10m were in any way inviting. I got stuck twice (lack of skill) and my colleague got stuck once (lack of traction). I felt real fear at the prospect of being stranded out here with no help and only the local wildlife of snakes, scorpions, mosquitoes and lions for company. We arrived at the catholic mission around 11:30pm, exhausted and very, very muddy. Neither my camera nor my mobile phone survived the journey.
So this has been my last two weeks: a lot of driving. I would wake up early each day, tighten the front shock absorber that keeps smashing it’s busing to smithereens, siphon some diesel from the Father’s store, top up the windscreen washer fluid, fill the back of the car with radio boxes and head out as early as I could to distribute as many radios as possible and get back by sunset. I‘m impressed at the extent to which my morning routine has changed and proud to have added new skills to my CV (and some new vocab).
We’ve been staying with Father Sergio – a priest with the Camboni mission. Similar to the priests we stayed with in Leer, he’s been here a few years, but it young – about 35-40. These men are amazing – they have learnt the local language, the customs, are mechanics, medics, chefs, butchers, bakers, engineers, carpenters, masons and barbers all in one. The catholic diocese keeps them well stocked with tinned vegetables and other such necessities, but generally they stay put and get on with work. Sergio’s hospitality and expertise in vehicle maintenance is a welcome gift in an environment that is in every other way hostile. He also shared with me a tin of fruit salad last night. What luxury.
But back to the task at hand: should I try this? Despite my anxiety, I am also optimistic and have faith in Toyota. I’ve been praying regularly. I get the revs up to about 3000, shift into second, grip the steering wheel tightly and pop the clutch…
So should I try it, or try to the left? I have no idea how deep that water is and my steering wheel will be of little use. The car will plunge a couple of feet as I enter the water. I’ll probably be bucked and bounced as the tires alternate between finding something to grip and sinking sharply into the soft mud under the surface. If I’m wearing my seatbelt, the force with which I’m thrown forward when I hit the water and upward with every bump will cause the belt to tighten again and again, stopping me from reaching the steering wheel quickly enough to at least try to avoid any solid object I might be careening towards. If I’m not wearing my seatbelt I’ll be bucked out of my seat and hit my head on the ceiling of the cabin so hard, I’ll see stars. Dashboard warning lights will flash (oil, battery, air intake) and belts will start to slip and squeal as the car tries to suggest that I really shouldn’t be doing this to it.
So should I try it or try to the left? I’m not even convinced this is the road. I’ve driven this 2 hour stretch in both directions for the last 3 days, but each time it’s a different combination of time of day and proximity to the last rain to make it look like a completely different path. And they are all just paths through the bush. There are few clues as to exactly where I am. I passed couple of mud huts a few kilometers ago and also a cattle camp, but there is little else to remark.
So should I try it or go to the left? Left looks like marshland the other side of that tree and I’ve no idea if it’s passable or if it will bring me back to the direction I’m wanting to go. I can’t go to the right: there’s a dense cluster of young tress that are not old enough to have grown a sufficient root system to support me and not small enough for me knock over with the front bumper. And I really want to try to avoid killing more trees: I’ve scraped past so many as I’ve tried to edge my way around crater-like holes, under a few as I foraged for a semi-dry path around a lake like the one I’m currently facing, and knocked a couple flat as the arse end of the vehicle has slid sideways and the steering mechanism served only to change the direction in which the mud is flying.
So should I try it, or try to the left? If I get stuck I’ll be humiliated, and will have to wait for another vehicle to pull me out. It’ll be a good few hours before another passes, if at all. I need to get to the day’s distribution point and start moving these radios so that I can start back in good time. I don’t want to be out here at night again. I’ve gotten considerably better at driving in these conditions so I’m not as terrified as I was a week ago. It was a hellish journey to get here: 11 hours and at night following a heavy rain when the world shrunk to only what was illuminated by my one working headlight and none of those 10m were in any way inviting. I got stuck twice (lack of skill) and my colleague got stuck once (lack of traction). I felt real fear at the prospect of being stranded out here with no help and only the local wildlife of snakes, scorpions, mosquitoes and lions for company. We arrived at the catholic mission around 11:30pm, exhausted and very, very muddy. Neither my camera nor my mobile phone survived the journey.
So this has been my last two weeks: a lot of driving. I would wake up early each day, tighten the front shock absorber that keeps smashing it’s busing to smithereens, siphon some diesel from the Father’s store, top up the windscreen washer fluid, fill the back of the car with radio boxes and head out as early as I could to distribute as many radios as possible and get back by sunset. I‘m impressed at the extent to which my morning routine has changed and proud to have added new skills to my CV (and some new vocab).
We’ve been staying with Father Sergio – a priest with the Camboni mission. Similar to the priests we stayed with in Leer, he’s been here a few years, but it young – about 35-40. These men are amazing – they have learnt the local language, the customs, are mechanics, medics, chefs, butchers, bakers, engineers, carpenters, masons and barbers all in one. The catholic diocese keeps them well stocked with tinned vegetables and other such necessities, but generally they stay put and get on with work. Sergio’s hospitality and expertise in vehicle maintenance is a welcome gift in an environment that is in every other way hostile. He also shared with me a tin of fruit salad last night. What luxury.
But back to the task at hand: should I try this? Despite my anxiety, I am also optimistic and have faith in Toyota. I’ve been praying regularly. I get the revs up to about 3000, shift into second, grip the steering wheel tightly and pop the clutch…
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Nyaal Distribution - snakes, mud and priests
2008-05-10 Saturday
Some debate in the morning and the day before as to if I was actually flying, where to and when. Becky (an English girl from the NGO Internews) came to collect me in the morning and we flew together to Thurjal, an airstrip in the middle of nowhere. Gabe, my boss, showed up with Yoko and we all travelled to nearby Leer – greeting amongst the Nuer is “Maaaleh”
Later I met fathers Guillermo and Francis of the Camboni mission, upon whom we’re relying quite heavily to carry out our program. They’ve both been in Sudan for decades and liked poking fun at me because of their work in Glasgow and the difficulties of the tribes of the UK.
Met a bunch of catechists who are registering the names of the radio recipients. Only one member of the group spoke English. The radio show we want them to listen to is in English and Arabic. Yet another example of a supply led development project. Also met charismatic members of the women’s group. Madam Ruth was particularly lovely.
Leer is a bit desolate. It’s basically an airstrip with settlement either side. The whole place has an ashen pallor if that’s possible. We stayed at a compound run by Save the Children. It was empty, so they had empty rooms and 2 landrovers just sitting there. Seems that all NGOs operate this way. In the mess hall there was filtered water, cooked food, satellite TV and internet. Should I tell my mother this about her favourite charity?
2008-05-11 Sunday
Came to Nyal in the morning – took about 2.5 hours on roads that looked like they have only recently dried out. We followed the new road, bearing left randomly. If it rains again while we are here we will be stranded. There is an airstrip here and a flight is scheduled to arrive on Thursday to collect Yoko.
Met the charismatic head catechist Michael, studying to be a priest and his English is excellent. Also met the Payam and the Panyijar County administrators (James). People tend to identify with their Boma more than village or county.
2008-05-13 Monday
Did a radio distribution in Panjar. 200 radios took about 4 or 5 hours. The crowds were plentiful and the flies there in force. The volume of people crowing around us kept me in the shade when the sun moved around the tree and the volume of people kept me distracted from the amount of flies climbing on my face at any given time. The others left Maker and I do handle Panjar and continued onto Ganyel. We got a text on the Thuraya about an hour later telling us they were stuck in mud. Maker went in our vehicle with Samuel to go and retrieve them. As my crowd and the light dwindled with no sign of the vehicles I began to worry. They came back at the light was just fading, about 4 hours later. We returned to Nyaal, and despite my exhaustion, I didn’t sleep well.
2008-05-14 Tuesday
Another distribution, this time in more-remote Pondock. I had a catechist working with me who complained incessantly. Father Memo came in the morning and we all went from Nyaal to Ganyal. We picked up the spindly Payam Administrator who looked and fulfilled his role of being utterly useless. I set up in the Pondock church that was quickly overrun with young men wanting radios. All had cards, though, and all showed utter disrespect for their women who they pushed and shoved out of the way to get to the table. We had to stop 4 times to try and get people out of the compound. They refused to move. The catechists working in the church were useless at controlling the crowd who would advance inch by inch until they were literally on top of me. I moved 4 times: first I was in a tukul but with the door permanently occluded by someone fighting to get out and 6 people fighting to get in, I could neither see from the lack of light, nor work due to the constant shower of grit from the roof because people were shoving against it. Then to the courtyard, but my attempt at taking one man and one woman failed as the men refused to stay in a line, or give the women room to come forward. Then to the large hall, with 2 doors. We arranged it one for men one for women, and I started with a fair number of women, but again they quickly vanished to be replaced by men who crowded and complained. The people were so close around us I could hardly breathe and I couldn’t think of a better circumstance to contract TB. Gabe and others arrived at around 16:30 and tried to continue distributing form the car. He managed another 16 that way. He found more women and on trying to bring them in, they fought amongst themselves. There were torn dresses, guys forced their way through the wooden fence and we took the opportunity to pack up quickly and escape – 40 radios short of our target.
I was relieved to be heading out with a good amount of light (the journey back to Nyaal would take about 2.5 hours). The rain came only lightly in the morning. On the ride out we all looked skyward intermittently in hopes that it wouldn’t continue. Thankfully, our prayers were answered each day – with only a light sprinkling in the morning. So the weather was in our favour, the light good, the roads dry after the hot day and then Samuel ran over a goat on our way out of the town in which we had made few friends. This was going to be expensive. The goat’s front leg was clearly broken. The owner was retrieved. Thankfully we had a few Nuer catechists with us to negotiate on our behalf. The price was settled at 100SDG (USD50), which all believed to be fair. We loaded the goat into the back of our car, having paid compensation and as we were setting off, the owner said “you will return the goat tomorrow, yes?”
Brakes were applied sharply. Men exited. The South Sudan Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Commissoin (SSRC) administrator was called. Chairs were brought. We were going to be a while.
After about a further 45 minutes of negotiation, we realised that there are apparently 2 fines when hitting a goat here – one for hitting the goat, one for replacing it. We paid 100. A new guy (the real owner) demanded 400 more. The SSRC man negotiated 50SDG more from us and offered 100 from his office (it will probably never come). We thanked him kindly and got moving quickly, picking up a few passangers when we stopped. They snuck in with the goat. I figured they could keep it company.
We arrived in Ganyal to find Yoko and Father Memo in a similar state, without a goat, of course. They were tired, overrun and had made few friends in the day. One guy started verbally abusing father Memo when he refused him a lift back to Nlyaal. He told him to go to hell. Father Memo replied “after you”.
It was dark when we set off. The very bumpy journey back to Naal took the better part of 3 hours.
This was the first night I slept all the way through. I was surprised, particularly because I found out what it was that was rustling in my roof – a frickin' huge snake.
2008-05-14 Weds
Final distribution in Nyaal, here in the county commissioner’s compound. We had learnt from our experiences yesterday, and took advantage of the metal fence and gate, so held the crowd outside and only let in women with cards. The first hour was manageable. But then the children started scrambling to the front and fighting their way in. Then the young men came and started trying to push their way in. Gabe held them off playing the role of chief bouncer. I did issue resolution and gave confiscated cards to women who showed up with none. The others coordinated the registration and handed out radios. We were impossibly busy. After what seemed like 4 hours I checked my watch to find that it was only 10am.
A soldier showed up – drunk out of his mind, and probably cranking on amphetamines. On sight of him the children ran. He seemed in a sufficiently inebriated stated as to use them as target practice. The trouble was he wanted payment for his services. We negotiated him down to one radio from his demand of one case. His effect didn’t last and both the kids and the young men started to get aggressive. Three began to get very ugly. One kid, very small, started trying to grab the radios from the women as they tried to exit. Then two guys, both very tall, started picking a fight. Gabe got into a shoving match with one, and the other started shoving me. We called the distribution to a close – it was at 11am, we were 240 radios short of our 2000 target. But given that our target group seem to either be giving their radios away or having them taken off them, we doubted it made any difference.
It’s nice to have the afternoon free. I’m resting and I feel like I’ve earned it.
We needed to distribute the remaining radios so Michael assembled the remaining catechists and we let them organize themselves to distribute. We left the compound and sat in Father’s place next door and soon heard shouting. There were lots of women, but I sense that many had collected yesterday. It was relieving not to have to sort it out. Michael worked very hard and Gabe has hired him to oversee the listening groups in the area.
Robert met with NDI in Juba – they want to extend our funding for another 6 months, and give us another million to vamp up the civic education component of the program. I’m trying to think of a creative way to do this – like call ins, questions posed to the show and then responded to – but there are so many hindrances. No phones and no post here. The radio show can’t do a regional focus and doesn’t really do newsy type stuff, it’s just discussion and if they did focus on an area, there’d be squabbling. I’ll keep thinking.
We ate the goat – the silly cook managed not to completely mess it up, but he did still hack it to pieces and boil it. The father and sister came to eat with us. We lamented over the situation here. Despite incredibly fertile ground, very few of them are farming. Partly because they didn’t learn while they were displaced, and partly because WFP is still distributing food in a place that has plentiful papaya, mango and eucalyptus trees. There is no need to be giving handouts here. The UN apparently tried to do a livelihoods program a few years ago, but the big man chopped all the tools and claimed that the oxen provided couldn’t be used to farm because their culture prevented them from beating cattle. This is crap. Father suggested putting a dress on it and calling it a woman, the men would have no problems beating it then.
I and my snake were restless tonight.
2008-05-15 Thursday
It rained. It rained heavy and hard in the morning for about 2 hours, and then a good drizzle that didn’t seem to want to stop and saturated everything – including the airstrip. Yoko’s plane couldn’t land, but we had to wait until 4pm to find that out – now time and the conditions of the road were seriously against us. It was a very rough and long journey back to Leer. The first half was nothing short of a rollercoaster and Gabe, who was driving, tried not to get stuck and not to veer off the road – I wasn’t entirely convinced that he was in full control of the vehicle, but thought it best not to worry about this. We had father Memo and Sister Agatha with us. Surely that would help.
We cleared the roughness to get to the new road built by the prospecting Chinese oil company. The County Commissioner had had the sense to demand that if they were going to be coming into his county they would have to build the road, but he didn’t specify the quality. So they build the road by digging either side of the path and compacting it. Either side of the path was marsh. Thus they made a road out of marsh mud that is long, wide and utterly useless when it gets the slightest bit wet. We had no traction and the muck would accumulate so thick on the tires and wheel wells that it would prevent the wheels from turning. We had to stop every few kilometres to dig out the clay. We, stupidly, had carried no shovels so had to do it using sticks, a pipe we were carrying and our hands. This lengthened the journey considerably and in the 6 hours it took to pass this stretch of road we saw no other sign of life. We all doubted that we would make it to Leer that day.
We did reach Leer and a dry road late in the night – around 11pm. The sisters of the catholic mission had waited up for their colleague to arrive and laid out a very generous spread for us on arrival: fired eggs, bread and tomato salad – made with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! Sheer luxury. It was like having 7 grandmothers fussing over me. I slept very well.
2008-05-16 Friday
We got a late start because the clay had not dried and fallen off as we’d hoped to had to dig out more. This was much easier now that we had a spade. We bid farewell to the father and sister and headed off to Bentiu. Yoko still needed to make her connecting flight to Khartoum on Saturday and we were unsure what was the best thing to do – see if we could get her on a flight in Wau (unlikely, they need 72 hours notice for a reservation), or try and make Rumbek for tomorrow morning by 10am. The latter seemed impossible, but it looked like the only option. We covered about 900km that day. The roads were considerably better for much of it, but there were some good stretches that were nothing short of appalling due to wear. The efficacy of the county commissioner seems to be demonstrated by the state of his roads. We reached Wau at around 9pm and prepared to leave at 5am for the final 4-5 hour journey to Rumbek. My stomach seemed to have had enough of the whole experience and started running badly. I think I woke up half the compound with the noise I made on my visit to the latrine in the middle of the night.
2008-05-17 Saturday
Rough journey to Rumbek. We made it by 10am, just, losing 3 shocks and our brakes on the way. We arrived to find that Yoko’s flight was at 2pm. Arse. Came back to the compound and slept. Home sweet home. I get to rest tomorrow as well, then off on Monday to Marialo that doesn’t appear on many maps and if it does it has no roads leading to it. I have no idea what to expect.
Some debate in the morning and the day before as to if I was actually flying, where to and when. Becky (an English girl from the NGO Internews) came to collect me in the morning and we flew together to Thurjal, an airstrip in the middle of nowhere. Gabe, my boss, showed up with Yoko and we all travelled to nearby Leer – greeting amongst the Nuer is “Maaaleh”
Later I met fathers Guillermo and Francis of the Camboni mission, upon whom we’re relying quite heavily to carry out our program. They’ve both been in Sudan for decades and liked poking fun at me because of their work in Glasgow and the difficulties of the tribes of the UK.
Met a bunch of catechists who are registering the names of the radio recipients. Only one member of the group spoke English. The radio show we want them to listen to is in English and Arabic. Yet another example of a supply led development project. Also met charismatic members of the women’s group. Madam Ruth was particularly lovely.
Leer is a bit desolate. It’s basically an airstrip with settlement either side. The whole place has an ashen pallor if that’s possible. We stayed at a compound run by Save the Children. It was empty, so they had empty rooms and 2 landrovers just sitting there. Seems that all NGOs operate this way. In the mess hall there was filtered water, cooked food, satellite TV and internet. Should I tell my mother this about her favourite charity?
2008-05-11 Sunday
Came to Nyal in the morning – took about 2.5 hours on roads that looked like they have only recently dried out. We followed the new road, bearing left randomly. If it rains again while we are here we will be stranded. There is an airstrip here and a flight is scheduled to arrive on Thursday to collect Yoko.
Met the charismatic head catechist Michael, studying to be a priest and his English is excellent. Also met the Payam and the Panyijar County administrators (James). People tend to identify with their Boma more than village or county.
2008-05-13 Monday
Did a radio distribution in Panjar. 200 radios took about 4 or 5 hours. The crowds were plentiful and the flies there in force. The volume of people crowing around us kept me in the shade when the sun moved around the tree and the volume of people kept me distracted from the amount of flies climbing on my face at any given time. The others left Maker and I do handle Panjar and continued onto Ganyel. We got a text on the Thuraya about an hour later telling us they were stuck in mud. Maker went in our vehicle with Samuel to go and retrieve them. As my crowd and the light dwindled with no sign of the vehicles I began to worry. They came back at the light was just fading, about 4 hours later. We returned to Nyaal, and despite my exhaustion, I didn’t sleep well.
2008-05-14 Tuesday
Another distribution, this time in more-remote Pondock. I had a catechist working with me who complained incessantly. Father Memo came in the morning and we all went from Nyaal to Ganyal. We picked up the spindly Payam Administrator who looked and fulfilled his role of being utterly useless. I set up in the Pondock church that was quickly overrun with young men wanting radios. All had cards, though, and all showed utter disrespect for their women who they pushed and shoved out of the way to get to the table. We had to stop 4 times to try and get people out of the compound. They refused to move. The catechists working in the church were useless at controlling the crowd who would advance inch by inch until they were literally on top of me. I moved 4 times: first I was in a tukul but with the door permanently occluded by someone fighting to get out and 6 people fighting to get in, I could neither see from the lack of light, nor work due to the constant shower of grit from the roof because people were shoving against it. Then to the courtyard, but my attempt at taking one man and one woman failed as the men refused to stay in a line, or give the women room to come forward. Then to the large hall, with 2 doors. We arranged it one for men one for women, and I started with a fair number of women, but again they quickly vanished to be replaced by men who crowded and complained. The people were so close around us I could hardly breathe and I couldn’t think of a better circumstance to contract TB. Gabe and others arrived at around 16:30 and tried to continue distributing form the car. He managed another 16 that way. He found more women and on trying to bring them in, they fought amongst themselves. There were torn dresses, guys forced their way through the wooden fence and we took the opportunity to pack up quickly and escape – 40 radios short of our target.
I was relieved to be heading out with a good amount of light (the journey back to Nyaal would take about 2.5 hours). The rain came only lightly in the morning. On the ride out we all looked skyward intermittently in hopes that it wouldn’t continue. Thankfully, our prayers were answered each day – with only a light sprinkling in the morning. So the weather was in our favour, the light good, the roads dry after the hot day and then Samuel ran over a goat on our way out of the town in which we had made few friends. This was going to be expensive. The goat’s front leg was clearly broken. The owner was retrieved. Thankfully we had a few Nuer catechists with us to negotiate on our behalf. The price was settled at 100SDG (USD50), which all believed to be fair. We loaded the goat into the back of our car, having paid compensation and as we were setting off, the owner said “you will return the goat tomorrow, yes?”
Brakes were applied sharply. Men exited. The South Sudan Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Commissoin (SSRC) administrator was called. Chairs were brought. We were going to be a while.
After about a further 45 minutes of negotiation, we realised that there are apparently 2 fines when hitting a goat here – one for hitting the goat, one for replacing it. We paid 100. A new guy (the real owner) demanded 400 more. The SSRC man negotiated 50SDG more from us and offered 100 from his office (it will probably never come). We thanked him kindly and got moving quickly, picking up a few passangers when we stopped. They snuck in with the goat. I figured they could keep it company.
We arrived in Ganyal to find Yoko and Father Memo in a similar state, without a goat, of course. They were tired, overrun and had made few friends in the day. One guy started verbally abusing father Memo when he refused him a lift back to Nlyaal. He told him to go to hell. Father Memo replied “after you”.
It was dark when we set off. The very bumpy journey back to Naal took the better part of 3 hours.
This was the first night I slept all the way through. I was surprised, particularly because I found out what it was that was rustling in my roof – a frickin' huge snake.
2008-05-14 Weds
Final distribution in Nyaal, here in the county commissioner’s compound. We had learnt from our experiences yesterday, and took advantage of the metal fence and gate, so held the crowd outside and only let in women with cards. The first hour was manageable. But then the children started scrambling to the front and fighting their way in. Then the young men came and started trying to push their way in. Gabe held them off playing the role of chief bouncer. I did issue resolution and gave confiscated cards to women who showed up with none. The others coordinated the registration and handed out radios. We were impossibly busy. After what seemed like 4 hours I checked my watch to find that it was only 10am.
A soldier showed up – drunk out of his mind, and probably cranking on amphetamines. On sight of him the children ran. He seemed in a sufficiently inebriated stated as to use them as target practice. The trouble was he wanted payment for his services. We negotiated him down to one radio from his demand of one case. His effect didn’t last and both the kids and the young men started to get aggressive. Three began to get very ugly. One kid, very small, started trying to grab the radios from the women as they tried to exit. Then two guys, both very tall, started picking a fight. Gabe got into a shoving match with one, and the other started shoving me. We called the distribution to a close – it was at 11am, we were 240 radios short of our 2000 target. But given that our target group seem to either be giving their radios away or having them taken off them, we doubted it made any difference.
It’s nice to have the afternoon free. I’m resting and I feel like I’ve earned it.
We needed to distribute the remaining radios so Michael assembled the remaining catechists and we let them organize themselves to distribute. We left the compound and sat in Father’s place next door and soon heard shouting. There were lots of women, but I sense that many had collected yesterday. It was relieving not to have to sort it out. Michael worked very hard and Gabe has hired him to oversee the listening groups in the area.
Robert met with NDI in Juba – they want to extend our funding for another 6 months, and give us another million to vamp up the civic education component of the program. I’m trying to think of a creative way to do this – like call ins, questions posed to the show and then responded to – but there are so many hindrances. No phones and no post here. The radio show can’t do a regional focus and doesn’t really do newsy type stuff, it’s just discussion and if they did focus on an area, there’d be squabbling. I’ll keep thinking.
We ate the goat – the silly cook managed not to completely mess it up, but he did still hack it to pieces and boil it. The father and sister came to eat with us. We lamented over the situation here. Despite incredibly fertile ground, very few of them are farming. Partly because they didn’t learn while they were displaced, and partly because WFP is still distributing food in a place that has plentiful papaya, mango and eucalyptus trees. There is no need to be giving handouts here. The UN apparently tried to do a livelihoods program a few years ago, but the big man chopped all the tools and claimed that the oxen provided couldn’t be used to farm because their culture prevented them from beating cattle. This is crap. Father suggested putting a dress on it and calling it a woman, the men would have no problems beating it then.
I and my snake were restless tonight.
2008-05-15 Thursday
It rained. It rained heavy and hard in the morning for about 2 hours, and then a good drizzle that didn’t seem to want to stop and saturated everything – including the airstrip. Yoko’s plane couldn’t land, but we had to wait until 4pm to find that out – now time and the conditions of the road were seriously against us. It was a very rough and long journey back to Leer. The first half was nothing short of a rollercoaster and Gabe, who was driving, tried not to get stuck and not to veer off the road – I wasn’t entirely convinced that he was in full control of the vehicle, but thought it best not to worry about this. We had father Memo and Sister Agatha with us. Surely that would help.
We cleared the roughness to get to the new road built by the prospecting Chinese oil company. The County Commissioner had had the sense to demand that if they were going to be coming into his county they would have to build the road, but he didn’t specify the quality. So they build the road by digging either side of the path and compacting it. Either side of the path was marsh. Thus they made a road out of marsh mud that is long, wide and utterly useless when it gets the slightest bit wet. We had no traction and the muck would accumulate so thick on the tires and wheel wells that it would prevent the wheels from turning. We had to stop every few kilometres to dig out the clay. We, stupidly, had carried no shovels so had to do it using sticks, a pipe we were carrying and our hands. This lengthened the journey considerably and in the 6 hours it took to pass this stretch of road we saw no other sign of life. We all doubted that we would make it to Leer that day.
We did reach Leer and a dry road late in the night – around 11pm. The sisters of the catholic mission had waited up for their colleague to arrive and laid out a very generous spread for us on arrival: fired eggs, bread and tomato salad – made with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! Sheer luxury. It was like having 7 grandmothers fussing over me. I slept very well.
2008-05-16 Friday
We got a late start because the clay had not dried and fallen off as we’d hoped to had to dig out more. This was much easier now that we had a spade. We bid farewell to the father and sister and headed off to Bentiu. Yoko still needed to make her connecting flight to Khartoum on Saturday and we were unsure what was the best thing to do – see if we could get her on a flight in Wau (unlikely, they need 72 hours notice for a reservation), or try and make Rumbek for tomorrow morning by 10am. The latter seemed impossible, but it looked like the only option. We covered about 900km that day. The roads were considerably better for much of it, but there were some good stretches that were nothing short of appalling due to wear. The efficacy of the county commissioner seems to be demonstrated by the state of his roads. We reached Wau at around 9pm and prepared to leave at 5am for the final 4-5 hour journey to Rumbek. My stomach seemed to have had enough of the whole experience and started running badly. I think I woke up half the compound with the noise I made on my visit to the latrine in the middle of the night.
2008-05-17 Saturday
Rough journey to Rumbek. We made it by 10am, just, losing 3 shocks and our brakes on the way. We arrived to find that Yoko’s flight was at 2pm. Arse. Came back to the compound and slept. Home sweet home. I get to rest tomorrow as well, then off on Monday to Marialo that doesn’t appear on many maps and if it does it has no roads leading to it. I have no idea what to expect.
Prime Location
This was an email I sent on 19 May 2008
It feels like I've been here a month. The past week has brought me to
some equally beautiful and ugly places. In each I would remark to
myself "now THIS is in the middle of nowhere" only to go another 100km
further into the nowhereness.
The project I'm working on aims to help build South Sudan's civil
society. There is nothing here: only a nascent media, no national
newspapers, no nation-wide radio or television, few roads (let alone
paved ones), no phones, no post... The project has helped set up a
daily radio program that addresses matters of the country: peace,
democracy, human rights and the upcoming referendum on independence.
The more capable South Sudan looks come 2011, the greater the chance
that independence from the North will come. My project is helping
achieve this by distributing 70,000 radios to the most remote corners
to allow people to hear about and play their role in the elections,
referendum and development of their country.
So in the past week I've traveled about 2000km, helped distribute
about 3000 radios, held back an angry crowd for whom we didn't have
any, slept under a snake, prayed for and then cursed the rain, dug our
car out of the soft clay into which it sank (5 times) and felt utterly
isolated while with no other sign of human life for 6 hours. But
I had good company and a sense of purpose throughout, so it was all
fine.
Whilst I am unsure if I'll ever get the muck out from under my
fingernails, I am sure that the last week has fulfilled me to an
extent that 2 years working in London did not (no offense
colleagues). I know, I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but this just
feels right. And after a week out there, my little mud hut in Rumbek
feels very luxurious, and in a prime location, indeed.
I am aware that my delight might rapidly fade along with the novelty
of being here. It's not all roses and not a friendly place. In fact,
it feels outright hostile. The country itself is fucked. After 25
years of fighting, the next generation of able-bodied men seem unable
and unwilling to do anything. The land is fertile and uncultivated.
Mango and papaya trees dot the landscape, but no one farms. They queue
up at WFP distributions. There is immense demand for services and
goods, especially from the overfunded NGO army, but this demand is
not met by Sudanese entrepreneurs. There are none of those, it seems.
The mechanics are Kenyans, the truckers and shippers Somalis, the
restaurateurs and bakers Ugandans. They charge extortionate prices,
pay no taxes and will inevitably leave, taking their fortunes with
them.
The expat community is small, incestuous and comprised mostly of
desperate women and lecherous men. I've met a couple of very pleasant
people, though, and I get on well with my project manager who's
basically a lad with a big adventure budget.
And it's just gotten bigger: our funders have agreed not only to
extend, but also to triple our funding. I'd like to take part credit
for this, but given that I've only been here a week, I really don't
think I can. Good news is that this could turn into something more
permanent for me. Let's hope it all continues to go as well and I'll
assess after a few more weeks of work. I'm off again today to do
another distribution in a place not as far away, but with just as
difficult a crowd, I hear. Add to the list of training requirements -
bouncer classes.
It feels like I've been here a month. The past week has brought me to
some equally beautiful and ugly places. In each I would remark to
myself "now THIS is in the middle of nowhere" only to go another 100km
further into the nowhereness.
The project I'm working on aims to help build South Sudan's civil
society. There is nothing here: only a nascent media, no national
newspapers, no nation-wide radio or television, few roads (let alone
paved ones), no phones, no post... The project has helped set up a
daily radio program that addresses matters of the country: peace,
democracy, human rights and the upcoming referendum on independence.
The more capable South Sudan looks come 2011, the greater the chance
that independence from the North will come. My project is helping
achieve this by distributing 70,000 radios to the most remote corners
to allow people to hear about and play their role in the elections,
referendum and development of their country.
So in the past week I've traveled about 2000km, helped distribute
about 3000 radios, held back an angry crowd for whom we didn't have
any, slept under a snake, prayed for and then cursed the rain, dug our
car out of the soft clay into which it sank (5 times) and felt utterly
isolated while with no other sign of human life for 6 hours. But
I had good company and a sense of purpose throughout, so it was all
fine.
Whilst I am unsure if I'll ever get the muck out from under my
fingernails, I am sure that the last week has fulfilled me to an
extent that 2 years working in London did not (no offense
colleagues). I know, I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but this just
feels right. And after a week out there, my little mud hut in Rumbek
feels very luxurious, and in a prime location, indeed.
I am aware that my delight might rapidly fade along with the novelty
of being here. It's not all roses and not a friendly place. In fact,
it feels outright hostile. The country itself is fucked. After 25
years of fighting, the next generation of able-bodied men seem unable
and unwilling to do anything. The land is fertile and uncultivated.
Mango and papaya trees dot the landscape, but no one farms. They queue
up at WFP distributions. There is immense demand for services and
goods, especially from the overfunded NGO army, but this demand is
not met by Sudanese entrepreneurs. There are none of those, it seems.
The mechanics are Kenyans, the truckers and shippers Somalis, the
restaurateurs and bakers Ugandans. They charge extortionate prices,
pay no taxes and will inevitably leave, taking their fortunes with
them.
The expat community is small, incestuous and comprised mostly of
desperate women and lecherous men. I've met a couple of very pleasant
people, though, and I get on well with my project manager who's
basically a lad with a big adventure budget.
And it's just gotten bigger: our funders have agreed not only to
extend, but also to triple our funding. I'd like to take part credit
for this, but given that I've only been here a week, I really don't
think I can. Good news is that this could turn into something more
permanent for me. Let's hope it all continues to go as well and I'll
assess after a few more weeks of work. I'm off again today to do
another distribution in a place not as far away, but with just as
difficult a crowd, I hear. Add to the list of training requirements -
bouncer classes.
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