The DDR Conference

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Emma and George left for Lafon with SSRRC. They are going to figure out the condition of the road, the intensity of malaria over there, the number of primary health facilities, and other statistics. But mainly, Emma is going for her anthropological expedition. I stayed in Torit with Ed because Father Vuni is speaking in a DDR (Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration) conference tomorrow. Ever since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the government has been discussing the use of weaponry within the SPLA and about the reintegration of soldiers into society. Father Vuni is doing a speech about the role of civil society in peace building after the war. He is letting me speak in the conference about how our team’s action in controlling malaria is a practical application of peace building.

But I did not have much time to focus on this speech. I promised to meet the Head of Malaria from the Ministry since I missed him yesterday. I wanted to ask him whether the Ministry could cooperate with the Diocese in getting 5,000 nets from PSI for this malaria season. I was hoping we could use some of their facilities as distribution points because they have facilities in areas where the Diocese does not, but he could not provide me with a list of the government antenatal clinics. Someone stole his computer very recently, and unfortunately, all his files were on it. The only person who has a backup copy is a very knowledgeable man we met at the health conference from the Management of Science and Health (MSH), but we did not have his email. They had an outdated list of health facilities, but it was pretty frustrating. I am going to help him out once our team collects more information.

Despite the lack of information, I just went ahead and emailed PSI. I really hope those nets are still available because it would really support our team’s application for Round 7. But whatever…let us see how they respond.

Yeah so that formal email took forever, and then I started to panic because I still needed to prepare for my part of the presentation. I had to somehow tie the importance of malaria into this conference since it seemed totally irrelevant to disarmament. I really did not want to wing it, but I could not come up with a clear sense of direction. The generator was going to go off, and then I finally said screw it. I will wake up in the morning and whip something up.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
So I woke up in the morning and whipped something up. Not surprising since I write best under pressure, a trait I had developed in my senior year of high school. It really was not that bad at all, and even Ed, who tends to rewrite people’s speeches and emails when he claims to be editing, did not change it that much.

The conference was a lot smaller than the health conference (DCP2, Disease Control Priorities 2) we had in Juba. I typically expect to see a lot of khawajas in these conferences at this point, but Ed and I were the only ones there who were not African. And as usual, everyone turned their heads around to observe the khawajas. During the conference, many people argued that it is not fair to disarm people when peace has not officially been achieved. One person even had the guts to say, ironically in this disarmament conference, that we need guns to maintain the peace. Talk about being bold! I guess I should not be surprised; some people in the United States would say the same thing.

They ran over time, and Father Vuni had to present his portion quickly since lunch was right after. But WOW, Father Vuni is an amazing speaker. His deep voice naturally bellows when he speaks, and he is very engaging. He spoke so convincingly about his ideas on peace and civil society that there was not one moment I could take my eyes off him. Even when he translated into Arabic for the rest of the audience, I could sense the power in his voice. I would never have expected this energy from him since he usually speaks quietly on an individual basis, but considering that he is a priest, I should have given him more credit.

Then he introduced me and I went up to speak. I projected as much as possible, and I had some questions about malaria that provoked the audience. But when Father Vuni translated into Arabic for me, I got more of a positive response than I expected. It was ALL Father Vuni, if you ask me. The presentation actually finished faster than we thought, and we went off to eat lunch. This was the first time I ever had local Sudanese food in Torit. Our cook, Florence, generally makes East African dishes at the Diocese. I had kisra, which is this very thin, porous bread…kinda like the sour bread Ethiopians eat. Since most of the dishes had beef or goat meat, I ate the kisra with a familiar spinach-peanut butter sauce.

Ed congratulated me on my presentation, but I wish I prepared more for it. Although it had been a long time since I had spoken in front of a large group of people, I was slightly disappointed with my stumbling. Ed was surprised at my speaking skills though. Ehhh whatever. I will practice more for the real deal near the end of summer, if our team actually decides to make a big presentation. But it was great getting this speech off my shoulders…and that PSI email.

Once we got home, I helped Ed cut his bamboo sticks for his mosquito net. It was the first time I ever held a machete. Emma and George still have not arrived. I really hope they come back before the sun sets…

Father Vuni and Father Harold are leaving us tomorrow. Everyone seems to be going somewhere, and I feel less secure every time someone has to leave. I was hoping that with Bishop Paride gone, Father Vuni will stay with us. I guess I will have to wait until both of them come back by the end of this month.

There is a nice breeze outside right now, and I think I am going to go outside. A woman from Kenya told me she came to Torit for vacation. Vacation!? Really?? But now that I am looking at the calmness outside, I guess I can see why this can be considered a vacation…