Catching up again.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
We were supposed to leave immediately for Kimotong today to distribute 500 nets, but Jerome checked the car and noticed that our Pajero was in really bad condition. Our brakes were annihilated, and we needed fixing. So even though we got prepared early that morning, sent out our emails, contacted whoever we needed to, printed the flipcharts, and collected the nets from the Bishop’s, we needed to stay in Torit until the car got better. So George and Jerome went to the auto shop, Emma later joined them when she wanted to go to the market with Lucy, and I stayed behind to do a little reading. They did not get back until late at night, which made me worry. But they told me the car repairing took forever, and we were now ready to leave the next day.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
We left the compound at about 7:30 in the morning, but first we needed to stop by the auto shop and finish something additional with the brakes. Once we got more bread for the road and restocked on fuel from the Hass station, we left Torit at about 9:30. The ride to Kimotong is about 4 hours, but along the way we heard this loud “POP!”, and found that our tire busted. So we spent an hour changing the destroyed tire for the one we patched up in Pageri because our jack kept falling over. We were dead afraid the car would fall on Jerome’s body. Not only that, we saw that our fuel tank was leaking in three spots under the car. Oh no. Once we got the tire done, we had to set off again and pray that nothing else happened to our tires because we no longer had a spare…or to anything else with the car.
About 40 minutes away from Kimotong, a man in a pink shirt stopped us for a ride. There was a branch in front of our path that we could not pass unless someone removed it for us, so we let him in and he took away the branch. The guy sat right next to me, with an AK-47 on his lap, and I could not help staring at it the rest of the way to Kimotong. It was the closest I had ever been to a gun, so I could not take my eyes off it. We find out that he is a soldier. Last time we drove on this road, we saw herds of cattle crossing our path, but this time we saw a whole troop of walking SPLA soldiers whom the man shouted and waved to.
The instant we arrived in Kimotong, my stomach literally just plunged. Emma and I hate this place. We were terrified that the crazy man would find us again and never let us go. Fortunately this time, hundreds of children did not surround our car and prevent us from reaching where we needed to go. We met Peter Lomong (finally), and waited until he was ready to have a meeting with us. He offered us food to eat, but we politely refused, and he showed us the bags of Arabic gum around the room. The community was making a new project out of collecting Arabic gum from the sap of their trees and selling it off for a source of income. It was a good idea because this gum is an ingredient for so many things.
He took us to his office, and we told him our plans for the distribution the next day. We hoped that he would bring all the people he registered so that we could get these nets out to everyone. We then hauled the massive bundles of nets from the inside of our trunk and dropped them over to their storehouse.
We left immediately for Isoke, where we were planning to sleep for the night. But we left with the soldier, a man on the top of our roof, and two women with babies who all requested a ride to the nearest town, Camp 15. Squashed in the back seat of the car, I was so happy when they all got out. When we were getting closer to Isoke, we saw grey clouds hovering over the mountains and knew that it was going to rain. It was a pretty cool, terrifying sight. The clouds were coming together and the fog looked like it was about to swallow the mountains. Darkness was setting in from above. It was something out of a movie…like Twister. But the road was bad news. It was muddier than we ever saw it before, the water overflowed, and the ditches were deep. In one of the potholes the Pajero desperately struggled to climb out of, the water was so deep that it started to seep inside the trunk of our car. Even though the tires kept running, the car was stuck. When Jerome attempted to reverse and take the other fork around the puddle, we made it through with less difficulty.
Our car was dying. We reached Isoke and placed buckets underneath the car so we could recover the diesel we were losing. We dropped off our belongings in the Brothers compound and went to eat at the Sisters’. It was pouring rain, and it would not stop for hours. This is just what I remembered monsoon season to be like, except that it was not humid. I saw Emmanuel and his crew at dinner, and sent my condolences to Moses. Then we went back to the Brothers’, washed up, and slept because we needed to leave early for Kimotong.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Although we woke up at 7 AM to leave, George and Jerome went off for about 2 hours to do some more work on the car. We promised Peter that we would be at Kimotong at about 9 AM, but we were already late. When we finally headed off, the tire we replaced started to make noise in the back of the car. So we stopped again to check it. The brakes on that tire were not working, and George and Jerome worked on sealing off the brake fluid going to that tire so that we did not lose any more of it. We spent about another hour, hour and half doing that. We were definitely late for this distribution. We drive off, and Jerome notices that the brakes in the car no longer work. He has to jam the whole weight of his body onto the brake pedal for it to work just a little bit, so he slows down.
We arrive in Kimotong at about 1 PM, about 4 hours late for the distribution. When we drive in, we see clusters of women and their babies sitting restlessly beneath the trees. They were all waiting for us to arrive since the morning, and we delayed them. I was very impressed at the turnout, but I felt absolutely terrible and guilty for making these poor women, who had to walk miles to get here, wait for us to show up. We had hoped that Peter Lomong had started the distribution without us, but he had not. To make matters worse, it started to rain.
So we hurry off, meet with Peter Lomong and the chiefs of the 8 bomas, and they take us to an open building that would shelter the community from the rain. The leaders are all there, and we sit next to them even though we initially refuse to take their chairs away from them. Slowly and loudly, the women and children enter the building and sit on the floor to face us. The men stand or sit around the periphery, trying to settle the women down even though their commands are stifled by the rain. Eventually Peter Lomong gets up to speak, and the crowd quiets down. He makes us introduce ourselves, and then translates for us in Boya. Then using the flip chart, George speaks about the importance of the nets and how to maintain them. We were originally supposed to educate people in small groups, but we did not want them to get more restless. Plus, this was more convenient.
Eventually it stops raining, and we get the heavy bundles of nets out the storehouse. We bring it outside to where all the women have lined up and crowded around. The brother of Lopez Lomong (the Olympic runner) reads off the list of names for women to come up and receive their nets. The chiefs who stood by us would confirm whether the name corresponded with the woman coming up to us. George, Emma, and I took turns handing out the nets, but then when they went off to get more of the nets, I took up the job of standing out in the sun and giving out the nets to the women for the rest of the time we were there. At times I would have to look up to the leaders who did not speak English because they would gesture to me about whether the woman they were calling was still there. Because we arrived late, most of the women left in the morning thinking we were not going to come. So oftentimes no one would answer or come up when we called off a name. For those who weren’t there, we created another pile of nets to give it to them the following day. It was a long, slow process, and there were about three men who came up to me begging me to hand them a net when it was not their turn. One man kept harassing me, and the police officer nearby grabbed him away from me. Some women would come up pretending to be the person whose name was called, but then the leaders would recognize the face and gesture that I not give the net to that person. I tell you, I was so happy the chiefs were there. Having them lead the process and run the distribution made me realize how effective it is to have community health workers who understand the local language and the people. I was really proud of them. In the end, we distributed 240 out of the 500 nets, and we told Peter Lomong to distribute the rest tomorrow even if we were not there.
It was the greatest thing to see women carrying the nets over their heads as we passed them on the road. Even if this RFP does not come out before we leave, I am satisfied that we have left some mark here.
In the middle of the distribution, Jerome told us to take a break and eat the chicken he cooked for us. He bought two chickens for 6 pounds total! So cheap! I never tasted a chicken so flavorful since the time we ate at the Ethiopian restaurant in Juba. Who knew Jerome, our driver, could cook so well? It was really good. By the time we finished, the leaders told us they were done with the distribution. We said our goodbyes to the chiefs who were still there, Lopez Lomong’s family, and of course, Peter Lomong. By the end of the day, I started to like Kimotong. Even the crazy guy helped us. He carried the nets from the storehouse and passed them to me.
We soon had to leave. A pregnant lady wanted a ride from us to Torit, but with the condition of our car, we did not want to be liable for any injuries that might happen to her on the road. And thank god we did not bring her. Emmanuel promised to drop off fuel for us at Camp 15 because we had a quarter of a tank left, but when we got to the town, there was no fuel. We found a Father Alfred who helped us out and gave us 2 jerry cans of fuel. Although we eventually passed Emmanuel on the road, it was too late by then. We continued driving, but literally about 15 kilometers away from Torit, our car breaks down. Of all the things we thought would give us a problem, we never thought the radiator would overheat. Our battery was also close to dying. We waited by the side of the road, waiting for the radiator to cool down. We poured water on it, but it started to spill underneath the car and we lost all our water. Using the duct tape from our med kit, we taped up the bottom of the radiator so it didn’t spill any more fluid. But we had no water left, so George used his mouth to siphon out anti-freeze liquid from one of the car tanks and direct it over the radiator. I couldn’t believe George was so willing.
When we started up the car, it ran for a good 10 kilometers. And then it stopped. We counted down the number of kilometers left on the road by tracking the GPS, but it was excruciating. With each kilometer, we held our breaths and prayed that we could make it to the next. But about 6 kilometers away from Torit, our car completely stopped. We had no more water and no airtime on our phones. So we made the decision that George and Jerome walk to town for water, while Emma and I remained locked inside the car, in the dark. We did not dare to get out of the car while they were away. They left at about 11:30 PM, and they did not come back until an hour and a half later. Emma and I dozed off in the backseat of the car, and then we jumped to the sound of loud banging on our windows…but it was just them. They walked the whole distance, but all the shops were closed, so they went to the compound and woke up Father Vuni. Father Vuni let us use his car to tow ours back to the compound. So with a rope, we tied our car bumper to his car, and his driver slowly pulled us to the compound.
It was about 1:30 AM when we reached the gate, and we were all dead tired. But literally a few meters away from the gate, the rope snaps and we stop. So George, Jerome, and Emma push the car inside the compound while I steer. But I was so tired that I kept pushing against the brakes of the car. Luckily the brakes do not work. When we got the car inside the compound, we instantly jolted out of it, took our luggage, and flopped on our beds. Our poor Pajero lasted through so much. And now it was completely gone.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Nimule
I am going to start posting day by day again. This whole week we had been in Nimule. Besides Father Vuni coming back, getting out of Torit was the 2nd best thing that had happened to us. The trip definitely revived me again.
Beware again, this is a long post.
Monday, July 14, 2008
We left for Nimule at about 10:30 AM. Nimule is a beautiful town near the border of Uganda, and we were going there to see the wildlife and to tour around the health facilities. On the way, we stopped by a small town called Moli, about an hour and half away from Nimule. When we stayed in the car for a few minutes, two men holding hands came up to our window and asked for me. When I refused, they came up to Jerome. One of them wanted to buy me for 1.5 million shillings and 10 cows. At first we thought 1.5 million pounds, but then they said Ugandan shillings, and George was less enthused. For your information, 7000 Ugandan shillings=10 Sudanese pounds. I do not know what the conversion is to U.S. dollars, but I am looking it up online and it is 1700 Ugandan shillings=1 U.S. dollar. Pretty inconsistent, but that does not surprise me anymore. Jerome told them we will come back, but I smacked him on the head and told him that they better not greet me with cows and shillings when we drive back to Torit.
We stopped by another small town called Pageri, which is about 40 minutes away from Nimule. In Pageri, we met the deacon Taban and his family. Taban is going to be ordained in August, so everyone is excited for him. His family owns a hut-like bar, where we rested and met an old woman who sang to us. We then drove off, through the fields of corn and villages, and arrived at a nice town a few miles down called Loa. Father Vuni told us about Loa; it is definitely a very pretty town. The red-bricked buildings make up most of the structures, and they create a pleasing contrast to the green around it. The first church of Southern Sudan was built in Loa (the second in Isoke). It was like the church we saw in Isoke, but I underestimated the size of this church when we entered it. It was HUGE…and beautiful. But it was very depressing to see bullet holes in the roof. One of the Fathers told us that the Arabs came in shooting the church, chopping the statues, and stealing the seats of the church so that people could not sit. It was disheartening to hear that there were people ballsy enough to do something like that to such a beautiful church.
We finally made it to Nimule about 8 hours after we left for Torit. We drove up the hills, and at their peak, we could see the whole view of the Nile River, the forest of Uganda right across from it, and Nimule right below us. It was simply gorgeous, and as we meandered down the hill, we could see more of the town. Nimule is bigger than Torit, more concentrated, and more developed than any other town we have been in so far…maybe because it is so close to the Ugandan border. Even though it is more concentrated (there are 9 primary schools for example), it does not look really look like it because all the buildings spread out over the hills. It is amazing how much Ugandan influence there is in this town, to the point where people here are more familiar with using Ugandan shillings than their own country’s pounds. All the lorries from Uganda must pass through Nimule road to get into Sudan, so we saw so many vehicles, cattle and chicken, beverages, and beautiful cloth in the markets. Emma and I gasped at the sight of cloth haha. It so hard to get items in Torit (c’mon chickens and cloth!) but everything here is simply so much more accessible. We were also surprised that there were more house structures and concrete buildings than there were tukuls. In fact, there were very few tukuls…it really looked like a town more than just a big village. So being close to Uganda has definitely given this town an advantage. Lucky Nimule. Now we understood why Ed always calls all the Fathers who come from this area as part of the Madi Mafia.
As we drove on the main road, we saw hundreds of people around a football field watching a match between two primary schools. It was so cool seeing the huge turnout for that school soccer game; people in the U.S. get that much attendance for a school soccer match over the span of an entire year. When we entered the Diocese compound, we saw the Fathers we met in Torit. But we also saw 5 white girls who were all about our age and were from the U.S. It was definitely strange seeing them, since we had never seen so many khawajas at once outside of Juba. They were all attending college and were mainly from the east/midwest (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana). They were in Nimule through an organization, New Community Project, one of the girls, Emily, created with a group about a year ago, and they were mainly here to teach classes in the primary and secondary schools. Emily has been in Nimule for about 9 months, which has placed her as one of the million terrorist suspects on the already inflated U.S. watch list. Pretty funny. She brought four other girls for this summer, and although they do not travel much, they have all developed strong relationships with the people around them. Emily and Maria teach English, Sarah teaches biology, Larisa teaches agro-forestry, and Jana teaches art and music (she even brought her guitar here!). They tell us that there are about 1500 students in one school and about 150 students in ONE classroom. But these students are an American schoolteacher’s dream. Once all the students settle in, they sit patiently and listen intently to the teacher. Even though the girls see serious gaps in their education, the children will enthusiastically invite anything the girls teach them.
Dinner was a fantastic feast. Soooo good! Amazing chicken, fresh (not dried!) Nile perch fish, salad (cabbage, tomatoes, onions), greens, sweet potatoes, posho (ugali), and chips. Man, way better than the food in Torit…and definitely more variety.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I woke up to the sound of the cooks banging on metal pots…and to something that sounded like fireworks (but probably not). I was really surprised by how cold it was in the morning, but it felt very nice. The shower had the softest pressure ever, and it felt so good. Man, these girls at Nimule really had it good! They even have power running here all day long, so it really does not matter what time they go to sleep. There is a TV in the tukul dining room, which they always have on. When I asked what time the power turned off, all the girls looked at me funny. But Emma told me they do not get internet here, which is the only downside. But I actually liked going on this whole week without internet…it was so relaxing.
For breakfast, we had sweet potato curry, maize and bread. AGAIN, so good! We watched a little bit of Al-Jazeera (I actually really like this channel), and most of the news focused on the indictment of President Al-Bashir, who is seeking China for help in the UN. I was really surprised that there were UN peacekeepers getting attacked and killed in the Darfur region. But it did not surprise me enough to want to leave.
Jerome wanted to clean the Pajero because it got so dirty from driving on the road. He first debated whether we should go to the Nile or stay in the compound to clean the car, and then decided on going to the river. We drove down the hills to the Nile and stopped our car next to some other vehicle picking up water from the river. The spot was really muddy and Jerome embarrassed himself when he slipped and fell on the mud. Haha. There was a lady washing her clothes and a couple of boys swimming in the water. Watching them really made me want to take off my clothes and jump in the Nile, but Jerome would not let us because he was afraid we would get a disease like schistosomiasis…or get attacked by a crocodile. We probably could have swum in the Nile, but he did not want anything to happen to us and get blamed for it. So for the next half hour, while Jerome tried to figure out a way of getting out water without falling into the river, I just watched the little grass islands floating on the river and the pretty dragonflies flying around us. It was so serene. I could have stayed there for hours.
But Jerome got frustrated and wanted to go back to the compound to wash the car. George and I helped Jerome wash the inside and out of the Pajero as much as we could, and it looked significantly cleaner. We then took the car to visit Jerome’s friends on the slope of one of the hills beyond the road. Seriously, the view looked like something out of the book Heidi. We met a woman named Mary, who taught Emma a little embroidery, and then came back to the compound to eat lunch. Maria and Larisa asked us if we wanted to play with the schoolchildren at the football field, so we followed them out and walked to the nearby field. They attempted to start a game of Monkey in the Middle with the children, but a large number of them were more interested in surrounding the 3 khawajas they had never seen before. Most of them crowded around me, and I tried to speak the few greeting words I knew in Madi to them, but they were so curious and mesmerized by me, that they did not want to answer back. I even felt a few children pulling my hair, wondering why my hair was so long and black while theirs was cut off or shaved. It really made me uncomfortable, so George, Emma, and Jerome escorted me back to the compound.
Dinner, again, was nothing short of amazing: fried fish, chips, and boiled cassava. We watched a bit of Al-Jazeera, until we heard the sound of Mark’s car arriving at the compound. Mark is one of the friends we met in Nairobi, and he is best buddies with Jerome. It is really cute seeing the two together and joking around. They act like brothers. We walked off to the multi-center building within the compound, and ordered a round of drinks there with Mark. It was dark by the time we finished.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Our car always has problems. We had to fix something with the engine (?), I don’t know. But Mark had problems with his car too, so I put on Jerome’s ridiculously baggy and dirty jumpers and helped Mark out. Something was wrong with his shock absorbers, but I did not know anything about them, so he made me raise the jack under the car, unscrew the bolts on the tire, and give him the tools he needed while he did his thing. It was pretty fun…Now I know how to change a tire if I ever get a flat tire on the road.
Later, I helped Emma hand wash our clothes but we did a terrible job. We were so bad, in fact, that an old woman came over and showed us how to do it right. Yeah right we could have washed it as skillfully and as aggressively as she did! She totally made us feel useless, and then left.
George, Emma, and Jerome went off to get welding done on the car. I went to CRS for some internet. We were originally going to come back to Torit tomorrow, but because Uganda is so close, we thought it would be great to prolong this trip and go to Kampala for the weekend. The problem was that Emma left her passport in Torit, and I left my anti-malarial pills. But we heard Father Vuni was coming to Nimule on Saturday, and we needed to email him to send over those items for us so that we could go. So I sent an out an email to him right at the moment George, Emma, and Jerome arrived. They picked me up, and we went over to a small collection of buildings on one of the hills called the Nile View. It was a sit-down area where we could order drinks and food. Mark and Jerome’s other friend, Patrick, joined us. Jerome wanted to show me that they watch Indian movies here, so he made the owners put on Zee TV, a known Indian channel, for all the men in the bar. It was really embarrassing for me because the movie had a horrible plot line (as always), and the dancing was pathetic. But Jerome was having a fun time imitating the dance moves. I had to cover my eyes in embarrassment.
We then dropped off Patrick, ordered some more drinks (Ugandan Waragi), and sat outside the compound talking to Mark about the first time he met his wife. Really cute story. We kept hearing bats in the trees, and I kept hearing their echo noises throughout the night when I went back to bed and slept. Meanwhile, George and Emma were still outside talking because George had a little too much to drink.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
George was still in bed, and Maria asked Emma and me if we wanted to accompany her on her walk to the orphanage. We walked down the main road, to the other side of town, and went up the hill where there were many small buildings along the path. Maria told us that there were three other Americans volunteering at the orphanage who were supposed to leave today, so there were a lot of children around playing with them and saying their goodbyes. Most of these children were orphaned from the war or from parents who were unable to provide for them, but the children were treated and cared for well at the orphanage. Ranging from ages 4 to 20, they all had clothes, shoes, and a place to stay. The only problem is that the WFP recently pulled out of sending grants for the orphanage to get food, so they have been eating beans, greens, and posho everyday. No rice or meat. It seems like in every sector, NGOs like to pull out within a very short notice, and it is very disappointing.
We met an American who was our age, named Sophie. She has been volunteering and taking care of the children at the orphanage for about 6 months, and is staying for a longer period of time. The children call her “Mama Sophie”, and she showed us their pet monkey. On the way walking back from the orphanage, Maria told us that keeping up this orphanage is hard work for Sophie and she does not enjoy it as much as she used to. I can imagine how difficult it must be.
As we walked down the road, Maria led us into the market to a shop that sold colorful cloth. Man, Emma and I went crazy. She showed us a lot of places with beautiful cloth, and I bought a single (half the cloth) for 15 pounds (or 12,000 shillings). Maria bought the other half and asked a woman at the shop to sew it up for her into a skirt. Emma and I are planning to go to Kampala to get it sewn since we are not going to stay in Nimule for long.
On the way walking back to the compound, a tall old woman came behind us and we turned around. The woman, who had patches on her forehead and wore rags, introduced herself as Betty, but Maria told us we needed to call her Queen Elizabeth Betty. She bowed down and asked for money, but we did not have any. Thankfully Maria knew how to deal with her without Queen Elizabeth Betty following us to the compound.
When we got back to the compound, Jerome and George were ready to take us to Fula Falls to see the elephants and hippos. We picked up the gamekeeper, Musseyo (“old man”), who is also the brother of Bishop Paride. He took us to meet the head officer of the army, Charles, who guards the Falls. Initially Charles asked that we pay 400 pounds ($200) to see the Falls, but we tell him we are poor and do not have the money to even pay for the fuel in our car. He tells us that the Japanese came there recently and paid 2000 pounds a person to film a documentary at the Falls. The Japanese would do such a thing. Eventually we negotiated it down to 200 pounds for the four of us after we told him we worked for DoT (the Diocese). But then we find out that the elephants have migrated away and were not there at the moment. So we tell him we will come back in a few days to see them at the same price he offered us.
We get back in time for lunch (cabbage, fried catfish, and chips), and then play a bit of cards. We hear that there is a football match outside again, so we walk toward the multitude of people surrounding the field. Jerome, George, and I move towards one end of the field, but the children start to crowd around me again. Boy, I felt like a goldfish. They were more interested in me than the game, and it was difficult to concentrate on the game with all their eyes on me (they avoid George). I get really frustrated when a lot of them blocked my view of the field just so they could see my face, and I don’t even notice that I am starting to tear up until Jerome starts to laugh at me. So George and Jerome escort me around the field to the other side. At the other end of the field, I had a better view of the game, but the children again start to close in on me and step over the boundaries of the field to get a better look at my face. Luckily there was a terrifying man in crutches who boasted to us that he arrested the man next to us for stealing his beer. He swung his crutches in a way that scared and scattered all the children away from the field. But then the children kept crowding around me again, and it got to the point where the man yelled at George and me for distracting the children and disturbing the game. Angered, he screamed, “You white people, go to the back! Go behind everyone else!” Humiliated, George and I walked around and went back to the other end of the field again. This time I was so fed up, we just left the game and went to the compound. Emma, this whole time, was near the volleyball court talking to Ed on the phone. We find out we can no longer go to Kampala, and we are disappointed for the rest of the night.
We do nothing interesting after dinner…just play some more cards, talk, and then sleep, knowing we were not going to Uganda anymore.
Friday, July 18, 2008
In the morning, after watching Ghostbusters II and Dick Tracy (a colorful 20's gangster film) in the dining room, we walked over to the Diocese’s nearby PHCU and talked to the doctor, Dominic. He showed us around and told us that the recent kits they got contained only 30 courses of Coartem, which was brought over from MDTF because the medicines for Magwi were already taken out from Juba. Contrary to what the Director of Pharmacy in Juba told us, the packages they get from the government are not labeled to their facility. But the clinic works well with the Merlin hospital close by; they often refer TB patients over there and for vaccinations. We then talked to the midwife, who was trained in Uganda. I was really surprised that the PHCU had a laboratory and an ANC clinic, because then it would be a primary health care center. Strange.
We went over to Merlin hospital, but no one was there to talk to us. So Emma and I went to the market and shopped for more cloth. The whole time we have been in Southern Sudan, we had never had the time to go cloth shopping. And now we were going to splurge and treat ourselves. In the end, I bought too much cloth.
At dinner, we talked to the girls. The food was different, but it was still SOOO good. Pasta, some really tasty tomato and egg sauce, and saucy beans. I know I keep typing down what we ate for each meal, but boy I like to remember it.
After dinner, we went out to talk to Father Mawa and Father Andrew under the mango trees. I really like Father Mawa; he is such a kind person. Teones and Peter from Torit arrived today, so we all talked. They were supposed to go to Loki the next day, but the road to Loki is really dangerous. The bandits do not just rob you—they shoot and kill people along the way. It had gotten so bad that the SPLA started to station troops at night along the road to take away the bandits. But half of the road is in Kenya, so the SPLA is getting in trouble with the Kenyan army for arresting the Kenyan citizens robbing the people along the road. What a dilemma. So they need to travel with an escort or a convoy of cars on the road to be safe. But these people are brave. I remember when Bishop Paride drove us from Juba to Torit, a soldier stopped us along the way to get a ride. The Bishop told him we were full. And even when the soldier demanded that one of us get out and walk to town, the Bishop said no like it was nothing. He did not care that the soldier was carrying an AK-47 over his shoulder, but Americans would generally be petrified about this and feel stupid to say no to a man with a gun.
Afterwards, George started talking about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans and how the problem started when the city drained their swamps to rid malaria. I went off to bed and said goodbye to Teones and Peter. I wish I took a picture of them.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
We went to the hospital today and gave it another shot. The only place where we could interview was the VCT center. The head lady told us that people are ready to take mosquito nets from the hospital, but are embarrassed to take the water filters and the condoms because it labels them. I guess this is why Ed had always wanted us to focus on malaria.
Then we headed over to the mechanic to get welding done on our car—again. I am sure if we tallied up how many hours we have spent repairing this Pajero, it would add up to 2 whole days. Because we were no longer going to Uganda anymore, Emma and I found a seamstress nearby who was ready to sew half of our clothes into skirts by the evening. She could sew a skirt in 30 minutes, which is ridiculously fast. So Emma and I walked back to the compound, picked up our cloth, and dropped them off with her. I had her sew two skirts, which came out pretty nice. On the way walking back, we heard music playing from a cart. We saw a man selling ice cream, and we were so surprised that we bought some off him for 1 pound. The ice cream wasn’t really ice cream…it was this pink mushy ice thing that tasted like bubblegum. And it tasted strange…but it was worth trying.
Jerome told us earlier that he heard the elephants crying at night, so we headed over to Fula Falls again…but Charles wasn’t there. So we got back to the compound, and Father Vuni arrived! He brought all the stuff we emailed him for, and we talked to him during dinner. He told us about the beginnings of the Diocese, which was created in 1983 and had 5 Fathers at the time (now there are 60). When the war started a few days after CDoT was created, Nimule and Torit were some of the places that the SPLA completely closed off from the outside. So the Diocese’s emergency relief efforts came by default. They asked donors to bring money for food, and they would send it out to the people who were starving in the towns. There were times when trucks ahead of them would explode from a landmine, and the Fathers would feel tempted to turn back and escape. But Bishop Paride refused, so all the Fathers remained to help. The problem now is that all the projects they created out of necessity during the war, like all our health facilities and schools, are difficult to sustain during peacetime. It makes me happy to know that I am helping them.
We then started to talk about all the trees they grow in Nimule: guava, passion fruit, mango, orange, teak, and neem (aka Plant #40). Neem is reputed here as an herbal remedy for 40 diseases. If you boil the leaves into tea and drink it everyday, it will protect you from malaria because it has quinine. If you rub it on the skin with salt, it will act as an insecticide. If you rub it in the area where you have been infected by a guinea worm, it will kill the guinea worm. Truthfully, I believe in the malaria one.
At night, I joined Jerome, George, and Emma for their movie night. We watched Apocalypto, a gory savagery movie, and Lethal Weapon 1. No wonder Mel Gibson is so popular.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
We watched more movies today and went to fix more of the car. I did not write notes for today, so I really don’t remember what we did. It must have been more of the usual.
In the morning, Father Mawa and Father Vuni delivered their sermons at the church nearby. I did not want to arrive late and interrupt the service, so I remained in the compound after breakfast.
In the evening, we tried for Fula Falls again. The main people were still not there, but the people at the port got mad at us for taking pictures without permission. So we came back and joined all the Fathers for some drinks at the multi-center building. Father Vuni told us that he came to Nimule to visit his family nearby and to look over the renovation of a secondary school in Loa—a project that he initiated and got a Canadian donor to fund. We also heard the terrible news that Moses’s house was burned down. Most of the qualified personnel who work for the Diocese come from other countries (i.e. Kenya and Uganda), so they suspect the burning happened because of anti-foreigner motives (but Father Amayo does not think this is true). Regardless, this was bad news for us because we were planning to go to Isoke soon, and the last thing we want is people angry at foreign workers. Once in the car shop, someone kept questioning Jerome where he was from because he was with three monzoongos (Kenyan word for white people). They assumed he was coming into Sudan only to take away their jobs. The thing is, we heard from the DCP2 conference in Juba that when the government attempted to train Sudanese nurses, the nurses all left to work in countries like the U.K. and the U.S. So in order to meet the number of qualified staff required for necessary services, people should welcome foreigners who want to work here. For the first time, it really made me question brain draining.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Today we woke up at 7:30 in the morning and left the compound at our last attempt to see the elephants at Fula Falls. An hour later, while waiting for the army to finish their morning exercises, Charles finally told us that the elephants were there and that we were able to go. So we left to go to a small port near the edge of the Nile. But after spending 200 pounds on the park, we realized that we may not have enough money to pay for the boat that would take us across the Nile. George and I scrambled for whatever money left in our pockets, but we dug out only 15 pounds and 2000 shillings, which was obviously not enough. Even Charles was surprised to find that these three khawajas were telling the truth all this time and REALLY did not have money. These boats usually take an additional 50 pounds per person! But we waited at the port for the boats to arrive from Uganda and to see how much we could bargain it down to. A half-hour later, one arrived with a full load of passengers, and Charles walked up to the man in charge of the boat, telling him how much we had to offer for the four of us. The guy was obviously not happy, but then nice Charles and Musseyo each put in 10,000 shillings for us, which was not enough…but enough to have the man give in and take us for a ride in his motor boat.
So we hopped on and rode out on the Nile River. It was really exciting for all of us, even for Jerome. We reached land, and walked through the tall grass to where the elephants were supposed to be. At first I could not see them, but then in the distance I saw these grey boulder-like figures next to the trees. There were about two elephants that I got a good look at, but then Jerome lifted me up to see the rest on the other side of us. There were about six elephants we saw, and we tried not to be so loud because they can stampede when they hear people close by. We headed back to the river, and behind the boat, we saw three hippos pop their heads out of the water! One of them was blowing water up in the air. It was difficult to get pictures of them because they would instantly duck under the water. They were so cute! (They are actually really dangerous when you are near, but they look so cute!) And then, when we turned around the bend of the river, we saw the face of a HUGE HUGE elephant standing in the water. The gigantic ears, the long trunk, the tusks…everything! It was so exciting. We remained there for awhile as the elephant turned around and displayed us its big behind. We then rode off, back to the port. This was seriously the best part of the whole week. This was the reason why we even bothered to come to Nimule. Now that we saw the elephants and the hippos, we were prepared to head back to Torit.
For the road, we bought some chapatti and rolex (fried chapatti and egg rolled together in a burrito-style). Along the way, our Pajero hit something metal on the road. When we stopped in Pageri, we realized that one of our tires got punctured and was slowly deflating. So we waited for an hour for the people to help us change the tire and to patch up the old one. A police officer wanted to hitch a ride with us, so we let him because we thought it would be safe to have him with us at night, despite the fact that he was old and did not carry a gun. We decided to take the Magwi road, which is a lot shorter than the Juba road but is terrible when the rains hit it. Luckily it did not rain the night before, so we chose to drive on it so that we could get to Torit at a reasonable time. I liked the road. It was narrow and reminded me of the road to Imilai. There were a few stretches along the road where we had to drive over deep, water-filled potholes, but it was not that bad. At one point we saw a huge monkey stride past the front of our car…except that it did not look like a monkey because it was ape-like and black. And near the potholes, a number of large flies would swarm inside the car and fly around. George, Emma, Jerome, and the police officer all tried to swat the flies that came in because they thought they were Tsetse flies (even though I don’t know how they came to that conclusion). But they all looked so ridiculous trying to kill all the flies that kept coming in, I could not stop laughing and being useless in helping them out.
We passed a village called Operi, where Marc is from and where the people grow a lot of sorghum. There was a section on the road that people were doing construction. One of the men came up to us and told us we had to pay 5 pounds in order to pass. We could not believe someone was trying to bribe us even with a policeman inside the car. But we passed without paying him. We eventually passed Magwi, and although we would have stopped there to see our health center, it was getting late and we did not want to drive too late at night.
On the way out, we saw an abandoned tank. Jerome started to talk about Night Dancers, which are possessed people who come out at night and eat other human beings or the dead. Why is it that every time we drive at night, the three tend to talk about things that always scare the crap out of me? There was this one point on the road where our car had to struggle out of the mud of some major pothole, and while everyone was praying that we made it through, I was praying that no Night Dancers would pop out at the moment and eat us alive. In retrospect, that sounds stupid. But it wasn’t when we were driving in the middle of that forest!
But thankfully, we got back safely. :-)
-Neesha
Beware again, this is a long post.
Monday, July 14, 2008
We left for Nimule at about 10:30 AM. Nimule is a beautiful town near the border of Uganda, and we were going there to see the wildlife and to tour around the health facilities. On the way, we stopped by a small town called Moli, about an hour and half away from Nimule. When we stayed in the car for a few minutes, two men holding hands came up to our window and asked for me. When I refused, they came up to Jerome. One of them wanted to buy me for 1.5 million shillings and 10 cows. At first we thought 1.5 million pounds, but then they said Ugandan shillings, and George was less enthused. For your information, 7000 Ugandan shillings=10 Sudanese pounds. I do not know what the conversion is to U.S. dollars, but I am looking it up online and it is 1700 Ugandan shillings=1 U.S. dollar. Pretty inconsistent, but that does not surprise me anymore. Jerome told them we will come back, but I smacked him on the head and told him that they better not greet me with cows and shillings when we drive back to Torit.
We stopped by another small town called Pageri, which is about 40 minutes away from Nimule. In Pageri, we met the deacon Taban and his family. Taban is going to be ordained in August, so everyone is excited for him. His family owns a hut-like bar, where we rested and met an old woman who sang to us. We then drove off, through the fields of corn and villages, and arrived at a nice town a few miles down called Loa. Father Vuni told us about Loa; it is definitely a very pretty town. The red-bricked buildings make up most of the structures, and they create a pleasing contrast to the green around it. The first church of Southern Sudan was built in Loa (the second in Isoke). It was like the church we saw in Isoke, but I underestimated the size of this church when we entered it. It was HUGE…and beautiful. But it was very depressing to see bullet holes in the roof. One of the Fathers told us that the Arabs came in shooting the church, chopping the statues, and stealing the seats of the church so that people could not sit. It was disheartening to hear that there were people ballsy enough to do something like that to such a beautiful church.
We finally made it to Nimule about 8 hours after we left for Torit. We drove up the hills, and at their peak, we could see the whole view of the Nile River, the forest of Uganda right across from it, and Nimule right below us. It was simply gorgeous, and as we meandered down the hill, we could see more of the town. Nimule is bigger than Torit, more concentrated, and more developed than any other town we have been in so far…maybe because it is so close to the Ugandan border. Even though it is more concentrated (there are 9 primary schools for example), it does not look really look like it because all the buildings spread out over the hills. It is amazing how much Ugandan influence there is in this town, to the point where people here are more familiar with using Ugandan shillings than their own country’s pounds. All the lorries from Uganda must pass through Nimule road to get into Sudan, so we saw so many vehicles, cattle and chicken, beverages, and beautiful cloth in the markets. Emma and I gasped at the sight of cloth haha. It so hard to get items in Torit (c’mon chickens and cloth!) but everything here is simply so much more accessible. We were also surprised that there were more house structures and concrete buildings than there were tukuls. In fact, there were very few tukuls…it really looked like a town more than just a big village. So being close to Uganda has definitely given this town an advantage. Lucky Nimule. Now we understood why Ed always calls all the Fathers who come from this area as part of the Madi Mafia.
As we drove on the main road, we saw hundreds of people around a football field watching a match between two primary schools. It was so cool seeing the huge turnout for that school soccer game; people in the U.S. get that much attendance for a school soccer match over the span of an entire year. When we entered the Diocese compound, we saw the Fathers we met in Torit. But we also saw 5 white girls who were all about our age and were from the U.S. It was definitely strange seeing them, since we had never seen so many khawajas at once outside of Juba. They were all attending college and were mainly from the east/midwest (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana). They were in Nimule through an organization, New Community Project, one of the girls, Emily, created with a group about a year ago, and they were mainly here to teach classes in the primary and secondary schools. Emily has been in Nimule for about 9 months, which has placed her as one of the million terrorist suspects on the already inflated U.S. watch list. Pretty funny. She brought four other girls for this summer, and although they do not travel much, they have all developed strong relationships with the people around them. Emily and Maria teach English, Sarah teaches biology, Larisa teaches agro-forestry, and Jana teaches art and music (she even brought her guitar here!). They tell us that there are about 1500 students in one school and about 150 students in ONE classroom. But these students are an American schoolteacher’s dream. Once all the students settle in, they sit patiently and listen intently to the teacher. Even though the girls see serious gaps in their education, the children will enthusiastically invite anything the girls teach them.
Dinner was a fantastic feast. Soooo good! Amazing chicken, fresh (not dried!) Nile perch fish, salad (cabbage, tomatoes, onions), greens, sweet potatoes, posho (ugali), and chips. Man, way better than the food in Torit…and definitely more variety.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I woke up to the sound of the cooks banging on metal pots…and to something that sounded like fireworks (but probably not). I was really surprised by how cold it was in the morning, but it felt very nice. The shower had the softest pressure ever, and it felt so good. Man, these girls at Nimule really had it good! They even have power running here all day long, so it really does not matter what time they go to sleep. There is a TV in the tukul dining room, which they always have on. When I asked what time the power turned off, all the girls looked at me funny. But Emma told me they do not get internet here, which is the only downside. But I actually liked going on this whole week without internet…it was so relaxing.
For breakfast, we had sweet potato curry, maize and bread. AGAIN, so good! We watched a little bit of Al-Jazeera (I actually really like this channel), and most of the news focused on the indictment of President Al-Bashir, who is seeking China for help in the UN. I was really surprised that there were UN peacekeepers getting attacked and killed in the Darfur region. But it did not surprise me enough to want to leave.
Jerome wanted to clean the Pajero because it got so dirty from driving on the road. He first debated whether we should go to the Nile or stay in the compound to clean the car, and then decided on going to the river. We drove down the hills to the Nile and stopped our car next to some other vehicle picking up water from the river. The spot was really muddy and Jerome embarrassed himself when he slipped and fell on the mud. Haha. There was a lady washing her clothes and a couple of boys swimming in the water. Watching them really made me want to take off my clothes and jump in the Nile, but Jerome would not let us because he was afraid we would get a disease like schistosomiasis…or get attacked by a crocodile. We probably could have swum in the Nile, but he did not want anything to happen to us and get blamed for it. So for the next half hour, while Jerome tried to figure out a way of getting out water without falling into the river, I just watched the little grass islands floating on the river and the pretty dragonflies flying around us. It was so serene. I could have stayed there for hours.
But Jerome got frustrated and wanted to go back to the compound to wash the car. George and I helped Jerome wash the inside and out of the Pajero as much as we could, and it looked significantly cleaner. We then took the car to visit Jerome’s friends on the slope of one of the hills beyond the road. Seriously, the view looked like something out of the book Heidi. We met a woman named Mary, who taught Emma a little embroidery, and then came back to the compound to eat lunch. Maria and Larisa asked us if we wanted to play with the schoolchildren at the football field, so we followed them out and walked to the nearby field. They attempted to start a game of Monkey in the Middle with the children, but a large number of them were more interested in surrounding the 3 khawajas they had never seen before. Most of them crowded around me, and I tried to speak the few greeting words I knew in Madi to them, but they were so curious and mesmerized by me, that they did not want to answer back. I even felt a few children pulling my hair, wondering why my hair was so long and black while theirs was cut off or shaved. It really made me uncomfortable, so George, Emma, and Jerome escorted me back to the compound.
Dinner, again, was nothing short of amazing: fried fish, chips, and boiled cassava. We watched a bit of Al-Jazeera, until we heard the sound of Mark’s car arriving at the compound. Mark is one of the friends we met in Nairobi, and he is best buddies with Jerome. It is really cute seeing the two together and joking around. They act like brothers. We walked off to the multi-center building within the compound, and ordered a round of drinks there with Mark. It was dark by the time we finished.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Our car always has problems. We had to fix something with the engine (?), I don’t know. But Mark had problems with his car too, so I put on Jerome’s ridiculously baggy and dirty jumpers and helped Mark out. Something was wrong with his shock absorbers, but I did not know anything about them, so he made me raise the jack under the car, unscrew the bolts on the tire, and give him the tools he needed while he did his thing. It was pretty fun…Now I know how to change a tire if I ever get a flat tire on the road.
Later, I helped Emma hand wash our clothes but we did a terrible job. We were so bad, in fact, that an old woman came over and showed us how to do it right. Yeah right we could have washed it as skillfully and as aggressively as she did! She totally made us feel useless, and then left.
George, Emma, and Jerome went off to get welding done on the car. I went to CRS for some internet. We were originally going to come back to Torit tomorrow, but because Uganda is so close, we thought it would be great to prolong this trip and go to Kampala for the weekend. The problem was that Emma left her passport in Torit, and I left my anti-malarial pills. But we heard Father Vuni was coming to Nimule on Saturday, and we needed to email him to send over those items for us so that we could go. So I sent an out an email to him right at the moment George, Emma, and Jerome arrived. They picked me up, and we went over to a small collection of buildings on one of the hills called the Nile View. It was a sit-down area where we could order drinks and food. Mark and Jerome’s other friend, Patrick, joined us. Jerome wanted to show me that they watch Indian movies here, so he made the owners put on Zee TV, a known Indian channel, for all the men in the bar. It was really embarrassing for me because the movie had a horrible plot line (as always), and the dancing was pathetic. But Jerome was having a fun time imitating the dance moves. I had to cover my eyes in embarrassment.
We then dropped off Patrick, ordered some more drinks (Ugandan Waragi), and sat outside the compound talking to Mark about the first time he met his wife. Really cute story. We kept hearing bats in the trees, and I kept hearing their echo noises throughout the night when I went back to bed and slept. Meanwhile, George and Emma were still outside talking because George had a little too much to drink.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
George was still in bed, and Maria asked Emma and me if we wanted to accompany her on her walk to the orphanage. We walked down the main road, to the other side of town, and went up the hill where there were many small buildings along the path. Maria told us that there were three other Americans volunteering at the orphanage who were supposed to leave today, so there were a lot of children around playing with them and saying their goodbyes. Most of these children were orphaned from the war or from parents who were unable to provide for them, but the children were treated and cared for well at the orphanage. Ranging from ages 4 to 20, they all had clothes, shoes, and a place to stay. The only problem is that the WFP recently pulled out of sending grants for the orphanage to get food, so they have been eating beans, greens, and posho everyday. No rice or meat. It seems like in every sector, NGOs like to pull out within a very short notice, and it is very disappointing.
We met an American who was our age, named Sophie. She has been volunteering and taking care of the children at the orphanage for about 6 months, and is staying for a longer period of time. The children call her “Mama Sophie”, and she showed us their pet monkey. On the way walking back from the orphanage, Maria told us that keeping up this orphanage is hard work for Sophie and she does not enjoy it as much as she used to. I can imagine how difficult it must be.
As we walked down the road, Maria led us into the market to a shop that sold colorful cloth. Man, Emma and I went crazy. She showed us a lot of places with beautiful cloth, and I bought a single (half the cloth) for 15 pounds (or 12,000 shillings). Maria bought the other half and asked a woman at the shop to sew it up for her into a skirt. Emma and I are planning to go to Kampala to get it sewn since we are not going to stay in Nimule for long.
On the way walking back to the compound, a tall old woman came behind us and we turned around. The woman, who had patches on her forehead and wore rags, introduced herself as Betty, but Maria told us we needed to call her Queen Elizabeth Betty. She bowed down and asked for money, but we did not have any. Thankfully Maria knew how to deal with her without Queen Elizabeth Betty following us to the compound.
When we got back to the compound, Jerome and George were ready to take us to Fula Falls to see the elephants and hippos. We picked up the gamekeeper, Musseyo (“old man”), who is also the brother of Bishop Paride. He took us to meet the head officer of the army, Charles, who guards the Falls. Initially Charles asked that we pay 400 pounds ($200) to see the Falls, but we tell him we are poor and do not have the money to even pay for the fuel in our car. He tells us that the Japanese came there recently and paid 2000 pounds a person to film a documentary at the Falls. The Japanese would do such a thing. Eventually we negotiated it down to 200 pounds for the four of us after we told him we worked for DoT (the Diocese). But then we find out that the elephants have migrated away and were not there at the moment. So we tell him we will come back in a few days to see them at the same price he offered us.
We get back in time for lunch (cabbage, fried catfish, and chips), and then play a bit of cards. We hear that there is a football match outside again, so we walk toward the multitude of people surrounding the field. Jerome, George, and I move towards one end of the field, but the children start to crowd around me again. Boy, I felt like a goldfish. They were more interested in me than the game, and it was difficult to concentrate on the game with all their eyes on me (they avoid George). I get really frustrated when a lot of them blocked my view of the field just so they could see my face, and I don’t even notice that I am starting to tear up until Jerome starts to laugh at me. So George and Jerome escort me around the field to the other side. At the other end of the field, I had a better view of the game, but the children again start to close in on me and step over the boundaries of the field to get a better look at my face. Luckily there was a terrifying man in crutches who boasted to us that he arrested the man next to us for stealing his beer. He swung his crutches in a way that scared and scattered all the children away from the field. But then the children kept crowding around me again, and it got to the point where the man yelled at George and me for distracting the children and disturbing the game. Angered, he screamed, “You white people, go to the back! Go behind everyone else!” Humiliated, George and I walked around and went back to the other end of the field again. This time I was so fed up, we just left the game and went to the compound. Emma, this whole time, was near the volleyball court talking to Ed on the phone. We find out we can no longer go to Kampala, and we are disappointed for the rest of the night.
We do nothing interesting after dinner…just play some more cards, talk, and then sleep, knowing we were not going to Uganda anymore.
Friday, July 18, 2008
In the morning, after watching Ghostbusters II and Dick Tracy (a colorful 20's gangster film) in the dining room, we walked over to the Diocese’s nearby PHCU and talked to the doctor, Dominic. He showed us around and told us that the recent kits they got contained only 30 courses of Coartem, which was brought over from MDTF because the medicines for Magwi were already taken out from Juba. Contrary to what the Director of Pharmacy in Juba told us, the packages they get from the government are not labeled to their facility. But the clinic works well with the Merlin hospital close by; they often refer TB patients over there and for vaccinations. We then talked to the midwife, who was trained in Uganda. I was really surprised that the PHCU had a laboratory and an ANC clinic, because then it would be a primary health care center. Strange.
We went over to Merlin hospital, but no one was there to talk to us. So Emma and I went to the market and shopped for more cloth. The whole time we have been in Southern Sudan, we had never had the time to go cloth shopping. And now we were going to splurge and treat ourselves. In the end, I bought too much cloth.
At dinner, we talked to the girls. The food was different, but it was still SOOO good. Pasta, some really tasty tomato and egg sauce, and saucy beans. I know I keep typing down what we ate for each meal, but boy I like to remember it.
After dinner, we went out to talk to Father Mawa and Father Andrew under the mango trees. I really like Father Mawa; he is such a kind person. Teones and Peter from Torit arrived today, so we all talked. They were supposed to go to Loki the next day, but the road to Loki is really dangerous. The bandits do not just rob you—they shoot and kill people along the way. It had gotten so bad that the SPLA started to station troops at night along the road to take away the bandits. But half of the road is in Kenya, so the SPLA is getting in trouble with the Kenyan army for arresting the Kenyan citizens robbing the people along the road. What a dilemma. So they need to travel with an escort or a convoy of cars on the road to be safe. But these people are brave. I remember when Bishop Paride drove us from Juba to Torit, a soldier stopped us along the way to get a ride. The Bishop told him we were full. And even when the soldier demanded that one of us get out and walk to town, the Bishop said no like it was nothing. He did not care that the soldier was carrying an AK-47 over his shoulder, but Americans would generally be petrified about this and feel stupid to say no to a man with a gun.
Afterwards, George started talking about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans and how the problem started when the city drained their swamps to rid malaria. I went off to bed and said goodbye to Teones and Peter. I wish I took a picture of them.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
We went to the hospital today and gave it another shot. The only place where we could interview was the VCT center. The head lady told us that people are ready to take mosquito nets from the hospital, but are embarrassed to take the water filters and the condoms because it labels them. I guess this is why Ed had always wanted us to focus on malaria.
Then we headed over to the mechanic to get welding done on our car—again. I am sure if we tallied up how many hours we have spent repairing this Pajero, it would add up to 2 whole days. Because we were no longer going to Uganda anymore, Emma and I found a seamstress nearby who was ready to sew half of our clothes into skirts by the evening. She could sew a skirt in 30 minutes, which is ridiculously fast. So Emma and I walked back to the compound, picked up our cloth, and dropped them off with her. I had her sew two skirts, which came out pretty nice. On the way walking back, we heard music playing from a cart. We saw a man selling ice cream, and we were so surprised that we bought some off him for 1 pound. The ice cream wasn’t really ice cream…it was this pink mushy ice thing that tasted like bubblegum. And it tasted strange…but it was worth trying.
Jerome told us earlier that he heard the elephants crying at night, so we headed over to Fula Falls again…but Charles wasn’t there. So we got back to the compound, and Father Vuni arrived! He brought all the stuff we emailed him for, and we talked to him during dinner. He told us about the beginnings of the Diocese, which was created in 1983 and had 5 Fathers at the time (now there are 60). When the war started a few days after CDoT was created, Nimule and Torit were some of the places that the SPLA completely closed off from the outside. So the Diocese’s emergency relief efforts came by default. They asked donors to bring money for food, and they would send it out to the people who were starving in the towns. There were times when trucks ahead of them would explode from a landmine, and the Fathers would feel tempted to turn back and escape. But Bishop Paride refused, so all the Fathers remained to help. The problem now is that all the projects they created out of necessity during the war, like all our health facilities and schools, are difficult to sustain during peacetime. It makes me happy to know that I am helping them.
We then started to talk about all the trees they grow in Nimule: guava, passion fruit, mango, orange, teak, and neem (aka Plant #40). Neem is reputed here as an herbal remedy for 40 diseases. If you boil the leaves into tea and drink it everyday, it will protect you from malaria because it has quinine. If you rub it on the skin with salt, it will act as an insecticide. If you rub it in the area where you have been infected by a guinea worm, it will kill the guinea worm. Truthfully, I believe in the malaria one.
At night, I joined Jerome, George, and Emma for their movie night. We watched Apocalypto, a gory savagery movie, and Lethal Weapon 1. No wonder Mel Gibson is so popular.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
We watched more movies today and went to fix more of the car. I did not write notes for today, so I really don’t remember what we did. It must have been more of the usual.
In the morning, Father Mawa and Father Vuni delivered their sermons at the church nearby. I did not want to arrive late and interrupt the service, so I remained in the compound after breakfast.
In the evening, we tried for Fula Falls again. The main people were still not there, but the people at the port got mad at us for taking pictures without permission. So we came back and joined all the Fathers for some drinks at the multi-center building. Father Vuni told us that he came to Nimule to visit his family nearby and to look over the renovation of a secondary school in Loa—a project that he initiated and got a Canadian donor to fund. We also heard the terrible news that Moses’s house was burned down. Most of the qualified personnel who work for the Diocese come from other countries (i.e. Kenya and Uganda), so they suspect the burning happened because of anti-foreigner motives (but Father Amayo does not think this is true). Regardless, this was bad news for us because we were planning to go to Isoke soon, and the last thing we want is people angry at foreign workers. Once in the car shop, someone kept questioning Jerome where he was from because he was with three monzoongos (Kenyan word for white people). They assumed he was coming into Sudan only to take away their jobs. The thing is, we heard from the DCP2 conference in Juba that when the government attempted to train Sudanese nurses, the nurses all left to work in countries like the U.K. and the U.S. So in order to meet the number of qualified staff required for necessary services, people should welcome foreigners who want to work here. For the first time, it really made me question brain draining.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Today we woke up at 7:30 in the morning and left the compound at our last attempt to see the elephants at Fula Falls. An hour later, while waiting for the army to finish their morning exercises, Charles finally told us that the elephants were there and that we were able to go. So we left to go to a small port near the edge of the Nile. But after spending 200 pounds on the park, we realized that we may not have enough money to pay for the boat that would take us across the Nile. George and I scrambled for whatever money left in our pockets, but we dug out only 15 pounds and 2000 shillings, which was obviously not enough. Even Charles was surprised to find that these three khawajas were telling the truth all this time and REALLY did not have money. These boats usually take an additional 50 pounds per person! But we waited at the port for the boats to arrive from Uganda and to see how much we could bargain it down to. A half-hour later, one arrived with a full load of passengers, and Charles walked up to the man in charge of the boat, telling him how much we had to offer for the four of us. The guy was obviously not happy, but then nice Charles and Musseyo each put in 10,000 shillings for us, which was not enough…but enough to have the man give in and take us for a ride in his motor boat.
So we hopped on and rode out on the Nile River. It was really exciting for all of us, even for Jerome. We reached land, and walked through the tall grass to where the elephants were supposed to be. At first I could not see them, but then in the distance I saw these grey boulder-like figures next to the trees. There were about two elephants that I got a good look at, but then Jerome lifted me up to see the rest on the other side of us. There were about six elephants we saw, and we tried not to be so loud because they can stampede when they hear people close by. We headed back to the river, and behind the boat, we saw three hippos pop their heads out of the water! One of them was blowing water up in the air. It was difficult to get pictures of them because they would instantly duck under the water. They were so cute! (They are actually really dangerous when you are near, but they look so cute!) And then, when we turned around the bend of the river, we saw the face of a HUGE HUGE elephant standing in the water. The gigantic ears, the long trunk, the tusks…everything! It was so exciting. We remained there for awhile as the elephant turned around and displayed us its big behind. We then rode off, back to the port. This was seriously the best part of the whole week. This was the reason why we even bothered to come to Nimule. Now that we saw the elephants and the hippos, we were prepared to head back to Torit.
For the road, we bought some chapatti and rolex (fried chapatti and egg rolled together in a burrito-style). Along the way, our Pajero hit something metal on the road. When we stopped in Pageri, we realized that one of our tires got punctured and was slowly deflating. So we waited for an hour for the people to help us change the tire and to patch up the old one. A police officer wanted to hitch a ride with us, so we let him because we thought it would be safe to have him with us at night, despite the fact that he was old and did not carry a gun. We decided to take the Magwi road, which is a lot shorter than the Juba road but is terrible when the rains hit it. Luckily it did not rain the night before, so we chose to drive on it so that we could get to Torit at a reasonable time. I liked the road. It was narrow and reminded me of the road to Imilai. There were a few stretches along the road where we had to drive over deep, water-filled potholes, but it was not that bad. At one point we saw a huge monkey stride past the front of our car…except that it did not look like a monkey because it was ape-like and black. And near the potholes, a number of large flies would swarm inside the car and fly around. George, Emma, Jerome, and the police officer all tried to swat the flies that came in because they thought they were Tsetse flies (even though I don’t know how they came to that conclusion). But they all looked so ridiculous trying to kill all the flies that kept coming in, I could not stop laughing and being useless in helping them out.
We passed a village called Operi, where Marc is from and where the people grow a lot of sorghum. There was a section on the road that people were doing construction. One of the men came up to us and told us we had to pay 5 pounds in order to pass. We could not believe someone was trying to bribe us even with a policeman inside the car. But we passed without paying him. We eventually passed Magwi, and although we would have stopped there to see our health center, it was getting late and we did not want to drive too late at night.
On the way out, we saw an abandoned tank. Jerome started to talk about Night Dancers, which are possessed people who come out at night and eat other human beings or the dead. Why is it that every time we drive at night, the three tend to talk about things that always scare the crap out of me? There was this one point on the road where our car had to struggle out of the mud of some major pothole, and while everyone was praying that we made it through, I was praying that no Night Dancers would pop out at the moment and eat us alive. In retrospect, that sounds stupid. But it wasn’t when we were driving in the middle of that forest!
But thankfully, we got back safely. :-)
-Neesha
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Father Vuni
If I have already had a favorite day on this trip, I was bound to have a worst day as well. But it was not just one worst day…it was this whole weekend.
Since the last time I posted, I woke up every few hours throughout the night, needing to go to the restroom. I had dysentery. And then in the morning, I woke up with a burning fever (100.7 degrees). At first I was terrified because I thought I got Typhoid Fever, which I was not vaccinated for before coming here (stupid, Neesha). But I looked up Where There Is No Doctor (the greatest, life-saving book of all time), and it said that I would be vomiting if had it. So that ruled Typhoid out...thank god.
So in the morning, Emma gave me Gatorade and Pepto-Bismol. It was difficult to drink the Gatorade without feeling like I was going throw up, but I had to force it down to stay hydrated. The one thing I have learned on this trip is that dehydration from diarrhea is the worst thing to happen to anyone, especially in infants (the leading cause of death), and ORS is so important. So I stayed in bed the whole day, attempted to get up a few times when my fever finally lessened, and watched a bit of the first XXX with everyone else.
The next day, I was still in bed. My Mephloquine seemed to be very sympathetic to my illness because it surprisingly rewarded me with a dream about me snorkeling and rising up to see my family around me. It was very comforting, but at the same time it made me very homesick. I also started to crave food more than ever while I was sick. Except for Ethiopian and Eritrean food, East African food is pretty bland, to be honest. I really missed spicy curry dishes, saucy East Asian food, burritos, hot cheesy pizza, and even chips (not french fries). I could not stop thinking about food while I was lying in bed, and it was killing my appetite for the food in the compound. I felt so dissatisfied by the end of each of dinner in Torit, and having these cravings made me want to go home more than ever.
At night, Emma, George, and Jerome went to play pool near the discotheque. On top of my illness and my desire to go home, Torit has been especially boring this week. There is literally no one in the compound except us, the generator is rarely ever on, and there is not much activity within the town. Playing pool has been the only thing we found that has thrown a splash of entertainment into our daily lives here. The last time we went there, Jerome put on a show. He beat every man who played him, but I heard from Emma that this time he lost.
As if all this was not enough, we have been receiving a gazillion emails from the U.S. Embassy telling us to get out of Sudan as soon we can. The ICC has just indicted President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in the state of Darfur. So they are fearing anti-foreigner hostility (even though this is completely the U.N.’s doing) everywhere in Sudan. But I am not that worried because everyone in Southern Sudan has been very supportive of international aid here…and the mission keeps me safe.
But I feel much better today. I tried looking up what I had in Where There is No Doctor, and the only thing I could figure out was a bacterial infection (Shigella probably?). I did not have an amoeba infection, since I had a fever. I did not have malaria, since I was taking anti-malarial pills. I definitely did not have Giardia. Plus, when I started to take Ciproflaxin, an antibiotic, I started feeling loads better. My Mephloquine also started acting like its normal, evil self again and gave me a terrifying dream about the wildlife in Nimule. I dreamt of a crocodile swimming past, its tail end forming into the head of a squid, and its eye staring at me. There were these huge turtles with shells that expanded into wings so that they could fly off and chase after us. And then there were these large human-like neon lizards that jumped and attacked us in synchronization. I hid from them, but when my cell phone started to ring, they all looked up to where I was. And then I woke up. Yep, bizarre dream. But it wasn’t so bizarre that I dreamt of Nimule. We were supposed to go to Nimule as soon as I got better…and as soon as Father Vuni came back.
I tell you, having Father Vuni come back did so much to my health. This whole week was very depressing for all of us. I was sick, homesick, and just bored to death. We all wanted company in this compound, and Father Vuni arriving was the best thing to happen to us this whole week. He is always genuinely concerned about our wellbeing. For example, he surprised me with fresh milk after I asked him why they drink powdered milk here and not goat’s milk. He even tried to get curry and chicken for me because he thought I missed Indian food haha. He completely lifted my spirits the moment I saw him.
We sat with him during lunch, and he told us about different parts of Sudan and the world. Seriously, he spurts like the fountain of knowledge. Isoke is his favorite place in Sudan, and then Nimule. There are parts to Magwi that do not look like Sudan at all but like Columbia, where they grow coffee beans. The coffee beans and bananas they grow are supported under the Fair trade, and then George started talking about the name Banana Republic. Very interesting. There are also coconuts you let fall so that they grow a long tuber underground that people can eat. This is good to know for the dry season when people need to be particularly resourceful with the food they have, but this knowledge seems to be fading with each generation. Of all the places in Eastern Equatoria, Kuron and Nyanyangachor are probably the most primitive—half-naked people who depend on their cattle for survival. Women in these villages are less educated because families marry their girls off early for cattle. The least resourceful villages are often the most educated because the women and men must survive on schools to get the jobs they need to earn money and stay successful. For example, Loa was one of the first villages to build a school in the 1920-30s, and this really gave the people an advantage. The evidence: the first female vice-president and one of the three chairmen of the nation came from Loa.
When he stayed in Khartoum from May-June, there would be sandstorms once every week starting at 5 PM at night. When it ended at 7 PM, the sand would be about a foot high inside their home, and they would spend up until midnight sweeping it all out. He told us it is very easy to get lost in the desert, as opposed to in a forest. The Arabs are the best at finding their way out of the desert by reading the stars, so that is why they say it is smarter to travel by night. He also visited Sri Lanka right after the Tsunami hit and witnessed utter chaos. There would be NGOs that come in with huge amounts of money but not know what to do with it, so they would dump it where they think it was most needed and then leave (gosh, that sounds awfully familiar!). But he was surprised that for not being a top-tier nation, Sri Lanka had about a 92% literacy rate. He also noticed that the people were very nice, who genuinely try not to cheat and lie to others. He had also talked about Ethiopia’s unique expression of Christianity and the carvings in their mountains. Man, I could listen to him for hours. I just like to type all this down for my own knowledge.
When we informed him about our 4th of July party, Father Vuni remembered that yesterday had been his 11th year anniversary since he was ordained as a priest. Yes, celebration time! We encouraged him to invite his friends to the compound, and he managed to bring his childhood seminary school friends for dinner. He also bought us a dish called fumasara (sp?), which is made with fava beans, feta cheese, onions, and tomatoes. He had this everyday when he was a child and was craving it until now. It tasted like burrito beans, and it was really good.
Then everyone at the table introduced themselves. I met Father Mawa and Father Andrew, who we will visit at Nimule. After dinner, one of the Fathers gave a long speech about Father Vuni for all of us to hear. He talked about how they first met and about Father Vuni’s character. Father Vuni had so many avenues to exploit, but he was a man of his principles. In the Father’s words, “God used him as an instrument for freedom and peace”. Despite the suffering, he gave hope to his people and served as “a voice for the voiceless”. Pretty cliché, but pretty deep…and all true. I can see evidence of these words. Father Vuni always goes out of his way to take care of me and make me feel comfortable. He is an inspiration to the people around him. I could definitely sense that all the Fathers at the table admire Father Vuni. Heck, I admire him.
In my snorkeling dream, one of my family friends pulled me up from the water and I grinned madly. My grinning turned into laughter, and he told me with surprise, “Neesha, I haven’t seen you laugh this much in a long time!” But that was a dream. Now with Father Vuni here, I have started to laugh just as much again. This is real, and I feel so much better.
-Neesha
Since the last time I posted, I woke up every few hours throughout the night, needing to go to the restroom. I had dysentery. And then in the morning, I woke up with a burning fever (100.7 degrees). At first I was terrified because I thought I got Typhoid Fever, which I was not vaccinated for before coming here (stupid, Neesha). But I looked up Where There Is No Doctor (the greatest, life-saving book of all time), and it said that I would be vomiting if had it. So that ruled Typhoid out...thank god.
So in the morning, Emma gave me Gatorade and Pepto-Bismol. It was difficult to drink the Gatorade without feeling like I was going throw up, but I had to force it down to stay hydrated. The one thing I have learned on this trip is that dehydration from diarrhea is the worst thing to happen to anyone, especially in infants (the leading cause of death), and ORS is so important. So I stayed in bed the whole day, attempted to get up a few times when my fever finally lessened, and watched a bit of the first XXX with everyone else.
The next day, I was still in bed. My Mephloquine seemed to be very sympathetic to my illness because it surprisingly rewarded me with a dream about me snorkeling and rising up to see my family around me. It was very comforting, but at the same time it made me very homesick. I also started to crave food more than ever while I was sick. Except for Ethiopian and Eritrean food, East African food is pretty bland, to be honest. I really missed spicy curry dishes, saucy East Asian food, burritos, hot cheesy pizza, and even chips (not french fries). I could not stop thinking about food while I was lying in bed, and it was killing my appetite for the food in the compound. I felt so dissatisfied by the end of each of dinner in Torit, and having these cravings made me want to go home more than ever.
At night, Emma, George, and Jerome went to play pool near the discotheque. On top of my illness and my desire to go home, Torit has been especially boring this week. There is literally no one in the compound except us, the generator is rarely ever on, and there is not much activity within the town. Playing pool has been the only thing we found that has thrown a splash of entertainment into our daily lives here. The last time we went there, Jerome put on a show. He beat every man who played him, but I heard from Emma that this time he lost.
As if all this was not enough, we have been receiving a gazillion emails from the U.S. Embassy telling us to get out of Sudan as soon we can. The ICC has just indicted President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in the state of Darfur. So they are fearing anti-foreigner hostility (even though this is completely the U.N.’s doing) everywhere in Sudan. But I am not that worried because everyone in Southern Sudan has been very supportive of international aid here…and the mission keeps me safe.
But I feel much better today. I tried looking up what I had in Where There is No Doctor, and the only thing I could figure out was a bacterial infection (Shigella probably?). I did not have an amoeba infection, since I had a fever. I did not have malaria, since I was taking anti-malarial pills. I definitely did not have Giardia. Plus, when I started to take Ciproflaxin, an antibiotic, I started feeling loads better. My Mephloquine also started acting like its normal, evil self again and gave me a terrifying dream about the wildlife in Nimule. I dreamt of a crocodile swimming past, its tail end forming into the head of a squid, and its eye staring at me. There were these huge turtles with shells that expanded into wings so that they could fly off and chase after us. And then there were these large human-like neon lizards that jumped and attacked us in synchronization. I hid from them, but when my cell phone started to ring, they all looked up to where I was. And then I woke up. Yep, bizarre dream. But it wasn’t so bizarre that I dreamt of Nimule. We were supposed to go to Nimule as soon as I got better…and as soon as Father Vuni came back.
I tell you, having Father Vuni come back did so much to my health. This whole week was very depressing for all of us. I was sick, homesick, and just bored to death. We all wanted company in this compound, and Father Vuni arriving was the best thing to happen to us this whole week. He is always genuinely concerned about our wellbeing. For example, he surprised me with fresh milk after I asked him why they drink powdered milk here and not goat’s milk. He even tried to get curry and chicken for me because he thought I missed Indian food haha. He completely lifted my spirits the moment I saw him.
We sat with him during lunch, and he told us about different parts of Sudan and the world. Seriously, he spurts like the fountain of knowledge. Isoke is his favorite place in Sudan, and then Nimule. There are parts to Magwi that do not look like Sudan at all but like Columbia, where they grow coffee beans. The coffee beans and bananas they grow are supported under the Fair trade, and then George started talking about the name Banana Republic. Very interesting. There are also coconuts you let fall so that they grow a long tuber underground that people can eat. This is good to know for the dry season when people need to be particularly resourceful with the food they have, but this knowledge seems to be fading with each generation. Of all the places in Eastern Equatoria, Kuron and Nyanyangachor are probably the most primitive—half-naked people who depend on their cattle for survival. Women in these villages are less educated because families marry their girls off early for cattle. The least resourceful villages are often the most educated because the women and men must survive on schools to get the jobs they need to earn money and stay successful. For example, Loa was one of the first villages to build a school in the 1920-30s, and this really gave the people an advantage. The evidence: the first female vice-president and one of the three chairmen of the nation came from Loa.
When he stayed in Khartoum from May-June, there would be sandstorms once every week starting at 5 PM at night. When it ended at 7 PM, the sand would be about a foot high inside their home, and they would spend up until midnight sweeping it all out. He told us it is very easy to get lost in the desert, as opposed to in a forest. The Arabs are the best at finding their way out of the desert by reading the stars, so that is why they say it is smarter to travel by night. He also visited Sri Lanka right after the Tsunami hit and witnessed utter chaos. There would be NGOs that come in with huge amounts of money but not know what to do with it, so they would dump it where they think it was most needed and then leave (gosh, that sounds awfully familiar!). But he was surprised that for not being a top-tier nation, Sri Lanka had about a 92% literacy rate. He also noticed that the people were very nice, who genuinely try not to cheat and lie to others. He had also talked about Ethiopia’s unique expression of Christianity and the carvings in their mountains. Man, I could listen to him for hours. I just like to type all this down for my own knowledge.
When we informed him about our 4th of July party, Father Vuni remembered that yesterday had been his 11th year anniversary since he was ordained as a priest. Yes, celebration time! We encouraged him to invite his friends to the compound, and he managed to bring his childhood seminary school friends for dinner. He also bought us a dish called fumasara (sp?), which is made with fava beans, feta cheese, onions, and tomatoes. He had this everyday when he was a child and was craving it until now. It tasted like burrito beans, and it was really good.
Then everyone at the table introduced themselves. I met Father Mawa and Father Andrew, who we will visit at Nimule. After dinner, one of the Fathers gave a long speech about Father Vuni for all of us to hear. He talked about how they first met and about Father Vuni’s character. Father Vuni had so many avenues to exploit, but he was a man of his principles. In the Father’s words, “God used him as an instrument for freedom and peace”. Despite the suffering, he gave hope to his people and served as “a voice for the voiceless”. Pretty cliché, but pretty deep…and all true. I can see evidence of these words. Father Vuni always goes out of his way to take care of me and make me feel comfortable. He is an inspiration to the people around him. I could definitely sense that all the Fathers at the table admire Father Vuni. Heck, I admire him.
In my snorkeling dream, one of my family friends pulled me up from the water and I grinned madly. My grinning turned into laughter, and he told me with surprise, “Neesha, I haven’t seen you laugh this much in a long time!” But that was a dream. Now with Father Vuni here, I have started to laugh just as much again. This is real, and I feel so much better.
-Neesha
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Downtime
I have slowly lost interest in posting, maybe because we have not gone on any exciting trips lately and maybe because we have more downtime than usual...or maybe because I have truly just lost the interest. I also realize that posting day by day may not be as good of an idea anymore because it restrains me from writing about things that happen outside of simply what we have done. Now that things are becoming more of a routine, the daily entries sound more like repeats. Yet now it is difficult for me to get out of this habit because I am the type that likes consistency within any work I do. So I am just going to stick with this style, maybe.
But don't worry Mom, I will keep posting. I also changed the template back to the Independence Day one just for you.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
When the generator is off, George, Emma, and I need to occupy ourselves somehow in this compound. So Emma usually does her research, George helps Jerome fix the car or the internet or something, and I listen to Emma's iPod and think about home or my time here.
Sometimes we like to act childish. We have gone on silly missions killing the wasps that come into our rooms with either sun-block spray or shoes. Once, George found spiky spider egg sacks growing beneath his door, and we went on another mission transferring those sacks into Emmanuel's room. Except that we squished them...and they did not look like spider eggs. Emma and I concluded that it was probably just fungus, and that the mama spider probably was not as angry as we imagined it to be. Whatever, it was fun.
Coincidentally, right after we destroyed the sacks, Emmanuel and his crew arrived. The generator came on, and I tried to get as much done as I possibly could with him here. But he was not very helpful in giving me information on ANC clinics, which made it very difficult for me to work with him. So I eventually stopped attempting because I did not want to annoy him any further. It was already a hectic day for him...and now I regret pushing him too much. But again, he is leaving for Narus tomorrow.
So in the short amount of time he was here, the pressure of trying to get work done with him really drained me. So Jerome, Emma, George, and I watched the second Triple X (XXX2) movie from a DVD that Jerome got. Let's just say it was one of the worst action movies I have ever seen. Then I went to sleep.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
But it wasn't a good sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night because my stomach was not feeling too well. My body forced me to vomit, but all I could get out was saliva. There was no food coming out, so I still do not know what made me feel that way.
I tried to rest again, and I eventually fell asleep. I woke up feeling better and just in time for lunch. Again the generator was off, so it was time to occupy ourselves again somehow. I had some battery life left in my computer, and we watched the first X-Men movie. Oh man, I forgot how much I missed that movie. And then George went off to the Bishop's to fix the satellite. Emma and I stayed behind and talked.
The whole day just went by, dinner came, and then before falling asleep, George and I watched X-Men 2. But it cut off right at the climactic scene! So now I am left hanging... Oh well, when I get back to the States, I think I will watch X-Men all over again. (Wanna join, Kevin?)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Anyways, Father Vuni is coming back this Saturday. I can't wait. There is no one here in the mission right now--no priestly presence. And I really missed him.
We were supposed to go to Keyala today, but it was heavily raining earlier and the transportation did not come for SSRRC. So again, we are just going to continue doing work here in Torit. I think I am going to go ahead and work on this ANC thing without Emmanuel's help. Or at least do some research on it...
Yesterday I was looking up malaria drug combinations (I only read about malaria now), and I came across this site: http://www.malariasite.com/malaria/combinations.htm
Read about the Artesunate + Mephloquine and note the disadvantages. The next time I come to Africa, I am not taking Mephloquine.
But for some good news: Lopez Lomong qualified for the 1500 meter! Sweet! He made it barely, so let's just hope he follows up in Beijing.
-Neesha
But don't worry Mom, I will keep posting. I also changed the template back to the Independence Day one just for you.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
When the generator is off, George, Emma, and I need to occupy ourselves somehow in this compound. So Emma usually does her research, George helps Jerome fix the car or the internet or something, and I listen to Emma's iPod and think about home or my time here.
Sometimes we like to act childish. We have gone on silly missions killing the wasps that come into our rooms with either sun-block spray or shoes. Once, George found spiky spider egg sacks growing beneath his door, and we went on another mission transferring those sacks into Emmanuel's room. Except that we squished them...and they did not look like spider eggs. Emma and I concluded that it was probably just fungus, and that the mama spider probably was not as angry as we imagined it to be. Whatever, it was fun.
Coincidentally, right after we destroyed the sacks, Emmanuel and his crew arrived. The generator came on, and I tried to get as much done as I possibly could with him here. But he was not very helpful in giving me information on ANC clinics, which made it very difficult for me to work with him. So I eventually stopped attempting because I did not want to annoy him any further. It was already a hectic day for him...and now I regret pushing him too much. But again, he is leaving for Narus tomorrow.
So in the short amount of time he was here, the pressure of trying to get work done with him really drained me. So Jerome, Emma, George, and I watched the second Triple X (XXX2) movie from a DVD that Jerome got. Let's just say it was one of the worst action movies I have ever seen. Then I went to sleep.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
But it wasn't a good sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night because my stomach was not feeling too well. My body forced me to vomit, but all I could get out was saliva. There was no food coming out, so I still do not know what made me feel that way.
I tried to rest again, and I eventually fell asleep. I woke up feeling better and just in time for lunch. Again the generator was off, so it was time to occupy ourselves again somehow. I had some battery life left in my computer, and we watched the first X-Men movie. Oh man, I forgot how much I missed that movie. And then George went off to the Bishop's to fix the satellite. Emma and I stayed behind and talked.
The whole day just went by, dinner came, and then before falling asleep, George and I watched X-Men 2. But it cut off right at the climactic scene! So now I am left hanging... Oh well, when I get back to the States, I think I will watch X-Men all over again. (Wanna join, Kevin?)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Anyways, Father Vuni is coming back this Saturday. I can't wait. There is no one here in the mission right now--no priestly presence. And I really missed him.
We were supposed to go to Keyala today, but it was heavily raining earlier and the transportation did not come for SSRRC. So again, we are just going to continue doing work here in Torit. I think I am going to go ahead and work on this ANC thing without Emmanuel's help. Or at least do some research on it...
Yesterday I was looking up malaria drug combinations (I only read about malaria now), and I came across this site: http://www.malariasite.com/malaria/combinations.htm
Read about the Artesunate + Mephloquine and note the disadvantages. The next time I come to Africa, I am not taking Mephloquine.
But for some good news: Lopez Lomong qualified for the 1500 meter! Sweet! He made it barely, so let's just hope he follows up in Beijing.
-Neesha
Monday, July 7, 2008
Idleness
I changed the template again, because it was clearly suited just for Independence Day. The colors were red, white, and blue, and the icons on the template looked like the Capitol Building or something. I wanted to change it to make it look a little more African, but that required me to edit the HTML of the template...and I have no experience with computer science. I tried changing the colors a bit, but that did not work. So I ended up actually trying a little bit of template editing and tweaked some of the code phrasing...damn I was pretty impressed with myself. Just by fooling around with the computer language, I learned a little about moving headlines, deleting icons, changing designs. But obviously, I did not learn enough to completely revamp the whole template into what I imagined. So I gave up and tried a simpler template...this one. I still do not really like it that much, but it will do for now. I might change it again (most likely). I think I will go back to that Independece Day template when I have more time in my hands to change it the way I like...it was already beautiful, but it needed some African influence, I guess, haha. But again, this is when I will have WAYYYY more time in my hands...which is not going to be this summer.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
So our car is falling apart...even more than when we first met it. It is leaking about half a liter of diesel a day, and it still needs welding. If it weren't for the poor roads here, the car would normally need half as much diesel and half as much time to get to where we want to go. This has become an issue for us because we are running a bit low on money. We still have so many remaining places to travel to, and we may have to cut back on our plans because of the car and the cost of accomodations. Who would have thought Sudan was going to be this expensive?
This concern came up today because we planned out our travel schedule for the rest of this month. There is no way in hell now we can make it to Kuron or Nyanyangachor, even though I really wanted to see Bishop Paride...the roads are the worst in the upper east side of Eastern Equatoria, even worse during the rainy season, and it will take forever. So as of now, our plans are to leave for Isoke and Kimatong two days from now so that we can see through our sample 500 net distribution. But we have to wait on Peter Lomong to pick up his phone, tell us he has completed the pre-registration, and give us the nod to come over.
SSRRC scheduled a Keyala trip on the 10th to see if their distribution for the IDPs ended up being successful. So we are going to go there again and check that out.
We still have no idea when in the month of July the RFP will come out; we are guessing that it will come out about by the end of the 2nd or 3rd week. It will be major crunch time and we do not want to do any traveling after it comes out. So we have decided to go to Nimule right after Keyala for some relaxation and fun. We want to see the elephants and hippopotamuses there! But of course, for Ed, we will do some business...like tour around the health facilities. On the way to Nimule, we might stop by Magwi and check out CDoT operations there. Palataka (supposed to be very beautiful) is also another road to Nimule, but after Jerome learned today of an anti-tank mine along the road that he has been driving over all this time without even knowing, he does not want to go. The mine looks like the tire rim of some car overturned next to the road. If the car's weight matches the weight required by the mine, it will detonate. If the car is heavier, the mine will blow 3 seconds after you pass it. But if your car is lighter, like our Pajero, it will not detonate. Still, it is hella nerve wrecking to think about. So we aren't going to Palataka.
And then we are going to go to Narus to check out the new TB treatment center at our Narus PHCC. We may stop by Kapoeta along the way to see our second CDoT hospital.
As of now, these are our plans. We hope they will follow through, but a lot of it is contigent upon Peter Lomong's go say and when the RFP will come out.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Father Amayo left for Nairobi early today. I did not get the chance to say goodbye because I woke up with massive stomach cramps...so I had to lay in bed for awhile. I feel pretty weak, so I do not think I am going to exert myself too much today. But this is normal; it comes monthly haha. So I started to read a little bit of Emma's War because our generator was off today.
Now that it is on, I am probably going to help out George on drafting our MOU. We are not going to rely on Emmanuel anymore to do it. Maybe I will help him out with the logistics and distribution plans later as well.
Man I really want this RFP to come out...like NOW. I hate waiting around for it.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Last night, Emma, George, and Jerome were scaring me with stories of ghosts and witchdoctors in Uganda, Nairobi...and Mombasa. Jerome told us that we could be talking to someone at some bar in Mombasa, and then find out the next morning that it was actually a ghost. The only way you can tell whether someone is a ghost or not is by flickering a light in front of the person and see if they run away. Then they won't mess with you. And then he told us stories about men coming out of the water--half-men, half-fish. And Emma goes, "Mermaids?!" Haha. But then Jerome tells us they are evil. Last night was a bad time to be telling scary stories because I took my Mephloquine earlier that day, so I was definitely terrified of falling asleep. But thankfully, nothing happened.
Today we were supposed to go to Kimatong and Isoke, but we still got no word from Peter Lomong. So instead, we are just going to continue doing work here in Torit.
Randoms:
The weather today is really nice, very cool. It makes me miss the beach.
I was on wikipedia, reading about mosquito nets (that is all I think about now), and I came across this link from Sports Illustrated. It is an article written in 2006 by Rick Reilly, and it is very funny. But it sparked people all over the nation to donate $1 million for mosquito nets. Amazing. So here it is: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/rick_reilly/04/25/reilly0501/index.html
Sorry that these entries are getting super super boring...haha oh well.
Anyways, until then,
Neesha
Reminders:
Ryan. did you ever set up my desk? Remember my Telebears!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
So our car is falling apart...even more than when we first met it. It is leaking about half a liter of diesel a day, and it still needs welding. If it weren't for the poor roads here, the car would normally need half as much diesel and half as much time to get to where we want to go. This has become an issue for us because we are running a bit low on money. We still have so many remaining places to travel to, and we may have to cut back on our plans because of the car and the cost of accomodations. Who would have thought Sudan was going to be this expensive?
This concern came up today because we planned out our travel schedule for the rest of this month. There is no way in hell now we can make it to Kuron or Nyanyangachor, even though I really wanted to see Bishop Paride...the roads are the worst in the upper east side of Eastern Equatoria, even worse during the rainy season, and it will take forever. So as of now, our plans are to leave for Isoke and Kimatong two days from now so that we can see through our sample 500 net distribution. But we have to wait on Peter Lomong to pick up his phone, tell us he has completed the pre-registration, and give us the nod to come over.
SSRRC scheduled a Keyala trip on the 10th to see if their distribution for the IDPs ended up being successful. So we are going to go there again and check that out.
We still have no idea when in the month of July the RFP will come out; we are guessing that it will come out about by the end of the 2nd or 3rd week. It will be major crunch time and we do not want to do any traveling after it comes out. So we have decided to go to Nimule right after Keyala for some relaxation and fun. We want to see the elephants and hippopotamuses there! But of course, for Ed, we will do some business...like tour around the health facilities. On the way to Nimule, we might stop by Magwi and check out CDoT operations there. Palataka (supposed to be very beautiful) is also another road to Nimule, but after Jerome learned today of an anti-tank mine along the road that he has been driving over all this time without even knowing, he does not want to go. The mine looks like the tire rim of some car overturned next to the road. If the car's weight matches the weight required by the mine, it will detonate. If the car is heavier, the mine will blow 3 seconds after you pass it. But if your car is lighter, like our Pajero, it will not detonate. Still, it is hella nerve wrecking to think about. So we aren't going to Palataka.
And then we are going to go to Narus to check out the new TB treatment center at our Narus PHCC. We may stop by Kapoeta along the way to see our second CDoT hospital.
As of now, these are our plans. We hope they will follow through, but a lot of it is contigent upon Peter Lomong's go say and when the RFP will come out.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Father Amayo left for Nairobi early today. I did not get the chance to say goodbye because I woke up with massive stomach cramps...so I had to lay in bed for awhile. I feel pretty weak, so I do not think I am going to exert myself too much today. But this is normal; it comes monthly haha. So I started to read a little bit of Emma's War because our generator was off today.
Now that it is on, I am probably going to help out George on drafting our MOU. We are not going to rely on Emmanuel anymore to do it. Maybe I will help him out with the logistics and distribution plans later as well.
Man I really want this RFP to come out...like NOW. I hate waiting around for it.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Last night, Emma, George, and Jerome were scaring me with stories of ghosts and witchdoctors in Uganda, Nairobi...and Mombasa. Jerome told us that we could be talking to someone at some bar in Mombasa, and then find out the next morning that it was actually a ghost. The only way you can tell whether someone is a ghost or not is by flickering a light in front of the person and see if they run away. Then they won't mess with you. And then he told us stories about men coming out of the water--half-men, half-fish. And Emma goes, "Mermaids?!" Haha. But then Jerome tells us they are evil. Last night was a bad time to be telling scary stories because I took my Mephloquine earlier that day, so I was definitely terrified of falling asleep. But thankfully, nothing happened.
Today we were supposed to go to Kimatong and Isoke, but we still got no word from Peter Lomong. So instead, we are just going to continue doing work here in Torit.
Randoms:
The weather today is really nice, very cool. It makes me miss the beach.
I was on wikipedia, reading about mosquito nets (that is all I think about now), and I came across this link from Sports Illustrated. It is an article written in 2006 by Rick Reilly, and it is very funny. But it sparked people all over the nation to donate $1 million for mosquito nets. Amazing. So here it is: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/rick_reilly/04/25/reilly0501/index.html
Sorry that these entries are getting super super boring...haha oh well.
Anyways, until then,
Neesha
Reminders:
Ryan. did you ever set up my desk? Remember my Telebears!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Independence Day
HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE! So I changed the template for this special day.
First off, a big thanks to Chet and Barbara for the E-card! It was really cute haha.
Biggest news of the day: Lopez Lomong has advanced to the Olympic trial semifinals for the 1500 meter. I really hope he makes it. He has already qualified for the U.S. team on the 5000 meter.
So today we woke up kinda early and started off getting food items for our little celebration today. Father Amayo let us take his Toyota Prado for a ride into the town, and there was definitely a big difference between his car and our lame Pajero. The Prado ran so smoothly; we actually did not even mind driving over the potholes because the suspension in the car was so good. And the best part of his car—he had a 6-disc CD changer! So Jerome played his Phil Collins and reggae Ugandan music as we drove into the market. I was afraid to park anywhere too close to the market because Father Amayo’s car had a lot of nice electronics that could easily get stolen. Plus, khawajas in the car make it even more conspicuous than it is. But Jerome insisted we park right next to the discotheque, where Ed found our bamboo sticks long time ago. Our first immediate task was finding 4 chickens, but we STILL, at this morning hour, could not find any around the market. I don’t get why chickens are so rare here…they should seriously be considered a delicacy in Torit. The man at the discotheque, who happened to be Jerome’s friend, said we would get them around 11 AM.
So we walk further into the market and buy our produce. Even though I previously promised to take pictures of the place, there were a lot of SPLA and police officers around...maybe next time. Anyways, we buy tomatoes, potatoes, onions, bread, and rice (which tasted really good). We wanted to buy American ketchup because their ketchup has a sweet and sour taste to it, but we could not find any. We thought maybe we could make our own ketchup using the tomatoes we bought, but we never attempted to do this later on in the day. At one point, a couple from behind the counter from one of the shops calls the three of us over. They ask us where we are from, and I tell them I am American. The lady turns to her husband as to confirm and question, “American?” I then have to explain to her my parents are from India, but I was born in the U.S.
We leave them to buy cooking oil, and the owner of the shop prices 15 pounds. But literally within 2 seconds, he changes his mind and asks for 17 pounds. Emma, George, and I get furious! We argue with him, saying we won’t buy it because he jacked up the price within a span of 2 seconds right in front of our faces. So we leave and buy cooking oil at another shop.
We then go get our crate full of soda and Tusker beer, at the posterior of the market. Three white men come over to us and tap us on our shoulders. The main talker says, “So we saw some other white people in the market and wanted to introduce ourselves.” I roll my eyes. We find out that they were all from the Midwest states, and they were here to teach English at a secondary school. Before we say goodbye, I yell to them “Happy 4th of July!” The main talker lifts his eyes in surprise and responds, “Oh yeah! I forgot!” Wow.
We then go buy butchered beef. We ask for 3 kilos, and the man hands over 3 kilos. Before we left for the market, Emmanuel told us we could find a grinder at the Bishop’s to grind up our beef and make hamburger patties. We go to the Bishop’s…..but we find no grinder. I don’t know even know why I listen to Emmanuel anymore; I think he likes to screw around with us. So we go back to the market, and ask Jerome’s friend where we could find a grinder. Lucky us, we find it at the restaurant right next to the discotheque. But unlucky us, we find out that the meat we bought was all made up of bones and fat. We got jipped.
So we went to another shop, asked for 3 kilos of STEAK, and go back home. Someone tells us that there is a grinder in the compound, and obviously, we feel stupid searching for one all this time. Emma and George start trimming the fat, but I get disgusted and leave.
Later on in the day, Emma calls me to go to the market again for the chickens. We still cannot find any. So we ask Jerome’s friend where they are. He was playing pool next to the discotheque, with a group of other men hanging around the table. They really sucked, just to tell you. But anyways, he won and led us deep into the market, winding this way and that through the shops, and finally out into the open. There they were—the chickens. There were about 15 flapping inside a big round basket, and a man took some out to weigh them for us. There was no way in hell we could have find our way through the market and gotten to those chickens on our own. He found 4 good ones, at 25 pounds each, and gave two to Jerome to hold. Emma, after much screaming, finally managed to hold the other two by their wing joint shoulder blade. I admit, I was too much of a big wuss to help out holding the chickens.
We go through the market again, winding through and finally finding our way out to where our car was parked. We throw the chickens in the back and drive back home. I helped Emma and Lucy collect some dry firewood around the compound, but they had thorns so I had to be super careful. I still got some thorns stuck to my sandals. Then Father Amayo, a French guy named Desire (can you believe the name? haha), Lucy, Abigail, and Emma start preparing the chickens. George and Jerome made a mini grill out of the wires and netted material we found around the compound, and started to roll up the ground beef and cooked them over the fire. At first the patties were sticking to the grill, so they put some cooking oil around the patties and it worked better. Desire slaughtered the chickens because none of us had the guts to. Then I left the kitchen. Emma actually helped out with plucking and degutting the chicken. Crazy. I could never have done that. Later on, I saw the intestines outside of the chicken and the remains of the chicken’s lungs on its ribcage. Desire showed me its gizzard and kidneys. Although I was pretty disgusted, I gotta admit, anatomically it was pretty cool. I have dissected rats before, so I tried applying my Bio 1Al knowledge (again) to identify the organs I saw. But still, I would never have tried to actively pull out all the intestines out of the dead chicken’s cut anus the way Emma did (sorry for the graphic details).
George and Emma start building a bonfire, right next to our grill. At first it fails, and then they take some of the leaking diesel from our car and throw it on the firewood (Kids, you should never try this at home). That diesel worked like a charm; the wood burned immediately…but there was also a lot of smoke.
Father Amayo then let us play American music in his car, but we could not get our iPods to work. Even though we managed to connect our speakers to play American music in our Pajero, we did not use the Pajero because our speakers were pretty pathetic. So we said screw it, and played some Ugandan music throughout the night. I decided I liked Kenyan music more (it sounds more like rap), but I did not want to offend Jerome.
Pretty soon dinner was ready. Boy it looked like a good feast. Fried and roasted chicken, hamburger patties, sliced bread, rice, pasta, and sliced onions and tomatoes. We prepared for 15 people, and what do you know? 14 people showed up! I was really worried we would not get about 15 people because earlier today, Emmanuel, Joseph, and Moses ditched us to attend to some business in Kapoeta. These guys are always on the run. We still have not gotten Emmanuel’s MOU draft, and George was very angry with him when he left. One of these days we are going to plot a way to physically tie Emmanuel to his room. Seriously. But whatever, we got 15 people incidentally…15 people we did not even plan for. About 7 strangers dropped by and found us having a big fiesta. So they joined our celebration.
But before we could start eating, Father Amayo and all our guests pressured the three of us to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. So we got in front of the table, everyone stood up, placed their hands over their hearts, and we started to sing. My gosh, the three of us sounded so BAAADDD. We were totally off key, and we did not even remember the words too well. Haha but it was fun making a total fool of ourselves. In the end, everyone gave us a round of applause, and we started to eat. Hardly anyone touched the hamburger patties, much to Emma and George’s disappointment. But they said it was significantly better than the batch they tried out during lunch because of the grill, oil, and salt. Even though the roasted chicken was pretty burnt, everyone ate most of the chicken. My plate had a good 6 pieces of chicken on it. Father Amayo then asks us to tell our guests about the history of America’s Independence, and George narrates it very well. It was very funny.
I don’t drink, and I do not like beer (even though Tusker is the best I have tried). But ever since Jerome has met me, he has been very intent on trying to get me something I would really like. I tell him I like dessert drinks, like liqueur, in which I can hardly taste the alcohol. So today, on this very special day, he bought me a 17 pound ($8.5o) Ugandan V&A Sherry drink. I was very impressed. Although I could still taste the stinging alcohol, it was pretty sweet…the sweetest wine I have ever tasted (and I usually HATE wine). But it was pretty strong, so I could feel a flush of redness rising to my cheeks. Let me just tell you, the rest of the night was fabulous haha. I got all our guests to stand up and dance to the Ugandan music playing from Father Amayo’s car. Father Amayo loved it. It was really cute to see everyone shaking their booties and waving their arms around. Desire, I voted, was the best dancer; Jerome was the worst. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. The bonfire died in the middle, and we poured some more diesel to start it up again. Emma, George, Jerome, and I danced around the bonfire. Father Ben came later on in the day, and he pulled Emma and me up to dance with him. Haha it was great.
The generator stopped at 10:30 PM. Tonight we saw the best stars. I identified the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper with Father Amayo, and then all of a sudden the generator started back on. Desire turned on ours, and he left it on until 12:30 AM! Wow…this was really a good day for us. So for the remainder of the night, Emma insisted that we have some team bonding. We sat out on our porch and played Thumper while sipping some beers. Tusker really tasted like water after drinking that V&A. We then played some other games, talked a lot more, and killed some giant bugs (a HUGE 4 inch beetle and a 5 inch praying mantis). The generator then turned off, and we went off to bed. I could still smell the bonfire smoke in my hair. But man, it was a great night. :-)
So Happy Independence Day everyone! We have proven that it doesn’t matter whether you are American or not; anyone can celebrate the 4th of July! haha
-Neesha, Nous-Nous (half-half), Nemo, Chiqueets, Ping-pong, Missy
First off, a big thanks to Chet and Barbara for the E-card! It was really cute haha.
Biggest news of the day: Lopez Lomong has advanced to the Olympic trial semifinals for the 1500 meter. I really hope he makes it. He has already qualified for the U.S. team on the 5000 meter.
So today we woke up kinda early and started off getting food items for our little celebration today. Father Amayo let us take his Toyota Prado for a ride into the town, and there was definitely a big difference between his car and our lame Pajero. The Prado ran so smoothly; we actually did not even mind driving over the potholes because the suspension in the car was so good. And the best part of his car—he had a 6-disc CD changer! So Jerome played his Phil Collins and reggae Ugandan music as we drove into the market. I was afraid to park anywhere too close to the market because Father Amayo’s car had a lot of nice electronics that could easily get stolen. Plus, khawajas in the car make it even more conspicuous than it is. But Jerome insisted we park right next to the discotheque, where Ed found our bamboo sticks long time ago. Our first immediate task was finding 4 chickens, but we STILL, at this morning hour, could not find any around the market. I don’t get why chickens are so rare here…they should seriously be considered a delicacy in Torit. The man at the discotheque, who happened to be Jerome’s friend, said we would get them around 11 AM.
So we walk further into the market and buy our produce. Even though I previously promised to take pictures of the place, there were a lot of SPLA and police officers around...maybe next time. Anyways, we buy tomatoes, potatoes, onions, bread, and rice (which tasted really good). We wanted to buy American ketchup because their ketchup has a sweet and sour taste to it, but we could not find any. We thought maybe we could make our own ketchup using the tomatoes we bought, but we never attempted to do this later on in the day. At one point, a couple from behind the counter from one of the shops calls the three of us over. They ask us where we are from, and I tell them I am American. The lady turns to her husband as to confirm and question, “American?” I then have to explain to her my parents are from India, but I was born in the U.S.
We leave them to buy cooking oil, and the owner of the shop prices 15 pounds. But literally within 2 seconds, he changes his mind and asks for 17 pounds. Emma, George, and I get furious! We argue with him, saying we won’t buy it because he jacked up the price within a span of 2 seconds right in front of our faces. So we leave and buy cooking oil at another shop.
We then go get our crate full of soda and Tusker beer, at the posterior of the market. Three white men come over to us and tap us on our shoulders. The main talker says, “So we saw some other white people in the market and wanted to introduce ourselves.” I roll my eyes. We find out that they were all from the Midwest states, and they were here to teach English at a secondary school. Before we say goodbye, I yell to them “Happy 4th of July!” The main talker lifts his eyes in surprise and responds, “Oh yeah! I forgot!” Wow.
We then go buy butchered beef. We ask for 3 kilos, and the man hands over 3 kilos. Before we left for the market, Emmanuel told us we could find a grinder at the Bishop’s to grind up our beef and make hamburger patties. We go to the Bishop’s…..but we find no grinder. I don’t know even know why I listen to Emmanuel anymore; I think he likes to screw around with us. So we go back to the market, and ask Jerome’s friend where we could find a grinder. Lucky us, we find it at the restaurant right next to the discotheque. But unlucky us, we find out that the meat we bought was all made up of bones and fat. We got jipped.
So we went to another shop, asked for 3 kilos of STEAK, and go back home. Someone tells us that there is a grinder in the compound, and obviously, we feel stupid searching for one all this time. Emma and George start trimming the fat, but I get disgusted and leave.
Later on in the day, Emma calls me to go to the market again for the chickens. We still cannot find any. So we ask Jerome’s friend where they are. He was playing pool next to the discotheque, with a group of other men hanging around the table. They really sucked, just to tell you. But anyways, he won and led us deep into the market, winding this way and that through the shops, and finally out into the open. There they were—the chickens. There were about 15 flapping inside a big round basket, and a man took some out to weigh them for us. There was no way in hell we could have find our way through the market and gotten to those chickens on our own. He found 4 good ones, at 25 pounds each, and gave two to Jerome to hold. Emma, after much screaming, finally managed to hold the other two by their wing joint shoulder blade. I admit, I was too much of a big wuss to help out holding the chickens.
We go through the market again, winding through and finally finding our way out to where our car was parked. We throw the chickens in the back and drive back home. I helped Emma and Lucy collect some dry firewood around the compound, but they had thorns so I had to be super careful. I still got some thorns stuck to my sandals. Then Father Amayo, a French guy named Desire (can you believe the name? haha), Lucy, Abigail, and Emma start preparing the chickens. George and Jerome made a mini grill out of the wires and netted material we found around the compound, and started to roll up the ground beef and cooked them over the fire. At first the patties were sticking to the grill, so they put some cooking oil around the patties and it worked better. Desire slaughtered the chickens because none of us had the guts to. Then I left the kitchen. Emma actually helped out with plucking and degutting the chicken. Crazy. I could never have done that. Later on, I saw the intestines outside of the chicken and the remains of the chicken’s lungs on its ribcage. Desire showed me its gizzard and kidneys. Although I was pretty disgusted, I gotta admit, anatomically it was pretty cool. I have dissected rats before, so I tried applying my Bio 1Al knowledge (again) to identify the organs I saw. But still, I would never have tried to actively pull out all the intestines out of the dead chicken’s cut anus the way Emma did (sorry for the graphic details).
George and Emma start building a bonfire, right next to our grill. At first it fails, and then they take some of the leaking diesel from our car and throw it on the firewood (Kids, you should never try this at home). That diesel worked like a charm; the wood burned immediately…but there was also a lot of smoke.
Father Amayo then let us play American music in his car, but we could not get our iPods to work. Even though we managed to connect our speakers to play American music in our Pajero, we did not use the Pajero because our speakers were pretty pathetic. So we said screw it, and played some Ugandan music throughout the night. I decided I liked Kenyan music more (it sounds more like rap), but I did not want to offend Jerome.
Pretty soon dinner was ready. Boy it looked like a good feast. Fried and roasted chicken, hamburger patties, sliced bread, rice, pasta, and sliced onions and tomatoes. We prepared for 15 people, and what do you know? 14 people showed up! I was really worried we would not get about 15 people because earlier today, Emmanuel, Joseph, and Moses ditched us to attend to some business in Kapoeta. These guys are always on the run. We still have not gotten Emmanuel’s MOU draft, and George was very angry with him when he left. One of these days we are going to plot a way to physically tie Emmanuel to his room. Seriously. But whatever, we got 15 people incidentally…15 people we did not even plan for. About 7 strangers dropped by and found us having a big fiesta. So they joined our celebration.
But before we could start eating, Father Amayo and all our guests pressured the three of us to sing the Star-Spangled Banner. So we got in front of the table, everyone stood up, placed their hands over their hearts, and we started to sing. My gosh, the three of us sounded so BAAADDD. We were totally off key, and we did not even remember the words too well. Haha but it was fun making a total fool of ourselves. In the end, everyone gave us a round of applause, and we started to eat. Hardly anyone touched the hamburger patties, much to Emma and George’s disappointment. But they said it was significantly better than the batch they tried out during lunch because of the grill, oil, and salt. Even though the roasted chicken was pretty burnt, everyone ate most of the chicken. My plate had a good 6 pieces of chicken on it. Father Amayo then asks us to tell our guests about the history of America’s Independence, and George narrates it very well. It was very funny.
I don’t drink, and I do not like beer (even though Tusker is the best I have tried). But ever since Jerome has met me, he has been very intent on trying to get me something I would really like. I tell him I like dessert drinks, like liqueur, in which I can hardly taste the alcohol. So today, on this very special day, he bought me a 17 pound ($8.5o) Ugandan V&A Sherry drink. I was very impressed. Although I could still taste the stinging alcohol, it was pretty sweet…the sweetest wine I have ever tasted (and I usually HATE wine). But it was pretty strong, so I could feel a flush of redness rising to my cheeks. Let me just tell you, the rest of the night was fabulous haha. I got all our guests to stand up and dance to the Ugandan music playing from Father Amayo’s car. Father Amayo loved it. It was really cute to see everyone shaking their booties and waving their arms around. Desire, I voted, was the best dancer; Jerome was the worst. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. The bonfire died in the middle, and we poured some more diesel to start it up again. Emma, George, Jerome, and I danced around the bonfire. Father Ben came later on in the day, and he pulled Emma and me up to dance with him. Haha it was great.
The generator stopped at 10:30 PM. Tonight we saw the best stars. I identified the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper with Father Amayo, and then all of a sudden the generator started back on. Desire turned on ours, and he left it on until 12:30 AM! Wow…this was really a good day for us. So for the remainder of the night, Emma insisted that we have some team bonding. We sat out on our porch and played Thumper while sipping some beers. Tusker really tasted like water after drinking that V&A. We then played some other games, talked a lot more, and killed some giant bugs (a HUGE 4 inch beetle and a 5 inch praying mantis). The generator then turned off, and we went off to bed. I could still smell the bonfire smoke in my hair. But man, it was a great night. :-)
So Happy Independence Day everyone! We have proven that it doesn’t matter whether you are American or not; anyone can celebrate the 4th of July! haha
-Neesha, Nous-Nous (half-half), Nemo, Chiqueets, Ping-pong, Missy
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Stress, Isoke, Juba, Ed
Be aware, this is a very long post. I had days to catch up since the last time I posted.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
We did not do anything special today…just continued to do work. We researched some more for the RFP, looked at budgets, and I found some attachments to the proposal. Sister Florence dropped by and Ed set up a team meeting with her to talk more about our plans. I was getting nervous by the end of the night because I realized that I still had so much to do before Ed leaves on Tuesday. I wanted to get the most out of him while he was still here, but I was really annoyed that I had to help out on a UNDP Expression of Interest for HIV/AIDS and TB this weekend as well…which is totally out of our team’s work on malaria. I really did not plan on working on this, but the deadline for the Expression was this Monday and Ed and I were really worried Emmanuel was going to push it until the night before it was due. This Expression of Interest would enable the Diocese to qualify for the UNDP RFP, so it was important for us to complete it if we wanted support our programs in TB and HIV. Even though I knew so little about HIV or TB in Eastern Equatoria, I really wanted us to qualify to just get the RFP, so I decided to help out Sister Florence and the Diocese. But Emmanuel did not come today when he said he would, which really annoyed me because I needed to work with him on this immediately. So we decided on a whim that we will go to Isoke Hospital tomorrow and hunt for Emmanuel. Well, I wanted to hunt for Emmanuel. Ed and the others wanted to observe the operations of the Diocese hospital. Isoke hospital is one of the best and most trusted hospitals in Eastern Equatoria. In fact, the villagers of Imilai drive all the way to Torit, bypass the Torit hospital, turn roads, and drive even further to get quality service at our hospital in Isoke. After all the drunkenness we have seen, we could understandably see why they would do this.
So I got a training budget out of the way today, but that was about it. I could not wait to find Emmanuel tomorrow and start working on this Expression of Interest.
Friday, June 27, 2008
So we started out early on our trip to Isoke. It was, as usual, very beautiful. The difference between the road from Juba to Torit and this road was that on this road, there are a lot more rocky mountains in the background. There were ranges of them and they were just incredible…majestic. Ed let me even got to drive the Pajero for a good half hour on the road! It took me a while to get used to driving on the right side of the car, swerving around the ditches, and braking before the potholes. I really need to learn how to speed up a bit. Thankfully there are not a lot of cars on these roads. There were some hut villages on the mountains positioned there for security reasons, but they looked really cool. Isoke is definitely the prettiest town we have been in so far. We drove in at the junction and onto a little road with shops. It was really cute because it looked like a western saloon. We then drove into this wonderful road along the hospital which had a line of tall trees planted along both sides of it. We turned, saw a huge brick church set against the mountains, and entered the mission. It was truly impressive. The mountains added everything to the beauty of this town. You could definitely see why the Italians chose to build a mission here.
We got to our rooms at the sister’s and settled in the dining area. OH MY GOSH…the food was heaven. There was hot chapatti (it tasted a lot like puri), bread, fresh local made honey, and local made mango jam. I really wish I brought back some of that honey and mango jam; I knew my parents would have loved it.
We then walked over to the hospital, down a little dirt path out of the mission. The hospital was actually very nice…nicer than Torit hospital for sure. The main buildings were positioned in a U-shape, with a grass lawn in the middle for the patients to sit under the trees. We first entered the out-patient room for children, and there were so many babies and mothers inside the room, about 3-4 sitting upright on each bed. There was definitely a stench when we entered the room, but I could not tell what it was from. The first baby we saw had rashes on its arm and the mother was breastfeeding him. Ed started questioning the doctor and got riled up after he found out that they do not take temperature readings, but this was before he found that this was the same doctor who saved a woman who suffered 6 bullet shots through her body. But in reality, there really is no need to take a temperature because 90% of fever cases in children are due to malaria and children need attention immediately. Still, maybe it would be good to have a temperature reading. We continued walking along the building and entered a dispensary where the pharmacist stocked medicines. They had all sorts of medicines, and of course, we were looking for the artemisinin-based drugs. They had a few courses of them, which they got them from Uganda and other hospitals because the government had delayed their supply (obviously). Some still use quinine IV since ACTs are relatively new phenomena. We saw a lot of drugs exported from India because they were cheap and good quality. Ed told me that India’s pharmaceutical companies also provided the best AIDS medicine because they offered the best combination in their pills. It was kinda amusing. We then went to a surgery room, which was really just a small, dark single room with a bed, sink and some medicines lying on the tables. We went to the adult’s in-patient facility, which was very empty in comparison to the children’s facility. The set up was exactly the same, except there were about 4 people total, each on separate beds. There was one man in the middle of the room whose leg rested on a sling because it was shot with a bullet. I thought I would be disgusted at the sight of it, but with courage I came in closer to take a look at his leg. There was dried blood and yellow coloration on the bandages tied around his leg, but it was not as terrible as I imagined it to be (which gave me some comfort if I actually do decide to go into medicine). Since the hospital does not have a means to store blood, their own staff often donates blood on the spot for their patients. Talk about generosity!
We then went into the laboratory, which was my favorite part of the whole hospital. It brought back some memories of lab in Berkeley…which I guess I have been missing because I felt right at home in front of that microscope. It was so cool to see malaria parasites in the blood sample slide. We had been studying this protozoan forever, and now I actually got to see it live! At first I couldn’t tell where it was on the slide, but then they were just these big, dark hooked blobs…the parasites. I tried to bust out what little picture-taking skills I gained from Bio 1A Lab and tried to take a picture of the parasites through the microscope’s ocular lens, but it took me forever to finally get a decent photo of them. It is strange…walking into that laboratory and feeling a surge of excitement at the sight of that microscope (there is only one in the whole hospital). It made me realize that I like the laboratory and bioresearch aspect of public health. Maybe because all I have taken so far are technical science courses, and I have yet to delve into public health courses.
We went outside where there were a lot of TB patients, women, children, and men sitting under a large tree. I was not fully vaccinated for TB before coming, so I was a little hesitant to walk through. But whatever, I sucked it up again and saw a woman with lesions around her chest area. TB here is treated much like leprosy was in the United States; people do not like to come out and admit they have it for fear of being ostracized. The great thing about Eastern Equatoria is that there has not been much multi-drug resistance to TB because the Diocese has a really good TB program and does good follow-up, which makes me happy.
We walked over a hill and entered the maternal ward. There were two midwives who greeted us and let us in to see the place. We were actually pretty surprised to see two because the people at the health conference (DCP2) were complaining that there were only 10 midwives in all of Southern Sudan. And then Ed tells us that there were probably 10 Sudanese midwives; these two were from and trained in Uganda. The whole place was pretty much empty, except for two pregnant mothers waiting outside. I was really pleased to see mosquito nets on top of each bed in the ward. J They get about 40-60 mothers who come in for their antenatal clinic every week, which is ok. But unfortunately, they only get 40 pregnant mothers to deliver in the hospital the whole year. Oftentimes they have to refer their most complicated cases all the way to Kitgum, Uganda. They tell us that pregnant women would rather be at home around their families and get delivered by a traditional birth attendant (TBA). After looking at the delivery room, we could see why they wanted to stay at home. It was not very comforting to see the bed and the room, and Ed suggested that they build a tukul or some home-type of environment in the room to make the mothers feel more comfortable. We really feel that it is best for mothers to be delivered in hospitals than by TBAs because the maternal mortality rate is so high here and TBAs usually do not refer complicated cases to hospitals because they get paid for each delivery. The DCP2 conference recommended that we train more midwives, but if mothers are too terrified to deliver in a hospital, it does not even matter how many midwives there are. Instead we have to increase maternal attendance in hospitals, and the best way to do that is by educating women. The more educated the woman, the more likely she will come to a hospital for delivery. We also thought it would be a good idea for one of the midwives to travel around the homes and deliver, and have the other midwife stay at the hospital, until the mothers trust the midwives and start going to the hospital by themselves. We should have told the midwives that.
We got really hungry and went over to the Sister’s for lunch. The lunch was just as terrific as breakfast: pasta, spinach, boiled potatoes, warm bread, and other good stuff. I really loved Sister Helen’s cooking; I wish she could stay with us at Torit haha. Sooo goooood. Yum! Haha. We met an Italian doctor who took us to the church after lunch. This church was beautiful; we went inside and there were pictures on the walls, rows of benches, and at the very end, the alter. There were also some drums and some string instruments in one brightly lit section, and we started banging on them for some fun. Some schoolchildren started piling in to check out what was going on. They were really hesitant to approach the khawajas, but then they started playing along with us. It was cute. We then went out to the children’s boarding school. It was just several long brick buildings, and the school was in session.
Finally we went back to our rooms and took a small nap before Ed woke us up to go to a monthly staff meeting under a tree, by the hospital. We pulled up our chairs and listened. Sister Florence, Dr. Fred, and some others faced us, went over the agenda, and started addressing the concerns they had in the hospital. They brought up problems with people being late on their shifts, people not putting trash in the correct baskets, people not asking permission before they leave to go somewhere, and about paternal leave. Basically they wanted to be a little bit stricter following the rules of the hospital. Then it started to rain and we all gathered our chairs to sit inside a room within the maternal ward. Emmanuel came in (surprising) but came in late (not surprising). I was furious when I heard from Sister Florence that Emmanuel was not in Isoke when we arrived. And then he finally showed up after Sister pushed him to come today. Good. I can start working on this UNDP interest, which was due in like 2 days. This meeting was supposed to be 2 hours, but it ended up lasting for 4 hours. Everyone talked forever, and Emmanuel talked the most. He wanted to emphasize that it is important for each person to register how many patients enter and leave the hospital so that the donors know and receive the funding necessary. I agree.
So we walked back to the sister’s in the dark for dinner. Dinner, again, was stupendous. Stupendous because there was CHICKEN! Haha. And there were plenty of pieces to eat haha. We also had beans, more pasta, boiled cassava chips, potatoes, and more spinach. Gosh it was so good; I really did not want to leave this place. The best part of it, beside the scenery and the food, was definitely the weather. It was about 10 degrees cooler in Isoke than in Torit, and it made sleeping under a net bearable.
During dinner, we watched the news on TV. This was the first time I had seen television since Nairobi. Obama and Hillary Clinton made a joint appearance, Mugabe won the Zimbabwe elections, and Nelson Mandela was celebrating his 90th birthday. Emmanuel came in, late, and ate with us. Even though his unreliability irritates me, I gotta admit, Emmanuel never fails to make me laugh. Emmanuel, our Health Coordinator, does not vaccinate himself because he is afraid of needles. Pathetic! Haha. Even when there are outbreaks, he claims that his immune system is strong enough. This guy… Then Jerome started to talk about elephants and hippopotamuses at Nimule, and about eating crocodiles. Africans eat some exotic creatures, but even they admit that the Chinese eat animals they would never even dream of eating—snakes, cats, dogs, anything. Hahah I kept laughing at that because it was so true. Then a Sister talked to us about her experience during the war. The SPLA came into Isoke and started to burn down the hospital and the school. They escaped into the mountains and waited until the ceasefire. At one point, the Sister wanted to give up and run away, but then the children piled on top of her to prevent her from leaving. Because of them, she stayed and took care of them. These people never cease to amaze me. Then Ed started to say that forced disarmament would start another civil war because it would stir up tribal rivalries between people like the Dinka and the Taposa. The Dinka soldiers would try to disarm the Taposa, but then the Taposa would get angry and buy their guns from Khartoum. This is a possibility, but people definitely say that the best way for another war to happen is to get the South fighting amongst each other. I just hope that no war happens during our net distribution over the next five years. Nets better help peace in someway, showing that the government is indeed helping its own people.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
We heard a march of children outside our window early in the morning. There were men accompanying them as well, chanting and singing. Apparently they do this every morning as exercise around the town, and it is actually quite festive. Jerome and George went up to hike where the waterfalls were and brought back some tamarind for us to eat. I got up and went to eat breakfast with the sisters, taking in all that good honey. After breakfast, I wanted to get started on the UNDP Interest, but Emmanuel was nowhere in sight…again! He was at another meeting (boy he loves talking in those meetings), so I just sat outside under the trees with Emma, George, and Jerome. I saw Emmanuel come in, and I forced him to sit and draft a letter for the Interest. But then lunch came around (pizza haha!), and he ran away. I hunted for him at the hospital, found him at Sister Florence’s office, and waited until he gave me all the documents he prepared onto my flashdrive so that I had some sort of knowledge about the Diocese’s TB and HIV treatments for me to write these letters on my own. Ed was calling us to leave for Kimatong, so I let Emmanuel off the hook this time around. I pressured him to come to Torit tomorrow so that I could finish this Interest with him, but we all knew he was not going to show up.
So we drove to Kimatong because we wanted to start a small distribution of 500 nets in that small village. The money for these 500 nets were raised by a high school in Palo Alto, and Ed was the one who got them to make sure they would get distributed in time for the rainy season. Kimatong is also a place where Lopez Lomong, the runner, is from. We wanted to make sure this distribution was successful and would serve as a model for our greater distribution throughout Eastern Equatoria.
The road to Kimatong was also very pretty; there were palm trees along the road and dried up river beds surrounded by greenery. We drove on top of a bridge made up of stones, and it was called a lagger. Down the road, closer to Kimatong, we saw herds and herds of cattle in the middle of the road. Just when we thought we passed through one crowd, there were more ahead for us to honk through. The men around the cattle were holding spears, rifles, long bows and arrows, and some bloody meat over their shoulders. They had jewelry around their necks and some had nose rings; their outfits were really mismatched. We waved to them, and they smiled and waved back. Some came over to shake our hands. We got to Kimatong, and it was like another hut village, except that it had some nice buildings set up for school and other purposes and the village was set underneath a big rocky mountain. There were goats walking up it, women coming down with huge barrels of water on their heads, and men sitting along the slope. We parked near a building, and multitudes of children and men greeted us. There was this one man wearing long ragged clothing, who immediately came up to us and attempted to speak English with an American accent. At first I thought he was trying to act cool, but then Ed said he was drunk. He asked us where we were from, and I told him I was American. He tells me as clear as possible, “You know, you are in the Sudan and we here (pause) are black people.” Not shit, Sherlock. He then said I was small and that he should take me as his sister. Let me just tell you, this guy was creepy. We hurried away, behind Ed, and safely by Jerome’s side. We find a group of men sitting in a circle, and they get up to offer us seats. We meet with the chief Hillary, who is very old and thin. There was a man who sat across from us, wanting to give 140 cattle for Emma to marry his son. At first he said 140 bulls (which is obviously a big no), and at first we thought HE wanted to marry Emma. He already had three wives who were all pregnant, and then he had the balls to ask whether he could get a net all to himself. But then we find out he asking for his son to marry, and Ed priced 140 cows. This was all while Emma was away. We always thought 400 cattle was reasonable for someone like Emma, but Ed said that number is merely to impress someone…when someone is really talking about a serious marriage offer, 140 cattle is realistic and very good. Regardless, I couldn’t believe Ed placed a price. We then talked to Peter Lomong, who was very nice but seemed nervous about taking the responsibility to register his people for these nets.
It was getting dark, and I really wanted to get back because I was afraid of bandits on the road. Ed assured me it was safe, but even if it was, it was the most uncomfortable bumpy ride ever. It is harder to see as night, so Ed and Jerome drove over what seemed ALL the potholes on the road. At the same time, George and Emma were trying to scare me about the wildlife nearby. They were waiting to see some leopards, lions, baboons and hyenas jump in front of our car, but I was really happy that the only animals we saw that dark night were cute foxes (or was it deer?), owls, guinea fowl, something small with a long tail, and terrified porcupines! Aww those porcupines were so cute, wobbling ahead of us. Whenever we would stop to switch drivers, I would always imagine some animal launching over the grass, onto where our car was, and attacking us. It never happened, but Emma and George really wanted to come back to the United States with some stories and scars across their shoulders. I was just happy to get back home to Torit, 4 hours later.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
So guess who wasn’t here today again? Emmanuel. Gahh I got so frustrated because the UNDP Interest was due tomorrow, and I had no idea where he was at. So I started on both letters, for TB and HIV, and I kept emailing him throughout the day. I started to get real stressed out because we were supposed to leave for Juba tomorrow and Ed was leaving, so I did not have enough time to do all the other work I wanted to do before he left. Instead, I was stuck doing letters for a proposal I never planned to be doing in the first place, for someone else, but then again, I had the whole Diocese in mind. Dinner rolls around, the U.S. Embassy emails us about a Polio outbreak in Juba, where we were supposed to go tomorrow (I curse because I was last vaccinated in ’92). Pressured, I complete the letters and email them to Emmanuel to print out and sign. I threaten him to come to Torit by 7 AM to deliver his documents otherwise we would be leaving without him for Juba. That was a lie, of course.
Monday, June 30, 2008
I wake up at about 7:30 AM, and I do not see Emmanuel anywhere. I see our Health Clinic Officer, Moses, who brings the documents for Emmanuel instead. But then there is last minute trouble. Emmanuel erased Father Amayo’s signature on the letters, and Ed, Ydo, and Father Amayo are infuriated. I am annoyed too because I spent so much time on those letters and the whole Diocese should get credit, not just Emmanuel. So they have an intense meeting, and Ed comes out to tell me I have to edit the letters again and print them out for Father Amayo to sign. Joseph, who has been in the compound since yesterday, would sign on Emmanuel’s behalf. So we finally get it printed and out of the way. I feel stressed and tired, pack, Ed finishes packing, and we ride off to Juba at about 10 AM.
It was strange driving down this same road without Bishop Paride. I really missed him. We saw a group of furry monkeys climbing a tree at one point on the road, and we really wished we had some bananas to give to them. We stopped by Kudo’s Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) to take some pictures and look around. It was built recently, but it is not yet operational. After much traveling, we finally reached the entrance to the bridge over the Nile. We were at first worried whether we would be stopped at the security checkpoint because our license plate was expired. Ours still had NS (New Sudan) on it, but the government wants everyone to have state license plates (like EES for Eastern Equatoria State) probably for more money. But we did not get checked because it was too hot for the policemen to bother noticing our car’s license plate.
Since we were really hungry at this point, we stopped by the Sister’s Yunice Corner Restaurant, which we ate at nearly everyday with Bishop Paride the last time we were at Juba. I really missed the food, and we had chicken, rice, and chips. We then went straight to the highly-protected UNDP office to turn in our Expression of Interest to this Japanese guy. It was such a huge lift off my shoulders once I handed those papers over to him. Glad that was done. We then dropped off George and Ed at Census for mapping information, and Jerome takes Emma and me to search for hotels. We pick up his other friend, Emmanuel (called Emma…or “ding-dong” for short). They take us first to look at the Sunflower Inn, but it looked really sketch, especially with all these men passing by and looking gleefully at us. Already Emma and I did not want to stay there, and we were relieved when we find out the price was way beyond our reach ($160/night for a single). We then travel to White Nile Lounge, and bargain down the price to $100/night for a double. The place was a lot nicer than the other hotel, but it looked a lot like a trailer park. Even though many things were not working or not even there (like toiled seats or shower heads), the air conditioner worked…which was great for me. :-) There was also wireless internet, which was great for Ed.
We went to pick up Ed and George at Dahabashil (sp?), the popular money-exchange bank, but their group taxi driver dropped them off somewhere not even close to Dahabashil. So we find them under a detergent billboard sign and head off to our meeting with Steve at Malaria Consortium. It was a great 2 hour meeting to update him on all our research and work. The best thing we learn from him is to open up the bags with the mosquito nets when giving them out to people. This decreases the net’s retail value, making them less likely to be sold off to the market. We also got the idea to get a flip chart demonstrating how to use and maintain the nets.
We then went to our hotel and relaxed a bit outside the bar, which overlooked the Nile. It was very cool and nice. We headed over for our dinner party at an Ethiopian restaurant called Queen of Sheba because Steve invited us. The restaurant was in some sort of big Christmas-lighted, beach-style hut, and there were about 20 people at our table. It was very chic, I guess. You could tell a lot of khawajas like to hang out there. The food was very good, especially the chicken curry haha. Cutting the injera with my hands and dipping it into the various vegetables reminded me of Indian food. For a moment, I thought I was home, but it was not spicy enough haha. JK.
We drive back, drop off Jerome to where he was sleeping for the night, and expectantly, get lost. We drive in circles, meet the Sunflower Inn about three times, get closer to our hotel (according to George’s GPS), but find roads that lead into unkempt forest-looking environments. We finally reach the hotel after much testing of roads, and Ed claims he has never felt so happy to come back to a hotel.
Then Emma and I spray our room because there were no mosquito nets, but mosquitoes still managed to enter the room and buzz around my ears the entire night.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
So today was the day Ed had to leave us. He was supposed to leave at 12:30 PM, but he pushed the flight to 1:30 PM so that he could squeeze in a meeting with the head of PSI in Sudan, Marcie Cook. I am actually glad that he did end up coming because this was a really big meeting for us; this was the woman we were going to send our proposal to for review and possibly approval, and Ed did great with his smooching. Haha JK…he did great in general, providing a lot of useful knowledge about Sudan that the three of us did not know much about. We learn a lot, find out some details about the RFP and when it was possibly coming out, and find out some more about changes in PSI’s plans for net distribution. We find out that the original plans they had written out a year ago in their proposal to the Global Fund will be slightly different, so we are going to take those into account when the RFP releases. I liked her a lot. So far, PSI has made some really good impressions on me. If I actually do decide to go into Public Health in the future, I really really would not mind working for an organization like PSI that is so knowledgeable, so successful, and so on top of their shit the way they are. They have done a lot of successful campaigns in other countries…they are just so good.
We then raced Ed to the airport, where he still had to buy his ticket. It took a good hour before he said his final goodbyes. I tell you, right when he left, there was definitely a void in the car. I already missed his endless talking and around-the-clock urgent work meetings. We went to the Sister’s for lunch again, but it was unusually quiet and empty. At one moment, we thought we saw Bishop Paride, and my heart lept. But it was someone else. We went to census again, but the guy we were looking for was not there. We then went to an auto mechanic shop to get our Pajero fixed, but it took way longer than we expected—about 3 hours. I just slept in the back of the car as they were fixing it, and then I was so happy to get out of there once it was fixed. Juba is a lot different than I remembered it to be the last time we were here. It is a lot more dusty…and dirty. The dirt roads seem narrower, meandering, and extremely bumpy. There is a lot more sewage, dilapidated tin-roofed shops, and people walking around then I recall. It was also less…green. I never thought I would like Torit more.
We went to the hotel, relaxed, and then headed out for dinner. Jerome picked up his friend Emmanuel, who took us to another Ethiopian restaurant, but this one was well-lit and had no khawajas in site. We shared all our dishes, surprisingly chatted for a good 2 hours about things not even closely related to work (we were not with Ed anymore, so what do you expect?), laughed a lot, while I drank water and the 4 of them shared beers. Man they drank a lot.
We got back safely and slept.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
We still woke up really early so that we could leave for Torit as soon as possible. Emma and I wanted to get out of icky Juba, but we still had to go to census. We waited around for the person, but he never came. So we left, stopped by WFP (World Food Program) for Jerome to pick up something, and headed over to meet Dr. Charles Lewis from Tearfund. He was super sweet and gave us some good tips about letters to the Minister, the health budget for 2009, and about the intimidating Dr. Baba we were planning to meet the next time we came to Juba. I am so glad we established a connection with Chris Lewis; I see his name in so many of the South Sudan Health Forum messages.
We go over to the Sister’s for the last time and shake our hands with the schoolchildren as they politely ask, “Morning! How are you?” So cute haha. We then leave for Juba. As expected, this 83 mile trip took 3 hours, but it felt even longer without Ed. We arrived at our compound in Torit, but the whole place seemed empty. I greeted Father Amayo and talked to him for awhile. Ydo had left for the Netherlands. I got back to the rooms and noticed a nice office set up about two doors down. Guess whose it was? Emmanuel’s. He was here finally, doing some work. Although I wanted to snap at him for his behavior, it is really hard for me to get mad at him. Even when I resist, he somehow always manages to make me smile. Jerk. Haha jk. We did not do much today because were tired and wanted to get some rest after all that traveling. So I finally caught up on some blogging...and munched on a lot of sweet dates Father Amayo brought from Khartoum.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Just when I thought I would be able to sleep in without Ed being here, I cannot. I still wake up pretty early and check my emails, only to find Ed on google chat. So I talk to him about business we needed to do today. With George, I work on a health budget spreadsheet that Dr. Charles Lewis wanted all the NGOs to fill out for the Ministry of Health. The deadline was tomorrow, but we finished it fairly quickly. And then I continued blogging; now I have already caught up (except for my days at Juba).
We are waiting for Emmanuel’s MOU and the letter from Chris Lewis to get our ACTs from other counties. So as of now, we have been having a fun time planning out our small party for tomorrow’s 4th of July celebration. There will be about 15 or so people, and we are going to get a whole mess of food: chickens, beef, sodas, beer, bread, home-made fries, ketchup, beans…just an all out obnoxious American time. But of course, we are going to help out with the cooking because no one knows how to grind up beef and make hamburgers here. Also, chickens take some time.
George managed to set up speakers in our Pajero and play music from our iPods. Haha it was great. I never thought I would miss hearing some hardcore American music so much. Everyone here listens to sappy songs. I have heard so much Shania Twain, Aerosmith, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, and slow songs in general, which gets really old when you want to here some rock or hip hop.
So tomorrow we are going to wake up early, buy some chickens and other food items from the market, prepare the dinner, build a bonfire, and sport our red, white, and blue American clothing. Haha. Too bad there are no firecrackers here.
-Neesha
Reminders (I should stop calling these reminders…they are not really reminders):
Mom, I have lasted for a long time without owning anything from Apple. But now…I want an iPod. I gave in after listening to Emma and George’s today.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
We did not do anything special today…just continued to do work. We researched some more for the RFP, looked at budgets, and I found some attachments to the proposal. Sister Florence dropped by and Ed set up a team meeting with her to talk more about our plans. I was getting nervous by the end of the night because I realized that I still had so much to do before Ed leaves on Tuesday. I wanted to get the most out of him while he was still here, but I was really annoyed that I had to help out on a UNDP Expression of Interest for HIV/AIDS and TB this weekend as well…which is totally out of our team’s work on malaria. I really did not plan on working on this, but the deadline for the Expression was this Monday and Ed and I were really worried Emmanuel was going to push it until the night before it was due. This Expression of Interest would enable the Diocese to qualify for the UNDP RFP, so it was important for us to complete it if we wanted support our programs in TB and HIV. Even though I knew so little about HIV or TB in Eastern Equatoria, I really wanted us to qualify to just get the RFP, so I decided to help out Sister Florence and the Diocese. But Emmanuel did not come today when he said he would, which really annoyed me because I needed to work with him on this immediately. So we decided on a whim that we will go to Isoke Hospital tomorrow and hunt for Emmanuel. Well, I wanted to hunt for Emmanuel. Ed and the others wanted to observe the operations of the Diocese hospital. Isoke hospital is one of the best and most trusted hospitals in Eastern Equatoria. In fact, the villagers of Imilai drive all the way to Torit, bypass the Torit hospital, turn roads, and drive even further to get quality service at our hospital in Isoke. After all the drunkenness we have seen, we could understandably see why they would do this.
So I got a training budget out of the way today, but that was about it. I could not wait to find Emmanuel tomorrow and start working on this Expression of Interest.
Friday, June 27, 2008
So we started out early on our trip to Isoke. It was, as usual, very beautiful. The difference between the road from Juba to Torit and this road was that on this road, there are a lot more rocky mountains in the background. There were ranges of them and they were just incredible…majestic. Ed let me even got to drive the Pajero for a good half hour on the road! It took me a while to get used to driving on the right side of the car, swerving around the ditches, and braking before the potholes. I really need to learn how to speed up a bit. Thankfully there are not a lot of cars on these roads. There were some hut villages on the mountains positioned there for security reasons, but they looked really cool. Isoke is definitely the prettiest town we have been in so far. We drove in at the junction and onto a little road with shops. It was really cute because it looked like a western saloon. We then drove into this wonderful road along the hospital which had a line of tall trees planted along both sides of it. We turned, saw a huge brick church set against the mountains, and entered the mission. It was truly impressive. The mountains added everything to the beauty of this town. You could definitely see why the Italians chose to build a mission here.
We got to our rooms at the sister’s and settled in the dining area. OH MY GOSH…the food was heaven. There was hot chapatti (it tasted a lot like puri), bread, fresh local made honey, and local made mango jam. I really wish I brought back some of that honey and mango jam; I knew my parents would have loved it.
We then walked over to the hospital, down a little dirt path out of the mission. The hospital was actually very nice…nicer than Torit hospital for sure. The main buildings were positioned in a U-shape, with a grass lawn in the middle for the patients to sit under the trees. We first entered the out-patient room for children, and there were so many babies and mothers inside the room, about 3-4 sitting upright on each bed. There was definitely a stench when we entered the room, but I could not tell what it was from. The first baby we saw had rashes on its arm and the mother was breastfeeding him. Ed started questioning the doctor and got riled up after he found out that they do not take temperature readings, but this was before he found that this was the same doctor who saved a woman who suffered 6 bullet shots through her body. But in reality, there really is no need to take a temperature because 90% of fever cases in children are due to malaria and children need attention immediately. Still, maybe it would be good to have a temperature reading. We continued walking along the building and entered a dispensary where the pharmacist stocked medicines. They had all sorts of medicines, and of course, we were looking for the artemisinin-based drugs. They had a few courses of them, which they got them from Uganda and other hospitals because the government had delayed their supply (obviously). Some still use quinine IV since ACTs are relatively new phenomena. We saw a lot of drugs exported from India because they were cheap and good quality. Ed told me that India’s pharmaceutical companies also provided the best AIDS medicine because they offered the best combination in their pills. It was kinda amusing. We then went to a surgery room, which was really just a small, dark single room with a bed, sink and some medicines lying on the tables. We went to the adult’s in-patient facility, which was very empty in comparison to the children’s facility. The set up was exactly the same, except there were about 4 people total, each on separate beds. There was one man in the middle of the room whose leg rested on a sling because it was shot with a bullet. I thought I would be disgusted at the sight of it, but with courage I came in closer to take a look at his leg. There was dried blood and yellow coloration on the bandages tied around his leg, but it was not as terrible as I imagined it to be (which gave me some comfort if I actually do decide to go into medicine). Since the hospital does not have a means to store blood, their own staff often donates blood on the spot for their patients. Talk about generosity!
We then went into the laboratory, which was my favorite part of the whole hospital. It brought back some memories of lab in Berkeley…which I guess I have been missing because I felt right at home in front of that microscope. It was so cool to see malaria parasites in the blood sample slide. We had been studying this protozoan forever, and now I actually got to see it live! At first I couldn’t tell where it was on the slide, but then they were just these big, dark hooked blobs…the parasites. I tried to bust out what little picture-taking skills I gained from Bio 1A Lab and tried to take a picture of the parasites through the microscope’s ocular lens, but it took me forever to finally get a decent photo of them. It is strange…walking into that laboratory and feeling a surge of excitement at the sight of that microscope (there is only one in the whole hospital). It made me realize that I like the laboratory and bioresearch aspect of public health. Maybe because all I have taken so far are technical science courses, and I have yet to delve into public health courses.
We went outside where there were a lot of TB patients, women, children, and men sitting under a large tree. I was not fully vaccinated for TB before coming, so I was a little hesitant to walk through. But whatever, I sucked it up again and saw a woman with lesions around her chest area. TB here is treated much like leprosy was in the United States; people do not like to come out and admit they have it for fear of being ostracized. The great thing about Eastern Equatoria is that there has not been much multi-drug resistance to TB because the Diocese has a really good TB program and does good follow-up, which makes me happy.
We walked over a hill and entered the maternal ward. There were two midwives who greeted us and let us in to see the place. We were actually pretty surprised to see two because the people at the health conference (DCP2) were complaining that there were only 10 midwives in all of Southern Sudan. And then Ed tells us that there were probably 10 Sudanese midwives; these two were from and trained in Uganda. The whole place was pretty much empty, except for two pregnant mothers waiting outside. I was really pleased to see mosquito nets on top of each bed in the ward. J They get about 40-60 mothers who come in for their antenatal clinic every week, which is ok. But unfortunately, they only get 40 pregnant mothers to deliver in the hospital the whole year. Oftentimes they have to refer their most complicated cases all the way to Kitgum, Uganda. They tell us that pregnant women would rather be at home around their families and get delivered by a traditional birth attendant (TBA). After looking at the delivery room, we could see why they wanted to stay at home. It was not very comforting to see the bed and the room, and Ed suggested that they build a tukul or some home-type of environment in the room to make the mothers feel more comfortable. We really feel that it is best for mothers to be delivered in hospitals than by TBAs because the maternal mortality rate is so high here and TBAs usually do not refer complicated cases to hospitals because they get paid for each delivery. The DCP2 conference recommended that we train more midwives, but if mothers are too terrified to deliver in a hospital, it does not even matter how many midwives there are. Instead we have to increase maternal attendance in hospitals, and the best way to do that is by educating women. The more educated the woman, the more likely she will come to a hospital for delivery. We also thought it would be a good idea for one of the midwives to travel around the homes and deliver, and have the other midwife stay at the hospital, until the mothers trust the midwives and start going to the hospital by themselves. We should have told the midwives that.
We got really hungry and went over to the Sister’s for lunch. The lunch was just as terrific as breakfast: pasta, spinach, boiled potatoes, warm bread, and other good stuff. I really loved Sister Helen’s cooking; I wish she could stay with us at Torit haha. Sooo goooood. Yum! Haha. We met an Italian doctor who took us to the church after lunch. This church was beautiful; we went inside and there were pictures on the walls, rows of benches, and at the very end, the alter. There were also some drums and some string instruments in one brightly lit section, and we started banging on them for some fun. Some schoolchildren started piling in to check out what was going on. They were really hesitant to approach the khawajas, but then they started playing along with us. It was cute. We then went out to the children’s boarding school. It was just several long brick buildings, and the school was in session.
Finally we went back to our rooms and took a small nap before Ed woke us up to go to a monthly staff meeting under a tree, by the hospital. We pulled up our chairs and listened. Sister Florence, Dr. Fred, and some others faced us, went over the agenda, and started addressing the concerns they had in the hospital. They brought up problems with people being late on their shifts, people not putting trash in the correct baskets, people not asking permission before they leave to go somewhere, and about paternal leave. Basically they wanted to be a little bit stricter following the rules of the hospital. Then it started to rain and we all gathered our chairs to sit inside a room within the maternal ward. Emmanuel came in (surprising) but came in late (not surprising). I was furious when I heard from Sister Florence that Emmanuel was not in Isoke when we arrived. And then he finally showed up after Sister pushed him to come today. Good. I can start working on this UNDP interest, which was due in like 2 days. This meeting was supposed to be 2 hours, but it ended up lasting for 4 hours. Everyone talked forever, and Emmanuel talked the most. He wanted to emphasize that it is important for each person to register how many patients enter and leave the hospital so that the donors know and receive the funding necessary. I agree.
So we walked back to the sister’s in the dark for dinner. Dinner, again, was stupendous. Stupendous because there was CHICKEN! Haha. And there were plenty of pieces to eat haha. We also had beans, more pasta, boiled cassava chips, potatoes, and more spinach. Gosh it was so good; I really did not want to leave this place. The best part of it, beside the scenery and the food, was definitely the weather. It was about 10 degrees cooler in Isoke than in Torit, and it made sleeping under a net bearable.
During dinner, we watched the news on TV. This was the first time I had seen television since Nairobi. Obama and Hillary Clinton made a joint appearance, Mugabe won the Zimbabwe elections, and Nelson Mandela was celebrating his 90th birthday. Emmanuel came in, late, and ate with us. Even though his unreliability irritates me, I gotta admit, Emmanuel never fails to make me laugh. Emmanuel, our Health Coordinator, does not vaccinate himself because he is afraid of needles. Pathetic! Haha. Even when there are outbreaks, he claims that his immune system is strong enough. This guy… Then Jerome started to talk about elephants and hippopotamuses at Nimule, and about eating crocodiles. Africans eat some exotic creatures, but even they admit that the Chinese eat animals they would never even dream of eating—snakes, cats, dogs, anything. Hahah I kept laughing at that because it was so true. Then a Sister talked to us about her experience during the war. The SPLA came into Isoke and started to burn down the hospital and the school. They escaped into the mountains and waited until the ceasefire. At one point, the Sister wanted to give up and run away, but then the children piled on top of her to prevent her from leaving. Because of them, she stayed and took care of them. These people never cease to amaze me. Then Ed started to say that forced disarmament would start another civil war because it would stir up tribal rivalries between people like the Dinka and the Taposa. The Dinka soldiers would try to disarm the Taposa, but then the Taposa would get angry and buy their guns from Khartoum. This is a possibility, but people definitely say that the best way for another war to happen is to get the South fighting amongst each other. I just hope that no war happens during our net distribution over the next five years. Nets better help peace in someway, showing that the government is indeed helping its own people.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
We heard a march of children outside our window early in the morning. There were men accompanying them as well, chanting and singing. Apparently they do this every morning as exercise around the town, and it is actually quite festive. Jerome and George went up to hike where the waterfalls were and brought back some tamarind for us to eat. I got up and went to eat breakfast with the sisters, taking in all that good honey. After breakfast, I wanted to get started on the UNDP Interest, but Emmanuel was nowhere in sight…again! He was at another meeting (boy he loves talking in those meetings), so I just sat outside under the trees with Emma, George, and Jerome. I saw Emmanuel come in, and I forced him to sit and draft a letter for the Interest. But then lunch came around (pizza haha!), and he ran away. I hunted for him at the hospital, found him at Sister Florence’s office, and waited until he gave me all the documents he prepared onto my flashdrive so that I had some sort of knowledge about the Diocese’s TB and HIV treatments for me to write these letters on my own. Ed was calling us to leave for Kimatong, so I let Emmanuel off the hook this time around. I pressured him to come to Torit tomorrow so that I could finish this Interest with him, but we all knew he was not going to show up.
So we drove to Kimatong because we wanted to start a small distribution of 500 nets in that small village. The money for these 500 nets were raised by a high school in Palo Alto, and Ed was the one who got them to make sure they would get distributed in time for the rainy season. Kimatong is also a place where Lopez Lomong, the runner, is from. We wanted to make sure this distribution was successful and would serve as a model for our greater distribution throughout Eastern Equatoria.
The road to Kimatong was also very pretty; there were palm trees along the road and dried up river beds surrounded by greenery. We drove on top of a bridge made up of stones, and it was called a lagger. Down the road, closer to Kimatong, we saw herds and herds of cattle in the middle of the road. Just when we thought we passed through one crowd, there were more ahead for us to honk through. The men around the cattle were holding spears, rifles, long bows and arrows, and some bloody meat over their shoulders. They had jewelry around their necks and some had nose rings; their outfits were really mismatched. We waved to them, and they smiled and waved back. Some came over to shake our hands. We got to Kimatong, and it was like another hut village, except that it had some nice buildings set up for school and other purposes and the village was set underneath a big rocky mountain. There were goats walking up it, women coming down with huge barrels of water on their heads, and men sitting along the slope. We parked near a building, and multitudes of children and men greeted us. There was this one man wearing long ragged clothing, who immediately came up to us and attempted to speak English with an American accent. At first I thought he was trying to act cool, but then Ed said he was drunk. He asked us where we were from, and I told him I was American. He tells me as clear as possible, “You know, you are in the Sudan and we here (pause) are black people.” Not shit, Sherlock. He then said I was small and that he should take me as his sister. Let me just tell you, this guy was creepy. We hurried away, behind Ed, and safely by Jerome’s side. We find a group of men sitting in a circle, and they get up to offer us seats. We meet with the chief Hillary, who is very old and thin. There was a man who sat across from us, wanting to give 140 cattle for Emma to marry his son. At first he said 140 bulls (which is obviously a big no), and at first we thought HE wanted to marry Emma. He already had three wives who were all pregnant, and then he had the balls to ask whether he could get a net all to himself. But then we find out he asking for his son to marry, and Ed priced 140 cows. This was all while Emma was away. We always thought 400 cattle was reasonable for someone like Emma, but Ed said that number is merely to impress someone…when someone is really talking about a serious marriage offer, 140 cattle is realistic and very good. Regardless, I couldn’t believe Ed placed a price. We then talked to Peter Lomong, who was very nice but seemed nervous about taking the responsibility to register his people for these nets.
It was getting dark, and I really wanted to get back because I was afraid of bandits on the road. Ed assured me it was safe, but even if it was, it was the most uncomfortable bumpy ride ever. It is harder to see as night, so Ed and Jerome drove over what seemed ALL the potholes on the road. At the same time, George and Emma were trying to scare me about the wildlife nearby. They were waiting to see some leopards, lions, baboons and hyenas jump in front of our car, but I was really happy that the only animals we saw that dark night were cute foxes (or was it deer?), owls, guinea fowl, something small with a long tail, and terrified porcupines! Aww those porcupines were so cute, wobbling ahead of us. Whenever we would stop to switch drivers, I would always imagine some animal launching over the grass, onto where our car was, and attacking us. It never happened, but Emma and George really wanted to come back to the United States with some stories and scars across their shoulders. I was just happy to get back home to Torit, 4 hours later.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
So guess who wasn’t here today again? Emmanuel. Gahh I got so frustrated because the UNDP Interest was due tomorrow, and I had no idea where he was at. So I started on both letters, for TB and HIV, and I kept emailing him throughout the day. I started to get real stressed out because we were supposed to leave for Juba tomorrow and Ed was leaving, so I did not have enough time to do all the other work I wanted to do before he left. Instead, I was stuck doing letters for a proposal I never planned to be doing in the first place, for someone else, but then again, I had the whole Diocese in mind. Dinner rolls around, the U.S. Embassy emails us about a Polio outbreak in Juba, where we were supposed to go tomorrow (I curse because I was last vaccinated in ’92). Pressured, I complete the letters and email them to Emmanuel to print out and sign. I threaten him to come to Torit by 7 AM to deliver his documents otherwise we would be leaving without him for Juba. That was a lie, of course.
Monday, June 30, 2008
I wake up at about 7:30 AM, and I do not see Emmanuel anywhere. I see our Health Clinic Officer, Moses, who brings the documents for Emmanuel instead. But then there is last minute trouble. Emmanuel erased Father Amayo’s signature on the letters, and Ed, Ydo, and Father Amayo are infuriated. I am annoyed too because I spent so much time on those letters and the whole Diocese should get credit, not just Emmanuel. So they have an intense meeting, and Ed comes out to tell me I have to edit the letters again and print them out for Father Amayo to sign. Joseph, who has been in the compound since yesterday, would sign on Emmanuel’s behalf. So we finally get it printed and out of the way. I feel stressed and tired, pack, Ed finishes packing, and we ride off to Juba at about 10 AM.
It was strange driving down this same road without Bishop Paride. I really missed him. We saw a group of furry monkeys climbing a tree at one point on the road, and we really wished we had some bananas to give to them. We stopped by Kudo’s Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) to take some pictures and look around. It was built recently, but it is not yet operational. After much traveling, we finally reached the entrance to the bridge over the Nile. We were at first worried whether we would be stopped at the security checkpoint because our license plate was expired. Ours still had NS (New Sudan) on it, but the government wants everyone to have state license plates (like EES for Eastern Equatoria State) probably for more money. But we did not get checked because it was too hot for the policemen to bother noticing our car’s license plate.
Since we were really hungry at this point, we stopped by the Sister’s Yunice Corner Restaurant, which we ate at nearly everyday with Bishop Paride the last time we were at Juba. I really missed the food, and we had chicken, rice, and chips. We then went straight to the highly-protected UNDP office to turn in our Expression of Interest to this Japanese guy. It was such a huge lift off my shoulders once I handed those papers over to him. Glad that was done. We then dropped off George and Ed at Census for mapping information, and Jerome takes Emma and me to search for hotels. We pick up his other friend, Emmanuel (called Emma…or “ding-dong” for short). They take us first to look at the Sunflower Inn, but it looked really sketch, especially with all these men passing by and looking gleefully at us. Already Emma and I did not want to stay there, and we were relieved when we find out the price was way beyond our reach ($160/night for a single). We then travel to White Nile Lounge, and bargain down the price to $100/night for a double. The place was a lot nicer than the other hotel, but it looked a lot like a trailer park. Even though many things were not working or not even there (like toiled seats or shower heads), the air conditioner worked…which was great for me. :-) There was also wireless internet, which was great for Ed.
We went to pick up Ed and George at Dahabashil (sp?), the popular money-exchange bank, but their group taxi driver dropped them off somewhere not even close to Dahabashil. So we find them under a detergent billboard sign and head off to our meeting with Steve at Malaria Consortium. It was a great 2 hour meeting to update him on all our research and work. The best thing we learn from him is to open up the bags with the mosquito nets when giving them out to people. This decreases the net’s retail value, making them less likely to be sold off to the market. We also got the idea to get a flip chart demonstrating how to use and maintain the nets.
We then went to our hotel and relaxed a bit outside the bar, which overlooked the Nile. It was very cool and nice. We headed over for our dinner party at an Ethiopian restaurant called Queen of Sheba because Steve invited us. The restaurant was in some sort of big Christmas-lighted, beach-style hut, and there were about 20 people at our table. It was very chic, I guess. You could tell a lot of khawajas like to hang out there. The food was very good, especially the chicken curry haha. Cutting the injera with my hands and dipping it into the various vegetables reminded me of Indian food. For a moment, I thought I was home, but it was not spicy enough haha. JK.
We drive back, drop off Jerome to where he was sleeping for the night, and expectantly, get lost. We drive in circles, meet the Sunflower Inn about three times, get closer to our hotel (according to George’s GPS), but find roads that lead into unkempt forest-looking environments. We finally reach the hotel after much testing of roads, and Ed claims he has never felt so happy to come back to a hotel.
Then Emma and I spray our room because there were no mosquito nets, but mosquitoes still managed to enter the room and buzz around my ears the entire night.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
So today was the day Ed had to leave us. He was supposed to leave at 12:30 PM, but he pushed the flight to 1:30 PM so that he could squeeze in a meeting with the head of PSI in Sudan, Marcie Cook. I am actually glad that he did end up coming because this was a really big meeting for us; this was the woman we were going to send our proposal to for review and possibly approval, and Ed did great with his smooching. Haha JK…he did great in general, providing a lot of useful knowledge about Sudan that the three of us did not know much about. We learn a lot, find out some details about the RFP and when it was possibly coming out, and find out some more about changes in PSI’s plans for net distribution. We find out that the original plans they had written out a year ago in their proposal to the Global Fund will be slightly different, so we are going to take those into account when the RFP releases. I liked her a lot. So far, PSI has made some really good impressions on me. If I actually do decide to go into Public Health in the future, I really really would not mind working for an organization like PSI that is so knowledgeable, so successful, and so on top of their shit the way they are. They have done a lot of successful campaigns in other countries…they are just so good.
We then raced Ed to the airport, where he still had to buy his ticket. It took a good hour before he said his final goodbyes. I tell you, right when he left, there was definitely a void in the car. I already missed his endless talking and around-the-clock urgent work meetings. We went to the Sister’s for lunch again, but it was unusually quiet and empty. At one moment, we thought we saw Bishop Paride, and my heart lept. But it was someone else. We went to census again, but the guy we were looking for was not there. We then went to an auto mechanic shop to get our Pajero fixed, but it took way longer than we expected—about 3 hours. I just slept in the back of the car as they were fixing it, and then I was so happy to get out of there once it was fixed. Juba is a lot different than I remembered it to be the last time we were here. It is a lot more dusty…and dirty. The dirt roads seem narrower, meandering, and extremely bumpy. There is a lot more sewage, dilapidated tin-roofed shops, and people walking around then I recall. It was also less…green. I never thought I would like Torit more.
We went to the hotel, relaxed, and then headed out for dinner. Jerome picked up his friend Emmanuel, who took us to another Ethiopian restaurant, but this one was well-lit and had no khawajas in site. We shared all our dishes, surprisingly chatted for a good 2 hours about things not even closely related to work (we were not with Ed anymore, so what do you expect?), laughed a lot, while I drank water and the 4 of them shared beers. Man they drank a lot.
We got back safely and slept.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
We still woke up really early so that we could leave for Torit as soon as possible. Emma and I wanted to get out of icky Juba, but we still had to go to census. We waited around for the person, but he never came. So we left, stopped by WFP (World Food Program) for Jerome to pick up something, and headed over to meet Dr. Charles Lewis from Tearfund. He was super sweet and gave us some good tips about letters to the Minister, the health budget for 2009, and about the intimidating Dr. Baba we were planning to meet the next time we came to Juba. I am so glad we established a connection with Chris Lewis; I see his name in so many of the South Sudan Health Forum messages.
We go over to the Sister’s for the last time and shake our hands with the schoolchildren as they politely ask, “Morning! How are you?” So cute haha. We then leave for Juba. As expected, this 83 mile trip took 3 hours, but it felt even longer without Ed. We arrived at our compound in Torit, but the whole place seemed empty. I greeted Father Amayo and talked to him for awhile. Ydo had left for the Netherlands. I got back to the rooms and noticed a nice office set up about two doors down. Guess whose it was? Emmanuel’s. He was here finally, doing some work. Although I wanted to snap at him for his behavior, it is really hard for me to get mad at him. Even when I resist, he somehow always manages to make me smile. Jerk. Haha jk. We did not do much today because were tired and wanted to get some rest after all that traveling. So I finally caught up on some blogging...and munched on a lot of sweet dates Father Amayo brought from Khartoum.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Just when I thought I would be able to sleep in without Ed being here, I cannot. I still wake up pretty early and check my emails, only to find Ed on google chat. So I talk to him about business we needed to do today. With George, I work on a health budget spreadsheet that Dr. Charles Lewis wanted all the NGOs to fill out for the Ministry of Health. The deadline was tomorrow, but we finished it fairly quickly. And then I continued blogging; now I have already caught up (except for my days at Juba).
We are waiting for Emmanuel’s MOU and the letter from Chris Lewis to get our ACTs from other counties. So as of now, we have been having a fun time planning out our small party for tomorrow’s 4th of July celebration. There will be about 15 or so people, and we are going to get a whole mess of food: chickens, beef, sodas, beer, bread, home-made fries, ketchup, beans…just an all out obnoxious American time. But of course, we are going to help out with the cooking because no one knows how to grind up beef and make hamburgers here. Also, chickens take some time.
George managed to set up speakers in our Pajero and play music from our iPods. Haha it was great. I never thought I would miss hearing some hardcore American music so much. Everyone here listens to sappy songs. I have heard so much Shania Twain, Aerosmith, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, and slow songs in general, which gets really old when you want to here some rock or hip hop.
So tomorrow we are going to wake up early, buy some chickens and other food items from the market, prepare the dinner, build a bonfire, and sport our red, white, and blue American clothing. Haha. Too bad there are no firecrackers here.
-Neesha
Reminders (I should stop calling these reminders…they are not really reminders):
Mom, I have lasted for a long time without owning anything from Apple. But now…I want an iPod. I gave in after listening to Emma and George’s today.
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