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!