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