Safari - 8/23

August 23rd

SAFARI
So this is my last big horra! I have decided to squeeze in one more vacation. I have always wanted to safari. I went to safari in Kenya (Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru). The tour company gave us a good price, so why not. The car was your typical chityy chitty car. At times the car couldn’t go faster than 30miles per hour on a nicely paved highway. Patience.

We drove to Masai Mara which is in the far west side of Kenya. It took about 6 hours which was okay time. We spent 2.5 days there. The valley’s and hills are really beautiful. I don’t think I could quite capture the vastness on the camera. It went on for miles and miles. The interesting thing was not just that there were animals, but that they were roaming freely and we could get so close to them. It was clear that we were the visitors and everything was according to their rules. There were hundreds of thousands of wilder breast (like antelope / buffalo). It’s like the old western movies of the wild horses. And we get to experience them as they move from one plain to the other, crossing rivers, sometimes getting eaten on the way. And there was no trash! It was sooo free from plastic bags, tin cans etc. I loved it.

We also got to visit a Masai village. I don’t really enjoy “people watching” in their homes. But I did want to meet the locals and experience their life. They did a dance for us and my friend Marty, got to do the “Masai jump”. It was quite funny watching an american from Mississippi in a group of Masai men. He was a good sport. One thing to know, Masai are good business people. They take you for a tour inside and when you come out, the trinkets are out there waiting for you. It’s hard not to buy anything. They also showed us how the make fire from rubbing a soft wood on a hard wood (video below). Very cool.

One of the Masai men took us for a hike to the mountains on the hill. It’s a bit dangerous to walk around by oneself because of all the wild animals, but I felt safe with the Masai. They really know how to live in the wild. He had an actual spear, as u can tell I was very impressed by that. We went to Lake Nakuru and were able to see the pink flamingos. It was also pretty, but a lot smaller. It took us about 8 hours to get to Lake Nakuru from Masai Mara. Apparently is should take 4 hours. It was quite difficult to sit in the car that slow. But patience is a virtue, so I practiced.

MOMBASA

We then went to Mombasa which is on the far eastern part of Kenya. I actually found a holistic yoga retreat center by chance. Quite funny. So I had yoga almost every morning. The teacher was actually pretty good. And they told me that they have been getting most of their clients from Sudan. I’m not surprised; all the expats in Sudan are exhausted. We stayed right off the ocean. One of our friends didn’t know how to swim, all took turns trying to teach.. all very earnest… but vastly different styles and instructions. But she pulled through and was able to swim to the deep end! The little things. We even had some monkey visitors that ransacked the honey and food stash. They were quite bold, not afraid of us at all. But we finally shooed them away. I lost my phone, forgot my wallet in Nairobi, lost my earring which I have been wearing for 10 years. I wondered if I was being prepared for something hugamungus. I decided to just enjoy my remaining days. Easy to do in mombasa.

Fall in SS - 8/15

August 15th

You know layoffs are really hard. Michelle and I take turns feeling sad. I think everyone is also sad. It was hard to work and live with my colleagues, and I have had some moments where I questioned my decisions to come to Sudan. But now that I am leaving, I only feel sadness. We have become a sort of family. I will miss the people most!

Some profound poetry from ur truly! :-)

Wind softly blows the fall leaves
The calmness is filling
World stands still
Joy and laughter flow away
Grieving
No regrets
Knowing everything will be okay

Closing - 8/5

August 5th

Being sure of something is like pinning down the wind. How does one start on one path and end up on a completely different path.

So not a day after we returned from our vacation, actually in transit through Nairobi, we got some sad news. Our program is closing early. Our funder decided that they are going to scrap all the programs in the southern part of the country and move them up north to the border states of Southern Sudan. They are scrapping 34 programs (us included). In one breath, our small cloister is burst apart.

The border states still has some small fighting and unrest due to the dispute of the border line and oil. If there is unrest at the border, there is even a harder time to stabilize the country as a whole. As you can see, this is much bigger than all of us. As a result, I will be leaving Sudan much earlier than I anticipated. I am very sad to leave.

Zanzibar - 8/3

August 3rd

I went on vacation 3 weeks ago to Zanzibar Island with my friends (Khary, Michelle and Michelle's friend June). It was glorious. I didn’t know Africa had such treasures. The sand is so white and the water is so blue. I also got scuba license. That was quite a feat. We thought the whole thing would last 2-3 days, but it lasted 5 days. My friend Michelle, who organized this trip, didn’t know she would have successive panic attacks during scuba. It was funny and sad to watch. But she accepted this was something she could pass on. If you know anything about her, she never backs down on a challenge.

Capetown - 5/21

May 21st

My boss noticed that I was not looking so good. I was strongly urged to take my first Rest and Relaxation vacation. Now I see why these trips are necessary. I decided to visit South Africa (SA). I have an old friend Capetown. I stayed with her family which included a young boy of 3 called Boyou. SA was quite cold; it was the middle of winter. Capetown is glorious. And Boyou was such a joy. It is sooo much energy to take care of a child, but at the end of the day I had good energy. I have to say that the my friends helped me have a great time.. by letting me not plan a thing. And Boyou was the best part of it.

I also went to visit the Townships; area where black people live. I went to Mazapulele Township, right next door. The xenophobic attacks also occurred in Capte town, however I heard that the Mazapulele township elders really organized the community. They were able to convince the people who looted the foreigner’s homes to return their property. And they also got the community to really reconsider their position of violence. It was quite a exciting to hear. A people who have experience so much violence, yet choosing a different action. The situation in the townships is not always so pretty due to the poverty of blacks in general. One good thing though, is that these homes have running water and electricity. However the townships are not large enough and there are many slums. I saw acres and acres of slums on the way to the capetown airport. Quite disheartening. I hope that SA can really begin to bridge the gap for poor SA's.

A few scenes of my time in capetown. If you have a chance, I think it is a beautiful place to visit.

Muzaphalele township

Muzaphalele township (above)

JOHANESSBURG

I also got to visit my friend in Johannesburg. Quite a city. The walls protecting the homes are so high, with electric wires on top. There is a lot of crime in the city, most probably due to the huge disparity between the rich and poor. The city felt very unfriendly. I think it takes a while to feel comfortable here. I got to see the famous SOWETO and Mandela's home from his childhood.

Now back to my live in Juba.

Triste - 5/19

May 19th
It’s now raining season which is nice. I’ve been here for 3 months now. We arrived in February which is considered the hottest time of the year. So we are happy for the rain.

And I just had my first big frustration period. So this is my ranting outlet.

Doing things here is quite a task. Just a simple task of going to work in the morning, can take a 20-30 mins in planning. Who is going where, is everyone ready, why are we waiting for one person to finish combing their hair. So many things break down in mid stream without a process of how to fix it. For example, a simple task of printing can become a 2 hour affair when the printer is not properly aligned. Where is the technician!!!!

I also live with other people, sometimes only 3, and other times 6 at a time. The constant flux of people coming in and out of the guest house is straining. I have no anger towards the visitors, more so the flux. It's hard to have a visitor every week.

I’m trying to see the good side about this. This could be an opportunity for me to see how I deal with these situations. Where can I have such an experience? Really no-where and some may say, why do u really want it. But somewhere in there, I think there is a learning opportunity. Haven't found it yet!

But a week after I got so frustrated, I learnt something about myself. As an independent woman in her "late twenties", don't laugh... I have been doing so many things by myself and depending on me most of the time. Since we live in a group, there are some things that I am powerless over; what food we eat, whether I can get go out some evenings, the level of security we have in the house etc etc. Most evenings, we didn't have access to transportation, and it's not safe to go out by oneself. So we'd stay home with the collegues that we just worked with for 8-10 hours. Nothing against them, but it's like having turkey sandwich every night of the week. And I had this growing frustration that surprised me. I really found it difficult to trust other people to decide things for the house (including me in the picture). So that was very interesting for me to watch.

This situation continued, like a drip that digs a deeper hole every day. And I waged wars sometimes to change one thing or the other. But after a while, I kinda gave up. And I think that was actually a good process. Learning to just trust the process and trust in something bigger than oneself.

When I sit back and look at how upset I got sometimes, I just laugh. It is really funny sometimes. So as a pat on the back, I'd like to give myself a break!

Rumbek Travels - 5/12

May 12th
(More about my Rumbek trip – sorry I know I’m repeating, but there are more pictures) So this is one of my first trips out of Juba. I was asked to participate in an assessment study of groundnut production. We flew to a town call Rumbek, which has a lot historical meaning in Sudan (as i mentioned last time). Hometown of John Garang. It was an unlikely capital because it had no paved roads and only had a population of 100k. But once Garang died, the capital was moved to Juba, which is larger and has some infrastructure, very little, but more than Rumbek.

In this trip I got the change to experience a landing on a dirt runway. I was truly scared, but I felt stronger after that experience. laugh!

We are constantly confronted with the remnants of the war. We had two members on the team who were formerly in the army (one of whom was only 14 when he was drafted). We approached this a town where there were holes dug out all along the ground. One of the former vets in the team told us about the fight that happened just 4 years ago in this very spot, and how he was part of the fighting that won the city back to the South. The dug out holes were used by the Northern army as a defense mechanism. This sent chills down my back. Everywhere we went there are left over shelled tankers, sometimes bombed helicopters, and old rusted bullets still lying randomly on the ground. And the demining team, who are constantly working on roads and farmland.

The cultures are so rich here. I didn’t want to stare, but the facial markings were so different for me. I don’t know if this is true, but I was told the culture of markings came from the missionaries/colonials who needed a way to identify one tribe from the other. Some other tribes remove the front 6 lower teeth. Yes ouch! And I couldn’t help noticing all the cows, everyone we went there were herds of them. Cows are considered a sign of wealth, so no-one is willing to sell their cows. Most of the beef eaten in southern sudan is imported from Uganda and Kenya, yet if you fly over Southern Sudan, you’ll see acres and acres of grazing cows.

Well once we got to Rumbek, I had a chance to visit some smaller towns / villages. We went to visit farmers, some of whom are recent returnees from refugee camps and some of whom lived here through the war. I found the Dinka’s huts very interesting. The farmers lived in these interesting huts that were mounted on sticks; it was like a 2 story hut. The height was used to deter animals from getting to their grains. In terms of marriage, there are no limits to the number of wives you can have. We met a man who had 9 wives, I was aghast. But he had good harvests and felt he could afford it. I have heard of a big chief who had 50 wives. So this man with 9 wives and quite a number of children, had three huts in his compound; One for him, one for the goats and one hut (on sticks) for the grains. The wives and kids slept under the hut on sticks. This was a very strange concept for me, but it is very accepted. I guess the grain is more important!

As most people have cows, the cows need to be fed constantly. Out of necessity and a way to support each other, most area’s have this things called “cattle camp”. Essentially groups of people join their cows together and send representatives from their family to manage the herd. The cow herders travel together in one group, setting up temporary camp and then moving once the grass is all eaten by the cows. Cattle camps of for young people, women, older parents and can be really important growth period in young boy’s lives. There can be up to 100 people in a cattle camp. A lot of people actually enjoy the camp because it is like a big camp party. There are a lot of young men who earn their right of passage by going through cattle camp. So it seems to be quite a significant part of their life. The herders burn the cow dung and smear it on their bodies to keep away tse tse flies. The cow dung is white, so they look a bit like ghosts. It’s a mixture of this elaborate clothing, deep facial scars and white dust on their faces. I have a picture in one of my albums. I really like that picture.

I was quite shocked by the level of comfort with nudity, most people had. In very remote areas most kids under 10 are naked and sometimes parents were partially naked. The kids all seemed happy though. It’s nice to see the smiles, contrary to the starving image on the news. After a while, it felt quite normal and I stopped starring. I guess in some ways if you can do this, there is less shame about the body.

I couldn’t help thinking how it seems like the world had stopped in this place. Cultures have been insulated by the war. And the bare necessity of just living is so apparent here. In the car, you can stand on top and look as far as the eye can see. The landscape is absolutely breathe taking. Virgin land, untouched and still. Such a contrast, 20 years of war (some parts brutal) and this virgin unbroken landscape. Hard to capture on camera... but this is my attempt.

I really enjoyed my trip to Rumbek. It was hot, and cramped at times. I had to stay at a camp where the rooms had lizards and frogs as regular visitors. But it was so much fun. I guess for a week, everything is still exciting. The camp we stayed in was owned by a Norwegian organization that had been in Sudan for 20 years; this means they were there even through the brutal times of the war. But somehow the locals knew and trusted them. So when war broke out, they always warned them or tried to avoid their area. Very touching to learn about their history and how this relationship developed. So the Norwegians are loved in Sudan.

Well I hope you enjoyed this. A small sliver into life here.