I’ve decided to stop driving to work.

Seriously.

It’s giving me grey hairs and minor heart-attacks.

In addition to the badly driven motorcycles/ bodabodas – I really want them banned from the streets- there are also the random police stops.

Between my house and the office there are two spots with an excess number of traffic police sitting around, idle, or pretending to direct traffic (resulting in traffic jams, usually)

They tend to ignore all the motorcyclists openly breaking every traffic rule, they ignore any cars with government or NGO plates or the better-looking/ newer cars- but they always, always always look at my Rav4, look at me (there aren’t too many S. Sudanese women with shoulder length dreads) and then  pull me over-by blowing their whistle- without fail.  

And then address me as a ‘wewe’ _which means they think I'm either Ugandan (ugh) or Kenyan.

 More often than not, for no valid reason.  

Instead, they ask for frivolous things like, ‘why don’t you have a fire extinguisher in your car?’

And then they proceed to ‘fine you’.

I have a traffic ticket that clearly says I should have paid 30SSP but the traffic cop was like, 40SSP- apparently the extra 10 was for her writing on the ticket, wtf). I got this on a day I was stopped 3 TIMES.

A friend of mine drives with the traffic act in her car, so that when they ask for such things, she pulls it out and starts asking them where in the traffic act does it state such a violation. She assures me that extinguishers are NOT mentioned. Personally if i did that i think they'd just haul me to the traffic police station.

Finally I just started ignoring the cops. I’d see them blow the whistle and motion for me to stop and I’d just continue on my merry way.

I’ve had to change routes to the office twice because of this – for fear that I will meet the same cops.

I'm now afraid that I’ll be thrown in jail for this, one of these days – they don't need a to do this.  

I ignore the cops because they are on their feet and i'm driving (and i figure, what are they gonna do, run after me?)

but.... apparently they sometimes will get on a motorcycle and give chase….

So I finally told the office…I just can't handle it. Bodaboda (motorcycle riders) and now the cops? 

Oh and I have to talk about the convoys/motorcades as well. Juba is really small but so far we have convoys for the president, the vice-president, the speaker of parliament, the governor, and godknowswho else. These drive at breakneck speed- why do they have to drive so fast??? they are driving less than 10-20 miles- usually no warning except you hear the siren and have to immediately pull over. I think all this is recipe for disaster. I've actually witnessed a really bad accident with one of these motorcades already

So.... another headache, for real

The return of the morose anonymous

I've been trying to keep this blog light{er}.

Since 2012 started the Sudanese economy has been coming to a grinding halt. The brain drain is terrifying, our currency is devaluing at an astonishing rate and life is becoming harder and harder every day. Sugar prices spiked and talk of petrol prices further rising. If I, a relatively wealthy Sudanese ,am feeling the pinch, imagine what my less fortunate brethren are going through.

I never thought it would come to this but I've been seriously considering leaving with my family elsewhere.

Big deal, people immigrate every day right?

I always saw myself living the rest of my life here.

I feel incredibly guilty about jumping ship just when things got rough but I have my children to think of. I owe them my best effort at a better life.

So one of these days I'll post up about leaving for a bittersweet 'better life'.

Kind of hate myself right now.

i was nervous about *that* election

Because Americans will never cease to amaze (I was there in 2004 and vividly remember the shock waking up the next morning to 4 more years of Bush).

Speaking of Bush...
I will never stop being surprised at how staunchly most South Sudanese I have met identify with the Republican Party (yes, the GOP). And not just in Juba.

This is mainly because we recognize that without Bush, Powell -and U.S administration putting pressure on both parties, and in particular the Govt of Sudan, we would not have had the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and... eventually our own country. This does not diminish the involvement of other countries, especially Norway, but it does recognize the significant contribution the U.S made in ensuring that the CPA was brokered.

But this has resulted in near total loyalty to the Republican Party. Regardless of whether or not we know anything about the GoP. And I don't think this will change soon- especially as i foresee our new nation starting to get more criticism especially on human rights issues. E.g., The U.S recently rebuked South Sudan for expelling the UNMISS Human Rights Commissioner, there's been criticism -from amnesty and human rights watch on the fact that we uphold the death penalty, and recently two prisoners were hung despite a very weak judicial system and poor conditions in the prisons, two weeks ago the police shot at school children who were protesting perceived land grab of their school property, the lack of press freedoms, etc.  Things will get worse before they get better...

We also grumble about the fact that there is not enough pressure on Abyei and other outstanding issues from the CPA. We were shocked to have been criticized about Heglig/Panthou.  We are going to continue to make diplomatic mistakes as we continue to learn...And all this under a democratic U.S leadership. So yes, I don't think S.Sudan will be soon supporting the democrats. Which makes me very uncomfortable.

But...... all this does underlie how important the CPA, elections and referendum were to us....and that  South Sudanese will have life-long gratitude to G. Bush. And that's just how things are.

Small business,big problems.

Yesterday I visited a distant cousin who had been telling me about a shop he opened. He sells honey and all kinds of honey related products {skin creams, shampoos, tonics, teas and of course sexual enhancers}.

Aside from a truly atrocious water fountain {made of plaster and shaped like a mutant honeybee},I was really impressed.

Family owned business that focuses on quality organic products at reasonable prices. What’s not too like?

My cousin started expounding on the efforts him and some other manufacturers had made in creating an association and quality control {enforced by government} and branding. Which got me to thinking about the small hive keeper’s way out in the rural areas that depend on their honey for their livelihood? Its all well and good to harp on about quality, but as the large[er] business owners are the force behind the enforcers {they incentivize the government to screen quality for export} what’s to stop corrupt {or just overzealous} officials from leaning hard and the small{and unknown and unrepresented }businesses ?

Should they depend on their larger colleague’s largesse?

Of course my cousin did not like this train of thought, but it got me thinking, is the price of progress? In order for Sudan to develop a robust export ‘brand’, do these small producers have to be pushed out {and I have no doubt that they will be}?

The beauty of Sudanese honey is the diversity of its origins {like all of our great things} and sources. A dirty plastic drum from a no-name keeper will contain some of the most delicious elixir you ever tasted.

I hope that never changes.