Late as usual.

Eid Mubarak!

Finally back after Ramadan and a prolonged eid vacation.

To recap what happened during this leave:
-Saw Sudan snubbed by the coverage at the Olympics{Opening ceremony}.
 -Was ashamed at the number and level of athletes representing Sudan at the Olympics.
-The GOS and GOSS are still dithering about reaching an agreement.

-The prime minister of Ethiopia is dead.

-A plane full of government officials crashed and apparently was not supposed to be in the air as it was classified as unsafe.

-The US is dangling the prize of normalized relations in front of the GOS for their cooperation in who knows what.

-Had some fantastic coffee from some great tea ladies.

-Visited more family than everyone you know on facebook.

-Was stunned {like every other Sudanese} at the astronomical increase in commodity prices.

-Seriously considered jumping ship and taking my family out of this country to anywhere where the economy makes sense.

-Overheard NGO workers discuss rentals and actually felt sorry for them{lol}.

-Watching Barney dubbed in Arabic I concluded that the purple asshole is the antichrist.

-Enjoyed fantastic meals with family and friends.

-Lost considerable pleasure in said meals after reflecting on how hard so many people are having it this year.

-Witnessed a disturbed beggar body slam a 6 year old who he mistakenly thought was one of the kids who were taunting him in front of a pastry shop.

-Participated in street justice and helped beat said disturbed beggar.

-Felt dirty and ashamed and angry after realizing the beggar was not in his right mind. Still seeing him body slam the child was traumatising.Thankfully the child was fine {and later enthusiastically pelted his assailant with rocks}.

-Felt ashamed and sad that some stale baklava and spare change being threatened could cause someone so much mental anguish.

-Was touched by the outpouring of generosity I saw so many people display in Ramadan.

-Enjoyed my immediate and extended family and appreciate them more than ever.

Will try and post a coherent post soon.

R.I.P General Paulino Matip

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA. His militia is/was independent of the president- I guess they made him deputy because his solders would only answer to him.  Officially they were his bodyguards.

I used to live behind his compound, which when I first moved to Juba- was a bunch of tukuls and army tents both inside the fenced compound and to the outside of it. Last year it was upgraded and you can’t see anything inside of it.

The soldiers would ‘guard’ the road, which they often called Bentiu road, (Bentiu was Matip’s stronghold for a number of years) but which most of us just called Paulino Matip’s road, or if you are new to Juba- UNDP- sleeping outside in tents. Once I was dropping off someone that lived inside that compound, I pulled off the road, slowed to a stop, and the soldiers immediately got up in anger... I didn’t realize that I was meant to turn off my lights when I got close to the gate- they didn’t appreciate that I stopped there...and being lit up while they were laying on the ground. I got lectured at... until the guy I was dropping off talked to them… I had to drive further down to drop him off. A few years ago you couldn't' drive down that road at night.

Matip fought on the side of the Khartoum government during the war, joining SPLA after the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement- and after the death of Dr. John Garang.  One thing I always say… much still needs to be written about the history of the SPLA movement.  And this man’s story would definitely be a compelling read (for me, at least)

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article43688

south sudan olympiads: congrats guor marial

I never paid tribute to Guor Marial for making us proud London 2012! And that he preferred to run as an independent olympic athlete, rather than under the Sudan flag! We also noted your left handed salute to south sudan!

He finished 47th -11 minutes behind the Ugandan- which is a sign of good things to come.  

this is what he said afterwards..

"I have no problem. I live in the United States," Marial told reporters after the marathon on Sunday. "I have running shoes. I'm fine. What about the people that are out there? This is the reason I was finishing today. For those people. They are in a rough condition, and I hope that the world is able to help them."

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/348118/paying-attention-to-south-sudan?SESS961527c7c8cdc0e97b46dd20adf37928=google

Also want to salute Lopez Lomong who ran the 5,000 as an American, and of course Luol Deng on the British basketball team.

I think all this shows that we will be punching above our weight in Rio 2016! (so i hope south sudan is taking steps to getting us representation).

rainy season.

This is probably the best time to be in Juba.

There are two seasons here- hot and dusty (which seems to last forever... but i'd say Oct-Feb/March) and then rainy and muddy which is right now. I definitely prefer rainy and muddy because at the least its not so bloody hot. When I left in February it was pretty miserable. I was in a house with no a/c, had had no electricity for months, hence no fan, and I would spend hours in bed drenched in sweat and unable to sleep. And days drenched in sweat drinking bottles and bottles of water - actually in the area i lived even getting cold water was a problem, cause the generators just could not cope.

Now that its raining... ahh... no need for a/c or fans. I even hear folks complaining that its cold (clearly they have not been to Nairobi in this time of year).

Of course then we see just how poor the drainage system is... Very few drainage canals even where its necessary. The road I used to drive on would become a raging stream whenever it rained heavily, with new valleys and gulleys created.

(But Malakal in Upper Nile, though... that was something else! The entire town was a mud bath. Everyone walking barefoot, or in gumboots because you can't walk with shoes in that mud.)

something else the rainy season exposes is the poor quality of building construction.  Actually, i think I'm going to tackle that another day- because i want to take -and post- pictures of what I am talking about. I refuse to live in a storied building here because i think there are too many short-cuts being taken when constructing... so, stay tuned.

ramadhan kareem!

To all our Muslim brothers and sisters!

My fellow blog author, aka akon2, is fasting this month and will most likely be fairly quiet with regards to telling us stories about Sudan.

I think its quite fitting too, that I am finally back in Juba after a few months hiatus. Got in yesterday to start a new job, and are staying at 'New York hotel'- where you pay an arm and a leg to live in a refitted container.  what can i say?

In the 3 months i've been away they have built several multi-storied buildings... which kind of worries me because it seems contractors in this country don't worry too much about quality...3 months is too short a time for even the foundation to set in (i think), let alone put up 5+ stories. So, while I am looking for housing, i will not be trying to live in or even close to some of these buildings and especially because there is no oversight from a quality assurance agency.

Tea ladies.Some of my fav people.

To know me is to know my fondness of tea ladies and my Ethiopian coffee 'habit'.
This is a relatively 'new' phenomena.With the decline in agriculture{which really deserves its own post} the migration from rural areas to the big cities became a flood of people.Men being the traditional bread winners went first and families followed.With this social upheaval and  grinding poverty in the cities outskirts,women found that they needed to work to add to the family income. Some sold kisra{our national dietary staple,a close descendant of the Ethiopian Injera},some sold Aragi{our national tipple,a liquor made from dates},some tea and coffee.Of course Aragi was the most lucrative but brought the most risk.With bread becoming more affordable and eating habits changing in the urban centers,kisra consumption declined.Tea and coffee sales flourished.
On every major street in Khartoum, the ubiquitous tea ladies line the sides of roads,huddling under trees,sheltering beside buildings and building thatch,rucksack or palm fronds leantos {called Rawakib,Rakooba for singular}to sell their wares to hordes of men sitting on tiny stools{or rocks}.
After that lengthy explanation I still feel that more information is needed.
What makes them so special?
Apart from the fact that these hard working ladies support families through their hard{and I mean hard} work,the difference between tea ladies can be astounding.
A great tea lady ,{this can be through brains,effort or just luck,usually all three} has a good location.Under a shady tree or with a well built rakooba,with red sand on the ground{sprayed sporadically with water to keep the dust down}.Her stools will be in good condition,her utensils clean and she will have incense[bakhoor}burning to keep away flies and put customers in a better mood.
As usually tea ladies are found in clusters,competition is high and the prettier ladies are often accused of using their feminine wiles to lure customers{which is occasionally true, though I can honestly say this has never affected my choice ,lol}.
Some provide ice water{as opposed to lukewarm water from big gourds called Zeers} and with the influx of Ethiopians,some added popcorn.
Despite being solely the domain of women vendors{except in Eastern Sudan,where the Handawa believe women do not know how to make coffee and only men sell it}only men sit down for coffee.Partly due to social norms and partly because of the bawdy nature of conversations found.Strangely,the tea ladies are generally exempt from offending comments{and her regulars will staunchly curse or beat anyone who offends their friend }although they are subject to a great deal of lewd stares.This is not to imply that they are meek helpless women in a sea of vicious men.Most are very strong characters who are quick to yell out a "Hoyy! Maallak?"[Hey!What's wrong with you?] to offenders[who slink off in shame amidst a barrage of hoots and laughter].
The smell of roasting coffee{over an open fire in a shallow pan},the swishswishswish of the beans being tossed expertly for an even roasting and  the doogdoogdoog of the mortar and pestle as the beans are crushed to a fine grind in the early morning are probably some of the most relaxing minutes in my day.Brewed with cardamom,a touch of ginger and occasionally cinnamon,the dark{STRONG!} coffee is how I start my day.
Part 2 to come soon.

family planning

So... $4.6 billion recently pledged to boost modern contraceptive uptake (an extra 120 million women by 2020)

I think that's a big kudos!

and... apropos, I share this little story...


I was lucky to be involved in finalizing the family planning policy for South Sudan, (1st draft in Nov 2009, then a colleague revived it this year) and it was literally 5 of us in a room arguing about what needs to be in it or out.

one of the key things we stressed in the policy is that contraception is the woman's  decision regardless of what her husband or her family believes/says. This is because we understand that it is women who are at risk of complications of pregnancy, and currently in South Sudan, women are supposed to bear as many children as they can. (Of course there are communities that practice family planning- e.g the Dinka who space children in 2-year intervals... but because the woman abstains for that two years... well, I have issues with that too)

Obviously we knew this will be resisted widely but felt that the policy should explicitly state this- and hopefully as our communities progress, this becomes a moot point.

So.... a couple of months later we were having a workshop with people involved in primary health care (state ministries of health, county health departments, health facility in-charges, etc.- they came from the 10 states of South Sudan) and one guy started talking about how at his health facility  if a woman comes for contraceptives they send her home to bring her husband

*pause*

what?

so the maternal and child health advisor steps up and states that this is actually
not what should happen-  the woman has the right to access whatever method she wants independently of her husband.

This resulted in a huge argument in the room and finally one guy stood up and was like
"Well... that doesn't make any sense. Of course the husband has to decide that's why its called family planning... Otherwise it would be called woman planning..

We have a long way to go....

http://www.economist.com/node/21558564