Mundri West! And Mvolo

I have the worst sense of direction- and I didn’t realize just how badly until the other day. I am currently in Western Equatoria State- WES (Mundri West and Mvolo Counties)

 The other day I went to have lunch at my regular spot in Mundri West town-Safari Hotel. If ever driving into the town, it is just after the South Sudan Red Cross, on the right side of the road, just on the edge of town. Can’t miss it! it’s a rather large restaurant and quite swanky by WES standards – shit, I’d wager by South Sudan Standards - at night they serve beer, and play Congolese music videos on the T.V. (If I lived here it would quickly become my local pub.) The owner, this nice lady named Night, caters to my needs (I have her phone number –and call from Juba when I know Im coming to Mundri –its that serious). Last week she made me the local specialty –Mbirinda, (which is a local bean that is ground, cooked with peanut butter and something called Combo – no I cant describe what that is, all I know is that its amazingly good. Yes, that’s my plug for the restaurant! 

Anyway, I have been going to this place all week. I’ve been going to this place everytime I’m in Mundri. But, on this particular day, when going back to the guesthouse, I took one wrong turn and got completely lost. I had NO IDEA where I was. All the tukuls and compounds and scenery were exactly alike. I kept taking turns and wandering into people’s yards (okay, it all looks like one big yard with huts strategically placed here and there). Once or twice I walked into families having lunch under their mango tree. One girl (after I passed her about 2 times- while trying to look nonchalant) finally asked whose house I was looking for. 

What’s really sad about this scenario is that twice, at night, I have made my way from Night’s restaurant– to guesthouse - by flashlight without getting lost. This incident was in broad daylight. And I promise  it wasn’t an ulterior move to find out what villagers do to fill out their days.

But yes,  I finally found my way. I wonder how anyone navigates here. It gets completely and absolutely dark at night. Very few people have any electrical/light source. And even during daylight, everything looks almost the same. (or is it just me)

Im back in Juba on Thursday – and I need to write about Juba. Im currently in Mvolo. Yesterday I witnessed a localized form of football hooliganism (maybe hooligan is too strong a word). I went to watch the local ‘league.’ Mvolo County (WES) vs Wulu County (Lakes States). Watching the game was in itself an event (why are there two soldiers – one with a gun – watching over spectators and making sure no-one crosses the chalk mark into the pitch, one team scored, and a group of women with umbrellas swarmed the pitch, why the umbrella I have no idea). Anyway, after the game- like 100 kids ran into the pitch, mobilized and organized and then took off singing and dancing into the town, completely blocking the main road for about 30 minutes.  This was the major ‘highway’ into Mvolo town (like 3 cars a day, but still).    I am not sure if they even knew who won. It looked like fun!

One of  Western journalists favorite descriptors for Sudan is failed state.
It's catchy,just vague enough to elude scrutiny,slightly patronizing and can be used in almost any story.
I guess you know how I feel about that term now,
However,every once in awhile something happens that's so ridiculous that it makes me pause and wonder if that descriptor is not actually accurate.
In today's newspaper, residents of Almulazmeen,Omdurman, described how they had a big tree on the main road,whose branches had started pushing against the High tension electric wires running down their main street{That the High tension wires running through a residential neighborhood are not the story should tell you something}.
A group of neighbors repeatedly called the authorities and after being passed back and forth determined that they should take matters into their own hands.
They started to cut down the branch,which then slid ON to the wires creating a precarious situation.
After filing a report with the Electric company,engineers were deployed by the company to asses and deal[ha] with the situation.
On arrival the engineers took a look and pronounced that this was not in their scope of work as the wire was not disconnected per se .
They told the local residents to call them WHEN the wire fell under weight of the fallen branch as it would then fall under their jurisdiction.
Before leaving they very helpfully informed the residents that the branch was a safety hazard and that WHEN it snapped , the surge could damage their home appliances.
I imagine they drove off to cheerfully to wherever at this point.
After reading the article{complete with catchy quotes from outraged locals and a picture of the offending tree and fallen branch},I put down the paper and had a big laugh.
Another day in Sudan.

Traffic Police

Khartoum is a pretty congested city.
Designed by the British as a sleepy Administrative town,it;s since exploded into a sprawling, overcrowded city.
Naturally the streets were not designed for such capacities and since city planners are unheard of here,the problem compounded.
Enter the traffic police.
Dressed in chalky white uniforms{which look oppressively hot} ,they man the main intersections,supposedly redirecting traffic.
Other duties include random stops to check license and registration ,check for tinted windows{illegal except for government officials and hotshots or people who can pay the bribe} etc.This is a source of income to the force ,so bribes or not they are pretty enthusiastic about fining you for something as this will likely help pay there measly salaries.
They generally lurk around a bend in the road and pop out in front of your car with gleeful expressions{gotcha bitch!}.
This in turn causes mayhem as rickshaws{which are not licensed for main roads but drive along them anyway}and unlicensed cars bust U-Turns and peel out the other way.
The other day I was pulled over{the officer jumped in front of my car and banged the hood also with a gleeful gotcha bitch! expression}.
I handed over my license and registration.After frowning over them he asked me to turn on my lights.Finding nothing amiss he asked me if I had a fire extinguisher at which point I lost it and started bellowing.He looked me over and waved me off,looking for easier fish.
Some incidents I've witnessed at these impromptu traffic stops:
-A rickshaw driver gunning straight for the traffic police{trying to scare him off the road I guess},and the traffic cop pulling a spectacular spin{pivoted on his right foot anti-clockwise} then diving in the backseat of the speeding rickshaw in one smooth motion.Needless to say as I pulled over{along with everybody else},I found the officer choking the rickshaw driver and screaming very colorful expletives.People actually cheered him on.
-A rickshaw driver tried to swerve away from the officer{with the gleeful gotcha bitch! expression} and flipped over the rickshaw.The officer pulled him out of the overturned rickshaw and started slapping it at which point the driver beat the lights out of the traffic cop{people also cheered him on}.
-An old lady with questionable driving skills got freaked out by the traffic police jumping out in front of her and pressed the gas pedal in lieu of the brakes.Traffic police flies in the air and lands on her hood then rolls to the ground.She opened the door walked around and took a look at him and burst into sobs.The traffic police got up,dusted himself off and disgustedly waved her off{still sobbing}while his colleagues held on to each other and bend over laughing.
-An old man pulling out a horsewhip from his trunk and chasing the traffic police around his car{he really was nimble too}while people tried to calm him down.No idea what he was stopped for.
-Two traffic police wrestling with a young driver and him heaving like a bull and throwing them both off.People intervened and he was walked to his car and the cops made no move to stop him.No idea what sparked the altercation.

The slow death of the Sudanese economy

Khartoum these past few days has been blistering hot and dusty,bleakly brown.
Which is a pretty good description for Sudan's economy.
The exchange rate is steadily climbing to unbelievable heights.What this means to your average Sudanese is that basics are becoming a luxury.
That's not the worst part.Economies do fail due to no one's fault sometimes.
But when the government of Sudan's short sighted economic vision coupled  with no hard currency flowing in,rampant corruption, policies that seem determined to squash local business and investors ,entrepreneurs finding no support whatsoever,facing an economic embargo{which is targeting the Sudanese population not the government}, an opposition that flails like a headless chicken, and one is left with little hope.
Which is partly why I have not been posting that much,it's depressing.
And yet life goes on.
I'll try and write more about the little joys and struggles Sudanese face in day to day life which is what we started out to do in the first place.

Embracing Victimhood to Celebrate Victimization

It was a bit disturbing to hear news of our citizens in the IDP camps (where they are seeking protection and shelter) celebrating the recapture of Bentiu -in light of what this recapture actually occasioned.

200 civilians [allegedly] killed in a mosque. Non-Nuer civilians and foreign nationals targeted and killed. Nuer men and women in a hospital killed for not being supportive or rather celebratory over the rebel forces ‘success’. Hate speech broadcast on a local radio station, calling for the rape of women.

https://radiotamazuj.org/en/article/hundreds-feared-dead-bentiu-massacres

Were we celebrating that a group of us now have to run and seek protection and shelter?  Disturbingly, were the victims of this war celebrating the victimization of others? Are we seeing the creation of a ‘permanent victimhood’ that denies the existence of an equally victimized ‘other’? Historically this kind of moral ambiguity has been a prelude to victims becoming perpetrators whose actions, regardless of scale - they themselves perceive as warranted and a form of self-defense. This is a disturbing development.

In addition, does this mean that we have no empathy for those who are currently hiding in the bush and are not concerned when even more of us join them? The 800,000+ South Sudanese men, women and children whom we know are not in United Nations Protection of Civilians (PoC) camps, but we do not know where they are.

Also, what does it say about the international community, when we only condemn the actions of one group of actors, in this case the youths in Bor, and fail to equally condemn the actions of the actors in Bentiu?  The international media widely reported the Bor massacre; international actors correctly condemned the actions of the youth involved. However, there has been a lack of condemnation of the actors in Bentiu, there has been no widespread calls for an investigation, despite that the Bentiu massacre took place in the same week as the Bor massacre.

Do the people of Bentiu not deserve equal consideration and if this is so, we should sincerely ask ourselves why. Because this makes us appear to be only quick to condemn actions that seemingly hold the government culpable (in this case in their failure to protect the IDPs) but then we remain silent on the need to hold the rebel army equally culpable. If this is the case, then we must question not only our partiality but also our humanity.

Lastly, perhaps we should be even more apprehensive when we hear reports of community youths reacting to this crisis with violence. Thus far, the communities of the affected have not engaged either the rebels or the SPLA, and have instead remained on the sidelines. About two weeks ago, there were reports of the Shilluk community mobilizing to form a community defense force (granted, this claim has since been retracted) and now we hear of youths in Bor attacking a group of the defenseless that they associate with the rebellion.  I wrote an earlier article about the need to engage with the communities of the affected, in order to avoid an escalation of this kind of reaction. This needs to happen, sooner rather than later. We also need to begin to engage with the Nuer community – these are their sons and daughters – these actions cannot be culturally acceptable even if this were blood feud or retaliation.

This has been a horrible week for South Sudan. I reiterate that time is running out for us, we are on a precipice. Let us do all that we can to ensure that we do not fall into the abyss.

Where would you find such beds?

I work for an international NGO… We support primary health-care services- meaning we contract out other NGOs to provide direct support to the health facilities: to improve health services, provide equipment, make infrastructural improvements (mainly minor renovations) etc.

The health facilities we currently support were previously supported by another organization which had quite similar in objectives to this; improving the standards of the health facility and to strengthen primary health-care system. So for about 5+ years, these facilities have been donor funded

Last week I was out in the field, for supervision, and basically to see how things are going, what improvements are being made etc. One of my key focus areas is infection prevention.

I walked into the admissions ward of this particular health facility and these are the beds I found. This was not an abandoned room, this was a room being used to admit critically ill patients.

The walls of the health facility have not obviously not been painted in ... years, stains are visible on  the floor and the walls. This room is STILL in use.

Not only is this obviously a prime source of infection- considering the clients admitted to the admissions wardmost likely already have a compromised immune system, but it is unacceptable to allow anyone (even someone healthy) to sleep in matresses in this state. These mattresses should have been burned a long time ago. Not discarded, burned to ash- at least if we are being serious. 

It would be better to lie on the floor, to be honest as one would probably be less at risk of picking up infection(s).

All this has left me wondering and questioning: what exactly are we doing?  How can we honestly say that we are funding primary health-care if this is the state of our health facilities, a year, almost two after we begun supporting them?

Not only that, at one health facility there was no soap for handwashing. And the supporting agency was very quick to say; there is no budget. 

Soap costs 2 South Sudanese pounds.  

I really question this whole idea of donor funding.

rainy season :o(

It’s raging outside. Heavy winds and a storm brewing

I think about the little children in tents in unmiss.

They do not have shelter

They are afraid and terrified

And today, they will also be flooded.

It is unconscionable what we are putting ourselves through

Its unforgiveable that we have yet to find resolution

We have lost 800,000 people

Those not in the camps, hiding in the bush and swamps

These are the lost and unaccounted living

lacking food, shelter and at the mercy of water-borne diseases

the rain is not a blessing

‘Where are the people?’ a friend asks after visiting Malakal town

Where are the people?

I ask, as I wonder where our sense of community lies

We are playing with our future.