Friday, June 27, 2008

Cargo Drop

From Juba, I took a mid-day cargo flight to Pagak.  In the morning I rushed around town to get my exit visa from the Immigration office before we head to Ethiopia.  I returned just in time to catch a ride to the airport in one of our Land Cruisers.  Thursday is the day the Buffalo flies.  The Buffalo is an older two prop workhorse of a plane that can haul up to six tons of anything across the country.  The rear of the plane has a cargo ramp.  You load/drive your cargo up and away you go.

We followed a huge truck filled with supplies, drugs, and other medical equipment to the airport, nodded to security, and drove on out to the runway to the plane.  On the far side of the runway, a huge white UN C5-type cargo plane was unloading supplies into canvas covered trucks.  The truck in front of us mistakenly raced off to the other plane and had to be called back.  As it pulled up to the Buffalo (a white Buffalo at that), six guys jumped off and we began to unload several hundred boxes and pack them into our plane.  First though, we took off t
he radio antenna from the Land Cruiser, deflated the tires, and drove it into the cargo bay of the Buffalo.  Once fastened down with straps, we started transferring the boxes to behind the Land Cruiser and anywhere else there was room.  It took a long time to move all those damnable yet lifesaving boxes by had.  I had stupidly packed my empty water bottle away earlier that morning and the runway was radiating the full fury of the midday Juba heat.
































About an hour later, as we were finishing up, the three-man flight crew wedged their way from the tiny door in the fuselage past all of the boxes and the Land Cruiser and took up positions in the cockpit.  Some other guy I had never met before and I got into the car and the rest of the boxes were placed around the side of the Land Cruiser pinning us snugly in place.

As the Buffalo cranked up its engines and slowly, but powerfully, made its way airborne, the inside of the car started to hit at least a roasting 50 degrees C with full humidity.  Since I couldn't turn on the air conditioner, I thought that I would be a smart ass and  roll down the window, put one hand on the wheel, lean my arm out the window, and pretend that the roar of the engine was actually that of the six-piston Toyota and that I was cruisin' down the street.  "That's right, ladies.  What up?"  I thought, staring at the boxes tapping against the back window trying to get in.  The guy sitting in the passenger seat ignored me and pretended to sleep.  As my two backpacks vibrated their way off of the hood, the effect was thusly ruined and my short-lived fantasy came to an end.

The flight itself took about an hour and a half.  Once we had been airborne for a while and the plane started to cool off, I dug into my bag and found the German Capri-Sun that I had stowed away in Nairobi.  Now 30% weniger Zuker!" it informed in on the front.  We passed the enormous Nile River, a lot of green pastoral land, sparse forest, and I knew we were far away from Juba.

We touched down somewhere.  Maybe we were already at Pagak, but I couldn't really see out the windows with all of the boxes in the way.  As I exited the vehicle and sidled past the boxes, I followed the crew out the passenger hatch on the side, jumped down, and fought the blinding light to see where I had ended up.















The second I jumped off the plane and looked around, I was instantly taken aback for a second.  Standing in front of me were about 50 people just kind of curiously looking at the plane and the sort of Asian-white guy that it had produced.  About a hundred other people came running towards the plane as a guy started to shoe the kids away with a big stick.  Fo
r about a minute, I found myself completely alone wondering what to do.  The sleepy guy wandered off somewhere and was nowhere to be seen.  Do I find somebody?  Do I continue to stand there like an idiot?  I chose the latter.  A second later, a Save the Children Land Cruiser came driving from the village and the local program manager welcomed me to Nasir.





























We enlisted the help of some of those standing around, and unloaded all of the boxes from the back of the plane and stacked them up on the dirt runway.  It only took about a half an hour and a gracious medical staff thanked us for the supplies.  The Public Health Community Center in Nasir had been absent drugs and basic medical supplies for quite some time.  I jumped back into the cargo hold, found a seat this time, and we took off again for Pagak.

The Pagak airstrip is literally right next to the compound and the rest of the town.  You could toss your stuff over the wooden fence and it would probably end up next to one of the brick rooms we stay in.  A bunch of smiling people greeted me and I finally met Judith, Laura, Jimmy, and the rest of the Pagak SC staff.  They gave me a warm welcome and helped to settle me down in what will be my new home for the next two and a half months.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

On Abyei

For the past few days, I've set myself up in the Operations office where there was a free bit of desk.  Its not usually too busy except for the guy in the radio room calling whoever needs to be called and the static he usually gets as an answer.  The other guys in this particular office are pretty easy going and someone is either playing some hip-hop or Ethiopian music on their computer.

Today, John, a staff guy from Abyei came into the office urgently needing to send an e-mail to someone in Khartoum to clear up a finance issue.  I loaned him my computer and we started talking about how things have been going up his way recently since last months fighting.

In the middle of May, BBC and the other major newswires had reported a major three-day clash in the contested area around Abyei town.  Abyei is a currently a special administrative area whose territorial status was to be determined by the Abyei Boundary Commission and a future referendum.  At the micro-level, there has been conflict between the local Dinka, nomadic Messeriya herdsem who claim grazing rights, and Khartoum backed Messeriya militias.  Political elites on all sides have mobilized and armed followers using ethnic appeals.  Abyei holds immense economic importance to both the Northern and Southern governments, with 2005-2007 oil revenues of USD 1.8 billion.  There are also elements within the National Congress Party and the Messeriya who may see violence as a tool to re-negotiate the Abyei Boundary Agreement or even scuttle the CPA.  Consequently, Abyei in recent months has threatened to become a national flash point for the return to war as the Sudanese Armed Forces, SPLA, and local militias were deployed to the area in increasing numbers.  Last month, things began breaking down in a big way.

John, it turns out, works for a Save the Children program in Abyei town and was there when the violence broke out.  It was my first time to hear from someone what actually had gone on during those days when the fighting was worst.  He heard gunfire late one night as SAF units and the local police had a skirmish.  The next day the SAF moved in with more troops and clashed with units of the SPLA who increasingly deployed more heavy weaponry.  On the 20th, SPLA forces attacked the SAF camp in Abyei town and began setting up checkpoints in the areas under their control.  The SPLA began checking people's ID's and whether they could speak the local language.  If a person was found to be Arab, he was in a world of deep shit.

A month later, the town is much quieter.  The governments of Khartoum and Southern Sudan agreed to deploy Joint Integrated Units to maintain peace in the area.  Both also reached an agreement to use international arbitration to settle the boundary dispute.  NGO's immediately resumed their services and projects.

Yet the town is nearly entirely destroyed.  Most buildings had been either shelled or burned to the ground, as were any vehicles and motorcycles left on the road.  Vacated NGO compounds were torched in the fighting or, more likely, by looters.  John told me that one of the few things left at the SC compound was the enormous safe with their cash.  It was too big to haul away and crude attempts to open it would have destroyed the cash inside.

The human cost though is staggering.  No one is really sure how many were killed during the fighting, but as a result, over 50,000 were displaced and the town still faces and emergency situation.  John tells me that their most pressing need is potable water.  A river runs near the town, but the water is unusable.  Many more bore-holes are needed. Fast.  Although the fighting has ended, a major disaster clearly remains.  Those worst affected now are sadly those who have the least to do with the conflict.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

From the marketplace I made my way towards the Nile, which borders one side of Juba (maybe it cuts through it-I'm not really sure).  In the area along the bank where I made my way to, there were a few Kenyan bars and guesthouses.  Although I saw a bridge upriver where you can cross, most parts of the bank that I could find were all fenced in with
 chain-link.



















From the other side of the fence I sat and drank a Stoney ginger beer from the Kenyan bar and watched two Chinese guys fishing for Tilapia.  The bar was playing a mix of African reggae and American songs from the 70's.  For a moment I felt pretty absurd sitting in the shade and watching the slow lazy river, sipping a soda, and listen
ing to Willie Nelson.  Hell, I've never even listened to Willie Nelson in the states.

From the Kenyan bar, immediately I found myself confronted by a serious juxtaposition.  I could still hear the pulsing reggae music behind me but in a field sitting outside the gate, some old Armored Personnel Carriers from the war were sitting abandoned and rusting in a nearby field.  I took a few quick photos despite knowing that such things could land me in a bit of trouble (no more, I promise).  

Walking further down the road, the side of the road was littered with more and more derelict APC's that seemed like they hadn't been touched for at least a decade.  In between their old metal corpses, rows of wooden houses and thatch roofed tukuls stretched from the road into the field next to it.  Families went about their business.  I found myself stopped for a moment when, wedged between two of the houses was a broken-down rusted tank with some kids sitting on the destroyed turret.  I could still hear some old 1970's country music coming from the river.























Juba's a funny city.  On the one hand it as changed radically in the past few years.  Its population has swelled, roads have been put in, the airport is bigger, and at night you can visit the city's new hotels and dance clubs.  Security in the city is pretty calm and there is no heavy military presence in many of the public areas.  Even compared to Nairobi, soldiers and armed police are scarce.  Yet sometimes you find relics of a time that was really not that long ago.  I find myself reminded that the CPA is only three years old.

Even when we try to forget, abandon, and move on from the memories of war, sometimes they just continue to sit, staring at you silently from the side of the road.




Juba Marketplace

Lately, I’ve been trying to get away from the compound to walk around Juba. Yesterday, I managed to find my way to the Juba marketplace, which was only about a 15 or 20-minute walk away. I really miss the throng and frenzied activity of markets in Cambodia and Malaysia. The one in Juba is a bit smaller, but certainly does not disappoint.

The market itself is divided into ethnic enclaves—Sudanese, Kenyan, Ugandan, and others. Over the random music blaring from many of the stalls, you can hear a chattering of Swahili, Juba Arabic, and many other local languages.

Along the main road that cuts through the market separating the upper third from the rest, there are kiosks hawking sodas, fruit, and used clothing called Mutambo. There were a lot of people stopping into small stalls, “saloons,” to have their hair cut or braided. If you duck off of the main road and into the narrow maze of stalls, you have to push your way through a bustling vegetable market where you can buy leafy greens, several types of bananas, as well as relatively fresh meat. A loaf of bread costs about 10 Sudanese pounds (about 5 dollars). Juba really is one of the most expensive cities in Africa with a rapidly growing civil service and heavy NGO presence that causes the demand for most goods to skyrocket. Given the Southern Sudanese economy’s post-conflict lack of industry and poor infrastructure, a lot of the goods, and particularly produce must be imported from Uganda.

Pushing deeper into the market, there are larger buildings where old gas powered machines crush grains and seeds into a fine powder. There were also several shops where five or six men stripped were sitting and stripping old used tires and sewing them into black rubber sandals.

People of all types were crowding the narrow passageways between stalls, although Westerners were conspicuously absent. Juba, in general does not have much of a visible military presence. However, at the market, there were Toyota trucks with the backs filled with heavily armed SPLA soldiers patrolling the main street. In greater number however, were the soldiers perusing through stalls, buying goods, and chatting with women who eagerly tried to hawk them whatever it was that they had to sell.

I didn’t take any pictures so as to avoid being a jerk to everyone there, but I did enjoy just walking around and chatting with people. Juba Arabic is not so similar to Egyptian. Combined with a lack of English, communication is quite a challenge.

I did manage to take a short video from inside the vegetable market, but given that the shared satellite Internet is usually far slower than dail-up, I doubt that I can get it uploaded anytime soon.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

SC Alliance Kickoff Ceremony

This morning we had a kickoff party at the compound to celebrate the merging of operations between Save the Children US, UK, and Sweden.  The three organizations have operations in 8 of the 10 districts in Southern Sudan with not too much program overlap.  Beginning today, they will operate from the same compound and pool resources and programs to improve cost efficiency and improve communication.

There were a few government officials as well as the country directors for different NGO's and UN agency's in attendance.  From right to left: Country Director for Save the Children Sweden, Representative for the Minister of Gender, Social Welfare, and Religion, and the Minister of War Heroes.













The staff and invited guests listen to speeches and discussion of program areas:














Together, the new partnership, called Save the Children in Southern Sudan, will have 429 staff and operate programs in education, early childhood development, health, water and sanitation, child protection, and thedemobilization and reintegration of child soldiers.  

Mattito Watson, Country Director for SC US gives a speech before cutting the ribbon:













After the ribbon is cut.  From right to left: Country Director UNICEF Sudan, Mattito Watson Country Director SC US, Country Director SC Sweden, representative for the GOSS Minister of Gender, Social Welfare, and Religion:













Cake!















I will try to get some photos of Juba up but I will link them off of my Flickr page to avoid uploading twice.  The satellite internet is pretty sketchy and photos take about 20 minutes to upload.  I'll upload them at night so as not to eat up all of the limited bandwidth.   


Still in Jubtown

There were some logistical problems with the cargo flight that I was planning on taking to get up to Pagak today.  It looks like I will be in Juba for a few more days unless something opens up.  Today there is a ceremony with SC UK and SC Sweden and some other NGO/UN officials.  The Nairobi office that had previously administered much of the Sudan program has now closed down and the Juba office will be the base for SC's Sudan operations.  I'll let you know how things go today.  

Friday, June 20, 2008

Made it to Juba

At the end of my first week in Nairobi, I finally got my luggage situation all sorted out.  Once the call came in that they had found some luggage that may or may not have been mine, I didn't really care--I was just glad to talk to somebody who didn't keep blowing smoke up my ass and telling me to be patient and that this was all a process.  After getting cleared by security and talking with the baggage guys for a while, I found both of my backpacks under a pile of suitcases pretty much in the same condition I had sent them.  Every night I kept imagining them wandering around Nigeria somewhere and had pretty much given up hope that they would be found.  Not too bad.  I celebrated by eating three lunches.  Justice baby!  

I took a ten o'clock flight from Nairobi to Juba, Sudan, which lasted about an hour.  After touching down at the airport and stepping out on the tarmac, I was a bit taken back by the sudden change in weather.  I had gotten used to the nice cool air in Kenya and forgot what it was like to like in a hot humid hell.  Today actually was just fine, but I had apparently gotten spoiled in Nairobi.  Juba airport is not so big.  Mostly its just a huge runway with a large building to the one side.  Two huge white UN cargo planes were taking off and several of the white UN cargo choppers were sitting in the grass.  Walking inside, I was greeted by a sign from an oil company welcoming me to Juba and Southern Sudan--"Our Country, Our Land, Our Oil, Our Liberty."  

Juba is a huge city.  More in size than in population.  The dusty streets are filled with white Land Rovers as well as teenagers on motorcycles.  The Save the Children compound was only about a 15 minute ride by Land Rover from the Airport.  The Country office is composed of a couple of small buildings surrounded by a brown wall and a gate.  There are about 20 staff and everybody has been very friendly.  Juba is a safe city--one of the safest in Africa.  Sometimes though, people do break in to the NGO compounds looking for anything of value.  Late last night, the SC compound was hit by a small group who beat up the guard and wrecked the safe.  

The guesthouse is just a short walk down the street.  I'll head over there once the generator cuts off at 7 (in about 20 minutes).  I'm excited to head out to Pagak tomorrow.  It hasn't rained for about a week so the ground out there should have dried up enough to walk around without it becoming a mud bath.  

Thanks everyone for all of your help and support this past week.  Even without having any of my stuff, I felt great just knowing that I have such a good group of friends.    

My next update should be from Pagak.  One of these day's I'll try to get some pictures up.  

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Headed to the airport...

...to follow up on a call that some bags may have arrived.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Plan B

I have a suspicion that my luggage is probably gone. The past few day's I've just been hanging around the hotel while both Kenya Airways and Delta keep dicking me around. To save money, I've bought a bunch of bananas from the market and have been eating those for lunch and dinner. Come to think of it, I've only eaten lunch or dinner once since I've arrived. F that. Today I decided to try and find a way of getting some cash wired to me so I can re-outfit myself and get up to the field site. Nairobi is fine except that fighting with the airlines everyday and making no progress is like being in purgatory that costs alot of money. Late at night is somewhat depressing knowing that the next day is going to just be more of the same. I keep having some hope that my luggage will show up but deep down I know its likely having a new life somewhere in Nigeria. I need to accept it and just move on. The most difficult thing has been coming to terms with the fact that the documentary I've been planning is no no more. I have my video camera and a few tapes, but my charger and batteries are all MIA. I think its begining to finally sink in and I'm ready to get on with things. My new plan is to try to keep moving forward and hopefully keep getting stranded closer and closer to Pagak.

Nairobi is an expensive city. Mostly since I'm a total noob and don't really know where anything is outside my immediate surroundings. In the last few days I think I've located everything that I need--power cord for . Except the only underwear I can find is designer underwear at 40 bucks a pair. Again, F that. Seriously, I think its time to go commando in the jungle. Ironically, the only place I can find to buy clothes is a hip hop store and a Woolworths. I think once I get some cash I'm going to show up in the field all gangstered out.

I'm working out a plan to get up to the compound in Juba on Friday so I can finally start buying new equipment today. Now that I have a better idea of the money situation, I think I will treat myself by eating dinner tonight. Hell yeah!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Stuck In Nairobi--Time for a Plan B

At the begining of this week, I was back in the U.S. and Sudan was one of the furthest things from my mind. Today is my third day in Nairobi. I left the U.S. a few days ago on my way to Sudan via the sweet Atlanta to Lagos, Nigeria air route. Problem is, my luggage was apparently n0t notified of the transfer at Lagos and may be wandering around somewhere in West Africa. Which is cool. Except that I'm now stuck in Nairobi until I can get this sorted out.

Luckily I still have my carry-on bag, which not so luckily only contains a video camera with no batteries, a pair of socks but no shoes, and a few hygene supplies. I missed my flight to Pagak, Sudan but have had a few days to catch up with myself after a crazy few months and a 21 hour flight that at one point had me rushing around the Lagos airport with a Nigerian soldier while airport staff played Elvis's "Love Me Tender" on repeat for two hours over the PA system.

I filed a lost baggage report with Kenya Airways, although unfortunately they have no record of receiving my baggage. Delta conveniently only has an e-mail contact address for questions and concerns, so it seems incumbent upon me to start working up a contingency plan for getting to Pagak with all the needed supplies.

I figured 'Contingency Plan' is an appropriate name for this blog. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have to go with the flow for the next few months while I am in East Africa. Lesson 1: Plans are great, but need to be flexible. Super flexible. Having a bit of extra cash is helpful too.

Hopefully, the next time I post I will have more positive news. One way or another, I'll keep you updated. Welcome to Africa.