Visit to the Maiwut Health Clinic

Today I went with Bernhard to visit the Maiwut public health clinic and meet with local community health mobilizer and document the facilities (read: take a picture of a non-functioning bore hole).  After the last intern had an unfortunate accidental photographic run in with the SPLA, we've been put under greater scrutiny and are subject to more Draconian regulation by the local Payam administrators.  

As part of the new rules that we hammered out when I met them the other day, we first stopped by their small office in the middle of town to ask one of them to accompany us to make sure no inappropriate photographs were taken.  The subordinate of the two administrators, a quiet Nuer guy, jumped into the back of the Land Cruiser and we raced off to Maiwut to head off the rain clouds in the distance.  Maiwut is about 22 kilometers from Pagak but on a mud "road" it takes just over an hour to get there.  

Along the way we stopped to pick up a few people who needed to get go in the direction we were headed.  This included a couple of old Sudanese ladies, one of whom was drunk and looked like she was ready to puke as car tossed people about on the bumpy road.  We swerved through the bush and avoided the muddy areas where cars usually get stuck.  As we passed people on the path, most got out of the way but a few just sort of stand there staring at the car.  One guy walking a defunct dirt bike stopped not far enough to the side of the road and we hit a real wet spot and slid into his bike.   About an hour later (and a few apologies to passerby later), the green tangle of grass, trees, and shrub began to thin out.  A lot of the small trees now had been chopped a few feet up from their base and I knew we were almost there.  We gave our hitch hikers the boot and pulled into the clinic.  

I met with Gach, the community health volunteer at the clinic and got a quick tour.  Bernhard and I went out behind the clinic to get a few pictures of the bore hole that had been recently drilled for water.  

Out in front of the clinic was the only public awareness sign in the county.  I went up to it to get a closer look and was pretty amazed.

We didn't really have much time for anything more than introductions as the storm clouds that had been looming earlier were no longer just on the horizon and the sky began to open up.  We tore off home to get through the bad spots before the rain would make it impassable.  Impassable means sleeping in the bush for the night or ditching the car and walking home.  The ride that was merely bumpy before, took on a whole new dimension as the dirt path now became just a guideline for the direction to head.  We veered and skidded through the tall grass and through brush, with the car getting some serious air time.  At times, the LandCruiser couldn't get through the mud and needed some good old fashioned pushing.

Most of the time, we all just had to hang on as the driver did his best to power through the mud but avoid sliding off into the bush.  For the most part he was pretty successful.  At one point, though we fishtailled a little too far and the back of the car slid into a tree.  

As we approached Pagak again, more or less in one piece, the rain started to let up and the last leg of the road was not all that muddy.  Unfortunately, the drive had taken its toll on one of the locals riding in the back and she retched all over the back seat of the Land Cruiser.  And possibly all over the administrator who had insisted on monitoring my picture-taking.  At least that's what I was secretly hoping from the seat in front of him.  

Pagak itself was dry.  The storm had left it mostly untouched and we arrived in a muddy beat up LandCruiser covered in branches and leaves that looked entirely out of place considering the circumstances.  I was a bit dizzy by the time I stepped out of the car, and like a late-night drunk, sort of stumbled back and forth until I reached my room and the relative safety of my bed.