Finding our Feet

By Lindsay

Greetings from Juba! For UK dwellers, I believe the temperatures this week are far beyond what we are experiencing. As we enter rainy season, some are days are 'cool' hovering around 26°, breezy and with a nice shower in the morning. Further north into South Sudan, the rainy season brings a huge challenge as the seasonal deluges result in the Nile breaking its banks and flooding communities. Our teams change from using planes for transporting goods, to using boats and rafts since the planes cannot land. Cars give way to walking. A lot of Medair's work is hampered or put on hold for a few months until the hot, dry season kicks in. But enough about the weather!

I'm happy to report that Steve and I are both well and enjoying a phenomenal amount of carbohydrate. A few people have asked what our diet looks like, so some picks from the weekly menu:

9/10 Tuesday lunch - beans, rice, ugali (maize meal), cabbage and fresh watermelon (yum)

10/10 Wednesday dinner - beef stew, freshly made chapatti, rice, cabbage and fresh mango (yum)

3/10 Wednesday lunch - grilled goat meat (more bones than meat), ugali, green vegetables (stewed leaves), fried potatoes (ok) and pineapple (nice)

Goat day

We really DO appreciate having 2 meals per day Monday-Saturday provided by our wonderful cooks, even if one or 2 of the meals give way to egg on toast. We have a ready supply of food available to cook with (thank you Medair) and can buy extra bits if we want. There's a super-fun, huge market called Konyo Konyo which we can go to if we have someone with us to help us (it's a maze) and a handful of supermarkets with a slightly odd range of goods. Because nearly everything is imported into South Sudan, it can be pricey, but there's more than enough around to keep us happy. 

We went to a restaurant next to the River Nile last weekend for a little treat, and it was lovely seeing the river rush by, and to stray a bit from our normal weekly menu into a very good pizza. The highlight, for me was seeing a monkey casually wander past and go to a tap, turn it on and have a good drink. Didn't turn the tap off though - inconsiderate monkey! 

As for work, we are both still finding our feet. My role as Base Manager is proving to be a bit quiet at the moment, and I fear that I am missing something that will rear its head in 3 months! I am basically responsible for making sure the staff are ok (cooks, cleaners and guards), the building is working ok and that services are booked in for various equipment. Thankfully, my sidekick Oliver (Base Assistant) is brilliant at taking care of the day-to-day, and so I am left a bit more free to dream about how I can swap goat off the menu without being detected...  

Steve's role as the WASH Advisor has some really good elements, and still a bit of mystery around how to fulfil the mandate of overseeing various projects around the country. He visited one of our sites a few weeks ago up in Leer, and spent time with the WASH Project Manager there, and saw some of the things the team have been doing. The visit included a 14-15 km round trip on foot to see some water pumps - the road was too muddy for a car, so he got some good exercise in the blistering heat! In the next couple of weeks, he is off to our other 2 static sites: up in Renk, and a town called Pibor, weather-permitting. 

One of Medair's water pumps near Leer

It is beginning to sink in that we are a long way from home. It's now 7 weeks since we left, and while it is feeling quite normal, it is also massively different when I imagine life at 'home'. The main losses are in freedom of time and movement - we are quite limited in where we can go, and when we need to be back. We can't just go out for a stroll, or wander out for a drink somewhere. We are dependent on drivers taking us to places and picking us up, and abiding by the 8pm curfew. And while our room is perfectly fine, it is not the same as living in a home. And yet we have it pretty good compared to a lot of our colleagues who live locally, or colleagues who live out in the field at one of our static sites where life is far more challenging. So, lots to be thankful for, and a few moments of frustration. 

But we do have a nice roof...

We are grateful for you! Please do stay in touch - WhatsApp works well here using our UK numbers. Love to hear from you!

Lindsay & Steve

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