South Sudan Journal, Parts 28 (of 29)

Message #28 August 29, 2004
Hello Mom and Dad,
It is Sunday afternoon, the sun is finally going down, giving us some relief. The days have been hot lately. It still is the rainy season, so things are cooler than before, but still the temperatures hit 40 degrees between the cooling rains.
Today was a nice day, Sundays usually are. The week was busy, so this is well appreciated. Short sum of recent events over the last month. We finally got the go-ahead to build in Pieri. Pieri will be the new health centre in Bieh State, Eastern Upper Nile. Exciting stuff for a one horse town. Pieri is a small dot a days walk south of Waat, which is a small dot 5 days walk south of Malakal, which is a small dot many more days walk south of Kartoum, still in the middle of nowhere though. Pieri is a good place to be though. Since being here, the whole team has slept very well, and there is no tension between clans like in Lankien.
There are also big needs here too. In Lankien, we just ran a Kala Azar and TB clinic, but here we also run a Basic Health Care Clinic (BHCC), since there are no other NGOs doing that (and MSF does Basic Health Care, quite well.) So, we have many TB patients from Lankien, plus some other admissions from here (total 140 this week), about 45 KA patients, and some Inpatients in the BHCC (around 40). The place looks like a small refugee camp. We have around 20 large plastic or canvas shelters (approx 14ft x 12ft, 5mx4m) scattered around town (TB clinic here, KA there, and BHCC over in the back.) Whenever a pilot gets here who hasn't been here in a while, they ask, "Is this Pieri? I don't remember the tents."
With the go-ahead to build, we have been busy designing a new clinic area, with all the bells and whistles, (like fire-breaks, large storerooms, etc). I have had a good time with that, but a little sad to miss out in the building of it. It will take 6 months to get it all done, so I feel now is as good a time to leave as any. All the planning exercises in some courses I did, are coming to use. Latrines here, waterpoints there, centralized stores, cool pharmacy, etc. Match with that the random supply of materials and labour it becomes a little tricky, but enjoyable. Grass is only ready for roofs in a couple of months, but the water may be too high to pass at that time to collect wood.
Labour is very hard to get right now, without food. People here are the hungriest I have seen yet. Many malnourished people coming to the clinic. Also, with the sharing culture here, it is hard to feed patients, if they share their food with their family. Fortunately, WFP is on ground now, and they are assisting us in applying for different types of foods. We can get food to assist in the building of the clinic (called their, "Food for Work Program." Also, they realize that the patients will share their food, so they want to give caretaker portions too, brilliant! In the BHCC, we are feeding some people, but if the harvest holds off any longer, we may need to do a proper feeding program, (like in Lankien a year ago.)
The harvest is coming, coming, coming, soon, but coming doesn't taste as good as... food. The rains held off for a few weeks in late July, just after people planted their crops. It was feared that this would kill the seeds. We see some crops growing now, but people say the harvest will be low. These people aren't eating much at all.
My time here is coming to a close. So far, no replacement has been identified for me , but we are making plans to cover off my duties, give or take a little. It is hard to put down on paper a good practical handover. There is so much I had a hard time learning, but it is riddled with details and may not apply. Thinking of specifics, that is no good. For instance, this is the 6th office I've been working in over the last year. I won't waste paper mentioning details about the office. I am training some key staff that I have just hired, using the same lessons I was using 10 or 11 months ago. "No, you see, when you carry the 1, you have to add it to the numbers of the next column. That '1' is actually a grouping of 10..." We just hired a stores manager. This is the 4th, person in that position I've trained.
I'm starting to look back, since there is little time left here ahead of me. Some plans have me heading out of here on the 5th of September, a mere 7 days! What would you do if you had 7 days left somewhere? I'm out of ideas here, so I'm just doing what I've done before. Today though, I decided to go shopping!
Shopping in Pieri, isn't that complicated. I wanted to get two things. One is a typical bead that people have on strings around their neck. Even little kids have them. I thought with a lack of other memorabilia, this would represent one year in South Sudan. The other, is a search for something to purchase here and bring home, something locally made. There is a market, but it is often easier just to trade with a person you see with the thing you want. So, I took with me two ink pens, a box of matches, and if that didn't fetch my purchases, 2 US dollars. Mary joined me for the walk/adventure.
We started heading the opposite direction than the market, to view the airstrip. It was wet yesterday, and hopefully this sun would dry it for tomorrow's flight. Sure enough, a cluster of kids joined us for the walk. "Hello Michael, I see you have forgotten your pants again today." I said to a little boy that wears either a top or a bottom, but never both. (I think in the mornings he and a brother decide who gets which piece for the day.) "Hello E-Stiff, give me my pen!" "Good to see you too Michael. Is it going to rain?" I replied as I pointed to the growing clouds in the south. Recently the rains have been coming in the afternoon. The sky in the south get darker and darker after a hot day, then a wind draws up as the sky darkens, then the rain opens up and everything gets real wet.
Today, it was hot, clouds were building. Over the course of half an hour, I witnessed the same cloud bubble up thousands of feet into the sky, to level off like a mushroom at the same alttitude, then shadow itself. I heard thunder, and I repeated my question to Michael, this time in simple Nuer words, "Rain coming?" (Niel beben?) "Ayh." His reply ("No.") "But there is lots of water over there." "It won't rain!" I don't know how a 6 year old boy knows.
We walked the airstrip, still some water, but mostly dry; we can call the plane in, in this condition. At the other end of the airstrip, we altered course and went through the TB compound. It isn't really a compound yet, but rather an area marked by some sticks, but it is home to 140 people, and that in itself makes it a compound, I think. I like the TB patients. I have grown to know some of them, not well, but good enough to enjoy their company.
(Mary just walked into the office. She and Marjan were just busy delivering a baby boy. Mom and child well. Good moment. It is not always that good or simple.)
So, we walked around the compound and chatted a while, playing with the kids, (it's funny how kids chasing me takes on a new twist, if they are really, really dirty.) Last week I gave one of my T-shirts to an old man I like, who wanted to trade his very ripped shirt for mine. People asked me, "Why give it to him, he doesn't have too many more years." "Ah, simple, I like him, and didn't think he'd still be around these days. Besides, that's the biggest two toothed smile I've seen in a long time, that deserves it." As Mary and I walked around, another patient, with an equally ripped shirt asked to trade shirts. "Okay, once the plane to take me away lands, you can have my last T-shirt." He pulled at my shirt again. I frequently realise how bad my Nuer is, but I try anyway. I started counting off some days. In Nuer, there are great words for, tomorrow, next tomorrow, the after next tomorrow, and the day after the after next tomorrow. Also, if you put a "long" at the end of a word, it stressed, or the same as saying, "many" or "very" depending on context. So, I counted up to the day after the day after 5 next tomorrows plus some days, I would leave and give my T-shirt to him. We smiled and he laughed. I think I confused him enough for now, but in a week, he'll be back, I think.
He brought me to the big game of old men. This is a game played in the ground, where there are four rows of 13 small shallow holes in the ground. Two small dried clay beads start in each hole. There is grabbing and laying out the beads in different ways, to gain some from the other side. Two people play against each other, and days can be spent at it. Someone shifted to share a goatskin on the ground, so I sat for a while. The usual greetings passed around, and comments on the weather. Even though we could see the rain falling in the distance, these men confirmed that rain would not be coming to us. And the kids still seem to get facinated by my leg hair and generally just play with my shirt, watch, whatever they can. We sat and talked a little. Not too much, or too complicated. Occassionally, someone would ask me to make a move, and I could hear talking, "I wonder what the Kawai will do?" So, I think a little, and make a move on the game, counting as they do, (they still laugh at my pronunciations) then to their great amusement, I roughly tell the opponent in a rude, "Done, you go!" and the crowd breaks into a big laugh. Sometimes someone asks me something, and my Nuer Fluency Bluff is called. To counter, I ryhme off something in Spanish to equally confuse the ones that know a little English, and again we are laughing and watching the game.
I saw a man with a necklase of the beads I wanted. "Where can I get one of these?" I asked. "One small, come here." I tried in Nuer. He took it off, then put it around my neck and we went back to watching the game. This really is a sharing culture. I asked for something. He mis-understood my question, but gave what he thought I wanted, and that's it. I showed him more what I wanted, and he understood. He untied the necklase, and called someone to get a knife to cut one off. I grabbed my knife and then the bead was given to me. He then asked for my knife. He like it. "Ah, ur, um, ooo, how do I say this??? Can we share something else of mine, I really like my knife?" He gave back the knife, and we went back to watching the game.
A bird crapped on my shoulder, and the man next to me laughed. The bird continued his act, and hit him, and I laughed. We wipped off the good luck wishes from above, then went back to watching the game.
A man tells us something, then he proceeds to the village slaughter board. There was a cow slaughtered yesterday. We bought a wonderful cut for dinner last night. So, I guess this is the day-olds; just like Tim Horton's, not as good as the Every Day Fresh ones. We wondered for a look-see. Sure enough, not looking good, but worthy of a photo. Click.
We walked on to the market. When I say market, it is a loose term. It is a gathering of 6 small tukels in an area slightly higher than the surrounding, and thus dry. We again took off our sandles, waded through some water and arrived at the market. There were 30 people or so in total, about as busy as it gets. There really is only some clothes, some medicines, some sugar and salt, and a few small other things. But, I found something made of a WFP bag, and the negotiations started. "10 (dollars)" my adversary said. "I only have dinars," I replied, knowing I could win if there was math involved. "What is that in Dinars?" "This is going to be easy, eh." "How much?" "With some loose math, it is 400." "Make it 600." "Give me two." "Okay 400." "Gualong.”
We ventured to the far end of the market (10 meters or so from the near end) and off with the sandles and through some water to get to the BHCC. Passing through, the health worker on duty had a question for Mary, and the guard had a question for me. I finished with the guard's question, then wandered back to our home compound, passing patients waving from their lying down stance on the ground; big smiles. Passed some more of the community, passing greetings back and forth. There was a cluster of other men around a cloth, that is the dominos game. The man building our new latrine wanted to show me some things he did. "Looks good, not so many windows and the door has to be able to open." "I want to go, pay me." "Tomorrow we talk. It is Sunday." "Okay." Then big hello to Kouk the guard, and back home. Besides the airstrip, this was an adventure taking me only about 50 to 100 meters from our compound, but it is all through Pieri central. I will try to take an arial photo on my way out. Pieri, like Lankien, is a small place. Well, it is now later in the evening. The WFP team gave us some of the goat they bought today, fresh today. Sammy and Charlie cooked it up, and I must sample it. They make the best stews.
As I said, my time here is limited to a week or two more. After that, I want to get to a beach, then to London to see Joe before going to Amsterdam. I have been asked to attend a meeting of Logistic Coordinators (Logco) from around different countries. My Logco cannot attend, so he asked me to attend. Could give me some things to help me take a next step (after a long break at home.) So that is near the end of September, and after that home in early October!
Any curious photos people want before I leave?
Alright, I think that is all for now. Good night, I hope all is well with everyone. Lots of Love,
Steve