Bows and Arrows

Today, was another day of troop buildup around town.  I knew when I was leaving the hotel, things were less stable again due to the hotel being guarded with military again.  The past two days I haven’t seen a gun anywhere, again today they are everywhere.  This is the lack of stability people of the South Sudan live with everyday.  Citizens are on the edge all the time.  

I talked our drive into taking a back way to our job location to avoid the congestion that was ensuing on the streets.  He took us down narrow, bumpy single lane dirt roads in some very out of the way neighborhoods, but in the end we avoided the bulk of the traffic.  

The troops were dressed in a different uniform than the deployment a few days ago.  These guys appeared to be less disciplined, dirty and a lot less interested in harassing people.  They appeared to be going door to door, business to business and searching for something.  

On the way home from work I witnessed a number of locals being brought out of a business under gun point.  The military brass was holding in their hands some very simple hunting bow’s and handmade arrows.  I guess with the political changes happening the government wants to be sure that they are secure and a new rebellion is not going to happen.  

Out to Lunch

Today I had a fairly light work day again.  A few co-workers and I decided to head for a mid-day lunch.  We went to the DaVinci Restaurant on the banks of the White Nile River.  The restaurant is open air and is under a canopy of old growth mango trees.  We sat with this beautiful vista of the Nile rushing by, the bridge heading out of town, mud huts with a backdrop of mountains off in the distance.

The food was extraordinary.  I don’t believe I could have had a better meal in North America.  I had a vegetable, calamari stir-fry that was amazing!  The prices at this restaurant were very high, but they were still half of what you would pay at a comparable North American restaurant of this caliber.  Plus you could never get a view and atmosphere like that at home!!

On the way out of DaVinci’s I got talking to a local man who does fishing charters on the Nile and would take us out for some Nile perch fishing.  These are not like the perch at home, they are huge with big teeth!!  It looks like it would be a lot of fun and a few of us are going to try to fit this into a day off.

My adventurous coworker and I decided to walk home from DaVinci’s and the other two went with the driver home.  The walk was approximately 20 minutes, through an area where people live in mud huts with grass roofs.  The Government of South Sudan (GOSS) is knocking down many of these tradition settlements around Juba.  They are claiming these settlements are on government land and many of these people are the ones that are hoarding weapons and causing crime.  To me they looked extremely impoverished.  When a person is put into the position of survival for themselves and family they do what they have to.  I know I would!  So instead of helping these settlements of families, the government shows up with no notice and bulldozes these parts of town for new development.  Really sad they are loosing tradition and making people homeless for the sake of development.

As we got closer to our office, we came across a older woman with a stick.  Obviously high on some type of drug and "out to lunch".  I have seen here (in Sudan) and in Uganda what I think is opium that street vendors sell in pods that are dried up.  It is chewed and the person is constantly spitting all over the place.  Most often this is done right out in public.  Back to the old woman with the stick.  She did not want us whites walking through her neighborhood.  We could see that right away, so we crossed the road and kept walking.  She yelled many obscenities in Arabic. We kept walking.  Next thing I know she smacked me in butt with the stick, I turn around a little ticked off and she was already gone!  We had a good laugh about that incident and went back to work.

Happy 4th of July! Happy Independence Day!

I have been amazed the admiration people in at least Juba, Kompalia and Entebbe have for President Obama.  I don't know why but I just assumed this part of the world would hate the USA and anything attached to it.  I am constantly spotting t-shirts with Obama's picture on it.  Photos are all over the place of him and his wife.  Girls wear jeans with OBAMA written on their butts.  I have asked a few of our drivers about what they think of President Obama and the USA, all of them have been very clear they admire the man.  Previous presidents were not liked at all.  They have all said, it is impressive to see a black man as the president of the worlds most powerful nation.

As Southern Sudan approaches Independence Day on July 9th I hope that this country can find its place in the world.  I would hate to see it loose it's culture or go back into civil war.  There are going to be major growing pains to establish a new country, develop infrastructure, education, healthcare, employment but I hope the citizens are patient.

Out for a walk on the streets.

Today is our day off.  I feel like I have been on holidays since I got here!  I’m sure I’ll have busy times coming.  I finally slept a full night.  Since departing Canada, five days ago, I slept a total of 12 hours.  While I didn’t feel over tired, I knew lack of rest was catching up to me.  

After rolling out of bed late this morning (930 am), I showered, shaved and got dressed.  I walked over to the office to quickly check in and fill my water bottle up.  The heat today is horrendous!  My guess on the temperature is somewhere around the high 30’C range and I would bet by afternoon it will be easily 40’C!

Before it got to hot I decide to go for a walk on the streets.  This is something I have tried to do everywhere I have travelled and is the best way to really see the area.  Since I don’t really know where I am, I just started to walk down the street which I was staying.  

First thing, streets in Juba are not paved for the most part, only a handful are.  The dirt roads are littered with garbage that has been ground right in, there are puddles of water even though it has not rained for days.  There is no sewage system and homes will have a pipe out the side wall that runs into the street.  So don’t step in the wet areas!!.  Traffic drives on the right side of the road in this country, but it doesn’t matter, while dodging mounds of dirt, huge rocks, people, dogs, garbage, sewage, chunks of metal, or constant potholes the passing vehicles end up snaking their way all over the place.  

As I make my way further from my hotel, I see many roadside shacks, some are business, and some are homes.  Many have been made out of tin or other junk they can salvage.  I do get stares as I walk around.  I don’t think they see many white people walking around this part of town.  But saying that, nobody bothers me and some even greet me saying “Good Morning”.  I continue to walk and end up at a local market.  There are many strange fruits and vegetables.  Again with the chaos! People are reaching, pushing, haggling, vehicles are honking, police are ticketing vehicles, motorcycles (boda boda) are ripping around.  This is truly where local trade happens.  It is interesting to see where locals go to get their food.  Yesterday I went to an expat grocery store that reminded me of a general store in Northern Ontario to shop.  I could get most things I get at home.  The people in the market have a much different selection!  I watched a guy trade some identifiable fruit for some goats.  Now he had to get them home.  Who wants to put goats in your van?  So instead he lifted them up to the roof rack and tied them on.  I watched the van drive off with two goats baahing away.  There was a lot of sugar cane, and charcoal for sale also. 

I kept walking and I end up at the port on the Nile River.  There, barges were being off loaded of sacks of grain, building supplies, animals, and piles of fruit.  

As I kept walking, I start to realize I might be a little lost.  I am starting to get very heat exhausted but am determined to not have to call our driver to come and pick me up in a strange part of town!  I finally cross something that looked familiar from earlier in the walk and find my way back to the hotel drenched in sweet.  I hand the security guard of the hotel the bottle of water I had.  He looked hotter than I did.  He gives me a huge smile and thanks me over and over.  I run up to the air-conditioned surrounding of my hotel to have another shower and rest.

The Local Market and a New Appreciation for Canada Day.

This morning, a co-worker and I went to a local market.  My co-worker has a huge amount of experience on this continent and believes in shopping locally as much as possible rather than supporting the “western style” grocery stores that are owned by out of country interests.  The market that I had previously found during my walks, was only the face of this massive open air shopping mall.  We toured deep into the narrow maze of shops and stands.  There were shops that sold shoes, clothes , electronics, tacky novelties, and food of all types.  The floor was dirt and the roof was a laberant of tarps put together to cover the merchandise from the rain or sun.  

The clothing stores sold “western style” clothing that appeared and felt to be good quality.  A person could also purchase traditional tribal and islamic garb.  If nothing on the racks suited or fit you, tailors were sewing together outfits.

The shoe section would drive my wife nuts!  Every style of shoes imaginable, from athletic to hiking boots to formal ladies shoes to fashionable dress shoes.  Prices were about 1/4 of what we would pay in Canada for the same.  Again, you could even get shoes custom made for less than we would pay for the comparable.

What fascinated me the most was the food section.  Talking about a overload on the scenes!  The smells were anywhere from lovely to putrid!  My co-worker (who frequently buys his food here) showed me what I could eat and what to stay away from.  I must admit, there where very few fruits I had ever seen before or for that matter heard of.  Since I am staying in a hotel room and can’t cook for another week, I refrained from buying much, besides bananas.  Surprisingly, the shop owners didn’t raise their prices just because we were weren’t locals.

As each day passes, I feel a little more comfortable being the minority.  I have learned a little bit of Arabic and can sense when I should continue to walk!


One last thing, HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!!  Canada is 144 years old!!   I am presently in a country that is going to celebrate it's day of birth in 9 days and Canada day this year has a lot more meaning.  Even though we are over taxed, live in a cold climate, have perpetual problems with our government, we are truly very lucky to live in such a healthy, clean and prosperous place.

Even the Strange isn't so Strange After a While!

It is amazing how acclimatized to abnormal situations a human can become.  I have been in Africa for 6 days now.  As everyday passes, I feel like this way of life is more and more normal.  A few days ago, I would walk out the front door and feel like I was in a totally foreign land.  That feeling has dissipated and I have noticed I am less surprised and shocked by things I see and experience. 

For example cattle grazing freely around an international airport.  They walked across the ramp and were heading toward the runway the last I saw them.  No body seemed worried even though large aircraft are constantly landing and taking off.  How did they get into a secure international airport?  Well the 8 foot fence with razor wire on top to keep bad people and animals off the field has numerous holes cut in it. The locals cut the holes to allow for quicker transit from one side of the field to the other rather than walking a couple miles around the field.  

Another example, the ability of locals to be able to cut in line and act like nothing is wrong with it.  While in the bank today, I witnessed some of the smoothest line cutters I have ever encountered.  It at least it speeds up the hour long wait in line planning how to put the block on these pesky people!

The Government Of South Sudan (GOSS) is trying to clean up Juba.  One of their campaigns is to put out garbage/recycling stations up along the main streets of town.  It is comical to see a garbage, paper, glass, plastic can on the sidewalk with mounds of garbage everywhere and not a thing in the bags.  

It rained last night.  A rain in Canada, typically cleans the streets and sidewalks up.  In Juba, it means everything gets nasty muddy!!!  It also makes many of the dirt streets smell like a garbage dump due to the sewage in the potholes and rotting food in the ditches.

Early this morning, I awoke to scratching on my window.  I am on the second floor and thought it might be a bird, but when I opened the curtains I scared the crap out of myself.  There staring back at me was a monkey standing on the air conditioner unit.  I leaped for my camera, but was to slow to catch the moment!

You can see a lot on a 5 Minute Walk!

Today on my 5 minute walk to work at 700am I was faced with a army with AK47’s that were deployed on the streets.  I minded my own business, acknowledged the odd guy who looked friendly and made it to work.  As we went about our job, we noticed these guys were all over town.  The tended to leave us alone, but some people were on the side of the road getting searched and patted down.  Many of these solders, while intimidating (due to being well armed) were friendly and looked in their mid-teens.  Surprisingly they appear to be well equipped, with nice crisp uniforms, and new ruck sacks (US origin).  I made it home around lunch and did some work in my room for a few hours.  I then had to head back to the office.  I see these same kids walking by me laughing, guns slinged casually over their shoulder and hats off.  What they were doing, I don’t know.  But this type of thing is apparently common in this part of Africa.

One thing I have gotten use to is seeing guns, lots and lots of guns.  They are everywhere.  They are on the streets, airport, restaurants, hotels, grocery store, bank, and probably even churches (if I were ever to venture into one).  Guns can be used for things other than killing.  I have seen guys scratch the middle of their back (you know that area you can't reach), hold their smoke in the barrel, open a pop bottle, and even lift the skirt of a passing girl (he obviously knew her).

This evening I went to an Ethiopian restaurant with a coworker.  The two of us had a Ethiopian dish, that was way to big to eat and two soda’s each for approximately $12USD.  Walking home I started to notice the hundreds of dogs on the road.  They are everywhere.  Some have collars on, but many are just wild on the streets.  Puppies are curled up sleeping in ditches, under cars, by trees and sometimes in the middle of the road (and yes it was sleeping and not road kill!).

I’m starting to get onto some of the local dialect.  An outsider like me has to talk very broken and clearly.  Most of Juba is still Arabic, local dialect or a tribal dialect and not english.  The people that can speak clear english usually are from countries like Uganda, Kenya or some other old British colony.  Many of the staff in restaurants, hotels or grocery stores are imports to serve the expats and english speaking.  Its 7pm and the sun just set.  The bars and restaurants are hopping, but by 11pm curfew comes into effect until 7am and everything goes quiet.