I got trapped in the bathroom. My first night in Kuajok, my new and more permanent posting, I lock myself in the bathroom. The shower tends to spray water everywhere and seeing as there is no shower curtain, I figured by closing the door I could keep the water from getting onto the floor in the room. The door wouldn’t stay closed and so I locked it to keep it closed. The lock got stuck, leaving me locked in the bathroom. I stay in a room alone and my neighbor is now in the capitol for meetings. There are no people within 20ft of my room. So I tried and tried and couldn’t get the lock open. I kicked and pulled and banged and pulled and the door wouldn’t budge. Then I broke the door handle and now had a double whammy to deal with in terms of my escape. After the handle broke off I figured that I would probably be stuck in the bathroom for the night and thus need to figure out where I would be sleeping. After about 30min of trying, I was hot and sweating again so I took another shower, since I’m already there might as well right? Finally, I was able to free myself after 40 min of being stuck(I wrapped my hand in my towel and was able to apply more pressure to the lock and it opened). If being trapped in the bathroom is any indication of what my next couple months here where will be like, then I need to readjust my expectations and practice a lot of patience. Being trapped in the bathroom made me realize that I need to be patient, take a step back, think about the problem and then act. Only after I took the 2nd shower and thought about how I could free myself was I able to. There are going to be moments of frustration (not getting the door open) that I will need to not act out of frustration; that a calm, more level headed person will be able to solve whatever problems may come. I am hoping that I can continue to take this approach as I continue my work here.
Kuajok…I am really in a whole new world. The World Food Program through the support of various government funding (U.S included) operates humanitarian aid flights. These flights are so that humanitarian aid workers can make it to the various postings for work when other routes may be more difficult or dangerous. Wednesday morning I boarded a plane from Juba to Wau, the capitol of the state bordering Warrap (where Kuajok is located). They ask that you get to the airport 2 hours early, why I don’t know because the entire process took 30 min, leaving 1 1/2hours left to wait in an overcrowded, very hot sitting area. The sitting area was packed and so I had to stand in the back, I then realized that as flights leave seats become available and began to slowly, chair by chair, inch my way to the front where the comfy chairs were. Eventually we get on the baby plane and there are about 46 of us heading to different posts or trainings in this region. When we were landing I was surprised to see that the airport is not even tarmac, just red dirt, and at this point I realized that I have made it to rural South Sudan. I’m still trying to wrap my head around just where I am. It seems a bit surreal, this place although it does have some electricity, well only in places like WV or in the town, the rest is just one large, sparingly inhabited village. It took 1 ½ hours to drive from the airport to the WV compound. On the way we passed a few homes but mostly desolate land with burnt trees. I’m not exactly sure how impacted this area has been by the war, I do know that the war was present here because it is on the border of the north. I was told that in this area there are a lot of intertribal conflicts (not exactly where I am but near) and cattle raids (basically another group comes in and steals the cattle of another group causing destruction in the process).
Given the vicinity to the north, Arabic, next to the local language (Dinka is spoken by most) is spoken by the people here and English is rarely spoken unless a person has had the chance to learn it in a school that taught it. In the early 1990s the president shifted the language of instruction in schools to Arabic despite English being spoken in the south. Places that are closer to the border tend to have a stronger presence of Arabic then English. I have picked up a word in Arabic and a few in Dinka and hopeful that I will expand my vocabulary while I’m here. I don’t feel uncomfortable (with the exception of the heat. It’s supposed to be winter yet the temperature during the day teeters somewhere between 95-110 degrees). The majority of the people in this area are Christian or other. There are Muslims but because of the Christian influence, putting up a mosque in this area is strongly discouraged. People have been quite friendly and I think most assume (after a few have told me) that I’m Ethiopian and that is why I do not know the language but look the way I do.
Kuajok is going to be an interesting and challenging context to work in. This state (Warrap; Kuajok is the capitol) is the most food insecure, has the highest rates of malnutrition, and has low human development indicators. This state borders Abyei, which is the oil rich portion of the country and what the focus is now in terms of it being a part of the north or south. The conflict that is present has influenced and decreased the amount of development here. The government of Warrap is now working on a law that states any organization working in Warrap must hire someone from the region unless there is no one available in the state that could do the job. WV is supporting this law and doing most of its hiring from within and because of this there is a need to train these staff in a way that is aligned with WV’s vision. This is where I come in. I briefed you before on my role here and now that I’m here I’m beginning to recognize some of the challenges that I will face.
Kuajok…I am really in a whole new world. The World Food Program through the support of various government funding (U.S included) operates humanitarian aid flights. These flights are so that humanitarian aid workers can make it to the various postings for work when other routes may be more difficult or dangerous. Wednesday morning I boarded a plane from Juba to Wau, the capitol of the state bordering Warrap (where Kuajok is located). They ask that you get to the airport 2 hours early, why I don’t know because the entire process took 30 min, leaving 1 1/2hours left to wait in an overcrowded, very hot sitting area. The sitting area was packed and so I had to stand in the back, I then realized that as flights leave seats become available and began to slowly, chair by chair, inch my way to the front where the comfy chairs were. Eventually we get on the baby plane and there are about 46 of us heading to different posts or trainings in this region. When we were landing I was surprised to see that the airport is not even tarmac, just red dirt, and at this point I realized that I have made it to rural South Sudan. I’m still trying to wrap my head around just where I am. It seems a bit surreal, this place although it does have some electricity, well only in places like WV or in the town, the rest is just one large, sparingly inhabited village. It took 1 ½ hours to drive from the airport to the WV compound. On the way we passed a few homes but mostly desolate land with burnt trees. I’m not exactly sure how impacted this area has been by the war, I do know that the war was present here because it is on the border of the north. I was told that in this area there are a lot of intertribal conflicts (not exactly where I am but near) and cattle raids (basically another group comes in and steals the cattle of another group causing destruction in the process).
Given the vicinity to the north, Arabic, next to the local language (Dinka is spoken by most) is spoken by the people here and English is rarely spoken unless a person has had the chance to learn it in a school that taught it. In the early 1990s the president shifted the language of instruction in schools to Arabic despite English being spoken in the south. Places that are closer to the border tend to have a stronger presence of Arabic then English. I have picked up a word in Arabic and a few in Dinka and hopeful that I will expand my vocabulary while I’m here. I don’t feel uncomfortable (with the exception of the heat. It’s supposed to be winter yet the temperature during the day teeters somewhere between 95-110 degrees). The majority of the people in this area are Christian or other. There are Muslims but because of the Christian influence, putting up a mosque in this area is strongly discouraged. People have been quite friendly and I think most assume (after a few have told me) that I’m Ethiopian and that is why I do not know the language but look the way I do.
Kuajok is going to be an interesting and challenging context to work in. This state (Warrap; Kuajok is the capitol) is the most food insecure, has the highest rates of malnutrition, and has low human development indicators. This state borders Abyei, which is the oil rich portion of the country and what the focus is now in terms of it being a part of the north or south. The conflict that is present has influenced and decreased the amount of development here. The government of Warrap is now working on a law that states any organization working in Warrap must hire someone from the region unless there is no one available in the state that could do the job. WV is supporting this law and doing most of its hiring from within and because of this there is a need to train these staff in a way that is aligned with WV’s vision. This is where I come in. I briefed you before on my role here and now that I’m here I’m beginning to recognize some of the challenges that I will face.
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