Welcome to the newly independent South Sudan!

Its official…I’m writing from the newly independent Republic of South Sudan! Being able to witness the liberation of a nation was amazing and one of the best experiences of my life. I arrived in Juba (the capital) a little over a week prior to independence, mostly to meet with some folks in our office and with our partner, partly for security, and a bit for my sanity (8 weeks in the field with no vegetables or fruit can take its toll eventually). Seeing the preparations firsthand, feeling the excitement and the anxiety of how things will turn out was exciting and rejuvenating. There was an increase in security in the capital to ensure nothing happened and that those that are traveling in (diplomats etc.) were secured. Our office put a ban on our movement and curfews were enforced but that was fine seeing as the whole city had a ban on movement for certain road and was enforcing a curfew. Throughout the day people were parading up and down the streets and it wasn’t any different that evening. It reminded me of the Chicago Bulls repeat of the 3-peat. The night before independence, I made my colleagues stay up until midnight in order to celebrate. It was like new years, we toasted to the newly independent republic and enjoyed with the others around.  The next day, some other coworkers and I went to the mausoleum where the independence ceremony was to take place (the raising of the flag and signing of constitution and some speeches). The place was filled with people, from everywhere. People were excited and happy to be able to witness this day and I was happy to be able to join. The ceremony was to begin at 10:20am but didn’t begin until almost 1:30pm (they said they were waiting on a few others to arrive). The energy among the crowd, despite the heat and the lack of water, was good. When the ceremony began and the flag was finally raised, the crowd broke out into a large cheer and continued to cheer for the following 20 or so minutes. We left before the end of the ceremony given the amount of time we have already been there and how hot, thirsty and tired we were. It was amazing to say the least and the way I have described this even doesn’t (I don’t think I can) accurately describe just how amazing it was to be here and to witness this. The environment the remainder of the weekend was quite quiet. I think between staying up all Friday night, celebrating all day and night Saturday people were exhausted. By the time Sunday came all was quiet and only a few people were out on the streets. Although independence is not going to rid this country of it’s problems, it is a good step in the right direction for the people here. There are huge hurdles ahead, especially since the border region is still undecided, but it appears that there will be a lot of support coming from all over the East Africa region and world to ensure that this new nation develops to its highest potential. Like the people of South Sudan, I am hopeful that despite the monumental task ahead, this country and the people here will be able to create an environment and country that is conducive to and supportive of the development of all.

Yesterday I flew to Tambura, Western Equatoria ( located in the southwestern portion of the country near Central African Republic) to conduct some trainings and to do an assessment of the education system here. The flight over was a challenge in itself seeing as I could reach out and touch the pilot. The plane was an 8-seater plus two seats for the pilots. I have never prayed so hard in my life. When we landed I wanted to jump off and kiss the ground. From where we landed in Yambio, it’s a 3 hour beautiful drive to Tambura. It is a whole different world from Kuajok for sure. Its green and cooler, there are more varieties of fruits around and you can see more densely populated areas as opposed to the scarcely populated areas of Kuajok. The living quarters are a bit different. There are rooms with cement walls and an bathroom except the bathroom is not hooked up to water. So I can bucket bath in the shower but still have to use a pit latrine. Since there’s no running water I go to a borehole to get my water. The borehole is about 30 yds from my room and a lot easier to pump. My colleagues were shocked to see that I was able to use the borehole and carry water on my head (a skill I mastered in Malawi). This area has been heavily affected by the conflict in DRC, the LRA (Lords Resistant Army) which is responsible for the unrest in the DRC, sporadically moves into this region, mostly to loot the areas in order to get supplies etc. The government of Sudan (this is prior independence) created a militia(well not a militia per se) called Arrow Boys. Basically, they armed young men in villages along the border to prevent the LRA from attacking and to provide security to their areas. This has helped in the reduction of LRA attacks but now you have folks armed up and down the border. There is not much of a presence of the conflict between the north and south (Sudan) here. In terms of development, this area reminds me of traveling up the lakeshore road in Malawi (except the road here is not paved and there is no lake). There are pockets of development and then areas untouched by outsiders. Areas along the southern region tend to be more developed than the northern area of the South Sudan because during the conflict it was difficult to get further north in the country so a lot of the government and NGO measures were focused along the southern border (so along the border region that is shared between South Sudan, CAR, DRC, Uganda and Kenya). When the government of Sudan (prior to independence) kicked out all aid organizations, most organizations would set up shop in one of the bordering countries and operate from there (driving in to South Sudan to implement). I was told by a colleague that it is secure and nice here and that they don’t worry about security issues as much.