Dear All,
You will probably see this email as sent sometime in the afternoon of the 11th. However, as I write it, it is around 10PM on the 10 th – the wireless internet in the camp I am at, is apparently down. And as you may imagine, parts for satellitebased broadband are not easy to come by when you are as out of the way as I am here, in the former Northern Sudanese garrison town, now de facto Southern Sudanese capital, of Juba.
Some of you haven't heard from me in too long. Some of you I said goodbye to less than 48 hours ago, when I left Denmark for my 7 week stint as office manager here. For those whom I haven't been in touch with for a while: I now work at supplying transport solutions to the Aid & Development market. Lots of 4x4's and off-road bikes. I've been with the company for nigh on 17 months now, and this is my 5 th and longest trip to Africa so far. Until the 30th of June I will be based in the Sudan, flying back and forth to Nairobi. My job is to carry on the work my colleague who arrived 6 months ago and left last week began: sell our products to the clients we have in the area, and to assist them with the logistics when, as inevitably happens, it all goes African…
I left Denmark at an hour of the morning on Tuesday so early that it surely violates some basic human right, after a mad dash to get everything in order upon being informed of my departure 8 days before the plane went "wheels up" from Copenhagen.
After a surprisingly relaxing flight from London to Nairobi ( the combination of not sleeping for 24 hours before departure, and a half-empty plane due to the rainy season going on in East Africa at the moment, helped things I think.) we – I am traveling with my boss for the first few weeks) arrived at around 9 pm. After spending less then 18 hours in Nairobi, just barely having time to get to our company flat and grab some sleep, we flew out to Juba in what must have been one of the oldest 737's still operating. I swear, wires dangling everywhere… But, as one of my co-passengers said to me: "At least I don't have to hitch rides with the World Food Programme flights any more" – indeed…
Upon arrival in Juba, we soon came to realize that since our last visit here, in August of 2005, much has happened. In 2005 Juba was only just beginning to feel the fact that some 4 billion Dollars had been donated to re-build North and South Sudan after 20-odd years of civil war. Today, the city is overrun by NGO's and UN organizations, vying to spend all that money, and develop what is currently a pretty desolate place.
Having checked into our lavish 3m x 3m pre-fab housing, we discovered the internet to be down. Furthermore, there having been a complete breakdown of company servers in Denmark on Monday, the office laptop which I had brought from there, was completely devoid of all information. After spending some time pondering this challenge (how to get in touch with your customers, when you don't have either names nor numbers?), and spending inordinate amounts of money calling Denmark, we finally worked out a solution. Hopping in our company vehicle, a crewcab pickup,white so as to blend in with the 600 UN vehicles in the region, we drove to another compound, narrowly avoiding several goats and locals, where we managed to secure an internet connection. I suspect that is where I will be sending this message from. We were able to receive the most vital information, and begin planning for the rest of the week. All of this is inconsequential to what I really wanted to tell you: what Juba is really like. Let me describe the city to you by means of my drive from one camp to another, across town.
Heading out of the compound run by our assosciates RA International, we turn on to a red clay…well road would be a gross exaggeration… track, which is all mud at this point because of the aforementioned rainy season, we roll along among mango trees sweating off the recent rain in the 28 degree heat (the humidity is around 75% at a guess), and buildings that haven't seen maintenance since before the civil war two decades ago. Further along this truly urban jungle, we pass the logistics center of UNMIS, a fenced in area filled with white pre-fab housing, white vehicles, and very serious looking people in light blue hats… past that we hit the airport road ( again, road is inaccurate..) and make a left. Keeping the speed down, in order to avoid both breaking the car, and minimizing the possibility of hitting the seemingly thousands of Africans walking around with absolute nothing to do. Up this road for a bit and something extraordinary happens. We arrive at The Paved Road – in capitals because there is just the one – and make a left past the Mosque with its now silent tower. Silent because the Muslim Northerners have been driven out by the Christian southerners. As we continue out The Paved Road, the buildings become fewer and more ramshackle, until they and the road end. We move down a wide mud strip through the African village of the movies. Clay huts with thatched roofs, goats and tiny black babies running around forcing me to drive at an even more glacial pace, young girls dancing and flirting with local militia. Through this and past the local soccer-stadium (for some reason painted an eye-watering shade of pastel pistachio) and down towards the mighty nile, where our destination camp lies.
With this image, and a fond farewell, I leave you until next time and wish you good night wherever you are.
Yours,
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