First post from South Sudan

Hi all,

It seems apropos that my 100th blog post will come from Juba in South Sudan since my very first post was in 2007 from Khartoum North Sudan.

I arrived here on Wednesday Feb 2 and have been trying to stay hydrated against the heat since I stepped off of the plane. It's probably not worse than Baltimore in the summer, but I think living in cool, temperate climates for a few years has made it a difficult transition. So you go from air con to air con with spurts of profuse sweating in between.

My first couple of days have been spent orienting myself to life here and our programs--which are new to me. We have a livelihoods and markets specialist in from WDC so we're spending time with partners or organizations engaged in those activities.

On Friday we took a visit to the Juba Port where barges of people and their things are arriving via the Nile where they will seek onward transport to their towns. We talked to a few famlies, women and children, groups of families traveling together. Some people have been away for decades, others have never been here before but identify it as their home and are returning. They bring with them everything they own--tables, chairs, beds, clothes, food, and more. Everything they could possible bring is now stacked up around them as a makeshift shelter while they await either more items, family or onward transport. IOM, the International Organization for Migration, has been giving funding from many countries to help move people. On the day we visited, people who'd be waiting at the port for about a week were starting to load up their belongings onto huge trucks for tranport to a town called Torit. They will be loaded into a bus, but people wont go without their belongings so IOM has had to organize more trucks and trips than expected. Also, the huge volume of items they've brought with them make transport difficult. Some times only three families' belonging will fit into the truck. There are hundreds waiting now and IOM knows that 600+ are on a barge that should be arriving at any time. At this makeshift camp, UNICEf has started providing clean water and latrines. But there are still signs of open defecation in many spots. Despite the difficult conditions, many families are happy to be in Juba and excited for their new nation.

Some of my other activities have been less exciting...including a three hour long meeting where we were introduced to the concept of the development planning process and for which I will have to attend many subsequent meetings. The problem here is that many of the people who own businesses are not from South Sudan and many of the people who have stayed here during the years of war and subsequent 5 years of peace don't have the skills or finances that are needed. For example, you have people in government positions who are in charge of developing a budget. Which they will do. But the western concept of using that budget as a tool to monitor, track and plan your expenditures just doesn't exist. Many feel that if there is a need, there should be money. They will develop a budget one day and then a week later spend money of something they feel is needed but which isn't anywhere in their budget. So it's starting from a very basic level of what a budget it and how and why you need to stick to it. To imagine that happening on a massive scale as the new government takes control is a bit frightening. I'm not sure the money and the skills are here. Though there are MANY agencies and governments doing their best to help make sure the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) succeeds. Or at least muddles through a difficult transition.

Another group we went to visit isn't one that we fund, but an example of a successful organization that has survived for years with very little external support and an example of what can be done even when skills may not be what we hope. The Nile Community Development Organization or NICODO is a group of farmers and cattle owners who formed a cooperative years ago. Today they are buying milk, boiling it and either selling it or turning in to yogurt for sale. In addition to milk, they assist farmers with vaccinations for herds and farming inputs. Farmers deliver their milk and the amount is recorded in the ledger. At the end of the month the profits are divided among those who brought milk for sale. And NICODO keeps a bit to pay for staff and overhead costs. I took lots of pictures as some milk was being delivered while we were there. Though I can be adventurous at times, I just couldn't down the yogurt...which is very runny and not at all like American-style yogurt. It was an interesting program and gave us some good ideas for opportunities in other locations.

Some pictures of the port visit and NICODO are in the below.

Enjoy,
Jane


Link to album:

South Sudan Feb 2011

Slideshow: