Learning Arabic

So I studied Spanish, attempted Italian, tripped through Portuguese and now have found myself in a place where people 1^st speak tribal languages, 2^nd Arabic and 3^rd British English (which is a different language).  So I started my Arabic lessons.  And its hard learning how to write in the opposite direction, learn an entire new alphabet that changes depending where the letter is in the word, and make sounds that I seem incapable of doing.  But I’m enjoying it and my homework takes hours!

The Arabic they speak in South Sudan is 'Juba Arabic' a slang of Classical Arabic that has some funny english things.  One I really like is when people say 'I am going to the store' they say "Now, now I go to the store".  Motorcycle is boda-boda and the market is the Konya-Konya.  But I digress.  

My teacher is from Lebanon but is married to a South Sudanese man, who fled the country while working for USAID 20 years ago in Juba when every single one of his coworkers was shot.  They came back a few years ago with many others to help rebuild their country.  He is heading up the archives so people do not forget their history here and the other evening they took me to see the University which the North took during the civil war, to prevent learning and instead turned it into a prison and battle grounds. 

The live outside of town and among teaching she grows loofahs…I always thought they came from the sea, but it turns out they look like a giant cucumber and when they dry, they are a loofah. 

Alive loofah

Peel and ready to shower loofah

So besides learning the alphabet, and learning some important history, I learned to say 'I want ice cream'  أريد الآيس كريم which I hope comes in handy in Cairo, because it’s a bit of an unrealistic statement here. 

What I do at work

So you may be wondering what I am ACTUALLY doing in South Sudan when I am not contemplating tropical diseases or new vegetables.  I am Head of Communications for UNDP.  Meaning I speak to the press, pitch stories, write newsletters and articles, get publications published, try and make sure everyone is putting out a consistent message.  So my job is sort of like what I did at the Food Bank but talking about all the things I learned at SAIS.  

Look! Female ministers signing the agreement

At first I was unsure about returning to public affairs and if this was the professional direction I wanted to go.  But not anymore.  I have the chance to hear from people how our programs help them, the work my co-workers are doing, why some returned to South Sudan, the challenges and the progress they have seen and they can be pretty amazing stories to hear.  I get to go to events that in the US you’d have to be someone really important to go see.  I went to the signing of an agreement to bring civil servants from Ethiopia, Kenya & Uganda to embed in ministries to help train South Sudanese civil servants on how to set-up systems, design policy and and how to govern on everything from tax reform and setting up courts to establishing methods of policing with integrity and distributing HIV/AIDS medication.  

I also get to interview people who are doing amazing work or sit in as international journalists interview the Head of Office (person in charge of UN program for the country) on their thoughts.   Simply being able to witness this is really fascinating.  I have a lot of cool projects lined up and once I have hired more staff I will also be able to go out to the field and work on projects that help build the capacity of the local media.  

But there is still work to be done.  The editor of The Citizen, an independent newspaper, is frequently thrown in jail for his op-eds criticizing the government.  There is no freedom of information act or statutes to protect free press. And although we are working on getting them through the Legislature,       there is a difference between passing a law and intent.

UN handing over 8 trucks to 8 counties to help the police get to emergencies 

And I am nervous about this position as well.  I was hired to be second in command of the communications unit only to arrive and find that my boss was leaving.  Suddenly I have found myself head of a unit with a staff and I am reporting to a chain-smoking, demanding (in a good way) country director who works 23 hours a day and has had malaria 7 times in 4 years.  I hope I can cut it. 

Do 1 thing every day that you used to

Someone gave me a tip recently: you have to continue to do the same things you did before in order to not go crazy.  (Although he mentioned he continued to mountain bike while carefully navigating the landmines with a bike he carried on the airplane, I thought I'm not THAT dedicated to my hobbies).

But I have found that many aid workers tend to work hard, (long hours as well as weekends) and drink even harder.  This lack of work-life balance combined with the sheer number of cigarettes at ‘parties’ (boring gatherings with no dancing) got me thinking this was good advice.  So I resist the temptation to do work on the weekends and instead I have been:

Not my photo b/c I ate them all before I could take one

Cooking - I go to local markets and buy new vegetables. I came across this (I don’t recall the Arabic name) was striped green and yellow, was the size of a roma tomato, but looked like an eggplant inside...so I sautéed it up with garlic and YUM!   

I’ve made curried lentils, creative omelets, chili, hummus, roasted vegetables, sauces with okra, a pumpkin and chili pepper coconut curry and luckily I have an Italian roommate who manages to find Barilla and panna cotta so when in need I still eat a farafelle delicioso.  

My honey-oat bread

There is a food shortage and food prices are high, for a while we had no bread, and even when you can get bread its not the whole grain, organic, local stuff I became spoiled on.  So I started baking and using half flour, half oats that I ground up to make it a little more ‘grainy’.  

The funny thing is, it makes you appreciate food more.  When I came across cheddar cheese from Kenya, I bought it and thought ‘how delicious’ and then laughed realizing in the US, I would have declared a non-sharp cheddar cheese not suitable for my palate. 

Gardening – this is a new one, we all know that I lack a green thumb and if anything I have a dead thumb.  But when I realized that I could plant arugula and then have fresh greens, I got very excited.  Although I have been eating some fresh greens, I have to admit, the plants would be dead if it wasn’t for my cleaning lady.  But I have time to figure this out :-)

Salsa Dancing – Juba actually has a nightclub - De Havana - where there is salsa dancing.  Apparently a contingent of South Sudanese rebel fighters were sent at some point to Cuba (which rhymes with Juba) to learn from Fidel and Che.  I’m not sure they brought back the intended lessons because when they returned they opened up a salsa bar - true story!  So you can imagine my excitement when I arrived and realized I could still dance.  However due to ‘criminal activity’, the UN has barred us from going (I think its because its run by the ‘Cuban Jubans’).  Luckily, there are a number of people that have instead brought salsa to a local restaurant.  So every Thursday for 2 hours, I  dance in an African tukol, at a Lebanese restaurant, Latin salsa, with a lot of Scandinavians. 

Random goat = curry dinner?

Running – my broken foot healed and I’ve started running again.  I realized a white girl wearing shorts running through the streets probably wouldn’t go over too well, so I tried running the perimeter inside my compound.  

2 minutes a lap x 10 laps = a 20-minute run + I understood what prison must feel like 

20 minutes = an eternity = an understatement 

So I headed off to the peacekeeping base, where the peacekeepers have a ‘track’ (read: a dirt path in the middle of grassland).  This has taken running to a new level.  Mind you a ‘cool day’ is 96 and dry.  Anyway a couple times a week, I run.  It's interesting, you see UN helicopters taking off and landing, vultures circle overhead which when alone gets a bit eerie, all the different UN peacekeeping units, and occasionally you pass Ban Ki- Moo (the cow given to Ban Ki Moon for a sacrifice when he came to South Sudan, but he doesn’t believe in animal sacrifice so Ban Ki-Moo was sent to live on the running track).  One day after a rain, I almost smelled the ocean and pretended I was running out at Asilomar or Ocean Beach.  But all the while the sunsets are the most beautiful, vibrant red I have ever seen and I feel good to be free, running, zoning out and letting the stresses of the day escape. 

Don’t worry friends, I’m actually quite happy I’m also studying Arabic, planning my volunteer work, hosting dinner parties, reading all those books I meant to, and my work is rewarding.  :-)

Economics 1-0-Real

So here is an economics lesson.  We have an exchange rate that is 2.95 South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) to the US$.  I am paid in US$, part of which I get in cash.  I can hitch a ride to the market, wait in line at the bank and change money.  Or I can go to the black market where I exchange at a rate between 3.8 and 4.2.  This black market is actually more convenient (and safer) it's the UN drivers who want dollars and not pounds.     

So I thought I was cool taking part in arbitrage….Until I realized that I am a culprit in the escalating inflation and lack of monetary stability. 

Then I started feeling guilty as I read articles about how the South Sudan Central Bank is trying to double its foreign reserves and police starting arresting the moneychangers in the markets in an effort to stem the inflation. 

But the banks will not give locals US$.  However, the locals need the US$ to send to their families in Uganda to pay for their kids schooling because neighboring countries won’t accept SSP.  This is the dismal science, do help an individual in the short-term or the country in the long-term?

Staying healthy takes on new meaning

Staying healthy in South Sudan is an adventure everyday.  Malaria is commonplace and the prophylactics seem to do little in preventing it.  I try to be careful sleeping under a mosquito net, wearing deet (who cares if it will give me 3 heads in 20 years), taking the pills, but I still somehow get bug bites.  The strain of malaria is cerebral malaria, meaning it affects the mental state and the mortality rate is somewhere between 25% and 50%. 

Typhoid is rampant – turns out the vaccine isn't effective.  In an effort to prevent it I don't eat uncooked foods i.e. fresh vegetables (which anyone who knows me realizes that is quite a challenge for me) unless I have pealed or washed them myself, however typhoid can be transmitted by flies, so it’s only a matter of time.  Everyone I know has had it.

It is the only place in the world where Guinea Worm still exists (a parasite from the 2nd century) that grows under you skin, creating a painful bump and eventually the worm breaks out!!  Google pictures if you are not faint of heart. 

Outbreaks of Cholera aren't abnormal. 

And as rainy season is dying down and I began to feel relaxed about mosquitoes and malaria, although I learned that with dry season comes the Nairobi Fly.  Its a bug and it lands on you - you're automatic reaction is to swat it, however the blood turns out to be like battery acid and instead it leaves an acid burn on your skin. 

Not only are there all these risks, but getting healthcare is hard.  South Sudan has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world and a woman has a higher chance of dying in childbirth than graduating from high school.  Children have a 1 in 5 chance of dying before they reach 5; only about 25% of people can even access basic healthcare.  One of my coworkers, who lives outside of Juba, died in childbirth because there wasn’t a gynecologist.  And even when you can get access, due to the years of sanctions against Sudan (north and South) they can’t get quality medications, many come from China with no guarantee for the supply chain and often are ineffective.

I realize you all are probably worried, but don’t be.  I take my vitamins, eat my bananas and pineapples, cook my veggies, get lots of sleep and try and be as careful as I can.  I’m writing this just to give an idea of the challenges that the country faces and they almost seem easy to address in comparison to the challenges of having to set-up an entire government, its institutions, a legal system, an economy, a police force, a system of education for illiterate population.  My boss said that South Sudan is the largest statebuilding challenge of our generation.  But at the same time, I have hope - with all the attention, international agencies, NGOs, donors, and finally a free people there is the potential to overcome these challenges. 

Views of South Sudan

I wish I could take more photos to convey how it looks here, however left over from the days of Khartoum it is still pretty much prohibited to take photos and even if allowed many people would probably be uncomfortable...here is a photo essay from the Pulitzer Center that conveys what South Sudan looks like.

When its not rainy the roads are rust-colored red and kick up dust and it looks sometimes haunting when you see a figure crossing the road as it suddenly appears in the dust.  When its rainy it turns into a thick black sticky mud which makes it easy to get stuck in the deep rivets and potholes (South Sudan is the most expensive place in the world per kilometer to pave roads).  Main roads tend to be lined with one story shacks that sell things like cooking oil, rice, eggs, tomatoes, spare motorcycle parts, charcoal made from trees.  There are goats and motorcycles navigating through the roads and the crowds.  I'm always fascinated just looking out the window but even if I could, I'm not sure I could quite capture the feeling.  

I do have to say though, that some of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen are here in Juba. 

More Juba

Due to limited internet bandwith, it takes a long time to add photos...here are some more

Airport Road

Boda-Bodas outside the Khona-Khona market

Juba (credit: Nick Hobgood)

Jebel Lodge: expat oasis 20 minutes outside of town

9$ for butter?!?!

Yes, I broke down and realized if I wanted butter on my toast or be able to make cookies I would have to pay 9$ for butter.  There are 3 supermarkets (I use that term loosely) in town that cater to ex-pats and have things like nutella (almost $10) pickled cabbage from Germany and snickers bars.

Meat is even more interesting.  They have hot dogs and chicken fingers and although I am a meat eater I like my meat to resemble the animal from which it came.  The other market did have meat which included rabbit and goat…not sure what to do with them…so I think I will be sticking with lentils for now :-)

I did go to the Khona-Khona a local market recently and was very excited to find eggplant, okra, cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, onions, bananas, pineapple and avocado – it truly made me very happy and I realized, I’ll be fine here!  I even already hosted my first dinner party.

Around Town

So I know all of you are dying to see what Juba actually looks like!  I have only a few photos because up until recently it was illegal to take photos and people are still very nervous about picture taking.  There have been many instances of police seizing cameras or expats getting into trouble, however with independence it’s a little bit better but you still aren’t allowed to take pictures of buildings, bridges, or people.  So here a few I took, a few another friend took, and a few from Google images.

The road outside my compound

The road to the 'supermarket'