Dinka wedding

One of my co-workers was getting married and invited myself and a few others to his wedding in Yei (pronounced yeah!).  So we headed off on a 4 hour journey to go 100km to a traditional tribal wedding.

The wedding was an arranged marriage that the families negotiated, and the price being cows.  In the Dinka tribe the man pays the woman’s family and she gets a higher price based on 3 things 1) height (the taller the better), 2) family lineage and 3) education (jury is still out on if this affects the price positively or negatively).  A cow goes for about 1000 pounds (or $350).  My co-worker paid 85 cows for his wife to be, approx 85,000 pounds or over $24,000.  Considering that 90% of the population makes less than $1 a day, this is quite a lot of money.

Anyway after traveling with an armed police escort we arrive in Yei and quickly dress for the wedding.  But the wedding is held up because they are still negotiating…one of the sticking points being the large bull that needs to be sacrificed at the wedding.  SO after another 2500 pounds and the process of finding the right bull, the wedding is able to finally commence. 

It was a pretty amazing experience, there was tons of chanting and a procession, we were ushered into a large tent that was covered in embroidered flowers where women (which took the bride and her friends one month to make) wiped our faces with clothes and then our feet.  Outside the tent they sacrificed the bull to the sounds of chanting and drumming.  
 

First they carefully skinned the bull then slowly removed each organ whole, they even cut a small incision in one of the 3 or 4 stomachs and then pulled out all the grass.  

The bride eventually came with 50 women in attendance and wearing a surprisingly traditional white wedding gown (with sleeves) and a veil.  Her hands and feet had dark henna and she and her maids had sparkles on their faces.  The mood became serious and she looked quite somber.  The two hadn’t really seen each other much and they definitely both seemed nervous.  In addition she is quite young and will have to leave her family.

The wedding went on for 3 hours with lots of speeches, chanting and singing. The men sat on one side, the women on the other.  Eventually they asked the kawajas (foreigners) to stand up and speak.  We took turns said a few words and then everyone sang a song about ‘welcoming people from the land where people speak Hallo!’.   It was late into the night and eventually the ceremony was over. 

Everyone trickled back to their tukuls, the men went to their homes including the grooms and the bride to hers where people stay up all night but don’t eat.

Early the next morning we were brought to the grooms family where we met all the elders (the senior negotiating team for the bride price) who turned out to be mostly women as the men had died in the war.  There we hung out with the bride and her cousins talking about marriage and traditions.  They asked me many questions about marriage, the U.S. whether we have vegetables and meat, had I gone to school, and they all assumed because I was not yet ‘grown’ (read tall) therefor I must be 15.  When I explained I wasn’t married because I hadn’t found anyone, I got many offers of 19 yr old sons and brothers, even an offer to be the 2^nd wife of a girl's father.  

Eventually another cow was slaughtered and then the women drummed and danced, which I was asked to take part in.  

We ended up eating a meal of millet porridge with warm milk and then made the long trek back to Juba.

Field Tripping

Packing list for work trips in SF: 
1. Blackberry
2. Fake power suit 
3. Company credit card. 

Packing for a work trip in South Sudan: 
1. Mosquito net
2. Wilderness first aid kit
3. Sat phone & High-frequency radio   

After getting all of the security clearances, necessary signatures and approvals in order, which take about 48 hours, you are then ready to leave. 

In South Sudan we must travel by caravan and every hour we radio back to base to let them know where we are.  However, we use radio names and avoid certain details in case our messages are intercepted and we can’t travel after dusk.  On long drives it obvious that you would have to stop and pee along the way, but with no rest stops you stop at certain points and do a ‘tire check’ code for bathroom break.  Peeing alongside a road is a bit of a strange interaction to have with your colleagues, especially as on some of these trips I have been the only girl. 

Why you travel in convoy Reason #1: Getting pulled out of the mud

Why you travel in convoy Reason #2: Flat tire

Why you travel in convoy Reason #3

The road to Yei: note the tilt of the car

The first place I went was a town called Yei, (pronounced YEAH!) where we have a TB ward and some HIV projects.  Its 100km south of Juba and due to the poor roads it took us 4 hours to get there.  It is also the main road from the border of Congo, so there are many huge trucks that must make this trip to Juba to bring things in to sell. 

The TB ward

I was there because a documentary crew was going to be coming from Geneva with a funder and I needed to scope out potential people for them to interview.  Being inside a TB ward was intense, our idea of a hospital and sanitary environment is much different.  The nurses don’t use any protection even in the contagious ward.  Moreover you see things like leprosy, which I thought had been eradicated.

Record keeping at the hospital

One man, Edison, I talked with was very enthusiastic and vibrant, which many people are not happy in a TB ward.  He told me his life story of being a carpenter and the getting sick from TB, and about the good care he got.  He said next time you come back I will be running.  He then asked if he could ask me something.  I said sure.  He said there is no food here and could I help.  Hearing that almost broke my heart.

Another woman, Agnes, who I had met twice and had the pleasure of spending time with her and her family in their village was a patient and when I returned had gotten better.  Her husband died in the war and left her with their 4 young children as well as HIV.  Her father took her in to care for her and the children, he also took in her 2 sisters and their children who were also widowed by the war and left with the legacy of HIV. 

As a result Agnes is going around to the community and educating people about the disease and encouraging them to get tested and protect themselves, which can’t be easy in a closed society.  It also is sad to see how an entire generation of people may be lost.

The Hospital Monkey - never would be allowed in the US