Venturing to South Sudan

When there are kidnappings or rebel attacks in Sudan my mum often says, “But you don’t travel to Sudan in your job do you?” Up until now my response has been, “No, you don’t need to worry.” Well last week I had to change that response as I boarded a plane to Sudan. I wasn’t heading to The Sudan but to the newly created state of South Sudan. A one-hour direct flight took me from Entebbe to Juba. I was warned in advance that the Juba airport is chaos so I was pleasantly surprised when there was an orderly queue to get our visa and then our luggage was waiting for us on the other side. The departure section of the airport was complete chaos so maybe that is what everyone remembers. Before travelling to Sudan this was my impression of “Sudan”

- Insecure with lots of tribal clashes

- Full of NGOs and UN agencies

- Everything is really expensive. I had been told you had to pay $1,000 per room per month in a flat or house.

My stay in South Sudan was only in Juba so I didn’t get the full picture of the country by any means. I didn’t get out to see the massive IDP camps that are currently growing in the north of the country as people flee the fighting. But what I saw of Juba seemed very like Northern Uganda. I heard someone describe it as just like post-war Uganda 25 years ago.

Most of my time in Juba was spent between our hotel and the staff house where we were conducting the training. Before you imagine me in a luxury hotel living it up with the UN workers, let me tell you that I shared a room with a colleague and the room would be better described as a shipping container. They were referred to by the staff as the prefabs. With no windows it go very hot and had a horrible smell. At first I was not looking forward to sharing a room. With the amount of travel I do the evenings are often the only time when I can relax and be myself. This trip I was pleasantly surprised that sharing a room actually made the evenings even better. We worked, chatted, laughed and cried. It was more like a sleepover than sharing a room with a colleague.

Having made my first trip to South Sudan I’m interested to go back and see more of the country and the work that we are doing there. Sorry Mum!

 

New Year New Look

At the start of 2012 I thought the blog deserved a new look. I hope you like the new layout. If you want to comment on a post you now click the speech bubble symbol in the corner of each post. I promise I will write a proper post as soon as I get my head above water with the return back to work.

My blogging in 2011

Before I start blogging in 2012 I thought I would share a summary of our blogging in 2011.

- We (I) wrote 42 posts and uploaded 82 photos

- The blog was viewed about 6,200 times

- Average number of visits per day 17

- The busiest day of the year was November 24th with 133 views

- The most popular post that day was It’s sad we only care when something affects us personally.

Thank you for continuing to be interested in our lives and what we are doing. I will endeavour to keep you updated, challenged and amused at what we are up to in 2012.

Christmas celebrations with staff

Last week I cooked a full Christmas dinner for our expat staff and visitors. In total that meant fitting 12 people round our 6 person table. We managed to borrow a table and amazingly only needed 1 extra set of cutlery. I took the afternoon off work to prepare the food. All was going well despite the fact that we had no electricity or water. At 5.30pm the electrician finally turned up. At 5.50pm he fixed the power and the lights came on. I let out a whoop, which he heard from outside and then proceeded to ask for a ridiculously high fee. When I questioned it he looked at me smiling and said, “But look at the difference I have made.” He was definitely a good salesman. At that point to be honest I would have paid him anything as I was so relieved to have power back.. But I still managed to negotiate half the price he asked for. The evening was a complete success. It was so much fun to introduce our expat staff of different nationalities to English Christmas traditions such as pigs in blankets.

Today we have had our full staff Christmas celebrations. We started the day with Christmas devotions. Following devotions we had a special visitor drop in to distribute our secret santa gifts. Then this afternoon was our staff family Christmas party. The staff love having the opportunity to introduce us to their husbands, wives and kids.

Now I’m ready to get on a plane and spend Christmas with my family.

                                    

    

Going up and up

When friends of ours came to visit in the summer and we sent them out for the day to visit a children’s home we didn’t realise what we would start. The children’s home used to be based in Kampala and we supported them through our capacity building project here. However the rent for the property they were using was too high and the landlord was evicting them. Our project manager encouraged them to relocate outside of Kampala where they own land and establish themselves there. They have lots of land to be able to grow food and they wouldn’t be paying rent so they could use their few resources for other essential things.

The main problem with this plan was that the land they owned was basically a field. There was no property on the land so they relocated and lived in a large tent. Obviously not the ideal situation but less stressful than always struggling with rent and the threat of eviction. When our friends went to visit they were literally ”moved with compassion” and set about to try to raise money for the project to build two permenant houses, one for the boys and one for the girls. Within a few months they had the money and work began. Each week I am amazed at the process. Amazing how quickly things can happen when people put their minds to it.

Week one – foundations are down

Week two – walls are up

Up in the clouds

A few weeks ago I was in Ecuador. After four and half days in a small room conducting training I finished my work for the week and escaped to be a tourist. With many of the countries I visit I’m never entirely sure if I will ever go back so I try to make the most of being there if possible. Often there is no opportunity, but Quito is geared up for tourists so I had many options. The Country Director asked as I had a few hours if I wanted to go to the craft markets. I suggested instead that I take the cable car up to the top of the mountain to get a view of the whole city.

So, we drove halfway up the mountain and then had to walk up a very steep slope to reach the starting point for the cable car. The city of Quito is already at 2,800m so by the time we were climbing the slope we were feeling it. The Cable care took 18minutes to ride to the top. In the middle I got a little shaking at the car swung and I realised quite how high off the ground we were. Reaching the top was well worth it. Although the air was thin – we were now at 4,100, the experience was amazing. We were looking out at the tops of volcanoes that were at the same height as us. While we were there clouds came in and enveloped us – amazing.

I could have stayed up there hours but conscious that I had company we headed back down. Definitely the most touristy thing I have done on my recent travels – and the most fun.

 

The evidence

Sheer determination gets you a long way

If you are going to run your first half marathon why not:

• Decide to run 5 days before the race
• Do no training
• Chose a half marathon in Kampala, “the city of seven hills”
• Run at altitude
• Pick a race where your fellow competitors are nature born runners and Commonwealth medal holders

Well these are the conditions under which my crazy husband decided to run his first half marathon. A few weeks ago we decided to invite any of our staff who wanted to to register for the 10km race in Kampala. About 25 people registered including Chris. Last weekend Chris thought he should actually run a little to make sure he would be fine for the race. He has been doing P90X so has a good level of fitness but has done no running recently. He comfortably ran 10km on the running machine and felt he could run as far again, so on Tuesday he asked our HR manager if he could change and run the half marathon instead. Chris has always felt that he could run a marathon so why not try the half marathon, how hard could it be!!!

Come race day I agreed to meet him at a number of points along the course to cheer him on, take photos and have energy drinks ready. When I met him at the first point, about 6km in, his response was, “I’m dead!” Not a promising sign. But with sheer determination he completed the race about halfway through the 1,000 runners. I was so proud of him as he crossed the finished line. I was also pleased that he now realises quiet how hard marathon running is and he would now plan to actually train if he ever considers running a marathon or half marathon again.

Our team did well in the 10km race too. With about 25,000 participants it was a spectacle. The fastest staff finished in 44 minutes (again with no training – some people are just born to run!). And everyone finished in under 90 minutes. It was fun to do something together so different from work. We enjoyed a breakfast together afterwards. The runners had to be at the start point by 5.30am so by 9.30am it had already been a long day. We had prizes and certificates. Chris got a prize for being the only one to have run the half marathon. Next year we decided it would be fun to have a group of people seriously train for the half marathon together and run as a team. Any one of our staff who completed the 10km in less than 60 minutes with no training should easily be able to train for the half marathon. Whether or not Chris will sign up to run again remains to be seen.

Photos to follow when my internet connection is fast enough.

It’s sad we only care when something affects us personally

Recently I have been reflecting on the fact that there are so many issues that we pay little or no attention to until they affect us personally. There are other issues that we think we understand but until it is a part of our lives we really don’t.

In recent years my family has faced cancer, depression and infertility. I can say that it is true for each of these that unless you have experienced things up close you do not know what it is like. I used to think I understood what it must be like to watch someone die of cancer. Sitting holding my Grandad’s hand because he was too weak to do anything else showed me how little I knew before. As a family we shared many tearful moments as we faced the reality of cancer.

People often give me sympathetic words regarding infertility but I can tell those who have lived with it and those who just think they understand. I have nothing against the people who haven’t experienced infertility, in fact I am thankful to God that they haven’t experienced the heartache, I have an automatic connection with people who have experienced what I have and I know they understand.

Recently a very close friend had a baby boy born with Achondroplasia – commonly known as dwarfism. The condition is very rare, affecting only 200,000 people in the world. Since her son’s diagnosis she has been introduced to the “little people” community. With such a low prevalence the little people community is close knit. I am obviously removed from the direct situation but even as a close friend I am becoming more accustomed to the impact of such a condition on your life and your family. Stigma and prejudice towards to dwarfs in the UK is still rife. This is evident by a recent BBC 2 comedy series “Life’s Too Short”. The series stars the famous actor Warwick Davies (himself a dwarf) alongside Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant. Although some scenes from the show might be funny and have nothing to do with restricted growth, the main focus is creating comedy out of Warwick being short. Many of the situations he portrays are humiliating to the say the least.

Before my friend’s son was born I might not have thought more than that the series is a bit inappropriate but now seeing how much it upsets those for whom restricted growth is a reality and who have to face the same attitudes on a daily basis in real life I have a stronger objection to such comedy. People’s argument for the legitimacy of the programme are that Warwick is a dwarf and he is deciding to allow people to laugh at him. People have said it is the same as the Kumars making fun of Indian stereotypes or Ali G laughing at Jews. The problem with that argument is that being Jewish or Indian isn’t a disability. Achondroplasia is classed as a disability and there are enough misconceptions about the disorder that it doesn’t need a BBC comedy encouraging people to laugh at dwarfs.

Wikipedia states: In art, literature, or movies, dwarfs are rarely depicted as “regular people who are very short” but rather as a species apart.

Referring to Life’s too Short an Evening Standarad journalist wrote: For some reason, dwarfs are the last minority it is acceptable to laugh at in the name of entertainment.

My friend is doing what she can to change this. You might never have thought about what it would be like to live with dwarfism, I know I hadn’t, but if you are interested in the issue or even if not if you would like to help a mother fight for a better future for her son please click on the link to her facebook campaign page: Dislike BBC 2 comedy ‘Life’s too Short’

What would it be like to hear the words, “You’re HIV positive”

Even after ten years of working in HIV programming it still moves me when I visit HIV testing centres. Standing in the waiting area in our HIV testing clinic in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, I was chocked up as I watched the young people coming in and registering to be tested. I have met enough people with HIV that I know that the diagnosis changes your life. Decades in to the epidemic there is no cure. Although treatment has improved and in developed countries HIV is almost a manageable chronic disease that is a long way off for the countries we work in.

Standing in the waiting room listening to the staff tell me about the process the clients go through I was again hit by how overwhelming it must be to hear the words, “your test was positive”.

But I am so privileged to work for an organisation where we don’t just tell someone they are positive but we provide support for them to cope with this life changing news. Whether someone gets their diagnosis in a downtown clinic in a shopping centre in Honduras or under a mango tree in Uganda I know that they will not have to face the future alone.

The 1st of December is World AIDS Day. Please remember the families around the world who live with this virus that changes their lives and thank God for our dedicated staff that are walking with these families every step of their hard journey.