I thought it about time I put pen to paper, it has been a while and there is much to process. I begun writing this post from Nairobi from a layover hotel as I travelled back to the UK to clinch my apartment deal and celebrate my 38th birthday. It is hard to believe that 6.5 weeks have gone by since I forced myself back on a plane to South Sudan after 3.5 months languishing in London. It had been 7 years since I had spent so long at home. The return was not as bad as I expected it to be given I was so full of nerves. Even in Nairobi waiting for the flight to Juba, I almost didn't get on the plane.
Juba was exactly how I left it, accept even poorer and more insecure. After being told resolutely that I must move back onto the UN base, I decided to take the bull by the horns and force a refurbishment through of my shipping container. With much gentle prodding, Bob the Builder (Robert) and I got there four weeks later. I also have a new tukul area outside, a tukul is a hut with a reed covered roof and open sides. I just need to furnish the space now, although come the hot season, I am only likely to be able to sit out there on weekend mornings. Mum's words were, it is hardly a hardship posting, after seeing the pictures, but I challenge her to try it. That said, it is not Malakal or Bentiu, or places in the North where you often have to cold bucket showers and the toilets are infested by insects. Back in London I will take great pleasure in being able to open an internet page straight away and to brush my teeth with the tap water.
South Sudan and the situation here has indeed deteriorated since I last left in June. I was fortunate to have been out of the country when the intense fighting in Juba took place between 7 and 11 July. I got an e-mail to tell me to stay where I was on the 9th of July and it was a whole 3.5 months before I moved back. People had thought I had left for good. Although the situation remains calm in Juba, the same cannot be said for the rest of the country, particularly the region around the capital. Juba is in Central Equatoria and is flanked by Western and Eastern Equatoria, collectively they are known as Greater Equatoria or just the Equatorias. Western Equatoria has seen a lot of violence and displacement and right now the town of Yei in the South West is under siege by Government forces. People are fleeing across the Southern border to Uganda. South Sudan, now with a refugee population outside of it borders of more than 1.1 million people, has the largest refugee population in the world, second only to Syria. Within the country over 1.6 million people are internally displaced and are what is known in the humanitarian world as IDPs (internally displaced persons). Figures vary slightly, but in a Security Council meeting last week it was stated that 4.8 million, almost half the population, are in dire need of food aid.
The Government has no money; its income is but a small fraction of what it was at independence in 2011. Civil servants have not been paid for months and this is leading to increasing insecurity and criminality. UN staff and INGO workers are therefore legitimate targets. Rife with rumour, the smallest incident can be blown out of proportion and could provide the spark necessary for a full scale return to civil war. The Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on Genocide is warning that all the ingredients are there for the commencement of ethnic cleansing.
The prognosis is bleak and the general feeling is that it will only be a matter of time before the international community is pulling out again. When I left in June I had expected to be back in two weeks and packed accordingly. This time I took no chances and brought all the items with me, mostly electrical related, that I would not want to lose. Honestly, most things are replaceable, but things like hard drives and some of your favourite clothes are not. The thing I struggle with a little is that I don’t see the environment and situation described above. Since being back I have been mostly confined to the bubble that is the UN Base, next to the airport in Juba. One gets out of bed every morning in the newly refitted container, walks the short five-minute walk to the office and your day is interspersed with coffee breaks and the occasional meeting in town for which you organise a driver. You go to the gym, watch TV programmes and at the weekend I often find myself at some pool at one of the nicer hotels where you sit around with expats and drink expensive drinks and think nothing of spending in one sitting what would be equivalent to two month’s salary for some people. There is of course one price for expats and another for locals. When I go to the supermarket, none of which take credit cards (you cannot use credit cards in South Sudan bar the international supermarket in our compound), you must take wads of cash, especially if your $100 dollars was changed into 25 SSP notes.
However, generally, driving around Juba it does feel different and more repressed. Our curfew of 7pm means that we don’t leave the base during the week after office hours. I understand that the streets are also generally deserted by later in the evening as this is when killings and abductions are occurring. Middle of the night gunfire is a common occurrence. Fortunately, it only seems to wake my colleagues up! I did get a better sense of the insecurity when I went on my first field trip on Monday with what is known as Force Protection. This is where we travel in a long convoy with heavily armed peacekeepers at the front and rear. It was the Nepalese who had the job of escorting us to a demolition site 50 kilometres outside of Juba where we destroyed a whole load of ammunition and I took a lot of photos! Again, as we drove along in our armoured jeep and waved to the kids on the side of the road that would come running up to the greet us, you felt so detached, looking out into a foreign world. It was so hard to visualise all of the atrocities that have been occurring, the place looked peaceful, people were getting on with the lives. Yet the convoy passed a burnt out truck on the right on the way up, it came to light later that only a few days earlier two soldiers had been burnt alive in it and three others had been shot dead. There were a noticeable amount of checkpoints and each time we stopped I was wondering why, considering whether any of our SSAFE training would need to be put into practice. On the way home a whole group of soldiers passed us, some with rocket propelled grenade launchers resting on their shoulders, this was one of the weapons our technical teams had just destroyed.
What has struck me recently is how little people know about each other's cultures. You really feel this moving between a highly underdeveloped country and a highly developed one, but even in Nairobi I was struck by the contrast. I was chatting to an African claiming asylum in the United States. He assumed that he would know he had reached the final stages of his asylum application because he would be interviewed by white people. He had this impression because the final stage would be his security interview, which would be conducted by FBI officials, and he assumed the interviewers would need to be white. I explained that the FBI employed people of many different races and he seemed generally surprised/ pleased. I secretly wondered if he harbours an ambition to work for the FBI one day if his application succeeds. Then with the cultural ignorance on the European foot, yesterday morning an English couple were getting so impatient at the lateness of the airport shuttle bus. When the manager said “it is just over there and pointed” the husband started getting mad and wanted to know why they hadn’t driven over and parked up outside the reception and what good was it to be parked over there when we needed to leave. I had to quietly explain later in the bus that the manager had actually meant the bus was nearly here and just around the corner, but that this vocab or detail had been omitted, or was not known.
Now back in the UK, I am glad to be reaching for a jacket and strolling freely around outside in the chilly wind, popping into shops and not having to plan one's travel through cars and taxis. Debate continues over Brexit and Trump's election, whether the housing market will crash and if the pound will remain weak. It's hard to imagine South Sudan coming back onto the radar here again unless, and I hate to say it, things become very violent again. Hopefully things will get better slowly and quietly, I think that is the best we can hope for.
Friday, 25 November 2016
Monday, 11 July 2016
London
I have been in Cornwall and then London for over two weeks now, first on my R&R and then on annual leave. I was due to fly back to Juba today, but this is all on hold now due to the fierce fighting that has broken out in the capital city.
After a frenzied week last week, looking at apartments and making offers, everything came to a head on Friday with armed conflict having broken out in Juba on Thursday evening. Slowly various messages came through on WhatsApp and it became apparent that this time it was more than just some tit for tat exchanges of gunfire. A US embassy convoy was shot at, as was a senior UN official, the country director for UNESCO. All ugly developments.
I found myself feeling really quite on edge and at times overcome with emotion. You find yourself walking around London in the sun, in peace, safe, and yet a community you know is under fire. Friends are lying on the floors of their offices, staying away from the windows, and praying that they do not become the victim of a stray bullet or mortar. I could not imagine. So, you try to ignore the messages, to shut things out, but at the same time you just want to know what is going on. I quickly retracted myself from the house purchase.
In the greater scheme of things it is just sad. I have been working in South Sudan for six months now. I have seen very little of the country and I move just between my office and my residence and between the various expat restaurants and hotels. Occasionally I get to sit by the Nile. But I try to follow what is happening politically and I am ever optimistic that the future will be better. It was exciting when the Vice President returned in April as part of the peace agreement, many said he would never come back to Juba.
So, the recent outbreak of violence, though expected by many, is just disappointing. I get the impression it is going to take a very robust process to move people forward in a fashion that allows them to reconcile the past. This part of the world has been at war for so long, first as part of the Sudan and now as the Republic of South Sudan. The collective trauma must run very deep.
On a micro level, I just want my friends to stay safe. I feel so lucky I am where I am right now, but also feel very helpless. I hope the tanks and soldiers leave the streets and people return to the bars and to sitting around smoking shisha late into the night. The fruit sellers return to their stalls and the boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) take up their positions on the side of the roads once again.
Until then I am sending all my thoughts to East Africa and to a place that is currently my home.
After a frenzied week last week, looking at apartments and making offers, everything came to a head on Friday with armed conflict having broken out in Juba on Thursday evening. Slowly various messages came through on WhatsApp and it became apparent that this time it was more than just some tit for tat exchanges of gunfire. A US embassy convoy was shot at, as was a senior UN official, the country director for UNESCO. All ugly developments.
I found myself feeling really quite on edge and at times overcome with emotion. You find yourself walking around London in the sun, in peace, safe, and yet a community you know is under fire. Friends are lying on the floors of their offices, staying away from the windows, and praying that they do not become the victim of a stray bullet or mortar. I could not imagine. So, you try to ignore the messages, to shut things out, but at the same time you just want to know what is going on. I quickly retracted myself from the house purchase.
In the greater scheme of things it is just sad. I have been working in South Sudan for six months now. I have seen very little of the country and I move just between my office and my residence and between the various expat restaurants and hotels. Occasionally I get to sit by the Nile. But I try to follow what is happening politically and I am ever optimistic that the future will be better. It was exciting when the Vice President returned in April as part of the peace agreement, many said he would never come back to Juba.
So, the recent outbreak of violence, though expected by many, is just disappointing. I get the impression it is going to take a very robust process to move people forward in a fashion that allows them to reconcile the past. This part of the world has been at war for so long, first as part of the Sudan and now as the Republic of South Sudan. The collective trauma must run very deep.
On a micro level, I just want my friends to stay safe. I feel so lucky I am where I am right now, but also feel very helpless. I hope the tanks and soldiers leave the streets and people return to the bars and to sitting around smoking shisha late into the night. The fruit sellers return to their stalls and the boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) take up their positions on the side of the roads once again.
Until then I am sending all my thoughts to East Africa and to a place that is currently my home.
Sunday, 5 June 2016
In Europe we must stay
Dear friends, this is slight digression on the subject of South Sudan!
I can not but feel a little nervous as 23 June approaches and I read articles stating that the Brexit campaign has taken the lead in the polls. I wonder what is going on my country, I wonder why we have become so anti-Europe.
I have lived outside of Europe for almost 7 years now, most of that time in the States and during that time my notion of Europeaness have been completely reinforced. The British are European, we always were and we always will be. We can pretend we are half way between Europe and North America, but you try living in the States for six years and you will soon realise which bus you are on.
We are bound by a common set up principles, a strong understanding of personal liberty, a respect for the rule of law that goes back centuries, a respect for culture, a respect for the environment. I may still squabble with my French friends on customs of eating, with Irish friends on the behaviour of the British during the troubles and with countless others on the foibles of our continent, but we are all brothers and sisters and it feels like that to me more than ever. There is always an instant connection with a European in the international sector within which I live and work, a familiarity that I can not quite put my finger on. We understand each other on a very subconscious level.
You stroll along the thoroughfares of Madrid, get lost in the alleyways and canals of Venice, enjoy the quaint bars in a French ski village and feel numb in the wind on the German Baltic coast, but most of all you feel safe, because you are free within this network of countries that has worked very hard to resolve their differences and to this day spends hours pouring over mundane legislation such as the right length and shape of a good carrot. As a gay man, the EU protects my rights, as it does for many many minorities of every shape, colour and physical ability. We are home to the European Court of Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court. We have laws that prevent our employers from making us work too long hours, mobile roaming charges have been dropped, or soon will be, regulations safeguard our travel and ensure a more transparent financial industry. Corruption and the death penalty is something we lecture other countries about.
Let's not throw this all a way because certain politicians fear monger about migrants, or a loss of a way of life. We are not going to stay the same, Britain is not going to always be as it is now. We must unite on finding solutions to issues such as the environment and how to assist the "have nots". I want to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the French and the Germans when we must intervene militarily and financially to save others, or to find a way to combat extremism, whether that be the ill intentions of ISIS, or the racism of Nigel Farage and Marie Le Pen.
The British will continue to grumble in their idyllic country gardens, the French will continue to turn their noses up and insist their cheese can not be countered and the Italians will still throw the best parties. We won't lose this if we stay, we will just continue to do it under one big umbrella!
http://bit.ly/1UlmxAo
Sunday, 1 May 2016
Uganda
Just to let you know, this a long post, but my first in a long time!
I am in Entebbe, Uganda, it is the 1st of May and I am four months into my latest jaunt in Africa. I finally feel ready to write something. It is pouring with rain here as I sit on my hotel room balcony and look out over Lake Victoria, the smell of fresh rain is lovely and I almost need to put on another layer, lovely. I miss the cold. I am on what was commonly known in the UN as our R&R break (rest and recuperation). In Juba, South Sudan we get a one-week break every six weeks and this is my second one since I started the job. Having spent my first one on a lavish ski holiday in La Plagne with gorgeous friends, I am now going to explore the region a little more.
I moved to Juba at the beginning of January to take up an associate programme officer post with the United Nations Mine Action Service. It was a big leap in many respects (at least it felt that way) because I resigned from my personal assistant role in New York, a comfortable, but unchallenging position, to jump three grades and go to work in "the Field". South Sudan is considered a hardship posting and so for this reason we have R&R every six weeks, but we also get loads of extra money. The benefits kind of stop there. I am working in a team that is made up of many Brits, which is unusual, but my understanding is that mine clearance is something that we have focused on as a nation and so there are lots of UK specialists. South Africa also, apparently fields lots of deminers. I am specifically working as the public information focal point, which is great because I have finally been able to move back into an area in the UN that I was working in over seven years ago. Some people reading this job might remember that I used to "do comms" with the Child-to-Child Trust in London. Needless to say, after such a long break, I feel I am having to relearn the trade! But I also working a lot on reporting and this is something I have never really done, and skill that will be really useful.
So, to the nitty gritty, life in South Sudan. Well I am not going to pretend it has been plain sailing because it absolutely has not. In fact for the first couple of months I was quite miserable and for this reason did not really want to talk about it publicly. The one thing that I have had to become used to is a strictly enforced curfew, we all have to be tucked up in our respective homes by 9pm each night. Travel around the country is severely restricted and I can not drive around in a car unless I have second person in the car with me. I carry my radio with me everywhere and generally don't walk on the streets. Like when I relocated to New York and I was making constant comparisons with London, I have been doing the same between South Sudan and Mali. I have decided this is not helpful and does not serve a purpose. Moving forward I need to focus on the here and now and what Juba can offer. Originally I was living on the UN Base in a container, which is exactly as it sounds, a metal shipping container. I hated it, and this was compounding what was feeling like a real loss of freedom. For someone that has always been fiercely independent, adjusting to all these rules and norms of behaviour was pretty hard. Many of my colleagues are ex-military and I think this makes a huge difference because they have experience such living conditions and parametres before. For me, I just felt like my wings had been clipped. For this reason I went rogue and moved to a private compound off the base, where I share a house with a very nice chap. We have our own kitchen and living space, a porch with a hammock, a garden with tukul and pizza oven, and a compound cat called Rocky. For the UNMISS crew reading this, they will know exactly where I am, Melrose Place, as it is know to the expat community and the taxi drivers. As in Bamako, I have found myself a taxi driver who has a super smart car with yellow wheels (unlike in Bamako) and I pay him 150 SSP ($5) each time I go anywhere. It is a luxury, but one I am more than willing to splash out for. I have also managed to find some cool people to hang out with, including other gays, and the 9pm curfew is mitigated by pool parties at various compounds and embassies, as well as the comfort that can be found at Acacia Lodge.
Then there is Juba and South Sudan itself. I thought Bamako and Mali very underdeveloped, and this is the case, but South Sudan is even more so. In Juba there is no functioning electricity grid. At least in Bamako we did had a grid that was powered by hydroelectric dams and it did cut periodically, however, here, our compound's generator is on whenever we need electricity. It is switched off during the working day Monday to Friday unless any of us our at home. There is no refuse collection, no street names, no sewage system and official public transport. Fuel is often short supply because oil companies play politics and restrict supply and when it does come through it is not distributed fairly. My taxi guy tends to buy off the black. The only place I can pay by credit card is the PX supermarket in the UN Compound and there is not a single ATM in the country. Inflation is currently at 200% and now the South Sudanese Pound is unpegged from the dollar, it fluctuates in value constantly.
It is a bleak picture, but the one very good news recently was that the 1st Vice President Riek Machar finally returned to Juba after a long absence and as part of the latest peace agreement. A transitional government has been formed and the people seem happy with the distribution of cabinet seats. I really hope peace holds because the country desperately needs a chance to develop. The limited contact I have with South Sudanese on the street makes me a little sad as you wonder what future they have. Many of the sectors, transport, oil, and hotels are owned and run by foreigners, in particular the Ugandans, Kenyans and Ethiopians. The country has effectively been at war since 1955, with some intermissions and right now skirmishes continue in different areas of the country. The causes, a complete mix: religious differences; inter-tribal conflict; conflict over resources, including oil; and then cattle raiding. I wonder if the people of South Sudan even understand peace.
I am hopeful, unlike many a pessimistic colleague. What else can we have, or why is the international community here? Debates continue, does the UN have an effect, would the South Sudanese be better off just fighting it out themselves? You really get every opinion going here. Some are here for the money, pure and simple. I haven't decided where I stand, but I want it to work. At the end of the day peace will benefit most people, bar the few that make money from war.
As I finish this blog I have reached Kampala and I am staying with my lovely friends Ally and Kondy and their gorgeous daughter Ari. Uganda feels like a breathe of fresh air, far from perfect, you already feel like someone born here could have a good life.
That's it for now. Back to the Lady in the Van.
JJ.
I am in Entebbe, Uganda, it is the 1st of May and I am four months into my latest jaunt in Africa. I finally feel ready to write something. It is pouring with rain here as I sit on my hotel room balcony and look out over Lake Victoria, the smell of fresh rain is lovely and I almost need to put on another layer, lovely. I miss the cold. I am on what was commonly known in the UN as our R&R break (rest and recuperation). In Juba, South Sudan we get a one-week break every six weeks and this is my second one since I started the job. Having spent my first one on a lavish ski holiday in La Plagne with gorgeous friends, I am now going to explore the region a little more.
I moved to Juba at the beginning of January to take up an associate programme officer post with the United Nations Mine Action Service. It was a big leap in many respects (at least it felt that way) because I resigned from my personal assistant role in New York, a comfortable, but unchallenging position, to jump three grades and go to work in "the Field". South Sudan is considered a hardship posting and so for this reason we have R&R every six weeks, but we also get loads of extra money. The benefits kind of stop there. I am working in a team that is made up of many Brits, which is unusual, but my understanding is that mine clearance is something that we have focused on as a nation and so there are lots of UK specialists. South Africa also, apparently fields lots of deminers. I am specifically working as the public information focal point, which is great because I have finally been able to move back into an area in the UN that I was working in over seven years ago. Some people reading this job might remember that I used to "do comms" with the Child-to-Child Trust in London. Needless to say, after such a long break, I feel I am having to relearn the trade! But I also working a lot on reporting and this is something I have never really done, and skill that will be really useful.
So, to the nitty gritty, life in South Sudan. Well I am not going to pretend it has been plain sailing because it absolutely has not. In fact for the first couple of months I was quite miserable and for this reason did not really want to talk about it publicly. The one thing that I have had to become used to is a strictly enforced curfew, we all have to be tucked up in our respective homes by 9pm each night. Travel around the country is severely restricted and I can not drive around in a car unless I have second person in the car with me. I carry my radio with me everywhere and generally don't walk on the streets. Like when I relocated to New York and I was making constant comparisons with London, I have been doing the same between South Sudan and Mali. I have decided this is not helpful and does not serve a purpose. Moving forward I need to focus on the here and now and what Juba can offer. Originally I was living on the UN Base in a container, which is exactly as it sounds, a metal shipping container. I hated it, and this was compounding what was feeling like a real loss of freedom. For someone that has always been fiercely independent, adjusting to all these rules and norms of behaviour was pretty hard. Many of my colleagues are ex-military and I think this makes a huge difference because they have experience such living conditions and parametres before. For me, I just felt like my wings had been clipped. For this reason I went rogue and moved to a private compound off the base, where I share a house with a very nice chap. We have our own kitchen and living space, a porch with a hammock, a garden with tukul and pizza oven, and a compound cat called Rocky. For the UNMISS crew reading this, they will know exactly where I am, Melrose Place, as it is know to the expat community and the taxi drivers. As in Bamako, I have found myself a taxi driver who has a super smart car with yellow wheels (unlike in Bamako) and I pay him 150 SSP ($5) each time I go anywhere. It is a luxury, but one I am more than willing to splash out for. I have also managed to find some cool people to hang out with, including other gays, and the 9pm curfew is mitigated by pool parties at various compounds and embassies, as well as the comfort that can be found at Acacia Lodge.
Then there is Juba and South Sudan itself. I thought Bamako and Mali very underdeveloped, and this is the case, but South Sudan is even more so. In Juba there is no functioning electricity grid. At least in Bamako we did had a grid that was powered by hydroelectric dams and it did cut periodically, however, here, our compound's generator is on whenever we need electricity. It is switched off during the working day Monday to Friday unless any of us our at home. There is no refuse collection, no street names, no sewage system and official public transport. Fuel is often short supply because oil companies play politics and restrict supply and when it does come through it is not distributed fairly. My taxi guy tends to buy off the black. The only place I can pay by credit card is the PX supermarket in the UN Compound and there is not a single ATM in the country. Inflation is currently at 200% and now the South Sudanese Pound is unpegged from the dollar, it fluctuates in value constantly.
It is a bleak picture, but the one very good news recently was that the 1st Vice President Riek Machar finally returned to Juba after a long absence and as part of the latest peace agreement. A transitional government has been formed and the people seem happy with the distribution of cabinet seats. I really hope peace holds because the country desperately needs a chance to develop. The limited contact I have with South Sudanese on the street makes me a little sad as you wonder what future they have. Many of the sectors, transport, oil, and hotels are owned and run by foreigners, in particular the Ugandans, Kenyans and Ethiopians. The country has effectively been at war since 1955, with some intermissions and right now skirmishes continue in different areas of the country. The causes, a complete mix: religious differences; inter-tribal conflict; conflict over resources, including oil; and then cattle raiding. I wonder if the people of South Sudan even understand peace.
I am hopeful, unlike many a pessimistic colleague. What else can we have, or why is the international community here? Debates continue, does the UN have an effect, would the South Sudanese be better off just fighting it out themselves? You really get every opinion going here. Some are here for the money, pure and simple. I haven't decided where I stand, but I want it to work. At the end of the day peace will benefit most people, bar the few that make money from war.
As I finish this blog I have reached Kampala and I am staying with my lovely friends Ally and Kondy and their gorgeous daughter Ari. Uganda feels like a breathe of fresh air, far from perfect, you already feel like someone born here could have a good life.
That's it for now. Back to the Lady in the Van.
JJ.
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