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.
