Games Day!

A few weeks ago one of my friends organized a Games Day for one of the primary schools in Juba. 200 children in 3rd and 4th grade came out in force, and not even a passing rainshower dampened the spirits! It was a TON of fun and such a tangible way to give back to the community. Even though every day we spend our time focusing on development of Southern Sudan, often it is about the large picture and it is difficult to connect in a real, personal way. About 20 expats showed up to help, and between organizing musical chairs, potato sack races, egg and spoon races, all that good stuff, I'm not sure who had the most fun - us or the students! Below are some pictures from the event - a disproportionate number were from the egg and spoon races, because that's the one I was organizing. The highlights were the musical chairs (definitely a crowd pleaser!) and the tug of war at the end which took 25 minutes to organize and 3 1/2 seconds to do because the rope immediately snapped once the kids started pulling. I took a short video showing the students singing to thank us for the trophy we presented their School's Principal at the end of the day, but the size was 35 MB which given the speed of the internet connection in Sudan means that it would take 11 hours and 31 minutes to upload. So you'll just have to imagine the singing yourself when you look at the last picture.

Jonglei - and more pictures!

On my recent trip up to Jonglei State we stopped at one of the cattle camps by the Nile to take pictures and attempt talk to people. There are thousands of cows at these camps sprinkled throughout Southern Sudan.

The people there were great and all the men, one by one, lined up to have their photos taken with their chosen cow. Not their wives, mind you, but their cows. I really should have invested in a polaroid camera so I could leave the people with something! Imagine seeing a picture of yourself for the very first time on a digital camera, and then having it taken away.

In addition, people take ash from burning cattle dung and rub it all over themselves and the cows to keep away insects.

It turns a greyish color on the skin.

The smell is intense to say the very least. However, it was very strange when I stepped with my Crocs (yes, I wear Crocs here. Screw you if you think they're dorky.) directly into a lovely concoction of cow shit and mud. I let it go for a bit, but then before climbing back into the vehicle spent a few minutes scraping the muck off my feet and leg. Of course there were quite a few people standing around the vehicle at that point, curious at the Khawajas, and when I looked up at one point I just thought, "Huh. These people are watching me carefully scrape this stuff off of me while they go out of their way to purposefully rub it onto themselves."

It's so interesting to see the differences across the different regions of this country. How the houses (tukuls) look,

the scenery, the people, the churches,

and yes, even the cows. The large structure on the left of the photo is the house for the cows and the one on the right is for the goats. The people sleep either outside or in a small hut out back. Shows you where people's values lie!

Driving back after the cattle camp we came across millions of cows being driven up the main road. I'm telling you, there were millions! The governor of Central Equitoria state told everyone tending cattle in his state to move to Jonglei, where there is tons more room, and it is where their part of the Dinka tribe is from. So there was a mass migration north, making our 5 hour drive actually take 6.

There was a separate migration once we got closer to Juba - the Mundari tribe was moving their cattle north from Juba to Terekeka County (still in Central Equitoria State). When we passed the herds of Dinka cattle they were very orderly and well behaved. The Mundari cattle, on the other hand, were all over the place! Wandering off the road, stopping in front of the vehicle and refusing to move, and just being ornery. Maybe they missed their breakfast that morning.

Picture Post 1: Faces

Juba Market Pictures

I am working on designing/producing a nutritional guide for people living with HIV that has pictures of foods they can find in the markets in their own communities, so my team and I spent a few hours traipsing around the market taking photos of various food. Some of them came out beautifully, so here I present to you a tapestry of the Juba Market Foods. Enjoy!

Bananas. Aren't they so small and cute?

Sugar Cane - just hack off a piece with a machete and chew on it to get your sugar fix.

Cooking Oil. Thick and gross.

Cabbages (used instead of lettuce in EVERYTHING)

Avocados - the buttery kind

Bread

Tomatoes

Pineapples (always disliked pineapple until I moved to Juba - they taste SO GOOD)

Limes/lemons (depends on who you ask)

Eggplant

Typical salad. Ok this wasn't from the market, but it's pretty, no?

Dried sardines

Amaranthus (cooked like Spinach) - the dark pink flowers are called Foxtail for those of you in the US.

Hard Boiled Eggs (on-the-go snack with a pinch of salt. little girls sell these by carrying them on their heads)

Peanuts (or "groundnuts" as they are called here)

Beans

Honey from Western Equitoria sold in water bottles (notice the bee???)

Cassava roots (pounded into a gooey starchy substance and eaten with everything)

Rice

Fish (imported from Uganda - heaven forbid anything actually originate from Southern Sudan)