CHRISTMAS VACATION!

I'm really excited. Mostly because I found this cartoon drawing of a dog in a Santa hat. And. IT LOOKS JUST LIKE OUR COMPOUND DOG.

So obviously I put it in my email christmas card to my South Sudanese colleagues.
...

I'm not sure they get it.

It's looking like Christmas!

So... we're doing what we can to get into the holiday season. It may be 45C outside, but with some Bing Crosby and some creative takes on mistletoe and BAM! Instant X-Mas.

We're number 2! We're number 2! (for insecurity... yeah!)

Lovely to be back from R&R. I spent 2 weeks in the Europe eating and drinking all the things. I think I visited every H&M on the continent to replace my wardrobe that has slowly eroded into nothing over the last seven months. Have to be well dressed to face Lakes State's recent promotion to second most insecure area!

When I left RBK there were altercations with the police and wildlife services over cut in pay. Without going into details, the event was a lot worse than what the media makes it out to be (*cough* there is absolutely no suppression of the media here). I've returned to something a bit worse.

Currently it is the season for traditional dancing and gatherings. Which on the surface is really cool. There are a lot of cattle keepers in town, there are a lot of flags and singing and dancing and running and drumming etc etc. But there are also a lot of guns. There have been shootings everyday at schools, on the street, late at night. There have also been a number of break ins to businesses, kidnappings and threats to business owners, and systemic attacks against East Africans and South Sudanese that are not from Lakes (Lakes is also just getting over a malaria epidemic and  MASSIVE floods that displaced an estimated 23,000 people in Awerial County in Lakes).

Next week salaries are released again. There is still no money to pay the armed services their full salaries. We've also been informed that the SPLA may not get their full salaries either - which may make them a bit peeved. They were the only government body to be paid, in full (or at all) since the beginning of austerity measures. This place will be one to watch. 

FORTUNATELY, the Sudanese and South Sudanese executives have agreed on enough to start the oil  flowing again and solve some of the citizenship issues. This will still take 6 months for any revenues, but they will both be eligible for loans. There's also a rumour that the Qataries threw a few hundred million dollars into the pot to help float this place (and promptly decrease the already artificially low exchange rate... sigh...). So I hope everything will calm down a bit and everyone can get paid. What the deal did not do is tough the disputed territories on the borded of the North and South. Nor did it discuss how the North is air dropping arms into Jonglei State, or how the South is turning a blind eye to militias operating openly out of Unity State. But foreign enemies are a nice distraction from the internal issues that both countries face. So I guess they may not want to clean these up too quickly?

 

Long story short. South Sudan. One to watch?

Cows for Schools

I was really happy to read this great initiative from the government of Unity State in South Sudan. They are selling cows to fund school construction. It may not come across as a big deal - selling property or investments to pay for construction projects - but I'm not sure that people outside South Sudan understand the significance of THE COW.

Cows are taken pretty seriously here. Almost everyone is named after a type of cow. Much like the Inuit have hundreds of words of snow, the Dinka and Nuer have hundreds of names for Cows. I myself have 3 Dinka names (and counting!): Allual (Red cow - I got this one when I arrived. I was likely fairly red), Yar (White Cow) and and Akuor (White Cow with a Black Spot over the Eye). Cows are also the economy here. You cannot get married without paying for your wife in cows (where I live... many cows), people measure their wealth in cows, and in some areas people will starve rather than kill a cow for food. A good looking cow can fetch you well over $1000, so 30 cows can go quite far.

South Sudan has one of the lowest literacy rates and school enrollment rates in the world. They are in desperate need of schools (and teachers... and teachers being paid). They're budget also relies very heavily on international donors and the work of aid agencies to provide almost all basic services. With aid budgets shrinking, there is less money for school construction funding by the international community. Moreover donors would like to see the government starting to take responsibility for the costs partially or in full. To be frank, it unfortunately rare to have governments here willing to support footing the bill even partially for projects.

As many know, earlier this year ROSS shut down oil production over borders disputes and transfer fees with Sudan. Now that ROSS has essentially no money -  the Government is enforcing austerity measures. They are cutting the civil service (or just not paying them - ministry staff I work with have not been paid in 2 months), reducing or halting projects etc etc. This leaves the average man, woman, child out in an even more vulnerable spot, with even fewer services.

Which is why I'm pretty impressed with the government in Unity State. I think they are setting a good example for the rest of the country. Well done.

Happy Olympics!

The Olympics have started! Congratulations to Guor Marial! The first athlete to compete in the games for South Sudan in the marathon. Well - under the Olympic Flag. South Sudan doesn't have a national olympic committee yet. But he's still there!

He has a pretty amazing story and he will surely make South Sudan proud.



(and go Canada too!)

End of an era at Juba Airport

Ladies and gentlemen, gone are the days that one can literally lounge in an airport lounge. Juba Airport took lounging seriously, filling the departure area with large, bulky, comfortable (albeit smelly and sticky) sofas accompanied with coffee tables (of course!) arranged around the one airconditioner and television set.

But this is no more.

Juba is a real international airport. In a real new country. Two out of the three baggage scanners work! (the other just gets in the way in the arrivals area... but that is another post for another day)

The lounge is now filled with practical seating for many. The television remains.

In other news, here are two interesting opposing views on pressure groups and South Sudanese independence from Reuters and Foreign Policy.

Happy Birthday South Sudan!!!

Hope you have a lovely day! And you fix your economy!
xox

No sticks, no spears, no fun!

Cueibet County in Lakes State (where I work), has banned sticks, and spears in town. Although I feel people should be able to make their own decisions, spears are pretty common and dangerous.

This isn't all that was banned.

"Malek’s order also banned people from using playing cards, normally under trees, during working hours, making it a prosecutable offence."

No fun city. Next comes dancing and music.

#DontCoverItUp (PSA on Domestic Violence)

Lauren Luke is a make up artist in the UK. She does instructional make-up videos for the Guardian Newspaper. She has taken part in a powerful campaign by Refuge, a UK charity that provides safe houses and support for women and children survivors of Domestic Violence. 

Please note that this video does not contain violence, but may be a trigger.

Arming South Sudan

There is a new report from Amnesty International accusing China, Ukraine and Russia of fueling conflict in South Sudan by arming both the army - the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) -  and the militia groups, the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA).

Amnesty says it has documented human rights violations by both these groups using brand new weapons, and asks that the countries listed above (and others) stop sending weapons to groups (or countries) that cannot guarantee the weapons will not be used to carry our human rights violations.

The SPLA has called the report "bias" and "unrealistic" of course.

Policy Brief on Female Police Staff Associations and Gender Sensitive Police Reform

The North-South Institute has a policy brief out on Female Staff Associations in West Africa and their contributions to Gender Sensitive Police Reform called Freedom Through Association: Realizing the Potential of West Africa's Female Police Staff Associations. 

Nairobi Eye - or Fly is the worst!

This ant is neither an Eye or a Fly. But it smears acid when you hit it, causing blisters and burns.

Pleasant.

I really thought I had a strange disease. Something off of house like amoeba of the brain.

Nope. Just an acid spewing ant.

What's in a name anyways?

My last flight up to Rumbek, I was placed on a milk run that had me stopping in Bor and Mabior in Jonglei State, before going to Rumbek. Lakes State.

One would assume a state of many lakes?

I had noticed on the ground a lack of visible, natural, bodies of water in the state, but it wasn't until I was airborne that I realised that every other state in South Sudan must have more visible bodies of water than Lakes State.

Also - this is not helping calm war rhetoric. 

My that's a big bag you have?

Do you really need that much stuff for one week?

I have heard this a lot in Juba. I went down for a week with my 70L backpack. Admittedly it was a bit too big of a bag coming down. But it was only 1/3 full. I'd brought it with a purpose. To bring back food. 

I'd made the fatale flaw of not booking extra cargo for food when I first moved up. (NB: I don't actually mean "food". I mean chocolate, cookies, nuts, gum, cheese etc.) I went to the grocery store, took note of what I needed to get and then figured I’d have people bring stuff up to me, or I could stock up later.

Wrong.

When I went back to find this.

Instead I got this.

Clearly I hadn’t learned from the Great Iraqi Diet Coke Shortage of 2008. Where foreign workers would drive to the borders of Turkey, Syria and Iran if they heard so much as a rumour that a shop owner had a spare flat of the silver bullet.

The rule is: If you see something you think could be a rare commodity… like Special K  - or in my case McVities Digestives – YOU BUY ALL OF THEM BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT WILL COME BACK.

So I went to the store and bought everything. 

And that is why my bag is so big. 

How did I just learn about this?

What Should Africa Call Me? 

Aaaaaand the UN is threatening non-military sanctions... which I'm sure both sides are really concerned about, judging by the tank I saw loaded on a boat heading north at Juba Port.

Sanctionz. Vrrryyy Srrrrrrssssssss.

Eating my way through Juba

ZOMG I had ice cream, and chicken caesar salad, and thai food, and baguette, and a burger with avocado and bacon on it. I think I'll reach my goal of gaining 10lbs.

But other than the food, Juba is kind of an insane city full of awful prefab.

I kind of miss Rumbek?!

See you tomorrow cows!

oh ya. and this. #PissingContest

Yes. This will solve all the world's problems.

Angelina Jolie is now an official ambassador for more than just good will, reports UNHCR.

We will now have world peace.

This isn't a bad explanation

of stuff that is going on here from Al Jazeera.

There is more than one way...

A week or so back Erin In Juba had a post on goat transportation.

Which I thought was pretty clever. And an excellent use of resources.

It turns out this innovative form of transportation has caught on. Not only moving goats... but SPLA officers as well.

If the bulldozer is going somewhere, and not carrying anything, I guess why not? Although I think they should look into wearing hardhats. 

Shoe Shopping in the Market

Any in purple? Size 6?

Ethics of the Compound Dog

So you come home one evening from the expat bar to find an adorable little flea bag underneath your guard's chair. You know shouldn't keep it, but it looks so frail. So adorable. And heck, it may die anyways, so what's the harm in giving it some of your extremely difficult to find (so must buy all of it at once) UHT milk? Right?

All the sudden you're sourcing deworming pills, taking advantage of your proximity to VSF, and feeding the thing better than yourself. I grew up with dogs. I've always wanted one of my own, but knew that working in humanitarian contexts for the time being, that I likely would not have a dog for a while. I'd felt funny about taking in a dog while working abroad because I wasn't sure how I felt on the moral spectrum. We had a compound dog when I worked in Baghdad, but it belonged to the boss... and went back to the States with the boss when she left. I know that is not an option for me.

There are two camps on the issue.

Unethical/What the hell are you thinking?!: "Who's going to take care of the dog when you're gone?"/ "You're not equipping it for life outside the compound if the guards let it go."/ "There have been too many expat + dog stories that end in disaster."/ "Your dog is going to get rabies and bite you. I'm going to say I told you so."

Not the best choice you can make with your life, but it's nice to have a dog: Ok so no one says "YES GET A DOG!!!", but a lot of people who have dogs in the field take the point of view that for 1, 2, 3 years a dog that may not have cut it in the wild gets a pretty good life. There is a chance that the dog will be adopted by others that live on the compound or another aidworker after you go as well. Some do actually go home with workers, although this maybe so complex from South Sudan, that our dog probably will not have that option.

There is a recognition that is selfish, but...

Dewormed, and fattened up. Who could say scram to this face?

Oy gevalt. Welcome to the family Kapir.

*Stuff Expat Aidworkers Like has a much funnier post about this. 

Hello South Sudan!

I've left the comforts of Ottawa to rejoin field life. Working in policy research is a different kind of challenging, and although I really appreciated the experience, I was beginning to become rather bored. It was really hard to break out of a programming mentality and focus on academia.

On a field research trip I realised - when interviewing NGOs and CSOs - that I was incredibly homesick for projects, and programs, and "doing things". This feeling translated into my work when I returned to Canada, leaving me desperate to get back to implementing and designing projects rather than researching policy alternatives. I needed to get back to there. Not necessarily "in the field", but back in that line of work.

Policy research is extremely important, and I have been so fortunate to have the experience, but there are so many people that are academically focused and would have killed for my job. I, on the other hand, saw it as a stepping stone to gaining experience in a niche area.

So I'm back with the old org. Back in the thick of it. No longer in the Middle East, but in East Africa.

Hello South Sudan!

CIDA and CSR

I don't know enough about this topic to comment adequately. But I know that CIDA's new corporate social responsibility strategy - funding corporations' CSR programs - is controversial, particularly when CIDA is cutting funding to NGOs.

CBC's The Current does a much better job at looking at the debate. Today's program devotes a half hour to this topic. You can listen to it on their Past Episodes page.  

What's it like doing humanitarian assistance in conflict affected contexts?

CBC's "The Current" had a half-hour documentary today looking at the experiences of three aid workers with Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors Without Borders). You can listen to the podcast version here. Or go to the Current`s website to see past episodes.

If it's not for you - it's ok to get out

I have a couple of posts about how to get into aid work. I've been invited to speak on a couple of occasions to university students and to young people about aid work.  Most of the questions are about how to break in.

I usually try to stay pretty positive, but realistic – not mincing words about how much you may need to schlep before you “break in”. I have warned people looking at this field of work of the difficulties they may face – namely that the work may not be for the a) faint of heart or b) easily annoyed. I had not thought – however- to tell people that it is ok to quit. And more importantly, that it will not ruin your career. The message is important, and not one I’d thought sharing before.

Alanna Shaikh at Blood and Milk wrote a post on quitting the Peace Corps back in November.  I had wanted to post this for a while. It think it is an extremely important message – not just for Peace Corps volunteers, but anyone heading off on a longer term volunteer/internship program that really would like to take on a career in humanitarian aid and development. In Canada this could be CUSO VSO or the International Youth Internship Program which comparably throws you out of your comfort zone. The position could be wrong for you. You may feel isolated, lonely, homesick or worse, unsafe. There are a number of reasons why this particular position may not be the right fit - it doesn't mean that your not cut out for aid and/or development work. 

I wish someone had said this to me. I had an internship where the head of the office was verbally abusive to all staff, and physically abusive to some. There were times where I actually thought I was in physical danger. Colleagues were physically ill with stress when he was in the office. But I did not think I could quit because I worried that I would not have another shot at an international internship or job. So I stuck it out and eventually was moved. I know now that I likely could have jumped ship and started over. I may have taken a different path, but I could still have worked in the same field.

So I have taken note. I’m sharing the post. And in the future I will be sure to mention that it is ok to quit.