Getting used to Juba: this might take a while

Hi there,

I know it has been a while (I warned everyone beforehand, keeping a blog is quite a challenge for someone like me). It’s been slightly more than a week since I've arrived in Juba. Between arriving on last Thursday and writing this, my mood has switched from a feeling of excitement, to one of complete loss, to frustration, and finally to a current feeling of I daresay contentment. Before I left the Netherlands, someone told me Juba is a very unique experience, even for African standards. The person in question warned me that the first days in Juba could be quite challenging. I did expect Juba would be very different from other African capitals (such as Nairobi or Kampala), in regards to its state of development, and I did prepare myself to feel a bit off for the first few days I would be here. Not so much luck though. Culture shock is the wrong phrase for it. A sense of being completely disconnected to Juba and its society would be a better description.

Arriving at Juba Airport is already an experience in itself. Juba Airport consists of two terminals (together I suspect not much larger than ‘t Neude in Utrecht). Upon arrival, I was ordered to go to a small desk in the left corner of the terminal to officially get clearance for entering South Sudan. After that I had to go to one of the security officers, to have my luggage checked. This process must be repeated after your luggage has arrived from the airplane. Juba Airport does not have band conveyors. Instead, they throw your luggage onto the ground inside the terminal and people just dive onto the heap of suitcases and backpacks in order to retrieve their possessions. It’s quite an interesting process, also because luggage often gets left behind at the airport of departure, because only small airplanes fly to Juba. One can imagine I was quite relieved upon seeing my backpack being tossed into the terminal. I would have made pictures of the entire process, however taking pictures is a very sensitive issue in South Sudan, and you are not allowed to take any pictures of governmental buildings/areas whatsoever.

At the Airport I was picked up by Christopher, the driver of ICCO here in Juba. From there we drove to the ICCO compound in the Munuki payam (located north of Juba Town). At the ICCO compound I received a warm welcome from the staff currently working there. I have been given an entire house – consisting of three bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and kitchen – to myself, though I had to wait for two days to have gas installed in my kitchen. It took another day for Jamal (the caretaker of the compound) to install a fridge in my kitchen as well.

I’ll write more extensively on living at the ICCO compound some other time, but for now it is sufficient to say it is a very nice place. The compound consists of several houses, where the ICCO staff and guests live, an office where you can work for seven days a week, from 8am to 6pm, a general kitchen where we all eat lunch together and we have several huge mango trees which we’ll be able to harvest from in a couple of weeks or so. The internet access here is great, both at the office and at the house. The compound is located right in the middle of Munuki payam. A payam is the Sudanese equivalent of a Dutch ‘wijk’. The area surrounding the compound consists mostly of small houses build from wood or concrete and some small local shops which sell water, fruits, vegetables and other basic necessities. It’s a relative quiet area, though we do have to lock all doors and bars every evening and on top of all the walls surrounding the compound there is a huge amount of barbed wire (prikkeldraad). Last year, the Munuki payam experienced some gang violence (one of the general problems in contemporary Juba), which explains all of the precautions.

Upon arrival, my first impression of Juba was one of poverty and ruin. Broken down or make shift buildings of wood or deck slabs dominate all roads leading to Juba Town. Broken down buildings dominate large parts of Juba town as well, including the area where several governmental institutions are located. While some governmental institutions – such as the Parliament or the national Ministry of Industry - are located in nice looking buildings, others are located in run-down buildings or even large tents, such as the National Ministry of Sports. One must understand that during the civil war, Juba was a government held area where only a large garrison was stationed. After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, it was not even meant to become the capital of Southern Sudan. That only changed because John Garang, the former leader of the SPLA and President of Southern Sudan, is buried here in Juba.

To me, it seems like the most impressive buildings are either the more luxurious hotels or compounds belonging to the enormous amount of international development organisations that are present in Juba. Currently, more than twenty large hotels are located in Juba, along with some hotel camps next to the Nile where you can stay for 100 USD a night. Juba clearly is still at its beginning stage of development, which the first days I was here made me feel quite detached from my surroundings. I really felt like I had to let go of my internal concept of a capital and have been forced to accept this new concept that is Juba. By now I’ve gotten used to diverse sights of ruin and luxury, though.

One major difference with cities like Kampala is that Juba has no buildings higher than three floors up. And unlike Kampala, Juba Town only has about six major roads that are made up from asphalt concrete. The rest of the roads are made out of sand, dirt, bumps and holes. Another difference is the vegetation. Juba is not as tropical like Kampala. While we do have trees, bushes etc. here, particularly in Munuki payam, Juba overall has far less vegetation. The heat here is different as well, and less easy to get used to. People here are similar to people I came across with in Kampala, in the sense that I, as a white woman, do tend to stand out in the crowd when shopping at Konyo Konyo market (one of the two markets here in Juba, which will be demolished soon in order to build a new and modern market place after independence). The ‘How are you sister?’; ‘I’m fine, thank you, how are you?’ conversations are quite familiar, as are matatu’s and boda’s stopping in front of you every five seconds because the driver thinks you’re pretty. Yet, people are different here, mostly due to the current state of development of Juba and the current political situation. With independence only two months away, Juba does not feel like it’s excited about upcoming events. Instead, it feels like people are wary and waiting to see what will happen, and are preparing themselves for a brand new day for but also for potential disaster. Despite this tension, I do feel quite safe, walking around by myself in Juba Town or in Munuki. Thus far, most conversations I’ve had with people have been pleasant. Only one guy tried to start an argument with me when I, at the request of some of the children here in the neighbourhood, took some pictures of them. Apparently, the man is considered to be the local lunatic, because after one minute a dozen mothers interfered and told him to shut it. In the payam most people speak Arabic, which makes conversing with people sometimes a bit difficult. Thus far, several people living in the neighbourhood have offered to teach me Arabic, which is actually not a bad idea.

I’ll be the first to admit the first four days were difficult, though working on my thesis and support from some of the staff of ICCO did help to make me feel more settled. On Saturday, Yvonne, a member of the ICCO staff, took me along with her to the Queens day party of the Dutch liaison office. The party itself was rather boring, mostly because the only people present were Dutch investors, diplomats and some lost development aid workers and we had to listen to typical Dutch music from Jan Smit, Andre Hazes and so on. In the two hours I was there, I only heard one song from Bløf and none from my favorite Dutch artists, like Boudewijn de Groot or Herman van Veen. But they served bitterballen, which was hilarious, and the place they held the party (Central Parc) was nice, giving me a sense there was more to Juba than I had seen thus far.

Working on my thesis (I’ve finally finished my theoretical framework and currently I am working on my topic list) helps me getting settled as well. Last Friday, one day after I arrived, Andy from VNG International took me with him to see the Under Secretary of the Local Government Board (LGB) in order to get a letter of recommendation from him that I can take with me to the Commissioner of Juba County. Last Tuesday, I also was allowed to come along to meet the Director General of the Ministry of Local Government of Central Equatoria State, of whom I will also receive a letter of recommendation next Monday. We shall see if that’s really the case. When I met Under Secretary of the LGB, he promised me there would be letter for me ready last Monday. In practice, I had to visit the LGB three times and usually had to wait there for at least six hours before learning my letter would be dealt with the following day. In the end I’ve written the letter myself on the computer of the Director of Programmes of the LGB and printed it myself as well in order to get it signed and stamped. That was yesterday. And while this is the typical way Sudanese do business, it does get on my nerves. I remember posting the following message on Facebook last Thursday, after an unsuccessful outing to the LGB:

‘Just when I thought I was starting to get used to the Sudanese way of doing just about everything, I've come to realise I really miss the efficiency and pragmatic mentality of the Dutch (bureaucracy).’

Oh well. I’ve already concluded on Facebook as well that those who are patient will be rewarded ^^.

Health is still good by the way, and the mosquitoes here are actually less active than those in Kampala. Flies are a bit of a different story, but those are easily taken care of. Hopefully, the next update will not take as long as this one did. If it does, I might be adapting the African way of doing things faster than I suspected.

Love,

Anika


Ps. Only posting a couple of pictures this time, just to give a small impression of Juba and the Queens day party I went to. Next time I’ll post a lot more pictures, I promise!