So, in Bari Kakwa, the word ‘Anika’ means 'ours'?

Salam alykoum!
(means ‘hi’)

After two-and-a-half weeks I am starting to recognise some of the Juba Arabic (which serves as a sort of lingua franca here) people shout at me when I cross a street in Juba Town or take a walk in Munuki payam. ‘Khawaja’ is the most common phrase, meaning ‘white lady’. Particularly children use the word to gain my attention, and according to one of the ladies from the local shop where I do my grocery shopping, I am the neighbourhoods’ most favorite khawaja. Then again, I am the only khawaja currently living in the neighbourhood, so I suspect her to be slightly biased (not taking into account Andy from VNG, who’s British and people refer to as ‘muzungu’, which is Swahili for ‘white man’). I am afraid I still can’t hold a basic conversation in Arabic (though I do know how to ask for directions), so currently my free time is either spend drawing or trying to memorise the list of basic Arabic words and phrases. The latter is something I can perfectly do next to the pool of Juba Jebel Lodge, where I spent quite a few hours yesterday, just relaxing and occasionally taking a swim. I did miss swimming, almost as much as riding a bicycle.

Again, it’s little over a week since I posted the last entry of my blog, and I promise to do better next time. Going over my notes from the last couple of days, I could probably write at least three entries, including one on the time consuming process of digging your way through South Sudanese bureaucracy. It is an interesting process though, mostly due to the conversations I have with different people. Generally, favorite topics of discussion are the Netherlands and its current political climate, Dutch society with all its quirks and whether I would like to come back to work in South Sudan after I graduate. During one of these conversations someone at Juba County told me that my name apparently means ‘ours’ in Bari Kakwa, one of the many languages spoken in the South. The Director-general of the Ministry of Local Government confirmed this, as well as one of the people from ICCO (according to him, there is even a restaurant in Kampala called ‘Anika’, I have no idea how I could have missed that!). As a result, Christopher the ICCO driver now calls me ‘sister of Africa’, and others are starting to take up on that. I do feel flattered by it, though the fact I still prefer to eat with a knife and fork clearly demonstrates I still have a long way to go ^^.

The research is getting along, despite the minor setback of managing to get sick last Wednesday. No worries though, I suspect I had eaten some bread which I shouldn’t have and because I hadn’t been particularly hungry the day before, my stomach decided to rebel. Thankfully, that only lasted a day. If it hadn’t, I would have gone to the hospital for a check-up. That is one of the major differences with the Netherlands and Western Europe in general; while back home one is not easily worried by an upset stomach or a day of feeling miserable, here you immediately have to take into account you might have gotten infected with some serious deceases such as typhoid or malaria. While I do take Lariam once a week, there is no 100 percent guarantee of being protected against malaria, which is a huge problem here in Sudan. But as I said, no worries, the next day I was as right as rain and even able to join some people I’ve met at the Havana for pizza and salsa dancing.

Between the numerous (and lengthy) visitations to the Ministry of Local Government and the headquarters of Juba County, I’ve managed to explore some of the nicer areas of Juba. I have not been able to do the grand tour on the boda yet, hopefully I’ll do that the coming weekend. While Juba does remain a mixture of luxury and ruin to my eyes, it is clearly noticeable the town is engaged in a full-scale development process, trying to improve its infrastructure and accommodations for both native residents and guests. In Juba, one of the nicest areas is located right next to the riverbank. In my previous blog I have written that there are quite a few hotel camps located at the river bank, such as Sunflower, one of the many hotels there I have been able to visit. Juba heat can be smoldering, and don’t be fooled by the temperatures on my blog; the past week the temperature was a steady 40 degrees. But at the river bank the temperature is a bit more comfortable and the view is quite breathtaking. At Sunflower I enjoyed a nice drink with a development worker of SNV, discussing current developments in South Sudan while watching cargo vessels and small boats moving up and own the Nile (some of the pictures I posted along with my previous blog were taken at Sunflower). However, it is not easy to forget that only fifty meters away one of Juba's many slum areas is located, forming again the typical contrast of poverty and luxury.

Not located at the Nile, but in a quiet spot with some nice shading, is De’ Havana, a partly outdoors restaurant in Cuban style. It reminded me of the Havana back in Utrecht, or the Havana in The Hague, mostly due to the Latin music, lousy waitresses and a mixture of Western expats, Sudanese and other folk dressed up for a night of dancing. The major difference was the absence of a bouncer pretending to have never seen you before. There were bouncers though, but they’ll let anyone arriving with a NGO jeep enter the place. Unfortunately there was no salsa dancing due to the rains that evening, but I’m quite sure I’ll be visiting the Havana more often the coming months.

Another interesting place I went to is Home and Away. I met thesis mysupervisor there who had just come back from the elections in Northern Kordofan. It was nice, being able to discuss my research in depth and our talk did give me a some more confidence in regards to my interview topic list. Home and Away itself is a Thai business centre, and at the restaurant you can get delicious sandwiches and freshly made pineapple juice. Sitting there, I got the feeling of sitting in the Market Dome of a Center Parcs vacation park. Though I did straighten my back a little bit when I heard it is – besides the fact it’s a place famous for its sandwiches – one of the major strongholds of the SPLA/M. Apparently, the highest ranking members of the SPLA/M often come there for lunch, dinner and/or drinks and whenever the President organises a party, he hires the entire centre. I suppose it’s always good to know where you just might run into the President or other high ranking members of government and the armed forces (I’ve already managed to meet two Ministers, with any luck I might meet the Mayor of Juba today).

Finally, there is Juba Jebel Lodge, near the only mountain in the entire area surrounding Juba town. That hotel is currently my favorite spot, due to its wonderful swimming pool. While the pool is waaay too small for a fervent swimmer like myself, it is a good place to relax. It gave me a tropical feeling and I’ve managed to make some new friends with whom I’ll be exploring other interesting parts of Juba the next coming days. Might have made some enemies as well, because I beat quite a lot of people in the swimming matches that were being held between the pools’ visitors. While going to the swimming pool is a bit expensive (30 Sudanese pound) I’ll probably go there more often.

Life at the compound is enjoyable as well. Currently, the place is very crowded due to preparations for the start of a training programme on local governance that is being carried out by both ICCO and VNG International. It’s interesting to observe the programme from the perspective of a future practitioner of conflict resolution programmes. It is a great learnng experience to see how such a programme on building local governance is being implemented by organisations such as VNG and ICCO. Because of the large crowd, we organised a BBQ last Sunday, which consisted of roasted goat, beer and gin and not necessarily in that order. I’ve included one picture of what a BBQ with roasted goat looks like, because we’re planning for another one coming Sunday, and one of the guys living here at the compound has promised me to show me what the process of roasting a goat entails. Thus far I have gathered it includes clobbering, beheading and skinning the goat. Luckily, I am not that squeamish in regards to blood, and I will admit I am slightly curious. A bit less enjoyable about the current amount of people staying here is that we’ve already reached our internet limit for this month. That means that the use of Skype, MSN and listening to web radio needs to be cut back extensively. Downloading is also prohibited. I’m just glad I have enough music from my favorite artists on my laptop and I’ve taken up drawing here, both which will keep me entertained for a while.

Raining season finally seems to start as well. The rains start to come more often now, and rains here are heavy and involve a lot of thunder and lightning. I think it’s marvelous and impressive to look at.

This week I should be able to start interviewing the local public civil servants I’m aiming at. With any luck I’ll be able to post an extensive blog on my research process somewhere this week.

With love,

Anika