Fieldwork: introductions, letters and patience

Hi there,

I promised at the beginning of this week I would try and post an update on my research process, et voilà. I’ve just come back from doing interviews, feeling quite happy I’ve finally have been able to start fieldwork. After all, that is why I came to Juba and South Sudan. Up to today, I had this feeling like I would never be able to start interviewing, because of the amount of recommendation letters I required or introductions I had to go through and the amount of time spend waiting in offices. But now I do feel like I’m starting to get somewhere, though I am not looking forward to transcribing my interviews.

Today I conducted my first interviews and yesterday and today I have done some observations. Two of the three interviews went really well - one will be expanded into a second interview - and I think I’ve obtained interesting information. I slightly doubt whether I will use the observations I did last Thursday in my final thesis, mostly because they do not really cover what I am trying to look for in regards to interactions with citizens. Nevertheless, it was interesting. The observations entailed going along with public health workers to the Konyo Konyo market, and to observe how they try to explain to restaurant holders there that they should take care of the hygiene of the market and of course the people visiting the area. Juba is not a clean city, you can find rubbish and garbage everywhere. The new major of Juba has issued that Juba must be a clean city by the time independence comes around, because the entire world will be watching its youngest capital. Currently, one of the major tasks for public health workers is to educate people they should clean up their trash (in other words, burn it) and not just pile it up somewhere in the neighbourhood, where it contaminates the ground and groundwater which results in the outbreak of deceases in the area. We went to such a place near Konyo Konyo as well, and I must say that place quite got to me for a moment. The smell, the mess and moreover the people going through the garbage looking for anything that can help them to survive the day – whether it be food or something else useful – is a terrible sight. I know it is something you see more often in developing countries, particularly in the slums, but it does remain difficult to observe.

In the end, it took me exactly three weeks to get to the point of actually being able to conduct interviews. In my first blog on Juba I already mentioned that there is a particular way of doing business in Africa. South Sudan is not an exception to that rule. Basically, one has to start at the highest level and then work your way down from there. For me it meant I had to get introduced to the Local Government Board, the Ministry of Local Government of Central Equatoria State, Juba County, Juba City and finally the offices of the payams I’m conducting my interviews. This entire process consist mainly of the following things; lengthy introductions, small-talk and waiting.

A general tendency of government officials here is to make you wait. And not just for an half hour as occasionally happens in the Netherlands, but for an entire morning and if you’re unlucky the entire afternoon as well. The main two reasons for this are the fact they generally don’t keep an agenda, and they like to show you that you are not that important in the grand scheme of governance. During my first visit to the Local Government Board Andy and I had to wait for over six hours before we finally met the Under Secretary. During my second visit, I waited for over four hours before hearing I had better come back the following day. At the headquarters of the City Council I had to wait an entire afternoon (though I did go back to the compound for lunch) to get an introduction with the Deputy Director of Kator Payam. I was allowed to wait with the Director General of the City Council though, and he was even kind enough to then give me a lift back to the compound after the meeting had been concluded after 6 o’clock in the evening. At the headquarters of Juba County I for instance watched with the Director-General the film Face/Off (terrible action movie with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage), while waiting for the Assistant D-G who would write my letter of recommendation for the Rajaf and Northern Bari payams.

In my previous blog I mentioned that government officials thus far express an interest in contemporary politics in the Netherlands and Dutch society. Thus far, I’ve had some enjoyable discussions on the differences between Dutch and Sudanese cultures (particularly family life and religion), football, higher education and of course the concept of conflict. South Sudan is, after all, a post-conflict society, something which is still noticeable at all levels of society. While Juba nowadays is pretty quiet, only a couple of years back gang violence and curfews were a commonality. Crime is still a major problem here, which also has to do with the fact that there are a lot of Ugandans and Kenyans here with a criminal record who have moved to Juba and set up their base here. There is still a large amount of weapons circling around in society as well. There are areas in Juba town where one can hear gunshots every night. During a discussion I had with the DG of the Ministry of Local Government the DG made the remark that there must be no violence in the Netherlands. While I did retort that we have seen some outbursts of violence in recent years (think of the first few days after the murder of Van Gogh or the situation in Culemborg in 2009), I do agree that generally within Dutch society real violence is contained, unlike here. I’ve learned once that politics is the continuation of violence by other means, and I do hope this will soon be the case for South Sudan as well. The DG then called me an idealist, but he did say South Sudan needs more of those.

Another topic that often comes up is the amount of challenges South Sudan will face after independence. Some of its major challenges are the development of industry and agriculture. Currently, South Sudan is in regard to agriculture largely dependent on neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Uganda and the north of Sudan. Most of the fruits and vegetables I buy at Konyo Konyo market come from Uganda. As a result, the prices here for fruits and vegetables are extremely high for African standards; a pineapple here costs about the same amount a pineapple in the Netherlands does. Much of the South Sudanese national income goes to export as a result. Agriculture is something South Sudan will have to invest in the next coming years in order to be more self-reliable. During a discussion I had with the DG of the City Council I mentioned mango’s might make a good export product, even if it is just for neighbouring countries. Mango’s grow here in Central Equatoria almost everywhere and here they are a lot more tasty than the ones you can buy in the Albert Heijn during the summer. Upon hearing that, the DG told me here it is likely no one here has thought about that yet. The same goes for industry. South Sudan does contain a certain amount of natural resources which are not yet being exploited (although China for instance has bought land from South Sudan for agricultural purposes, 'robbing' South Sudanese of fertile land), due to a lack of investment, technical and tactical knowledge. The country’s (and the world’s) current focus is currently on oil, also due to the political situation regarding the contested Abyei region (Abyei is located at the border between the north and the south of Sudan, and both parts claim the area because of the oil there).

Many government officials are also interested in me as a person – read, my love life. Many ask me whether I am still single, engaged or married. By now it has become a bit annoying, but I always try to make light out of it. My common reply is that I am engaged. The usual response is that I should break off the engagement and marry someone from South Sudan, or marry both my 'fiancée' in Europe and and someone else in South Sudan. Nothing wrong with a bit of polygamy here I guess. Generally I respond my ‘fiancée’ would be very jealous and probably would come to South Sudan himself to take me back to the Netherlands (and I wouldn’t mind ^^). Most of the time the matter is then settled. However, there has been one occasion I did screw up. At Kator Payam, I met this guy in the Office of the Deputy Director, who asked me whether I was still single or married. I responded with the usual, to which this guy replied he would like to be my fiancée as well. My response was that my fiancée back home probably would have a problem with that, to which his response was he didn’t care and I shouldn’t either. I told him I did care and with that I considered the matter settled. Later that day, upon returning to the headquarters of Kator payam I discovered that this guy was in fact the head of security of the payam and the person I had to talk to if I wanted to conduct interviews with local security officers. When I went see him to ask whether he would be willing to introduce me to some of his officers, the first thing I got back was “No, I don’t have the time and my duties are far more important than yours.” In short words, you insulted me so now I will not assist you in any way. I am still frustrated with that, because, hell, what does one expect to hear when someone tells you they are already seeing someone and very much in love with that person? The guy knew I’m bloody Dutch and thus have a different sense of commitment.

Oh well, in the end it’s not like I didn’t get to do the interviews I had been hoping for, and I do feel I should try and stay away from interviewing local police and security officers. It’s just that these kind of things (including the waiting) had been slowly starting to get under my skin. Fortunately, today is Friday, which means the weekend is just around the corner.

Tonight, the plan is to go dancing in Queen of Sheba (and seriously, I need to go out and dance). Tomorrow I am planning to visit some of the nicer areas at the riverbank and a cultural centre. Sunday I will probably spent the entire day working on my thesis and the ‘joy’ of transcribing interviews. Oh well, it still beats SPSS or any other form of quantitative research ^^.

Love,

Anika


Ps. The pictures I’ve added are mostly of government buildings I have visited thus far (note the differences between those of the Dutch government) and two pictures of my observations near Konyo Konyo Market.

Pps. A couple of days back I found this article on Juba as the newest ‘booming capital’. It was published just after the results of the referendum were announced, but the descriptions of the current developments in Juba and tone are rather comparable to my own feelings and sentiments regarding our newest capital:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0131/As-South-Sudan-clears-another-milestone-for-independence-its-capital-booms