wau

a light drizzle is in the air and cool breeze blowing off the nile, a welcome change to the hot humid days. a couple weeks ago, i was in the town of wau where we did an assessment on their existing water and sanitation conditions. the town is a hour and a half flight northeast from juba and we flew through a rain storm that tossed the small 19 seater around. it reminded me of a county fair ride, where you are strapped in to this cage, relying 100% on rusted bolts and a worn out lock. i fact just this past summer i was back in my hometown and for no other reason but nostalgia, went on some ride where you spin upside down - well there were times when we were hanging upside down with all of our weight pushing on the door - and of course i had to keep thinking "what if this stupid lock opens up and the door swings open"? similar thoughts crossed my mind as we bobbed around in a sea of turbulence - "what if the engine goes out and that 10 foot free fall turns into a final plummet to earth?" i think there is a term for someone who always thinks disaster is going to strike. i'm not always thinking like that...

anyway, back to wau...the airport was a small two room building in the middle of a dirt airstrip. when we arrived it was late in the afternoon and we just walked right through and into the parking lot where a man asked if we needed a taxi. we tell him where we want to go and ask to see the taxi - but he insists we first agree on a price. we go back and forth in the negotiation unit we are standing at his 'taxi' - which turns out to be a tuk tuk. fortunately we are traveling light and are able to squeeze three people into the rear seat with our bags crushed behind the seat. this tuk tuk drivers becomes a fortunate man as we decided to rent him for our assessment and he ended up driving us around wau during our stay there. and we only got one flat tire.

wau has a refreshing feel to it compared to the bigger and messier juba. juba is more aggressive, obnoxious, a heap more garbage and seemingly out of control. wau is much smaller, manageable, friendlier and no plastic bags laying around because the commissioner banned them from shops. today inhabitants have built up mud and grass tukels (huts) in between the decrepit british colonial buildings. these old remnants of days gone by, are just barely staying together, but are still used by the current gov. ministries. an old brick castle looking building sits right along the river looking like something directly out of europe - not as elaborate and impressive as the castles in france, but still seemingly out of place way out here in the middle of this vast nothingness. there are no paved roads in wau and most people get around in a tuk tuk or small vans/buses. there are donkeys and horses that pull carts to carry merchandise or haul water to residences. the airport is utilized more by the united nations and world food program planes than business or by locals. the airport also has reminders of the fighting and wars that the town and country has gone through. overall, wau is town where you can feel time slow down. the pace of the people, the heat, the surroundings, the lack of modern infrastructure - all lends itself to a laid back, "time for tea", atomosphere. i liked it.

the view of southern sudan from the window of an airplane.

graveyards and rainstorms

the rainy season hasn't quite taken hold this year, or at least not yet. there have been a few good rainy season rains, but most of short and the sun returns quickly afterwards. the other day we had a good soaking, the sort of storm only africa can produce. the rain came down hard and strong and lasted for about an hour. i was in the land cruiser when it hit - panic stricken people were racing for cover, make shift raincoats were produced out of plastic bags, people huddled in the damp shops, the dirt roads became drainage ditches and the dry stream bed suddenly were swollen with rushing water. this storm lacked the intense electricity and booming thunder that usually accompanied the storms in the congo - lightning that would raise the hair on the back of your neck and thunder that would rock the house.

the road from the office to camp is a dirt one or mud or deep puddles, depending on where you are at. there are a few particularly large and deep 'puddles' that fill up after every rain. i don't wash the vehicle so i plow through them. there is a cemetary along the road, a very large and overflowing cemetary. hold your nose!! i think i may have mentioned this place before, but it is seriously the most disgusting place i have ever seen in my entire life. it smells bad, it looks nasty and if you only knew what was in there, you would gag. last night i was driving back to camp and it was dark and as i turned, the lights illuminated several people squatting a few feet off the road, taking a shit. now, i would never want to be buried in a place where people take a shit on your grave for the rest of eternity. not only are there human excrements, but people dump garbage and (by the smell of it) animal parts. yeah the smell of rotting carcasses...some people say it's because the graves are not dug deep enough...i don't know if i believe that, although it is a good theory, i'm still convinced the smell is from the unused animal parts that are discarded. ohh and there are also dead people buried in there...and with all the motorcycle accidents and deaths, it just getting more and more crowded.

yes, the motorcycle accidents. i am almost averaging one a day since being back. some of these kids are about 10 years old, cruising on cheap chinese motos. many of the motos are a type of taxi service, they'll take you anywhere you need to go - about 5 pounds = $2.50. but with a diet very low in calories, a not so good depth perception and motorized vehicle that can go really really fast - death is just a breath away. and now with more and more paved roads in town, the accidents are just going up and up...not only because of the reasons i just mentioned, but because no one here knows how to driving a bloody vehicle.

i've set up my own in house water purification so no more plastic bottles. it's actually really simple and basic...i'm waiting for a filter..but at this point i'm using a local available water treatment tablet...one tablet in a 20 liter jerry can of water, after 30 minutes i dump the water in a water cool (igloo like thing) and have safe water. this works best of pre treated water, pretty clean water...if it is dirty water then i wouldn't trust the treatment to work 100% - for example, i would never take water directly from the nile, treat it and then drink it...only if i was about to die - actually maybe i would just die. seriously...think about that nasty graveyard and a heavy rain...yes, all water that falls on the ground is either going to infiltrate into the ground or flow over ground into a stream and then into the nile. and what the rain drops pick up along the way is washed into the stream and in the nile...so is it clear enough? the clearest way to explain it is that you are drinking shit - worse yet, someone else's shit!

man i miss rei - i really want the advanced elements kayak or some sort of water craft. there is a huge river that i live next to and have yet to get out on it. there are crocodiles in the nile (so i'm told, i never see them), but i see fisher men in their dug out canoes all the time. if they aren't getting munched, it's gotta be somewhat safe...i'm sure they would have advice on where not to go. i went kayaking in louisianna and the creek had these crazy jumping fish that would jump up out of the water and scare the living daylights out of me because i was alligator spooked.