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.