ngolo: the places we go between beers

The air conditioner in the land cruiser wasn’t blowing out cool air, outside the air was stifling, a fan moving hot oven air. With the window rolled down, sweat drenched back, the hot air blowing through the windows, we speed over dusty roads to the next project site. This year we’ll be constructing local government headquarters so that they will be able to better function and communicate with neighboring groups, to solve conflicts before they escalate too much, etc. We are operating along the Dink@a and Neu#r fault line. Our projects are where there has been or has potential for conflict. While there has been recent progress in bring the two together and examples of interactions, there remains a long history as well as recent history of distrust and conflicts. Recent raids were said to have been of a rouge group and not representative of the majority. There have been a few situations recently along the fault line that have been quickly dismissed as isolated or rouge and nothing serious. Attempts are being made to keep things under control. Life here is balancing on a razor edge and one wrong move, one cattle raid, one death could erupt into violence, opening flood gates of past grievances and severe setback to years of effort to attempt to stabilize the region. While in Amok#piny for the second time, this time to confirm the location of our construction, there were youth that had walked from Pany#ijar, where we had been a couple days ago where a similar project is being implemented. While there are issues, it appears that there is also acceptance and interaction.

Living for years under generalizations, stereotypes and holding to a tradition of revenge, the enemy has no face. After standing face to face with the enemy and seeing that they are not much different than you, who knows what can transpire…I guess it could go either way, a spear in the back or some sort of mutual understanding and friendship.

in nya@l, unity state...

kids being kids making obscene gestures for the camera.

baboons along the panyij#ar road

Not many others working in these areas, so we don’t see many other people other than those who live in the villages. It feels remote although on a day trip we can be back in a Rumb#ek soaking in a pool and washing the dust down with a cold tusker. The strange irony or contradiction of this place. Certainly makes the hot, no air con, drive a bit more tolerable with that end in mind. For the multiple day trips, the light at the end of the tunnel is just a bit further away.

The night under the Panyi#jar sky is amazing, especially the other night when the moon was hover directly above my tent. Being that it is dry season, no rain tarp was necessary only the mesh to keep out the blood thirsty mosquitoes. Hyenas howled in the distance and dogs would echo barks from time to time. The rosters were sure you awoke at the first break of dawn, a cool refreshing dawn prior to the sun’s full appearance.

in amokpin#y (two days later), cattle and people at the local borehole.

we were at the site to confirm the location for construction, along on the trip is the paramount chief and the county commissioner.

a highly technical pose after determining the best location for the building...there is a police HQ nearby which is not shown, but our building will be the second building for miles, the foundation of a village center. the village is now spread around in the bush, grass and mud huts. a new road also be constructed to this location and then onward to panyi#jar. one would think you could build anywhere, but without the consent of the right people, there is bound to be someone show up mid way through a project and claim the land is his, leading to a lot of problems. bringing the right people to the site, minimizes this to the greatest extent feasible, but there remain traditional land rights.