Juba by the Nile in Southern Sudan
 

His Excellency - We were, to say the least, really taken by surprise, my colleague and I, by this opening statement from the Minister of Transport and Roads, His Excellency Mr Anthony Makana. We had just finished the round of presentations of some 30 air operators present, among them several major airlines, who were all called upon to meet with the Minister, when he rises and in a relaxed tone starts showering praise over MAF!

No Bribes Please! - Juba International Airport was quite devastated after the war, he continued. We've done what we could with our limited resources, but as you all know, we would have liked to do a lot more. Landing fees, which some of you think are high, are diverted to Khartoum and we hardly get anything in return! 

    - So now to why I have called upon you: How can we improve things? Please let me hear from you. Which are your problems and what are your suggestions. And please, let me stress once more – Do not pay bribes!

Chris from Japan visiting his field worker Mai who is involved with HIV-prevention near the border to Ethiopia.  

Omplanering -For a couple of months I've been called to spend every two weeks to help out at the MAF office in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan. The mobile phones are ringing almost constantly. There is a steady stream of inbox e-mail correspondence regarding flights and requests and potential customers knocking at the gate. We could certainly respond to more of the needs if only we had the resources! For a whole week, heavy rains which made many airstrips unusable, wrought havoc in our planning and we kept re-organising the schedule all the time in order to optimize and try to catch up on the back-log of flights. Thankfully we're able to place 2 Caravans full time in Juba as of next week.

Satellite pictures help us locate the rains and thunderstorms. Here is an extended area of heavy rain over Southern Sudan.

The black gold at any cost! -

Medair is one of many organisations in Sudan which we fly on a weekly basis. They run a big hospital and an extensive primary health care in Melut, far north in the Southern Sudan area. Our landing site there is Paloich, one of many sites in Southern Sudan where the ”black gold” is extracted. 

    During the war, government troops from Khartoum forced many tens of thousands of residents to leave their homes and land in order to make way for the oil prospectors. Many succumbed as a result and to this day no compensation has been offered to the victims whose homes and land were expropriated. 

    Sudan's oil production will soon reach 1 million barrels a day. Will the revenue of these resources, found by and large in the south, ever be justly distributed? The referendum about a possible secession of the South, scheduled to be held early next year, will no doubt be a decisive moment regarding the future control of the oil wealth. What will be the consequences of a secession? It's quite evident what the majority of the people in the south are saying, as big billboards around the city of Juba clearly speaks out: ”The Final walk to Freedom …. 2.5 million lives paid for our freedom!”

Mojo's funeral

Chilling of swollen feet - The wireless internet connection from the airport to our house in Loki has been out of service ever since we came back in August. To say it mildly, this becomes frustrating at times, not the least for Birgitta who usually tries to catch up on all her correspondence in the evenings. 

    A temporary solution has been the use of a modem to connect to the mobile network (but rather costly!). Thankfully to this modem we're also able to get in touch with each other via Skype when I'm away in Juba.  

The other night Birgitta wrote: - Thanks love! What would I do without you! (I had just hinted her on a computer issue). – I took David and Mojo's mother and little sister to the clinic. David's feet were very swollen, like an elephant's feet. He's all by himself on a thin mattress in his little hut, since his wife is gone. I bought him a pillow in order to put his feet up slightly and I took some time to chill them with water. He was sooo thankful! But how he is suffering having both Aids and TB and his general condition is steadily worsening!

Trauma mixed with joy - Saturday last week, 2^nd October, was a day of deep trauma mixed with moments of joy. Early in the morning there was a call from the clinic. - Mojo died during the night! Birgitta and the clinic had done all they could in order to help little Mojo, one of the pre-school children, but his ever weakening immune system (Aids) could no longer resist the onslaught of various infections. Very thin and with sores on his body and in his face, his panting intensified on Friday afternoon. - I doubt that he will make through the night. It's terrible, we're so powerless in this situation, was Birgitta's comment between deep sighs on Friday evening.

Echoto with ANA-bicykle loaded with bread from the bakery

The final journey - Late Saturday morning Francis calls: - We're about to dig Mojo's grave now. Could you please get his body from the clinic at around 4 p.m. Birgitta later told me between tears how Mojo's thin little body was put on the pick-up bed. The mother and his younger sister had already left and there was nobody else to accompany Mojo on his last short trip in this world other then Birgitta at the steering wheel. 

    In a one metre deep grave, just by the side of the road to the school, he was then gently put to rest and each of the children and adult around helped cover it with rocks from the surroundings.  

Coming soon! - Ever since we returned from Sweden in August, Birgitta has cherished the idea of opening a little shop for the Turkana Women's Group in order to be able to sell and promote their items. The bakery products are finding an increasing number of customers, especially since Echoto was hired to cycle around the town selling fresh bread, cinnamon roles, sponge cakes etc . The “Ushanga”-group are designing ever more fancy and interesting necklaces and accessories.

And a café - The shop has to be strategically located, look attractive and also be able to offer soft drinks, coffee and tea. Last Saturday I was called from “James Garage” where I'm manufacturing the mould for the latrine project, in order to help Birgitta and the women inspect to the facility which we had identified earlier. It's placed right in front of the main village intersection and it will soon be subject to a “complete makeover”, from today's “Men's Corner Pub to “ANA-Ejokonoy” which means “The strong Turkana Women's Group – Very good!” 

    Birgitta and the women were finally able to settle the deal with the owner of the shop and the 15^th of this month the “makeover” will begin. So dear friends, there is more to follow...!

With love from us / KeA

KeA & Birgitta

This is where we expect to se a "complete makeover" soon.