Wow what a couple of weeks…..... so I am now
officially an alien of south sudan, I bet sting didn’t sing about that!!
After our little detour via Nairobi we land
at juba airport a day later than planned, the smallest airport of a capital city I have ever been too. The one
small room for all arrivals displays the usual melee of queues and confusion for
immigration and then if you are lucky your bags are dumped in the middle of the
room. Sadly our bags did not arrive, as with most of the flight, however we
only have to wait one day for our bags to arrive and thanks to a little forward
thinking by packing a change of clothes, mini toiletries and the kindness
of another volunteer for my first few
days in south sudan I wasn’t too smelly!!
So I spent one week in the “Jubble” for in country training, I got to spend time
with the other lovely volunteers, and meet the staff I have been emailing for
weeks. We were registered with the government and passports stamped as aliens in south sudan, i quite like that title!The training was as expected, dos and donts of volunteering, paperwork
completion, security briefings and advice for travelling round the newest
country in the world plus we had the bonus of wifi in the building so managed
to get a skype call out to the uk, whoo hoo novelty. Each morning and evening
consisted of the people who run the guest house becoming guineapigs for my
minimal Juba Arabic, I reckon I must be improving because by the end of my week
the manager no longer laughed as me when I said good morning!
Thanks to two wonderful fellow graduates of
the Diploma of Tropical Nursing I was treated to a fabulous evening of good
company, good food, free flowing G&T’s and few other essential treats…
Thank you Ali and Andrew, you are legends, looking forward to seeing you in
Yei!!
Last Saturday, after a strangely emotional
farewell with the other volunteers , I set off for a 6 hour, African back
massage, road trip to Yei, cheesy music blaring and beautiful countryside made
for a fab journey. I was truly and
warmly welcomed into the Yei expat life,
when I was shown to my accommodation and handed a G&T within minutes of
arrival. This has been reflective of how
my first week in Yei has been, a fab group of
ex pats working for various organizations, who meet regularly to run,
play volleyball and rugby, go to the market together and share dinner, even a
movie and a beer together. Its like a little family, everyone looks out for
each other.
I have a fabulous 20min walk down an
undulating dirt road to the hospital from my guesthouse accommodation. In the dry, the road is solid as a asphalt,
however when it rains, which it does most days, the road turns muddy and full
of mini streams (imagine commuting through a festival), however the call of Kawadja
( white person) from all the smiling children and curious adults makes it a
much more engaging commute than a London train! At the guesthouse I am lucky to
have my own room, with own bathroom, ok so the sink doesn’t work, the toilet
leaks and sometimes there is no water however the mosquito net has no holes and
for the next month this room is home and I love it… and thanks to my trusty
trangia meths burner, I am able to rustle up a variety of wonderful rice and
bean dishes including Yei’s plethora (relative for Africa) variety of fruit and
vegetables.
My first week working at Yei Civil Hospital
has been surprisingly productive and I am really excited about the 2 years
ahead. I have meet with the senior members of the hospital, the training
institute, county health department and visited each of the 8 wards and
outpatient clinics. The hospital is trying so hard to do the best it can with
the limited resources at their disposal, however issues with intermittent
running water, insufficient medication supplies and equipment, infrequent staff
salary delivery, limited staffing numbers and level of education and experience
mean that I know I will be pushed harder here than anywhere I have worked
before….. and I CAN NOT WAIT!!! I don’t want to bore the non-medics with
endless tales of hospital life, so for anyone who wants more medical related info
please let me know.
For now I’ll sign off and just say don’t be
strangers, I can access emails most days however texts and wifi based things
are a challenge, well at the moment impossible, however hopefully this will
change when I, fingers crossed, move into a NGO compound in a month.
Nursing with my backpack to be continued…….
