Welcome to South Sudan

I arrived in South Sudan on Saturday, 9-14.  I was with my friend Joy and a new friend Margit.  We arrived in Juba from Nairobi, Kenya.  Juba is the capital of South Sudan, a country just 2 years old.  I think it has some growing pains.  The airport was extremely crowded and confusing.  It was wall to wall people and luggage.  We had to stand in line to have our visa stamped and then have our bags checked.  Thankfully we didn't have to open them.  Joy had a friend pick us up and take us to a missionary guest house.  (like a very very low budget motel)  Everything is expensive partly due to so many NGO' s willing to pay higher prices.  We tried to rest but the room was almost suffocating even with a fan, mid to high 90's.  Next door is  a large church.  There was a wedding going on and I could see through the open door that it was packed.  I was shocked to see that the couple's car was a decorated Hummer limo!  There is some money in Juba.

At 5 pm, we took a short tour of the city including driving on a bridge over the Nile River.  I wanted a photo from the bridge so we took the walking path on the bridge.  I snapped a couple of photos from the bridge and then 4 young men in civilian clothing came up to us and said I could not take a photo from the bridge.  They said it was illegal.  There were no signs that said that.  One of them told me to give him my camera.  I refused but he said I needed to delete the photos which I did.  My thoughts are they were hoping for a bribe.  Joy' s friend took us to a motel with outdoor restaurant on the river.  I took all the photos I wanted and we enjoyed cold sodas and a beautiful view of the Nile!  The city is 1.2 million.  Small huts as well as new several story buildings being built.

The next day we flew from Juba to Wau (pronounced wow).  Then a 3 hour trip over a bumpy road with huge ruts and holes with mud.  Staff from the clinic picked us up in the only vehicle currently working, the clinic's Toyota ambulance!  I was fortunate to be in the front seat.  We were very happy for a safe trip.  Today was my first day at the clinic but that is for another blog.