Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning, we plan to be landing in Manchester airport. Exchanging the blue skies of Africa for the overcast skies and colder climes of north-west England!

Our journey entails 3 aeroplanes:
Juba to Nairobi
Nairobi to  London
London to Manchester.
Then either a taxi or train journey of 2 trains, with 3 tired children, suitcases galore and 2 frazzled parents!

This time, we fly only on large, commercial airlines: we will not be travelling on the small MAF plane to Nairobi- much to my relief! Last time our MAF flight from Juba to Nairobi was rather memorable- for all the wrong reasons.
It was in March, when we flew Juba-Nairobi for our R and R. I left the MAF compound at 7am with children, but Andrew had gone on ahead with the staff team. Andrew was our pilot that day and needed to pre-flight the plane. I would not see him until we boarded our MAF flight.

Once I got the airport with Esther, Ben and Joel, we were overwhelmed with the utter chaos at the airport! The machines for scanning luggage had broken down. This seemed to be causing untold problems for passengers and staff. Crowds of people with suitcases surged forward to try and push their luggage through to the area where their bags could be loaded ready for the flights, while desperate staff members tried to process and check the suitcases by hand. This created a back-log which translated into a sweaty mass of humanity, squashed into the small room which is Juba Airport Departures.

Trying to manoeuvre 3 small children and our bags through that heaving, pushing crowd was a miserable experience. By 7:30am, I was soaked through with sweat as I was shoved first one way and then another by anxious co-passengers, all of whom were also glistening with sweat. It trickled unchecked down our cheeks and dripped onto our bags. It seemed that the idea of forming any sort of a queue had occurred to no-one. It was each man for himself as we all tried to work our way through the mass of bodies to present our passports for inspection and proceed to the small door where we could be admitted to the actual Departure Lounge. Some people appeared at my side with suitcases held aloft over their heads as they made their slow, forceful way through the tide of stressed passengers. Tall Sudanese surrounded us on all sides. I felt dwarfed by their height and overwhelmed by the pressure to push through and force our way out of the messy situation.

No-one acknowledged that I had small children with me. I hoisted Joel onto my spare hip, balancing my luggage on the other side of my body. I instructed Esther and Ben to hold on tight to the straps of my back-pack, so that they would not get swept away by the surging crowd, Esther leaned forward and shouted over the din of voices, "Mum! I can't breathe!" Being much shorter than most of the crowd, the children had very little space to catch their breath as the room got more and more stuffy. More and more passengers pushed in from behind us as the crowd kept growing. I felt almost hoarse from the effort at shouting into the ears of shoving co-passengers, "Please do NOT squash the children! Please look out for the children!"

After that ordeal, the journey did not really improve, It was around 5 hours flight from Juba to Nairobi, with 3 stops en-route to pick up and drop off other passengers, During that time-frame, poor little Joel, who was sharing a double seat with me, was sick EIGHT TIMES. After the first time, I used up all my tissues to clean him.
After the second time, I used up his spare outfit.
After the 3rd time, I used up the spare clothes in my bag for Esther and Ben.
After the 4th time, I gave up. There was nothing more to use. We sat surrounded by dried and drying and fresh vomit, little puddles forming at the back of the seat, the smell clinging to us both.
After the fifth time, I joined in with Joel and started being sick myself!
I arrived in Nairobi with a little collection of sealed, bulging air-sickness bags, filthy clothes and a splitting headache. Then just to top it all off, Joel was sick once more in the car on the way from the airport to the house!
What a horrible day.
I had a word with the pilot, but he claimed no responsibility for the bumpy weather which caused such a turbulent, upsetting flight...!!

Hopefully, our 3 flights today and tomorrow morning will not be so turbulent and not cause any upset! It seems the larger the plane, the smoother the ride. Joel and I had never been air-sick before travelling on small MAF aircraft. I'm not sure what kind of a MAF pilot's wife that makes me??

Last night a friend asked us what we are most looking forward to for our time in England.
Esther said, "Ice-cream!" (we can't get it in Juba)

Ben said, "Spending pocket money!" (he has been earning English-currency pocket-money, as there is not much in Juba that children can buy)

Joel is not sure. England is a strange, far-away land that he has only the vaguest notion of.

For Andrew, it is being able to buy new ear cushions for his pilot head-set, as his current ones are disintegrating -and maybe also some chocolate :).

For me, it is definitely chocolate! And having Grandparents nearby who are happy to babysit! The opportunity to rest completely and let grandparents have fun with their grandchildren is a heady, glittering prospect after all the demands of home-school!

On the "Most-Looking-Forward-To" list for our tine in England, I could also add...
ice-cream
fresh milk (no powdered milk for a while!!)
green grapes
variety of breakfast cereals
variety of bread
bacon
mushrooms (it's funny what you miss when you live here!!)
variety of meat
drinking water straight from a kitchen tap
Oh, and did I mention chocolate? (!!).

So here we come... the bags are packed, the passports and yellow-fever certificates are ready, the tickets are prepared and friends will give us a lift to Juba airport in a couple of hours. This time tomorrow, all that chocolate should be within easy reach...!!

Jogging in Juba

Just a quick blog post to provide proof of our early morning jogging in Juba!

Since February, I have been 2 or three times a week, at 06:40, when it is first light, for a short and not-very-fast jog around the streets of Juba. We avoid the litter and the stray dogs and ignore the taunts from local teenagers, who find it very amusing to see foreigners running around their city so early in the morning! There are several other groups of runners, some local, some Kenyan, some Ethiopian, some American, speeding around the streets, much faster than I can go! Some are wearing sporting gear and looking very serious. I admire these very fit runners!  Most of them friendly as they acknowledge the solidarity of the early-morning jogging crew.
My running companions vary, depending who is around. We don't mind the 06:40 start, as daily life in Africa starts early. plus it is the coolest part of the day and therefore a pleasant temperature.
We have to be back by 7am, when Andrew leaves for work, so it is never a long run, but just enough to run off any stress-related energy. And great for justifying a biscuit or two with my cuppa, as I feel like I've actually done a bit of exercise!

Emergency Evacuation

Saturday, April 25th:
Last Saturday seemed like an ordinary Saturday.
But in the evening, we had a phone call to change what was an average Juba weekend into a rather tense working weekend. Andrew was being asked to fly to a remote airstrip in SS to pull out a team of Medair workers and evacuate them from an area where the security situation had deteriorated.

A UN situation report the previous day had alerted us to the possibility of troops moving into this particular area, but I hadn't taken special notice. We receive these reports almost daily in our inbox. Often, the places in the reports seem very far away; it is too easy to become desensitised. I feel concerned for the people caught up in these situations, but often they do not impact us directly.

However, for the second time since arriving in SS as a family, Andrew was preparing to fly into an area of potential danger to evacuate a team of medical workers. Last time this had happened, a few months ago, Andrew's flight had been recalled after an hour or so of him being in the air, as the security situation had become too dangerous for the medical team to get to the airstrip. He had to abort his flight and return to Juba. Another team of MAF pilots had tried again a couple of days later, this time successfully pulling out the aid workers who needed to be removed from the fighting zone.

But now, Andrew was in line for his second evacuation flight. The request came through on Saturday evening, meaning that the flight would have to take place on Sunday morning. MAF does not normally operate its aircraft on a Sunday, but last weekend was an exception. The Medair team on the ground were getting very concerned about the risk to their safety as troops were reported to be closing in where they were based. Locals were already abandoning their homes, fleeing on foot to the nearest town about 60 km away. My heart went out to all those mothers and children who had to leave their homes so suddenly out of fear of what may happen to them if they stay. What a dreadful situation to be in.

 As soon as the call came through, Andrew and the Operations staff sprang into action. Over an hour of meetings, risk assessment and decision-making took place before everything was decided and then organised for Andrew to fly out of Juba early on Sunday.

Sunday April 26th:
At 06:45, Andrew was already on his way, climbing aboard the MAF vehicle to take him to the airport. The Operations staff were already at their computers in the office, manning the situation.

At home, Sunday was now underway. The children were soon up and needing breakfast. I decided to take them all to church as normal, despite the torrential downpour!

In these situations, there is always a certain level of tension. For Andrew, security and the risk factor are foremost in his planning and weigh heavily on his mind. This can be tangible for the rest of us from the moment the flight is confirmed. I feel the risk too. I have to try very hard not to worry. So you can imagine how relived I felt when this text message flashed onto my phone screen half way through our church service, from our new Operations Manager, Andy Judge:

It was a relief to know that:

1. Andrew had landed safely and successfully evacuated the medical team 

2. He was safely on his way back to Juba!

This was the rural airstrip where Andrew had flown in to carry out the evacuation:

And this is the Medair team with Andrew, thankfully safe on the ground back in Juba by lunchtime on Sunday! :-)

Belated Easter news!

 For the week leading up to Easter, including Easter weekend, we had our second "R and R". We went down to Nairobi again and had a restful and interesting week. It seems a while ago now, but here are some photos from last month's R and R!

We took the children to some of the attractions in Nairobi which we had not explored during our 6 months there last year.

This was our first tourist outing:

 At the Kazuri Bead factory we had a tour to see the employees at work, using clay to make the most stunning jewelry. This lady had been working at the factory for 40 years!

After seeing how the ladies shape the clay into beads, we visited the workshop where artistic ladies paint the beads with intricate designs:

We were shown the kiln and marvelled at the amazingly hot temperatures that it uses to blast the clay. The kiln heats up to temperatures of 1000'C, which would make Juba seem positively arctic!

It was fun to end up at the factory's shop, where we could see the finished product close up!

The factory was started in the 1970s as a community venture to provide employment for local ladies and has gone from strength to strength. Their products are sold world-wide! (For more information, you can see their website: www.kazuri.com/ )

 On the Wednesday, we set off at a dark 05:45 am to drive to Nairobi's National Park and see some of the 4-legged locals. We arrived just after the gates opened at 6am and enjoyed a drive around the beautiful African park.

 The strange thing about Nairobi National Park is the urban back-drop! African National Parks are usually situated out in the bush, but this park is surrounded by high-rise buildings and busy highways! We snapped this odd-looking bird surveying its surroundings with a vista of city life spread out in the distance:

The children also learned the unhappy truth about ivory smuggling as we stopped at the park's monument, built to condemn ivory poaching. This stone monument explained Kenya's stance against the illegal trade:

The pile of burnt ivory below is one of several heaps of ivory which has been seized from poachers and smugglers and burnt as a sign that the trade will not be tolerated. It was good to see this point being made, but sad to know that each pile of burnt ivory tusks represents hundreds of dead elephants, butchered just for their tusks. The children were upset by the facts- it was a very real way of comprehending how the ivory trade does so much harm.

We came out of Nairobi's National Park for lunch and the children were delighted and amused to find some wild warthogs who had wandered out of the park and up the road to the cafe! It was amazing to be able to get so close- but we didn't want to go any closer, in case they woke up (they can be aggressive) and because of their rather horrible smell!

We ended the day with a visit to the Animal Orphanage outside the National Park. It was fascinating to see big cats close up...

This cheetah seemed agitated and unhappy, with his limping leg- what a shame that he has to be cooped up and has not been able to be free in the wild.

I have always wanted to see a leopard:but I would rather see him in the wild than locked up in a cage. I felt uncomfortable and sad to see so many majestic animals ending up caged in an animal orphanage because their parents had been poached or illegally hunted.

Ben and Esther got to feel the weight of the antlers of buffalo.... heavier than you think!

Joel preferred to look at the blessbok antlers, rather than carry the heavy buffalo antlers!

  We ended our week with our Easter Day meal, in the MAF team house where we stayed. Joel's preschool teacher Carolyn was in Nairobi with us the same week and joined us too: 

New School

We're in the new classroom!!

Monday morning saw us setting off to start the new term in the new school! :-)

It was good to get back into lessons, but this time in the wonderful new learning space.

From the far corner, looking towards the door:

Photo from the door:

Esther took this shot from the far end:

As Juba temperatures climbed through the South Sudanese day, the new air-conditioner in our classroom proved its worth. This is a machine that is VERY much appreciated!

Last Friday saw Joel and I shopping for office furniture to furnish the school room. We found just what we needed. The carpenters finished off this desk for us while we waited on the street.

It was a hot wait, with sweat plastering our hair to our heads and pouring off all of us- even Joel! But it was definitely worthwhile. One week later, we have completed our first week in the new school room and have thoroughly enjoyed the new space, the new furniture and the new air-conditioner!

Kindness

I have recently been overwhelmed by the kindness of others. From small gestures to a large project, we have been so blessed to have much kindness shown to us...

A couple of weeks ago, Andrew opened the front door to go and fill our jerrycans from the compound water-tank for our kitchen water-filter. He was surprised to find this on our doorstep:

 A lovely friend from America had left this with a kind note, saying that this was a Mother's Day gift for me, to make my Juba breakfasts much more fun! Such a thoughtful gesture :-) It made my day- and my breakfasts for over a week! What great break from Weetabix!

About a week later, we heard the noise of a loud truck arriving in the compound in the area outside our front door.

 On the back of the truck was a folded-down pre-fabricated building, ready to be lifted off by the crane and assembled. But this was not just any building: it was to be made into our new School Room!

 Esther, Ben and I interrupted our lessons in our front room and rushed outdoors to watch! We saw the workmen as they operated the crane controls. The crane lifted the building off the lorry and onto the concrete foundation that had been prepared a few weeks ago.

Then the workmen began the work of "unpacking" and creating the school room from the flat-pack:

 Less than 2 hours after the lorry's arrival, we had our completed school room!

 Inside, work was soon underway to install electricity points and ceiling lights:

This week, further work is being done to install the air-conditioning and to move the school furniture and materials over to the place that will be our new school...

It is a very exciting time! The new building means that we now have a place to go to out of the house: we have a place to call "school"!
It helps Esther and Ben to have a specific room to see as "school", a proper learning environment that does not blur so easily with playing and relaxing at home and gives more structure to school times.
It means that our front room can now be the office space that Andrew can use for his flight planning and work-related tasks, instead of doubling up the bedroom with the office space.
It means that I will actually get out of the house to go somewhere, instead of spending the majority of my time, 5 days a week, in the house. It is quite normal for me to spend some days here without going out of the front door, but this is about to change and I think it will be much healthier all around!
It means that we have a physical and mental space between school work and home and a place I can go to plan lessons when Grace is working here or when Andrew is home, without the constant interruptions that happen at home when you live on a busy compound and when you have 3 energetic children! I can leave the doorbells and visiting children and noise of play and have a place where I can actually concentrate!
All this is possible because of the kindness of St. Michael's Church in London: an overwhelming and incredible kindness. It is hugely appreciated. What a difference it makes to us; what a huge practical help and encouragement here in South Sudan.
Soon, we will have pictures from inside as the classroom itself takes shape: but right now, I must sign off. I have some boxes of books and some children's desks to move, with my team of willing helpers, aged 4 up to 9...

HEAT

When I mentioned the heat in Juba on this blog in January, I thought I felt hot.
I had no idea what was round the corner.
In the past week or so, Juba has heated up so much that it makes January seem like a cool month in comparison!

As I write this, I am basking in the cool breeze from our air-conditioner, but in 15 minutes the MAF generator will be switched off. As the night progresses, the natural heat of Juba will take over the cool air created by the wonderful air conditioner machine.
 At the moment, our room is a comfortable 25'C (which Esther declares is "freezing!" Little does she understand about the true meaning of "freezing"!!). Then the temperature will climb and the room will reach at least 31'C by midnight, staying this temperature until the generator is switched on at 8am and we can turn the air conditioners back on.

Here are some factors which mark this hot season:

- everyone is talking about how hot it is! Even Grace, who was born and raised in Juba, is complaining about the heat as she tells me how she and family cannot bear to stay inside the house at night where the air gets trapped in the small house and heats up, so they sleep outside on mats. It is not much cooler outdoors, but at least it helps a little.

- you can stand still and still be sweating! Sweat pours off me as I stand at the sink to wash up. Sweat soaks into our pillows as we sleep; we wake up feeling like we are in a puddle. Some people soak their sheets in water before they go to bed. Others soak their mossie nets and then hang them up before they sleep. We turn our fans on full blast. They are noisy, but at least it makes a breeze (I can't hear them over the generator noise anyway!)

- the water from the cold tap feels warm,as the pipes have been heated by the sun. The water from the hot tap is sizzling!

- a cold shower feels like a welcome treat. A hot shower feels like it would be torture!

-the water in the toilet is warm and the toilet seat is warm too! ( I heard that the Mad Raving Loony Party in England once campaigned for heated toilet seats for pensioners- they would have been very happy with the toilet seats in Juba!)

- the kitchen bin feels like it is alive, as the contents get warmed up in my 33'C kitchen! Even the tiles around the bin feel warmer than the other tiles in the room! It is imperative that I empty the bin each day, or I fear an invasion of nasty organisms in the rotting bin bag, oozing out through the lid and infiltrating my kitchen!

-we hear ourselves shouting to the children, "Shut the door! Keep the warm air out!" The opposite of what I might call in England!

- Andrew comes home and reports that he has been in places where the temperature was over 40'C and that the temperature gauge at Juba airport showed 40'C on the ground as he landed.

Out of interest, here are our house temperatures in an afternoon :
-bathroom: 35'C
-kitchen- 33'C
-bedroom- 31'C

With all this heat, we are keen for the rainy season to start and bring some relief! When the thunder starts booming and lighting tears apart the Juba sky it will be happily welcomed as it marks the end of this dry, hot season!