Last day in Juba

My room in ARC guesthouse

Common room

Kitchen

Courtyard

I'm working in the office today on one of my papers for the CDC and in certain ways it could be my office at home.  Got my laptop, my music, my instant coffee, my GEMMA shirt on, but I'm in Africa.  I hear the loud generator outside, the motorcycles and the rain sounds different hitting the soft dirt and the steel roof.  The air smells different.  And my laptop kind of electrocutes me every hour as I type while its plugged in, another nice reminder!  Its my last day in Juba and I'm sad to go.  I've gotten comfortable here with the people, the places around me.  I took pictures of the guesthouse and of the drive from the guesthouse to the ARC office I took this morning.  There was another storm last night so the roads were a bit messy.  Pamela and I will have our last dinner at UN Ocha tonight and then pack up for Wau.  Its pronounced "wow", so can't be that bad, right. . . 

Thomping neighborhood, Juba Town

Wau will be interesting.  The training there will again be a week of comprehensive family planning training but providers are Khartoum-trained and Arabic speaking.  Khartoum, Sudan is not as progressive as South Sudan, so I'm expecting a greater challenge to dispel myths of contraceptive use and a less enthusiastic audience.  We will see!!  Have to continue to just go with the flow. 

 Moving on to Wau tomorrow means I'm getting closer to vacation and going home.  I am starting to feel the distance!  Getting pictures from my sister knowing the family was in Long Island with Rio makes me a bit sad (but I'm soo happy he's having so much fun).  I am so excited to see him in a few weeks, hopefully he'll be willing to leave after lots of fun with the kids, the beach and my parents!

 Speaking of the beach, I booked my flight to Mombasa, Kenya for vacation.  After debating a few scattered places in Europe and Africa, I figured what better place to go after spending a month with Pamela than Kenya!  And I just love Out of Africa, one of my favorite movies, its perfect I go there.  Mombasa Raha-- what its called by those who live there-- means Mombasa is Joy in Swahili.  She says if you see someone hurrying somewhere in Mombasa, they must not be from Mombasa, no one knows how to worry there.  Sounds like a perfect place for vacation.  So, couple days at the beach and 3 days at Tsavo East and Tsavo West hoping to see some lions and cheetahs!!  Its dry season now in Kenya so should be amazing-hopefully will get some good pictures.  Pamela and I have talked about places we've traveled before and she always asks, do they have safari there?  She was pretty disappointed to hear that there is no safari in Brazil, Costa Rica, California or Mexico.  I will miss her when I leave but I have a feeling I will see her again. . .

 Some interesting facts:
10% of South Sudan has public electricity; 10% of the population can read;                     10% of the roads are paved;                           10% of women have a trained birth attendant at delivery


I'm imagining next time I'm here that all of that will have changed. . .

ARC compound

Kololo (the name of the road ARC is on)