Monday, September 26, 2011

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Just in case you were wondering, here's where I'm working. It's pretty much smack bang in the middle of Africa. 


For a bit of background (thanks Wikipedia):

The country is officially the Republic of South Sudan, and is landlocked. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more centrally-located Ramciel in the future. South Sudan is bordered by Ethiopia to the east, Kenya to the southeast, Uganda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest, the Central African Republic to the west, and Sudan to the north. South Sudan includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd formed by the White Nile, locally called the Bahr al Jabal



What is now South Sudan was part of the British and Egyptian condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and became part of the Republic of the Sudan when independence was achieved in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. A second Sudanese civil war soon developed and ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that year, southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed. South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011. 

As for its pretty flag:

The colours are said to represent the South Sudanese people (black), peace (white), the blood shed for freedom (red), the land (green) and the waters of the Nile (blue); the gold star, the Star of Bethlehem, represents unity of the states of South Sudan.

On 14 July 2011, South Sudan became the 193rd United Nations member state. It joined the African Union on 28 July 2011. South Sudan is one of the poorest countries with possibly the worst health situation in the world.

If you break the country down by state, you get this. The two states I'll be working in are Lakes state (in the middle, of which Rumbek is the capital) and Upper Nile (top right; Malakal is the capital but our work sites are far from there). Upper Nile is prone to flooding every year, due to rain in the mountains of Ethiopia that flow down into the Bahr al Jabal. Currently, a lot of it is under water. Should be a nice challenging place to work - given the lack of access!





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