A mixed week of adventures before heading home

I left Juba on a Monday afternoon, this time with a smile on my face. It had been much more difficult to leave Rumbek! But I had some adventures to look forward to, firstly with my fellow Rumbekistanians Ollie & Luciana, who were coincidentally flying into Nairobi the same day. We visit Ollie's brand new nephew, Ewan, gorged ourselves on an amazing sushi dinner (and it wasn't just stuffing ourselves with amazing food that made us happy, it was the fact that we randomly ran into two other Rumbekistanians, Guilio and Gabri, who were also dining out in town before heading home to Italy for Christmas) and generally wandered around in amazement at the shiny shop within the Junction Shopping Centre.

The next day I left for Nakuru for a few days with my lovely man Kelvin. He lives in a quiet little neighbourhood, randomly called All Nations, with some friendly neighbours. Mostly women with families, they take good care of him - checking to make sure he's ok, cooking for him and inviting him around for company. One of his neighbours even cooked us breakfast the next morning before we headed off to Nyahururu to visit his family. He had spoken long about me meeting them, although I wasn't sure if it was a good idea considering I was going home and didn't know when I would be coming back. We stopped off at Thomson's Falls on the way, and though it is a beautiful spot, you feel very much a tourist there (due to tribally-costumed-for-tourists Africans hassling you) it's not really a place of remaining wilderness.

I was surprised when the matatu dropped us off on the roadside in the middle of nowhere. From here it was a bumpy journey inland on boda-bodas. It turns out that Kelvin's parents are IDPs from the 2007 Kenyan election violence who live on government-allocated land. I knew he sent money to them regularly - in fact a large chunk of his earnings go to his parents, mostly to support his younger brothers in school and whenever anyone is unwell - but I had no real idea of their situation.

When we arrived, I could see that they had very little. Their house was a simple wooden structure with a blue zinc roof, located on a cold, windy, open plain; like all the others in their scattered community, it was constructed with materials only recently given out by the government. Given the violence was five years ago, it filled me with dread to think that they had been living for such a long time in temporary shelters. They'd had to build the house themselves and then find the materials to complete it, which essentially meant bulding the walls with plastic sheeting.

Together with the house, they had been allocated a small plot of land on which to do some small-scale farming. Potatoes and peas were clearly a large part of this, as on arrival they treated us to a  delicious githeri-like mix of potato, beans, maize and peas, plus chicken, salad and chapati, all lovingly cooked by the family and neighbours. We were treated like royalty, and it seemed that everyone had come out to see the 'long-lost son' and his mzungu girlfriend ... so I felt a bit sheepish, but still very welcome.

His parents, his sister and her new baby Elvis (no link to the Presley family; she just liked the name! She was very surprised when I told her about the great man) were lovely, and her two younger brothers I took a liking to immediately. We played a bit of football with them out near the community water point; the new ball that Kelvin had brought as a present was certainly highly prized. The kids from the community were at first attracted by the game, or by collecting water, but I soon turned into a bit of an attraction myself. I don't think there are many mzungus this far out in the countryside.

It was bearably cold out there on the open plain when the sun was out, but as soon as it started sinking, so did my body temperature. We spent the evening sitting inside, huddled around two charcoal stoves while dinner was being cooked, and while I couldn't understand a lot of what was being said, it was really fun. It was just so nice to see how everyone valued this time, especially how much they loved having Kelvin home, and I could see they spent many nights doing this together. He was equally happy to be there.

Our sleeping quarters were a small hut just downhill from the main house - which I felt very guilty about staying in, as it seemed to be the boys' bedroom! Kelvin's sister, baby Elvis and I were given the priority for sleeping there - it was the warmest room and we were the most important guests - and with the piles of blankets inside, we were toasty.

The next day the four of us returned to Nakuru - me, together with Kelvin's sister and Elvis; Kelvin and his cousin together in separate matatus (damn you, side-of-the-road location! Not enough space for all us in one vehicle!). I spent the afternoon hanging out with his sister and her neighbour's kids, waiting for Kelvin to come back from the clinic - where he had been diagnosed with malaria AND typhoid. After spending the night shivering and feverish, early next morning I took him to the clinic where he was admitted into hospital and put on a drip. The medicine that the clinic had given him was completely maladministered. We spent the whole day in the hospital; his sister came around again with more food - the hospital didn't provide any and I gathered that it was typical for families to bring it themselves (and they probably normally couldn't afford to pay for in-hospital meals). It was a really sad way to spend our last day together; but I was happy to at least be able to keep him company in that dark room. It would have been pretty lonely there that night.

I felt pretty terrible leaving that day, but I had to return to Nairobi to fly home the following afternoon. I was so relieved when Ollie randomly called me for a night out - some cheering up was just what I needed!

After a fun evening of drinking and dancing with Ollie and her usual rounds of all the people she knows, I enjoyed one last leisurely morning in the garden of the beautiful Margarita House before heading to the airport. It had been a week of mixed feelings, disappointments and unexpected happenings, but it was a good transition home from South Sudan. Despite the hospital visit, I had really enjoyed my time with Kelvin and his family, despite knowing that I might not see them again - at least in the near future.

And so it was with a smile that I boarded the plane for only 17 more hours of flying to go. The concept of being home for Christmas seemed to overshadow the sadness I felt at leaving and the people I was leaving behind. It had been a long, but definitely challenging and enjoyable (and frustrating!) 15 months in South Sudan.

So what next? Only time will tell. Would I go back? Currently: no. After a break from the place? Possibly ... if you paid me enough!

A last hurrah in Rumbek

I've had so much fun over the last few weeks. As I write this from Juba where I'm spending my last week in South Sudan, I've finally had a chance to sit down and think about it all. My head is full of a mix of sadness, regret, relief, excitement and happiness as I count down the days until I go home.

I'm in Juba participating in a UNICEF workshop which has been really contstructive; but I've felt a bit removed from it, knowing that I'm participating in future plans for something I won't be involved in - well, not in my current role.

The sadness is for the people and the place I've left behind  in Rumbek - my khawaja buddies, Oxfam workmates and colleagues from other NGOs, the basketball boys and my neighbours, plus the communities in the different towns and villages in which we worked. I'm also going to miss the public health team in Maban, who I worked very little with during the last six months of my time in South Sudan, but whom became my colleagues and friends and who I shared a very difficult transition with - from a development situation to an emergency one. There are the lovely staff in the Juba office - both khawaja and locals; many of the international staff have been my social lifeline when I've been in Juba, and everyone has been so friendly and welcoming whenever I've passed through. I'll definitely also miss my good buddy from uni, Rach, who has been working in Juba for the UN - and was my partner in crime whenever I was in the big city.

I've also met a number of Kenyans, South Sudanese and Ugandans in Juba who have become my friends, ranging from the staff at the Intra Africa hotel, where I spent a lot of my riverside time, to members of the Ugandan community that lived near our guesthouse.

One of the Kenyan guys is also my gorgeous man, with whom I will be spending a week in Kenya before I go home. I will definitely miss him, so much so that I'm contemplating getting a job back in South Sudan or Kenya. I'm torn between working in Australia and being a 'normal' person again, and working back in the aid world - where he is - with which I'm quite disillusioned. Only time will tell whether it's going be possible.

During my last weekend in Juba, the office threw a Christmas party for staff, we went to see a Congolese band, I hung by the pool at Jebel Lodge with my friend Maie, and then hit up a party at Central Pub. It was all very fun and topped off with dinner together with three lovely Oxfam colleagues at Notos restaurant, somewhere I'd never been but had the best food I'd ever eaten in Juba. Sweet!

As for the weeks before, I had such a busy time trying to finish everything, but a super fun time with the crew. We farewelled one of our Italian friends, Fabio, with an Italian meal and some nice wine at Safari Style with the Rumbek khawaja crew - including some visiting and resident Italians who were part of the plot! Of course the night ended up with us in the pool.

We regularly danced our butts off on Friday nights at the recently discovered Lulu Bar within the UNMISS compound, where I discovered where all a whole community of khawajas were hiding out ... why you'd want to live your life working overseas but never leave the safety of your compound to discover the country you're working on, beats me.

And of course we killed our boredom with days and nights at Safari Style, watching rugby, watching movies, chilling by the pool on weekends, having a beer or sharing a meal at the bar, and most enjoyably having brunch together on a Saturday morning, often nursing a hangover and laughing over the previous night's shenanigans.

For my last weekend in Rumbek, we finally got around to doing some things we'd planned for ages ... all combined into two days! We threw a Rumbek Market Wear party for my farewell, where everyone's costumes had to be procured from the market - with some hilarious consequences, particulary due to the awesome combination of bling formal wear and ultra-short Dinka mini-dresses. We had decorated the pool area with Chinese lanterns and candles, and it looked beautiful, and gone on various adventures to buy our costumes for the evening. Couldn't have wished for a more fun send-off with such a great bunch of people!

We even made sushi on Sunday afternoon, which involved taking over Safari's kitchen (much to the bemusement of Macharia the chef, and Daniel the waiter, who had both never seen sushi before and who were clearly wondering what this strange food concotion actually was and why anyone would do that to rice!). It had been an idea long in the making, but upon the eating part, one we agreed was a rather genius idea. A long, lazy afternoon of swimming and eating ensued, a perfect way to finish my last weekend in town.

My last evening was made all the more special with a home cooked meal at the IRC compound by Mags and Becker, together with Ollie. They have been three of my closest companions in Rumbek and I will definitely miss them! A few wines, some pasta, some chocolate, fun music and random discussions were definitely the order of the evening.

Come Tuesday morning it was a bit of a teary farewell, with me running crazily up and down to finish things off and get around to everyone - Oxfam, basketball buddies and neighbours alike - for goodbyes. Ollie and Luciana came to the airport to see me off, which was lovely - even though I knew I was going to see them for one last fun evening in Nairobi a week later! Even Bertrand turned up to see me off, the sweet Frenchman he is, but as I'd been put on an earlier flight I just missed out on giving him a goodbye hug.

I must admit I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I looked back one last time before Rumbek faded away into the distance. My second home was now behind me. But once I had dried my tears, I had a few days in Juba, a few days in Nairobi and homecoming  all to look forward to. The tears were soon replaced with a smile.