As I sit here on my mattress on the floor of my room in Alexandria, Sydney (I sold my bed last week so the floor it is), having just played basketball, my housemates watching the Sopranos, I'm contemplating how different things will be in a few days' time when I'm in South Sudan.
While I have internet searches, maps, temperature charts, malaria country profiles, American Christian missionary blogs and reports from the field, I still can't imagine it. But I do know it's going to be rather different from here...!
Why would I go to South Sudan? Well, I'm going to work for Oxfam Great Britain as the Team Leader for their Public Health program. The program is operational in two locations: Lakes State, where I'll be based in the capital Rumbek, smack-bang in the middle of the country; and Upper Nile state, located in the north east, which shares a border with the 'old' Sudan. We have programs in two very remote parts of Upper Nile, so travel there will be quite challenging! Plus the state is under water for half the year. I'll be overseeing and reporting on a Public Health program (hygiene promotion, disease identification, prevention and treatment if necessary, managing staff and budgets, capacity building and training) management of its implementation and ensuring integration with the other programs: Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods and Economic Security. Should be velly intellesting.
And of course: South Sudan is the world's newest country! I feel very privileged to be even going there; I hope that I can make myself useful and in this fledgling nation that has been affected by so many years of ongoing conflict.
I also hope that you keep reading.
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