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| Joseph and Sobod at the UN compound in front of the "Hard Rock" Cafe in Malakal |
Okay, in 2011: I worked with the GIZ, met a wonderful German man called Alex who became my husband in October 2011, got evacuated from Yemen in May 2011 and moved to Amman to live with my mother and finish my contract with the GIZ there (until February 2012).
That summarizes it!! Since, I finished my contract I've been looking for a job, My dilemma was whether to continue working in development and in which sector (to specialize of not). The world is so competitive and with the continuing crises around it, its not easy to find anything that meets one's needs and hopes. Anyway, Alex's job should be based in Erbil (north Iraq); however, he is not able to move there permanently yet due to political issues between Germany and Iraq. This has been going on for a year and both of us are frustrated with this unstable situation.
Within this uncertainty, and while I was browsing the internet for jobs (my daily routine between March and May 2012!), I came across this training on "Emergency Nutrition" that was to be held at AUB, Beirut. With Alex's support, I applied, got accepted and attended the 2 week training.
To make a long story short: during the training, I met a high ranking employee at the International Medical Corps to whom I've expressed my interest in going into the emergency field (specifically in nutrition). After accepting a volunteer opportunity with the IMC and after endless amounts of paperwork, here I am sitting in shabby IMC office in the little muddy and filthy town of Malakal, Upper Nile state, South Sudan!
I've arrived in Juba on Wednesday July 11, 2012 (after a long trip through Cairo from Amman). Juba "international" airport is basically the size of Yemen's Socottra Island airport. For those who can imagine an island's airport, its that small! Add to the small size, chaotic with a lot of international workers and people arriving and slow airport staff. I think I was lucky though since I made it out of there in 15-20 minutes with all my luggage intact and visa in hand! (funny that I've also met a Yemeni there and spent some time chatting with him..)
Juba is, as expected, pretty under-developed for a capital city. with a few well paved asphalt roads, the mud and dirt render it village-like. However, all major organizations, embassies and consulates are based there and hence the number of expats is not bad. At least, the hotel where I stayed was clean with hot water available.
The IMC office has been very welcoming. Mostly expatriate, everybody was welcoming and accommodating. I spent a couple of days in Juba (Thursday and Friday) and while there, had a unique opportunity to meet a friend from the Yemen crew, Anne-Marie, who lives and works with Unicef in Nairobi but was there for the weekend. I was booked to leave on Saturday with a couple other colleagues to go to Mabaan on the WFP flight and so I did.
We left Juba early morning to the airport and after hassling with check-in, we got onto the plane and made it to the first stop Malakal city, en route to Maban.
Here is where it gets interesting. Joseph (a colleague) and I were not on the WFP original manifest (we were actually, but their stupid system messed things up a day before traveling). Anyway, so we ended up having those paper tickets that we had to show to WFP guys every now and then. As we arrived to Malakal, we were told that since we were not on the manifest, we had to wait for the next afternoon flight. When was that? no one knew (because, in Maban, if there is little rain, flights are simply cancelled. So, it was kinda Ad Hoc!)
So, we waited and waited in the lounge area of the smelly and sticky Malakal airport. after an hour of so, the smell drove me to join my colleagues who were standing outside smoking. At least it was fresh air! So, I took my stuff and stood outside. After some more time (another hour I think), our colleague Raphael, who was good to go because he was on the manifest, saw that they are boarding so he left to Mabaan. We noticed that there were no expats left in the airport (strange) so we asked a random WFP employee about the second flight. His shocked expression said that we were simply left behind. A simple miscommunication error to us resulted in our current situation: we are stuck in Malakal until Tuesday (supposedly WFP has another flight on Tuesday!).
Juba next to Malakal is civilization! I guess that sums it up! We have one of the worst logicians in the Malakal IMC office and this has resulted in us waiting at the airport for 2 hours for a pick-up and then getting booked in the filthiest hotel of all time.
We managed to get into another hotel (there are basically only 2 here anyway!). This new hotel is not that bad.. but its still filthy. I had to sleep my first night in one specific position while fighting anything that moves on top of my body. It wasn't the most comfortable night of my life but I've survived it. Another thing we've discovered is that water is not clean for showering at the hotel. So, I had to shower at the office (not a clean bathroom at all but clean water). I do use bottled water to brush my teeth but I think I will use that to wash my hair as well (!)
I realize that I won't be able to bathe and shower frequently in the camp so I will hopefully survive that with a few wet wipes! For now, we are working from Malakal office and trying to survive the yucky, hot and sticky accommodation. I hope we make it to the field soon (although I believe its going to be much worse with all the scorpion and snake hazards awaiting us there!)
Malakal, South Sudan
15.7.2012
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