South Sudan

South Sudan!

South Sudan is the world’s newest country, and its capital Juba is reportedly the world’s fastest growing city, which was evidenced by the complete lack of rules, order, police, infrastructure, as well as the excess of traffic, waste, construction, etc, etc.  Most of our time was spent in the UNOPS compound working, but we did manage to make it out of Juba on a site visit and a few meetings, as well as a couple nights out.  Very surprised we didn’t get into any traffic accidents.  It's like the wild west!

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This post shows what the first few days of my experience in Juba has been like.  More to come later.  :)



This is photo of the UNOPS compound's flags.

The Kenya Air plane in Nairobi, Kenya, before flying to Juba, South Sudan.

some pretty African clouds.

Mt. Kenya

Landing in Juba.  There's nothing! And then there's huts.  wow.  And then there's UN helicopters and cargo planes.  another wow.  we're in it now!

or if you want to watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYLe6ctelVQ&list=UUi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&index=3&feature=plcp

Shortly after landing on the tarmac, we deboarded the small plane and walked a short distance to the small customs area, where there was a great sign that said welcome to Juba Airport, which made me think, "that would be a great segway picture for my blog!"  So i whipped out the phone quickly and snapped a pic.  Shortly afterwards, an armed miltary guard tapped me on the shoulder aggressively and started questioning me why i took the picture!  My poor colleague Hayley was just looking at me with eyes that said "damnit Chris, we didn't even make it past customs before you got us arrested!"  We explained it was just a personal photo and he let us delete it in front of him and then let us go.  Whew!  lesson learned -- iPhone staying in pocket, check.

So after that, we then had to go to the Visa line, where we showed the guy our official UN letter, which was supposed to give us expedited entry.  Nope.  So we had to pay a $100 "visa fee", and then 1/2 hour standing around until they gave us our passports back.  Good lookin' visa though!

Got my own cell phone.  There's two different cell phone providers in Juba, so the phones here have two SIM cards and thus two different cell numbers.  Call me if you can figure out how to!  i'll have it 'till I leave this hot country.











Inside the UNOPS compound, and our ride.  We have several drivers, so you just call one and they drive us around anywhere we need to go in Juba.

 Our hotel, the Paradise Hotel.  the rooms are old shipping containers that have been retrofitted.  THere is essentially no electric grid in Juba, so each property has it's own diesel generator for juice.  Our electricity goes out every few hours.  We do have showers, western toilets, and extremely slow internet, so it's not too shabby, all things considered...







Traffic here is insane.  I'm surprised i haven't witnessed several accidents by now, actually.  Juba is the fastest growing city in the world, so several people have told me, and i've heard countless anecdotes about how much it's changed in recent years, and even months!  Traffic in particular has reportedly worsened significantly.  There's no police that I've seen here, and no traffic lights, or even stop signs.  There's a few roundabouts, and it's a free for all.





Or watch on YouTube (better quality): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_TpcTN73o&feature=autoplay&list=UUi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&lf=plcp&playnext=1



We took a day trip out to an existing teachers training institute (TTI), 40 km west of Juba, to see an example of what we are trying to get built in other areas of South Sudan.  It was an amazing trip out there, because we got to see some more of the sprawling outskirts of Juba.

Or watch on YouTube (better quality):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OovFNfZZ3GA&list=UUi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&index=27&feature=plcp p 

 A football pitch at the TTI.

A panoramic of the TTI we visited.  Staff housing on the left, dorms in the middle.  Classrooms in the background on the right.  Cafeteria, Library, etc, are not pictured.
This guy has an interesting story:  while in the dorms, the worker there and I started to talk, and the worker explained that he was very unhappy; he’s been working there watching over the vacant TTI for 8 mo. without receiving his salary.  This is because there are no students and so the Ministry of Education of SS thinks there's no reason for money to go there and is not paying.  And long story short, quitting now would be burning the bridge with both the Ministry and the construction company that built the place (he has a relationship with and is his backup plan)… so he’s stuck.  And the economy there is so tough; I don't think you can just start over.  It was amazing listening to him describe this to us, with such hardship in his voice and face when doing so.  A sobering moment.

Cruising back into Juba from the site visit, and came across this family -- 4 people on one moto!

and video of course as well...loved these guys!

Or watch on YouTube (better quality):   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPaoenBjpc&list=UUi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&index=25&feature=plcp

other things we saw on our drive:

Salsa night at Centre Pub in Juba.  No kidding!

We drove across to the other side of the Nile River and I snapped this pic.  Taking pics can be a bit dangerous, as the military doesn't take picture taking lightly.

video of the drive across the Nile:

Or watch on YouTube (better quality):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMtPG7VP0VY&list=UUi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&index=24&feature=plcp

Dinner one night one the Nile.  Bring your mosquito repellent!

This guy's shirt reads "No return to war".

We found a yoga class in Juba.  No kidding (again)!

more to come...

...and below is the new stuff!

Open trash burning in the streets was commonplace.  you could smell burning plastic most times of the day.  In fact, during the yoga class, we were doing deep breathing exercises, right as wafts of burnt plastic started coming into the studio...haha... totally distracted  from finding inner enlightenment.








My colleague Hayley returning to London and leaving me alone in Juba.

If you ever go to South Sudan and stay in a hotel, remember this:  any clothes left on the floor mean that you want them laundered.  Needless to say I did not know this, and left half of my neatly folded clothes on the floor one day, some of them dirty and some of them clean, including my nice formal wool coat, and returned at the end of the day to find them missing.  When i got them back the next day, I tried my jacket on -- it still fit, but I felt this lump in my inner breast pocket...uh oh...reached in and pulled out a wad of mashed and mushed paper intertwined with my iPhone headphones.  And what's more was the paper was a week's worth of receipts i was intending to expense.  I peeled away the paper-mache-like paper from the headphones and to my delight they worked fine!






some beautiful fence constructions (ok, i'll be honest -- i think they're just good shots!):

Was there long enough that it barely justified (even this is up for debate) a UNOPS ID.  Best picture ever.

The water trucks filling up at the local water treatment plant.

A night out in Juba.  We went to a Red Cross party (at their compound), then to an expats bar full of Muzungus ('white people"), and then round time the 1am curfew was scaring less brave people home to the safety of their compounds, us brave night owls decided to hit up a local Juba club, with at least 98% locals.  Wild.


A roof of one of their beautiful tukuls.

The team working hard, Jonathan overseeing progress.

Jonathan and Reisi -- all smiles at UNOPS -- lovely people to work with.

The driver picked me up for my last UN-truck ride :( to Juba Internation Airport, and dropped me off in a crazy crowd of people trying to just get into the airport!  Crazy!  Tried to go in through a side entrance and no go, so seriously had to go to the back of the mob and wait.  Realized that the folks cruising in from the sides were the quick ones, so scampered around to the side and got in pretty quick, but had to do some shoving and some defending of position – intense!  It was literally survival of the fittest, and those with children or large bags just got screwed.  Chaos.  Silly too, because a simple set of ropes and your standard cue would solve all this.  Don't get it.  Juba seemed like this in a lot of ways.  It's the wild west.

Taking off from Juba, no run ins with armed guards this time, flying over the Nile until we lost visibility.

Or watch on YouTube (better quality):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlNmCpkwTec&list=UUi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&index=19&feature=plcp

South Sudan is an amazing place and I'm so pleased I got a taste of such an interesting, rapidly changing, and unique country. Now off to Nairobi to meet with potential solar suppliers / solar contractors.  And then back to London to get some work done on this project and then finally back to LA.