Massacre

A sad sad story from a part of the world that really doesn't need this infighting to continue. I won't write my own views on this sad event- as you can see in the later links the issue has become very politicized by both sides and speculations are running wild. I will just let you read what others have been writing...

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article21839

http://www.gurtong.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2727&mode=threaded&pid=26396

http://www.gurtong.org/ResourceCenter/documents/Letters/BudiCommunity-Massacre-of-54-innocent-civilians-by-Toposa-at-Ngauro.asp

http://www.gurtong.org/ResourceCenter/documents/Letters/LauroMassacre.asp

Tragedy!

Our puppy died! He was bitten by a snake, poisoned, ate something bad (no one really knows...) On top of losing my favorite thing at the compound his body is now out in the bush somewhere in order to save the rains of Sudan...

He was buried in the backyard (according to Western tradition) and then later was dug up and thrown to the wild (due to local tradition. ) We offended the local culture by putting a dog in the ground! According to the Toposa burying a dog is a crime- if you bury a dog the rains will not come. So to save the rains of Sudan we had to dig up our dog... And now today it's raining and I wish it weren't. A tragedy in so many ways. He was only 5 months old and already had a broken tail and was hit by a car before this happened.
May you rest in peace!

Statistics

Some statistics from my day today:

Number of marriage proposals: 5

Highest number of cows promised to me: 500

Number of people who spat on me as a sign of respect!: 1

Approximate age of drunken child we almost hit on way home: 8 or 9 years old

Number of alligators/ lizards/ newts (depending on who you ask) that I saw: 1
(whatever it was it was pretty cool!)

Number of women whose voices are being heard in the Toposa community: 0!!

Number of Saturdays that I have not spent working in all of 2007: about 2-3 (today is not one of those days)

Number of cold beers in our brand new fridge: 10! (Finally!)

Number of generators still not working: 2

Number of mosquito bites on my ankles: Too many to count…

Kawaja! Kawaja!

‘Kawaja’ is the Arab word for someone from Europe, and anywhere I go around town that is the greeting that I usually get. It doesn’t matter where the white person comes from, we are all Kawajas. Sometime small children see me around town and run off screaming, not a usual reaction for me most places that I go in the rest of the world… Stopping the car and I can be surrounded by a group of interested children (and adults sometimes.)

As one of my Sudanese colleagues told me, I’m like a tourist attraction and should start charging for a Kawaja sighting. I think it’s especially so because I’m a Kawaja female and have blond hair and blue eyes- there aren’t too many of us that have made it around these parts. Especially not Kawaja’s that do things that women around these parts don’t do like going jogging, driving, going to meetings with men, etc... I’m sure that once I learn to ride the motorcycle around town (sorry mom- but it’s the only way to get around…), it will be even more of a oddity. Yesterday when I was driving around town a small boy asked my colleague if the car was a car for Kawaja’s? I was about to give him a ride in the car to show him that the car wasn’t only for Kawaja’s but as my usual reaction with Sudanese children is for them to run screaming I thought he might be a little afraid.

However even as a Kawaja the local people are so accepting and welcoming. Sudanese are known for their hospitality. I have even been given a real Toposa name. (Toposa people are given their second name based on the place that they were born.) My second name is now Nakai which means one born in the house. I wanted to say that I was actually born in a hospital and not a house, but I’m sure that ‘one born in a hospital’ does not exist as a name yet due to the lack of hospitals.

Welcome to Kapoeta

This is my first blogging experience, but I thought that living in a place where most people only think of the images of war and violence that they see on TV I should try and show another side of Sudan that most people rarely get to see. My goal is to show a little of South Sudan to the outside world. I will be adding stories and photos of the people that I come across, the work that I’m doing, and the small steps of progress (or lack of progress) I see towards peace in South Sudan.

The town I’m living in is called Kapoeta, about two hours from the Kenyan border. It used to be a garrison town, but slowly this is changing. During the war days, it was fought over between the North and the South. You see remnants of war everywhere in the town.

The native inhabitants of the town are called the Toposa people. They are pastoralists and their cattle are everything to them. They are friendly people although many of them have guns as so many weapons flooded the area during the war. There are problems here between tribes stealing each other’s cattle as they are one of the only means of wealth in this area.

Here is my short introduction to Kapoeta town, more stories to come soon. Let me know what you would like to hear about…