Footing

II can't believe how fast time goes. It was just 4 weeks ago today that I was able to go "footing" on the airstrip in Akot, South Sudan.  I just love the term "footing", it makes a whole lot more sense than walking. I first heard it when I was accompanied by the only female student nurse, Kucha, when we were out for a walk on the airstrip. I enjoyed lots of footing activities. I usually went out about 5pm as I was told the hyenas were active after dusk so that gave me time for about an hours walk. Many days there was a thunderstorm threatening, but at least that made the temperature cooler.

So before you start picturing a nice paved runway, here's an aerial view.

Some days I had to skip a few puddles, but overall it was a great place to think, pray, do some flat footing and enjoy the local people and critters.

The airstrip is not a busy one, at least where planes are concerned. As you can see by the photo, planes aren't the only thing moving here. Actually if you were to see the 3 planes closeup you would know that these aircraft owned by the Norwegians I think, are not going anywhere. I heard that all had some kind of crash landing or a type of accident. As is often typical in parts of Africa, repairs never happen.
The cows were almost always grazing somewhere along my route.

As well as cows there were tons of goats.  I really like little lambs so the baby goats were a big hit with me. The children quickly figured out that this strange white lady had a soft spot for those they were entrusted to care  for.  Occasionally, I had to stop footing so I could make sure bleating, lost, baby goats found their mothers.

There were lots of opportunities to practice the few limited words of greeting that I knew.
Children were always somewhere close by and would call out to me. They were particularly interested if I had my camera with me.

Little boys as young as 6 or 7 are given the responsibility of caring for a small herd of goats. This means they stay out all day without food and just wander around making sure the goats stay out of trouble. You'll notice none of these children have shoes on and the main herder carries a big stick.

Those that take care of herds of cattle or goats do not attend school.

I caught up with this lady one day as I was coming down the home stretch , near the compound. She was very focused with her huge load, but there is a smile behind that log. The log itself was very heavy, never mind the other stuff. It's just all in a days work.

It was fun stopping to share a few moments with these beautiful women. I so wished that I could have had a conversation with them.

Lots of times they would laugh when they saw me jogging or they would come alongside and imitate me. I guess from their perspective, why would you want to go "footing" for no reason? Many hours of their day is spent walking to get water, firewood for cooking or just working outside.

Speaking of firewood, maybe this is what the children in the next photo have collected or it could be for another use. They have also gotten some water.

Hopefully you have enjoyed "footing" with me on the Akot airstrip. If I remember correctly the pilot told me the distance from one end to the other is 1250 meters. If I have gotten this wrong, anyone please feel free to correct me. It gets confusing sometimes with feet, inches and yards as well as centimeters and meters.

Transport

In all of my seven trips to South Sudan I cannot remember one single time when I took any form of road transportation for granted. Back in 2004, after landing, we loaded our stuff on a trailer pulled by truck and followed on foot down a path to the compound.
 In 2008 I left the airstrip standing on the bed of a truck. I have squeezed on seats and held on for dear life as we rattled and rumbled over the worst of roads. I have even taken part in negotiations to retain the service of a donkey to carry our supplies! You do what you have to do, that's part of being in South Sudan.  You may not know that there is only 50 miles of paved road in a country the size of France, with a population of around 11 million. Transportation is a big challenge. I think the difficulty has forced some to be very creative.

Let's take this bicycle built for two. Who of you would have ever thought to tie a chair onto your bike? White plastic chairs and very popular versions too.
It seems to work great.Who knew?

Now this vehicle is tried and true. I have had many rides in the front, sharing a seat that is meant for one, with my left leg kind of in the way of the gear stick. It proved road worthy, getting us over and through some huge potholes.

At times we picked up passengers with big pieces of wood, broken down bikes, chickens, goats and whatever else need to be hauled from one place to another.

This photo would have to be one of my favorites. I was so amazed to see these. I wish I had gotten a better angle so you could fully appreciate what I am trying to show.
These vehicles are actually ambulances!
The set up is like a motor cycle with a side car. The side car in this case being a flat bed of metal where the patient lies. It's ingenious and so practical for South Sudan.

Well here's a form of transportation that I have seen a lot but have not had the opportunity to use.
It may become a vey useful option in the future, if negotiations and paper work can be arranged.

Local bugs and other critters

There are many things about Africa that take some getting used to. Without a doubt I would say that bugs rank high on my list of things I have to learn to tolerate. It's not that they are always bad or scary things, just that they are unfamiliar and a little disquieting at times.

Take this little, prehistoric looking guy. His colors are much more vivid in real life. He's easy to spot as he crosses your path, but he will make your heart skip a beat as he intrudes on your steps and your thoughts.

Now you can meet one of his relatives. I call this little fellow, Racy, because of the orange-red racing stripe down his side.

This is Spike! Well really I don't know what he is called, but I almost stepped on him as I was getting in to the car last Sunday. Such an odd looking caterpillar type thing. Many black and red snakes and spiders are poisonous so I didn't take any chances and touch those spikes to see how they felt.

How's this for a nifty looking beetle?
I love it that he is sporting an African print on his back. I think I have a T-shirt that looks like this.

He was crawling on the outside of my tent and although he looks harmless enough I watched to make sure he didn't try to come inside.




There are some 4 footed critters that are worth mentioning also. Most nights I was able to hear hyenas. Yes, you read correctly I said hyenas. We had a very high,wire fence around the compound and I was assured they could not get in, still if I had to make a quick trek to the bathroom during the night I did wonder! They come out after dusk and hide away when dawn approaches. I made sure I walked around outside when it was bright and sunny, keeping my arms raised high so as to make myself look large. They apparently go for children and women first. Great :-)

These sheep are a little less unnerving than the other creatures I have shown you. They would roam around the compound in the afternoon and often munch grass outside my tent. The brown and white sheep you can see in the middle, I named "Hoppy". He was unable to use one of his front legs so he kind of hopped. You could hear his rhythmic step as he came along the concrete path.

Lastly I wanted you to see this vulture. I was stalking a few of them that liked to hang out near where the rice and beans were cooked over hot coals, behind the kitchen. This particular bird felt that he needed show off a bit. He stood nicely while I took his photo.

Thankfully I have no snakes to show you. There was one very large spider I saw twice in the bathroom at night but I was understandably not carrying my camera.

Where in the world is Kerrie?

Maybe many of you remember the "Where in the World is Waldo?" series of books and games. Well, I think many of you may be asking where in the world is Kerrie? That's a good question that I find I have to ask myself sometimes. You see, just 6 short days ago I was in South Sudan living in a tent. I had made a decision on July 2nd to return to Australia to see how I could help my parents who are experiencing failing health. My mother recently had a stroke and although her speech and limb mobility were not affected she has suffered some setbacks.
Decisions are often hard to make and when you are living in a remote location it takes a lot for that decision to become a reality. I put the plan in motion by emailing a travel agent who helps with Every Village travel. Internet speed and connections were very difficult so I could not use any search engines myself. Then there was the problem of how to get out of S. Sudan. God already knew what I was going to need and all the timing was clearly in his hands. I was able to join a scheduled flight that was going to pick up two Every Village interns in the north eastern part of the country. On the outset it seemed like a simple pick up and take off that would take a few hours and then would deposit me in Kampala for 2 nights so I could prepare for departure to Australia. It would prove to be anything but simple.
When I got out of the plane in Nasir this is what I saw.

This was not a good sight. We were stuck in the mud in the middle of the airstrip. It got worse. While trying to dig out the tires, the right side tire was accidentally punctured. As the tire sank deeper into the mud, my heart sank also.
We had to move the plane and now we needed a new tire. I was counting how many hours until I was supposed to take off from Kampala. To say I was concerned would be an understatement. Oh my gosh, please God help.


And help he did. I am always so amazed at who God sends and how he does it.
This time he sent the Indian army who are part of the U.N forces serving in Nasir. We had to inflate the tire and quickly pull the plane out of the mud and turn it around so it could taxi back down the airstrip to a safer and firmer location. It was an odd sight to see the plane being pulled by the U.N. truck.

We all breathed a sigh of relief and clapped as the plane moved. This however was not nearly the end of the story. Since there is absolutely nothing available in this remote location to help in repair, our wonderful pilot was able to speak to home base and another plane was dispatched from Kampala with a new tire. They would fly in the next day.
This was good news but we were still not breathing easy yet.
Other factors needed to be considered.

This time of year is wet season and it's not uncommon to have daily showers or violent thunderstorms. As we stood on the airstrip we were aware of gathering clouds and storm cells in 5 directions. We prayed often and hard. Please God hold back the rain. You see the ground all around  us was already soaked and we knew that more rain overnight would prevent another plane from landing.
We got up early next morning and checked the skies. Yay God, the sky was clear.

This was a tense but exhilarating moment. Here comes the new tire! Will they land successfully? We all held our breath.
And then touchdown :-)

Not only did we have a skillful pilot to bring the tire but we had a mechanical engineer to put it on and do the necessary checks to make it airworthy so as to  fulfill aviation requirements.

You can only imagine the joy as we lifted off. The distance we had to taxi and take off was very short and if we had failed I don't know how or when we would have gotten out. I have been told the airstrip is now closed.
We arrived back in Kampala around 5pm on Thursday the 5th. I had less than 24 hours to get it together and be ready to head out. It might sound easy but let me tell you a few things I had to tackle.
I had just been in the bush living in a tent eating beans and rice twice a day and now I had some incredible food waiting for me prepared by my southern belle hostess, Neltia. Oh to just sit and enjoy, but I had a case to pack, reservations to make and loose end to tie up before bed at midnight. Anyway thankfully it all came together and I boarded my Emirates flight Friday afternoon.

It's all kind of surreal as I sit here in my woolies to combat the Tasmanian winter,sporting my tan from several hours standing in the hot sun on the airstrip and bug bites on my legs due to life in the wet season of South Sudan.

As I get settled here I hope to post blogs about my time in Akot that I was not able to do because of poor and sporadic internet. Please stay tuned and feel free to comment with any questions you may have.