Arrived in Juba

I arrived in Juba on Thursday morning after 2 days of travel and while the airport was small, getting through immigration moved quite quickly and everyone stayed in their respective lines, which did not happen in Kenya.

Getting all 8 of my bags was interesting.  Sometimes when I travel I think I must have a sign on my head that says "helpless woman" because the amount of men that kept coming around to help find my bags was amazing.  The customs man who had to check and mark all of my bags was very nice and welcomed me to South Sudan and said that he hoped I enjoyed my stay.  As my bags and the very nice porters were moving towards the company car I started to worry because I did not have any local currency to tip the nice men, I was once again saved by Alex, the logistics coordinator who talked to the men and then must have given them a really good tip because they all came up to me and thanked me.

Thursday was a short day of meetings and then rest to rid myself of some of the jet lag to prepare for the all day meeting and party on Friday.

On Friday they had arranged to for the staff from all three offices to meet in Juba for an orientation meeting followed by a barbecue to celebrate that all of the seeds for the first planting had been distributed.  It was nice to meet with all of the staff and to hear what their expectations of the program were and where the program started and what it had accomplished to date.

As for the barbecue it was some of the best goat and chicken that I have had.  The people who put together the spread did a great job.  There was rice, potatoes, vegetables, an east african dish that tasted like bland mashed potatoes and then some really good grilled chicken and goat.  You could tell that the  man who had grilled the goat had been doing it for a number of years because if he did not tell me that it was goat I would have thought that it was beef.

As for now I think that the plan is for me to head to Torit on Tuesday to look at the some possible places for me to stay and until the house is finalized I will be staying in the Torit hotel which is supposed to be really nice with internet, AC and hot water.

Now that I have an idea of the work I know that the work will be challenging but it that it will be meaningful.

I will update you more as time permits.