Terekeka and Then Some

Just a little over a week ago, before I succumbed to the dreaded malaria, I went a road trip to Terekeka.  Terekeka County is the next county over from Juba County and Terekeka is its equivalent of a county seat.  We went because the survey is not simply about GBV services in Juba, but in all of Central Equatoria, which has six countries total.  While my colleagues had to make the rounds without me to Lanya, Yei, and Morobo, three other counties, I did make it to Terekeka before falling ill.  I'm glad I got out of Juba at least once this summer.  

I was told the trip to Terekeka would take about two hours.  It's technically only about 30 miles between the two towns, but the road is so bad that's the typical travel time.  But the night before we left it did nothing but rain, which meant it took us three hours the next morning instead of the normal two.  We set off early in the morning and the road looked like this:  

It was really bumpy, and just overall a rough three hours both ways.  

But it did allow me to collect some pictures of the country side, so here is a small sample of what South Sudan looks like outside of Juba, or as it is commonly referred to, in the bush: 

This here is some sort of cactus tree, it grows everywhere and actually gets much bigger, to actual tree size proportions, but its all cactus.  Really interesting plant. 

A shot of the skyline leaving Juba headed for Terekeka in the morning.

These are the traditional huts that many South Sudanese live in, they are called tukuls and have round mud walls and high peaked straw roofs:

Here is a beter picture of a tukul:

This is the edge of a refugee camp we passed, people have clearly been expanded out of the UNHCR built buildings and expanding the camp as necessary.  Note the UNHCR logo on the paper wrapping around the larger building.

Oddly enough, and it may be hard to see, this is a cornfield we passed! Made me feel like I was home for a second.

Shot of the skyline as we drove home that evening to Juba.

These are some raised tukuls, you can see the stilts they're build on, I assume to keep people from living in the mud when the rains come, or possibly this area floods during the rainy season. Or maybe they're used for food storage to keep it dry? Unclear, but I thought it was interesting.

Finally, hard to see, but aside from the tukuls another common building is square mud huts with corrugated metal roofs.  The walls are often reinforced with woven sticks.

Finally, some fun stuff totally unrelated to my travels. First me, at the French Bastille Day celebration eating massive amounts of cheese, and enjoying some seriously tasty French champaign: 

A poster I found and liked, it reads: Women for peace, justice and security. End violence in South Sudan! There are a whole series of these posters I'll post later that I think are neat.

This is Mama Lily, or the Director for Gender for Central Equatoria (Mama is an affectionate term here for women old enough to be mothers), teaching a Quarter Council about GBV.  Quarter Councils are the community board of each neighborhood, and involve a cross section of elders, men, women, youths, and other important community leaders.  They solve community problems, take care of people when they face difficulties, and generally take care of their communities. We met under the mango tree and listened to Mama Lily.  She's a forced to be reckoned with, and a great speaker in front of these groups,  they really engage with her.

Another Quarter Council in a different part of town (still meeting under the local large tree though).  Here I was conducting a focus group with a part of the Quarter Council with one of the social workers from the Ministry translating for me.

Two week until I'm back, hopefully I'll get a few more post in before then.