Sunday, March 13, 2016

South Sudan again...what has changed?

The streets of Juba....South Sudan

A busy Juba street with a Doctor's without Borders Land Cruiser  making it's a way along.


This week finds me in South Sudan again and I took this photo just now looking out the window of my room. The first and most shocking thing is definitely the heat. As you make your way to the exit on the plane you know full well that it'll be hot but as the warm air reaches you you think for a moment that it must be a motor running or something that makes that heat. And as you step from the plane it is shockingly hot. It was low 40's as I stepped off the plane and heard later that it had reached 50 north of there. That's an oven setting for heaven's sake. You roast stuff at that temperature!! Braised Layno coming up!


You'll note the almost complete absence of cars in the photo above for good reason. You simply can't get around the city in a car. The ruts are just too deep. Even the mighty Land Cruisers have to gingerly make their way along.
The city is full of plastic bottles. Some attempt to collect them and then burn them giving the city the odor of burning plastic. It's a smell I've come to associate with both Kenya and South Sudan.

As you drive along you see the odd dead dog run over and destined to stay by the roadside until mother mature does her work. And you see a lot of people just sitting. There are no jobs- no activities - no opportunities - no hope for many of these people. In the picture to the left is a woman and child. She sat there all afternoon and evening as her little guy looked around for things to do. Symbolic I thought, of the country and where they are.

I think I mentioned previously that I'm currently reading the book "Why Nations Fail" and have a new-found respect for the institutions I thumbed my nose at as a young rebellious man. The judiciary, the Bicameral legislature and even the Monarchy. Lizzie may be expensive from a dollar and cents perspective but the cost of lack of support for political structures is the absence of economic growth and the basic needs of its citizens. I love being 53 and enjoying the understanding that comes of the world from a lifetime of gathering bits and pieces. I'm not prepared to support societies notion that growing old is an unfortunate reality. Age is a gift that just keeps giving. May we all live forever :)





I'm very pleased to hear that UNMISS is investigating the breach of the POC camp at Malakal, South Sudan. This is good news as it's crucial that our world's peace keepers do the hard work necessary to keep our institutions clean and ever-improving. Why did it take this long to announce the need for an investigation? How long will an investigation take? I take issue with what appears to be a lack of urgency but look forward to a thorough review of the events.

The UN has it tough...I get that.....but when protection of civilians and rape of civilians are terms that can both be used to describe the world's peacekeepers, we indeed have a serious problem. In this case (Malakal) a deficiency in planning and execution of the emergency plan constitutes an egregious and fundamentally unacceptable failure on the part of the UN. I'll be very interested to see the result of the investigation.

Peace in the region is holding for the most part and the future looks to be improving... but it will be a very long time before anything like prosperity finds this part of the world. It's a long road ahead.


Well this beats walking!!!!


These two pics are for my Dad...On my way to a meeting we drove up behind this pickup carrying a camel. I was immediately reminded of one of my Dad's favorite jokes about the camel family. It goes something like this; Did you hear the one about the camel family? The father had 2 humps and was called Henry, the mother 1 hump and was call Hilda. The bay had no humps and was called Humpfree...hahahahhaha. 
I love my Dad for this and the rest of his stupid jokes. It's not the jokes I love but his ability to take something so incredibly stupid and still laugh about it. Thanks Dad!! You 're a decent man... and there are so few of us :)


Thanks reading - Love Layno

PS - well over 5000 reads of my little  blog to date...thank you so much for sharing my adventure!!!