Christmas and New Year's in Juba

I was supposed to leave South Sudan this Saturday, 15 December.  But as there is no pressing need for me elsewhere, and the South Sudan regular program Financial Coordinator is going on a break, I will be staying 3 more weeks to replace him.  I should now leave Juba around 5 January, probably with a week of break before heading out somewhere again.

So I will be spending another Christmas and New Year’s in the field.  I love that!  First, I hate cold weather.  My last 7 Christmases have been in Africa, and even the thought of a white Christmas sends chills up my spine.  It is also special to spend these holidays with co-workers from different backgrounds and cultures.  Each one adds his or her own flavour to the festivities.  

I am sure that we will eat well.  Our habitual cooking crew is a Georgian (the country, not the state), an Italian and me the Franco-American.  This team will certainly assure a wide and varied Christmas dinner.  The market near our house has nearly everything we could possibly need, and there are some large grocery stores which cater to the non-nationals for a price.

Planning ahead, I purchased small gifts in November when I was in Lyon, so everyone will have a Christmas present.  There should be around 12 of us.  We will probably do some kind of gift exchange as well.

I found some really cheesy fake Christmas trees in one of the larger expatriate stores here, but they are very expensive.  So I think we will improvise on the decorations.  “Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Falalalala, la la la la”!  Someday I am going to have to grow up.  But it will certainly not happen during the Christmas season.

Early December in South Sudan

The training in Dubai was very interesting.  We had sessions on the Middle East medias, the media in context of Middle East politics, some role playing excercises on interviews, and MSF activities in the region.  I would feel much more comfortable doing a media interview now.   The other participants in the course were very interesting people (both the students and the presenters), and this made for lively and informative participation. 

Dubai is an amazing city.  It is shiny and new, a very modern city and clean.  On the other hand, there are a few restrictions on personal freedoms in line with the Muslim religion - blockage of certain internet sites, and alcohol is only available in selected (and shielded) venues.   About 1/8th of the population are citizens.  The rest are migrant workers.

I returned just in time to see some last-minute changes to our 2013 budget proposition.  This was presented to the operations committee in Paris on 30 November.  No feedback yet, but it was a pretty solid proposition.

When I leave South Sudan I will be handing over to the Finance and the Human Resources persons for the regular programs in South Sudan.  This process already started, as they replaced me while I was in France and Dubai.  And during the next 2 weeks, I will be preparing a more formal, written handover. 

This past weekend, we moved into our new house.  It is wonderful, and it is good to have all of us together finally in the same house.  The house was originally built to be a hotel, so all 20 bedrooms have their own small balcony and bathroom.  With this many bedrooms - which in fact will often all be occupied - the perment members of the team will no longer need to share their rooms with people passing through.  These coordinators are usually here for at least a year, so having some private space is important.  The building has just been completed, and of course, there are some teething pains, (plumbing leaks,  electrical problems, etc.), but they are being sorted out with the owner, the construction crew and our logistics department.  Sunday, we began by arranging the kitchen and living space.  This is one big open space, so we can be cooking, watching TV, reading, or whatever all together.  At the end of the evening, we found a baby snake (about 4 inches) lounging among the television cables.  I quickly captured it and threw it outside.  We probably need to do something about the 1-inch gap under some of the doors.  And we are still in Africa, close to the Nile - lots of mosquitos in this place.

Although I still have a return ticket to France on 15 December, nothing is really sure.   I might stay to replace the financial coordinator who will be going on holidays until the beginning of January.  Or I might be going to some other hotspot in the world.  Whatever.  I am on a 1 year contract with the Emergencies Department, so they can send me wherever I'm needed.