“Always and Forever” on Repeat

Of course we’re sitting in the compound listening to this Shania Twain song on repeat. Of course.

Traveling yesterday was very interesting. Two flights on small UN planes took us from Juba to here. There was some rain yesterday and for some time we thought we would spend the night between the two flights in the “airport”—an open room with a bunch of aid workers from all over the world reading novels.

Damn, just as I was at the point of being able to sing the chorus to “Always and Forever” we switched to a new song. And, yes, of course it is Brittany Spears.

Sudan looks like a huge flat broccoli patch from the sky with what looks like large green golf courses that appear from time to time. Only it looks like the enormous Sudanese golfers aren’t so good because the long green patches are populated with dry divots. When landing you could see that the divots are the clearings where people build their Tukuls (clay and straw huts) and maybe maintain a small plot to farm. In the few conversations I’ve had, southern Sudanese seem indignant that they have huts that lose the battle to termites in a couple years while northerners have cement homes.

Celine Dion, awesome!

Our arrival to this village near the north/south border was a bit intense. The planes buzz the landing strip to clear it of goats, cattle, and people. Then, once the plane parked, over a hundred people came and surrounded the plane. They watched us unload the plane, load the land crusers, and walk off. Just watched. I observed all I could out of the corners of my eyes so as not to stare and also to pretend like it wasn’t a really difficult sight. Our welcoming committee was generally emaciated and partially covered in very worn clothing. We arrived at the compound and talked about poisonous snakes and scorpions. Colleagues also shared stories of some recent violence in another village where this organization was working in another part of the country. They are at this camp now which is serving them as a bit of a refuge to fill time before they can go back and work. Their stories are sometimes difficult to take in. Kelly, the other intern, likes to make fun of my nine-year-old desire to go out and look for snakes.

I’m grateful that Celine Dion is reminding me for the fifth time that it is a “new day.”