Off to Sudan

The second part of our tour includes a couple of days in South Sudan to meet with the staff at the Sudan Council of Churches, based in Juba. The Council is an association of six Christian churches that operate in both North and South Sudan. South Sudan is predominantly Christian so much of their work takes place there. Working with the different churches, SCC describes itself as a unified voice and a single service provider for its denominations; it also works with foreign churches, like the UCC, and develops programs around issues such as peace, HIV-AIDS, women and youth. SCC was active in education and preparations for the elections.

Juba is the capital of South Sudan, with a lot of new development for government offices, as well as reconstruction after the war. I haven’t taken many photographs, as there’s still a lot of military presence. They, and many of the people on the street, take exception to being captured on film; and, I was told before leaving to be inconspicuous about taking photos. There are signs of the referendum on southern independence everywhere, the biggest of which is this countdown marquee in the centre of a roundabout.

We’re installed at the Hotel Paradise on the main road of Juba. Like most properties, it is enclosed by a high wall topped with razor wire, and is patrolled by full-time guards. The main building is a restaurant on two levels with the kitchen. The rooms are off a courtyard at the rear of the building. The rooms are built out of converted shipping containers, stacked two stories high, with an iron staircase up to the upper level entrances. The rooms are, shall we say, basic, although the price is closer to a suite at the Plaza!

We had a short drive through Juba to the SCC office. The centre of town consists of single storey cement buildings, rutted streets, throngs of street-vendors, crowds of cars, motorcycles, and lots of pedestrians. Everything from clothes to furniture, from electronics to shoes is sold in small, rough-hewn stalls that line the streets. Just like in malls, the shoe vendors are all clustered together. One whole lane is devoted to cell-phones and accessories: dozens of vendors eking out a living selling technology from a postage stamp-sized kiosk. Almost everyone here has at least one cell phone. Land lines either don’t exist or are so unreliable as to be useless. The absolute ubiquity of cell-phones is transforming how Africans communicate with each other and the world.

Here, as in Nairobi, street corners or trees are often crowded by young men on motorcycles – 125 CC size. They’re available for taxi service, and you often see them carrying one or two passengers and a load of groceries, charcoal, or water jugs.

The other noticeable thing on the streets is the money exchangers. Men stand around freely displaying a sizeable wad of cash, flipping idly through the bills. As soon as they see a prospective client (like me), they offer to exchange my dollars at and advantageous rate. Assuming, of course, that the bills are not fake. I would’ve loved to get a picture of this, but decided that that probably wasn’t wise.