From Juba to Bor

Written: August 12

What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been

This posting should have been placed above the Nile posting, but the blog will have its way with me.

As we last left off, I was being blackmailed by a corrupt police official who reminded me of Claude Raines’ character in Casablanca. Let’s call him Claude. During the civil war with the north, our dear Claude was working with the North up in Khartoum and was not fighting in the bush with his fellow Dinka (against the North). He had betrayed his fellow Dinka. He is assigned to the police headquarters in Juba and is not liked by his fellow clansman, though he is trying to gain reacceptance. I’m not sure how his little scam with me was going to help his cause, but he did not get away with it. When Aduei’s family heard about this, they were embarrassed and angry. It turns out that the concubine was behind all of this. Let’s call her the Witch for now (since this is how she is referred to by the family). She had held onto my papers and then informed Claude to come and get me the day before I was leaving. In this way, I would be desperate to get my papers approved. The anger of the family towards her was quite strong. She has been ruling Uncle’s household and many believe that she is a witch – not only for her unfriendly and nasty disposition, but the fact that many believe that she has cast a spell on him. She is from the Shilluk tribe and they are known to practice witchcraft – or so I have been told. They also have kings, which the Dinka do not, and it is blasphemous to worship anyone but Christ himself.

Sex and the Single Catholic – an ADD sidenote

The mixture of Catholicism and Dinka traditions does not bode well with the containment of the HIV virus. Aversion to birth control of any sort combined with the practice of polygamy and many partners in general is then mixed with the total taboo on speaking about sex. Though it is said that ther there is no premarital sex – it is forbidden, it is actually quite common. But now worries here – any problems arising from these dallyings is cleared through the transaction of a specified number of cattle. There is no illegitimacy – only children born to women whose partner wants no part of her and will not get to claim the child as his – though six cows can give him claim and let this child be counted in his own personal census – and more children is more status. There is also no such thing as homosexuality among Dinka – end of discussion. According to every Dinka I have spoken with: “There is no homosexuality among the Dinka, there never was, and there never will be.”

A story I heard yesterday. A young Dinka woman came back to Sudan for a visit after having been in Canada for five years. While in Canada, she discovered her lesbian nature and when she returned to Sudan and informed her family of this, she was kidnapped, taken to Bor and will be sold to a tribe who practices human sacrifices. She is obviously possessed and a disgrace to her family. It is in environment that modern medicine and democracy will try to flourish. It is a challenge that will take at least a generation and is dangerous for anyone to stand up and preach otherwise. It is certainly not something that should come from a Kawaaga (foreigner). If a woman stands up from her rights, it is the spreader of this gospel who the husband may come to exact revenge. (Since returning to the US, Aduei has reported this human rights abuse)

Back to the narrative – we finally got on a UN helicopter. Aduei, her aunt, and myself. This privileged was obtained as a result of connections. While most Sudanese must endure a one to two day “boat” trip up the Nile – packed with people, animals and goods, we were flying to Bor in about half an hour.

Oh, I get so sidetracked – the person who booked this flight will remain unnamed, especially since he helped us. In multiple visits to his house I learned that he is a very high ranking army official and his house had full time electricity, courtesy of a generator – with cable TV – servants serving food, and a large bottle of Johnny Walker Black resting under the table. We visited during the day at various times and I was originally just told that he is the guy that will book our flight. I was shocked when I found out that our flight was free and funded by my own tax dollars as a humanitarian mission. On the various occasions that we came by, he was always home – it’s strange, but so few people have jobs, and those who do, are rarely there – and all sorts of high ranking officials would come by and “chill.”
I later learned – man, I’m not sure whether I wrote about this already, or just thought about it in my head – that there is a new law in South Sudan: Any foreign business must have a local partner – and of course, it is the people with the connections who become the partners – and they are paid handsomely for their connections – like a quarter million dollars for a half a year…….there are some people getting very rich here – while others scrounge for their next meal. “How does it feel to be on your own…..like a rolling stone…..a complete unknown….” Sorry Bob……”scrounge” brought you to mind.

Back to the story – this is becoming less linear than “Catch 22” – but at least in “Catch 22” you can figure out where you are by the number of missions that they were required to fly. Did you know that the original title of the book was Catch 18, but that same year Leon Uris came out with a book “Mila 18” and so the publishers changed it to “Catch 22.” Sounds better anyway.

So, through connections, Aduei, her aunt, and I get to ride a UN helicopter at no cost, since our connector has us registered as going on a humanitarian mission. Now, Auntie is a member of the South Sudanese parliament and has some business to take care of with the Governor of the Bor district. She never really made it clear why she was with us in Bor, but I think she thought it would be good to take advantage of the helicopter ride. So, here’s how it goes: She’s a member of Parliament, but lives in Kenya. I assume she is intending on returning to the Bor area that she is representing. She is a widow and a woman can represent the district in which her husband’s family lives – regardless of where she may reside. So, she may have never lived in the area, but if this is where her late husband came from, this is where she is considered a resident. Where she comes from means nothing – it’s all about the husband. Anyway, while she was living in Kenya, dead hubbie’s family put her name on some slate and she was elected. She came with us and didn’t say very much. Actually she didn’t smile very much either.The UN helicopter was an old Russian chopper with a Russian crew that leaked water, as sweat poured out of us. To make things clear, it was the helicopter that was leaking water, not the Russian crew.

Rising above Juba and flying along the Nile, I truly understood what they meant by the bush. Seeing it from above was incredible. Green, lush and wild with only occasional cleared areas for compounds of huts. Quite beautiful.

We got picked up by some people and loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck and dropped off at a hotel – actually, a grouping of tents, but we’ll call it a hotel. I have pictures of all these places, but the internet is much too slow to upload them and will have to wait until I get to Kampala in a week or so…….this hotel is a series of tents, a hole in the ground toilet – which we will get to later – and they bring water for a “shower.” Food is served on some sort of schedule which varies from day to day and it is frequented by all sorts of military types – It is the top of the line hotel in Bor – actually, it is the only hotel in Bor. There is nothing like walking around to lots of machine guns which I have gotten used to by now.