Sudan

First things first. It's been so long since I have been able to write, even though I have wanted to, because the internet at our hostel has been down since the 14th of October. That's a long time and I miss talking to everyone as frequently as I used to.

However, much has happened since I last blogged and I want to start off slowly with one thing at a time to make sure I get all of it in here!

On the 14th of October, through the 18th of October, I was given the opportunity to go to Juba, Sudan. I took it as you can imagine-I have been saying how much I want to go to Sudan forever! Juba is the capital of the south and the South was where the forefront of the war was fought between the North and the South. Chris and I were there with a team from our internships helping to train the official election observers for the upcoming elections there in April. To say that it was nice to FINALLY be a part of some action and something tangible would be an understatement. It was incredible to not be talking about doing something or learning about something, but to actually take action on an issue for a change. Although I feel that much was lacking in our training due to the lack of resources, it was still good to take action.

Juba, is the capital of the South and thus far my experience with the capitals of African countries has been quite good and I have found the three that I have been in quite developed. Juba was poverty pure and simple. You could see the effects of the war there and see how much it had torn the country and the people apart. Generations of lives were ruined by death, poverty, lack of education, fear, violence, and more. I saw maybe one or two 2-story buildings while I was there. I hate to say this for fear of fulfilling stereotypes (which is not what I'm trying to do and this is not how it is in most of Africa) but there were mud and grass huts in the city center still. Many people had structures made from scraps of metal and plastic that served as their homes.

The river Nile runs straight through Juba and our hotel was right on the bank. It was really beautiful but also full of mosquitoes, lizards, and frogs. And it was HOT HOT HOT! Walking off the plane was walking into a heat like I've never felt. Wow! I was sweating pretty much the entire weekend. The training was held in the hotel and consisted of representatives from each of the different states in the South that had been elected by different organizations as representatives of their state.

Our first night we took a picki-picki (motorcycle) tour of the city. Chris and I found ourselves on the back of a picki-picki riding over the Nile during a brilliant pink sunset. What an experience-something I will never forget. It was so beautiful and perfect. Wow. God is so good!

A quick background on the situation currently in Sudan. There have been no elections there in over 40 years. Most, if not all, of the Sudanese have never voted or even thought about it. More than 70% of the population is illiterate which has HUGE implications in the voting process. Talk about civic education? No way. Even basic education is severely lacking, forget about being educated about voting, government, their rights, and the list goes on. Getting people in the rural villages to understand the process, get registered, become educated about political candidates, get to the polls, be able to cast their vote freely and fairly without pressure, bribery, or violence will be a miracle and is certainly more than most are hoping for. The situation in the South is shaky at best and the CPA has already been breached more than once. The North is not giving the South its fair share of oil revenue and they are getting upset. The census that was just completed was tampered with and wrought with corruption which will have an influence on the elections since people are so upset and skeptical of it. The electoral calendar is not being adhered to and the government is most definitely stalling on the process. With the referendum coming up in 2010 to see if the South will become an independent state tensions are high, especially because the South holds most of the oil and the North wants a share of that which they can't get if they become separate entities. This does not even count the situation in Darfur... The situation grows evermore complicated and I am quite concerned about the process and the outcome of the elections. Many people are trying their hardest however to ensure that the elections go as smoothly as possible.

The training was 4 days and covered many topics. Some of it passed right over the heads of the trainees and I feel that we could have stayed in training for a month. I was frustrated by the fact that as monitors, they virtually have no powers to change or enforce anything, they simply have to report what they see. It was a constructive process however and by the end we ended up with a check list of things to observe and check over during the process.

I have so many reflections on Sudan. I really loved it there a lot. It was beautiful and the people were lovely. Someday I'm going back.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll get to write again soon but Chris wants to head home now :)