There was a plane crash somewhere in S. Sudan a few days ago, and everybody died. There’s this guy Yak Yak, who I met once in Wau and who is a great State Field Coordinator for the program, and 12 of his family members were on the plane. Tragic. There is a three-day mourning for the victims of the crash, so nobody in government or anything is working except the census people because the census ends tomorrow or something.
After three weeks of editing and exporting video all day every day and into the night, then finally finalizing all the videos in Juba Friday, I rode Saturday to Kapoeta, the first field location I went to back in January, and last night we went out to Karakamuge, a village an hour away where I did most of the filming for the Toposa videos. We set up the phat speakers and projector that the Carter Center threw down on (they bought six sets) for this purpose, and we showed a group of 200+ people the videos, twice. It was great to watch them watching and enjoying. They wanted to watch them a third time but it was time to send them home. I didn’t ask, but my guess is most of them have seen videos once or twice before, or maybe never.
I invited a couple folks to come along from the (Carter Center) Democracy program who are here to meet with Census people and Commissioners and stuff, and they tagged along as well. Neither had been out to the villages yet, and it was fun to be the one in the know, telling them all the tidbits I’d learned or been told before. Though they’re not as rugged as the folks here in the health program, and I had to help set up tents and listen to high maintenance complainings.
I’m a bit used to being here. When the lady here complained about the shower I just sort of laughed, ‘cause I think that shower is great. I’m also a bit ready to head home, which I do tomorrow. Looking forward to friends, family, and many luxuries, like a washing machine – woah.
