moving to Sudan???

Warning: this is an exceptionally long post about the possibility of living in Sudan…

I feel I need to write about Sudan, NPA, and specifically Yei. I’m in the Mine Action camp, easily the top of all of NPA’s compounds in Sudan. There are two office blocks, a round meeting room where I prefer to spend my working time, a set of accommodation houses (about 6 one-roomed tukuls plus a bank of adjoined rooms), a kitchen & dining room, and a bar. The tukul itself has a screened porch with a sink, a small bar fridge, mirror, and armchair. The spacious bedroom houses a double bed with fresh sheets, comfy pillows, and mosquito net, plus a desk and chair, and a storage cupboard.

We have power 24-hours from a generator, and an excellent internet connection via C-band satellite. Wireless access covers almost the whole compound, which is about 250m2, and we have a server cabinet with structured cabling. Flush toilets, satellite surround-sound TV, a laundry station, and an outdoor gym round out the facilities. The white-tiled bathroom has about 6 flush toilets on one side, and 6 showers on the other. The hot water is supplied using a system of steel drums, wood fire, and gravity.

The rest of the space contains warehouses (rubbhalls), tents for the deminer teams, a gas-filling station, and a well and water pump with 2 big storage containers on a tower, plus parking for Landcruisers and various specialized landmine-clearance vehicles. It’s a very organized and functional camp.

The food is fantastic, with fresh bread baked in a wood-burning concrete oven every morning, then rice, beef stew, and vegetables with fresh fruit for lunch. Dinners are more imaginiative, with choices ranging from baked-bean and tuna pizza to roasted potatoes, fresh fish, barbequed beef (or occasionally imported pork on Saturdays), chicken curry, or hamburgers, with an occasional custard fruit salad or crème brulee for dessert. There is also a well-stocked beer fridge, with bottled water, sodas, and whiskey also available.

Teak and mango trees abound all over the compound, and a vegetable garden runs along the fence. The area is surrounded by NPA’s agricultural programme’s expansive farm. Yei is in Central Equatoria state, part of the green belt of Southern Sudan. The climate is favourable – warm sunny days interspersed with thunderstorms. The sky is clear blue with fluffy clouds during the day, and brilliant with stars at night. It can get refreshingly cool at night or when the rain comes in, but never cold.

One side of the fence borders the Food Security compound – an equally beautiful & comfortable space. Tha main differences at Food Security are the lack of 24-hour power, flush toilets, sinks in the rooms, and creative meals, but the compound is lovely as well.

These are some of the reasons that I am in the middle of a decision to move to Sudan with Toby and be based in the Mine Action camp for the year 2008.

The are many factors in the decision, of course. Issues to be sorted include whether Anthony will stay in Nairobi with Leah & Kevin to finish his degree at the University of Nairobi, or we send the kids to boarding school and he moves to Merlin’s Juba office. Juba is only 3 hours away on a half-decent road, so we could easily meet on weekends. Many of our staff travel to Yei on the weekends to enjoy the climate and hospitality of the many NPA compounds – in addition to Mine Action, Food Security, and the Yei Agricultural Training Centre (YATC), which are located about 7 km outside of Yei town in Logobero, we have the Community Development Vocational Training Centre (VTC), Yei Hospital, and the Yei Medical Training School (YMTS) all located in Yei town. (The VTC also runs a continuous 6-week IT training course for NGO and government staff throughout Sudan.)

The most crucial factor is whether I can bring Toby to live in Sudan. Practically, it certainly could be done at the MA camp. It’s clean and has all the facilities necessary. The risks include the threat of malaria – the one time I got malaria, it was from Yei – and other disease outbreaks like menengitis, measles, dysentry, cholera, and even polio or yellow fever. Toby’s had all of the vaccinations he’s able to get so far, and the threat of malaria here is not really that high – of course we would protect him with repellents and nets, and ensure everything he ingests is hygenic (bottled water is in regular supply).

I would be able to hire a local housegirl/nanny easily, and she could come to the tukul daily to mind Toby. I could set up a baby monitor or walkie-talkie to listen to him in the evening while I’m at the bar, watching TV, or at the next compound. I believe he would be welcomed by everyone here, and luckily he’s social and generally happy, though it would be a bit odd to have a baby at the dining room for staff meals! Socially, there are other local staff – mostly cleaners and cooks – who have babies in Logobero, and there are other children just outside the compound, along with a 140-child orphanange about 20 minutes walk away. It could be a worry that he might catch something from one of the local children, but I would have to balance the hygeine with acceptable risk. Toby is old enough that he could enjoy the idyllic environment, but young enough not to need to go to school or other developmental facilities. He would certainly miss his brother, sister, and father, and that is a worry – but again, he’s young enough to adapt, and would not remember the details in years to come. Finally, he is an African child, and I would be proud to live with him in a country that both Anthony and I have been supporting for many years. He may also think it was cool that he lived in Sudan in his early years!

In other practical considerations, I would have to find a way to get a regular supply of Pampers, but I could likely go with reusable diapers until he’s toilet trained – which we would have to do as soon as he’s ready. If I move in January 2008, he will be 2 in April, so we might not have to deal with diapers for too much longer. He generally eats what we do, and can switch to Wheatabix instead of cooked porridge for breakfast. He drinks regular milk some of the time already, and since he drinks from a cup so well, I could reduce him to a nighttime bottle only – he’s pretty much down to only 2 bottles a day now, and may even be off them completely by that time.

The benefit for Toby and myself would be the closeness – I would see him more often, since I would be around for lunch every day, and we would be together every evening, night, and weekend. We would become a cosy twosome. I would feel sad about not having Anthony around especially, and of course Leah & Kevin as well. However, taking a Sudan position offers regular R&R – 2 weeks back to Nairobi for every 8 weeks worked, which I can combine with my 30 days of annual leave. The school system in Kenya is scheduled so Leah & Kevin are off every April, August, and December, and I could arrange my calendar to be home most of the time that they are – even working from the Nairobi office for a few days as well.

One issue would be official travel, as I should be in Juba regularly, perhaps 2 times a month, and I would also like to visit other field locations. None of these places are suitable for Toby. So I would have to see if the nanny could stay with him, or find another solution. Related to that is if I do want to go out in the evenings – Yei is a very social place, and there are often parties in CD, Health, or other NGOs, along with different restaurants and bars in town – I can’t stay in Logobero all the time! But I have a feeling that as Toby made friends with the staff, I would have lots of babysitting volunteers. There are several ladies who stay in the camp or just outside, so it’s not insurmountable.

The main benefit to our family is the chance to save enough to be able to move to Canada comfortably in 2009. By accepting a field-based position for a year, my salary would both increase and become tax-free. Our living expenses would drastically decrease, though school fees and such would continue or increase. I can’t see that we would give up the apartment and car in Nairobi, but as it’s only $400/month for the house, and the car is paid for, the convenience of having both for when we are in Nairobi would outweigh the expenses. If Anthony stays in Nairobi we would also increase travel expenses, since it would be wonderful for him to visit us during the middle of each rotation. However, even the little airline that flies direct to Yei is now offering frequent flyer points! Also, it’s cheaper to fly through Kampala, and if we put our minds to it, we could manage personal travel through many avenues. It’s also likely that I could spend a few days of official business in Nairobi every few weeks.

What remains now is to discuss with my husband and then with my boss – luckily they are both agreeable to discussion. I’ve mentioned this to Anthony in brief a few times, and he is always willing to support. African lifestyle is such that people do usually leave their families for work – as Anthony did for his entire career until 2 years ago. Of course it’s usually the man, but in our case, my salary makes a huge difference in so many lives that special consideration is surely worth it!

In my case, I had always wanted to live in the field, but then husband, kids, and finally baby obstructed it. If we could devise a way that would work for us, and even stregthen our family and financial position, I can’t think of a good reason not to do it! Personally, I have become very dedicated to NPA – the goals, operations, and especially the people, both my colleagues and the Sudanese. I cannot imagine working for a different NGO. Furthermore, it’s exceptionally difficult to find a comparable position in ICT in many agencies, and my experience has been so focused in that area that it’s difficult to break into the development or programme side. Working in the field for a year gives an extra prestige to a CV in the humanitarian arena, so it would benefit me professionally. It could have detrimental effects on my technical career path, but we have sufficient complicated technology in Sudan that my skills would certainly not become dusty! (The MA camp houses the big VSAT, plus Cisco router, cabled and wireless networks, and a new file-sharing, antivirus, and backup server to be implemented in August.)

I would need to limit it to a year, mostly because it’s a concrete period of time that I think I could handle. As well, I will need to consider nursery school for Toby soon, and of course the eventual goal of moving the family to Canada. We won’t be waiting too long before Leah and Kevin are teenagers! They will certainly be behind once they are in the Canadian school system – maybe only for the cultural and geographical references in all subjects, but likely in language and math skills as well (not to mention French!). We wouldn’t want to add on top of that the puberty and peer pressures that come with high school!

Another major factor is getting a baby sister for Toby  My original plan was to have two babies in quick succession, so they would match the big kid set, and grow together. So far my plan has been foiled by NPA moving into Sudan, me not having a contract after this year, and if I move back to Canada either with a small baby or pregnant, it will be difficult to find a position. In one way, I’d like to wait until Canada to have the second, but that seems like it will be too far in the future – after all, I would need to find a job and stay in it for at least a year before I could request maternity leave. But the leave is so much longer in Canada, it makes me want to go there just to have a year off! On the other hand, though the maternity leave is only 2 months (with Toby, I took 4 months at half pay), it’s easier to have a baby here since having a fulltime nanny is so easily available.

Now, looking at the option of moving to Yei for 2008, either I get pregnant in the early part of the year and take the last 4 months of my contract off for maternity, or I wait. If I wait until 2010, Toby will be 4½ by the time he gets his baby sister… (actually, that’s not so bad!) Anthony & I will be 37 by that time, maybe 38 by the time she’s born – still not unsurmountable. If I have the baby next year, Toby will be 2½, and I would likely not have a job to return to after my leave… therefore I would have to move to Canada without a financial safety net, and scramble to get a position with a 4-month-old needing daycare plus a 3-year old. Hmm. Can’t make a decision on that just now… (unless Auntie Devon decides to open her own daycare!)

In terms of the feasibility of this idea on the NPA side, our acting Country Director, Dr Elias, has been adament on my position being based in Juba up until a management meeting yesterday. He hasn’t fully given us backing for Yei, but the door was opened. I have already told him that if my position is moving to Juba, I will not be able to accept. Juba does not have a congenial environment at all – it’s extremely hot, dusty, and dirty – and the only accommodation is in an NPA staff guesthouse with tiny rooms, few facilities, no soundproofing, and a dusty courtyard. Fine enough to visit, but staying there with Toby is impossible.

NPA is hosting an organizational consultant right now who is reevaluating the whole moving to Sudan plan. The Oslo office had originally insisted on Juba, since it is the capital of South Sudan, and has political contacts, embassies, and donors operating there. But it’s a very expensive town, with everyone scrambling for space, and all facilities need to be rebuilt. The town was held by the northern Arabs for the war, with the SPLA attacking regularly to recapture it, so it’s shelled, burnt, and mostly destroyed. We can’t buy office or housing there, only rent and rehabilitate ourselves. Our office is on a crowded city plot, and the guesthouses are only minimally accommodating. The debate tabled yesterday focused on utilizing the existing facilities we have in other locations within Sudan until we get land and build permanent facilities in Juba. Since Yei is spacious and holds operations for all of NPA’s programmes, it’s a logical interim location. It’s also very close to Juba as mentioned, so management and others can easily get there for meetings and follow up. The idea is cost effective, sensible, and dare we say obvious, but has historically met resistance from senior management.

What I need to do is to evaluate my idea, discuss deeply with Anthony on the feasibility and benefits, and then introduce the idea to Dr Elias. With the timing of my travels, I will likely not be able to discuss with Dr Elias before August, unless briefly on this trip. However, my job is safe until the end of the year, and I have serious thinking to do anyway, so this could be a realistic timeframe. If I do move into Yei, it wouldn’t be until January 2008 – though I could also look at a 1-month trial maybe in the fall.

What exciting times!

If you have actually read all of this, you must have an opinion – I invite your comments. The reason I needed to write all of this out is because I don’t have anyone to discuss the details with at the moment, so I decided to post it both for feedback, and to illustrate, for those who are interested, the possibilities of life in Sudan. So what do you think??