First Impressions: Part 2

Garbage: There is garbage everywhere. I have been shocked to see how much people throw trash in the streets or just leave the trash behind. Inevitably you will find trash wherever you walk and wherever you go. Sure there are trash cans and certain places respect picking up trash more than others but still you will find trash everywhere. And its not that much of a shock when you realize there really isn't a garbage collection service. Much of the trash will end up in a pile to be burned anyways. It just collects certain places. Somehow it is both clean (well swept and tidy in many places) and dirty (piles of trash) in others. A bit of a contradiction.

Eating with your hands: No I do not mean foods like pizza or chicken wings, but full fledge meals are eaten with your hands. I will say that there are water buckets at most of the places I have eaten and sinks at others to wash hands before and after meals so at least when you eat with your hands it is cleaner. Depending on where I am I do not always have silverware. I went to a friend’s house for dinner (this will be another post) and we at with our hands and it was the most natural thing in the world, which I suppose it rather is. However, it has taken some getting used to.

Hospitals and Animals at the hospital: Hospitals here are so different than they are in the US. The hospital compound is one large field usually, with many different buildings scattered about. Depending, there may be fences around it or between some buildings but there are no large medical complexes like in the US. With the large fields and grasses that grow there, inevitably you will find an animal running around. At Nzara's hospital there are goats, lambs, and pigs often running around. There is a stray dog there as well. At the PHCC in Yambio there is often a horse in the compound. No one pays them any mind but it feels like a contradiction when you compare how clean and sterile hospitals are in the US to the rustic nature of the medical facilities here. It fits though.

Kindness: There is so much kindness here. If you have followed my other posts, I hope you have noticed that too but I sure have. People are happy to walk up to you and talk with you. People offer to help and often share what they can with me. If I am lost someone is sure to help me find my way. If it is not me then I see how members of the community work together and help out when they can. People seem genuinely invested in their community and therefore with each other to support each other. With the women this seems particularly true as well. There is a support and kindness between the women here that I have not seen so vividly as in the western world.

Prayers: America talks a big talk about their religious practices, whatever they may be, but here in South Sudan one can see the devotion and the reality of religious practice with the people in the community. I have blundered a few times when I am at a meeting and forget that meetings are inevitably opened and closed with prayers. We pray before each meal when I eat with others. There is no judgement to those who don't pray but it is common practice to pray often throughout the day. And it is not just Christians, as I witness many of the people in the community observing their Muslim traditions and attending the mosque.

Toilets: This is a fun one to talk about! Most places I have been have westernized bathrooms but every once in a while there is one that is not western in style, or it’s missing a part, or water. At the hospital in Nzara some of the more modern bathrooms still have the eastern style bathroom. This is the bathroom where the “toilet” is a hole in the ground with plumbing. It is very much a toilet with toilet features but there is no toilet bowl or seat. You squat and do your business and then flush. That was an interesting experience. I have peed many times in the woods and somehow this was bizarre experience. Other toilets have no water or no seat. You make do with whatever. At least there is almost always toilet paper.

I am sure I am missing some things that have stood out to me and other first impressions that I have had since coming here. There is just so much to take in. Maybe I will write another post or maybe some of those other impressions will come out just through this narrative I write in my updates on this blog.