Life in Nzara

I arrived to Nzara on Tuesday. This is not my first time here. I have been to Nzara two other times. Both times were for short visits so this was the first time I am here for a longer period of time.

We traveled in a two-car convoy. It is still dry season so the trip to Nzara is quick and the road is not so bad this time or year. I took a video, though, to show what it is like to drive here. I am in Nzara for training (see my other blog post on this).

I have found Nzara beautiful and intriguing before and still do. It is so much smaller than Yambio. I hadn't gone to the market here but I know it is smaller than Yambio's. But Nzara means seeing Sarah, Martin, their kids, and Beverly.

After training ended Monday I met up with Beverly and Sarah. It is so good to see them. Sarah took me to the maternity unit. There I got to hold 3 tiny babies. I like getting to hold the babies. The unit here is bigger than the one at the PHC in Yambio but this is a part of the hospital here.

After round at the maternity unit Sarah walked with me back to the guest house where we are staying. On the way she introduced me to several children, a few of whom she delivered on previous missions here. Many kids ran up to us, a few curtsied, and most shook our hands.

At the guest house I settled into my room. Most of the guest house is roofed but not sealed from the outside world. The kitchen is open to the courtyard. The entire compound is gated and fenced in. Outside you can see the fútbol field and the Catholic Church.

Inside is the courtyard with 6 rooms off of it. Each is a room for different volunteers or staff. My room is pretty large. There is a full bed, cupboard for belongings, bedside table, and another table. I also have my own bathroom. There is running water. However, there is no electricity on Tuesday when I arrived. I have been warned it stops at 8pm anyways and usually starts again when the sun comes up (all solar powered). There is also no internet.

Food is left on the counter from lunch that day. There is chicken, rice, cabbage, and something else I do not know. There isn't a way to warm the food, unless you want to start a fire. We eat the food as it is. Sometimes it is warm. Other times it is room temperature. We make do either way. I enjoyed dinner with Sarah and her family that evening. There was plenty of chatting and laughter and it was so nice to share the meal with them.

After dinner I headed back to my room. Making the most of the lack of electricity and internet I decided I decided to read one of my e-books I had on my charged-up laptop. Since books took up too much room in my suitcases I had left all of mine in the US so e-books were all I had. However, it was amazing to just sit in bed and read for several hours.

I tried to sleep around 10pm. I definitely did not fall asleep then. In Yambio there is a lot of noise in the way of loud music, traffic, and noises in the form of a semi-city-like area. I am used to that now. Here, however, it is country. I should be used to it. And actually some of the noises reminded me of home in New York.

I lay in bed for several hours listening to the country around me. There are many animals that make noises that you can hear. There are the goats that make a lot of noise, and if you are not used to them they can sound like screaming. Then there are the roosters, though those are worse in the morning. What intrigued me most was the sound of the wild dogs howling for hours. They sound like cayotes, but they are African Wild Dogs (Think Africa by Toto, because I did).

You can also hear music at night. Sometimes it is a drum, and other times it is someone singing, or groups of people singing. You can also hear the people talking amongst themselves, calling out to others. Noises travel far here.

Of course, there is the sound of babies crying and children talking, normal sounds of households at night. And because fresh air is the only way to keep your room cool your windows are open, and most of the village homes only have curtains covering their windows. I have windows I could close but I love the fresh breezes blowing in the air.

I must have fallen asleep at some point and woke up around 4am to the sounds of the roosters. Roosters crow all the time here. There is one that must be close to our compound, and near-ish my room because he is very loud. They talk to each other too. So I lay in bed listening to the roosters.

Around 5am someone began sweeping near the compound, probably by the church. Sweeping is not as quiet as one might think it is. They use these long reeds or small branches gathered together and the sound they make on the dirt is not loud but it is noisy enough and distinctive. I lay in bed listening to it for a while.

At 6 the drumming started. I had not been warned of this but it was a very interesting noise to hear. There are drums and some sort of bell or loud clang that is made with the drumming. It happens 3 times every morning. When I asked Sarah about this later on she explained that it is the morning call to pray at the Catholic Church across the street.

Once I got myself ready I headed through the village to go to the hospital. The village is pretty quiet this time of day and there are just a few people about. The full moon was still up despite the fact that the sun was also up. I loved getting to walk through and look at some of the homes and ways that people live here. Some houses have large graves in their yards. It is common that family members are buried in the compound that their family lives in.

The hospital is a lot busier in the morning than the village. Many women are about, washing clothes, making breakfast, cleaning, and other things. Sometime I may talk about the conditions in the wards in the hospital but not in this post. I headed to Beverly’s apartment which is part of the doctor’s quarter on the other end of the hospital. We stayed and chatted for a while before heading to the main office, and the source of WiFi for my time here.

I stopped over to the office a few times a day just to do a few updates and to check in with family in the US and with my office in Yambio. Nothing exciting. I have to say it was actually pretty nice not having access to WiFi all the time. It gave me time to chat with Sarah and her family, read, and just relax and enjoy the world around me.

It is very peaceful here in Nzara. There is a lot less noise from vehicles and other such things, as there are in Yambio. It is relatively quiet and reminds me a lot of home in the US, with the roosters, and wild dogs at night. I am very relaxed here in Nzara. I am enjoying my time. But there is also a part of me that is looking forward to going back to my home in Yambio when the training is over.