Cooler/big fish/a sad moment/ top riggersTT

The boys in this photo are putting up a Communication tower they use the gin pole in the middle of the frame and pull up the sie sections with the truck.No harness, PPE, crane,rattle guns ,rachets nothing remotely like we have sleep on beds beside the tower this height has only taken 5 days so far and they will be finished in 10

A large Nile perch and it was good.

The week was sadend by the unecpected death of Soloman's wife who had been married for 24 years.
Soloman is our surveyor and his loss has bought a touch of reality to us all.

Will cont morrw and it never came so today it is.

Benn quite an eventful few days have been trying ti=o track down the Mr for Finance which has been hard as he is on the Campaign trail but got him once and then he slipped the net and did not show up for another 3 days just to get a signature and the state stamp on a letter so we can hopefully shift the machinery.When we finaly got it all done sent it off and the wording is wrong so will have to d it all again maybe this time i will tie him upp in the ute they dont seem to get this is the biggest project in South Sudan since the oil was found and it is whnen it works one of the biggest of its kind in the world and will bring huge benefits to them and boy they need it we are puting anbout 100,00sdgs into thr local community a month now and this will increase we have to be careful we do not start some localised inflation and unwarrented hope that we may be the re saviours as every day there is a new haut going up around us in hope of some benefits.

Had some trouble with a couple of the soldiers his last couple of days so had to hunt a couple back to town so off I go with Zacy the governors man and 4 soldiers in the back seat and 4 sheep in the back .We get to the first road block and the car is commanded by the road block boys as they ned to get into town to Help guard the Sudanese President Bashir who is comming to town. I would have liked to have got a photo of the Carajah[white man] 4 soldiers in the back seat and 6 more on the back and 4 sheep so it is any ones guess who was the smarter my money is on the sheep.

On one of the trips this week I bought and internt modem and as part of the purcchasing they have forms to fill in and believe it or not only one page in Arabic and English the girl filled it in in typical blode fashion although there a no blondes here but only a few act likes sorry for you real blodes ot there no offence ment but you know what I mean .Any how got to the bit where I had to sign and I was given an ink pad and asked to sign with my left thunb print I was not allowed to write a cross this reminded me of when I spent a couple of hours in a lock up many years a go.

Our aggrononmist Rumbie who is not doing that much at the moment due to lack of cleared ground went off with the hunter and gatherers this week to the Maanga fish vilage and Kobus was offered a 150 cows for her to become a Nomads wife. Rumbie was quite taken aback by this  turn of events as she has just got rid of a husband and has come up here to get a new start .It did not take her long oto reject the offer but it was because she thought she was worht a bit more than 150 cows so I guess time will tell.

James wife has recovered from her typhoid and is on the mend and expecting after the wet.Some men have up to 15 wives man that is one big head ache and expensive although the women do not back chat they just ,cooking do the washing ,have kids ,do most of the work,collect the water and basicaly have a shit of a time but that is how it is although there is some change happening all but slowly. It is not every mans dream some may think.

The election is very near and a bit of tensionis brewing it is hard to work out who likes who and who does not .There has been some unrest well to the west of here and we are monitoring what is going on through several different channells and we have a UN base not far about 30mins away so any body who is concerned about us we a fine and all is well.

Not a pretty town/moving/Dust/A Baby

Sudanese charcoal cutters on the move a very Sudanese movement.

The village of Lalop is to the North West of our Camp and I went there the other day in search of engine oil.A town built on one of the main roads to the north.Not a pretty town

Gives caravaning and house moving a whole new meaning

Th donkeys belong to this family They move most days

Dusty the power pylon belongs to the Oil Company

Still trying to get the dish going

The week has passed along very quickly our gear is still not here and is still in Kosti Port awaiting customs to clear it, So frustrating for every body. Noel Jessen has arrived from Australia to train the Zims in chaining and stick racking. So he is having a bit of a holiday or should I say culture shock.

 People can see the so-called 3^rd world on TV but too actually see and experience is some thing quite different. Realization that it is real and that people really do live in grass huts with absolutely no services. These are the ones who have something perhaps the scary part is it has now become part of my every day life; you almost become desensitized and don’t notice it and it is just a part of your surrounds and every day life,

The banking system still holds wonders with the Manager putting his stamp on every trans action, the bank writes the checks for you and it is all recorded in long hand as well as on the computer. Quite novel having a Passbook starting at what we think is the back and it going from right to left.

But if you go to the Kenya commercial bank they have an ATM in the wall that was actually worked yesterday only for there clients even a TV inside where u can watch Nigerian soap operas

The surreal feeling of living in a Wetland and being covered in dust was Fridays little surprise. Dust came down from Khartoum and the Gulf covering us in a thin film of red dust there was no wind just the atmosphere filled with super fine dust. Visibility was down to 2 to 3oo m at times. I t bought some welcome relief from the heat and the work on the interim camp progressed at quite a smart pace. The dust is still around this morning just a little less and again today the nose and syness’s are having a bit of a rough trot.

We have been having trouble getting water in Bentiu for drinking it will become a real problem if we cannot get it and our stocks run out, The old Aussie gut will handle it but I don’t think the Zims or The Africana’s’ will. Nothing wrong with a bit of dam water with the odd dead animal in it when you’re a kid just asks mine. Bolsters the immune system no ends. Gas for cooking is also a non-item so will be on the fire soon if nothing happens to re supply the town;

Off to the workers meeting this morning , nothing happens quickly! at times it is good sometimes totally and utterly frustrating. The longer we wait for our gear to be released the less tolerant I will become, so just gotta chill.

There was abet of excitement during the week when young Jim came to tell me we had a sick Falata under the tree at the camp entrance ,I naturally asked how sick and he said not bad. So after a bit I got Guilty to go and check  on the Falata and we found out SHE is pregnant and having regular contractions . It was a bit hot to have a baby under the tree so we organized Guilty to take her to the Clinic at Unity run by the oil company. But while we were getting organize Frank had come back from town and got the soldiers to move her away from our camp Poor old Frank did not feel that good about his latest security effort.

Looks as the soldiers may be moving up to the border for the elections so we will be with out them which in a way will be good but may make it a bit harder to get to town with the check points but I have never stopped any way  so will be a few mouths less to feed.

Concord launches its open air Abbitor and verticaly intergratted butcher shop.

The new long drop

13/03/2010

Couple of the locals brightening up the dayHappy chaps 

Well this  is the end of the second week in Camp Concord on the Maanga {muunga} road .This week has been quiet eventful and also a bit frustrating along with the confirmation of my thoughts that we need to become as self sufficceint as possible very quickly.

The govt system in the north seems to be doing its best to delay us as much as possible with all our gear still in boded storage at Kostie port on the Nile waiting for clearance so it can be moved all the letters have been written and signed .But bookra [tomorrow seems to be the only word spoken]

The camp has progressed along well this week with kitchen and Mess area nearing completion and should be operational on Sunday with a bit of luck our new communication building the same hopefully we can get our tower up today.The network here is constantly going down I think because of the overloading  and when it gets hot. Every body has a phone as soon as they get enough money don't worry about the food just your self a phone even if you have no air time money.

Bit of Government dealings this week but not much as most of the time they have been shut due to the "campagning"for the elections next month .The whole town was closed on Wednesday due to the vice president and a few other hopefulls on the hustlings .So just about all the shops shut.

The Governor was up and about the next day and his party faithful who bought enough water for 4 days to take on the trail and the fact no trucks had arrived in town with produce we have a shortage of bottled water so lets hope the trucks arrive tonight and we can get some today.The consistancy of the transport services people provide is  a non event and will be one of our major concerns.

We will have to have our program booked months in advance and followed up everyday to make sure they do the job and have all the passes etc to get through the various check points they will need to go through.

The Zimbabweans are finding the heat hard to take and have never experienced any thing like it in there lives.But they need the work as there is not much back home.

We have had 2 cases of Malaria this week but not contracted here the operators have been in Mozambique training and this is where they picked it up.Guilty [yes thats his name] our medic was very quick to pick it up and start treatment and get it under control we have test kits and malaria drugs with us.Guilty is very experienced and has been working in Dafor before coming here to work.

Have had a labour dispute with the locals so have to go and deal with the local headman and see if we can get an agreement signed to stop the continual bickering .They have a preconceived idea we are being funded by  a Government and have endless resources to give to them and handouts .Tis should be an interesting meeting we have plenty of people who want to work but these boys are local and from the Governors village but we can not be pushed around and with a bit of god funno diplomancy we will be good as Len Buckeridge said with the water side workers dispute several years ago "take no prisoners".

so this is my Gorgon dispute. They are on good money of 10sdg a day plus lunch and free transport to and from home what more could you want . 

Mitzy in His new Kitchen

The dining area

Kobus and Frank trying to sort out the Satellite TV for the Reds v Force game and Luckily for me they were unsuccessful

The seat of Government Maanga Village, Gwit County, Unity State, South Sudan

These guys had never seen themselves no mirror some times the photos on the blog are cropped

james barginning for fish with his parasol

pet Vulture

The old art of Chalking

                                                                               Impressive Horns need a strong neck

The smell of burning grass and charcole making has been with us for several days now as the locals burn the graas tointise the green shoots and the locals make charcole from the timber they cut down as the cut grass for their Shacks and make them selves ready for the wet I think there will be a lot of hungry people by the end f the wet.

I went to James parents house A forgotten village on the our skirts of  Rooham Kona where there were two tribes fighting so the soldiers  cleared the Village and all that is left are some ruins from British colonial days and some huts.The population is old and young .Kids leading blind people with sticks .and the frail they have nothing if James was not working for us his parents would starve and nobody would know or care except James the reality of poverty is humbling and so sad.No amount of money will fix it we can only try and help with jobs and basic training and if one member of each of our workers families can be educated and some understanding of the world we may have a start.Some would rather have airtime for their phone than basic life essentials. Must be off to sleep enojy the photos it is a happy place to be.

more munga

munga just down road

First week March 2010

The Accent of Concord

Magna area South Sudan

Tim Funston

Week ending 06/03/2020

A week is such a short time it seems hard to believe that it is a week today I left Perth and headed for South Sudan. To commence a lifetime challenge and defining moment of ones character and be savable to say that I can walk the talk.

The flight over was long and largely uneventful with just the monotony of metal detectors and various forms of different English being thrown at you to relieve the Muddiness.

Khartoum soon changed all of that with dust and heat even in though it was evening and an airport that if you did not have some one to tap you on the shoulder so to speak as you walked across the tarmac you would find quiet intimidating particularly if you only had an enter permit like I did and you had to go and negotiate your visa from an office that has no signs and limited English.

Luckily I had Matarma to meet me and although he could only say Hello we got on well and he paved the way.

That was until we hit the baggage collection my first 3 pieces came off in the first lot with chalk crosses all over them as I was to find out the x-ray machine had found something. My boots in the red bag did not make it and did not arrive till Sunday afternoon. Filled in the forms this was in Arabic and English and anyone who has seen Arabic it has no meaning to some poor bush boy from Australia so instead of taking half an hour it took one.

So off to customs I go with the dodgy wheel on the trolley crashing into everything and every body luckily for me was so polite and the white Hiragana was stupid and did not know how to drive. Certainly would have been some trolley rage in Australia.

Finally get to the Customs steel table and have to take every thing out which is in its own little water proof bags and these they did not open [only the printer and scanner as it turns out I should have given them the printer as it does not work but” Beauty” the administrator assures me she can get it going so at the moment it is in Bits in a bag, certainly there will be no warranty front Harvey Norman now] then they descended I must say with the utmost politeness and they had found the 2 way radios I had bought with me .This was Matarma greatest work as he for over an hour made phone calls shook hands with every body and the pips on the shoulders got more and after an hour he had reached a deal where I could go with the radios  except one that  he keep and  would come back with and pay the excise duty when the had worked out how much . The negotiations are probably still going.

The Soluxe Hotel in the street near the airport is owned and run by Chinese with the odd Sudanese helping basically doing what the Chinese do not want to do. It was nice and clean but the food was as my friend Red Six would attain to it is real traditional Chinese food if it has no flavor and variety.

I was lucky enough to go out to Peter and Linda Shuurs for lunch and boy does he cook a mean Thia chicken Salad. Peter is the C.E.O of the now renamed Concord Agriculture Project and is my immediate Boss. I was then lucky enough to also go out to dinner with John and Fiona Elgin. John is the C.E.O of the Sabina Project, which is also owned by Citadel and is closer to Khartoum. Fiona is the daughter of Colin Campbell a long time friend of my sister and myself the last time I saw Fiona was around 1980.

W e set off for Juba early Monday morning through the absolute chaos of Khartoum domestic terminal luckily Matarma was with us again although Peter is certainly well versed and knows the routine .The idea when travelling here is to have only a very small amount of luggage and the back pack was good as you need free hands a lot of the time.

Juba was a vey different experience with the expected arrival of the President on his electoral tour the airport was closed and we were sent to park the plane at the end of the strip and we had to walk back a k or two to a break n the fence where all the luggage was bought on a tractor and trailer. This was probably quicker than going through customs in the “Terminal”. Fred from Uganda picked us up also Jooma and his partners who we use to facilitate the movement of staff through Uganda into South Sudan. From now on all our Project staff and consultants will come up from Entebbe or Nairobi, as it is easier to obtain entry permits and work visas from the South Sudanese consulates there.

Juba is the Capital of South Sudan and is a town of several Hundred Thousand on the banks of the White Nile. From there sprawls out wards into the surrounding bush with a network of dirt roads and lanes that are now for the best part creeks that turn too rivers and mud during the wet. There would be some seriously good four wheels driving in the city during this time.

A set of hills to the Northwest provides a huge amount of runoff into the city and gives the streets a good clean up.

The UN is proposing to erect a 20,000 man village /camp for there workers on the Northern slopes of the hills the fence topped with razor wire is up and the construction has started .I think the figures are that there are 70 NGO,s working in Sudan and all are in South Sudan. There are none in the north.

We meet with our attourneys down there and also had a look at some Container housing that we own and will shift to camp as soon as we can they will have to come up via the river to Adock and be placed on trucks as the road from Juba to Shajees  is closed due to some tribal conflict. It is certainly an interesting part of the world perhaps the worst part was not been able to openly take photos as there were a few rallies on etc and only today we herd of some journo loosing there camera to the soldiers.

I am not as most of you know particularly prone to Indian Food but we went out for dinner and it was the best Indian food I have eaten . Chris from the Un ordered he is an English Indian from Leeds and I think this was the key the flavors were superb and fascinating blend of dishes. Here I also had the Local Tusker beer and would recommend it to anyone. South Sudan drinking is permitted unlike their Northern Neighbors.

We stayed at Bros Hotel and it is pronounced as written not the Kiwi way.

Quite interesting having a family living in a tent at your old fibro cement donga door mind u it was a good tent at least my aircon worked when the power was on I suspect some of the outages were due to the lack of diesel for the genset. Apparently the place rocks on Wednesday night for ladies night and it is a mystery where they all end up during the night.

Did not see a back packers accommodation and would guess it ma be a while in coming.

Next day off to Sharjees again we were held up at the airport this time by the President leaving so eventually we headed off I think it only took 1.5 hours on 748 airlines in perhaps the cleanest Dash8 I have been in but not the newest.

Airstrip at Sharjees  just waits at the back of the plane.

Kobus the maintenance manager of the project was on hand to meet us .Kobus is Africans and has a property near Namibia and grows raisins and wine grapes, he has spent some time in Saudi,

Off to Concord base camp via the Capital of Unity State and Rhome Kona, which is on the other side of the river To Benito [Buntoo]

Picked up some stores and fuel headed to my home for a while. François {frank] was on hand to greet us he is our/ it /GIS./net work/ procurement/security man. His title is Special Projects manager. Frank gets all the jobs we don’t want and the pleasure of dealing with the soldiers .He being an x one him self I can see no better person for the job maybe I will call him lucky. The soldiers have the odd AK but have a pushie instead of a Humbie. They have not being paid for a while so they are happy we are feeding them and giving them a tent and shower

We have at the moment 12 staff and are expecting 11 more sometime today they will be late as they missed the plane from Entebbe for some reason. My guess is their handlers mucked up we have had to charter a plane to fly them up to Sharjess , which is 2 hrs South.

Have looked at the site and the soils are very special we will be able to grow things there is no doubt about that. Still waiting for our gear to arrive so just busy with building a Mess come kitchen out of wood grass and bamboo.

The surveyors are at work over at the site .It is a bit slow as they are still using the old chain measuring and line of site theodolite as the satellite stuff is on the way still and they are have to clear by hand and we only have one axe and saw so we are looking forward to the truck from Khartoum in the middle to the end of next week.

We are currently expecting to be a bit behind with our building and earth works Expecting arrival of our machinery next week so hopefully we can star to build some lay down areas for the rest of the gear and build ourselves a fuel farm etc . I expect to be in our present camp for the wet so we are preparing for this as well.

The main objective will be to get some crop in the ground and consolidate our position going into the wet. There is 100 days till the end of June when or about the rains start???

The weather is hot today and the boys from Zim are not used to it and we have no aircons or any thing the water is too hot to bath in and tools are also hot it does not seem to worry the locals until after lunch.

The most  amazing thing at the moment apart from the Leopard track is how clean the people are their clothes are spotless as are them selves they live in grass huts surrounded by black dirt and dust yet their whites are whiter than white most put us to shame. No running water the odd burrow pit and some small amounts of water distributed by the oil company so when they leave ??

The fish we have being eating is superb, caught locally at Magna where the governor has his main farm/ cleared area.

The sheep purchase yesterday at the dam of a sheep from the Falata was quiet a surreal experience as it reminded me and felt so much like walking through the sheep at Credo selecting a killer all be it they were a different colour but the smell and behavior was the same .Considering the conditions they were in good nic and it was very tasty as we can only hang it for a night because of the weather. The Falata walk up from Nigeria and back every year following the grass some of the herds are several thousand and the ears are marked with different marks on top just done with a knife some have crosses others half a cross and lots  o f other symbols.

I was interrupted by a visit from the Governor he dropped in for a chat and some tea he is a very affable man and committed to the development of his region and state. He has 10 Children of which 6 are in Melbourne studying has oldest daughter has just become a radiographer.

He was telling me that he was in the bush fighting the war since 1983 and the struggle was long and hard but worth it for the people.

His intrigue was about 20 soldiers with machine guns mounted on land cruisers and a couple of personal bodyguards.

I am off to look at a road building construction through a swamp so I guess I will need my civil engineers hat out on Tuesday so I am looking forward to that. It is quiet and experience to travel with an armed escort. This week is at an end hopefully by next week we can be working with our machines that will be on the 

Concord Agriculture Temp Base Camp

The noise of the genset mixed with the chatter of the Quilia a Bit like our Ningaries (Zebra finches0 is quite remonisant of the Murchison in the early 70,s even the baying of the odd donkey although I dont recall the sound of the Hyena though.Apparently there is also some Lions and Leopards around so with a bit of luck we will see some. The smell of smoke is almost perpetual as the local herders are burning the sudan grass in anticipation of the rains and trying to promote new growth but as it was such a dry wet the soil moitsure is gone.

Day one  time at the camp was very interesting went up to the site of our project main complex which is just Bush and we are currently surveying the area which is flat we have a fall of 10cm for every 100m if we are lucky.

The Camp

Selecting  a sheep for Dinner Bought from Falaga Nomad

JUBA !/3/2010

The white Nile Jubar

Juba 2/03/2010

The scenery has changed a bit I am sjtting on the banks of the White Nile at BROS Hotel owned by Jooma who also acts for us as an agent to bring in the workers who come up from Kampala,(obtaining ,visas ,work permits etc.

The river is running by our standard fast and  just looking at the tree branches floating down I guess a metre a second or faster so work that out yourselves .

There are people on the other side of the fence picking vegetables on very small plots they take off to market and sell. cant tell what they are so sort of root vegetable .others doing there washing ,some carting water up to there veggie plots in 20 ltr containers to  water them, very peaceful and tranquil the only sound is the radio in the background and the sound of a genset in the distance as there is not much power around so most of the business who can afford it have  their own power

Still having trouble taking photos but managed to get some around Juba but had to be a bit careful as The President was in town doing an election tour and there were quite a few soldiers around.

Hard to explain Juba .A city of several 100’s of thousands, 2 or 3 bitumen roads the rest dirt and full of gutters, potholes, people, wash outs and rubbish.

We are in Juba for work and to meet the people we have work commitments ,attorneys ,airlines ,shipping company’s who will take our gear in barges down the Nile to Adak where from there it goes on truck to Bentiu  where the project is.

People are very friendly and also well dressed puts us westerners to  shame,

Lots of veggies going past now , Kids and all carry there wares it is not what u would call a scienic site

so will load up some photos and you can look for yurself.

The President was in town so we had oor plane sent to park down at the end of the airstrip and had to walk back towards the terminal a couple of ks and the luggage was dumped on the side of the road so no customs check this time that would have been the 3rd for the day. 

Then fFred picked us up he is a Ugandian driver we use in Juba  and took us into town for our meetings with the lawyers, airlines etc , no plastic money all cash and no one else will take sudanese money and some of the african countries only take dead Presidents after 2003.S the others maybe counter fit as they have no water mark.

I will upload photos later when atmosphere is better