Sorry everyone! Realise that I haven't written in months! So what have I been doing?

Well, a lot of you I have seen since last writing, back in the UK, so you have probably heard enough, but well, if you are interested...

After my last entry, I travelled back to Juba and then onto our field sites in Northern Bahr El-Ghazal state where I was for 6 weeks. I was in 2 of our sites, and although I spent a week in one with internet, I was pretty much incommunicado as they say. I can now say that I can survive and even function for 6 weeks living in a mud hut, eating the same stodgy food day in day out and with very little company! :)

It was a very busy time with me doing a lot of trainings with local communities and training up some of our field staff, but it was a good time too. It is sometimes nice to be away from all your normal comforts and all the other work hassles that seem to be so much more on the surface when I am in Juba. I even survived without beer! ;)
It can get very lonely there though, so thank you all of those who emailed me during that time!

It is also very encouraging to see massive improvements in our staff (one in particular who was giving me quite a lot of grief) and also how much the communities have grasped and developed.
We have to celebrate the little successes and one that stands out for me was when we did a community mapping exercise. This was my first one and although not complicated, it did take quite a lot of time planning and thinking about. We had a good group of about 40 community members including leaders, men, women, and youth and they even stayed during their market day (which is no small success in itself!). We had 4 groups mapping their community on the ground under a particularly lovely big tree near one of the churches. We had different symbols for different things in their community like markets, health centres, churches, schools, homes, water points etc. And we spent all of one morning doing the mapping, dividing it up with short health and hygiene messages, including a particularly fun role play demonstrating what the HIV virus does.
On the second day, we walked through our 'map' with each group going in a different direction and placing what I like to call 'poo flags' in anything that was not clean about their community, so animal poo, human poo and rubbish. At the end of that we had a good discussion and at the end of the day having discussed what things in their community they wanted to change, each person got one vote for the one priority for them. It came out as everyone having a latrine in their home. For most people this probably sounds a bit odd, but I have seen about 30 homes in all the rural areas we work in Southern Sudan with latrines. The other people go anywhere outside around their home. So for people to say that that is what they want demonstrates the work of the WASH and CHE (Community Health Education) teams in educating the community about the health risks associated with open defecation. I think I find these events exhausting, but also very encouraging when you see and hear how people are learning what they can do to help themselves. It makes it all worth it somehow!

After that time in the field, I got to go to Nairobi. This was for work, rather than a rest, but it was good to be able to go to a shop, enjoy Java House coffee shops, and also (very excitingly) go to a good church service in English and with a music band! It was hard work though too! I was working with our procurement team, putting together a WASH catalogue of items that we will buy frequently together with specifications and suggested suppliers. This took a lot longer than I thought it would.

I also had a bunch of other work in starting to develop standard drawings and methodologies of WASH hardware and also meetings to push forward the work of the budget that I manage. This has meant that with everything else I do, I will now be working with a partner (and a 5th field site to be in) and also directly line managing someone who will be helping me to develop the policy and advocacy side of WASH work in Southern Sudan. This did leave me feeling even more stretched, but these things, although in process, haven't happened yet.

In fact, I have just finished planning and thinking about a timeline for all the work, roles and responsibilities I have and I think it will be ok. Well at least all things are possible for God!

In the end I stayed in Nairobi longer than expected because I didn't get my travel pass for Southern Sudan in time and then the warrant annoucement happened and I was advised not to travel that day. I ended up going back to Juba for 1.5 days hoping to carry out some interviews for WASH staff, but unfortunately noone was able to make it on those days. Recruitment is an incredibly frustrating process - it is difficult enough trying to find people with the right skill set, then getting them to come for interview when I can also be in Juba, then offering the job to someone, have them sign and then not turn up! Maybe 5th time lucky! (which is what we are on now!)

I was then in Loki for our Technical Workshop. The last one we had was really tough and not managed very well and so I was really dreading it, but this one was much better. We managed to make it a purely Technical workshop rather than a moan session about all the things that frustrate us in our daily working. It was very tiring preparing things together as a team, attending, being available for some difficult questions, and squeezing in other work including an interview. But I got to leave on the afternoon of the last day and fly to Nairobi for my break! :)
I was going to try and finish off some things before flying back to the UK, but really didn't have the energy (or the motivation to be honest!)

After a lovely day in Nairobi with my friend, Kate, of shopping, manicure, chilling by a lovely pool and lots of yummy food, I got to fly back to the UK for my break. :)

It was good to go back to the UK and have some time in the cold, see my parents, grandparents, and lots of lovely friends. It did seem slightly odd that I was on holiday and noone else was, but I think I managed to distract enough people from what they should have been doing! Thanks everyone for making it such a lovely time! I managed to see a lot of my lovely friends which was so great. I laughed a lot, ate lots of yummy food, chilled out, met lots of very cute babies and generally had a good time. A couple of you I will get to see later in the year in Mozambique or Malawi and I am very excited already! All you other lovely people will have to wait until next year (hopefully spring sort of time) to see me...no, I am not sure how you are going to survive either!

A few people asked me if it was weird being back, but it wasn't really to be honest. The only thing that I found weird was not washing my hands ALL the time! I wash my hands here all the time and am aware of making sure I do for my health and also because I am teaching others to do it.

Hopefully next spring I will also be able to go skiing for a week for the first time ever. Those I have mentioned this to, don't forget about me and start saving!

So now I am back in Juba. I was expecting it to be really hot, but it is quite cool really - only about 30 degrees and it has been raining! It really isn't the time for rain, so that is all rather odd. In fact, today it completely tipped down, although sunny again now. This is great, but at the same time is slightly worrying as rain in the field sites equals no access which is very problematic to finishing our projected work.

I am here for a whole week and a half which is amazing! It was going to be less, but with the Easter weekend, there are no UN flights, so can't get to the field until Wednesday. This means that I have more time to prepare my head and do lots of higher level work which is good. However, it also means that I have a very squeezed time in the field and will be VERY busy doing lots of trainings and visits. Our pastoral person was out from the UK and I got to have a good chat with her and that was really positive. She made me think about what I need to do for my work, my well being and sanity. So hopefully when you next see me I will still be me and at least no less sane than I already am!

I also got to meet my brother in the airport in Nairobi for coffee and then have him stay the night in Juba with us. We didn't get on the same flight unfortunately, but there are 2 flights from Nairobi to Juba in the mornings and they both leave and arrive at the same time (I know great planning!). So I had a slightly sleepy, but good time on Sunday with my brother and my other friends at Tearfund here. We hung out at Logali house in the afternoon where the burgers are still FANTASTIC for those of you who remember them!

There are just a few of us here at the moment and all girlies which is quite nice and with the Easter weekend we should have a lovely chilled time (even if we do work just as much as usual!) and lots of lovely food as Aunty Kate (or Cake as her nephews call her!) is here. Plus I should hopefully finally get up Jebel as we are planning an Easter sunrise-ish hike.

So that now brings you fully up to date! Well done for getting this far! Oh, except I forgot to mention that we now have a quite puppy who we rescued from the monkeys who were using him as a toy and threw him over the fence to our compound.

Right, must get on and figure out how I can do a water safety plan (a risk assessment) with communities who have not had any schooling and are mostly illiterate...any ideas anyone?!
Keep safe and don't have too much fun without me! xx