International Differences and other observations....

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I attended a Security Meeting at the United Nations this morning here in
Malakal. It never fails to strike me as odd that walking into a building and then a
room that has lights and is a just-right temperature during the day feels so normal. When
it's not.

It isn't normal here in Malakal to have lights during the day or air conditioning. In Malakal
these are artificial conditions created by using a generator. And yet when I encounter these
conditions it just does seem so normal. I hardly question it until I remember. I'm in Malakal.

Walking into the UN Compound and the meeting room was, then, entering another world.
Kind of like the movie Avatar except not quite so exceptional or beautiful as the Avatar
world on the alternative planet.

We were not offered coffee and that lack did not fit in with my expectations of this alternative world, this different planet. Other than that it reminded me of buildings I was in when I lived in Jerusalem. NGO buildings that seemed so clean. So technology oriented. So normal in the midst of the craziness that was Jerusalem.

Malakal is not crazy in the way that Jerusalem was. Malakal also does not have narrow windy streets with vehicles careening along threatening to annihilate pedestrians. The little store across the street from where I live here in Malakal is closed today. Perhaps the shop keeper is Muslim and observing the Muslim day of Friday prayers. That is like Jerusalem. But Khartoum was like that too. Anyhow, Jerusalem is a mix of ancient/modern and is HUGE. Malakal is not huge and is more like a recovering war zone. Because it IS a recovering war zone.

So I learned today what the difference is between American Red Cross shelters in the United States and the gathering points for foreigners in Malakal if we should ever need to gather. The American Red Cross FEEDS people. If the foreigners in Malakal ever need to gather we will be at MEETING points and NOT feeding points.

This does not particularly phase me as I grew up in the Seattle area and consider Seattle home. In Seattle of course we try to dismiss the fact from our everyday existences that we live in an earthquake prone area of the world. AND at the same time we are have emergency (particularly earthquake) preparedness drilled into us from the crib on. We are supposed to have three to four days of food, water and medicine handily available in case of an emergency because public servants will not be able to serve us and aid us for at least that long. Maybe they will trying to serve and aid their own families.

So this is not unfamiliar to me and I realize that I can fill a carry-on (plane) rolling suitcase with non-perishable food that does not require cooking and keep it nearby me at all times in the house. I also realized this morning that it is a good idea to have more than I can eat in this suitcase as there will be people who did not grow up with emergency preparedness drilled into them from the crib and they will not have done this for themselves. I can share.

So, life meanders on. I stopped in at the Ethiopian Airlines office which has a tiny office in the South Sudan Hotel, on the way home, and made sure that my e-ticket was on the manifest for my flight to Addis Ababa this month. I'm very excited -- I was the very first name on the list!

Next week finals to grade and final grades to assess. I need to begin packing for Addis Ababa. I need to continue updating the lists for shopping for food that I can't get here in Malakal that I plan to bring back with me. Need to decide what to take with me for working on the dissertation proposal for the University of South Africa (UNISA) that is due early next year.

I think that the internet connection here in my home is threatening to cut off so I will stop now and publish this blog and share it with you on Facebook.
Blessings,
Debbie