There is a naked man who roams the streets of Juba. He must walk for miles as I see him in at least 2, sometimes 3 different locations a day. The sight of this filthy but seemingly happy young guy striding among the land-cruisers, motorbikes and stray dogs this week reminded me that living in Juba and becoming accustomed to these daily quirks has been a truly unique opportunity. Only in Juba would I have got to experience the bizarre dichotomy of a working day surrounded by filth, stench and heat (the real world) and evenings in clean, cool, air-conditioned compounds, bars and restaurants (the NGO world). In Juba I received the most interesting text-messages. Security alerts warned me to avoid areas with ‘heavy SPLA/police presence’ that I was invariably sauntering through at the time. Then there were messages from the reality TV show ‘South Sudan has Talent’ offering me the chance to text-and-save rap-artist Chol Deng or Mariah Carey coverer Achol Deng. And public health messages reminded me to seek medical attention if I 'complained of a white worm exiting the body'. Daily life was never dull with excitements such as ‘snake-woman’ occurring. This was a woman who actually turned in to a snake after stealing money from her husband. This was to the absolute delight of staff on the ward and our driver (whose brother had a photo of it on his phone) and causing crowds of people to swarm around the police station where she was being kept. Some grumpy NGO-workers thought this a ridiculous story but I was a believer, and you will be too once you see the video on youtube:
(yes, I was also a bit confused by the strange noises and the blonde hair).
We were relieved to receive the reassuring text-message informing us that snake-woman had been evacuated by a UN helicopter.
So, there are certainly aspects of Juba-life that I will fondly miss. These don’t entirely exclude working life at Juba Teaching Hospital, although an NHS job has never been (and will likely never be) such an attractive prospect. I have very mixed feelings about leaving JTH. On the one hand I’m relieved to be escaping the daily exposure to levels of suffering and poverty that I have found hard to stomach. On the other hand I feel guilty that I
can escape, leaving my colleagues to carry on with little hope of improvements in the coming months. I have, of course, learned a lot. And I can only hope that while I have not had any impact on the real problems afflicting the health system, I may have shown a couple of young doctors how to treat patients in shock or DKA and encouraged nurses to see that saving lives is possible.
When I hit the luxury of pavement-lined streets, cardboard cups of coffee and sitting on a sofa watching Wimbledon it will be with a big sigh of relief. The challenge will be to go on being moved by the need I’ve seen, while living in a world where I will likely forget the reality of life in Juba as it carries on with out me - with its huge health care challenges and a roaming naked man.
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| Living it up in South Sudan |
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| Tending to the basil plant |
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| White water rafting |
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| Real life |
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| The Ward |
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| The outside ward |
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| New TV screen in the waiting room (What?) |
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| Assessing patients on the floor |
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| Blood tests |
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| Angelo doing his bottle trick again |
