2 Weeks in Wau

 

Just getting to know the town, which is not very pretty, and stretches out over quite a distance.  Vultures circle overhead all day and swoop down to the rubbish left at the roadside.  There are 3 markets all selling the same stuff which mainly comes from China and India.  The fresh food is  limited, apples cost about 80 pence each, goat meat is readily available and there are loads of pulses and rice.   There is no power other than private generators and no water or sewerage system.  The water is delivered by a donkey drawn cart, stray dogs wander in packs on the streets and rejected children live on the streets.

 

There is a good bunch of volunteers here who meet up regularly and it’s great having Liz around.  I’m still staying in the guest house which I think will be preferable to staying at the college but I don’t know if VSO will agree to me staying.  I don’t think the nuns are ready for me and I’m sure I’m not ready for them.  Life in the college house would be very restricted with little privacy, no radios, music, beers in the fridge or friends round.  Not for me.

 

Work will be very challenging.  My job needs sorted out as far as the college are concerned I’m a pair of hands which is not the job I agreed to.  I’ve been teaching in the health clinic in the mornings and lecturing in the afternoons.  I’ve been trying to get the students to wash their hands between patients, it seams like an alien concept to them.  The fact that the water is contaminated and the towel, which is not changed all week, is dirty is another matter.  Most of the patients have malaria or typhoid, sometimes both, with a bit of syphilis thrown in, tropical ulcers and pneumonia, a bit different from home.  Oh I forgot about the TB which is made worse by people spitting everywhere, even the nurses in the clinic.

 

Its rainy season and the roads turn to rivers in minutes and it’s really difficult to cross them.  You don’t know what’s in the water and its flows really fast.  The storms are fabulous as long as you’re inside.  The transport is by motor bike taxis or rickshaws which are good fun.  I hope to do a bit more exploring next week and wander round the markets a bit more.  Luxuries take on a whole new meaning here, nutella and olives are top of the list.  I didn’t even eat nutella at home but I’m getting through it here.

 

If anyone is on the orange network, it might be EE network now, you can contact me by text, John can give you the number, I can also be contacted by email but the connecting is unreliable so it may take a day or 2 for me to reply.