Georgian Andrea Little lives and works in Juba, the capital city of what will soon become the newest country in the world, the Southern Sudan.
Working for MedAir, a Swiss NGO with internationally recruited staff who are motivated by their Christian faith to care for people in need, she is currently seconded to the United Nations. With the job title of ‘humanitarian officer for the UN office for coordination of humanitarian affairs’, which she laughingly admits is a mouthful, the actual job is a big one. In between all the meetings, she daily gets information on possible "gaps" or needs in Southern Sudan to ensure those gaps and needs are met by the appropriate response.
These "gaps" are caused by anything from cattle raids, inter tribal fights, or North-South conflicts, with fatal results and leaving many without homes, food, and in need of medical aid and shelter.
To ascertain these gaps, this former Holy Cross Primary pupil organises and accompanies assessment teams to affected areas to assess the situation and make recommendations. Ensuring the implementation of recommendations is part of her job which, due to its unpredictable nature, does not keep normal office hours.
Currently the main focus is the 200 000-odd refugees returning home to Southern Sudan from the North, whereas usually the focus would be the effects of the annual rainy season floods. These refugees, many of whom moved to the Northern capital of Khartoum to escape the long running civil war in the South, return with truckloads of furniture, including fridges, now standing in the open due to the fact that electricity is not a common utility - neither is hot water, but in 40°C heat, you apparently do not miss it much!
Interesting situations
Daily life can deliver interesting situations. Before moving to Juba last year, this ex-Yorkie lived in a small, rural village. One day, whilst awaiting supplies to be dropped at the (muddy) airstrip, gunshots suddenly rang out. With confusion as to their origin and reason, she placed her life, and hands, in those of Moses Pham (an ex-‘Lost Boy’ and current MedAir logistician), and a local woman (whose child was fed through Andrea’s feeding scheme), who dragged her to safety. The shots were fired by local soldiers unhappy about a few issues!
The way this nurse describes the landscape and people of Southern Sudan, including sunrise or sunset on the Nile River, sounds picturesque, even though Andrea says you must be covered in repellant or "the mosquitoes will carry you away".
The land varies from state to state - the tropical rainforests of the Western Equatorial state, the swampy lowlands of Jonglei, and the dry, arid region of Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
The people
And the people of Sudan, who belong to various tribes, add to this beauty. Andrea has mostly worked with the beautiful, tall, proud, coalblack-skinned people of the Nuer and Dinka tribes, where 7ft men and 6ft women are not uncommon. With a BA Music degree from Maties, Andrea studied nursing in London before flying to Southern Sudan in June 2009.
Originally her job included setting up feeding schemes for malnou-rished children in the village of Akobo, where she met Nyachan, about six years old at the time. TB of the spine had left this girl with a curved spine, and doctors doubtful that she would survive. With the help of Doctors without Borders, Andrea saw her patient go from near death to a walking miracle, one of her fondest memories.
Although hoping to return to South Africa in the future, life in Juba with its cathedral, tukuls (huts) and a roofless squash court, affords many opportunities to live, work and meet people from all over the world, including Brazil, the UK, USA, Germany, Denmark, Canada and Holland. Andrea lives in a 10 bedroomed brick house with between 10 and 30 others, depending on whether the emergency response teams are in the field or not.
Although Andrea admits that she misses "dairy products," i.e. fresh milk in her coffee, the most, a definite upside to her job includes meeting George Clooney recently, who was in Juba attracting attention to a complex situation that people know little about.
We wish Andrea continued safety as she returns to Juba on Sunday to continue making a difference in this beautiful country.
Airstrips, where much needed food is dropped, turn to mudbaths during the rainy season in Southern Sudan.
ARTICLE: LEEANNE PRATT
