You know you're in Africa when you see a Papaya tree growing nearby! The tree must be about 10 feet tall, and has lots of clusters of papayas growing up the tree trunk, which is amazing considering that it is only about a year old.
I enjoyed some fresh papaya for supper last night and it tastes fab.
I wandered down to the market place with pilot Ryan Unger and his visiting father-in-law, and there is a good variety of fruit, veg, eggs and spices for sale. It was then to the "fish supermarket" which is a small shop selling just about everything other than fish. Hmmm! Still, shop names in Juba tend to be far less interesting than down at Kampala, where small stores aka shacks are alongside all the roads. The most memorable name I can remember is the God is Able Unisex Salon!
Good progress is being made here at Juba, the capital of South Sudan. While there are many bumpy dirt tracks, some of the major roads in the city are now wide and paved. Traffic is generally less hectic than in Kampala, and is dominated with 4x4s and small trucks, which I guess are largely owned by the local NGOs and so on.
MAF shares its compound with World Relief. They have done a great job. As the city's elecricity supply is erratic at best, MAF runs a generator for about 9 hours each day, and also utilises solar energy. The city's water supply is now better than the brown parasitic Nile water running through the taps when the compound was build about 3 years ago, but it's only safe to drink it filtered. They have internet connection thanks to a sizable satellite dish near the office, and the whole place, has really come a long way over recent months.
Having said that, it's still a challenging environment. The intense heat, dust, risk of disease, availability of supplies and, to some extent, security issues continue to be a feature of daily living.
Yesterday's flight to Akobo and Malakal was good. We delivered a ton of building materials (corrugated metal sheets and timber) to Akobo for the construction of a new medical building which will replace the unsuitable existing one. Akobo has your classic Sudanese village huts, but flies are everywhere and there is a lot of poverty. It's good to know that this flight will make a positive impact on the community. We then took Presbyterian mission workers from Akobo on to Malakal, where they are staying for a day before being flown back to Juba.
Finally, we're going down to the Nile later this afternoon. Should be great!
