Farewell party for Caroline and I at Human Appeal International in Girba

The nicest people! I have worked a lot with Omar, second from right, he works in Kilo 26 and has helped me both during survey and interview work.

Lots of cake and drinks for us all!
Caroline and I

And presents! :) I got a "topp" (no idea how you spell it, the traditional dress for women.

Exetremly difficult to wear (according to me), hopefully practice makes perfect - or I make something else from the nice fabric... :)

Another day in Kilo 26

Staff of Human Appeal Int. (UNHCR's implementing partner concerning health care in the camp), conducting a seminar on Reproductive Health.

Hayat 1 and Hayat 2 - the sweetest and most helpful ladies, working with HAI. Hayat 2 has been helping me a lot with my sample for the qualitative interviews I am doing now. She knows EVERYONE in the camp, amazing lady!

Old man I was interviewing today. He had his leg amputated a few months back, now he lives with his children and grandchildren in a small hut. They rely a lot on their neighbours for water, either drinking from them or borrowing their donkey to fetch water. The man told me "I am so thankful to Sudan for taking care of us. All the time I have been here (since 1984) I have received food and water". It was nice to hear him say that, cause most often I am met by refugees telling me what they do not have and what they want. And by the way, I cannot walk for 50 m in the camp without being approached by someone asking me about their ration card. It is the BIG issue - WFP/UNHCR are now only giving food ration to 30% of the population - and the refugees are complaining and having a difficult time.

The old man's children and grandchildren. They offered me juice made from water and some sweet powder - and I could not decline... The water did not really look that clean, so now I am almost expecting an upset stomach... :) But, seriously, if that is the water "my" organisation is providing it to them it should be good enough for me as well...!

A sweet girl from a family in the outskirts of the camp - they have "only" been in Kilo 26 since 1990. They are managing quite well with water since they own a donkey and cart, so they can fetch cheap water themselves from the water station instead of buying water at a high price.

Doing interviews...

... is the best thing ever! I am so happy to be out of the office and back to being with the "real" people, the ones that really matter. I feel very priviliged, it is amazing to talk to the people, to be invited into their homes and to learn about how they live and what is important to them. They make me humble.

Today I did 2 interviews, one was quite short (40 min) and the other one took about 1 1/2 hours, including coffee break and picture taking and chatting about everything and nothing. :)

Me and my new found friends: the ladies are all neighbours to the woman I interviewed. After I finished the interview with her I asked them if there was anything they wanted to tell me. And - they could talk! :) Great for me to get more inputs and also so nice to just sit and chat.
This woman's child slept through all the commotion of having picture taken: 5 women plus 10 kids can make a lot of noise when they get their pictures taken - and when they can actually see themselves on the screen afterwards! :)

The woman I was interviewing in Kilo 26. She made coffee for us, with lots of sugar and ginger! Yummy!

Some pics from Kilo 26 where I am doing my interviews

Supplementary feeding (I think) for pregnant and lactating women,

Caroline (the nutitionist) took these pictures.
USA, USA, USA! :)

Tukuls constructed by UNHCR for new arrivals

This woman makes the best coffee in the East! Don't know what happened to the photo though... Too bad! The jars are full of spices, which they put in the coffee - as well as some kind of incense (?) which is part of the coffee ritual!

Home made kites in Kilo 26 - so cute!

Ibland blir man bara lycklig... :)

Back to Tima for a day

The hut in the middle was "mine" for 3 months in 2005,

home sweet home
Me and baby Barnabas, Hellas and Joseph's baby.
Tima is becoming a real family place :)

The church in Tima - and what used to be the old school.

Now there is a nice new school in Tima - and even electricity

in many parts of the village in the evenings. I was shocked!

Fetching water - the never ending task...

Market in Tima

Hellas and baby Barnabas outside the "dining room" hut in Tima

Maria is happy cause she finally gets to drive a car! :)

Yey! It's soooo much fun to drive on the

small dirt roads!

Julud - The most beautiful place in the world!

After being in Rashad I travelled to Dilling and then almost straight to Julud to spend two night with the IAS drilling team there. Julud was my absolute favourite place when I was in Nuba, so it was an absolute joy to be back and see "my" beautiful mountains again! :) Julud had grown though! Gosh! I remembered the market as very small - and now it must have doubled in size. And, I was told, everything has become much more expensive thanks to all the NGOs and UN agencies working there now...Climbing a hill in Julud

My climbing buddy Emmanuel

Soooo beautiful! I can sit at this place for hours...

View of Julud

Maria is feeling quite small

Sunset over the mountains near Tima

Curious girl I met on my morning walk in Julud

The IAS drilling team's cook at the compound

The IAS drilling team having some problems

with the rig outside Julud

A day in Rashad (Nuba Mountains)

On Thursday I travelled to Rashad (a part of Nuba Mountains) with Victor from IAS. It was a looong journey, it took us 12 hours by road from Khartoum. We arrived in Rashad at 11 pm and spent the night at the German Red Cross's guest house. The following day I accompanied Victor as he had to do some repairs on mini water yards installed by IAS previously. I only spent one full day in Rashad before travelling to Dilling and Julud/Time - but it was a nice day with beautiful scenery and people!

In the village called Tumoro (pronounced Tomorrow...)

A vegetable garden at the mini water yard

Friday prayers in a small village

Woman selling tea at the market

Also at the market, sweet girl selling ground nuts

At a river bed near a mini water yard in Tumoro

Fetching water...

Nice woman who helped Victor and I find a good road to

reach the mountain so we could climb up a bit

Sunset over Rashad mountains - beautiful!

This man was making cotton thread from

cotton from his lands - impressive!

I Shagarab - nytt läger för min del! :)

I söndags åkte jag till Shagarab för första gången. Jag skulle hålla i möte om Water Management Committee som vi vill starta där - och så skulle jag och Nirmal titta lite på vattenutrustningen. Mötet var väl ingen direkt framgång, jag ska åka dit på tisdag igen för Elders Committee ville inte diskutera något i och med all lägrets Camp Manager inte var närvarande. Så, bara att lyda och komma tillbaka. Det var en skum känsla att leda ett möte med 30 män - jag såg seriöst in till en enda kvinna på hela CORs område! Det var bara jag... och x antal män i varierande åldrar. Men lite skoj var det allt att få lägga fram sina idéer för Elders Committee och representanter för olika organisationer i lägret! :) Sen om vi kommer komma fram till något på tisdag är en annan sak... Tyvärr tog jag ingen bild från mötet - vågade inte riktigt... Kanske på tisdag!

Nyfikna tjejer som tyckte det var jättekul

att vara med på bild!

Shagarab ser ut som vilket annat läger här som helst...

Skitigt och ganska fult...

Dunkar som väntar på all fyllas -

de kör bara vatten i ledningarna mellan 16-18 varje dag,

så då får man köa för att få vatten!

Clear water tank tror jag detta heter -

fast vattnet ser ju allt annat än clear/clean ut!!!

Ibrahim från COR och Nirmal diskuterar

och kommer inte överens...

Slow sand filter tror jag detta heter...

Gravel filter - vattnet renas genom att sköjas genom

grus av olika storlek (från stenar till smågrus)