Welcome to Suoth Sudan

The most annoying thing a person visiting a place for the first time can do is pass judgment on the place. Too bad!

After the initial shock of coming to this place (the airport does not a good impression make), I am realizing that South Sudan is not nearly as dire as we all thought. It is dire, mind you. For example, there ain't much here. “Capacity building” is a term used frequently and loosely in my line of work. It is a term meant to address the needs of a developing country, not with neocolonial ideas of how so society is shaped, but rather in partnership with a people and place utterly different then us.

South Sudan needs all the capacity building it can get. It is the world’s newest government. Systems are in start-up mode to say the least. People are being placed in jobs that literally no one has ever held before and policies are being created to align this country with international norms and standards decided in faraway places. Decades of lawless and corrupt practices have strangled development and must be mitigated. On top of that, this country is struggling to maintain a tepid, insincere peace with its northern neighbor. Tensions along the border where oil is prevalent flare and wane on a daily basis. Professionals with more than a few days of experience with South Sudan can articulate this far better than me. The challenges are enormous.

But I am also very pleasantly surprised by South Sudan. A sign post outside of Wau airport greeted me: “Welcome to the Republic of Suoth Sudan.” There is a tangible sense of pride and national unity here, despite the typo. Independence is only in its second month, but fears that South Sudan would descend into tribal civil war upon inception seem to be trumped by enthusiasm for this new country. For now at least.

It’s more than that though. Driving three hours from Wau to Aweil I realize that although infrastructure is scarce, there are so few people. Surely providing services for only 8 million people in a place the size of half of western Europe cannot be impossible? Ok, perhaps it is, but compared to its congested, over-populated cousins in the region, this seems to be an advantage for South Sudan. Also, despite being warned that goods were scarce and very expensive, I think I was expecting something far worse. It is true that South Sudan cannot manufacture anything on its own yet, but there appears to be an intricate and elaborate network of service and goods delivery in this country. I used to imagine in horror, seeing trucks broken down on the side of the road in northern Uganda on their way to South Sudan, that they were only beginning a nightmare journey. Surely utter hell awaited them on the other side of the border. Instead it doesn’t seem worse than the Uganda side and perhaps even a bit better because there is not the throngs and madness of the Ugandan roadside.

Apologies for a very naive first impression, but I cannot help but catch a little of this national fever. Perhaps it’s because I’ve stopped traveling for the first time in five days. Perhaps it is because I’m enjoying wireless internet, pizza and beer by the poolside at fabulous river lodge here in Wau. Perhaps it is because I met a bunch of community members in Aweil who spoke perfect English and Arabic and were volunteering to tell their communities about women’s rights and gender-based violence.

Or perhaps the news just isn’t all bad from South Sudan.