The South Sudan experience ...

The day I did the journey from Juba to Wau was one of those days that feel like a lifetime. I left Juba in the morning and by the evening when I arrived something in me was different.

Due the bad roads in the country and because Wau airport was closed I had to take 2 UN humanitarian aid planes and then travel for two hours by car. The second plane took me from Rumback and to Kwajok, which was basically nowhere. The runway was a dirt road between the trees, with not a single building in site.

But what really burned in my mind is the road from Kwajok to Wau.

The night before, I went for dinner with a couple of people that have spent quite sometime in the region. They told me that Africa ages you, makes you old. I wasn’t sure what they meant. I think I do now. The way to Wau was one long bumpy road. On the sides some tukules, which are huts made of mud and straw. Women were carrying piles on their heads and naked children were playing. As we approached an area that was more populated we slowed down and I realized the cruel reality some people live in. in front of the car a young women was trying to cross the road, but she was almost laying down on the ground, at first I didn’t realize what she is trying to do to but then I saw it. She was handicapped, one of her legs was completely deformed and the other seemed to not be functioning so she put her shoes on her hands and crawled down the street.

But even this didn’t prepare me for what I saw next. Just before entering the city of Wau, was just laying there, in the middle of the road, a dead man. I don’t know what happened to him or how long he was there, I just know that no one seemed to care. The cars drove around him and the people kept walking.

I know that if I want to be here I should grow a tougher skin. But the truth is that I hope it will never happen. Because the day I will become oblivious and indifferent to the suffering of the vulnerable, will be the day I will completely lose myself.