The UNMIS mandate ended with the secession of South Sudan on the 9th of July. As a result of this, we were no longer allowed to patrol since the agreement that was in place to guarantee our safety and freedom of movement has terminated. We continue to go to town, the market, and about our daily business eagerly awaiting news authorizing a resumption of patrolling and actively engaging the population. Orders were finally received to begin UN presence town patrols of our Area of Responsibility (AOR). Since one of my roles is G3, Operations and Planning, I plan patrol locations and composition. I interpreted this new direction to mean that we were to patrol as deeply into our AOR as we could without force protection (for security reasons) to show a UN presence. Allowing us to wave and talk with the population, but not stop and engage in any security assessment briefs or meetings with village chiefs. The purpose of this restricted resumption of activities was to reassure the South Sudanese that the international community had not abandoned them and were still actively supporting them in their country’s continued development. Each day we drove to a different, secure region of our AOR. This lasted for about a week, at which point we were unfortunately instructed to only conduct town patrols within Yambio (about an 8-10 km radius). Luckily, during that week I was able to get out on two patrols, which I will describe below.
15 July 2011. I was patrol leader for a UN presence patrol to NZARA. We decided that radio communications between vehicles, on an internal channel, were to be conducted in Spanish.
Thankfully, I was in a vehicle with a Brazilian who coached me along. It is always useful to know radio procedure in another language ;)
It was a lovely drive to NZARA. Once we got there we slowly explored one end of town near the orphanage.
As we drove, there was a strange feeling in the air; people were not smiling or returning our waves as we passed. This was definitely abnormal. The air was slightly tense and we were alert for any sign of danger. However, there did not appear to be anything visibly out of the ordinary. We stopped and handed candies out to small children and women along the sides of the roads; gradually, a few smiles emerged.
On the main road back to Yambio, we came across a small group of school children in uniform. We stopped beside them and my Brazilian colleague handed them some candy and spoke with them in English about their studies. They were excited and proud to show off their knowledge of English!
It lifted our spirits quite a bit. It is imperative to maintain perspective and triumph in the little things here.
16 July 2011. We approached the STAR Support Group, a Christian Brothers group who do fabulous work with HIV/AIDs infected locals, via a Canadian, Brother Bill Colford, who has worked in Yambio for the past ten years, to reach out to local orphans. Our original intent was to travel to a remote location to distribute toys, candies, stickers, balloons, and clothing. However, due to circumstances surrounding the absence of a mission mandate and obvious security implications, access was limited to the more immediate area of Yambio town. There is no shortage of orphans in South Sudan.
Saturday morning came and we arrived shortly after 1030 hrs for an 1100 hrs timing to meet the kids. They were so excited; they had been there since 0830 hrs. It was heartbreaking. As we entered the room they stood and sang us a beautiful song.
Then we introduced ourselves (a colleague from the Netherlands and myself) and explained that the people in our countries cared about them and had sent toys, clothing, and fun things for them.
They were called up one by one and we distributed appropriate gifts and clothing to each child. Many of the older ones struggled to squeeze into the clothes, which were generally tiny and made for small children.
Yet, again so telling, much of the clothing did fit children who were twice the intended age of the garments.
The big hits, though, were the toy cars, stuffed animals, and balls. Dinosaurs did not go over well at all; in fact, they terrified the kids – perhaps because they looked like the giant lizards that are common in the area?
The morning ended with the STAR group providing milk and sandwiches for the children as we talked and took pictures with them.
When we left a short while afterwards, it was with heavy hearts and a strange sense of sadness. You would think that having the opportunity to distribute items sent from such thoughtful people at home would have left us happy and thankful. Yet, we were struck with the ever familiar feeling that it just wasn’t enough; that we were not really making a difference. There is always so much more to be done — they have so little. It is difficult to be surrounded by such sadness and poverty and maintain a sense of hope.
Since conflicting information was coming in from my Canadian chain of command and my UN chain of command on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, we decided that we needed to get all our affairs in order in case official word came to leave Sudan the next day. We took some time to drive around and take pictures of the developments in town that had occurred in the past five months. I also tried to take pictures of some of my favourite spots — attempting to capture the essence of my experience and life in Yambio with a few memorable snapshots. It was interesting trying to recall which places or sites were strangest to me when I first arrived, since the area and it’s reality had quickly become my own!
18 July 2011. UN presence patrol to BAGARE. You might remember that we had patrolled to BAGARE two weeks before and that they were in need of school supplies. When we returned, we brought all the personal supplies we could muster, printouts of each of the class photos we had previously taken, balloons, and candies for the children.
Although, we did not have enough toys to give out to all the kids they were thrilled with the balloons and candies!
We sat and talked with the teachers for a bit, and they asked us, specifically me, to speak to the children. So they formed up in a hollow square and we went and stood in the middle of them and spoke.
The teachers felt it was important for the children to see what options were available to women in the world; to see that woman could go to school and become soldiers!
When I spoke to them, I emphasized the importance of education and that people around the world, very far away, cared about them and their future.
I stressed that they needed to work and study hard and that they could change things and make a positive difference in their communities. I tried to show them that, as women and men, they were capable of effecting wondrous changes in their country. The other patrol members introduced themselves and explained where they were from.
We then showed them what a punching balloon was, how to blow it up and play with it, and proceeded to hand out Dutch balloons and Canadian rocket candies.
They were still happily playing with the balloons as we drove away!
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