House (or tent) mates

On packing up my tent today I found ....
inside .... a large beetle, a cricket and several dead flies ....
underneath (thankfully) ... 2 geckos, 1 lizard and 3 scorpions (aaaahhhh!!) .... i'm just glad I spotted them first and stamped on them (only the scorpions .... i like lizards ..)
looking forward to sleeping in a bed for the foreseeable future and hopefully with some more friendly room mates ...!

Tiny Babies

I've been back in my tent since wednesday after a wet and muddy time in malakal .... the roads and our compound turned to a bog after very heavy rain ... so I spent the whole time there in wellies .. its dried out again since I've been back here so I've been able to get back to flip flops. I can back to find the number of nutrition patients had doubled alongside the planning for the feeding programme getting underway properly then its been a busy week. Amongst the patients in the clinic at the moment are 2 of a set of triplets whose mother and sibling died at birth .. they are both tiny (about 3lb/ 1.6kg) .... so we have a full on job feeding them .. the boy is not sucking very well so he has an NG tube in and the girl is managing to suck milk from a syringe. Long term the future does not look bright for these babies without a Mum as alternatives to breast feeding carry lots of risks here where hygiene is so poor. I'm hoping to try cup feeding ... any dietitians out there with expertise please get in touch!!
The building work is progressing well after the deliveries of building supplies eventually arrived ... unfortunately on the day after heavy rain so the trucks got stuck in the mud. We may have some houses by the end of July if all goes well and the clinic should be finished in October. Then I should be off to Nairobi a week on Tuesday for my R and R ... can't wait for a lie in .... x x

Travels and progress

This week has a bit more news than the last few as I've been out and about a bit more ... sorry aboout the lack of photos I will remedy this when I'm not under restictions of how much data I can upload.
I've been away from melut since wednesday and won't be back there until tuesday. I went to Juba (new capital of southern sudan) it was planned that I went to security trainng but in the end I went to a nutrition meeting which was more interesting from my point of view, it was good to meet people and get an idea what the agenda is for nutrition in south sudan .. a bit strange for me to mix with governement officials etc .. hopefully i didn't sound too clueless and I made a few contacts, there was also a very good lunch (including avovados and courgettes) which was of course for me a highlight. There was a small crowd of us in Juba at the same time so we went out for a drink on friday and i enjoyed my first beer for 6 weeks.
Now I am in Malakal staying at our base here as there is a state nutrition meeting here on monday, hopefully again a chance to meet some people who will be good sources of advice for me. Also good is that my manager is back from her holiday so I have been able to go through all the plans etc with her and things seem much clearer now... so all in all its been an encouraging week work wise.
Its been refreshing to go to different places and spend time with different people but I am actually quite missing my tent and my team so it will be nice to get back especially as I know my next break is not far away

still surviving

Its about time I put a bit of news up on the blog .. sorry for the lack of communication by this means ... I am getting quite addicted to face book so I end up sending people random messages and not really communicating any news, that said there is not a lot new here ... we are gradually reducing in number, some planned departures for meetings and holidays others unplanned due to sickness. I'm finding the constant changing around of people makes it a bit difficult to get to know people. We are becoming increasingly nervous of surviving the rainy season in our tents, there was a short but very fierce storm on monday which left quite a lot of stuff damaged ... my tent survived with a few bent poles so yesterday I moved locations and strengthened it a bit. I'm realising that I'm never going to be very popular with the kids I'm treating .. apart from the usual suspicion of white people I also weigh and measure them and try to get them to drink milk that they don't like .. the little boy whose an inpatient at the moment starts to scream when I am still 10m away so I'm not going to get many nice cuddles.
I should be leaving the compound more this week (yipee) as I going to Juba for a training day on security .. for a one day course I'll be away for 5 days because of all the travelling time, I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of the country. Then when I get back I should have just over 2 weeks before i have my first R&R .. so I think I should survive till then

A Day in the Life ...

I've had a few requests to post something about what my daily life is like here... so I thought I'd fill you in .. things are fairly slow moving at the mo as the feeding project i'm organising is in the set up phase .. in a few weeks things might be a bit more manic...
I tend to wake up about 6.30, now I'm getting used to my tent i could manage to sleep in a bit longer but much past 7 it gets a bit hot inside the tent. So I'm off for a bucket shower .. usually the water is nice and cold in the mornings and I may even get to shiver with the breeze from the river which pleasing when i am usually hot and sweaty all day. Breakfast is usually flat bread with peanut butter (I don't need to feel guilty about eating it every day) We have team "devotion time" (singing, someone shares from the bible, then praying) at 8.
After that its time to start work .. I usually weigh, and assess any nutrition patients first thing... some come daily, some weekly and sort out the plan for the day in terms of feeding them ... then I mix up the milk. Last week I recuited 2 assistants so they will be doing a lot of the milk making from now on... and I won't have to stay around all day to make up 3 hourly feeds.
After that its generally off to the office tent to check emails and respond, and do some of the admin tasks related to the feeding programme set up. The rest of the day may vary .. maybe assessing new patients referred due to malnutrition in the clinic, training my assistants or once in a while visiting one of the surrounding villages with someone else from the team.
I need a bit of a sietsta at lunch time ... and so afternoon work goes on til about 6 .. then I try to relax near the river for a bit with a book or my Ipod .. before it gets dark at 7 ... then maybe some emailing .. dinnner at 8 then bed ...
Not always exciting !! seem to spend lots of time on the computer... and lots of time in our compound, I think in a few weeks time that should change and I should be out and about a bit more. Will post again soon x

Wildlife

... with regards to the comments from the previous post .. (especially Dora's) There are monkeys .. one was in the compound the other day with a very red bottom .. and got chased away so it didn't eat the food. Unfortunately no giraffes ... not enough trees here for them I think!

There are lots of donkeys and goats, loads of birds, lizards and not too many mossies yet, no crocodiles or snakes spotted either. I will attempt to get some photos of the more interesting wildlife (unfortunately no giraffes until I go back to kenya .. then I will make sure I get a photo especially for Dora) you will have to make do with goats for the moment!

Camping Sudanese Style

I've been in Sudan nearly 2 weeks now and I'm starting to feel more settled - I thought you might like to see some photos of where I am. The site we are on is fairly huge with the clinic in tents at one end by the road and the Nile on the other. I arrived on a little plane to Malakal and then a boat up the nile which was pretty cool ... we spotted a hippo as we sped past! Facilities are basic but I'm starting to feel more at home now. I have my own tent with a fairly comfy mattress so I' m sleeping well. I've been learning more about what my job will involve and helping out with managing the nutrition patients in the clinic, also been out and about in the last couple of days and got to see some of the towns and villages around here. ... was going to upload more photos but it doesn't seem to like it so at least this one shows you I'm alive and well .... i'll add more soon x