Sudanese children are deceptively good at football!

Good evening friends, family and folks!

I hope as you read this you are savouring the ebbing heat of the British summer. If you are unhappy saying goodbye to the heat, remember that Sudanese climate has begun it's turn around towards the summer. Temperatures are a moderate 24 deg.C at night, and in the afternoon 40 deg.C. Just a taste of things to come I understand!

So, the adventure has not disappointed. My manager (JP) is slowly easing me into various projects we are managing and implementing. My experience is working with an engineering consultant, and Medair operate in a very similar way. They conduct the needs/feasibility assessment, design a strategy, seek funding, prepare tender documents, appoint a contractor, and supervise the implementation and manage contracts.

The significant difference is that Medair is flexible to act as a contractor for their own projects to save costs. Doing this has drawbacks, such as the increase in Medair staff, and the additional associated implementation risks. I am involved in about five different projects in the Upper Nile State off South Sudan. The overview mandate is to provide access to improved drinking water to over 40,000 people before December 2011. This pivots largely on the outcome of the election in early January (this is a huge topic, I will talk about another time).

So Medair have decided to implement three of the projects themselves, bringing on casual labour from the community, sourcing and purchasing all materials. While this is an exciting variation to my usual work, I am sure it will bring enormous HR problems. Before employing local labour for jobs like trenching, excavation, concrete work and simple building we will request the community authority pledge labour support for free - after all, it is for their benefit.

Following construction, we formally hand over the infrastructure to the water committee (facilitated and supported by Medair). The Kiosk staff then charge customers a small amount for clean water, supplying more then enough revenue for maintenance and staff payment. Finally turning the water supply into a self-funding system, without bankrupting the local population.

So, I am sorry if this entry was a bit boring and technical for you, next time I will supply some classic Damon cheesiness about feelings and hearty things.

Keep well, Damon

APOLOGIES ALL.

After talking to my perceptive girlfriend Joanne - she tells me the post is 'Too Cold'... So, here is some soppyness.

The scale of the task is starting to be revealed to me. I am transerred fortnightly between Melut and Wadakona to supervise construction activities. During my last transfer I met a gentleman named Samuel. He was fortunate to have been driven about 6 hours to Melut, where he was diagnosed (at a Medair Public Health Unit) with an excruciatingly painful Cyst. From Melut he joined us on our four and a half hour boat journey North to Wadakona. During this time he was incapacitated, barely able to move, having to be lifted in and out of the boat, each time enduring unfathomable pain. Upon arrival, we unloaded the boat and he continued North for another four hours to the Medair Public Health Care Centre in the larger town of Renk where I understand he was operated on upon immediately!

Three days on we look back at his ordeal, and about seven of us are going to Renk (on the weekend) to wish him speedy recovery. As I look at his journey I remember something else odd that day. A random lady was also on the boat and never left his side. When I asked Stephan, our driver, he told me she was his mother.

Samuel travelled almost the distance of England, via land and river to receive treatment from one of 200 registered doctors in the country. Humbling statistics. But he survived, and is testimony to the value of life. Live it!