Ben Tshin

March has been a long and busy month for me. It’s a welcome change from the boredom of the previous months. Actually, the Yei SWAT installation is my first real work in almost 10 months. That’s counting all the months from when I left CiRBA.

Yei is an amazing town. It’s in the far south of Sudan, almost at the Uganda border, so it has a very different and very African feel to the town. After a month of stifling heat in Malakal, the cool breezes and afternoon rains of Central Equatoria were very welcome. I immediately felt my spirits lift. We stayed with Samaritan’s Purse and their compound was simply amazing. For the first time since I had left Nairobi, I had hot water from overhead showers.

But there was work to be done in Yei. Our contractor took a week to construct a huge wall around 8 truckloads of murram (hardy red clay-like soil). But when that was finished, I had the joys of teaching my very first class of SWAT operators. They were an absolute joy to teach, even if only for 4 days. It was my first class and I definitely wasn’t prepared. I barely even knew how the system worked, let alone teach someone else. Luckily another SWAT operator from another nearby system came to my rescue. I would speak for one minute and then he would translate for five minutes.

At the end of it all, there was a great grand opening ceremony on Easter Saturday. The system was all completed and working. The operators just needed to complete the store/guard house. But everyone showed up. The payam (a step down from county, a step up from village) administrator, the head man, the sub chief, the church leaders and all the trained SWAT operators and hygiene/health promoters (HHPs). There were lots of speeches and after 4 hours the neighbourhood of Mahad had their very own source of clean water. They didn’t have to go to the river and drink the muddy, soapy, oily, feces-infested waters. I wish I could have taken a sip to show my solidarity, but they were still chlorinating. Next time.

The next time would be Khaldak. I left to go on R&R as the system was under construction. But more about Khaldak later. I’m sitting in the Entebbe airport, waiting for Alan and Liz who are about to arrive in a few short minutes. I can’t wait to see familiar faces!

Sorry, not many updates recently. I’ve been very busy for the last month, working hard in Yei (the pictures here) and also in Khaldak. I’m back in Nairobi for R&R and I’ll be flying to Uganda on Monday to join Alan & Liz on their Raising the Village
visit.

Below are the photos from the SWAT (Surface WAter Treatment) system installation in Yei.

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Here are some more pictures of Malakal from February.

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Pictures from Malakal including my first assessment.

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My WatSan team is split into two teams, A and B. Actually, there aren’t any formal names, but “The A-Team” is a pretty swanky name. It sure beats “Alpha Team” and “Bravo Team”. Alas, I’m not on The A-Team.

The A-Team just departed downstream on the Nile to Melut and eventually onwards to do an assessment in Kaka. That’s right: Kaka. Despite it’s name, part of me wishes I could go with them. But I’ve already figured out that God’s timing is perfect. It’s easier to be faithful to God when you remember that He’s always faithful to us. I’ll be stationed in Malakal for the next week going over reports and reassessing old equipment.

Meanwhile, the secret is out that I’m a tech guy. Requests are already coming in to fix this computer, get rid of some virus, reducing the amount of internet usage, etc. It’s like I already have two jobs. As remote as Sudan is, I still can’t get rid of my past. I think God’s saying something here, but it’s a bit fuzzy on it.