Juba for Khawadja Newcomers – some practical remarks

Compiled by Anne Dietrich, DED Peace & Conflict Advisor, Juba

These introductory practical remarks about living in Juba, written in October 2008,  are intended to support foreigners who start to live and work in Juba in getting used to the place and the people and their habits, and finding their ways for staying healthy, shopping, eating out….  It is by no means comprehensive and can be extended by many aspects.

ARRIVAL

When you arrive you may be facing a time of physical and mental adjustment to this place: You may start sweating at spots of your body (like the knee) where you never had been sweating before, you may suffer from unexplained diarrhea for some time, you may feel unsafe due to lack of water for your personal hygiene, you may feel inappropriately tired at times of the day when there is no thought of rest, and you may stay awake very late since it is simply too hot and humid to fall asleep comfortably.

WATER

… for washing, bathing, cleaning

In most places in Juba, there is no tap water, or only from time to time. Most people have a water container or tank and buy water from the Nile which is brought in water lorries. This water is far from clean, I would not even drink it when it is filtered and boiled. Mixed with a little bit of chlorine, you can use it at least for bathing, washing your dishes and clothes, and for cleaning.

… for drinking and cooking

In places where you have access to a borehole, you better ask people if this water is safe, and check on its look and taste first any time you take from there. Even then I would recommend to filter it before you drink it. Always keep your drinking water covered because of dust and flies.

Where there is no borehole, you need to buy bottled mineral water for drinking. For cooking, I use this, as well, which is expensive in the long run but for saving my health it seems to me worth it.  Some colleagues resort to filtering and boiling the Nile water, after chlorinating it.

!! Water from bathing and laundry can be used for cleaning cars and for flushing toilets!

LIGHT and ELECTRICITY

Regular access to public electricity exists in a few places near residences of so called ‘big shots’ (high government officials) only. To run a generator is the usual thing people do here to have light and a source for charging mobile phones etc., but the noise and exhaust fumes, the fragility of these machines, the expensiveness of fuel, etc. makes it a rather unhealthy and uneconomic practice. Still, most residents of Juba lack the funds to invest into a solar system which is a pity since sun is available for free - without noise, break downs and exhaust fumes.

TRAFFIC JOYS

Anyhowly = carelessly, recklessly, an expression that covers the usual style of driving that prevails in Juba: Many of the drivers on the roads here, especially those on motorbikes, do not know much about traffic rules, and if they do, they do not seem to care. So do not expect anybody to drive in a way that you were used elsewhere.

Even though someone might show his right indicator, he might go left or vice versa. The only reliable way to trace out if someone will go left or right or straight is the position of the front wheels of the vehicle.

Motorbikes are often moving with young / under aged drivers, many of whom work as ‘boda-boda’ (motorbike-taxi) drivers. They are hired by reckless owners of motorbikes who let these youngsters work for them for little money and often with the consequence that their life is risked and their educational career is given up to earn that small money.

Moving by public means:

Public busses

If you wish to move by public means, you have several options

-         take a public mini-bus (‘matatu’, ‘bus’). The buses are mostly run down, and often crowded, and under security aspects it is not recommendable to use them. If you do, tell not only the driver but also your fellow passengers where you want to get off. There are very few declared ‘bus stations’, but the drivers stop frequently, even in locations where it may seem quite impossible to stop.

-         Take a Boda boda (Motorbike taxi) – even less recommendable, since the drivers are often not only very young but also do not know traffic rules and are sometimes not sufficiently capable physically to handle a motorbike in terms of managing the weight of the machine – let alone plus a customer plus luggage…

-         Take a Reksha (Tuk tuk), an upgraded kind of motorbike with two back wheels and a small cabin: Since they have very small wheels, they often have problems to cope with the state of Juba roads.

-         Go on foot: Of course you should take good care of your health, using solid shoes (the heat may prompt you to walk in sandals which many locals do, but be aware that you may step into ugly things like broken glass, nails, garbage, etc.) , protecting yourself from exposure to direct sunlight for too long a time.

ANIMALS and INSECTS

Mango flies

Described to me as a threat when you have your clothes outside near Mango trees for drying … they drill themselves into your skin causing a terrible pain and sometimes infection. What I did is to make sure that I hang clothes up only the right way around, and to take them off the rope as soon as they are dry. Luckily, I never had any yet…

Mosquitoes

Especially during rainy season they are really everywhere, and they particularly like places with open (clean) water (breeding places!) Please make sure that you cover all water containers where you keep or collect water to avoid them

ALWAYS sleep or rest under a mosquito net

ALWAYS cover all parts of your body not covered by clothes with insect repellent before darkness in the evening and before sunrise in the morning

Diseases and how to protect yourself and prepare for it:

Malaria

Cover yourself well, use insect repellent, cover all places where you store or collect water in your home, keep away from swampy or humid areas, keep away from unventilated places etc. Go for testing as soon as you have e.g. heavy flue , unexplainable stomach problems, heavy headache, limb pain, etc..  Since the symptoms can be very diverse, make sure that you go for a test rather one time to much…

Cholera or “acute watery diarrhea”

Comes back regularly, and most probably you will have its germs in your stomach after a few weeks in Juba. What you can do to avoid its severe form is:

Try to eat in proper places where food is covered in the pots where it is stored

Do not buy food offered in the open by the street side or in the market unless it is packed well and directly after preparation, or you can peel it.

Do not drink the local water, especially not the water from the Nile river. There are people who filter and drink tap water. I prefer bottled mineral water even for cooking and brushing teeth.

GOING OUT

In contrary to Northern Sudan, you will find many types of alcoholic beverages in bars and restaurants in Juba. There are meanwhile many places to go for hang out, most of them restaurants or camp hotels. You can also hire a steam boat for a Nile trip.

MONEY MONEY

The local currency of Southern Sudan is the (new) Sudanese Pound (SDG), but also US Dollars are in the market, in banks you also can exchange Euros, and you may buy things from Ugandan traders with USh (Ugandan Shillings). Financial transactions from outside Sudan are still a challenge, there are no ATMs, and there is a ‘double window’ system of capitalist and Islamic banking.

Telephone headaches...

There are presently 4 mobile networks in Juba which are working more or less. ZAIN, formerly Mobitel, MTN, and Sudani, are Northern Sudanese Companies. Network is often extremely bad. For Sudani you should know that the Sudani sim cards only fit in mobile phones especially designed for Sudani. Gemtel is owned by Southern Sudanese Ministry of Telecommunication, using Ugandan network and international call code (00256).  There is also a Sudanese landline company called ‘Sudatel’ (owner of Sudani, too), but it seems that landline telephones are mostly for decoration purposes since the most of the wires are rotten, destroyed by road construction, etc.