Sukhana Shadid! (very hot!)

HAPPY EASTER!!

I’ve never known heat like this. It’s up into the 40’s…over 40°C!! The sweat just pours off you. But it’s not completely unbearable…somehow. I think it’s because it’s a dry heat, not humid like it gets in the UK. You just don’t go out of a building here between the hours of 11:00-15:00…seriously. Even the Sudanese people are complaining about how hot it is - something I never expected. My arms are getting nice and brown, but my legs…they’re so white still – they kinda glow in the dark! You don’t need a torch when my white legs are around J Yeah, sorry Mum, just cause I’m in Sudan, it doesn’t mean I’m wearing skirts more…still living and dying in trousers! Grandma did always say I should have been born a boy.

So yeah, getting back to the heat thing…we’ve been sleeping outside, which is lovely. Felt a bit disorientated the first time I slept out; waking up in the middle of the night to a black sky and stars took me a bit by surprise. It’s fab though. The stars here are beautiful and the moon is so bright. Still unbelievably hot, even at this time (it’s 23:00 and I can’t sleep – too hot). We have MosDomes – which are dome tents, but with mosquito-net lining. So no, not much use in the UK; I’d get pretty wet.

Things here are going ok though…lots of work as we don’t have a logistician, so having to design latrines (with lots of help), finalise the bills of quantities, procure materials, order materials…and the quantities are all different as each school latrine we’re doing seems to be different somehow. Also, some households only require a 2m brick lining, while others need a 3m lining…oh the cement, bricks, iron bars, zinc sheeting, sand, gravel etc we’ve ordered… Spent the day off-loading 25 tons of cement, together with iron bars, zinc sheeting, binding wire, marina (timber), lime…it was actually really good fun. So enjoyed it and the guys I work with are fab. I don’t think the local Sudanese villagers had seen a girl doing this sort of work though – offloading marina and iron bars etc. I drew the line at carrying a bag of cement though…they weigh 50Kg!! Being out in the field rocks…the office and paper-work sucks. But unfortunately it has to be done…[sigh].

With regards to water, we’ve finished constructing three hafirs (like reservoirs, but are depressions dug in places where the relief of the land means water naturally flows to in the rainy season, basically the lowest point in that area. We’re currently finishing off the fourth. So that’s good. Unfortunately the water quality in these hafirs is not good, but the water table in these places is so deep that drilling a borehole is practically impossible. Would be interesting to know how deep the average borehole is in the UK…especially the Water Company ones. Any information greatly appreciated; send your answers on the back of a postcard or stuck-down envelope…

So yeah, that’s me. Need to order gravel, sand, mortor, ventilation pipes, paint, mesh wire and the iron work (doors, windows, moulds etc) this week…as well as somehow getting cement to Shemodi and Kilo 15 without spending money…you have to pay the community to onload and offload materials, which is a bit of a problem as I didn’t include that in my budget…oops. I also have the Tearfund North Sudan Programme Director coming to visit this week, so most of my time will be taken up entertaining him…as well as finding time to order the materials, write up what I’m doing, make sure things are moving, getting contracts signed with the masons, making sure all the households understand what they need to do for their latrines…and writing a list of things for all my guys to do when I’m away. Yeah!! I finally got my exit visa!!

God has been so faithful. I couldn’t have asked for better people to work for me. The masons I’ve hired are wonderful and will do a great job at managing the project I’m sure. I have great staff in the office with me. They’re just all wonderful people. We socialise together and have a good time when we’re together. I really thank God for them. Without good staff, this project would be non-existent. I went to church with some of the guys this morning – Easter Sunday in Renk! It was lovely. They had two or three different tribes singing in their own language. The children did a song. The preacher went on too long… a typical Easter Sunday church services I believe J It’s good to know it’s the same the world over.

Well, I’m going to try and go to sleep again…hopefully….

Trust you’re all well. Take care
becks