“You are welcome to the hospital”. A lyrical voice with African
tones
sounds
LIFE at JUBA TEACHING HOSPITAL by JAMES & HEIDI WALLER
James and Heidi have taken time out to work in South Sudan. Here is their first report: The sun is still blisteringly hot and it’s four thirty in the afternoon. We walk down a dusty path lined on either side with upturned empty cans of soft drinks buried in the dirt, an attempt by the ground staff to keep the ever advancing sands from reclaiming the concrete walkway and returning the area to the bush from which it was born. Ahead lie a collection of single storey concrete buildings and from a distance they look to offer a welcome shade from the furnace of the afternoon glare. The metal grill door is hot to touch but inside there is no respite from the heat. Then we hear the moans, quiet and indistinct. Through the gloom rows of iron beds line the walls on both sides of a long bare room. Another grilled door is pushed aside and then the smell hits us; sweat hanging thick in the air, mingled with every other body fluid you could imagine, invading our nostrils and forcing us to pause and steel ourselves. As our eyes become accustomed to the dim light within, the dark shapes on the beds sharpen, and we see people sprawled on the plastic mattresses, on the beds, between the beds and down the centre of the room.
somewhere behind us. We turn to see a young woman smiling broadly, dark ebony skin clad in a crisp pink uniform and short tightly braided hair topped with a small white hat. I turn to Heidi, give her a smile and she responds with a nod. This is Southern Sudan ‐ let’s get to work.
The planning started over a year ago when Heidi and I decided to take a year out from our jobs as doctors, to volunteer in the developing world. Africa had got under our skin a long time ago and travels in the north of Sudan had infected us with a desire to work in the south. We married at the end of 2009, the saving began and we started to search for a hospital in which to work while applying for time away from our jobs. After much searching we found Juba Teaching Hospital. Southern Sudan is recovering from almost three decades of civil war with the north, a war driven by all triggers of modern conflict: race, religion and oil. The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 opened the doors to growth after years of under‐development and the Government of Southern Sudan was formed. After six years of diplomacy the borders between the north and the south are still being drawn, and debates over the division of oil revenue, repayments of international debt and the funding of new development still rage. But on the 9th July 2011 the Republic of South Sudan will be born; the newest country on the planet. It is here that we will spend the next nine months, working in the city’s main government hospital.
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