In Malualkon, every moment is a Magic Moment.
Like a boss
My new name
As of this week, I am no longer Jackie. I have been given the Dinka name Atong. Literally a derivation of Tong - A spear, and when assigned as a name means Warrior.
I arrived in Malualkon on Wednesday afternoon minus one bag and one shoe. The bag, a large suitcase containing most of my clothing for my year-long stay here was held at the airport in Juba because in total my luggage was 10 kilos over the weight limit. My brilliant plan to haggle with the UN guys and convince them that since I only weigh 46 kg myself I should be permitted to carry extra luggage on failed spectacularly. So, I hurriedly rummaged through my suitcase grabbing a few pairs of underwear and three t-shirts (I didn’t take more since I was assured that my bag would arrive via cargo by Friday).
Today is Sunday and the last I heard, my bag was sitting on an airstrip in Kuajok. Luckily there is one other woman working on this base and she generously offered for me to borrow anything I might need until my luggage arrives, this is good because I didn’t think to grab an extra pair of trousers.
I haven’t been out to the field sites yet, that will happen tomorrow (and all of next week) so today’s update is about Malualkon base life. The pictures should speak for themselves.
Yesterday while I was walking a group of women sitting under a tree stopped me to have a chat with them.
The women asked my name, and no one here is ever content with only your first name, so they asked my “second” name as well. I replied “MacLeod”. They heard “Cloud” and seemed more pleased with that name than Jackie so I was referred to throughout the course of the afternoon chat as Cloud or Cloudy.
By the end of the conversation I had a third name. “Ngakuru”, which means “she who brings rain”, a logical leap I suppose from Cloud after all, and while we were sitting and talking the afternoon rain started to fall.
Some weeks are more challenging than others.
