Mongoose

Life could be more care-free either as a young boy who has captured a mongoose and is now keeping it as a pet at his homestead, or alternatively as a mongoose who has been captured by a young boy and is now being kept as a pet at the boy's homestead.

If I believed in reincarnation these may be lots I'd try and draw.

Triangulation and coordination aren't concepts that are widely practised here. The norm is completion of tasks in a linear fashion and then seeing what happens next, which today led to numerous delays, unsigned paperwork, missed opportunities for authorisation, vacant offices (as no government staff really bother resuming work at their desks after lunch, and if they do, depending on the ministry in question, fewer of them come back sober), sitting on stools under mango trees for protracted periods, needless driving around Yambio and more scuppered fieldwork.

Bennett's summary was that we'd worked hard today whereas mine was more that we'd waited around a lot today. Different approaches and views are why I believe the combination of foreigner and national skills can be appropriate for successful development projects especially as pretty much all donors remain rooted in the West, following Western approaches to implementation.

I exhibit a lot more patience here than I do in the UK, but I self-contain much frustration that things could work more efficiently with greater anticipation of problems and more proactive communications. Then I remember that I don't really know how to navigate Zande cultural norms, and I revert to the earlier point about the combined forces of foreigner + national being the current best potential recipe for success.

During the many journeys to and from the Wildlife Service, we passed a dusty naked madman standing near the hospital. I asked Bennett if he knew his story as it struck me that in other places with basic facilities he'd somehow at least be served the dignity of being clothed and housed. Apparently he was a former Sudan People's Liberation Army solider who killed a pastor during one of the more violent periods of conflict. He repented and found religion but later went mad after being hit by a motorbike. The two people who verified this story implied that his fate was punishment for his first act. I mainly felt sad that he was in a busy part of town and no one had donated him a spare rag.