Public transport to Wau again. I re-iterate
that I like public transport in South Sudan, I could fly, but I don’t enjoy it
as much. Having said that yesterday’s journey had some highlights that made me
wish I was safely strapped into a UN/WFP plane.
We went to the bus stop in Rumbek early,
too early it turned out, no one was there. The two friends I was with did some
negotiation on my behalf to get me (1) in a good seat, (2) in a good car and (3) with a driver they trust (i.e. someone
they know). Unfortunately this was not the first car going and meant a 4 hour
wait for the car to fill up with passengers.
The other passengers were a woman who was
returning from accompanying her mother to Rumbek and 2 young men going to visit
family in Wau. We were short of passengers for what seemed like forever. Just
as I was beginning to give up hope that we would ever leave, our party was made
up by 2 armed policemen, one of whom had been shot in the arm in Rumbek North
they day before (its not in the news yet, but the clashed in Tonj East have
spread to Rumbek North). He was going home to Wau where his family would take
care of him.
The injured policeman was drinking local
alcohol. Under the circumstances (having been shot with apparently given no
more medical treatment than a bandage) this seemed understandable, and perhaps
the most reasonable thing to be doing. However, sitting in a car with drunk
armed men is never a good feeling. And it did mean an extended stop at every
police checkpoint while they explained to their colleagues what had happened
Then somewhere between Cuiebet and Tonj
something underneath the car fell off. (Things going wrong with cars on these
dirt roads is quite common). The drivers had whatever kit they needed to patch up
the problem (i.e. tie whatever had fallen off back on) and we continued to
Tonj.
In Tonj we stopped for an inordinately long
period of time for food and sisha. The bus stops in Tonj at a little eatery
where street boys and others come and try and get a few pounds of travellers
and eat their left over lunch.
We listened to music and everyone sang
along, there was a particularly energetic performance to Beyonce’s ‘I Need a
Soldier”. Sugar cane was passed round and lots of chatting
A few hours later we reached Wau…dropped
the policeman with a bullet wound with some relatives and then I was dropped at
my ‘home’ for the next few days. The driver and his friend asked if they could
meet me later. I gave them a polite but emphatic, ‘no’ and went to wash the
dust off myself.
