hyssop

from a 1951 pamphlet entitled “Poisonous Sankes of the Sudan” 

 I think the air strip in Leer is really just a wide flat area that happens to not have trees. It may have been a shallow river bed at one time, I’m not sure. All of Leer is extremely flat, but the airstrip devolves into a sort-of-road that follows a more barren winding route to the west. Ellie and I drove the motorbike out on this thing to see a bit more of Leer and she took this photo while we were out in the middle of nowhere.

After the Naath FM launch festivities were winding down some really dark clouds rolled in, we saw some lightening, and then the most incredible thing happened: it rained! This is an extraordinary and rare event in Sudan in January and everyone said it was an extremely auspicious sign for this to happen on the day of the launch.

The station bought this giant bull for the launch so it could be ceremonially slaughtered, and subsequently fed to the attendees.  In some ways cows are more valuable than money in Southern Sudan. They are the currency for dowries, and they are what is demanded in compensation when someone is wronged.

These kids would pop up occasionally in Leer and we’d all do ninja moves together. The ninja on the right is demonstrating his excellent pushup form.

During the launch celebration we had so many people come that kids started climbing into the trees to get a better view. It was amazing to look up and realize every tree was filled with kids!

Lots of commissioners at the station launch means lots of security. This guy was the badest of all.

I climbed up onto a sand pile to try to get a shot of previously posted mob scene outside the radio station and a bunch of kids climbed up with me. They wanted their pictures taken but the more I tried to move back to get more kids the closer they got! Extra thanks to Deb, our fearless program director, for capturing this scene. The second picture is the one I took just as Deb was snapping the first one. The first photo also features my esteemed colleague Eleanor Dobing intrepidly scaling the sand pile with me.

These women performed a traditional Nuer dance during the launch ceremonies.

The massive Naath FM launch party moved from the cool shade of the Cross Site Visit location (more on this later) across the airstrip to the radio station itself, where the afore-posted mob scene photo was taken. Our reporters went on-air and took a mic into the crowd to broadcast more speeches by the various dignitaries who were present. Here is Jacob Ruai in the studio about to go on-air and set the scene for people tuning in on their radios before the commissioners enter.