hyssop

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!