My turkey was chicken. My mash potatoes, Ugali. Wasn’t so bad. Maybe next year.

A while ago I had decided to start drawing a little picture everyday of the events that stood out in my mind. Had I kept it up, I think I would have improved my technique quite a bit. But after a few days I kinda got bored with it. Or it got bored with me.

These are few of the drawings that came out of that experiement. I still want to do some more, just don’t know when.

i will not be able to eat any turkey tomorrow.  Doubt I would find any ham either.  No pumpkin pie.  Stuffing. gravy.  Those are a few things I miss about celbrating Thanksgiving.  What I miss the most is having a day with friends & relatives and being able to spend the time together relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.

My family is too far away at the moment.  I should be able to find a few friends though.  Even without all the extras, I will have to see how I make it a good day.

I do have quite a bit to give thanks for.  Like I’m still breathing.  I have been able to eat for the past six months and so has my family.  We are not sick.  At least not anymore, although I have a small persistant cough that doesn’t want to go away.  I found some temporary work.  Which will continue to put food and shelter over our heads for the coming months.  Might even allow me to do a couple of extra things which I have been putting off for a long while.

The list actually goes on for quite a while.  A few weeks back, I was in a completely miserable spot in my life and didn’t see the silver linings or the light at any tunnel’s end.  My head was to the ground and that was all tha I saw in front of my face.

Its a lot better now.  And while I won’t be able to celebrate the official thanksgiving day with my family, I will have one of my own very soon.  I can’t wait for that one.

Since I havn’t posted any pictures in a terribly long while, I thought I would put one up of a poster I am working on.  This is part of what is going to put some of that food in my mouth.

HIV Awareness Poster

my ear still has a problem.  I am afraid I have done some permanent damage.  Yes I should have seen a doctor, but he probably would have just said I had Malaria.  I don’t have much faith in many of the doctors here.

i took some ear drops.  they made my nose run the whole night.  sneezing and snotting all over the place.  but my ear still feels clogged up.

yesterday there was a protest in the middle of Juba town.

i didn’t witness the event, so am not a valid source of information.

my colleage thought she heard some gunshots at one point.  the jumble of news that we got on this side was that students and teachers were protesting the fact that the government hasn’t paid the teachers.   So they didn’t want to teach.  So I think was actually two protests at once.  Teachers protesting no pay and the students protesting the fact that the teachers were not teaching.

Students around these parts do seem to appreciate the fact that they can go to school unlike myself when I was that age.  I would have loved it if my teachers had gone on strike.

The most unfortunate thing about this protest was that the police managed to shoot a couple of people in the process.  At least that is what is filtering back to us here.  The first version of the story was that one girl and two boys were shot, not killed, but just wounded in various places.  Actually I don’t think it was reported that anyone was killed, just shot and now experiencing alot of pain.  The second version of the story was that a teacher and one student were shot.

Regardless of the versions, there definately was shooting taking place yesterday and there definately was a riot.  I met a man who said he had just arrived to Juba and was travelling to town when their vehicle was caught up in the middle of the protest and was stoned by the protestors.  He arrived to Juba yesterday and I think decided to leave today.

I’ve been searching the internet sites for a news feed on this and not finding anything.  When they beat a few ladies with sticks because of the clothes they were wearing, it was all over the international news in a very short matter of time.   They shoot a couple of kids wanting to go the school and nobody seems to give a damn.

my ear has a problem.

the other day i tripped, fell and hit my face on a wall putting a nice little gash in my forehead.  The wall was ok.  i was visiting friends last sunday afternoon.  One of them came to help me clean up and poured what he thought was water on my head.

It wasn’t water, but kerosene.  Fortunately the bleeding stopped, but it burned like #$@%#@.  Some of it also got in my ear.  That was the worse part.  I could deal with the hit on the head, a nice cut and a little bit of what I assume is whiplash.  But the kerosene in the ear was more then I could handle.  The pain was very intense.

today is thursday.  My ear is still blocked up.  Up until yesterday morning I still had kerosene coming out of the ear.  I think what is remaining is water and wax.  Or maybe more kerosene.  Whatever it is, it doesn’t want to come out and is driving me crazy.

i’m getting very tired of juba.  I’m doing work but there is no money coming in.  Am trying my hand at some business venture, but they are not going over very well.  My family is back in Nairobi.  I havn’t seen them for the last three and half months.  My newborn won’t have an idea who I am when I see him again.  I fear my other son is forgetting me too.

i just want to leave.  but i have to keep looking, searching, hoping that i will find myself bringing in the money i need to support my family.  Sometimes just seems like it isn’t going to happen.