The main road

As if the roads are not bad enough already, someone seems determined to turn them into an obstacle course. Roadside, drainage ditches have been deepened recently by an excavator. The soil was not removed but simply dumped on the edge of the roads making them narrower and muddier. Sometimes, major roads are randomly closed off for the excavator to work. There are no detour signs but one is just expected to find another way.

With the roadside so muddy, every person, dog, cow, pig, goat & duck chooses to join the donkey carts, horse carts, bikes, wheelbarrows (carrying water), cars and trucks in the centre of the road which tends to be firmer. No need to look first! If you get there first you have the right of way – so the reality seems. You may be coming from the opposite direction and overtaking on what I would call the ‘wrong side’ of the road, but why worry about that?

Even if I were younger, I wouldn’t be looking for a ride on the dodgem cars in a fun park. Here I can have it all for free – weaving and sliding in between pedestrians, carts, vehicles, animals and abundant children, not to mention pushbikes, motor bikes (no helmets required) and wheelbarrows. I have noticed it is easy for a pushbike rider to become unbalanced if the bike begins to wobble when there are five, 20 litre, plastic gerry cans of water tied on to it. Watch out for the sudden lurch, one learns!

When roads dry out they are rock hard and bumpy from all the furrows ploughed by vehicles during wet periods. When it rains, the roads first become very slippery and then begin to dissolve into deep slushy mud. Yesterday our vehicle had a flat tyre – fortunately it deflated while parked within our property. No obvious reason, except that we know there are all kinds of hazards hidden in the mud. With some difficulty, we removed the wheel as the car jack was pushing itself into the ground at the same time as elevating the vehicle. Action/reaction: Isaac Newton illustrated! It cost 10 Sudanese pounds (less than 4 dollars) to have the tyre repaired at a low tech, hand tools only, road-side stop. There is no high tech tyre change here as far as I know. Fortunately repairs were finished before some heavy rain fell and we are mobile again.

There do not seem to be many accidents in Malakal – although I heard recently of one old man who suffered a broken leg when knocked down by a taxi.  The people were angry, I was told. The simple expectation here is that vehicles do not collide with people or animals and you are in the wrong if you do. Most drivers are very careful – unlike in Juba where some drivers hurtle around in crazy fashion with the consequence that there are far more accidents. I prefer to edge my way around the potholes of Malakal and keep moving, albeit slowly!

One big positive is that we don’t get flooded as they have recently in Pakistan, China and my home state of Victoria, in Australia. Sometimes, especially when strong winds blow during a storm, water gets into our house. The floor, however, dries quickly. Malakal is flat and excess surface water flows into the Nile in deep drains while the many swampy puddles gradually evaporate or are absorbed into the soil. When the sun shines for half a day, the roads become much easier.

We do hope for firmer footing and fewer potholes but the pace of life is slow here. There is no need to hurry. Patiently coping with the potholes in our lives, both literally and metaphorically, is something we all must learn to do. Eventually, sun always follows the rain.

Br Bill