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Monday, April 15, 2013

A sketch of Juba

I couldn’t take photos out and about in Juba as you need a permit for photography in South Sudan.  We could take photos inside the workshop so here are a couple of me at work and the lovely participants.

me-in-juba-2

me-in-juba-3

and with my fellow facilitator at a restaurant on the banks of the Blue Nile

me-in-juba-1

I kept seeing little things that I wanted to capture and share – so I decided to list them and try to provide some flavour of this lovely new country.

I would love to have photos of the school children walking to school in their crisp white shirts and dark green shorts or shirts;

of the young children playing with a ball outside their house;

of the babies carried in a brightly coloured cloth on their mother’s back;

of the women walking back from the market with bundles balanced on their heads;

of the wonderful bright skirts and wraps that many women wear;

of the contrast of many younger women in very western (and brightly coloured) clothes;

of the group of old men sitting on plastic chairs in the shade of a tree, laughing and sharing stories;

of the men sitting outside a house smoking hookah pipes;

of the motorcycle with 3 young men sitting on it as it weaves its way through the traffic;

of the amazing ruts in the earth roads;

of the bizarrely contrasting pristine tarmac roads shown on a large advertising hoarding;

of the designs painted in white on the large rocks found at the corners of major roads;

of the ducks and ducklings scavenging beside the road;

at the group of goats that roams around near our accommodation;

of the woven bamboo fences around many houses;

of the groups of traditional mud huts  -  both round ones and rectangle ones;

at the lush tall trees (when I asked our driver what kind of tree it was he said ‘just a tree’ meaning no fruit);

of the eagles gliding on the thermals overhead;

of the red mountains outside of town;

of the lovely smiling people that I have met everywhere I go.

 

Now that would have been a photo heavy post!

8 comments:

Amy said...

I think your list is wonderfully evocative Helena, and I am fascinated that you need special permission in order to take photos ... that must have been very hard for you!

Elizabeth said...

I can almost see these photos through your list. Shame you need a permit to take photos. Is that common in the area you visited? I've never heard of it before but then you do travel in some remote places.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Such a wonderful list of the photos in your head. I wonder if you are allowed to sit and sketch or paint?
Rinda

Alison said...

It seems so odd to think of a place where you are forbidden to take photographs, but your list certainly gives us a taste off the sights you saw!
Alison xx

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I love this post, Helena. It's too bad you couldn't get photos, but I love the clever way your list conjures up those images for us. Great post here!

Sian said...

It's a wonderful list..we can see it in our heads thanks to your clever descriptions

Miriam said...

Yes I have a lovely colourful picture in my head now Helena, thanks so much. Hope you are home safe and well.

alexa said...

And the absence of photos does not at all detract from the eloquence of your descriptions - I feel as if I have seen them too! It sounds such a fascinating place - you bring us so many wonderful parts of the world ...