Nairobi / Sudan
Nairobi
As well as being the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi is the largest and most important city in East Africa. Most NGOs working in East Africa have an office base in Nairobi.
The city is fairly cosmopolitan and many consumer items are imported.
Nairobi is at an elevation of 1640 metres (approx. 5300 feet) and in general you can enjoy very pleasant weather. Between September to June temperatures range between 23 and 28°C and t-shirts. During the 'winter' months of July and August and during the rainy seasons, however, it can be cool enough to require a light jumper or a fleece. The rainy seasons are in two parts - the long rains are from March to May and the short rains from October to November. The rest of the year is warm and dry.
Lokichoggio
A UN camp and airstrip was established in Lokichoggio at the start of the Sudan conflict. It is from there that all the projects in southern Sudan are serviced. It is in northern Kenya close to the Sudanese border. About 50 NGOs have offices there and a small town has grown up around the camp, which is virtually in the middle of no-where. Many flights leave for southern Sudan every day filled with supplies and relief personnel. There is a passport office at the airstrip for processing immigration papers for travellers into and out of Sudan.
Medair has a permanent team in Loki who focus on flight coordination and the logistic operations for our projects. Loki is about two hours by air from Nairobi and field personnel may spend a night or two there whilst in transit to or from south Sudan.
Medair has its own sleeping quarters, which comprise a small number of rooms within two wooden buildings. Toilet and shower blocks are part of the shared facilities. There is electricity and also running water - but no hot showers! No cooking facilities are available and so all meals are eaten at the UN camp mess. There is a social area at the mess where there is a large TV screen - popular for watching international football matches and the like!
Sudan
Sudan is vast! It is the largest country of Africa. If covers 8% of Africa’s surface. The Sudanese often describe their country as the whole of Africa in one Country. Sudan ranges from the desert in the north to the tropical forest in the south. The whole is bisected by one of the greatest rivers in the world, the Nile.
Sudan is also one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Africa, with nearly twenty major tribes and five times that many languages spoken. Sudan is a tale of two different countries, the Arabic and Islamic world in the north and the sub-Sahara Africa in the south.
At different times the north has represented the interest of Pharaoic Egypt, the civilization of Kush, and the Arab culture of Islam. The south has stood for its natural wealth of the continent and has provided many of the resources that allowed the North to prosper. For centuries this North-South tension has provided the motor for not only cultural exchange and trade, but also for exploitation and war, still overshadowing the scene in modern Sudan.
In 1898 The British captured huge parts of Sudan at the battle of Omdurman. From then on the country was ruled by an Anglo-Egyptian combination. But the true power was English. In 1956 the British and Egyptian flags were lowered for the last time and the Republic of Sudan was born. The capital is Khartoum, the capital of South Sudan is Juba.
From then till now the country has been suffering from mainly internal conflicts. Many of them between the north and the south, but also the recent Darfur crisis.
Whilst the crisis in Darfur still continues, a peace treaty has now been signed between the government and the SPLM/A rebels in the south. There is now some optimism in the south, but the west (Darfur) is still a huge issue. As a result of the long lasting conflict the infrastructure in the south is hardly existing and there are still around 3.5 million internally displaced people and close to 600.000 refugees.
Climate
Sudan is a tropical country with a climate roughly divided in a rainy and a dry season. But given its size, the climate also depends on the location in Sudan. Countrywide temperatures average around 30 degrees, but rise and fall with rains. Khartoum is at its hottest in July with temperatures rising to 45 degrees, Winter temperatures drop. The South is more consistently hot throughout the year.
The People
There are 19 major ethnic groups in Sudan. Dived into over 500 subgroups and speaking over a 100 languages. Sudan’s official language is Arabic. The peace deal with the SPLM/A may finally lead to the recognition of English as a second official language. The most widely spoken local languages are Dinka, Beja and Nubian.