Smooth seas never made a skillful sailor- Humanitarian diaries Part 1

On the road to Gumuruk

Reading time- 3 minutes

As we set out to embark on what would ideally be a routine twice or thrice weekly visit on alternate days to the clinic, I stood stalk still for a minute and stared at the condition of the road and said to myself, "wow, we`re really doing this aren`t we". This would be the first of my visits to Gumuruk village having had previous visits already to Lekuangole village on the other side, North- west of Pibor, one of our 2 clinic locations which had at that time better road conditions before the rains came allowing us to travel there and set up first as we waited for the condition of the Gumuruk road to become better. I had of course received various briefings, several of them in fact on what to expect and some "tips and tricks up one`s sleeve" on how to navigate certain circumstances that humanitarian aid workers often find themselves in when out in the field (discussion for another day). 

Gumuruk village in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) lies about 20km South- west of Pibor, the county capital in Jonglei State, north- east of Juba, South Sudan with a population that is quite difficult to estimate due to the high levels of mobility of the populations and the community displacements that often occur following various factors such as inter- communal violence, heavy rains with flooding, etc. Estimates are are around 49 thousand residents. Under normal circumstances, driving 20km on asphalt, tarmac or dry gravel road takes about 10- 15 minutes give or take, but not ours. This would turn out to be a 3 hour drive, with the driver skillfully navigating the 4 wheel- drive Landcruiser through terrain most would only imagine in their wildest dreams. It is only now, looking retrospectively back in time that one can laugh or smile, full of nostalgia and say to oneself "I was there", "I done did job". The drive is long, bumpy, intense, and the journey unpredictable for if fortunes are not on your side, perhaps today would be your turn to have your car stopped along the way by weapon yielding highway roadmen to relieve you of your money, phones, gadgets and personal belongings, which of course would be the best case scenario compared to others we would hear of through the regular security briefings of injuries sustained during such encounters. 

Aid work can be quite a dangerous occupation, exposing relief workers to a myriad of hazards including, but not limited to violence (both intentional and unintentional), traffic accidents, disease and stress. There is indeed a need to weigh up the risks in aid work for anyone intending on taking it up albeit as a volunteer or a career option. Humanitarian disasters are often a result of conflict, although Global climate change is increasingly resulting in various types of hazards across the globe which are causing devastating effects that reduce the ability of communities to cope with their own resources thereby needing external support in the form of humanitarian aid. The call for our response to the Humanitarian crisis in Pibor was a result of the 2020 flooding in the region, the worst of its kind to have occurred, which resulted in huge community displacements, disruption of healthcare services and was followed by a massive drought, and severe malnutrition in children, and as if that wasn`t enough there were intermittent episodes of inter- community violence taking place resulting in deaths, injuries, abduction of children and women as well as cattle raids and destruction of property and infrastructure. Our response was multi- sectoral, aimed primarily at provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services, setting up a Nutrition stabilization centre, and a Health component as well, which meant setting up and running a couple of clinics to initially provide basic Primary health care  services to the communities in and around Gumuruk and Lekuangole, and then switch it up to add modules of maternal & child health services including normal deliveries and Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) services within the next couple of weeks.  

I have gone through several interviews on either side of the table, plenty of times on the hot seat myself as an applicant, and other times as one of the members of a recruiting panel to look for applicants fit for purpose. An interestingly common question, and suitably so that you will most likely come across during interviews for such types of work (and many others) is "tell us about your ability to work as part of a team" or when rephrased as a competency based question: "tell us about a situation in the past in which you worked in a team", with potential follow up questions such as "What was your role in the team? What was the situation, and the result of you having to work as a team?". The peculiarity of competency based interviews (CBI) is that they work on the principle that past behaviors are the best predictors of future performance. 

When the time comes to either push- start a vehicle that has stalled, or pull a tow- winch to the nearest tree you will quickly realize the importance of teamwork, especially out in the field where your workmates and colleagues become family. As the journey progressed, the bushes got thicker, and the mud got deeper, we found ourselves having to utilize all the team-work skills we had in order to get ourselves out of various sticky situations we went through. During the rainy season the roads are impassable by vehicle, swampy at best, but otherwise completely submerged under water, the vast vegetation and sea weeds that quickly form hinder ability to navigate the Pibor- Gumuruk route by boat as is the alternative for Lekuangole which has a river that can be used for transportation. Under such conditions the link between Gumuruk and Pibor is exclusively via rotter wing (chopper) which takes only 6 minutes between the 2 points. 

Navigating the muddy road to Gumuruk is not easy, is filled with fear of the unknown, you never know what to expect or what you will come across on any given day, some days are uneventful and smooth, while others are full of surprises and opportunities to teach you skills that will mold you into a better, well- equipped, more resilient aid worker. "Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle"- Napoleon Hill. 

It is a tough ride to ride, but a worthwhile one to go through for smooth seas never made a skillful sailor! 

Author. Dr Phanuel Tawanda Gwinji