Over the course of the last week if you have asked a Sudanese his plans for Christmas, he will tell you and then add that Christmas won't really come until 9th January. This is the day he's been waiting for, the day of the referendum to determine the country's future when he can tell the North where to stick it.
There are huge question marks over whether the Government of South Sudan will be capable of running a country the size of France with little money or infrastructure in place, but it is a question of ideology and not pragmatism in the mind of the voter.
Christmas for us expats has involved the usual over-eating and over-drinking in an unusually hot background. Turkey was forbidden at our work xmas dinner due to the proliferation of Ethiopians, who traditionally won't touch it. Luckily my friends from another organisation tracked down a monstrous bird that could supply our emergency nutrition programmes for the next month on its own, so all was well.
Also good news is that the lady who works at my compound has taken to bringing me fresh coffee, cinnamon tea and spicy goat stew whenever she sees me, much to the teeth-gnashing chagrin of my undernourished colleagues. Merry Christmas indeed!
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