Wednesday 27 July 2011

Life in an independent nation

Things are much as they were before we got all independent.  For some reason there are a lot more road blocks, which usually aren't too much of a problem if you don't look like a gun-runner.  It's worth not copying the example of someone I know who was sick out of one car door while the driver was questioned in another.  Some other friends also got stopped by a policeman, who asked them why they were laughing as they drove, apparently an unpardonable offence.

Huge progress was made on the international airport in the weeks before independence day, but this appeared to stop on independence morning and presumably the airport will now be half finished for the next 20 years.  There are solar powered street lights which oddly enough do actually get light after dark and not just while they are being powered by the sun.

We have a new stock of bank notes emblazoned with the face of emancipation hero John Garang and traditional South Sudanese scenes.  If you're wondering where in South Sudan you can see a lion lying before a magnificent waterfall, just take a look at the new 100 pound note.  There is also a 25 pound note, which I am predicting will lead to all manner of confusion.  Estranged sibling (North) Sudan is also issuing new banknotes, leading to all and sundry scrambling to rid themselves of old Sudanese pounds which will soon be about as useful as an electric blanket in a Juba guesthouse.  This is called the Currency War and so far has been a lot more civilised than the Civil War.

No comments:

Post a Comment