Learning to Share

Communal living on the field is a blessing and a curse. The greatest thing about living with five other people is that there is always someone around to chat with or to watch a movie with. As I continue my cooking adventure there is always someone that will eat my culinary delights and tell me that it's good no matter what. Life here is so intense and like no where else in the world that it's great to be around a group of people that understand it and can sympathise with your frustrations. Friendships are formed so much faster due to the amount of time we spend together and reality that we live in. These guys out here have become a strong support group for me just because they listen to my ramblings of the good and bad days. We share almost everything. If one of us gets our hands on some good food then there has to be enough to go around or the excitement of your find is just not as good.

Then there are the negatives of this communal lifestyle. One of these has hit us hard this week. One of the guys was out in the field and got really sick to the point where the national staff forced him to come back to Nyala early. He returned with a fever of 103 and a nasty cough. But in the true spirit of sharing he gave it to the rest of us. Two others were in bed for the day yesterday and myself and one other guy are doing our best to fight it off. So we have rooted through our stash of meds to get everyone treated and stop the sharing. Being one of the healthier ones last night and being the only girl, I felt obligated to try and cook something up that sensitive digestive systems could handle. So I made a big pot of vegetable soup (from scratch - I'm pretty proud of myself) and made my rounds to offer it to the sick crew. It kind of made me smile as I went from one room to another waking people up, asking them how they were doing and letting them know that food was being served. I felt like I was a nurse in a hospital doing my rounds.

In true Darfur style everything stopped working all at once. The heat has gone back up to the high thirties which means that the power is very irregular. All the UN offices and guesthouses have AC so that puts a big stress on the Nyala power system that barely functions on the best of days. So the power continued to cut in and out all day which means that fans stop working until the guards figure out there is no power and saunter over to the generator to get it working. Then for reasons we never really known, the street water was cut off. So we have a crew of sick people with no flushing toilets or working showers. Then just when all you want is a cold bottle of water our fridge cuts out and we can't get it going again. It seems like one thing after another stopped working. It comes to a point where all you can do is laugh at this life we choose to live. So as a big happy family does when you are all sick we sit around and groan and moan and stare at each other because the power is out so the TV is off and no one really feels up to talking. Oh the life - no where else but Darfur.

But we are all slowly on the mend and we are trying to muster some energy because there is a party tonight to attend - the first one in two months. But I'm thankful it's the weekend and I can sleep in and be lazy for a couple of days.