Losing your home

I know I do a lot of complaining on this blog about my life and my frustrations.  But, something is happening all around me that puts my own woes into perspective.

As the city of Juba is being bulldozed, the MSI Compound doesn't escape the bulldozers.

Lately, Juba has been undergoing an interesting transformation.  Stalls, shacks and other “eyesores” are being torn down all over the city.  I don’t really know why — I haven’t heard that there is some sort of edict, but groups of police (or army?) are running all over town and marking structures for demolition.  I noticed this when I returned from a recent business trip.  The tired little road leading to my office and residence just seemed… I don’t know… wider for some reason. My own colleagues had to point out it was because the little homes and businesses were just gone.  In fact, we noticed a big X on a section of our compound wall that was slated to be torn down.

Temporary Wall at MSI Compound

While just another inconvenience in living in this city, it had real repercussions for the boy that we hired to clean our office.  His living space was entirely gone when he returned one night.  He’s told me that he managed to pitch a tent elsewhere so at least he has someplace to sleep.  But, he has admitted that it will be a problem when the rains begin (in the not too distant future).

What amazes me is his attitude about the whole thing.  His only real response was a simple shrug of the shoulders and a brave smile.  “What can you do?  It’s just life.” he said.  Unbelievable. I have such a range of emotional response, I just don’t even know how to feel.  This poor kid has been beat down so many times (I expect) and probably has had to move numerous times in his life that this is just another thing that life has hurled at him.

I really don’t know what else to say — I’m not sure that I have entirely processed this event yet. But, I didn’t want this to pass without recognizing that this happened.