- From plus 45 degrees to zero degrees celsius. Getting back from Sudan to Amsterdam is not only a temperature shock, but also a cultural one. Life is so different here, that it takes a full three days to recover to some degree. Besides temperature, or maybe due to it, there is the fact that you stay inside the house most of the day. There is way less interaction - I hardly know who my neighbors are - than in an open society like in Mundri, where people don’t have windows or doors in their house, let alone locks to protect their possessions (which they don’t really have anyways). Another thing is the knowledge that i can go wherever in want to, that there are hardly any bounda…

- The visible traces of past Mundri go back to 1958, when the current health care center was build. This is the only group of buildings still standing and being in use, although parts of it are now abandoned, because there is a danger of collapsing. Apart from this health care center, there are plenty of destroyed schools, churches, and other left-overs to spot. Admirers of the so called urban decay will have a good time here. An American aid-worker, one of the few white people around, reveals that in the year 2000, when he first visited the area, there where only three tukuls (houses) in town. At that time, there were still bombings going on, and being the front line, Mundri was nothing…

- Passionate speeches, touching stories, encouraging phrases, loud singing, happy dancing, and a lot of laughter. The women of Southern Sudan – or New Sudan as they tend to say – are strong. I expected a high level of numbness after thirty years of war and oppression, but these women kick ass! Determined to be a vital part of the development of their country, they say what they think, and they do what they say. Hot issue today is the access to education for girls. The level of illiteracy, especially among women, is probably the highest in the world. If this does not change, how can there be any hope for a better future? One first sign of change for the better comes when the S…

- Location is the customs market in Juba. Bags on the roof, about fifteen people stuffed in the mutatu, a 4wd Daihatsu minivan. We, the whities, must sit in the front, no doubt about it. My wish to sit in one of the back rows, mixed with the locals, is firmly rejected. We are the guests, so we sit in the front. period. Later I am happy they were so straight about it. Fresh air by the mile, less bumping than in the back. Plus a good view on the road. It might sound surprising, one would think there's nothing to see in a hot, dusty, wildlife-poor, and monotonous landscape, but actually the road trip is entertaining enough for someone who's used to the concrete jungle of Amsterdam…

- It was Christmas 2006 when I got my first impression of Juba, Southern Sudan. A hot , dusty place where expats and UN-employees stay in tents in camps at the river Nile, and where the only form of entertainment is the consumption of alcohol, lots of alcohol. Because ‘this is the only way to survive in this godforesaken place’ I was told repeatedly by half drunk Americans and white Zimbabwians, who where here to find their fortune in a post war era. And, I must admit, one year later, fortunes have been made for sure. Private contractors and investors spent the billions of dollars for development of the region very well by building new roads - last year there was only one ta…

- Ever heard of the town of Mundri? I hadn't until two months ago. It turned out that Mundri is a town in war struck Southern Sudan, with about 10,000 inhabitants and located in what is considered as one of the poorest regions in the world. At this time of the year, it's very dry and hot in Mundri, and there's hardly anything to eat. Oddly enough, there should be an internet connection, which gives us the opportunity to report 'live' from the field. What is happening in this forgotten area? How do people survive? Is the influence of decades of war still noticeable? To what extent are the local people working on reaching the Millennium Development Goals, set up…