Around Nagishot

Here are some shots of Nagishot.

This is the school where I teach.
It's really nice, isn't it?

Main Street in Nagishot.

In the last few months, small dukas (stores) have started to spring up. History is being made. These are the very first businesses EVER in the Didinga Hills of Sudan!!!

Store Sign

A Nagishot Duka

Need a writing pen, small bottle of cooking oil, salt, soap or a really yucky piece of candy? They've got you covered.

The grinding mill.
A very loud and very popular Didinga hangout.

This was the church.
Sadly, it blew down during a windstorm.
We are currently meeting in the school and
will continue to do so until a second structure can be built.

The Clinic.

Nagishot is an interesting place.
In the fifties, before the war, the British military somehow discovered the temperate, beautiful Didinga mountains. They must have liked what they saw because they decided to settle there. For a couple of years, British soldiers retreated to the Didinga Hills for rest and relaxation.

When the war came, the British left Nagishot. However, there are still a number of buildings, in varying states of dilapidation, standing. An eerie reminder of the past.

And there you have it. The complete photo album of non-mud structures in Didinga.
Is Nagishot a modern, developed African village? Uhmm, not quite.
Is it worlds ahead of Napep? Yes, without a doubt.

Here a few other angles of Nagishot.

This is Major. He's not a Didinga, but during the war he somehow ended up in Nagishot. He is a tailor by trade, the only one our area. Most mornings, he sets up his sewing machine on the compound, just outside of our tented area.

Major is a sweetheart, my secret Didinga crush. With the smile of a school boy, he once gave me a bouquet of red onions. I think its safe to say that Major must have broken many African hearts by never marrying.

Cows, how can you not love cows!

"Modern" agriculture in Didinga.

Shortly after I took this photo, these boys (my students) asked me to take a turn behind the plow. Growing up watching, Little House on the Prairie, I jumped at the opportunity. It looks easy enough, but handling a plow is HARD work!