Sunday afternoon in Juba, southern Sudan

Two of the many extremes in Juba – mounds of garbage in the street that pile up around burned out abandoned cars, and a foreigner drinking imported beers by the Nile.

The foreigners largely move about cocooned in their air conditioned SUV’s while most of the locals move about on foot, choking on the dust kicked up by the people sent to help them. The people we speak to who’ve been here a year or two (most from African Union countries) all agree there have been lots of positive improvements – roads are being put in, hospitals built, etc. but all admit there is a long way to go yet. Lots and lots of tents occupied by people displaced by the war, abject poverty all about. Yet the market is bustling, many people are moving about with purpose and the new Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) is getting itself organized.