SOUTH SUDAN DIARY

'what makes me happy' Filming trip: 2nd March - 20th March 2008

Camera: Angus Macfadyen
Sound: Nigel Batting
Producer: Annie Gibbs

Saturday March 1st.

Well I have almost completed packing. I have one small bag with just a few clothes and another full of camping equipment, insect repellent, cutlery and plates, mosquito net, torches, sleeping bags…..assorted dry fruit for those moments and of course drinking containers and water purifying tablets. Then of course I have a bag full of things for the kids: toys, cards, paper, pencils, felt tips, crayons. My hi 8 camera - just in case something happens to the High Definition camera and at least we'll have something to use….One more travel notification document…just in case I lose the other three…..one more customs declaration and may be a few spares…just in case…...It goes on and on….one precaution after another….one more thing we may just need…..one more piece of paper…one more document….one more final itinerary….

The test of all the pre-filming work is just around the corner….the test of travel and arrival. I hope I covered everything in the planning stage because now, today, it is nearly too late to remember something that should have been done. So I am almost purposefully trying not to think too hard!

It's a lovely day here in the Midlands…the sun is shining and it feels as if it's the first day of spring…strange to think that very soon my eyes will not be focussing on daffodils, cherry blossom, crocus and snowdrops….I am trying to sap up the cool air…I remember only too well the stifling heat of South Sudan.

Sunday March 2nd

Everything went according to plan and our travel to Nairobi was uneventful. We arrived at 10.30 p.m. meeting a wonderful customs agent who got us through and out of the airport in no time. The only problem was the 'no evening dinner' system at the hotel, but we feasted on peanuts, crisps and chocolate bars from the reception vending machine and went to bed tired and full, and excited, like children after a mid night feast.

Monday March 3rd

Can we have been here for only a day, it seems like a lifetime. Up and departure at 7.15 from Nairobi. We arrive at Juba, feel the heat, and go straight to the Save the Children offices for a de brief on safety. We then hurriedly organise a transfer of dollars to South Sudanese pounds, hard to know how much we will need, went to the local store and bought minimal provisions: rice, pasta, jam, tuna, cornflakes. Checked into Intra Africa hotel - a hotel with very basic accommodation, but positioned next to the Nile. So here we are having a drink, next to the Nile, watching the world go by and imagining how far the Nile travels - actually it is 4,180 miles long.

Strange to learn that the Sudanese do not like to accept small quantities of dollars, nor dollars printed prior to 2003. Not only strange but this makes my stash of money held onto so tightly around my stomach by a hot and uncomfortable money belt and in small denominations, a little obsolete. Also desperate to learn that no where, not even the hotel, will recognise my Barclaycard, or any credit card for that matter. Shattered and tired and about to travel with very little financial resource.

Tuesday March 4th

Up early to catch the morning chartered aircraft. First the wrong car - too small to fit the equipment in - next the right car, but the wrong people. Then a mislaid laptop to be collected from the Save the Children office. As I wait outside in the vehicle, for things to be sorted, I am amazed to watch a man in the street brushing his teeth when we arrive and still brushing his teeth when we leave, 30 minutes later. A dentist's dream. Eventually we get under way to the airport only to see the pilot coming in the opposite direction - he has got fed up with waiting. So…. Gathering beside the plane, re collecting the pilot…loading fridges, filing cabinets, boxes etc.,., to be re located to different Save the Children offices, and making our equipment seem quite miniscule in comparison, we board the plane and set sail. Within minutes I realize I have to go to the toilet and know this is impossible until landing…

However, I did muster the enthusiasm to look through the window as we passed over mile after mile of desert scrubland and then over marshland. The Nile floodplain.

We land on a run way and coast in towards the Save the Children compound in Leer. We meet Lual and Mary our hosts, guides, interpreters for the next couple of weeks I am relieved in more ways than one….we have now arrived and are closing in on our destination. This is the final haul. All we need now are some more provisions including water and diesel for the generator and petrol and a hire car to take us the final lap to Koch.

First the food and we head into Leer market, but this is no easy task….

We stock up on some more provisions and then wait….and wait….and wait, until finally I hear that there is a problem with our hire car i.e. it doesn't exist. After a couple of hours, however, and a lot of anxiety, a hire car and driver arrive.

So, At 4.30 that afternoon….we arrived at 9 o'clock….we set off for Koch - with a hire car that we have for only the journey…an alternative will be found for the following days. A very dusty drive with hostile interrogation from local militia from each village we pass through and 1.40 minutes later we arrive at the compound.

Angus, the cameraman, is first over the threshold….

We set up our tents. Please meet Mary, our interpreter and Stephen, our Guard, who start off as they mean to go on…by always being willing to lend a hand

Needless to say, its my tent…..and then extremely tired, I struggle into my 'what seemed so big in the lounge at home' - my oh so small two man tent, alongside my bags, the children's toys, torches, paperwork,etc etc.and sleep. I am awoken all through the night by fighting dogs, but I manage each time to return to sleep wondering what on earth is going on!

Wednesday 5th March

Up early to the sound of morning village atmosphere. The compound is situated near the water pump and you can hear, long before daylight, the ladies filling up their containers. Cattle mooing, goats grunting, babies crying etc., Those who have a radio, seem to have little regard for those who don't - or may be they're sharing….but you can hear the transistors giving the daily news bulletin. A sound that somehow doesn't fit the picture of a village deep in the heart of the Upper Nile in Sudan. I discover that the dogs are barking to scare away the wild animals and in particular Hyenas. Suddenly, I like the dogs barking.. We breakfast on cornflakes, long life milk, Sudanese bread and plum jam.

We think we have struck gold and that our main child artiste, as per the picture on the script, is the daughter of our cook, or so she thinks, so we are feeling ecstatic and know that if it is we have the co-operation of parents and a first location just across from our compound. But sadly it wasn't to be, her daughter is about 14 years old, ad not the child in the picture, but what was to be was James.

James looked at the picture on the script, recognised the child and led us to her. She is still tiny, young and perfect and with a wild beaming grin. Her name is Angelina.

Discussions with Angelina's family.

She in turn leads us to her friend to accompany her on the film, Rebecca. I decide it is always best to go with the child, if Rebecca is her best friend, then that will be fine by us. In fact Rebecca is perfect.

We gain another beaming smile from James when I ask him if he would like to be our assistant and learn about filming. He is ecstatic.

We now have an assistant and our two child stars. Just the boy and his calf to find. And guess what? James has the answer: his young cousin, James, hereinafter called Little James.

Big James, I might add, is the son of our cook and has not been an easy child. His father works away and he has taken on the role of head of the family. No one seems able to control him or help him. His mother is worried about him and he refuses to go to school or to mix with his peers. A bit of a lost cause. Just what I like. So…here is our TEAM including the guard, cook and interpreter.

After a brief rest we research the market and chose our location. The market, I might add, is not full of fresh or multiple produce. It seems to concentrate mostly on areas where men sit around deep in heavy discussion with each other, with one or two stalls selling clothes, shoes, rice and lentils. Not so much of a market, may be as a meeting place. However, the market people are happy to be involved in the film and we return to the compound.
I have invited the girls to the compound to see the films we have already made, to give them an idea of what is in store. Lots of children from the workshop last year turn up and we spend the afternoon watching the films, reading the story and storyboard and teaching the kids to play card games.

It is always so wonderful watching them enjoying the films and taking in the communities. And it never ceases to make me smile when they laugh at the old familiar jokes and I see the link between children around the world, thicken.

Angus, Nigel and James rig a tree shower, but I just wash in the basin.

They are all ecstatic about their success at rigging the shower and Angus is pleased that now we are all using his African fridge method of cooling the water. Wrap a damp cloth around the bottle, hang it in the tree and after evaporation it is cool and pleasant to drink. He rigs me one up with his sock. Don't worry it was clean. And he is right it makes a refreshing cool drink. Boys will be boys, but sometimes that's good.

Apparently its fish tonight for dinner. We had to take over the cooking as the cook's daughter was involved in an accident and has had a blackout.

Thursday 6th March

Up early and off to Angelina's home to shoot the opening sequence. It is really difficult when you don't speak the same language, but luckily Mary, the Save the children Koch representative has brilliant understanding and on the whole can interpret what I say. A shaky start, with specific positioning of calves, cows, mother, hen, chickens, goats, an inquisitive grandfather and of course the spectators….all frustrated television directors. But we are finally there and we all know what we're doing, James is the boom op and we have all the shots worked out.

Rebecca the second main character is poised ready for her bit and together the girls work brilliantly. A bit of a mix up with calves as Rebecca has Angelina's and vice a versa….but it works. Obviously there are a few tense moments but the shoot finally ends with the girls working happily and naturally. Another wonderful feeling when I realize that these kids have given their hearts to the project and want it to work as much as we do. As with the other countries, these children are a pleasure and honour to work with. They seem to automatically know what is required. Already their characters are beginning to show and transcend the cultural divide. We decide to return to camp and check the downloads and equipment before we do more. We look at some of the rushes as they go through camera and I am delighted.
Angus gives Big James his first lesson - folding the reflector….We agree to give James a lesson each evening with the camera or with the sound equipment, providing he works hard during the day.

I spot the biggest snake I have ever seen heading for my tent. "My tent" I shout and with that the snake is redirected and hides in the woodpile. I hope he doesn't come out tonight and head in the same direction. The rushes are looking good. We go and research grazing, tree climbing locations and Angus shoots some C/away wildlife shots.
We go to the market to celebrate with a cold coke…we talk with the locals and relax.

Village life is extremely hard, there is no running water and water is fetched continually throughout the day from one or two wells. Many of the women walk miles to get their water, carrying huge heavy barrels on their heads. There is very little food and the staple diet is rice, lentils and bread. Men can marry more than one wife, so any lack of perfection and you are quickly replaced, by a younger, better version. Obviously their topic of discussion at the market. People 'exist' here, many, women in particular, hide a sad and unhappy life. However, it is the women who spread the happiness. They rush to greet us with the local dialect and fall about laughing at our response. They smile continuously and love to hold and touch you. Periodically throughout the day they come into the compound just to visit and say hello. Is it just me, or do women everywhere share a common bond. I certainly feel very close and I feel this is reciprocated.

We return to our 'home' and discover we have lost all our rushes….a camera technical fault I think they call it. The cameraman is devastated…but I reckon it will be the least of our problems on this shoot and we will re shoot tomorrow. C'est la Vie.
Dream of snakes….

Friday 7th March

Woke early after the most terrible nights sleep with dogs barking versus Hyenas. It seemed to be never ending and sounded as if it was outside my tent. However, we have decided to re shoot at 7.00. Today, again, everything goes to plan. May be we were all little jaded, but girls and calves were up to scratch. Angelina doubles as 'stills photographer'.

Back for food at 12.30 and then on to research the Fishing and Cattle Camp and shoot a little bit of wildlife on the way.
The heat is intensive 100 degrees and humid. Every move we make is exhausting and filming is certainly a challenge.

Its so very hot and very humid and you begin to feel tired and down. I think the re-shoot has had an effect. May be an early night will do the trick. The mattress sticks to your body and the pillow doesn't seem to do the job. Hard to imagine we have another two weeks here. What will I look like? Well without a mirror, I will never know.

Saturday 8th March

First thing and its down to the market. The biggest problem is keeping the calves under control. We start successfully. The girls are in their normal happy mood. The market and stallholders are obliging but sadly the calves are not. Little James loses his by the 2nd take and we see it disappear into the distance. We exchange it with a 'double' the same colour calf and hope no one will notice. This calf doesn't want to stay either and we form an entrapment circle near the camera with the group of children and the sound man's cable. We manage to take the shot and are just about to proceed to the opening and closing of this particular sequence when Angelina's brother says the calves have to go….why? We are not in a position to ask…they must go to graze he says, and now. He seems to be a young man with a lot to prove. But….
There is a willing stand-in……..

We abandon the shoot and return to the compound. It is too early to stop filming for the day, so we prepare for a grazing shoot that afternoon. We relax in the heat of the day and prepare at 3 to go. No one turns up. No goats, no kids. Just Big James our film trainee, with his abundance of mobiles. It seems once you let kids, or calves go, it is impossible to get them back. We abandon the day.

Sunday 9th March

A new hot day. So we're up early and off to the roadside fishing

Fishing sequence completes with little hiccup except the extreme temperature. But at least we just have children and heat, no animals. The fishermen are friendly and enjoy a joke or two…even if we or they don't understand and the laughing shots are easy to get.

Monday 10th March

Today we shoot the cattle bank so its up early and hopefully off. But first we have to gather everyone together, so we never leave when we plan. But at last, and not too late we set off. We arranged to film the cattle bank previously with the leader, but he told us by 10 he would have to start sending the cattle out to graze so time is short. When we get there we discover they are already releasing the cattle and half of them have gone. Why? There was a fight last night with the neighbouring camp and the police and army are moving them on. They are no longer interested in us. After a quick re think I change the storyline and we head through with only limited shots. We are hot and it was a nightmare and tempers are short

Within a short time, there is no sign of a cow let a lone a camp and we depart. However well you feel you have organised the shoot, there is always something that you just cannot have anticipated. Heading homeward we shoot some roadside travelling shots and then re interrupt the fishermen for one more shot of departure from them. We arrive home extremely tired and my stomach feels the worse for wear. I am sad about the lost sequences at the cattle bank.

Dog v, hyenna is apparently 9 to hyenas but I don't hear it.

Tuesday 11th March

Pick ups at the market. Little James is heading towards the market + calf. The girls are arriving with theirs. Then suddenly we lose James…he has lost his calf… again we are stuck. The calf has disappeared today, before we even start filming. The market traders are unimpressed. Eventually we all gather and again tempers are short. Well what do you expect with the extreme heat conditions, children, animals and market traders. I really must remember not to write any more stories with calves. Didn't I realize they would be hard to control. No. We are losing plus points, but we complete this sequence and head for camp.

I teach the children happy families - quite a feat in itself in another language - but they get it and enjoy it.

They have to leave to help their mothers but they will be back.
The sun is high and hot….I am beginning to get fed up with sweating and drinking water.
And as if this wasn't enough, we now sit around a fire burning cow dung….Stephen in his spare time is a blacksmith and Nigel has commissioned him to make a spear!

There is dust and sand everywhere. In my tent, in my toes, my hair and my laptop. And there are ants…..even in my laptop. The plum jam jar is full of them. More ants than Jam and my laptop is not too happy either. We still have a week to go and sometimes I just wonder whether we will get it done and if the agro of getting everyone together and performing together is beginning to get too much. Today I wonder why I do this job.

A mini dust tornado takes Nigel's pants of the line. It makes me laugh. I love this job.

Wednesday 12th March

A late start to accommodate milking, so we are now told. Angelina's brother is beginning to cause problems re the calf and we have agreed to start late. I am refusing to offer him money as I think this will be something that could then get out of control. Shoot across lunchtime but the heat is extreme and patience and tolerance low, spectators high…..they are, however, brilliantly behaved, but sometimes rather overpowering. They all want to look through the camera, or listen on the headphones. These are young people, remember, who have never seen a moving picture…no television, no cinemas, just the occasional radio. So this is certainly an event to be watched.

When we return to camp, I wash my hair. The shampoo bottle is so hot I can hardly hold it even the shampoo itself is up to boiling temperature. Everything is covered with dust and I am still wondering if we will ever get this film finished. I plan to shoot the coming home scene tomorrow with the hope that at least if we complete this I have a vague story. Not the one I had imagined but at least one with a beginning middle and end, as Anne would say. The children learn Connect 4 and take it home to play tonight. They are nothing but a joy and are as happy as anything….except when we lose the calves. The calves are becoming a problem. They run off the moment they are un tethered. Sometimes we have to grab an alternative calf and hope no one can spot the difference.

The heat and dust are stifling and it is only at around 4 in the morning that we have a couple of hours of cool. No one is hungry…the crew have brought treats and today Angus produces a chocolate drink….it tastes sublime. I make mine last as long as possible by adding more water to it. The guys have been brilliant with the food they brought. We discuss our favourite treats. Mine is the chocolate drink, Angus' the parmesan cheese, which can be sprinkled on anything to change the taste and Nigel's best luxury was the porticini mushrooms, when dropped into the rice make a mushroom risotto. Funny how life becomes so small and narrow here.

Tonight, Dogs score 8 v hyenna only level 1 last night. We saw a half eaten cow out in the pasture land during the day so may be that was why they were so quiet.

Thursday 13th March

We shoot the closing sequence and it works brilliantly and film some searching for calves shots. We're all tired. You can only work minimal hours. Nigel's cuppa soup this evening tastes delicious. There's only so much rice and lentils you can eat even with the parmesan and mushrooms.

Friday 14th March

We shoot the dawn sequence and road shots. The calves are a problem….why hadn't I realized that they would be. How stupid. I become buffalo Annie and learn a new skill of calf wrangling.

Saturday 15th March

Tonight we are able to film the night sequence. It works, I think, brilliantly. Other than being pursued by huge black ants which run up your leg towards your privates - goodness knows what they do when they get there - the shoot has been a success. Our guards, armed with spears, have a redundant night. The mosquitoes have a huge fight with our factor a million insect repellent. The kids do their job happily and with no complaint. Little James has spent hours between the branches without a moan.

When I return to the compound it is dark and as I look across the area I see many other fires burning. Each fire replicates this picture that I am standing in, a family together, eating, drinking, but most importantly talking. A family with little materialism, with little food and may be with little hope, but with a togetherness, with a sprit and most of all a family unity which sadly I believe most of us have lost. Here in Koch I see a picture gallery of familiarity, of pride, of belonging, of community, of friendship, of caring, that makes me re think our life of madness.

Sunday 16th March

Nearly finished. Complete the hide and seek sequence successfully and a couple of pickups. Little James is beginning to get the hang of sound recording

The girls diligently colour in the storyboard. Each sequence we complete is coloured with such an array of colours, striped calves, multi coloured children.

We all just fit together now, like the storyboard itself. We are all at ease. But where is Big James?

Monday 17th March

Bad nights sleep. Dogs 10 v Hyenas 10. Film a short sequence, but everyone is tired and consumed with the thoughts of going home. Sadly we discover that Big James is at the police station for 'stealing mobile phones'. All three of us feel despondent and failures. He had been doing so well, and was by all accounts a 'changed chap'. Optimistically I feel that at least we planted a seed and that hopefully at sometime, he may benefit. But we're sorry and disappointed with the news.

Today we are presented with a goat for our 'stews' from David Gatkek the Secretary of Koch.

We plan lunch and a dinner in the evening. The evening is pretty successful. Everyone enjoys playing the games I brought - particularly Connect 4 and we retire to bed excited with the thought that our homeward journey starts tomorrow. We have spent two weeks with dust and dirt, ants by the million, not all of them heading to the same place, snakes, scorpions, limited food, hot stifling tents, exhausting filming, intriguing villagers, brilliant kids, confusing and conflicting opinions, but tonight I lay down and think of our journey home.

Tuesday 18th March

The journey to Leer takes only 1hour 40 minutes. Such a short time to pick up the beginning of civilization. We take with us the driver's niece who is heading back to live with her mother in Leer after 3 years in Koch with her Aunt, because her mother has now had a new baby and needs her help. I am told that in Sudan children are for everyone not just for you and when someone needs extra help the children are the first to be sent to relieve the burden. I look at this child no older than 13 years and wonder what she is feeling as she heads back home. Is she excited or sad to leave her recent life. There is no one to interpret and no one who seems interested. I can't help wondering how our children would manage with this lifestyle: to be dispensable, but at the same time necessary, to be versatile but at the same time steadfast, to have feelings, but at the same time to be strong.

I have to pitch my tent for one last time…hooray. I can get onto the internet and pick up communication, but only when the generator is back up and working. Semi civilization. I sleep well. There are no dogs and no hyenas.

Wednesday 19th March

Eventually by early afternoon the plane arrives to take us to Juba. The waiting seemed endless, the heat seemed more extreme, the drinks less satisfying and the flies more prominent. It is a huge transporter-type plane and has delivered a 4 wheel vehicle to the Save the Children Compound.

We fly to various points to collect Save the Children personnel heading off for their Easter holidays and eventually land in Juba. My desire for a shower has become almost ridiculous.
We head to the hotel and have a drink, so as to quench our thirst prior to the luxury of our cold water shower. I practically cannot contain myself with excitement and enter the room and start to prepare clean clothes. Now…at last….the shower. But this was not to be, the shower in my room was broken and I had to re dress and find someone to relocate me to a room with a shower. When I say shower, it is just one or two trickles of cold water, but after so many days without a proper wash it was heaven. Early to bed and full of excitement for our journey onward and homeward tomorrow.

Thursday 20th March

Just one scare at the airport when they said our tickets hadn't been confirmed, but we manage to sort the problem, and navigate our way through customs. Now for Nairobi. At Nairobi we have a 9 hour wait, but manage to leave the airport and drive into Nairobi for a celebration dinner/drink. We are all exhausted, but food and the most delicious milkshake gets us back on our feet. We re check in and before we know it are snoozing on the plane travelling overnight towards Heathrow.

Friday 21st March

Touch down at 6.00 a.m. We've made it. And the three of us are still talking. How did the trip go for Nigel and Angus I wonder…. I hope they benefited from it as I did. A memory that will never be forgotten, a crew who worked together for the same end. Three people who not long ago didn't know anything about each other, and even now, only know each other in Koch. I wont worry about the necessary following paperwork, the edit, my expenses, until tomorrow. Today is to be enjoyed: a bath, a meal, family and relatives and best of all a BED!

Annie Gibbs