It is almost a year since the first NGO set up an office in Pader Town. Their office was a shipping container. Since then some things haven't changed much. The shipping container is still the NGO's office. Fuel is still pumped by hand. We still don't have electricity. Public transport in and out of Pader is still limited to perching precariously on the side of pick up or truck that has had as many lives as a cat. The roads are still riddled with enormous pot holes. I still can't get chocolate; the sale of Mars bars at the 'supermarket' was short lived.
But a lot else has changed in Pader. In the last 6-9 months there has been an influx of NGOs and what was once an IDP camp and very small trading centre is now growing into a small town. The restaurants are improving and the diversifying. I can get chicken and chips in one place, breakfast in another (if you like liver and potatoes for breakfast that is). Roadside stalls are appearing with pineapples, avocados, tomatoes, oranges and onions. Shops are popping up selling more than the local bare necessities of sodas, beer, cigarettes, soap, candles and glucose biscuits. The fascias of some buildings are being clad in white tiles or painted. Pigs are wallowing in the mud and puddles alongside ducks. Chickens and goats are wandering to and fro.
And I'm convinced the place feels more vibrant than it did a few months ago, though maybe that's just because I've settled in. With the exception of the noise from the discos and video halls, I will miss this place when I leave...
But a lot else has changed in Pader. In the last 6-9 months there has been an influx of NGOs and what was once an IDP camp and very small trading centre is now growing into a small town. The restaurants are improving and the diversifying. I can get chicken and chips in one place, breakfast in another (if you like liver and potatoes for breakfast that is). Roadside stalls are appearing with pineapples, avocados, tomatoes, oranges and onions. Shops are popping up selling more than the local bare necessities of sodas, beer, cigarettes, soap, candles and glucose biscuits. The fascias of some buildings are being clad in white tiles or painted. Pigs are wallowing in the mud and puddles alongside ducks. Chickens and goats are wandering to and fro.
And I'm convinced the place feels more vibrant than it did a few months ago, though maybe that's just because I've settled in. With the exception of the noise from the discos and video halls, I will miss this place when I leave...
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