I’ll be visiting project with the UN agency International Organization for Migration (IOM), which helps Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who are returning to the Aweil area of the Northern Barh el Ghazal state in Southern Sudan. More on this later.

Marabou Storks in tree

I arrive in their compound after the 45-minute drive past villages brimming to over capacity with IDP returnees. In the IOM compound, I am introduced to Myriam the adopted marabou stork (rolkubiong in Dinka language) that fell out of its nest when is was only days old. It has since grown and is now quite large standing at about at almost one metre.

Myriam, the adpoted marabou stork

She eats kitchen scraps and drinks about a half litre of water a day. Soon she is expected to fly. She might need a bit more stretching though.

Today, I begin the visits to IOM projects in the region and will add material as I get some and as internet access allows. You may have noticed that I lag behind schedule with my posts. I don’t always have time to keep up on a daily basis but I insert backdated posts so you may want to look back to read posts that may appear after the most recent one…