You have gained

I heard this again this morning when we visited Eva who is our contact for the compound we rent in Yambio. It's a compliment here, indicating healthiness, and as the words are uttered, hands gesticulate a heavyset frame. I guess the 2018 Liberian fast food diet has paid off in South Sudanese terms but not British. I could do some intensive yoga when I get home or I could just ignore it as Rosetta also said this morning that Ivan was gaining, when in fact he's lost ten kilos since January. I have actually gained a lot from South Sudan. Not nutritionally, but professionally and personally.

I said some goodbyes to Yambio, not knowing if I'll be able to come back. It won't be long after I get back to the office that I'll be on a plane to Mozambique for a few weeks, trying to straighten out some issues with our NGO registration and bank accounts. At this stage I don't know how embroiled I'll be getting in the Mozambique programme going forward.

There is always a long, languorous wait on the Yambio airstrip as the World Food Programme air service insists on a check-in much earlier than the tiny operation warrants. Ivan and I took the opportunity for a chai, covering final issues until I catch him in the UK in a few weeks. Bennett, our key counterpart in the Wildlife Service, has sadly not been around on this trip as he has had a run of terrible luck over the last six months (burglary, falling from the roof of a tukul and breaking his wrist, and finally a bad knee injury that is preventing him from walking) and is currently in a town called Ibba a couple of hours away. Against all good advice he's consulting a traditional witchdoctor, believing his ill luck has been caused by someone, when mainly it's because he's just clumsy. The main cell phone company Vivacell was forced to shut down for political reasons so not only does this leave some state capitals with no functioning mobile network, it means we can't contact Bennett to check his condition. Ivan and I drove to his compound where Alice, one of his wives, and others were despairing at the silence from Ibba.

In Juba I had to whizz around sorting out compound matters before working late preparing for an important meeting in the morning. There was time for a couple of ginger ales next door, which was a welcome break.