Southern Sudan, Rumbek preliminary

Please click on the images to see it in a larger size

Introduction: a torn country
The largest country in the African continent, the Sudan, lies at the crossroad of two cultures and two world continents. The land owes its name to the Arabic invaders, who wrote about it as Bilad es Sudan, ‘The Lands of the Blacks’. The Arabs, who penetrated the land in the seventh century, brought in the Islam and chased away Christianity, discovering many ethnical groups. All those different cultures and races have mixed throughout the ages. Sudan has become a miniature model of both African and Arabic people. Enough reasons for tension and contradiction.

Rumbek Demography
Estimates based on different reports, indicate that Rumbek county is home to 352,000 people, 60% of whom are from the Dinka Agar ethnic group, 30% from the Dinka Gok and 10% from the Jur-Bel, Bongo and Nuer groups. These numbers are just indicators, because many IDP’s are heading for Rumbek in the near future. An estimate of 2 million IDP’s will be returning from the North (Khartoum region, where they now live in very poor conditions) to Southern Sudan.

Rumbek County lies in the western flood plains agro-ecological zone that spans most of Bahr el Ghazal region. The plains are prone to seasonal flooding during the April to September rainy season, with the lowest-lying areas (toics) usually flooded by river water for up to four months of the year. Flooding is particularly severe in several low-lying areas of Rumbek.

Economy
With fertile black clay soils, Rumbek's dominant production system is agro-pastoralism. Although crops are of primary importance, livestock forms the main source of (cash) income for most of the inhabitants of Rumbek. Seasonal livestock movements in search of pasture and water largely determine settlement and production systems. Looting and inter-tribal clashes have, however, depleted cattle stock. [WFP, Annual Needs Assessment 2002/2003 Rumbek and Cueibet Counties, 2002]

The more you advance to the South from mid-Sudan, the more arises a general interest in education en learning of skills. This does not mean that the people spend less time on cattle, but they see other activities as a supplement to the income generated by cattle herding. For a matter of fact, don’t think these people are poor. They may live in a small hut and barely wear decent clothing, but they may be part of a ‘grand-family’ which owns sometimes thousands of pieces of cattle - cows, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs. A goat or sheep costs up to 20-40 $ and a cow 4 to 6 times as much (140-240$)

Social-cultural
The Dinka are cattle-owners, and their semi-nomadic migrations between the swamps and watercourses in winter and their cultivations at the edge of the plateau in summer are very much like those of the Nilotes of the Southern Clay Plains. However, their life generally differs because the area available for cultivation is very much larger, and because the collection of wild forest products –honey, beeswax, shea butter nuts- is open to them. The distribution of other tribes in this area has been much affected by administrative policy, since the need for sleeping sickness control has meant that the people have been encouraged to live beside the roads and in other accessible areas, while the extreme west and north are quite empty. [Barbour, K. M, 1961, The republic of the Sudan, a regional geography, University of London press ltd]

Nowadays the civil war has left deep scars into the lives of the Southerners. It is now a part of their lives, which is why they choose to think forward and try to keep a situation of peace. The Southern Sudanese learned that the war only worsened the previous underdevelopment. This is why the politic world decided to separate South from North, so the South can start with its own development.

Technology
In the whole of Southern Sudan there is a lack of technology: traditions overrule industrial development. There is very little influence from western cultures in certain areas. A reason why traditions still overrule. Nowadays more and more examples from the West are seen, because of the intervention of the western relief agencies and NGO’s.

The Tukul
The traditional South Sudanese house is the Tukul. Most widespread is the Tukul with a circular footprint, but sometimes rectangular shapes appear as well. The height of the wall corresponds with the height of the entrance, it forces one to bend over before one can enter. The conical roofing is covered with grass, resting on branches or bamboo. Also a combination of grass and tin sheets (from relief food cans) is seen. Mostly Tukul walls have a low ramp on the outside to protect against the water. In the rainy season often an extra layer of soil is worked around the house to protect the Tukul walls from soaking and deteriorating.

Families construct their own Tukul. Depending on the area, materials can either be found in the vicinity or need to be transported, which is usually quite a problem. In the IDP camp I visited my guide explained grass had to be transported over a 25 km distance, by foot. Walls and floor are made from the clayish soil, just found on the premise. The walls consist of small wooden pillars, an interweaving of branches and are filled in with loam. Cement is rarely used, because of the cost.

Typical furniture consists of 2 beds (one for parents and the other for sometimes 4 to 5 children), a table for storage of cooking cans, a low cabinet and some plastic or metal chairs. Its function is merely cover for sun / rain and sleeping. Cooking is done outside. There is no electricity or sanitation in the Tukul. Sanitation, when available, is located in small size Tukul’s (for toilet). For showering people have variety of “solutions”, mostly they find privacy behind a (not very high) wall.

There is good and bad news about Tukul’s. The good news is they look quite nice, often have very artistic paintings on the outside wall and offer very good protection against sunshine (a lot available in the area), wind and rain. The Tukul’s I visited were all very well kept by their proud owners and had a very good in-door climate. Although inner space is limited the Tukul seems to be used very efficient and does not call for claustrophobic feelings. Life style factors include extensive use of the yard surrounding the Tukul for most day-time activities. For SHF, as a habitat organisation focussing to adopt as much as possible the local qualities, the Tukul is certainly a design that needs special attention for possible future developments in Sudan. So far the good news.


The bad news is mainly concentrated around maintenance, which the Tukul needs a lot;

Walls:
Loam is easily washed away by the rain. In the rainy season (8 to 9 months; normally the rainy season starts before or in May and will stop in November) people renovate (plaster) once a month the outside of the wall. In the rainy season very often the Tukul is flooding, causing the walls to soak and weaken. With proper management (and a lot of renovation work) the walls can stand for 10 to 20 years.

Roof:
Depending on the technique and quantity of grass used the roof needs to be entirely replaced every 7 to 24 months. The grass decays long time before inhabitants decide on renewing the roof, resulting in unhealthy situations.
Termites:
Walls, roof, wooden doors and windows are all subject to termite attacks. There is no system for protection that people could afford or stay healthy with.

Suggestions for facts to be discovered:
Southern Sudan, Rumbek:

· Type of Disaster/Conflict: Post civil war
· # of Homeless / displaced: ??
· Possible siting conditions: ?? – Let’s make this point more detailed
· Building traditions and preferences: – Make this point more detailed? (see Tukul)
· Materials Present: Loam, wood (scarce in Rumbek), Bamboo, grass, rocks, possibility to
import small quantities of steel and cement.
· Industries and Crafts: not present!
· Specific needs: water, sanitation, education, food (production shortage), protection from
water floodings, etc So basically everything

!Misc: What else should be investigated?

For instance:
- Find out which form language is accepted;
- Find out which techniques to build are common and which techniques would be easily
adapted by local builders;
- Find out which materials are commonly accepted and which materials are wished for;
- What is the price of a house (Tukul) in terms of labour and materials?;
- How is a traditional urban site developed?;
- For EACH material: distance to get it, possible local production set up and recycling possibilities, also from waste materials?;
- How many Tukuls are (self help) built within a certain period?;
- What do NGO’s contribute to the building activities yet?;
- What about livelihood and resources? Where do people get clothes, products for sanitation and what form of entertainment is there?;
- How to become a user of electra, gas, gasoline, water. Index travel distances and cost in present situation;
- Who decides on the placing of the houses, ground rights and laws.


Please comment by clicking the comment link underneath, or make a new post.

Willem