Woot! Woot!!

So, this one time, back in January, I had to travel up country to close out a project I’d been working on. I spent 4 nights in Kuajok, Warrap State and then learned that my flight back to Juba had been changed so, I took the opportunity to make the one-and-a-half-hour journey to my husband’s village in Mayen Abun, Twic State where I would stay for six nights.

The drive was nothing like the drive I remembered back in 2017 when I was full of regret for not wearing a sports bra because the road was so bumpy and “the girls” were feeling like they were going to fall off. No, this drive was smooth except for the usual suspects trying to get a little cash on the side from a kawaja. Some things don’t change.

The car was stopped twice and I was asked to get down and was questioned for being in the area. I told the men that I was visiting my family and that I didn’t have any money. Of course, they didn’t believe me and wanted more information so I used the little Monjieng (Dinka) I had to get by:

“Ana chol Maan Malou. Ting Acuil Mading Malou, pan Mayen Abun - pan Adiang. Weio aleu.”

"My name is Maan Malou. I'm the wife of Acuil Mading Malou. Mayen Abun is home, Adiang is home. No money."

Naturally, they thought it was impressive and funny at the same time that an African American woman would be found so far away from home and on a journey to visit “family”. But I was unphased and kept my spirits up in spite of the inconvenience. In fact, I kept laughing the rest of the drive because during the second stop, I was asked to get out of the car because I had a tattoo! When the driver told me that was the reason I was forced to get out of the car, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Anyway, once we finally reached Mayen Abun, we stopped in the market place for water and a relative to take us to Pokuač; because I had no way of know when to make the right turn to get to my brother-in-law: after the raised mound of dirt or before the thicket of thorny bushes. There are no roads with signposts in the village.

Anyway, after buying the water and a few other goods, I started back to the car and that’s when I saw her: an ostrich! Like a real live ostrich just strutting her stuff in the market place. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen ostriches before: in the San Francisco Zoo, in the Oakland Zoo, and in the San Diego Zoo. Coming from California, most of us usually see “wild” animals during a visit to the zoo. Seeing Orina - yes, I gave her a name and it means peace – seeing Orina was different!

This was a real live wild ostrich: struthio camelus (scientific name), the largest living birds in the world. She was young, tall and beautiful and I couldn’t help but wonder why and how she’d gotten to Mayen Abun. Usually ostriches travel in small “herds” of no more than 12 birds with one alpha male maintaining the group. She was all alone.

I wondered:

Did she leave the herd because the other chicks were jealous? Or did she know that she was a “lesser hen” and could get more attention from a wandering male instead of the alpha male? Was she like me, on her way to see her family? Or did she stray away because the marketplace was popping and bustling and she simply wanted a change of atmosphere? Was she fed up with the ostrich life and just decided to see if she could make it on her own around the humans? Because it has been documented that ostriches, both female AND male solicited sex more than twice as often when humans were nearby. Also, “70% of ostriches reliably hit on humans when they were around” so, was she looking for a MAN? Woot! Woot!! I really did have a lot of questions for Orina and found myself wishing that we could have a proper conversation so that I could document her thoughts and feelings about being alone in the marketplace. But instead of being able to ask her all those questions, I got in the car and we found our way to Pokuač. There I was received by my brother-in-law and his wives and children. It was a great homecoming minus my husband. Like Orina, I was traveling alone.

I’d spent one night in Pokuač where I’d eaten fresh lamb, slept in a tukul, and relieved myself in the woods but needed to get to town for network. One can only go so long without fresh water and electricity…not network! I needed to get to the market at Nyading Ayuel for better network connection so I could chat with my man. So, I walked three miles with my nephews through the dry bush and heat, avoiding beehives (ask me about that), and being greeted by name every 5 minutes on the way to the market. And guess what?!

Before we could cross the road into the market, I saw Orina! But wait! How did she get from Mayen Abun all the way to Nyading Ayuel over night? I know that ostriches travel long distances and are also able to run fast to escape predators but was someone or something after her in Mayen Abun?! While I was standing there watching her with all the questions running through my head, a man walked past and said, “woot”. In Dinka language, woot means ostrich and that same man said this:

“They’ve never been here before. There were five of them. One died. After the heavy rains back in December they arrived here.”

So, that was not Orina that I was looking at; that was…Orilla! Yes, I gave her a name too. Orilla means “announcement from the gods”. And for me, the announcement was one of peace and prosperity for the new year!

I have no idea where Orina and Orilla are now and I hope that they are somewhere safe. I do know that the people up country treated the birds with respect and let them be. I’m simply honored that I had an opportunity to see not one but TWO ostriches while visiting the village. 

Woot! Woot!!