flight cancelled

Well, today did not go as planned - "welcome to South Sudan" - and we are still in Rumbek as our flight was cancelled. Fortunately our same rooms were made available to us because the people who were to use them were to be on the plane from Juba but did not arrive. Now, we are scheduled to fly out tomorrow - we will see. I (Marg) wanted to tell you about our flight here 10 days ago. For me,the worst part of any trip to Rumbek, South Sudan is the Juba airport. It is total chaos with people crammed into a tiny "terminal", no sense of order and no indication what the process is. However, Ellen, another one of our Abukloi Board members, put us onto a government person in Juba who can get us through the VIP. Even though we had to pay him, it was much worth it. So we were sitting in the VIP waiting area when they came to get us as our flight was boarding. We went outside and waited with a small group of people. Within a few minutes a pick up truck came to shuttle passengers to the plane. The one middle-age woman in the group got in the cab and everyone else just climbed up and over the sides of the back ready to go. Mary seemed game, I was considering my options, and Bev was "no way". So the truck driver considered us and then drove off. Within 5 minutes a VAN came back to pick us up. They assessed us correctly :) The plane was small. I took a picture and will try to send it later when we have better internet. The back 6 seats had luggage. There were 13 passengers and 2 pilots. Between the luggage and the passengers, all seats were taken. There was no barrier between us and the pilots - you could see and hear them. A sign on the side of the dirt runway said, "Caution Eagles". I wasn't sure if that sign was to warn the planes or the eagles. The name of this airline is "South Supreme". That is the air line we are to travel with tomorrow. So let's hope it flies tomorrow!