Rats, Rats - Why must you torment me so?

A lot of people have been very kind and frequently ask me for prayer requests. I feel horrible when one of the first things that comes to mind is my tolerance of the rats. How selfish is this?Some of you know that our old compound was infested with rats - they kept me up at night running around in the ceiling to the point which forced me to move out to the tent. I was hopeful when we moved into our new house that the rats would not move in with us. I was wrong. After 9 months here, we have roommates!

This is just not an issue that you deal with in the suburban US. The worst thing we encounter at home in the rodent department is the opossum which might come onto your porch or deck occasionally. I am not comfortable with this. My colleague, Kelsey, has a list on her blog of things she's learned in the past few years living in many developing countries. One item is Rats. "Get used to them. They are everywhere," she says. I simply refuse. We are bigger, I would hope stronger, but we are losing!

Thankfully, due to the fact that I keep my room sealed like Fort Knox, I have only a few rat stories and only one involving my bedroom. However, the common area, particularly kitchen and dining area are another story. These rats are relentless. They are persistent. They are winning. They have become domesticated. We had some friends over watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and two of the rats were running around. They are no longer scared of us - they have the upper hand. The team has even given them names.

I was having dinner last night with one of our donors who explained her war with the rats. Thanks to very dedicated guards, she is winning the battle. Her guards set traps every night (it is in their job descriptions) and they catch at least 4-5 rats by morning. This is at a compound where they don't even keep trash overnight. She has the cleaners dettol the floors daily. We are far from that. We have sometimes 10-15 people in and out and Sudanese staff who cannot fathom a life free from rats, so we struggle. Last night, we ensured the door from our kitchen and dining area was closed, hoping they would stay in the kitchen. We woke to find they had gnawed away at the bottom of the door to make a way out. I attach some evidence of their existence:


Exhibit 1 - the lid to our powdered milk - a foil seal covered with plastic- fully closed. Result: Eaten
Exhibit 2 - A banana from a bunch left in a fruit basket. Notice the end to the right. The ends of the entire bunch were like this.

So, the investigation begins. What do we do? Clearly, we will need to improve our practices, up our hygiene but as for the rats that are already here - what do we do? poison, rat glue? - there are lots of methods. I'm lucky I have a little break from Juba for a few weeks so my prayer is that the team figures it out without me.