Day Six.
I awoke with a start to the sound of laughter…my team’s laughter. For the first night since I left home on the 17th, I was actually able to get a full, peaceful night’s rest and I even slept in until 8:00 am. I laid in bed for a few minutes before I got up, just savoring the sounds of my team’s chatter outside, the view of our hut’s thatched roof and my mosquito net above me, and the smell of mud walls and Sudan.
My first full day in Sudan.
I adjusted to life in the bush quickly as I threw on my skirt and t-shirt, got “ready” without a mirror, brushed my teeth without water, washed my face with a wet wipe, and “cooked” my oatmeal by pouring hot water over it. I used the long drop toilet (duel wodora in Nuer), and then really stopped to consider how much we take for granted in America. The entire day was full of lessons in humility and simplicity.
It was our first day working in the Bible school, and I learned a LOT about our students that day. These students have made huge sacrifices to continue learning the 118 Bible stories over the last few years. All of the students are somehow affiliated with a Christian church, whether they are pastors, elders, deacons, etc. Some of the students live in Nasir or in nearby villages, while others live several hours’ walk away, and one student lives a day’s walk away. The students all have families that they leave behind while they are attending school, and they take time off from important cultivating and building duties to be there. They have walked to school with broken legs, while pregnant, and with a newborn baby. Do we even slightly know what sacrifice is here in America? Most of us do not, but these amazing followers of Christ know exactly what it means to sacrifice for the Great Commission.
Snapshot of the Thursday:
-Got ready African bush style.
-Rehearsed my Bible story: The Scroll and the Lamb (Revelation 5)
-Headed to the Bible School
-Told my Bible story…and nailed it (according to Andrew)
-Ate rice and beans for lunch, enjoyed some Sudanese chai, listened to a song in Nuer, and prayed with our Sudanese brothers and sister
-Meeting with the new commissioner of Nasir County
-Walked to the market, then walked by the UN compound, Save The Children, and Nasir Junior High
-Saw my first evidence of the twenty-year civil war that I had read so much about
-Met Canada (actual name, Bhan) and learned more Nuer words
-Hung out at the borehole (water well) with the Sudanese women
-Played my first game of catch in Sudan (with a rock-hard chunk of dul) with Chris, Mandy, and Goy
Time for photographic documentation!
These are some of our Nasir Bible School students. Jengmer is on the far left, and he has been leading the school for the last three years. He is the kindest, most gentle human I have ever met (well, aside from all of the other Sudanese people I’ve ever met) and his leadership of these students will forever make a mark on my heart. To read more about Jengmer and his work, please view his Aid Sudan Bio.
I’m in love with the grass thatched roof…
These UNICEF books are everywhere! In many of the primary and middle schools, this is all the students have for books. They have to copy down everything from the chalkboard. Our Bible school students just used them to make notes, etc.
Dul (dirt). The black cotton soil cracks like an elephant’s hide when it is dry, and it made for some really cool pictures. This picture drew the attention of several of our Sudanese students. I was down on my knees and elbows to get this shot, and suddenly I felt people crowding in all around me and heard chatter in Nuer. I looked up, and there were most of our students trying to figure out what on earth I was taking a picture of! Then I showed them the picture, and they realized that I was taking a picture of just that, earth…
Andrew, our fearless team leader, in his Sudan hat. Yes, he walked all around the village like this…
Some of my favorite images from our walk around the village…
This was powerful. This made all of the Lost Boys’ memoirs and the pain and suffering I had read about real. Right there, in the middle of the village, was this broken down tank left over from the war. Only the northern troops had tanks and this was truly a weapon of evil used to kill the Southern Sudanese villagers and attempt to wipe them from the face of the planet. Seeing this brought me to tears…
And seeing this was even harder. John Chuol and Jengmer take a closer look at one of the weapons used to chase them out of their homeland when they were only boys…
These large caliber shell casings were also littered all over the ground. I ask you to imagine, just for a moment, sitting in your living room watching television one night, and then all of the sudden having tanks, militia on horseback, and Antonovs come in and start shooting into your home and your neighbors’ homes, burning down the houses, slaughtering the children, raping the women, and leaving everyone for dead. Horrifying, isn’t it? It was reality (minus the watching TV part) for thousands of Southern Sudanese. Their painful history coupled with their sheer determination and will to not only survive, but to forge ahead with freedom and develoment was the whole reason that I felt so compelled to go and love the Sudanese. God did not forsake them, and those who survived are determined to build a better future for their children. These shell casings serve as a reminder that God’s people are called to suffer, but will not ever be left alone.
Everywhere we went, we drew a pretty large crowd of children who were eager to see, touch, and be photographed by a kawaja. I absolutely loved having the children around us all of the time…
As Mandy was singing with the kids, and I was photographing them, Peter was using his new iPhone 4 to take [excellent] videos of us with the kids. All of the sudden, we hear this kid shout out from across the pasture, in impeccable English, “Hey, is that the new iPhone 4?” Peter and I look at each other, both of us dumbfounded, and I say, “Are we still in Sudan?” That was the day we first met Canada (his actual name is Bhan). He is a teenage boy born to Sudanese parents living in Canada, and he and his parents are spending the entire summer in Nasir visiting family. Bhan is tallest kid in the picture…
Back at the compound, our T.L. got busy purifying our drinking water…
African snail, anyone?
Kang removes the snail so that it doesn’t harm the maize…
Mandy and I ran over to the local borehole just to see what the ladies were up to…
A gorgeous evening in Sudan…
He’s SO energetic…
As the sun was sinking lower behind the trees, Mandy and I decided to join the men on our compound as they planted a few trees. There were some misunderstandings as to the type of trees they were planting. They told me it was a palpal (I probably spelled that completely wrong) tree, so for some silly reason, I’m thinking like the paw paw trees we have here in Indiana. Silly, I know. Then they say, “It’s a papaya tree.” So, I am saying, “Paw paw or papaya?” They are saying, “Yes.” I was so confused, and finally Mandy and I sorted out that their Nuer word for papaya is palpal. Anyway, here’s the papaya tree planting in progress…
Then, Mandy noticed that they were trying to plant the tree with the plastic still encasing the roots. She starts to take it off, but they stop her. She tries explaining that the roots need room to grow and spread, but they said that the plastic holds the water in. She kept insisting, but the Sudanese won. The trees were planted with plastic and all…
This little guy loved my camera!
Highs:
-Waking up in Sudan
-Sharing Bible stories, singing, and praying with our Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ
-Canada asking if Peter had the new iPhone 4
-Having the Sudanese hover over me as I took pictures of the black cotton soil
-Feeling the kids’ hands all over my arms, legs, hair, and camera…they all just like to feel a kawaja
-Laughing a lot with our team
-Learning and using my new Nuer words
Lows:
-Seeing the tank and shell casings, and knowing that the Sudanese- the kindest, most loving people I have ever met- were persecuted in such a horrific way
-Not receiving a text from Blaise that night (the system never did let any of my texts through)
Lessons God Taught Me:
-His Word is tried and true. The messages from the Bible mean the exact same thing and are interpreted in the same way in both English and Nuer…further confirming that God’s Word is the only way and truth.
Favorite Quote from My Journal:
“I would definitely like a DQ milkshake, but this whole experience is amazing!”