Morning of Day Five.
I have to break this post into two parts because though it was only one day, part of it was travel and part of it was my very first experiences in Sudan. To shorten the post and to really share from my heart, I feel that this one needs to be a two-parter…especially because there are a LOT of pictures!
First and foremost, I feel the need to say that I left a huge chunk of my heart in Sudan when I came home. I really fell in love with the Sudanese, their culture, and their way of life. I felt the power and strength of God while I was there, and I have spent the last week feeling extremely Sudan-sick. So, as you read the blog posts about my time in Sudan, please try to understand that in sharing this with you, I am sharing a very personal experience which has changed my life. Many of you have strong opinions about the culture or the people in Africa, so I ask that as you read this, you please read it with an open mind and an open heart. I am very passionate about the Sudanese, and I will try my best to really communicate the love and the all-out faith that the people have in our loving God.
Snapshot of our Morning:
-Awoke at around 5:00 am
-Ate breakfast, had group prayer time, called Blaise one last time, loaded into the taxi bus, drove to the airstrip
-Arrived at Kajjansi airstrip, had our bags screened, weighed ourselves and our bags, and loaded into the Cessna
-Flew 10 minutes to Entebbe International Airport to clear Immigrations
-Had a slight snafu with the plane’s fuel cap seal…waited in the airport, played a fun game with the team, journaled, panicked that I forgot my toothbrush, refused to pay $20 USD for a new toothbrush, called Neltia and discovered that I didn’t forget it after all, got news that our Cessna was fine and ready for action
-Flew to Juba, Sudan (capital of Southern Sudan) to refuel and go for a “leg stretch” (according to our British pilot)
-Fell asleep on the plane
-Got sick on the plane (luckily into my SicSac)
-Arrived in Nasir, Sudan
Here are the pictures I took to document the morning…
Our little plane…
Kajjansi is a very small airport between Kampala and Entebbe. The only planes there are small Cessnas, and I think that most of them were MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) and other missionary planes. This was the first dirt airstrip that I had ever been on…and I LOVED it!
Loading the last of our luggage. Luckily we were well under payload, so none of us had to start unpacking on the airstrip!
Our team, all shiny and clean, pre-Sudan! From left to right: Andrew, Mandy, Chris, Peter, Angie, Me, Kerry.
Mission Aviation Fellowship. I loved that our pilot prayed over our flight and our mission before we took off…what a great way to begin a mission trip!
The hillsides of beautiful Uganda…
River Nile…
As we came up to Nasir, our pilot noticed that there were a lot of people milling around near the airstrip, so he did a low pass just to make sure that everything looked fine. It was fine, there were just a lot of people awaiting our arrival. This is our awesome pilot in action…
Home Sweet Home. Nasir, Sudan…
Highs:
– Finally boarding the plane that would take us to Sudan
-Our pilot’s announcement that we had officially flown over the border from Uganda into Sudan
-Our pilot’s British accent…and his use of the term “leg stretch” for bathroom
Lows:
-Getting sick on the plane. I have never had motion sickness before, so I was really caught off guard by the sudden vomiting
I will have more from our first evening in Sudan up very soon!