Over Easter weekend I had the opportunity to travel back to Uganda with Meghan, the short term missionary girl I am living with and another shorter termer from Torit, Kelly. I am not going to lie, it was nice to be in civilization again! We were able to eat fruits and fresh vegetables again, as well as yoguart and a little bit of meat. A couple nights we even got some running water from showers! But Gulu is an interesting town because, being in Northern Uganda, it too has suffered much from the war. The LRA is a Ugandan rebel army that also sweept through Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan raiding, pillaging, and looting many villages after the Arabs already went through the same villages. Consequently, driving into Gulu, the outskirts of the town along the road are full of IDP (internally displaced people) camps, where people have fled their villages during times of war to recieve military protection at these camps. But just from looking at these camps one can see poverty written all over. Huts are built close together since that land is not their own, and their source of food is from relief donations, not from farming and the people's own industrious labors. While we were in Gulu we got the opportunity to visit Invisible Children, which is an organization set up to help those children who were night travelers during the war, fleeing from their homes every night to avoid being abducted and forced into child soilders.
Although Ikotos is a beauitful little town, living here is not very different from camping. We go to the bore holes to fetch our own water, take bucket baths, hand wash our clothes, and go to the bathroom in a squatty potty. Not to mention all the critters Meghan and I sleep with every night. I cannot really say how many different insects and bugs we kill or find in our little tuukel. I used to have this terrifying fear of spiders, even though I have lived many years in Nigeria with plenty of spiders, but here in Sudan, I think I have learned to get over it because there are just too many to kill in a day! I try to kill them, but if they get away, I just shrug it off...there are much worse things that could be found like scorpions or snakes. But we dare not shut our tuukel door at night or else we might die from the heat!
Even as I write this now the weather is changing in Ikotos. The rainy season is coming and its a welcome relief to the normal heat. Although I dare say, after the rains it can feel quite cold when one is used to 100 degree weather or hotter! The days usually start out sunny and slightly humid, but my mid afternoon the clouds will roll in and either cause a trenchal downpour or just stir up so much dust and sand with the strong winds that threaten rain. Since rainy season isn't in full swing yet, pending clouds and strong winds don't always bring the rain.
The next two weeks are going to be extrememly busy for both Meghan and I. We found out after we got back from Gulu, that most of the teachers were leaving school two weeks early to help out with the cenus that is happing all over Sudan in the middle of April. Unfortunatly, this means that between the two of us, Job the headmaster of the school, and two other Ugandan teachers who are not affected by the cenus, we will have to take over all the classes for all the senior secondary grades. But not only will we have to teach these classes (from who knows where the teachers have left off!) but the second week is exam week, and although the teachers are expected to have written their exams already, Meghan and I will most likely have to type, print, administer, and grade all the classes that we are taking over. But such happenings at AIC Luther Secondary School is only a fraction of the disorganization at the school. But one positive thing the school does have going for it, is the headmaster Job. He is a Kenyan missionary in Ikotos and is a godly, righteous man to help mend some of the injustices at the school.
Prayer Requests
1. Pray for Meghan and I in the next two weeks as our duties at the school just tripled in weight!
2. Thank God for the relief of rainy season.
3. Pray for Luther Secondary School in Ikotos, that the school system here will improved and that good, reputable, godly teachers will come to the school.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Kawaja! Kawaja!
I am convinced that all African languages have one thing in common, and that is a word for "white person". In Nigeria it was "Oyeibo" or "Batura", in Uganda and Kenya it was "Mazungu" and now in Sudan I am innundated with "Kawaja! Kawaja!" whenever I leave my compound. This is especially difficult on my early morning runs as everyone wants to greet the "Kawaja" and stare at her "making exercise", because I am also expected to greet everyone back, which can be quite tiring while one is also trying to run! But many of my experiences in Nigeria have left me well prepared for life in rural Sudan. Not only am I a walking subject of amusement for the kids (and adults!), but I am already familar with the slow pace of African life. Nothing gets done fast or on time here.
After my first day in Ikotos, I had to catch a ride to Torit, a town about 3 hours to the north of Ikotos to get my SPLA (Sudanese Party Liberation Army) pass, which is like an immigration pass to live in Sudan. (It is not very hard to sneak into the country if one were to try!). Not only did we leave closer to 2:00 pm after being told we were leaving at 12:00, but we also had to drive around town looking for the engineer who was suppose to be traveling with us. When we found him we were told that he had been "busy resting" and was now eating lunch (since he had been sleeping while the others members of the NGO organization we were driving with had been eating). When we finally left, we tore down extremely horrible roads that had more like craters than what one might consider a pothole in the US. Yet this did not deter this driver's carelessness. Even the Sudanese passengers with us were making comments about the bad driver. Nonetheless, even with a pretty long stop in a town on the way to Torit for a small NGO meeting, a few stops along the way to get out and greet some "big men" in vehicles traveling the opposite way, and practically driving over villagers who loitered on the road by bohr holes collecting water, we made it to Torit still in about 3 hours!
Ikotos is a beautiful town and the drive to Torit is still quite breath-taking. The mountains and hills are crafted from massive boulders and rocks that would be any mountain climber's dream. Even more impressive are the Sudanese villagers that dwell in these mountains and hike down to get water and then back up balancing 20 L jerrycans on their heads! (Many villages moved to the mountains to hide during the war and are only now starting to descend back down.) One of the ladies in the car with me going to Torit said that the white marks on the mountains are trails that the villagers follow to get up and down, and some of these white marks look like they go clear off a cliff!
After returning from Torit, I have spent most of this week with a host family which has plunged me into the culture and language of a Sudanese family where not much English is spoken. Not to mention the interesting foods I have had to eat. The first night there, I was outside the compound playing soccer with some of the young boys. It was getting dark, near dinner time, and one of the ladies from the compound told me to come eat with her and her family. She put some asceda (a tastless, grainy, and extremely thick white starch made from flour and water) and soup onto a plate and gave it to me. A very strong fishy smell waffled up to my nose. I broke off a little piece of the asceda and dipped it into the soup which was slimmy and hung down from one's mouth as they ate. In the moonlight I got a glimpse of shinny fish like bodies and eyes in the soup. My stomach turned. Apparently small dried fish is a speciality to add to soups in Sudan. I managed to take a few bits of the dish before saying in my broked Arabic that it was too much food and I was full. Fortunately, that is a good excuse to use in Africa because they are quite keen on enormous portion sizes. However, much to my dismay, that soup was on the menu the next night too!
Even in my short time since I have been in Sudan, I have learned quite a bit about the present politics of the country. Sudan had been in a civil war for 22 years, fighting against the oppressive Northern Arabs that only want to enforce Muslim law, political and religious, on the whole country. Evenmore, they have suppressed and oppressed the Southern, black half of the country and exploited their natural resources (one of which is oil) so they could build and modernize the Northern half, while leaving the South in still a pretty primative lifestyle. Since the northern part of Sudan is mostly desert, the southern half actually has more resources that have left the country fighting. Momentarily Sudan is in somewhat of a truce with the North, where the president of the country is a Northern, but the vice-president is a Southern. On April 11 of this year, every Sudanese who has been displaced out of Sudan becasue of the war is suppose to return to his own village and a census will be taken of the people here (kinda like Bible times around Jesus' birth!). In the year 2011 everyone will vote whether the South should separate from the North or not. It is very common in Sudan right now to see alot of NGO (non-governemental organizations, such as the UN) vehicles and compounds (that is how I have internet access in Ikotos now!) that are all here to help build up the country. However, these elections that will take place won't necessarily promise peace, I have learned. Naturally the Southerns want to separate from the oppressive North and will most likely vote to become the "New Sudan", but problems may still occur. Currently the Sudanese Liberation Party Movement (which was formly the Sudanese Liberation Party Army), is the leading political party in the South, and since its previous name involved "army" it is basically a military political party, which is a receipe for corrupt power; particularly in Africa. Evenmore, not only would the miliatry have most of the power in Southern Sudan if it separated from the North, but as one teacher from my school told me, separation will now mean that the different tribes in the South will fight each other over power, resources, and everything else man fights over. Whereas before, when the country was together, the different tribes of the South were actually united, fighting the wicked North together; they would now become divided fighting over power in the new governement. Yet fighting is nothing new for Sudan, so people would not hesitate to fight as many of them have only know war.
This flighting attitude has pervaded so much of Sudanese lifestyle. Indeed I have already seen it in the school I teach at and in day to day life. Many Sudanese are used to living on refugee camps or having food distributed to them from NGO agencies, so they are not accustoming to working for their own food (Although this is not the case for everyone! The mother of my host family is a very hard working lady!). There is still a mentality of living for the day and not planning for tomorrow because who knows if you'll be alive tomorrow! Similarly in the schools, the Sudanese system is only just developing so the education system is quite poor. Sudents are often very old for their grade level and their system of learning is only to copy and memorize their notes, not to understand and apply the knowledge.
Yet still there is hope for the country. Not only are foreign agencies assisting Sudan, but even their brother countries in Uganda and Kenya have many people working in Sudan. Evenmore, the church of Jesus Christ is very much alive and active here, and even though the country has been ravaged by war there are still the amazing testimonies of so many Christian Sudanese people.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for the country of Sudan. For peace to occur with the future elections and for tribes to work towards reconcillation rather than their own gain.
2. Pray for the further educational and economic development of Sudan.
3. Pray for me as I continue to struggle to learn the language. I have my moments of insight which I praise God for!
4. Thank God for the relationships I have built already with my host family, the cooks at the school who love teaching me Arabic, and even the missionaries here.
After my first day in Ikotos, I had to catch a ride to Torit, a town about 3 hours to the north of Ikotos to get my SPLA (Sudanese Party Liberation Army) pass, which is like an immigration pass to live in Sudan. (It is not very hard to sneak into the country if one were to try!). Not only did we leave closer to 2:00 pm after being told we were leaving at 12:00, but we also had to drive around town looking for the engineer who was suppose to be traveling with us. When we found him we were told that he had been "busy resting" and was now eating lunch (since he had been sleeping while the others members of the NGO organization we were driving with had been eating). When we finally left, we tore down extremely horrible roads that had more like craters than what one might consider a pothole in the US. Yet this did not deter this driver's carelessness. Even the Sudanese passengers with us were making comments about the bad driver. Nonetheless, even with a pretty long stop in a town on the way to Torit for a small NGO meeting, a few stops along the way to get out and greet some "big men" in vehicles traveling the opposite way, and practically driving over villagers who loitered on the road by bohr holes collecting water, we made it to Torit still in about 3 hours!
Ikotos is a beautiful town and the drive to Torit is still quite breath-taking. The mountains and hills are crafted from massive boulders and rocks that would be any mountain climber's dream. Even more impressive are the Sudanese villagers that dwell in these mountains and hike down to get water and then back up balancing 20 L jerrycans on their heads! (Many villages moved to the mountains to hide during the war and are only now starting to descend back down.) One of the ladies in the car with me going to Torit said that the white marks on the mountains are trails that the villagers follow to get up and down, and some of these white marks look like they go clear off a cliff!
After returning from Torit, I have spent most of this week with a host family which has plunged me into the culture and language of a Sudanese family where not much English is spoken. Not to mention the interesting foods I have had to eat. The first night there, I was outside the compound playing soccer with some of the young boys. It was getting dark, near dinner time, and one of the ladies from the compound told me to come eat with her and her family. She put some asceda (a tastless, grainy, and extremely thick white starch made from flour and water) and soup onto a plate and gave it to me. A very strong fishy smell waffled up to my nose. I broke off a little piece of the asceda and dipped it into the soup which was slimmy and hung down from one's mouth as they ate. In the moonlight I got a glimpse of shinny fish like bodies and eyes in the soup. My stomach turned. Apparently small dried fish is a speciality to add to soups in Sudan. I managed to take a few bits of the dish before saying in my broked Arabic that it was too much food and I was full. Fortunately, that is a good excuse to use in Africa because they are quite keen on enormous portion sizes. However, much to my dismay, that soup was on the menu the next night too!
Even in my short time since I have been in Sudan, I have learned quite a bit about the present politics of the country. Sudan had been in a civil war for 22 years, fighting against the oppressive Northern Arabs that only want to enforce Muslim law, political and religious, on the whole country. Evenmore, they have suppressed and oppressed the Southern, black half of the country and exploited their natural resources (one of which is oil) so they could build and modernize the Northern half, while leaving the South in still a pretty primative lifestyle. Since the northern part of Sudan is mostly desert, the southern half actually has more resources that have left the country fighting. Momentarily Sudan is in somewhat of a truce with the North, where the president of the country is a Northern, but the vice-president is a Southern. On April 11 of this year, every Sudanese who has been displaced out of Sudan becasue of the war is suppose to return to his own village and a census will be taken of the people here (kinda like Bible times around Jesus' birth!). In the year 2011 everyone will vote whether the South should separate from the North or not. It is very common in Sudan right now to see alot of NGO (non-governemental organizations, such as the UN) vehicles and compounds (that is how I have internet access in Ikotos now!) that are all here to help build up the country. However, these elections that will take place won't necessarily promise peace, I have learned. Naturally the Southerns want to separate from the oppressive North and will most likely vote to become the "New Sudan", but problems may still occur. Currently the Sudanese Liberation Party Movement (which was formly the Sudanese Liberation Party Army), is the leading political party in the South, and since its previous name involved "army" it is basically a military political party, which is a receipe for corrupt power; particularly in Africa. Evenmore, not only would the miliatry have most of the power in Southern Sudan if it separated from the North, but as one teacher from my school told me, separation will now mean that the different tribes in the South will fight each other over power, resources, and everything else man fights over. Whereas before, when the country was together, the different tribes of the South were actually united, fighting the wicked North together; they would now become divided fighting over power in the new governement. Yet fighting is nothing new for Sudan, so people would not hesitate to fight as many of them have only know war.
This flighting attitude has pervaded so much of Sudanese lifestyle. Indeed I have already seen it in the school I teach at and in day to day life. Many Sudanese are used to living on refugee camps or having food distributed to them from NGO agencies, so they are not accustoming to working for their own food (Although this is not the case for everyone! The mother of my host family is a very hard working lady!). There is still a mentality of living for the day and not planning for tomorrow because who knows if you'll be alive tomorrow! Similarly in the schools, the Sudanese system is only just developing so the education system is quite poor. Sudents are often very old for their grade level and their system of learning is only to copy and memorize their notes, not to understand and apply the knowledge.
Yet still there is hope for the country. Not only are foreign agencies assisting Sudan, but even their brother countries in Uganda and Kenya have many people working in Sudan. Evenmore, the church of Jesus Christ is very much alive and active here, and even though the country has been ravaged by war there are still the amazing testimonies of so many Christian Sudanese people.
Prayer Requests:
1. Pray for the country of Sudan. For peace to occur with the future elections and for tribes to work towards reconcillation rather than their own gain.
2. Pray for the further educational and economic development of Sudan.
3. Pray for me as I continue to struggle to learn the language. I have my moments of insight which I praise God for!
4. Thank God for the relationships I have built already with my host family, the cooks at the school who love teaching me Arabic, and even the missionaries here.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Kampala, Uganda
After a trip up to New York, orientation for a couple of days, befriending an Indian couple who invited me over to their house in India for a delicious curry meal (and actually gave me their curry dinner on the plane!), a 15 hour layover in London (which included me falling asleep on the floor of the British Museum with my bags tucked under my feet), and eventually getting off the ground in London to land in Entebbe, Uganda; I finally made it to Africa. Kai! After being away from Africa for so long (almost 4 years) I had forgotten how much I love Africa! However, this being Africa, upon my arrival here, I found out that my MAF flight to Ikotos, was canceled on Tuesday, so now I have to wait till Thursday to fly into Ikotos.
But I have been enjoying my time in Kampala. Kampala, for me, has a lot of the same feel as Jos, my home city in Nigeria, except bigger. The first day I got here I was surprisingly awake enough to go into town (despite my two nights of "sleeping" on the plane). Megan Nelson, the short term coordinator, took me to a traditional Ugandan restaurant where I got to sample some of the local cuisine. Uganda is no place for dieters who don't eat carbs! There were all of the following: matoke (a banana type fruit that is pounded into a very thick ball, just like pounded yam), white potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, boiled yams, rice, chapatis, pumpkin, beans, cabbage, and a groundnut stew that was poured over the starches. This is not a diet one can eat a lot of without feeling very full! After that meal we went to some craft shops in town, which would beat any craft or home decor store in America! Although I must say I am biased to African goods! And of course, before I left town that day I had to make sure I bought a couple mangoes, and nothing can beat a good African mango. I have been trying to get my fill of good pineapples, bananas, and mangoes before going to Ikotos because I have heard over and over again the food choices are lentils, beans, rice and beans, rice, lentils, and then there are some rice, lentils, and beans...not much fresh produce.
While I am in Kampala I have had some orientation to short term missions work; what is expected, what are AIM's goals, and making sure one's relationship with God is cultivated if one expects to minister Jesus to others. Oh, and did I forget to mention being pulled over by a police officer for running a redlight, just after the missionary I was driving with finished telling me that the lights in Kampala don't work :)! Naturally, the officer only wanted a bribe but not until he made us drive to the police station and told us we would have to leave our car there, get a receipt from the police station, and only after we paid the bank (which it being Sunday would have to wait till the banks were open on Monday) could we pick up our car and take it with us. However, Africans are relational people and after befriending the officer, talking to him in Swahili (the missionary is fluent in Swahili, French and Luganda the Ugandan language!) and asking for forgiveness, we got off free without having to pay a bribe or leave our car there overnight.
Of course I make time for some runs in the morning around a road outside of the guesthouse I am staying at. Unfortunately there are two problems to running here. One is, Kampala, being at a little bit of altitude, has left me huffing and puffing as if I had never run before. The second problem occurred when I asked the guesthouse keepers if I could run around here. Their reply, "Sure, but you need to run with the dogs. One on a leash and the other one following you." My heart sunk. I absolutely hate dogs. I almost considered not running. Needless to say, dogs know nothing about pace, and I definitely won the race of the day to who made it back to the compound first :)! Yet between running at altitude (I believe it is about 3600 feet) and pulling a dog on its leash through half of the run as it either wanted to bolt off one way or the other, I was quite spent at the end!
Prayer Requests: Some of you have requested I post prayer requests on this site and if you don't have time to read the entries you can just read the prayer requests and pray for me!
1. I am getting pretty excited to travel to Ikotos, but I realize and hear from a lot of missionaries that it is a tough place to live just with the temperature (easily reaching 40C), food, and other daily accommodation that make life easier in more westernized settings. So pray for my adjustments in daily life.
2. There are no written materials in the Juba Arabic language which they speak in Ikotos, so while I am in Kampala I have no way of getting a head start on all the learning I will have to be doing. So please pray for my brain to be like a sponge when I get there!
3. I have been having some trouble with my anti-malarial medication. Apparently, almost a week ago I didn't take my pill with enough water and it has irritated my chest/esophagus, which has made it particularly painful and uncomfortable to eat and swallow. So please pray for my chest to start feeling better and for my body to not react this way again, so I can keep taking my anti-malarial in Sudan.
But I have been enjoying my time in Kampala. Kampala, for me, has a lot of the same feel as Jos, my home city in Nigeria, except bigger. The first day I got here I was surprisingly awake enough to go into town (despite my two nights of "sleeping" on the plane). Megan Nelson, the short term coordinator, took me to a traditional Ugandan restaurant where I got to sample some of the local cuisine. Uganda is no place for dieters who don't eat carbs! There were all of the following: matoke (a banana type fruit that is pounded into a very thick ball, just like pounded yam), white potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, boiled yams, rice, chapatis, pumpkin, beans, cabbage, and a groundnut stew that was poured over the starches. This is not a diet one can eat a lot of without feeling very full! After that meal we went to some craft shops in town, which would beat any craft or home decor store in America! Although I must say I am biased to African goods! And of course, before I left town that day I had to make sure I bought a couple mangoes, and nothing can beat a good African mango. I have been trying to get my fill of good pineapples, bananas, and mangoes before going to Ikotos because I have heard over and over again the food choices are lentils, beans, rice and beans, rice, lentils, and then there are some rice, lentils, and beans...not much fresh produce.
While I am in Kampala I have had some orientation to short term missions work; what is expected, what are AIM's goals, and making sure one's relationship with God is cultivated if one expects to minister Jesus to others. Oh, and did I forget to mention being pulled over by a police officer for running a redlight, just after the missionary I was driving with finished telling me that the lights in Kampala don't work :)! Naturally, the officer only wanted a bribe but not until he made us drive to the police station and told us we would have to leave our car there, get a receipt from the police station, and only after we paid the bank (which it being Sunday would have to wait till the banks were open on Monday) could we pick up our car and take it with us. However, Africans are relational people and after befriending the officer, talking to him in Swahili (the missionary is fluent in Swahili, French and Luganda the Ugandan language!) and asking for forgiveness, we got off free without having to pay a bribe or leave our car there overnight.
Of course I make time for some runs in the morning around a road outside of the guesthouse I am staying at. Unfortunately there are two problems to running here. One is, Kampala, being at a little bit of altitude, has left me huffing and puffing as if I had never run before. The second problem occurred when I asked the guesthouse keepers if I could run around here. Their reply, "Sure, but you need to run with the dogs. One on a leash and the other one following you." My heart sunk. I absolutely hate dogs. I almost considered not running. Needless to say, dogs know nothing about pace, and I definitely won the race of the day to who made it back to the compound first :)! Yet between running at altitude (I believe it is about 3600 feet) and pulling a dog on its leash through half of the run as it either wanted to bolt off one way or the other, I was quite spent at the end!
Prayer Requests: Some of you have requested I post prayer requests on this site and if you don't have time to read the entries you can just read the prayer requests and pray for me!
1. I am getting pretty excited to travel to Ikotos, but I realize and hear from a lot of missionaries that it is a tough place to live just with the temperature (easily reaching 40C), food, and other daily accommodation that make life easier in more westernized settings. So pray for my adjustments in daily life.
2. There are no written materials in the Juba Arabic language which they speak in Ikotos, so while I am in Kampala I have no way of getting a head start on all the learning I will have to be doing. So please pray for my brain to be like a sponge when I get there!
3. I have been having some trouble with my anti-malarial medication. Apparently, almost a week ago I didn't take my pill with enough water and it has irritated my chest/esophagus, which has made it particularly painful and uncomfortable to eat and swallow. So please pray for my chest to start feeling better and for my body to not react this way again, so I can keep taking my anti-malarial in Sudan.
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