Gone and Back Again

Sitting back in my parent’s house in Claymont, Delaware, it’s hard to believe I spent anytime at all in Ikotos, Sudan and met all the people I did and had all the experiences I had. The time went by so fast but at the same time while I was there it felt like I had been there forever! When you don’t have much access to the internet, television, the news and outside reports you often feel that you are in a “time warp” in Ikotos and all your friends and family outside seem just like a faint memory from another life!

I flew out of Ikotos almost 3 weeks ago now! The last week I was there I made sure to take lots of pictures of the village, school, my friends, and other scenery. Thank God too, He answered all your prayers about Meghan and I flying out on the same day. It was a little crazy trying to clean up the compound before we flew out, especially since we did not know exactly when my plane was coming and had to wait at the airstrip for over an hour in the hot sun. But Meghan, whose plane was suppose to come an hour after mine, was hesitant to leave me without a proper good-bye, was torn between waiting with me (and a crowd of Sudanese children) and going back to our compound that needed to be swept, some dishes packed up, and the toilet cleaned out. (We both agreed that we would not want to be the first ones to open the toilet after a year of not being cleaned by the time the Scottlands come back next spring!) But everything worked out in the end and she had some friends who were able to help with some of the cleaning.

When my plane did come it whisked me off to Kampala, Uganda where I got to spend the next 6 days in what felt like luxury! I stayed with AIM missionaries and family friends from Delaware, Gregg and Karen Lewis in their beautiful flat in Kampala. I felt so spoiled with all the mangos, bananas, peppers, broccoli, and not to mention MEAT as well as an assundry of fresh and COLD things I was not used to having. It was also wonderful to have a warm running shower, a machine to wash my clothes properly, a toilet that wasn’t full of flies, and a soft bed without insects on the walls and rats in the roof! While in Kampala I got to spend some time down town shopping in the local craft markets, going to a very westernized mall that had a movie theater and a delicious Indian restaurant, and getting my last local Ugandan meal before flying back to the US.

Uganda is called the “Pearl of Africa” because it is so lush and green and fertile, supplying so many fruits and vegetables to other African countries. (They are particularly known for their pineapple!) But even more than that, their pride and joy is being known as the country with the source of the Nile River. Traveling into Uganda after being in Sudan is like a whole other world. You can get pretty much anything you could get in the Western world (although you will pay for it!), roads are paved and practically everyone has a cell phone! Advertisements for cell phones or booths for buying minutes for your cell phone are on every street corner in Kampala! Even more interesting, I found, was how many different ethnic groups were in Kampala, I saw loads of Indians, some Chinese (the Chinese are becoming entrepreneurs in Africa), Australians, Middle Eastern peoples, and various kinds of Europeans (and of course Americans!). In contrast to Sudan, Uganda is very much a developing, progressing country influenced by many outsiders and other foreign countries.

After two long 8 hour flights (and many in-flight movies!) back to AIM headquarters in Pearl River, New York where I had some additional debriefing to my exit interview I had in Kampala, I am back again in the US for the time being. It has been good to see my family again, especially my parents who are back from Nigeria for the Summer for my brother’s wedding this coming weekend and then my own in September! Upon reflection on my experiences in Sudan, I am very grateful that God sent me to Ikotos to teach. Although it was difficult at times dealing with some of the frustrations at the school and adapting to the culture and the uneasy lifestyle, I enjoyed teaching my students very much as well as learning about the country with all its war complexities. I feel I learned a lot about myself and my own selfish tendencies that if I had been in a more comfortable setting I might not have learned. Furthermore, since I grew up in an urban setting in Nigeria, I would have felt too comfortable or “too much at home” if I had been placed in an urban setting as a missionary this time. Consequently, Ikotos was more out of my comfort zone and thus I had to adapt and adjust to more difficult situations. In addition, Ikotos taught me something very important about mission work. Often times in our western mindset we view mission work as statistics, meaning “how many churches has x missionary build” or “how many people has y missionary saved.” But I realized that is not what missions is about! It is about going to the people, living with them, and becoming like them; putting on their culture as Christ came to us and put on our humanity (yet without sin!). Our ministry is not the end result of missions, it is only a means to an end! And what is the end result? It is to make disciples of all nations as Jesus commanded us in the Great Commission. It is not our job to save people or acquire numbers and churches and schools, but it is our job to make disciples. God will do the saving. Therefore, where ever you are in life you are to make disciples of those around you. You do not have to go to Sudan to do that nor can you think “I am not a missionary; I don’t need to tell my boss and peers about Christ.” If you are a disciple of Christ, than you are a missionary where ever you are!

I want to close my last blog entry by saying thank you to all my supporters for your constant prayers (for I know many of you were praying for me continually!), your financial support in sending me to Sudan to have these experiences and learn these lessons, and also to all of you who visited my blog and took an interest in what I have been doing.