Sunday in Sudan

Last night we enjoyed a dinner of rice and vegetable soup. The highlight was the fresh homemade bread. This is the staple bread here and is made a few times a week. Yeast based, similar to pizza dough, pita size rounds, cooked on the sides of a large, wok sized bowl over a charcoal fire. The Faders had arranged to have a large bonfire in the central area of the compound. Val and Ely had gone out and gathered wood earlier for this occasion. We were treated to a lovely musical program from the SIM Sudan choir. Our team attempted “Awesome God” in return. It was obvious the SIM Sudan choir is much more experienced than our sorry choir!

This morning we split up into three teams to go to three different church services. Details from the other two will be added by those attending. Blog Scribe set out with Rick and Phalice towards Gondolo about 9:00 for their service. We walked along a bit, practicing a song that we could share with the congregation. After a bit we were joined by a little boy who seemed to just be enjoying our company. Every local we passed greeted us with a handshake a greeting of “Salem Alekum” (sp?) We passed mostly little boys, empty handed, and women (including young girls) hauling loads on their heads, heading toward the river and town.

Pretty soon we were joined by a young boy who seemed to enjoy just walking with us. After a bit, I asked him “Gondolo?” hoping that he could help guide us if needed. Yes, he nodded, and so we walked in. We came to a few paths that turned off the main “road” and each time we asked “Gondolo?” He shook his head so we continued on. We went a good long while and then realized, by the clock that we should already be at Gondolo, so we pointed ahead on the road we were traveling, inquiring “Gondolo?” Oh no, he shook his head and pointed back to the way we had come. So we turned around and headed back down the road. We came across a woman carrying a large load of sticks on her head. She answered our “Gondolo?” with a point back down the road towards our origination. So the young boy kept with us and, when we were almost back to where we had started, and come to think about it, about where he had joined us, he took us down a path and nodded affirmatively to “Gondolo.” We traveled on this new path quite a distance and eventually came to some scattered huts. They were empty so we hoped all were at church, and hoped that it was nearby. Finally we came to a small group of children, many tending babies, and then we heard singing so followed that to the church. We were so late, because of our detour, they were just finishing. We were greeted warmly. Phalice recognized a few. We took group photos and then we went into the church. Suspended from the crossbeams of the ceiling were small stuffed animals, a few Pez dispensers and various toys. It was the strangest sight. We think it may be items that had come with care packages and since they do not play with these things in this part of the world they were used to decorate the church. Or maybe they were offerings.

We found out that our young guide was actually from Gondolo, and that is probably why he answered affirmatively when we asked “Gondolo?” He probably wanted to see where we were going all along when we were on the wrong road. His name, it turns out, is Solomon.

We were seated and they sang a lovely song for us. A young gentleman was able to translate quite swiftly. We introduced ourselves and brought greetings from our home churches. Rick gave a nice shortened sermon (since they had already sat through an entire service before we arrived). He spoke of peace and God’s protection in making peaceful choices when confronted and offered great words of encouragement. I was surrounded on the woman’s side by nursing mothers. All there, including the youngsters, listened with great interest to what Rick had to say.

Following the service, and goodbye handshakes, a small group took us over to the school compound. Here, about 120 students are getting primary education. They must come from a great distance around, as the village itself, had only maybe a dozen huts. The school consisted of four open sided buildings with grass roofs. The seats the children sat on were mere poles (which if you consider how little padding they have on their backsides must make for a long day and difficult to sit still). A blackboard was in the front of each “room”. The one we went in had a lesson on hygiene and keeping health by keeping clean.

One of the young men from the village and Solomon agreed to take us back to the road, and it turned out that they actually lived in a hut along the way. The mother of the young man came out to meet us and stuck out her hand to shake. It was very wet and the air was thick with fish odor. I think we interrupted a fish cleaning. But shaking hands is very important here, no matter what the person is in the middle of doing so we shook, regardless of reservations. We didn’t stay long. We were all getting weary and anxious to get back to our own place. By this time we had been traveling more than three of the four hours we were gone and it was in the mid-day sun. In fact, when we arrived back “home” I had a minor collapse. Team mates were quick to revive with a foot soaking and cooling cloths. Those that had been to the other services were just arriving back. They had been able to participate in the services and have tea with the hosts at the other churches. The heat got to many of us this day and so we rested much of the afternoon. Rick helped take the Fader boys to the river to play.

This is Sunday so the Missionaries are on their own for meal preparation. Bethany and Victoria put together a wonderful spaghetti dinner that we all shared outside under the covered patio. It was a wonderful ending to a full day. Tomorrow (Monday) school starts back in session. The students have been straggling in to start the new semester. Some are not expected to arrive for a while as they have to walk across an area where there is tribal unrest and may have to wait for things to settle down before it is safe for their travel. This creates a bit of a dilemma for staff as they have a lot of material to cover and don’t want to leave those arriving later too far behind. These are the kind of challenges that the school faces.

This week Rick will work with Eli and a local church in guiding the elders of the community in leading churches. Peter will be teaching a Bible study to the school students. Kathy will be helping Phalice organize information to share with folks about what to expect when they come to this area on mission trips. Val will lead a variety of building and maintenance projects which the rest of us will support as we can. Hanna, Peter and I will also be helping set up the computer lab and figure out an approach to teaching the students how to use them. We’ll be working with James who will be the main instructor for computer knowledge. We’ll also be supporting Anter with his agriculture program, perhaps figuring out the bucket irrigation systems we brought and see what seeds we brought they may want to start. It’s a pretty full week and we are all worn out so that’s all for now folks. Stay tuned.