Team Member: Jennifer

I return to Sudan, nearly thirty years after my last visit. Last time I was a college student visiting my parents who were stationed in Khartoum and Kadugli (a remote village in Central Sudan near the Nubian hills) on an agricultural project for the Agency for International Development (AID). Much has happened in those elapsed 30 years. The tension between Muslim and non-Muslim Sudanese has escalated. Internal wars have resulted in the genocide and oppression of those living in Southern Sudan and, more recently, in the Darfur area. Currently there is a tentative peace treaty in South Sudan, where efforts are being made by SIM and other agencies to help these people rebuild a life. More info will be offered on this blog.

In the thirty years of change experienced by Sudan, I have also experienced battles and transformation. My heart calls me to return to Sudan to share a message of hope and love that I have only learned through my own trials and realization of God’s unceasing love and care through my dark times. Healing from a broken marriage of twenty years and adjusting to an empty nest as my only child is now the same age I was when I first went to Sudan, I welcome this opportunity to go where God has called me and see what He has in store. My home church, First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue (WA), has been a source of great strength and healing for me, through support of the caring pastoral staff and new relationships with so many wonderful people. I want to share that experience of love and care with my fellow team members, with the missionary staff and their families already on ground in Yabus, and to the Sudanese people that will touch my life when I am there.

My team role is “Scribe” so I will be coordinating the efforts on this blog. The preliminary plans for my work “on the ground” will include: helping set up and teach how to get around the laptops we are bringing in for the school; teaching the local women about nutrition and gardening; loving on babies and children while I bond with their mothers; helping the School Director (Phalice Vanderpole) to plan a major celebration to kick off the academic year, and; whatever God’s plans are for me. Computer education and nutrition/gardening advice will be a stretch for me. Bonding with women and celebration I know. Thank you for joining us on this journey!