Twenty years ago 'today' it was May 14, 1989: Mother's Day, Pentecost, my birthday, and Laura's baptism. Felt kind of like the sun, moon, and earth all lining up, or something, at the time. Just fyi...
We had some excitement today. I returned from Pentecost services at Lui Parish and headed for the office, where I was to teach Vasco the little I know about Excel and show him how to upload photos from his camera to the computer. I found the office closed and the gate locked, so I started back to our compound.
I had noticed a huge gathering under the laro tree (for those who don't know, this is the 'Laro Abdullah,' the slave tree where the Arab trader Abdullah demanded 10 boys from every Moru chief for many years, taking them to be sold into slavery). Thinking the gathering was a group playing games or something ordinary like that, I decided to wander over and check it out. Before I was much beyond the shade of the mango tree in front of the cathedral, Vasco had covered the distance from the laro tree to meet me.
He said, "We are having an unexpected public rally." You can probably imagine the series of calamitous possibilities that went through my mind. It turns out that a delegation fromthe Sudanese Parliament and some other county, state, and national officials had come to town to hold a forum on the upcoming elections. I asked straight out if I could go, and Vasco said I could neither attend the meeting nor photograph it from afar. Too bad, as I think it would have been a great chance to practice my Juba Arabic listening skills! Our friends came back and reported that the meeting was helpful, but like all speeches from government officials here, it seemed to go on a bit too long for them, and they all made their way back before it was really over.
I meant to write about a similar meeting I saw under the laro tree some days ago. MRDA (Mundri Relief and Development Association, I think) was holding a meeting to discuss with the community their MICROFINANCING scheme! Funny how nobody mentioned that to me when I started talking about microfinance shortly after our arrival! I have to ask if there's any reason to duplicate their effort.
Lui Parish this morning was fun. Having just been there in December, I remembered them and they remembered me. I was happy to be able to tell them how well received the bow and arrows they sent Wayne have been, not to mention what fun it was to be able to say that Emily, who preached for them at Christmas, has finished her program of theological education, has an ordination date, and will begin work at St. Timothy's -- their sister parish -- next Sunday! They send their greetings to our diocese and St. Tim's and want us to know they pray for us as we pray for them. By the way, if anyone from Godly Adventurers at St. Tim's is reading this, the Sunday School kids had a great time with the airplanes the boys sent and loved Sophie's pictures, too.
Sylvester Mazawa isn't the pastor at Lui Parish anymore, at least for now. He has entered theological college at Mundri, but he was with us today, and I got to meet his daughter, who's in P6 at Lunjini School. So now Repent and Christina are the pastors at Lui Parish, but today Festus, the archdeacon of Lui Archdeaconry, celebrated the eucharist.
I keep meaning to mention -- and I think I keep forgetting -- that besides CUAMM working at Lui Hospital, a German organization called Malteser (after the Knights of Malta -- look it up and let me know!) has undertaken to rescue the TB ward and treatment program.
Despite the long day at Lui Parish and the public rally, I got a lot done. Margaret and I discussed school fees for some pastors' children in secondary school, and then she showed me the poultry farm and discussed what the Mothers' Union is learning from the project. I get to give a little talk about this to the ECW Triennial meeting in Anaheim in July, so I shot some video and recorded Margaret talking about it. Then Margaret and I met with Vasco to discuss the grinding mill project funded by UTO. I have written reports and receipts for both. The people here are so grateful for the help they receive from organizations in TEC, and so anxious to provide the records requested and do everything in good faith. Finally Vasco and I got around to uploading photos to his laptop, and if I can follow directions, you will see below his new baby daughter, Asant (Swahili asante, which means thank you, he says), and his next son up, Inpain, so named because he was born on 9/11, not 2001 but an anniversary -- 2007, I would guess. And now here I am blogging. It's 7:10 pm, all but dark here, which sparks our nightly refrain, in which Jim says it'll be dark soon, and I say Is it eight o'clock yet?
(OK, I downloaded the resizing program and tried to upload the two photos, but it doesn't seem to have worked. Back to the drawing board... tomorrow! BTW, tomorrow we are going to see the well in progress at Miriloco, where the new office will be. They hit water today and will be constructing the platform tomorrow. The Sumadhura guy, Naag, is coming to drive us there himself!)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Stalking the Wild Bushrat
My title has to have caught your attention!
This morning we had Moru lessons with Morris. We only stayed for about an hour and a half as he was suffering from a malaria flareup. He taught us some more useful words and sentences, and then we began reading, pronouncing, and translating Kito Lusi Ro Luka be (Story of Lois with Luke). After some kind of Dick-and-Jane stuff, the story gets interesting, and you start to find out what Dad (Aaron) kills with his spear. So Morris had to do some cultural interpretation: The kind of hunting Aaron does is called 'mara,' and it means hunting in a group. The hunters make a kind of semicircle spread out with the two ends in the vanguard, and they advance on the animals, kind of sweeping a broad area. When a hunter makes a kill, he leaves the hunt and goes home. Aaron killed an antelope with his spear, and then he killed a bushrat with his arrow. Morris went totally off on a bushrat tangent when we got to this point! He informed us that bushrat is as sweet as fish. (No, it does NOT apparently taste like chicken.) Later we asked David, the CMS missionary, what it is, and he said it's related to the elephant but in the family -- hmmm -- ibex or ilex or silex or something like that... sorry, bad memory -- someone help me out here? Anyhow, the bushrat isn't a rodent, and it's fun to hunt and more fun to eat. Morris went so far as to say that when another hunter spears one, he himself tries to steal it off the spear!
Today Gordon wanted me to try to fix his computer, which wouldn't print from Outlook Express. We had another technological miracle -- I tried several things that didn't work, and then I searched online and found the right answer on the second try. A couple of commands in the Run box, and voila! once again I look like I know what I'm doing. Appearances can be deceiving!
We had a great time visiting David and Heather, the CMS missionaries stationed here. They have a beautiful house, a multiroom round brick house with a high grass roof. It's cool and lovely. Heather had made mulberry cake. They have a mulberry tree, frangipani, lemongrass, aloe vera, and more, all growing in their yard. We were able to get a sense of the recent history of the area in our conversation with them.
Sylvester Mazawa turned up this evening! He's the pastor of Lui Parish, but we haven't seen him at all till now because he's studying at the Bishop Ngalamu Theological College in Mundri. Sylvester says he'll be at church tomorrow when Jim and I go there. (We offered to walk, but apparently the CUAMM administrator is going to drive us in her car.) FYI, Bishop Ngalamu was the Moru Archbishop of Sudan, about three archbishops back.
This morning we had Moru lessons with Morris. We only stayed for about an hour and a half as he was suffering from a malaria flareup. He taught us some more useful words and sentences, and then we began reading, pronouncing, and translating Kito Lusi Ro Luka be (Story of Lois with Luke). After some kind of Dick-and-Jane stuff, the story gets interesting, and you start to find out what Dad (Aaron) kills with his spear. So Morris had to do some cultural interpretation: The kind of hunting Aaron does is called 'mara,' and it means hunting in a group. The hunters make a kind of semicircle spread out with the two ends in the vanguard, and they advance on the animals, kind of sweeping a broad area. When a hunter makes a kill, he leaves the hunt and goes home. Aaron killed an antelope with his spear, and then he killed a bushrat with his arrow. Morris went totally off on a bushrat tangent when we got to this point! He informed us that bushrat is as sweet as fish. (No, it does NOT apparently taste like chicken.) Later we asked David, the CMS missionary, what it is, and he said it's related to the elephant but in the family -- hmmm -- ibex or ilex or silex or something like that... sorry, bad memory -- someone help me out here? Anyhow, the bushrat isn't a rodent, and it's fun to hunt and more fun to eat. Morris went so far as to say that when another hunter spears one, he himself tries to steal it off the spear!
Today Gordon wanted me to try to fix his computer, which wouldn't print from Outlook Express. We had another technological miracle -- I tried several things that didn't work, and then I searched online and found the right answer on the second try. A couple of commands in the Run box, and voila! once again I look like I know what I'm doing. Appearances can be deceiving!
We had a great time visiting David and Heather, the CMS missionaries stationed here. They have a beautiful house, a multiroom round brick house with a high grass roof. It's cool and lovely. Heather had made mulberry cake. They have a mulberry tree, frangipani, lemongrass, aloe vera, and more, all growing in their yard. We were able to get a sense of the recent history of the area in our conversation with them.
Sylvester Mazawa turned up this evening! He's the pastor of Lui Parish, but we haven't seen him at all till now because he's studying at the Bishop Ngalamu Theological College in Mundri. Sylvester says he'll be at church tomorrow when Jim and I go there. (We offered to walk, but apparently the CUAMM administrator is going to drive us in her car.) FYI, Bishop Ngalamu was the Moru Archbishop of Sudan, about three archbishops back.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Friday as a Day of Rest
We are finished with all our conferences, so today we were at loose ends. Mary went to the hospital with Jim, and I came to the office to help Vasco and Gordon set up their computers' guest accounts and password-protect their own stuff. Etc. We got that done, and I gave them a little tour of Control Panel and all the things one can change from there. After that we worked on searching for info online for a while, and then we looked at the webpage Chris Wright in the Diocese of Bradford has created for Lui. It's just a skeleton, and he wants control of the content to be local, so my task is to build the page with them and then give them the tools to change it. They thought about it for while and then realized that they have a booklet about Lui Diocese with the perfect content. So tomorrow we're going to work on creating the page. Also tomorrow, Vasco and I will work on uploading photos from his camera to the computer and then resizing them so they can be emailed without breaking the bank.
I've kind of gotten to know Lorna, who is taking care of us this trip. We are speaking Arabic together, which is great for me. At first, she was just using a word or two, but now she speaks rapid Juba Arabic, and I pick up just enough to get what she means and verify that I've understood by replying in some mix of Juba, Cairo, and Modern Standard Arabic. She giggles, but it works. So she's been excited to be able to find out that we liked the rooster we had for lunch and we love bananas and mango, and she was able to ask me for headache medicine and then come back and say it worked and could she have more for six o'clock please. I asked her if she was in the Mothers' Union English class, and she told me no, it's at 2:00, and she has to be working in the house of 'the man' at that time. The real coup for me, though, was Jim telling me that Lorna came and tried to talk to him about something and asked for me to come translate and then was frustrated that I wasn't there. Finally, so many years of studying Arabic are truly useful! I have to say, too, that in limiting my baggage to 15 kg, I didn't bring anything to read in English, just one slim novel in Arabic. I knew if I brought anything in English, I wouldn't read the Arabic novel, but thought maybe if I brought only Arabic, I'd get faster at reading it. It has worked! I've actually read over 100 pages and have hopes of finishing the novel before we leave Lui! (If you know me at all, you will know how much this means to me :)
I understand that some of you are wondering why we aren't posting photos. I do apologize: The thing is that we are limited to 1.5 gb of data per month on our VSAT account, and I don't know yet what that's going to look like. I promise that my first or second day home I will upload photos from this trip.
We had quite a conversation with Ramsey last night about the Chinese presence here. Seems there are Chinese in Mundri building some kind of factory. And according to him, Sudan is selling 80% of its oil to China.
Some of you might be wondering about Mama Jenifa. She is still not really well -- as we knew in January -- and so she's still staying in Mundri with family there. I finally realized that her absence explains the lack of buni (coffee) this time; Mary had Sudanese fresh-roasted coffee in Buwagyi, but otherwise we haven't seen it.
I guess I also said "Peter is better" without having said "Peter is not well." We think he had pulled a muscle in his back; he was in terrible pain for quite a while. He's now up and around, going to the hospital with just an afternoon rest, but is walking with a cane.
We got a little more time with Gordon last night, too. He gets up every morning to work in his fields at 6 a.m. His compound is a couple of kilometers east of Lui, beyond one of the characteristic rocks. Besides his resident family, he routinely hosts apparently hordes of relatives who've brought sick people to Lui Hospital. He grows corn, potatoes, cassava, and sorghum to feed them all. Just because I like to talk about food, I will mention that he said South Sudan's watermelon isn't very good, but the north grows wonderful sweet watermelon. Just thought you'd like to know...
Jim and Mary and I have spent some time this afternoon thinking about the companion relationship and what we should be doing here. I think they'll have useful observations for the committee in Missouri when we get back.
I've kind of gotten to know Lorna, who is taking care of us this trip. We are speaking Arabic together, which is great for me. At first, she was just using a word or two, but now she speaks rapid Juba Arabic, and I pick up just enough to get what she means and verify that I've understood by replying in some mix of Juba, Cairo, and Modern Standard Arabic. She giggles, but it works. So she's been excited to be able to find out that we liked the rooster we had for lunch and we love bananas and mango, and she was able to ask me for headache medicine and then come back and say it worked and could she have more for six o'clock please. I asked her if she was in the Mothers' Union English class, and she told me no, it's at 2:00, and she has to be working in the house of 'the man' at that time. The real coup for me, though, was Jim telling me that Lorna came and tried to talk to him about something and asked for me to come translate and then was frustrated that I wasn't there. Finally, so many years of studying Arabic are truly useful! I have to say, too, that in limiting my baggage to 15 kg, I didn't bring anything to read in English, just one slim novel in Arabic. I knew if I brought anything in English, I wouldn't read the Arabic novel, but thought maybe if I brought only Arabic, I'd get faster at reading it. It has worked! I've actually read over 100 pages and have hopes of finishing the novel before we leave Lui! (If you know me at all, you will know how much this means to me :)
I understand that some of you are wondering why we aren't posting photos. I do apologize: The thing is that we are limited to 1.5 gb of data per month on our VSAT account, and I don't know yet what that's going to look like. I promise that my first or second day home I will upload photos from this trip.
We had quite a conversation with Ramsey last night about the Chinese presence here. Seems there are Chinese in Mundri building some kind of factory. And according to him, Sudan is selling 80% of its oil to China.
Some of you might be wondering about Mama Jenifa. She is still not really well -- as we knew in January -- and so she's still staying in Mundri with family there. I finally realized that her absence explains the lack of buni (coffee) this time; Mary had Sudanese fresh-roasted coffee in Buwagyi, but otherwise we haven't seen it.
I guess I also said "Peter is better" without having said "Peter is not well." We think he had pulled a muscle in his back; he was in terrible pain for quite a while. He's now up and around, going to the hospital with just an afternoon rest, but is walking with a cane.
We got a little more time with Gordon last night, too. He gets up every morning to work in his fields at 6 a.m. His compound is a couple of kilometers east of Lui, beyond one of the characteristic rocks. Besides his resident family, he routinely hosts apparently hordes of relatives who've brought sick people to Lui Hospital. He grows corn, potatoes, cassava, and sorghum to feed them all. Just because I like to talk about food, I will mention that he said South Sudan's watermelon isn't very good, but the north grows wonderful sweet watermelon. Just thought you'd like to know...
Jim and Mary and I have spent some time this afternoon thinking about the companion relationship and what we should be doing here. I think they'll have useful observations for the committee in Missouri when we get back.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Changes
One of Bishop Bullen's famous quotes is "Change, change, you must change, or change will change you." He says this to the clergy and people of Lui a lot when he is urging them to do something in particular. Lui Diocese and Moruland seem to have taken the charge to heart -- things are changing before my eyes.
The big news today was that I saw a man in a galibaya walking down the road. I asked Gordon if the man is a Muslim. He said, Oh, yeah. I said I thought there were no Muslims in Moruland. He said, Well, there are now. Apparently there are Muslims here with shops in the market, and it's no problem. Gordon says Muslims and Christians get along fine as long as the government leaves them all alone. I fo.und the conversation very heartening.
Before the rest of the teachers' conference, Mary and I walked to Lunjini School and addressed the assembled 570+ children. Seriously. We were pretty much wiped out before we even started our adult ed meeting, day 2, at 10:30. We were running an hour late, but we kind of thought we'd stop at 3:00 anyway. However, the students didn't want to do that; we kept going till 3:45, answering questions about the use of adverbs, the difference between the past participle and the past tense, and the use of interjections. (Have any of you thought about interjections since 4th grade?!) Four of our eight participants gave a demo lesson using materials they teach, and we gave them some feedback and discussed especially how they could incorporate kinesthetic activities into their lessons.
Getting back to change, there is an electric light in the office that runs when the generator is on. Today there is an extension of it that runs to the middle of the room and is hooked up to a compact fluorescent bulb!!
And the World Harvest Missioners at Mundri have some new staff members. We met Larissa today, who is there for a couple of years, I think. WHM works in a very sensible way, as far as I can tell; Larissa is working on learning the language and understanding the community before she begins any kind of project. (Crazy, right?)
We are done with the formal part of our program. Tomorrow I'll be doing office stuff with Vasco and Gordon. Saturday we have more Moru lessons and English tea with the CMS missionaries here, David and Heather. Sunday we go to our respective sister parishes, and Monday we see the new diocesan center site and PACK!! Tuesday we're off.
The big news today was that I saw a man in a galibaya walking down the road. I asked Gordon if the man is a Muslim. He said, Oh, yeah. I said I thought there were no Muslims in Moruland. He said, Well, there are now. Apparently there are Muslims here with shops in the market, and it's no problem. Gordon says Muslims and Christians get along fine as long as the government leaves them all alone. I fo.und the conversation very heartening.
Before the rest of the teachers' conference, Mary and I walked to Lunjini School and addressed the assembled 570+ children. Seriously. We were pretty much wiped out before we even started our adult ed meeting, day 2, at 10:30. We were running an hour late, but we kind of thought we'd stop at 3:00 anyway. However, the students didn't want to do that; we kept going till 3:45, answering questions about the use of adverbs, the difference between the past participle and the past tense, and the use of interjections. (Have any of you thought about interjections since 4th grade?!) Four of our eight participants gave a demo lesson using materials they teach, and we gave them some feedback and discussed especially how they could incorporate kinesthetic activities into their lessons.
Getting back to change, there is an electric light in the office that runs when the generator is on. Today there is an extension of it that runs to the middle of the room and is hooked up to a compact fluorescent bulb!!
And the World Harvest Missioners at Mundri have some new staff members. We met Larissa today, who is there for a couple of years, I think. WHM works in a very sensible way, as far as I can tell; Larissa is working on learning the language and understanding the community before she begins any kind of project. (Crazy, right?)
We are done with the formal part of our program. Tomorrow I'll be doing office stuff with Vasco and Gordon. Saturday we have more Moru lessons and English tea with the CMS missionaries here, David and Heather. Sunday we go to our respective sister parishes, and Monday we see the new diocesan center site and PACK!! Tuesday we're off.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Recovery Mode
I just wrote a long blog entry, but Blogger 'decided' to dump it. Here's the digest version, I guess:
Peter Knight is feeling better but not fully recovered yet. He visited the hospital today to see how things are going in the hands of CUAMM and the doctor from Juba. (James is a Mundari man who grew up in Khartoum and was educated there. Jim has a lot of respect for him.) Then Peter came and sat in the office compound under the mango tree, so Jim got to meet him and I got to catch up with him a bit. He confirmed Jim's sense that things at the hospital are much better than they were when Deb and Dan did their assessment in December/January.
Stephen left for Juba this morning on the Mundri Express. He's renewing his passport so he can go to Kampala to get the grinding mill parts taken care of and see Lillian and David. Margaret's brother Peter sent her some chicken feed from Nairobi so maybe the chickens in the chicken house will develop faster. It seems to be stored in the Mothers' Union office and to have gotten a bit damp in the rain last night, so it stinks a lot here in the diocesan office next door.
It rained all night, but everyone says it hardly rained. The sand here is very absorbent!The only apparent consequence of the rain is that the flies are more energetic and abundant.
Today I spent time with Gordon and Vasco working out how they can teach pastors and teachers to use computers and the Internet. Now that we have the VSAT system, it is more likely to be affordable; they'd been sheltering our diocese from the cost of sharing with others here. But I have to help them set up profiles to guard their files from others, and we need to turn off images in Firefox. The other thing I did today was fix the wireless connection on Vasco's computer. I was all set to phone the techs in Kampala, but I ended up figuring it out myself. This makes me almost as happy as being able to pull off the pastors' conference -- it's not my field, but I can do it!
The adult ed conference is going pretty well. It seems like adults are taught like children here, so we are focusing on how adults are different and what they can do to teach them more effectively. The top 3 problems faced by these adult ed teachers were pretty much deja vu for me: lack of training and pay for teachers, lack of suitable materials, and students failing to persist in their studies. Since I spend huge amounts of my time at work trying to deal with the last, I felt well equipped to describe the problem, but I suspect I made our methods of addressing it sound more effective than they are! Student persistence is a universal problem, and teachers are never paid enough and never have all the materials they think they need.
Tomorrow we are asking them to bring some of their materials and be prepared to talk about how they would teach a typical lesson in a way that works for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners (all new ideas to them). We will also reread a text on the adult learner as an ESL lesson (Mary did it with them today as a reading class, like she'd do in her Forest Park classroom), and we'll address whatever issues of English language they decide to bring to us. The hardest thing for me about this conference is how little time we have vs how much I want to discuss.
Lunch today was again just bread and chicken. Breakfast is always bread, but we do have epekyidise (ep-eh-chee-de-see), which is a yummy mix of honey (epe) and peanut butter or sesame butter. Not sure if I'm spelling the word right except for the epe part.
Peter Knight is feeling better but not fully recovered yet. He visited the hospital today to see how things are going in the hands of CUAMM and the doctor from Juba. (James is a Mundari man who grew up in Khartoum and was educated there. Jim has a lot of respect for him.) Then Peter came and sat in the office compound under the mango tree, so Jim got to meet him and I got to catch up with him a bit. He confirmed Jim's sense that things at the hospital are much better than they were when Deb and Dan did their assessment in December/January.
Stephen left for Juba this morning on the Mundri Express. He's renewing his passport so he can go to Kampala to get the grinding mill parts taken care of and see Lillian and David. Margaret's brother Peter sent her some chicken feed from Nairobi so maybe the chickens in the chicken house will develop faster. It seems to be stored in the Mothers' Union office and to have gotten a bit damp in the rain last night, so it stinks a lot here in the diocesan office next door.
It rained all night, but everyone says it hardly rained. The sand here is very absorbent!The only apparent consequence of the rain is that the flies are more energetic and abundant.
Today I spent time with Gordon and Vasco working out how they can teach pastors and teachers to use computers and the Internet. Now that we have the VSAT system, it is more likely to be affordable; they'd been sheltering our diocese from the cost of sharing with others here. But I have to help them set up profiles to guard their files from others, and we need to turn off images in Firefox. The other thing I did today was fix the wireless connection on Vasco's computer. I was all set to phone the techs in Kampala, but I ended up figuring it out myself. This makes me almost as happy as being able to pull off the pastors' conference -- it's not my field, but I can do it!
The adult ed conference is going pretty well. It seems like adults are taught like children here, so we are focusing on how adults are different and what they can do to teach them more effectively. The top 3 problems faced by these adult ed teachers were pretty much deja vu for me: lack of training and pay for teachers, lack of suitable materials, and students failing to persist in their studies. Since I spend huge amounts of my time at work trying to deal with the last, I felt well equipped to describe the problem, but I suspect I made our methods of addressing it sound more effective than they are! Student persistence is a universal problem, and teachers are never paid enough and never have all the materials they think they need.
Tomorrow we are asking them to bring some of their materials and be prepared to talk about how they would teach a typical lesson in a way that works for auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners (all new ideas to them). We will also reread a text on the adult learner as an ESL lesson (Mary did it with them today as a reading class, like she'd do in her Forest Park classroom), and we'll address whatever issues of English language they decide to bring to us. The hardest thing for me about this conference is how little time we have vs how much I want to discuss.
Lunch today was again just bread and chicken. Breakfast is always bread, but we do have epekyidise (ep-eh-chee-de-see), which is a yummy mix of honey (epe) and peanut butter or sesame butter. Not sure if I'm spelling the word right except for the epe part.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Pastors' Conference
Today was day 2 of the pastors' conference. I decided we'd better deal with their most pressing issues, even though they were not really about contemporary culture. So I taught them two English words: vent and brainstorm. We looked back at our list of topics and identified all those relevant to the life of pastors. Basically they boil down to the fact that pastors aren't paid. Both venting and brainstorming were new concepts, and the conversation went well. Several people thanked me for giving them the opportunity to speak openly about their problems. Actually it worked out pretty well -- using "I am a pastor's wife, so I know something about the burdens pastors carry" gave me the rhetorical stance to pull it off.
Here is what it's like to be a priest in the diocese of Lui: You have no salary from the church. You have to cultivate sorghum to keep your family alive. You don't really have the resources to buy clothing for the family, much less clergy shirts and vestments. You have trouble scraping up the income to pay your children's school fees -- registration, uniforms, and exam fees, plus room and board, at least for girls, in secondary school. You have no money for health care for yourself and your family. You are so busy cultivating that it is very difficult to find time for pastoral calls and work in the church. You have almost no formal theological education and no training on modern technology. You might not have gone beyond about 4th grade, actually. If you want to send a message to someone, it may or may not get there; you have no phone, mail service, Internet, or car. You may not even have a bicycle. That was venting.
When we came to brainstorming, I talked about the idea of base pay and asked them what they would consider reasonable base pay here. They went off to the other side of the cathedral, away from our team and the diocesan staff, to discuss this. They came back with the figure 500 Sudanese pounds per month, roughly 200 USD. I asked them how they could generate it. They thought that if each archdeaconry had a large farm, it could generate pay for pastors. The end result of that conversation is that they really need a tractor to cultivate larger plots so they can earn money by farming. But this seems hopeful. The other track of thinking was encouraging congregations to tithe.
So then we moved on to brainstorm the various problems caused by no salary. We talked about having the Mothers' Union sewing shop create local vestments. (Mary and I put in a plug for using local fabric and embroidery instead of wearing used woolens from the UK and US.) We talked about the possibility of church schools waiving fees for pastors' children. This is a no-go. I said more than I realized I knew or believed about the relationship between a priest and his or her parish, and suggested that even if the congregation couldn't pay a salary, they could agree to provide school tuition. And I talked a little bit about stewardship in general and the responsibilities of laypeople. Then we looked at one of Paul's passages of encouragement for the church and talked about what the bible promises and how God can carry us through even when our own schemes and plans fail us.
I think it went well, but it was nevertheless quite depressing. At the point when I felt pretty hopeless, the pastors came back with comments about their faith in God to take care of them that cheered me up, and Mary gave a response to all their discussions that wrapped everything up very nicely, so we broke for lunch in relatively good humor. After lunch Jim returned and showed them a condom and demonstrated putting it on a stick that Stephen had supplied. They had kind of an uproarious good time with the whole idea, but they also took it seriously and made suggestions about how they could teach people to use condoms without condoning extramarital sex. Jim gave them a chance to talk about other public-health issues, and they had many questions. At the end of the conference, Morris made a very nice speech in reply to us.
Lunch today was beef in a lovely sauce, rice, greens, and mango!
Here is what it's like to be a priest in the diocese of Lui: You have no salary from the church. You have to cultivate sorghum to keep your family alive. You don't really have the resources to buy clothing for the family, much less clergy shirts and vestments. You have trouble scraping up the income to pay your children's school fees -- registration, uniforms, and exam fees, plus room and board, at least for girls, in secondary school. You have no money for health care for yourself and your family. You are so busy cultivating that it is very difficult to find time for pastoral calls and work in the church. You have almost no formal theological education and no training on modern technology. You might not have gone beyond about 4th grade, actually. If you want to send a message to someone, it may or may not get there; you have no phone, mail service, Internet, or car. You may not even have a bicycle. That was venting.
When we came to brainstorming, I talked about the idea of base pay and asked them what they would consider reasonable base pay here. They went off to the other side of the cathedral, away from our team and the diocesan staff, to discuss this. They came back with the figure 500 Sudanese pounds per month, roughly 200 USD. I asked them how they could generate it. They thought that if each archdeaconry had a large farm, it could generate pay for pastors. The end result of that conversation is that they really need a tractor to cultivate larger plots so they can earn money by farming. But this seems hopeful. The other track of thinking was encouraging congregations to tithe.
So then we moved on to brainstorm the various problems caused by no salary. We talked about having the Mothers' Union sewing shop create local vestments. (Mary and I put in a plug for using local fabric and embroidery instead of wearing used woolens from the UK and US.) We talked about the possibility of church schools waiving fees for pastors' children. This is a no-go. I said more than I realized I knew or believed about the relationship between a priest and his or her parish, and suggested that even if the congregation couldn't pay a salary, they could agree to provide school tuition. And I talked a little bit about stewardship in general and the responsibilities of laypeople. Then we looked at one of Paul's passages of encouragement for the church and talked about what the bible promises and how God can carry us through even when our own schemes and plans fail us.
I think it went well, but it was nevertheless quite depressing. At the point when I felt pretty hopeless, the pastors came back with comments about their faith in God to take care of them that cheered me up, and Mary gave a response to all their discussions that wrapped everything up very nicely, so we broke for lunch in relatively good humor. After lunch Jim returned and showed them a condom and demonstrated putting it on a stick that Stephen had supplied. They had kind of an uproarious good time with the whole idea, but they also took it seriously and made suggestions about how they could teach people to use condoms without condoning extramarital sex. Jim gave them a chance to talk about other public-health issues, and they had many questions. At the end of the conference, Morris made a very nice speech in reply to us.
Lunch today was beef in a lovely sauce, rice, greens, and mango!
Monday, May 25, 2009
End of Week 1
Today we have been in Lui for a week. We celebrated by buying cold soda at the market. (Jim even had a Ugandan beer! But don't worry, we did check and double-check with Stephen that it was OK for a church person from the US to do that.) We also bought some condoms because some of the pastors admitted to never having seen one. We bought enough for them to take away and pass their new learning on. We also discovered birth control pills at the pharmacy in the market.
I guess that leads me to a more organized report on the pastors' conference so far. As with the youth, we started by asking them what pressing topics they wanted to discuss (right after establishing our "credentials" for doing a pastors' conference at all...). We had established the contemporary-society context of the conference, but some of them had trouble moving off internal church issues like pastors not getting paid, churches needing permanent roofs, and such like. Still, we ended up with a broader list, and we made a good start today. Several of their concerns revolved around their young people (18-25), so we started there. Mary reported to the pastors on the youth conference, and that gave us a chance to group the pastors by archdeaconry (all but Lakamadi are here) to discuss how they can support their youth. We are trying to encourage them to work with who and what they have instead of focusing on the young people who don't come to church and the money they don't have to buy what they want. In the process, we have had some very frank conversations about getting money from abroad and the strings that can be attached -- I am trying to be useful by being honest since I can't be useful by being rich.
After lunch, Jim came to talk with the pastors about their public health opportunities and especially HIV/AIDS. He did a very nice job of articulating the tension between what we preach (faithfulness) and what we know is happening and how we can address it (unprotected nonmonogamous sex). The pastors have been pretty forthcoming with questions and comments throughout the day, and I look forward to talking with them about internal church issues, church and state, and money/stewardship tomorrow. The high point of tomorrow, though, is going to be Condoms 101 :)
We explored the idea of going to Juba on Friday because Jim would really like to see the hospital there. But we jointly decided that it's not worth what it would cost: $350 to hire a car to take us there and back in one day, or $15 each way on the matatu with a $140-each hotel bill because we can't take a matatu there and back in one day.
Lunch today was just bread and chicken.
I hope that -- despite the grim lunch report -- some of you reading my blog are thinking about coming to Lui on the next trip. Applications should be available as soon as I get back with the go-ahead from Bishop Bullen.
A few random things to close:
Do you all think that putting in a ceiling between the metal roof and the room would make the cathedral cooler? That's what the people here want to do, but we are a little skeptical and would like some expert advice. (Somebody call Rick Kuhn and ask him, and post a comment?)
We are trying to offer informational help. If anyone knows about organizations offering scholarships for college or even secondary school in developing countries, please let me know. Also if anyone knows about other development grant opps, I would like to pass the info on here. Jim, Mary, and I have committed lots of our future time to googling on Lui's behalf.
Finally, would the college chaplaincies be interested in having sister relationships with the Lui youth? I think the youth here are interested.
I guess that leads me to a more organized report on the pastors' conference so far. As with the youth, we started by asking them what pressing topics they wanted to discuss (right after establishing our "credentials" for doing a pastors' conference at all...). We had established the contemporary-society context of the conference, but some of them had trouble moving off internal church issues like pastors not getting paid, churches needing permanent roofs, and such like. Still, we ended up with a broader list, and we made a good start today. Several of their concerns revolved around their young people (18-25), so we started there. Mary reported to the pastors on the youth conference, and that gave us a chance to group the pastors by archdeaconry (all but Lakamadi are here) to discuss how they can support their youth. We are trying to encourage them to work with who and what they have instead of focusing on the young people who don't come to church and the money they don't have to buy what they want. In the process, we have had some very frank conversations about getting money from abroad and the strings that can be attached -- I am trying to be useful by being honest since I can't be useful by being rich.
After lunch, Jim came to talk with the pastors about their public health opportunities and especially HIV/AIDS. He did a very nice job of articulating the tension between what we preach (faithfulness) and what we know is happening and how we can address it (unprotected nonmonogamous sex). The pastors have been pretty forthcoming with questions and comments throughout the day, and I look forward to talking with them about internal church issues, church and state, and money/stewardship tomorrow. The high point of tomorrow, though, is going to be Condoms 101 :)
We explored the idea of going to Juba on Friday because Jim would really like to see the hospital there. But we jointly decided that it's not worth what it would cost: $350 to hire a car to take us there and back in one day, or $15 each way on the matatu with a $140-each hotel bill because we can't take a matatu there and back in one day.
Lunch today was just bread and chicken.
I hope that -- despite the grim lunch report -- some of you reading my blog are thinking about coming to Lui on the next trip. Applications should be available as soon as I get back with the go-ahead from Bishop Bullen.
A few random things to close:
Do you all think that putting in a ceiling between the metal roof and the room would make the cathedral cooler? That's what the people here want to do, but we are a little skeptical and would like some expert advice. (Somebody call Rick Kuhn and ask him, and post a comment?)
We are trying to offer informational help. If anyone knows about organizations offering scholarships for college or even secondary school in developing countries, please let me know. Also if anyone knows about other development grant opps, I would like to pass the info on here. Jim, Mary, and I have committed lots of our future time to googling on Lui's behalf.
Finally, would the college chaplaincies be interested in having sister relationships with the Lui youth? I think the youth here are interested.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
From the Ministry of the Alleviation of Boredom
When Mary got back into the car after attending church and preaching at Buwagyi today, she said, "Well, at least we must be alleviating boredom in these little villages when we show up." It's true: Clearly everyone is captivated by our presence and gives us a wonderful welcome. We arrived at Doro, then Buwagyi, then Mideh to be greeted by singing, drumming bands of youth, and the welcome continued from there. I've probably written a lot in the past about church in Lui, so I will let Mary blog about that over at LuiNotes. (I don't think she's going to blog today; she mostly wants to lie down from the heat, but John Noel hasn't shown up with the keys to our rooms yet, as far as we know. He even locked the bathrooms, but luckily Stephen had a key that opened one of them.)
I should write about Stephen a little because so many people know and love him. I got to sit by him in church today, and it was such a joy to listen to him singing Moru songs and clapping his hands. He is an excellent translator and kept me posted on what was coming next, and also let me follow along with the service in his hymnal/prayer book. I was actually able to sing! Stephen is the perfect liaison between missioners and the Moru; he understands us so well and intuits what context we need in order to understand whatever issue we're discussing. We are having some great conversations with him and Ramsey and Canon Baringwa, learning a lot about Moru history and who has been where when.
Stephen, Margaret, and I stopped at the IDP camp at Wito after dropping Mary, Bishop Bullen, and his whole entourage off at Buwagyi. (Gordon and Jim stopped at Doro.) I got to ask the IDPs some questions about their conditions. Apparently they have been there since January and plan to stay indefinitely because their tukuls in the Mundri diocese were burned down by the LRA. They didn't get to harvest their crops last December, and they are just now trying to cultivate in Wito. They have gotten a little food from the UN's World Food Programme, Oxfam, and the Mundri Relief and Development Association, but that seems to have been one-time assistance and not a regular stream of food. The food aid that came from Norway drove right through Lui but didn't stop till it got to Mundri diocese, according to Vasco. The children in the IDP camp are sadly bedraggled looking; a nice UN drop of used clothing would be really helpful. I did see some bicycles and some chickens, and the tukuls being built are first-rate, but these folks badly need more help. If anyone from Episcopal Relief and Development is reading this, could you please consider assisting the IDPs in Lui Diocese directly? None of the money you gave through SUDRA came here.
Stephen made a point of letting me see some children with nodding disease at the IDP camp and then discuss it with people in Mideh too. Jim is very interested in this matter and is doing some research online from here. The children are unable to interact normally but desperately want to connect. Their legs are so weak that they have become mishapen and even twisted at the ankles, and they have eye damage, and they drool. We also discussed nodding disease yesterday with Helen.
As Winnie the Pooh always says, "Tut, tut, it looks like rain." I'm only saying tut tut because Pooh does; in fact, rain would be a huge blessing. Everyone is waiting for rain so they can plant; the fields are hoed, but no seeds go in until after the next rain. Tomorrow starts the pastors' conference -- please pray for us as we three laypeople attempt to discuss the pressing issues of contemporary society with a room full of pastors!
I should write about Stephen a little because so many people know and love him. I got to sit by him in church today, and it was such a joy to listen to him singing Moru songs and clapping his hands. He is an excellent translator and kept me posted on what was coming next, and also let me follow along with the service in his hymnal/prayer book. I was actually able to sing! Stephen is the perfect liaison between missioners and the Moru; he understands us so well and intuits what context we need in order to understand whatever issue we're discussing. We are having some great conversations with him and Ramsey and Canon Baringwa, learning a lot about Moru history and who has been where when.
Stephen, Margaret, and I stopped at the IDP camp at Wito after dropping Mary, Bishop Bullen, and his whole entourage off at Buwagyi. (Gordon and Jim stopped at Doro.) I got to ask the IDPs some questions about their conditions. Apparently they have been there since January and plan to stay indefinitely because their tukuls in the Mundri diocese were burned down by the LRA. They didn't get to harvest their crops last December, and they are just now trying to cultivate in Wito. They have gotten a little food from the UN's World Food Programme, Oxfam, and the Mundri Relief and Development Association, but that seems to have been one-time assistance and not a regular stream of food. The food aid that came from Norway drove right through Lui but didn't stop till it got to Mundri diocese, according to Vasco. The children in the IDP camp are sadly bedraggled looking; a nice UN drop of used clothing would be really helpful. I did see some bicycles and some chickens, and the tukuls being built are first-rate, but these folks badly need more help. If anyone from Episcopal Relief and Development is reading this, could you please consider assisting the IDPs in Lui Diocese directly? None of the money you gave through SUDRA came here.
Stephen made a point of letting me see some children with nodding disease at the IDP camp and then discuss it with people in Mideh too. Jim is very interested in this matter and is doing some research online from here. The children are unable to interact normally but desperately want to connect. Their legs are so weak that they have become mishapen and even twisted at the ankles, and they have eye damage, and they drool. We also discussed nodding disease yesterday with Helen.
As Winnie the Pooh always says, "Tut, tut, it looks like rain." I'm only saying tut tut because Pooh does; in fact, rain would be a huge blessing. Everyone is waiting for rain so they can plant; the fields are hoed, but no seeds go in until after the next rain. Tomorrow starts the pastors' conference -- please pray for us as we three laypeople attempt to discuss the pressing issues of contemporary society with a room full of pastors!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
It's just another day
Somehow I always want to get my titles from the lyrics of old songs.
Yesterday we walked to Lunjini school. It has changed dramatically since January; the two-classroom building that Margaret's family donated is already in use, along with another new building. Yet another is underway. The carpenter shop is still across from the school, but two more have sprung up since we were last here. The market has also expanded quite a bit since January. And -- not entirely on the positive side -- there are electric lights in the payat and the office here -- nice when you want to get something done after about 7:30, but the ones in and outside the payat interfere with stargazing.
Jim and I have weaseled out of preaching tomorrow, thanks to the graciousness of Stephen Dokolo and Vasco. Despite my phrasing, I think this is the right thing -- I for one am no preacher, and it feels wrong to come here and try to do what I am not called to do in my own faith community. We'll see what happens on Pentecost when Jim and I go to Lui Parish, though; we aren't completely off the homiletic hook yet. However, I have to say thanks to Emily for the kind words and very helpful straight-to-the-heart-of-it advice on preaching!
Today we had one of our weekly Moru lessons with Morris. We spent about 2.5 hours before lunch and another .5 or .75 after. We made it through the entire alphabet, collected lots of useful vocabulary, and learned how to ask some key questions. Morris is a wonderful teacher. We also sat for a while with Helen, the secretary of Mundri East's office of the SRRC, Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. She filled us in on some things about the hospital and nodding disease. Which reminds me to mention that we finally met David and Heather, the CMS missionaries stationed in Lui, yesterday. We are getting the sense that the story of what has happened at the hospital is more complicated than we heard before, and Jim says that everything has changed since Deb and Dan did their evaluation in December/January.
Yesterday I wrote my blog entry in my notebook but didn't get to post it, so I guess today you get two for the price of one. Here are yesterday's musing:
We blog so much about Lui that we tend not to say much about our teammates from the diocese of Missouri. Maybe that's a mistake, because the time with our fellow Missouri Episcopalians is a real benefit to joining a Lui mission. Part of the mission-prep process is team building; it is -- rightly -- a primary goal of the initial team meting and the all-day retreat we have before going, right up there with discussing immunizations and suitable apparel for Lui.
But what we can do in Missouri pales in comparison with the way a team coalesces once we are on African soil. Without recourse to radio, TV, Internet, or other friends and family most of the time, we're all we have of home and the familiar, so when we're left to our own devices in the Lui guest compound, we talk. (Even if you wanted to, you can't bring enough paperback novels to be antisocial within the 15 kg weight limit!)
And our talk isn't just idle chat. What usually happens is that an experience in Lui becomes the springboard for processing, or at least sharing, previous important moments, or discussing life issues. So Jim and Mary and I, all in our 50s and 60s, have decades' worth of similar and diverse experiences to talk about. At home we'd never get close to these topics. And on the December trip, I really got a better ideas of Deb Goldfeder's six-month sojourn in Lui, and I had a chance to imagine more deeply what it is to be 25 or 30 in the church today by listening to Emily and Joe.
Maybe we could do this at home over a long time, or maybe it could happen in a well-designed house-church or other small-group program, but for most of us, it doesn't. So thse connections we make with one another in Lui are truly a gift, and I'm grateful to our diocese and the Diocese of Lui for it. It reminds me of an old proverb, Russian or Yiddish perhaps, that ended a book our kids loved as children, The Treasure:
Sometimes you have to travel far to find what is near.
Yesterday we walked to Lunjini school. It has changed dramatically since January; the two-classroom building that Margaret's family donated is already in use, along with another new building. Yet another is underway. The carpenter shop is still across from the school, but two more have sprung up since we were last here. The market has also expanded quite a bit since January. And -- not entirely on the positive side -- there are electric lights in the payat and the office here -- nice when you want to get something done after about 7:30, but the ones in and outside the payat interfere with stargazing.
Jim and I have weaseled out of preaching tomorrow, thanks to the graciousness of Stephen Dokolo and Vasco. Despite my phrasing, I think this is the right thing -- I for one am no preacher, and it feels wrong to come here and try to do what I am not called to do in my own faith community. We'll see what happens on Pentecost when Jim and I go to Lui Parish, though; we aren't completely off the homiletic hook yet. However, I have to say thanks to Emily for the kind words and very helpful straight-to-the-heart-of-it advice on preaching!
Today we had one of our weekly Moru lessons with Morris. We spent about 2.5 hours before lunch and another .5 or .75 after. We made it through the entire alphabet, collected lots of useful vocabulary, and learned how to ask some key questions. Morris is a wonderful teacher. We also sat for a while with Helen, the secretary of Mundri East's office of the SRRC, Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. She filled us in on some things about the hospital and nodding disease. Which reminds me to mention that we finally met David and Heather, the CMS missionaries stationed in Lui, yesterday. We are getting the sense that the story of what has happened at the hospital is more complicated than we heard before, and Jim says that everything has changed since Deb and Dan did their evaluation in December/January.
Yesterday I wrote my blog entry in my notebook but didn't get to post it, so I guess today you get two for the price of one. Here are yesterday's musing:
We blog so much about Lui that we tend not to say much about our teammates from the diocese of Missouri. Maybe that's a mistake, because the time with our fellow Missouri Episcopalians is a real benefit to joining a Lui mission. Part of the mission-prep process is team building; it is -- rightly -- a primary goal of the initial team meting and the all-day retreat we have before going, right up there with discussing immunizations and suitable apparel for Lui.
But what we can do in Missouri pales in comparison with the way a team coalesces once we are on African soil. Without recourse to radio, TV, Internet, or other friends and family most of the time, we're all we have of home and the familiar, so when we're left to our own devices in the Lui guest compound, we talk. (Even if you wanted to, you can't bring enough paperback novels to be antisocial within the 15 kg weight limit!)
And our talk isn't just idle chat. What usually happens is that an experience in Lui becomes the springboard for processing, or at least sharing, previous important moments, or discussing life issues. So Jim and Mary and I, all in our 50s and 60s, have decades' worth of similar and diverse experiences to talk about. At home we'd never get close to these topics. And on the December trip, I really got a better ideas of Deb Goldfeder's six-month sojourn in Lui, and I had a chance to imagine more deeply what it is to be 25 or 30 in the church today by listening to Emily and Joe.
Maybe we could do this at home over a long time, or maybe it could happen in a well-designed house-church or other small-group program, but for most of us, it doesn't. So thse connections we make with one another in Lui are truly a gift, and I'm grateful to our diocese and the Diocese of Lui for it. It reminds me of an old proverb, Russian or Yiddish perhaps, that ended a book our kids loved as children, The Treasure:
Sometimes you have to travel far to find what is near.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Getting on with the Work
This morning we were all to start the conference for youth leaders. We were going to start at 9:30. We were going to break at 10:30 for five minutes, then at 11 for tea, then at 1 for lunch.
That's not what happened.
It's just as well, because we didn't have a well-thought-out coordinated plan for who would do what. As it turned out, Jim got to go to the hospital and do rounds and meet with the two doctors there. So Mary and I were going to go. But then, about 9:25, Mary, Vasco, Stephen, Gordon, and I started talking about funding priorities. At 9:35 or a bit later, I said, 'Either we have to discuss this later, or Mary needs to go start the youth conference and I'll stay to talk these things over with you.' So they decided Mary could do the youth conference just fine without me.
And of course she did. She went and implemented our plan for eliciting key topics from the youth, and a bit later Jim joined her and they talked about HIV/AIDS and other medical and sociomedical issues for the rest of the day. The youth apparently were active participants and enjoyed the conference, which continues tomorrow. I felt a bit like I was throwing Mary to the wolves, but I hoped -- and I was right -- that having the group to herself would actually allow her to make a more coherent thing of the conference than it would have been if it had started out as a three-person juggling show.
Along the way, the break and tea didn't ever happen, and lunch was about half an hour late.
Meanwhile, I spent the day discussing the donations our diocese is holding for Lui and how they can best be put to use here. We discussed microfinance, which they are very keen to get into. We discussed the need for continuing support for Lunjini teachers. We discussed the bigger projects and the Big Picture. Working with Gordon, Stephen, and Vasco is a real pleasure -- we are very much all on the same wavelength as far as our shared goals go.
We also talked about the experience from January when the Baptists came while Dan, Deb, and I were still here, and it turns out that Vasco and Gordon shared our perspective on that.
Major update: Sumadhura is here. However, they cannot drill any of the wells we want to drill during the rainy season because their equipment just gets stuck on the muddy, rutted roads. I have expressed my concerns about their not drilling early this year after we sent them the money in January. But it's a moot point now. Gordon and I agreed that it's better to wait till February or March and get wells where we want them rather than drill now in only places where their equipment can reach. In fact, SUDRA has given them money for a well at the new location of the diocesan headquarters (aka office). So Sumadhura is drilling that one now and ours next year. We think the money Waters of Hope is raising might be best used for a water tower, but that's still to be discussed further. We didn't decide where to put the new wells; all the places we chose in December have already had wells put in by Oxfam or Hope International Canada or Scopas...
I'm sure there's more I should say, but I can't think what it is for now. Remember I'll be glad to try to find things out if you want to send me questions. Oh, by the way, about preaching: Jim and Mary are going to Buwagi Sunday, and Mary will preach. I will go on to Mideh and preach there (God help them). And then we all go to Lui Parish for Pentecost, and Jim will preach. Feel free to send us preaching pointers :)
That's not what happened.
It's just as well, because we didn't have a well-thought-out coordinated plan for who would do what. As it turned out, Jim got to go to the hospital and do rounds and meet with the two doctors there. So Mary and I were going to go. But then, about 9:25, Mary, Vasco, Stephen, Gordon, and I started talking about funding priorities. At 9:35 or a bit later, I said, 'Either we have to discuss this later, or Mary needs to go start the youth conference and I'll stay to talk these things over with you.' So they decided Mary could do the youth conference just fine without me.
And of course she did. She went and implemented our plan for eliciting key topics from the youth, and a bit later Jim joined her and they talked about HIV/AIDS and other medical and sociomedical issues for the rest of the day. The youth apparently were active participants and enjoyed the conference, which continues tomorrow. I felt a bit like I was throwing Mary to the wolves, but I hoped -- and I was right -- that having the group to herself would actually allow her to make a more coherent thing of the conference than it would have been if it had started out as a three-person juggling show.
Along the way, the break and tea didn't ever happen, and lunch was about half an hour late.
Meanwhile, I spent the day discussing the donations our diocese is holding for Lui and how they can best be put to use here. We discussed microfinance, which they are very keen to get into. We discussed the need for continuing support for Lunjini teachers. We discussed the bigger projects and the Big Picture. Working with Gordon, Stephen, and Vasco is a real pleasure -- we are very much all on the same wavelength as far as our shared goals go.
We also talked about the experience from January when the Baptists came while Dan, Deb, and I were still here, and it turns out that Vasco and Gordon shared our perspective on that.
Major update: Sumadhura is here. However, they cannot drill any of the wells we want to drill during the rainy season because their equipment just gets stuck on the muddy, rutted roads. I have expressed my concerns about their not drilling early this year after we sent them the money in January. But it's a moot point now. Gordon and I agreed that it's better to wait till February or March and get wells where we want them rather than drill now in only places where their equipment can reach. In fact, SUDRA has given them money for a well at the new location of the diocesan headquarters (aka office). So Sumadhura is drilling that one now and ours next year. We think the money Waters of Hope is raising might be best used for a water tower, but that's still to be discussed further. We didn't decide where to put the new wells; all the places we chose in December have already had wells put in by Oxfam or Hope International Canada or Scopas...
I'm sure there's more I should say, but I can't think what it is for now. Remember I'll be glad to try to find things out if you want to send me questions. Oh, by the way, about preaching: Jim and Mary are going to Buwagi Sunday, and Mary will preach. I will go on to Mideh and preach there (God help them). And then we all go to Lui Parish for Pentecost, and Jim will preach. Feel free to send us preaching pointers :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wandi and Kediba
As promised, today we went to Wandi and Kediba. Joe and Tammy, I see what you mean about the road. Jim suggested making t-shirts that say something like, "The road to Hana is nothing. I survived the road to Kediba."
Wandi was great. The school children met us on the road singing and waving branches and then walked us into the church compound. We stood in a circle and exchanged greetings with everyone there and then had lunch and visited for a while. Margaret did a Mothers' Union worker thing.
At Kediba we had water and fresh mangoes coming and tea and biscuits going. In between, we sat under a tree and chatted, and we went to see the grinding mill. It is installed, but it has some damaged parts that have to be repaired or replaced before it can be used. Before leaving town, we met the commissioner of Mundri East County and saw his fabulous CHP/USAID-financed digs.
Something I forgot yesterday: An Italian organization, something like KWAM, but I'm not sure of the name, is partnering with Lui hospital. They have been paying nurses and supplying administrative and other support for several months. Just thought you'd like to know.
Tomorrow we are supposed to convince the young people to get more education and not to get HIV/AIDS. We're going to try to stay up long enough to figure out how to do that.
Wandi was great. The school children met us on the road singing and waving branches and then walked us into the church compound. We stood in a circle and exchanged greetings with everyone there and then had lunch and visited for a while. Margaret did a Mothers' Union worker thing.
At Kediba we had water and fresh mangoes coming and tea and biscuits going. In between, we sat under a tree and chatted, and we went to see the grinding mill. It is installed, but it has some damaged parts that have to be repaired or replaced before it can be used. Before leaving town, we met the commissioner of Mundri East County and saw his fabulous CHP/USAID-financed digs.
Something I forgot yesterday: An Italian organization, something like KWAM, but I'm not sure of the name, is partnering with Lui hospital. They have been paying nurses and supplying administrative and other support for several months. Just thought you'd like to know.
Tomorrow we are supposed to convince the young people to get more education and not to get HIV/AIDS. We're going to try to stay up long enough to figure out how to do that.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
And we're back...
We are safely in Lui. The VSAT system is installed and working -- hence the blog post. Sumadhura hasn't dug a single well; by the time they started for Lesi, it was so muddy that they couldn't get through but got stuck for several days. They did deepen the well at the cathedral, but now they have gone off somewhere else.
Gordon and Vasco have given us our program of activities. Tomorrow we are off to Kediba to see the grinding mill, with a stop to check in at Wandi. Then it's a full schedule of conferences, visits, Moru lessons, and hospital work.
I don't know if we have ever had a team here this late in the rainy season. It is miserably hot and humid. The sweat is pouring off us; I'm not sure if it's possible to drink enough water to compensate.
We got to our compound (no trip to Mundri this time) and were greeted by Canon Kenneth Baringwa, the chairman of the hospital board, who has already begun consulting Jim about everything. Stephen Dokolo is here; his new position as secretary of the diocese will be interrupted one day a week so he can teach church history at the theological college in Mundri. It seems actually to have moved from Khartoum, but right now some IDPs are living in the buildings, so school hasn't started yet! Lillian and David are still in Kampala because of the difficulty of traveling to Lui. Ramsey is here building Lui Parish's new church, and we met the head of TEE for this area, Tricia, who is here visiting Morris and checking on the work.
Enough for now. Thanks for your prayers!
Gordon and Vasco have given us our program of activities. Tomorrow we are off to Kediba to see the grinding mill, with a stop to check in at Wandi. Then it's a full schedule of conferences, visits, Moru lessons, and hospital work.
I don't know if we have ever had a team here this late in the rainy season. It is miserably hot and humid. The sweat is pouring off us; I'm not sure if it's possible to drink enough water to compensate.
We got to our compound (no trip to Mundri this time) and were greeted by Canon Kenneth Baringwa, the chairman of the hospital board, who has already begun consulting Jim about everything. Stephen Dokolo is here; his new position as secretary of the diocese will be interrupted one day a week so he can teach church history at the theological college in Mundri. It seems actually to have moved from Khartoum, but right now some IDPs are living in the buildings, so school hasn't started yet! Lillian and David are still in Kampala because of the difficulty of traveling to Lui. Ramsey is here building Lui Parish's new church, and we met the head of TEE for this area, Tricia, who is here visiting Morris and checking on the work.
Enough for now. Thanks for your prayers!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Kilograms
Hah!! I just have to add for the benefit of the December mission team that all three of us came in at or under the prescribed 15 kilograms and the body weights we reported. We are waiting at Kajjansi, which is much easier than Entebbe. ETA 11.00 am.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Off to Sudan
We are in a cab on the way to Kajansi airfield and our flight into Sudan. Kampala was fun - it is starting to feel very familiar! The next MAF flight is full so Susan is not getting to come. Next mission, Susan! I still don't know if we will have internet in Lui. Please keep us in your prayers. PS n.b. It is impossible to buy a decent water bottle in Kampala and competely impossible to buy any water bottle at all (empty I mean) in the Amsterdam airport. This is not a good thing to forget on a Sudan mission.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
A Day in Kampala
Today started early with a text message from Susan saying she had missed her flight and couldn't get to Kampala in time for tomorrow's flight to Lui. We were hoping she could come tonight or tomorrow and make the Thursday flight, but it's full. So now I'm not sure what's happening except that Jim, Mary, and I are going on to Lui.
Jim has gone to a hospital here to meet a doctor friend with experience he thinks will help him in Lui. He and the cab are coming back for Mary and me, then we'll all be off to the ATM and shopping center. We have to be at Kajansi airfield at 7 tomorrow morning. If you don't see more blog posts, it will mean the Internet isn't working there after all.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Sunday, May 17, 2009
And we're off
Jim, Mary, and I are sitting in Amsterdam strategizing how we can discuss certain aspects of contemporary culture with the pastors in Lui.
So far the flights have been relatively uneventful, but we had a little excitement on the last flight when the flight attendants said something like the famous "Is there a doctor in the house?" Jim went to help out and spent a few minutes assessing the situation. The passenger in distress turned out to be fine, thank goodness, and the whole episode brought some interest to the long boring middle part of the flight. That got us into a fun conversation with the man in front of us, which helped us articulate what we're doing on this trip. An unexpected nice launch for the mission!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Lui's New Website
I'm working on Lui's new website created by Chris in the Diocese of Bradford in England. I hope to sit with Bishop Bullen, Vasco, and Gordon next week and really decide what should go there, and actually work on it with them, with the idea of turning it over to them when they are comfortable with it.
For now I am just trying to put something there to see if I can. The photo-adding feature only allows me to put in a URL for a photo, so I am really writing this post for the purpose of adding the photos I want on that website. I'll post the URL for the website here when I find out if I can actually make something happen.
Great thanks (as Keith Olbermann likes to say) to Chris for building Lui a website!
p.s. Here's the website: www.lui.anglican.org. I was able to add text but the photos didn't upload. I'll figure it out...
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Upcoming Mission -- After May
If you are thinking about applying to go to Lui, you might like advance notice that the next mission will probably be the last week of November (yes, Thanksgiving) and the first week of December, pending approval by Bishop Bullen. One aim of the trip will be to carry out an art project that has long been a dream of Anne Kelsey. More to come on all that, but keep it in mind!
Countdown
Four months down, five days to go: The current mission team leaves for Lui next Saturday. Well, sort of. Jim, Mary, and I are flying out of Lambert St. Louis Saturday. There is a diocesan send-off at 12:15 in the airport chapel -- come if you can and want to. Susan is leaving from New York Sunday night. We'll all rendezvous in Kampala and then fly into Mundri, the closest airstrip to Lui, on Tuesday, May 19th.
Getting a mission together is quite a project. The logistical stuff is overwhelming -- plane tickets for 4 on a number of commercial flights and then the MAF flight into Sudan. Uganda and Sudan visas for 4. Lodgings in Kampala. Transportation in and out of Entebbe airport. Making sure everyone gets their antimalarial meds and has all their shots. Asking the diocesan office to wire money here and there for this and that.
Then there are the negotiations with our Moru friends. Where will we go, what will we do, how much will it cost? This trip -- as far as we know right now -- we will be putting on three conferences of two days each: one on contemporary society (with an HIV/AIDS component) for pastors, another with similar content for youth, and one on adult education for teachers of adults. In between conferences, we (or at least I) will travel to Kediba to see the new grinding mill funded by a grant from the United Thank Offering (Thank you, UTO!) and the three new wells that Sumadhura is -- I hope -- just finishing up. And we will go to church. I'm excited to realize we'll be there for Pentecost.
I do plan to blog from Lui if in fact the VSAT system we have contracted for is installed this week, and I believe that Mary will be blogging from Lui Notes. If you want shorter bits of news and updates, you can follow me on Twitter; I will try to remember to include the hash tag #lui in my tweets. Please pray for our team and for our hosts!
Getting a mission together is quite a project. The logistical stuff is overwhelming -- plane tickets for 4 on a number of commercial flights and then the MAF flight into Sudan. Uganda and Sudan visas for 4. Lodgings in Kampala. Transportation in and out of Entebbe airport. Making sure everyone gets their antimalarial meds and has all their shots. Asking the diocesan office to wire money here and there for this and that.
Then there are the negotiations with our Moru friends. Where will we go, what will we do, how much will it cost? This trip -- as far as we know right now -- we will be putting on three conferences of two days each: one on contemporary society (with an HIV/AIDS component) for pastors, another with similar content for youth, and one on adult education for teachers of adults. In between conferences, we (or at least I) will travel to Kediba to see the new grinding mill funded by a grant from the United Thank Offering (Thank you, UTO!) and the three new wells that Sumadhura is -- I hope -- just finishing up. And we will go to church. I'm excited to realize we'll be there for Pentecost.
I do plan to blog from Lui if in fact the VSAT system we have contracted for is installed this week, and I believe that Mary will be blogging from Lui Notes. If you want shorter bits of news and updates, you can follow me on Twitter; I will try to remember to include the hash tag #lui in my tweets. Please pray for our team and for our hosts!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)