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!