Countdown to Lui

Our two teams are leaving August 11 and August 20, respectively. I am particularly excited that the materials and tools to put a roof on the long-unfinished Lunjini Chapel are expected to arrive in Lui this weekend, and the work will be done with supervision by professionals from Missouri and Lund and labor by Moru carpentry trainees. These guys learned and produced a lot last November under the instruction of Carl Rapp and Gary Johnson; Carl is going back to work with them along with Tim Baker on the first part of the August mission and Rick Kuhn will take over for the second part, along with Swede Nils Winqvist. Having two teams lets us -- as a group, if not individually -- stay long enough to get this done.

If you have been following my blog for a long time, you know about the development of our connections with the Diocese of Lund in the Church of Sweden and Blackmore Vale Deanery in the Diocese of Salisbury, C of E. Lund's relationship with Lui predates Missouri's, but we have had the pleasure of watching Blackmore Vale's relationship emerge. In 2009, they sent two team members along with our very large team, and they have had people on all the trips we've been on since then (except Dan and Ev's month in 2011 and Wayne's and my trip in June of 11 for Bishop Bullen's funeral), and they led one trip of their own that had only one Missourian. They have concentrated more and more on efforts to help with education in Lui, and this trip, Jeannie Stevens is returning for the third training with preschool teachers. In the past, other team members have worked with her; this time she hopes to have previously trained Moru women help her train teachers for new preschools.

Annette Joseph will be leading a preachers' conference on using the common lectionary during the first team's time in Lui, perhaps with help from other missioners. Martha Colville will be the team doctor for the first group, and Eva Winqvist, trained as a midwife, will take over the medic role for the smaller second group. Dan Smith is officially the team leader but will only be on the ground for the second part of the trip; Ev Smith is the actual leader for the first part. Ev will also head up the adult ESL team, which will include Carrie Lewis from Blackmore Vale and Missourians Cyndy Rapp, Krista Baker, me, and everyone else we can pull in as they're available.

Everyone has been working hard to prepare, and I think we're ready to go. There is a little instability in South Sudan, especially in Jonglei State, far from Lui, where long-term fighting over cattle raiding and kidnappings between the Murle people on one hand and the Nuer and to a lesser extent the Dinka, continues, with complications from a rebel group and the SPLM. The media keeps predicting problems in Juba because President Kiir dismissed VP Riek Machar and his entire cabinet, but so far that seems to have passed peacefully. In any case, Juba, though "only" 100 miles from Lui, is five hours away over a very bumpy dirt road, and there is little reason to think Moru culture will be much disrupted by the government's internal goings on.

The team blogs from luinetwork.ning.com. Anyone can read it; join to comment.

Going Back to Lui

Wayne and I went to Lui in June 2011 for Bishop Bullen's funeral. Bishop Stephen was consecrated in July 2011. He and Lillian came to St. Louis and stayed with us from our diocesan convention till mid-December in 2011, and Lillian and I participated in the UN Commission on the Status of Women events via Anglican Women's Empowerment in February-March of 2012. Last summer I gave up the DioMO coordinator role for the Missouri-Lui-Blackmore Vale-Lund relationship and left the AFRECS board. I have stayed much more involved in both our local Lui doings and the ECS-focused activities of TEC than I expected, and now I'm most likely going back in August. This time I will be going to teach English and train English teachers; the organization and leadership of the trip won't be on me.

To see what's happened in the relationship since I last wrote, check out the Lui Partners site. 

Catching Up -- the Death of Bishop Bullen Dolli

I haven't been good about writing here because the Diocese of Missouri gets the Lui news better from the Ning blog. Since Bishop Bullen's surgery in Nairobi, he was in ICU for a couple of weeks and then was stepped down to the High Dependency Unit, from which he was to be flown back to Lui Hospital on December 14th. Sadly, he died in the Nairobi hospital on the 11th.

All along, I've been corresponding with Stephen about helping to pay the part of the hospital bill we hadn't already paid (so, as I understand it, the body could be released); we had sent money to MAF-Kenya for the medical flight back to Mundri, and that money was converted into hospital bill money when the flight was no longer needed; I think other friends were going to front the balance until funds arrived from us, Lund, and Blackmore Vale to cover it.

I do not know what other assistance they may have received from NGOs, church friends, and the Moru people, but I learned today from a friend at ECS that the bishop's body will be flown to Juba tomorrow, rest in the cathedral for prayers, and then be returned to Lui for burial and the funeral this weekend. I'm not sure how this fits with our understanding that the funeral is usually about a month after the burial. I also don't know how soon the process will begin to elect a new bishop; I'm sure whatever would normally happen will be affected by the referendum, which is supposed to be January 9th. In any case, I guess we can infer -- since the body is being released -- that the hospital bills have been paid.

I will remember Bishop Bullen for his amazing stories of survival and witness, for a few famous sayings, like "if you don't change, change will change you" and (about the mosque in Lui) "it's a house of prayer, but only the mosquitos worship there now," and for his tenacity and his charismatic ability to make friends. Bullen Dolli, rest in peace.

For more about Bishop Bullen:
http://www.diocesemo.org/news/2010/12/11/bullen-dolli/
http://www.lui.anglican.org/index.php?PageID=newsbpbullen

Bad News

Cross-posted from Ning -- if you read it there, don't bother here...

Today Stephen wrote me that Bishop Bullen is doing very badly and in fact is in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Nairobi. Then Rebecca Coleman, the missionary from the Diocese of Salisbury who is working with Archbishop Daniel in Juba, wrote that Bishop Bullen's diagnosis is confirmed as cancer and he's expected to be returned to Juba, perhaps tomorrow. 

Lui Bits and Pieces from Around the Web

Here is the blog of a young Moru man from Mundri who's in Alabama to be educated. If you follow this blog back to 2006, you will find a story from Bishop Bullen Dolli and also a description of a 2006 visit to the US by Stephen Dokolo, Jeffreys Kayanga, and two others: http://bullensblessings.blogspot.com/

Here's a news story about that visit: http://www.therandolphleader.com/articles/2006/04/19/news/629-sudanese.txt

Here are some photos of Lui during the war from Frontline Fellowship: http://www.frontline.org.za/photo_browerwindows/photo_gallery_sudan.htm

Here's a story about Canon Ezra's translation of the Bible into Moru. I'm not sure how this connects with the idea that Morris and Scopas finished the work -- can someone fit the pieces of the story together for me? http://www.frontline.org.za/news/thegreatest_gift.htm

And here you will find a 2004 story about the work of Samaritan's Purse at Lui Hospital: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week739/feature.html

If only we had known: a story on the conflict and violence between the Dinka IDPs and the Moru hosts in 2005: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article11899

Bicycles, Cross-Posted from the Lui Ning Blog

I have gotten more positive feedback regarding my post about the great bicycle miscommunication than any other post ever. I'm copying it here because I'm not sure how many of the followers of this blog are on in the Ning group where I originally posted it. Before I do that, though, here's an update on Bishop Bullen (since I've also been posting those to the Ning blog): After a trip to Juba for blood pressure treatment and two hernia surgeries by Dr. Fabio at Lui Hospital, he was rushed to Juba to the hospital late last week and then flown to Nairobi on Saturday. There doctors are still examining him and considering what to do; I'm not sure what the problem is now, but it seems to be abdominal.

Here's the bicycle post:

The Diocese of Missouri has been holding the funds raised by "Biking for Bikes" at Trinity St. Charles, along with other contributions from bikes, including some from Trinity Central West End and one from St. Peter's Ladue for the dean, for some time. (Sorry if there are other donors that I don't know -- please feel free to add in comments!)

We've gotten mixed messages about the need for additional bikes in Lui: The diocesan staff, eager to pursue other transportation projects such as a much-needed new Land Cruiser for the diocese and a dump truck to enable them to do building and marketing projects, told us we had bought enough bicycles, and we were considering the possibility of turning the money to other transportation needs with the permission of the donors. However, we've been asking pastors and youth from around Lui Diocese in our conferences for several visits now, and it has become clear that not all of them share the vision of the central administrative staff because so many are still traveling many miles and many hours on foot. One pastor this month walked 11 hours to get to our pastors' conference.

So earlier this fall, we transferred all our bicycle money to the Diocese of Lui to buy 30 new bicycles and one motorbike. The bikes were to be divided evenly among the seven archdeaconries for use by anyone who needed one to make a long trip. The motorbike was for the diocesan youth coordinator, who has to be able to get to all seven archdeaconries. And so we were thinking surely four bikes per archdeaconry would be enough to share, and we could turn some of that fundraising energy to other projects.

Enter the second misapprehension in this story: While we intended the bikes to be held in common, Lui Diocese has something of a pecking order for bicycle distribution. Over the years, various organizations, including our friends in the Diocese of Lund in the Church of Sweden, have donated many bicycles to the Diocese of Lui, and they have been given to individuals in order of rank and seniority, or something like that. Our most recent gift of bikes was incorporated into that scheme of distribution. So while we were expecting all the pastors at our conference in Lui this month to have ridden bikes if they came far, we found out that most of them had walked while the archdeacon at home kept the bike. And they were kind of unhappy that we'd been giving bikes out and they didn't get one. So Stephen and I went into their conference to explain what each of us had intended, and I think it was actually a really useful moment because it gave us Westerners a clearer understanding of Moru culture, and it gave the bikeless pastors hope that they'd be next in line. Meanwhile Stephen and I both urged the holders of bikes to share. (I should add that one of the bikes when to the diocesan Mothers' Union leader.)

I hope that's not more than you want to know about the reality of our visits to Lui and the facts about raising money for bikes! The bottom line is that more bicycles ARE needed in Lui Diocese if congregations still want to raise money for them.

This is where I should be uploading photos of bicycles. Rick and I both saw them on Stephen's camera, a great, joyous ceremony and celebration of bicycle distribution to 30 people at Fraser Cathedral. But something is wrong with Stephen's camera and we couldn't upload anything he's taken for the past year, hard as we tried. So sorry -- I'm sure you'd rather have one great picture than my thousand words here!

Home Again Home Again

Emily, Rick, and I spent a lovely 24 hours in the air traffic system and arrived home this afternoon right on time. As I write this, our English and Swedish friends should be in the air on their way home too. Thanks to everyone for their prayers through this trip. We look forward to sharing our experience in the Diocese of Missouri and beyond.

Back in Kampala

All 8 missioners are safely back at the MAF guesthouse. Three are visiting the craft market, two are sleeping, one is reading, and two of us are online. After dinner we will debrief then share eucharist, after which the Americans head to the airport for the first of three legs home. The English and Swedes are planning a trip to the source of the Nile at Jenja tomorrow before they return to Europe. It has been a very productive trip. We all seem to agree that we accomplished what we set out to do.

Saving it all for the last day

Whenever we come to Lui, we get to the last day and have lots of loose ends to tie up. This morning the Swedes, Marie and Goran, were making a list of copies and invoices and so forth that they need. Rick asked me to remind Stephen that he's waiting for some office plans and lists of expenditures for Lunjini Chapel and such. I have the whole list of gifts we've sent or money in accounts in our diocese waiting for credible plans from Lui to discuss.And I'm waiting for grinding mill receipts and an accounting of last year's administrative expenses. If anyone from CPC is reading this, Vasco and Stephen have told us that they still have the Miles of Pennies grant money; they have been to Juba several times to buy books but so far have not found what they need in the markets there. We will have to talk about this when we get back.

So instead of dealing with any of that -- that meeting isn't till 2 pm, after all! -- I am spending the morning communicating with the very helpful tech guy, Denis, from ECS, to try to figure out why only one of the 5 computers installed by them thanks to Trinity Wall Street will get online, and why the laptops here won't get on the wireless network (my phone does, but computers won't...). Then there's the problem of convincing the Swedish laptops to speak English, not to mention trying to get the photos of the bicycle-giving ceremony out of Stephen's camera and onto a computer so Missourians can see them.

Then we pack, and then we have a final celebratory dinner with some of the diocesan staff. Bishop Bullen is still staying in the house the Italians have built at the hospital, which is why I'm saying he's at the hospital -- he's not exactly in the hospital. The Brits are off to say hello to him this morning; the rest of us have already done that.

Silvan

Yesterday we had tea with Bishop Bullen's family in his compound though the Bishop is still at the hospital. This is his niece Tabitha holding his young son, Silvan. His wife, Lorna, sat with us for a while but I didn't get a photo.

If you aren't getting email from your family it's because all but one of the computers is having connection problems. I'm trying to get help from ECS but not having any luck yet. Also not getting any traction for sitting down to explain luidiocese.org, Beth, but have hope for tomorrow.

Today I got to sit in on the Swedes' very interesting conversation with diocesan admin about financial protocols.

Much Delayed Post

I'm back from Juba. I got there safely, stayed safely, and returned safely, thanks to Darius and Stephen. The conference was enlightening; we talked a lot about the issue of returnees from the North who may come under attack as noncitizens if the referendum goes for separation. There is a lot more fear of conflict, war, and immediate reprisals against Southerners in the North in Juba than we're hearing in Lui, where the sense is that they are pretty far away from the likely hot spots. Concerns of ECS and its partners revolve around the arrears (past-due salaries that are keeping former employees on the payroll), financial transparency, the need for a chief accountant, the desire to hire a health chief, and the way to achieve self-sufficiency. A big highlight for me was getting to go to church in Arabic on Sunday and seeing a real Arabic prayer book; I understood the sermon (on the responsibility and limits that come with freedom) and was very moved to be standing on the ground in Sudan praying for peace and justice in Arabic with my fellow Episcopalians.

In Lui, the rest of the team carried out the youth and Sunday School conferences Friday and Saturday, and they went to church on Sunday. The big obstacles, as usual, seem to be the need for transportation and permanent buildings. The car broke down on the way home from Doroh, and Goran and Jeannie had quite an adventure, but I'll let them tell their own story. (The Swedes did arrive in Kampala, and we all had a good chance to get acquainted before leaving for Lui.)

We've gotten to visit Bishop Bullen at the hospital today. He had a second hernia surgery Sunday after some deliberation about going back in so soon after the operation last week. He seems to be in some discomfort and looks a bit frail but was talking with us about his priorities and seemed in amazingly good spirits for someone less than 24 hours post-op. Please continue to pray for him!

The pastors' and Mothers' Union conferences are half done. In the MU conference we are having some good discussions about our joys and challenges and about the consequences of development. The women have been asking Jeannie and me about marriage and having children in western culture and telling us about their norms in these areas -- great fun sharing! We have discussed everything from wedding dresses to HIV/AIDS, from being shamed for having too few children to being shamed for having too many. They have shared their plans for an MU center, which they are funding by selling some of their now-grown teak, using the small profit from the sale of the last chickens (Western-style chicken farming having turned out to be not so effective here), and renting out the chicken house to a family! They are making great strides toward self-suffciency!

I've seen photos of the 30 bicycles that Biking for Bikes at Trinity St. Charles along with efforts at Trinity CWE bought, and we'll post those here or on Ning as soon as Stephen and I can upload them from his camera. It became very clear today in the pastors' conference that more bicycles are craved, despite what the administration has been telling us. So that's something to talk about at home.

Noel Knight approached me today to ask my intervention in our plans to get someone out to Lozoh to photograph the rebuilding of the church for Advent's children, who raised a lot of money to help with it. So Rick and Noel are going tomorrow -- stand by, Advent.

I'm sure there's more news, but my hold on the only computer currently online is about to have to give way to the other missioners. We have not had Internet in either Juba or Lui till today, so please forgive us for our lack of communication.

Thank you all for your continuing prayers -- we feel as safe here as ever, maybe even safer as this time we are allowed to go to market without minders and even walk along the main road alone for exercise -- we do very much feel that we are borne along through each day in a protective bubble of prayers from home.

Thursday morning

We are on the MAF plane about to take off!

Stephen's family

Emily is helping Lillian set up a Skype account on her new computer. Thank you, people from St. Timothy's!

Bishop Bullen

Stephen wrote me today that Bishop Bullen has returned to Lui and was operated on at Lui Hospital yesterday. We don't know why. Please continue to pray for his recovery and health.

Kampala the beautiful

Anne, Shirley, and Jeannie arrived safely last night. We are at the guest house awaiting the Swedes, whose plane is quite late. This morning we will work on preparing our conferences and repack our stuff; then I hope this afternoon Lillian will be able to visit us.

On the way

We are at the gate now waiting for the first leg of the trip. Thanks to MJ for the ride to Lambert!

Moru music and Missouri slides

I was just looking around on YouTube at some Sudan videos by a Dutch group, and I searched for "Lui Sudan" to see what else there was. I found this slide show with Moru people singing some music that doesn't sound all that much like what I usually hear in church and photos of Moruland, many of which have photos of our 2004 team in them. Someone in Uganda put them up. Does anyone have any idea where this came from? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhC7mxMNVFo

Pretrip Lui Update

Emily Bloemker, Rick Kuhn, and I leave next Monday for Kampala and then on to Lui. In Kampala Tuesday evening, we'll meet up with Anne, Shirley, and Jeannie from the Blackmore Vale Deanery, our partners in the trilink with Lui, and then Wednesday morning Marie and Göran (pronounced Yoran) from the Diocese of Lund in the Church of Sweden -- also in a partnership with Lui Diocese -- will join us all in Kampala at the MAF guesthouse.

The eight of us will spend all day Wednesday preparing for our time together in Lui. We are excited to be going together as an international team; we are all working to help Lui Diocese build capacity, and we are all committed to a global understanding of the Body of Christ, so this trip provides us all kinds of opportunities to work more cohesively with Lui Diocese and to extend our sense of the church in many directions at once.

Four members of the team are ordained: Emily (at left), Shirley, Marie, and Göran. They'll all have a chance to preach in different Moru churches the Sunday we're there. Emily will be preaching at Lui Parish, the sister church of the congregation, St. Timothy's, where she serves as associate rector. She last preached there as a newly ordained deacon Christmas 2008, so this will be a homecoming of sorts.

The team will facilitate conferences for the youth, Sunday School teachers, pastors, and Mothers' Union members. Rick, who owns a construction firm, will be looking at and consulting on various construction projects. The diocese has a piece of land at Miriloco on which they have been planning to build a new office; however, they have recently inherited the lovely home of the CMS missionaries, David and Heather, who have been reposted to Uganda, and it may become their office with some remodeling. Rick will look at both sites, probably meet with the construction company working in Mundri, and also consult on the diocesan guest compound (at right), which needs to be rebuilt. It is in such bad repair, according to the diocesan staff, that they have decided to house this mission team in the hospital's guest compound instead of their own.

We will also check on the construction progress of the chapel at Lunjini School, being built in loving memory of a good friend to Lui, and follow up on the ECW-, UTO-, and CPC-funded chicken house, grinding mill, and book grant. We are excited to be delivering a computer to Stephen's wife Lillian (below) in Kampala and a new netbook to the diocesan office, and we will retrieve photos of the 31 bicycles recently bought for the 9 archdeaconries, funded by many generous cyclists over several bike rides and some additional donations. Big thank you to all the many generous Missourians who have worked so hard and given so generously to help the Diocese of Lui during this post-war, pre-referendum period!

Please pray for our Moru friends, for the safety of our team, for good work on this trip, and for the peace and prosperity of Southern Sudan.

Lui Students at the Agricultural School in Yei

Robin Denney wrote me this morning to tell me that the agricultural training school in Yei is now underway. Our diocese funded the attendance of two students from Lui, a man and a woman. Below is Robin's article on the subject along with her photos.

Training for Diocesan Agriculture Officers

By Robin Denney, ECS Agriculture Consultant

September 15, 2010

A three-month agriculture training program opened in early September, at the Crop Training Center in Yei.  ECS has 12 candidates participating in the training from 11 different dioceses across south Sudan.  Each of the candidates was selected by their bishop for their interest and experience in agriculture and their willingness to assist their diocese with agriculture programs.  All 12 will be returning to their diocese after the training, qualified to be agriculture extension agents.  They will work with their diocese as a diocesan agriculture officer, or as a trainer of pastors.   Each candidate has promised to commit at least 2 years to the service of the diocese, but we expect they will all stay for much longer.

The training covers a broad spectrum of agricultural topics, including pest control, planting methods, marketing, and much more.  The focus is on sustainable improved techniques for subsistence farmers.  The Crop Training Center is a well-respected institution in south Sudan that is subsidized by the government.

The tuition and transportation expenses for each of the trainees was provided by generous donors in the United States, both individuals and churches from the Diocese of Virginia, Diocese of Missouri, Diocese of Bethlehem, Diocese of Colorado, and the Central Visalia Rotary Club in California.

The candidates are excited about this training course.  Most of them have already begun, while a few are still on the way coming due to difficulties in transportation. 

This training was coordinated by the ECS Agriculture Department.  After the successful completion of this training program, the Agriculture Department will continue to roll out this training across all dioceses who are interested in participating.  We hope to create a network of ECS Agriculture Officers who can assist their dioceses in implementation of agriculture programs, and will be on the ground to do agriculture advising and workshops with the people.  With this added framework and expertise on the ground, we hope to expand the agricultural efforts of the dioceses, and the Church as a whole.

The goal of the ECS Agriculture Department is to support the Province of ECS in implementing projects for food security and income generation, and to support the individual dioceses of ECS with agriculture advising, training, and networking with potential donors.  Since its development early last year, the Agriculture Department has carried out diocesan visits to 23 dioceses, put on 13 workshops, and begun three pilot farm projects. 

For more information on ECS Agriculture contact Robin Denney at: redenney AT gmail.com

UN Action in Mundri

In the Yahoo news today: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100901/ap_on_re_af/af_southern_sudan_un_referendum
The UN has opened its first referendum field office in Mundri.

Also, news from Lui: A construction company working in Mundri has given the diocese some new thoughts and estimates on their plans for building the diocesan center. And the VSAT is fixed so our friends are back online.