Update from Sudan

So, I know that some of you have been hearing various reports about Sudan, the ICC, conflict in Malakal, etc. I just want to give you a quick update that I and the other SIM missionaries are doing well. Since we work in the South, we haven't been affected by the decision to expell foreign aid workers, which is a blessing. We of course are listening and paying attention to what is happening, but right now things seem to be going on more or less as normal. Of course we highly appreciate prayers for safety, peace, and the ability to continue working here in Sudan. Thanks for you support and concern.

Why I cut my hair and thoughts on the relevance of passages from 1 Corinthinas to life out here in Sudan

In this post I share how reading through 1 Corinthians this month has been very relevant and applicable to some different aspects of life out here. Ideally, it would be great for you to read the passages listed in the title before reading the post, but of course, it’s up to you. I supplied some of the verses that stuck out to me.

Hats and a Haircut: 1 Cor 9:19-23, 10:23-11:16

3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head [Jesus]... 7A man ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God...13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray with her head uncovered? 14Doesn’t the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him... 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.
(1 Corinthians 11:3-4,7,14,16)

32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:32)

19Though I am free and belong to no man I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew to win the Jews...
(1 Corinthians 9:19-20a)

Let’s start this story in Abwong. I had called a community meeting to discuss some topics relating to water purification work in Abwong. The meeting was a success and I asked my translator Peter to pray for the group. After breaking from the meeting I was approached by a man who was very eager to talk to me. He went on to ask me why I prayed with a hat on and very cleverly pointed to 1 Corinthians 11. He then asked if it was because I had long hair. I told him that I usually take off my hat (which is true), but forgot to do it that time. I told him my general opinion which was and is that God is concerned mostly about our heart. If my heart is right before God when I seek him in prayer I believe that He still hears me hat or none. Plus, as believers we have freedom in Christ from many of the regulations. I also told him that it is hard to distinguish whether the cited passage was written within the context of culture and time period, or if it is a command that should last throughout time. I also described how cultures are different and in America barely any women cover their head and many men will pray with hats on without thinking twice. He then asked me if the missionaries from before “lied” to them by saying that men could not pray with a covered head. I realized that this wasn’t going to be a quick discussion and I didn’t have much time because the chief was waiting for me to sign some papers, but I promised that we could talk more about it when I come back to live there.
Once I got back to the compound I decided to review the passage so I could truly come to grips with what it says and what I believe. This led into much thought about the relevance of the passage to our day and age, thought about what the missionaries taught here before, and a general understanding of what is accepted in the culture of Sudan.
As far as interpretation goes, there is no clear answer as to whether this practice should hold true for us today or not. With many practices such as head coverings it is hard to distinguish the relevance in our day and age though we know it was applicable to the early church (see 11:16). The safer choice though is to follow the text literally. However, Paul in the end left the judgment to the Corinthians, but he did cite what was commonly accepted within their day and age. I think we can take that as well as a call to judge for ourselves.
When I study the scriptures, I tend to focus on the heart of every issue and make sure that I am trying to at least be in line with that. To me, the main point is that we need to be respecting God especially as we meet him in prayer. Respect comes from the heart. Publicly though, different cultures have different ideas about what respect looks like. So, in different cultures you will show respect in different ways. I decided that even though I am from a different culture than that of Sudan, if what I am doing is negatively affecting (or causing a stumbling block) for other believers, I should stop. I think there is much value in adapting somewhat to the culture that you live in order to have a better influence as long as you don’t fall into sinful practices.
As far as praying with the head covered, well at least publicly I will do my best to remove it. The culture here has adapted to this tradition, which I see nothing wrong with and since I am living among them I will try to do the same.
An alternate interpretation of the passage (11:4-7) actually replaces the words “head covering” with “long hair,” so Paul might have actually been talking about men with long hair instead of wearing an artificial covering like a hat. Regardless of that, there is a verse about the nature of a man with long hair being disgraceful. Personally, I don’t feel that way and I’d assume most of my generation would agree with me. But, out here the men have short hair and a woman’s hair can vary between short and long. In fact, my hair was probably about ten times longer than just about any Sudanese man that I have met and it was longer than most women too.
Basically, I decided that I didn’t need to have long hair. Since there is a chance that it could be a “stumbling block” for some, it would be better if I just cut it. So, going for true Sudanese style we took the scissors and clippers with no guard, got rid of the mane, and now there is practically nothing left. It went from about 10 inches at its longest to around 1 mm now, the shortest it’s ever been. Though I think it looks hilarious and honestly, I look kinda like a skinhead, I’ve actually been getting some compliments by the Sudanese that I know.
Though this exposition (if that is what this is) is fairly long, it really is pretty brief in comparison to all the thoughts and time I spent thinking over this issue. Cultural issues are interesting out here and I really want to be sensitive to the people here. The problem is that it is really hard to tell if you are actually “offending” people because few people will really tell you straight up. I’m thankful for the conversation I had in Abwong because it helped open my eyes to a way that I might have been a “stumbling block” to others without knowing it.

Love as the Motivation: 1 Cor 13:1-13

2If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13: 2-3)

Reading this passage really struck me that love needs to be the motivation behind everything that we as Christians do. This got me thinking about my motivations for the things that I am doing out here. Overall, I would say that I have a general concern, care, and love for the people here and the various needs they have that I can help with (water, education, encouraging in faith). However, in an honest look, love isn’t my only motivation and at times not the strongest. It would be so great to have a completely selfless and serving attitude towards others, but for me, pride and being overly focused on projects tends to get in the way of genuine love for the people that I am here for. I’d ask you with your career or the things you generally do, what is your main motivation?

There is actually a lot more passages that were applicable, but I'm a pretty tired of writing, so this will have to do.

Join me in prayer

I would appreciate prayer specifically for an understanding of the culture and people of Abwong. When I made a short visit earlier I left feeling like I was offending people in different ways. The hat issue was only a small thing, but trying to be upfront with a few people about some money and business issues left them visibly angry with me. I really need to know the right balance of speaking truth with love and grace. I also need to just be motivated by love for the people and our Lord.

apiet en lo ("alright I'm going" or "goodbye" in Dinka).

Current and Previous newsletters

I’ve posted the text of each of my newsletters thus far for those of you who aren't getting them via email.

August & September

Life in Yabus:

I have just returned from my latest trip to a new base. I spent one and a half months in Yabus where there are two main ministries: BELC (Basic Education Learning Center) and a Secondary School that is set to open at the end of September. I came in to teach for a term in the BELC along with doing some compound water work and helping out wherever else I could.

I had fun with the water purification system at Yabus. It seems that each location is unique and deserves a slightly different design. Right now the Yabus compound is catching rainwater off of many tin roofs into individual barrels for each house or gutter. However, there is no centralized water storage system. So, I decided that it would be best if we made the purification system portable. The solar panel, battery, purification system and stand are all designed to be transported safely and fairly securely in a wheelbarrow, so that you can take it to whichever tank you want to purify. I used one of the BELC science classes to teach about the need for clean water. We had a good demonstration of a container of clean rainwater becoming gradually contaminated by dirt, soap, spit and animal feces. I asked students if they would drink the water after each new contaminant and the answers were quickly NO! But, that container was fairly representative of the river water which many people drink without giving it a second thought. So, the class was pretty adamant about having clean water. I had 16, or about half, of the students wanting to learn how to operate the purifier. I did a couple of demonstrations for them. Then we set up a system where we have groups of two students who operate the purifier. The first ones worked along with me and Stuart, then once we are comfortable with their ability to operate the purifier, they teach two more students, and so on. I was very happy to see their excitement for having clean water.

Teaching in the BELC school was good. It was great to see the students’ desire to learn and improve. I was taken by surprise when we had the entire class show up for an optional review session after school. One of the other cool things that happened with BELC was encouraging them to take ownership and responsibility for the school area. They were constantly running out of water and trash was just laying on the ground. We challenged them to retrieve water when the caught rainwater wasn’t enough, slash the grass around the school, and pick up and dispose of trash. At first this was a very hard thing for them because they or other workers had formerly been paid to do some of these jobs. However, once they got together and discussed it, they took on many of these things no problem. I think that encouraging them to take on these small tasks will help them to become self-starters and less dependent on others, especially missions and NGOs. Dependency can sometimes be a problem given the amount of foreign aid and assistance that is devoted to Sudan. As you can see, teaching and running a BELC is more than just passing on information about subjects. It’s really about developing solid biblical character and setting our Sudanese friends up for success in the future.

I just want to praise the Lord that I stayed very healthy during my time in Yabus. Thanks for the prayers. Though there were many mosquitoes and other biting insects, I didn’t have any issues at all. Maybe my body is starting to get used to life out here. Rainy season in Yabus actually was very pleasant, beautiful, and green all around. It was surprisingly easy to get around given the lack of black cotton soil (sticky clay mud) which limits most transportation all over Sudan in places like Malakal, Atar, and some of our other bases.

As an engineer on base you tend to get pulled into other projects as well. I was kept pretty busy with a wide variety of things. Between the water project, BELC teaching, working on and installing solar energy systems, repairing our river trolley, trying to repair the Land Cruiser (it kind of fixed itself), getting the Land cruiser un-stuck from the mud, and some other things there was quite a variety of work that I was able to help with. But even with all the projects I was able to get out and spend time both with students and the local people as well.

The Gondolo Church:

On my first Sunday we went to church in a village called Gondolo. Gonza is the prevalent tribe in Gondolo. The Gonza people don’t have a written language and as a whole are very uneducated because they stayed in Sudan throughout the war while others received education in the refugee camps. After church we hung out at one of the member’s homes and it was great. The youth were sitting together reading the Bible, helping each other to interpret it in an already translated language (Twampa, the Uduk language). It’s cool to see how these people have such a desire to know the word. While talking with the leaders, their only request for us (SIM) was to receive more biblical training. We have a basic Bible study going with many of the leaders of that church.

Aside from having some good conversations, we got to enjoy tea and coffee along with fresh corn, squash, cucumber, and sorghum stalks. Most of the foods we ate are grown on a plot of land that the church members cultivate and harvest together. They share the food among the members of the church and tend to eat and enjoy life together as a community. Sounds a lot like the early church in Acts. Though the church is small (maybe 50 members) they have a strong desire to reach out to the rest of their community. I know how contagious spending time was with these guys (I went back to Gondolo many times afterwards) and I’m praying that the people around will see and feel the same.

June & July

Malakal:

I left Atar in the beginning of June and spent 3 weeks in Malakal. Andrew was up in Yabus, so that meant I was on my own until the last couple of days when he came back. This wasn’t the ideal situation for me, but it forced me to spend even more of my free time hanging out with my Sudanese friends, which worked out well. Andrew had gotten an English speaking Bible study started while I was in Atar and I took over leading it when I was back. It is really encouraging to see how the guys are excited about coming, enjoying fellowship, studying the bible, and learning/practicing English. I’m excited to see how it grows and develops over time.

The rainy season arrived and it definitely affects everything. I was fairly discouraged to see how heavy rains on a Sunday morning completely cancelled church. No one showed up. It is a pretty long walk to church for many and the mud, floods, and pounding rain aren’t welcoming factors for any sort of travel.

I’ve been realizing how much Sudan feels like home. Even in places where I’m the only khawaaja (white person) around, I don’t really feel out of place. However, I still know that I am viewed as different as the following story shows:

So, I was invited to attend a Shilluk tribal celebration a little way down the river from Malakal. Out of thousands and thousands of people I was literally the only khawaaja there. At this location there is one of the biggest trees I have ever seen. Once the celebration was basically over some friends and I were hanging out in the shade of the tree. We hear a guy on his phone trying to describe where he is at to another friend saying, “I’m near the khawaaja.” There is a huge tree right next to us and yet he decided that I would be the best “landmark” to use. We had a good laugh about that one.

The Break:

After 3 straight months in Sudan, I had a nice long R&R break, which was awesome. Form attending the wedding of two of our SIM Sudan missionaries, to windsurfing, riding a camel, and eating tons of good food at the wedding resort, to dirtbike riding and homecooked meals with our Doctor’s family, the time in Kenya was good. It was great to also be able to see my whole family in Italy. I got to spend about 3 days with my parents and brothers. Then I went off with my brothers and cousin for 10 days to backpack around Italy and France while my parents enjoyed some time on a cruise. We saw tons of Italy and a little bit of France including the le Alpe d’Huez stage of the Tour de France.

After all this, I’m definitely ready to get back into Sudan. I feel very refreshed and motivated to get out there.

April & May

Life in Atar:

I moved to Atar Chue at the end of April to teach in the BELC school and set up a water purification system for the SIM compound and BELC students. I joined an Ethiopian couple, Yacob and Tibarek, who have been working in Atar for a few years now.

I taught English and Science in the BELC school. I think it was beneficial to have me, a native English speaker teaching. The students are very bright, but were lacking understanding of certain simple and important concepts such as basic sentence and paragraph structure along with a few grammar issues. It was fun seeing them progress throughout the term. I learned a lot about effective teaching and testing over the time there and greatly adjusted my approach to help meet the most pressing needs instead of just going strictly and only by the book. Teaching here helped me to realize that I am so fortunate to have grown up in the United States and have the opportunity for a quality education. It is interesting to be teaching when almost all of the class is older than you. The war really limited opportunities for many Sudanese to pursue education. So, now many are catching up. However, I found that the students were more knowledgeable than I at certain science topics such as soil and farming, which made teaching those topics more of a class discussion in which I was learning too. I definitely have a burden for these students and am planning to come back for their final term in September.

I was really hoping that the students would want to be more of a part of the water purification project. Though our numbers weren’t great, ranging between 2 and 4 student volunteers, we were able to set up and run the system in a couple of days. It was especially fun working with Samuel and Balentino, who were the two really dedicated students throughout the project (and the top two students on my Science final exam). I enjoyed teaching them some basic engineering principles and terms related to the project. With the system set up, the students all have access to clean water which is especially important during the rainy season when disease rates dramatically increase.

I was hoping to do a sustainability study on the existing community water purification system, but World Vision is putting in a biosand filter to replace the existing system. The biosand filter is very sustainable and simple to use and operate, so I’m very happy about that. They should start construction of it very soon.

There were a few things about my time in Atar that especially stood out to me. The first is that the saying for missionaries to “be ready to preach and teach in a moments notice” is very true. The day after arriving to Atar I was asked to preach upon entering church. And, a few weeks later, I was asked to preach the afternoon before church. The first time I preached on the temptation of Jesus and importance of knowing and using God’s word as a weapon against Satan (Mat 4:1-11). The second time I preached on the Good Samaritan and loving and praying for our enemies (Luke 10:25-37, Mat 5:43-44) The second sermon seemed to go over really well as I retold the Good Samaritan story in Dinka terms with the Samaritan being a Nuer man (Dinka and Nuer are tribes in Sudan). Some Nuer have recently come into the Atar area and stolen cattle, which are very valuable to the Sudanese. I stressed that Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies. So, I encouraged them to focus on praying that the enemies will come to know Jesus as their personal savior, which should lead them to recognizing their sin (cattle raiding being one) and turning from it.

Another highlight was doing an evangelism outreach in Buma, a neighboring village. We set out one Saturday and hiked for about an hour. On arrival, we broke off into two groups. I took one, and Yacob took the other. I was the preacher and Balentino translated. At first I was wondering what would be the best way to reach these people given their culture and situation, but eventually I realized that I should just preach the basic gospel; and that’s what I did. We had some people come to Christ, especially a few older people, which is not as common because they are usually so used to their own ways within their culture. Another cool thing is that one of the students is actually a pastor of the Presbyterian church in Buma, so there is good opportunity for follow up.

I ran into some health issues again, getting malaria for the second time and having amoebic dysentery one week later. It is very tough being sick out in the bush. I was feeling pretty discouraged getting malaria again especially with the relative lack of mosquitoes. I’ve heard that they get really bad in the rainy season which is just arriving. Basically, I’m just praying that I don’t get it again and that I will stay healthy from here on out. Nonetheless, I recovered quickly and am feeling very healthy as I write this letter.

A few other fun things: I learned (observed) how to slaughter a chicken and goat and I actually was able to personally slaughter and prepare a chicken for one meal. I was invited to go to Atar School (there are two Atars) and was hosted by a few students. They were great hosts and I even slept in one of their huts (with a mosquito net of course). I really get pumped up by the relationships I make out here. I enjoyed learning some of the Dinka language. I have found that I really enjoy learning and using new languages. Also, I have very much enjoyed the pleasantness and relaxing nature of the simple bush life.

What I’m learning:

In reading through Leviticus and Numbers, I have learned much about what God desired from Israel (and from us too). In the Law he only accepted the best sacrifices, without blemish, and called for the firstfruits of the harvest. Namely, God wants us to put him first and trust him with all we have. If we only offer him what is left over (time, money, focus, etc.) when we are done filling our own desires, we are basically telling him that we are more important than He is. This is truly a disgrace to the one who has given us everything we have. As self-centered human beings, this is very difficult to do, but we must turn our focus from ourselves to God.

March

The City and the Bush:

Things have been going well here in Sudan. To follow up on last month’s letter, I recovered very fast from the illnesses (malaria and amoebas) that I had at the end of last month and have been going fairly strong and healthy since. Thanks for the prayers. Also, I hadn’t been riding my bike much because the problems kept continuing (broken front and rear brakes, stand, pedals, crank, etc.). So, I made a spur of the moment decision to take it into a bike mechanic the day before leaving for Nairobi. He fixed all the issues and I got new brakes and pedals. Now it is working amazingly well. I was so excited after it was all fixed up and riding super smooth. Though I barely rode it before taking off I’d say it may have been the best 15 pounds ($7.50) that I have spent in Sudan.

In Malakal, work has been progressing very well. We recently moved into Building #2 (the better of the two buildings we are fixing). Now, we actually have a little more space, which is great. We also just got our kitchen set up, so now we’ll be able to cook our own meals! Hopefully this will reduce the illnesses that we are getting and give us better variety from the typical bread and meat meals you get in the market. We are still working on this building, with painting and plumbing being the main things left to complete. The other building is coming along well too, though there are a few more issues (holes in the roof, bats, etc.) to fix up.

The big event of the month was our trip to Thiangrial, a village north of Malakal along the Nile river. SIM set up the first water treatment station there and Andrew and I went to check it out and try to fix whatever problems it might be having. We found some problems and were unable to fix the pumps that were broken, but we got some good ideas on how to improve the system. Check out my blog post I’m pumped about the Super Moneymaker for more on the water project and the new pump we are planning on using.

It’s funny how things can take you by surprise. During my time in Thiangrial I was able to help out and teach a couple of classes in the BELC (Basic Education Learning Center) which is SIM’s main ministry there. Being a part of the BELC and teaching was so much fun. I found that I really have a passion for teaching and it has been one of the main things on my mind. So, my plan was to talk with the leaders in Nairobi and see what they thought a good fit would be for me in Sudan.

Well, after talking with our director and project manager it seems that we have come across a great solution. Basically, I can be a teacher and work on the water project at the same time. I would spend at least one term (about 2 months) at each location. During that time I’d be teaching in the BELC and also working with the community on getting the water purification system set up. My first location is Atar, which is about a 3 hour boat ride south of Malakal. I plan on moving down there around the 25th of April.

What I’m learning:

Reading through Proverbs and Titus, I’ve been learning about the benefits of accepting correction. I have pretty high self esteem and tend to think that I am capable of doing just about anything well and right. Basically, I don’t like to be wrong. However, the Lord has really humbled me in this and is revealing aspects about my character through careless mistakes made in the construction projects. I’m learning to take things slower, be more methodical, and pay attention to little details, all the while accepting the fact that I’m not perfect and will make mistakes. I am realizing too that I gain more wisdom and knowledge by learning from the mistakes I have made.

The other main thing I’ve been learning this month is patience and flexibility with plans. Most of this has come from traveling. I consider myself a patient, easygoing person, but situations have really tested me in this. Almost every time I traveled this month something has gone wrong or altered my plans, but I’m beginning to realize that this is how things are here and you have to be ready and almost expect things to not go as planned.

February

A month of highs and lows:

Well, I have been in Sudan for about a month now and it has been quite the experience thus far. I have had some highs and lows, but all in all, times have been good here.

The highs basically came from enjoyable times with the friends we are making here. I’ve been really enjoying hearing their testimonies and stories. We have been working with the students who are on a break from school right now. They have been a great help with our construction projects. We had fun explaining how in the Western world we “sit” and don’t “squat.” They found my demonstration quite humorous. Working with the guys has been great for learning Arabic too. Their English is somewhat limited and my Arabic is very limited, so we are forced to each learn some new words while we work. We were also hosted for dinner one night by the head elder at the church. His wife Victoria prepared the most amazing meal that I’ll probably ever have in Sudan.

The lows for me came from a very recent case of Malaria and Amoebas (at the same time) and buying a bike. Obviously, sickness in a hot climate with no A/C or many comforts of home can be tough, but I’ve survived and am in the process of recovery. Now, those of you who know me well are probably finding the bike thing hard to believe, but let me explain. I thought buying a bike was going to be such an exciting event, and the buying part was fine as we got a good deal on it. As a bike guy I wanted to take off some of the excess and unnecessary stuff. Well, bikes here are fairly different from bikes in the states. Back in the states I feel very confident and comfortable working on bikes, but here it seemed like nothing was going right and I got super frustrated. There are so many nuts and bolts (which come loose easily), no cables, and it’s just a long process to get certain things off of it. All this just made me miss my bikes back home, which led to feelings of homesickness. Eventually, I decided that I just needed to stop working on the bike, and I gave the frustration up to the Lord, realizing that it was ridiculous for me to be so torn up over working on a bike, something I usually enjoy. After some time I was at peace realizing that the best solution for me then was if “it ain’t broke don't fix it.” So, I made sure it was back to working order and have been content riding it “as is” since. This experience really drove home the fact that things are going to be different here and I need to accept that and adjust accordingly. And for the most part I have been adjusting fairly well and feel pretty comfortable living here in Sudan, regardless of the differences.

What we’ve been doing:

As far as the renovation projects go, we are waiting to have full use of both of the buildings. So, we have set up a water tower, new shower, and outhouse. We have also been inspecting the buildings and learning about the plumbing and structure in general. We are hoping that we can use the water tower to feed the existing shower and toilet in the buildings, but for now our temporary ones work fine.

Plans have changed a bit with the water projects and we are now planning on visiting Thiangrial in early March to inspect the existing water project. I’m looking forward to experiencing the “bush” as Malakal is definitely a city.

We have also been exploring the city and market. We’re slowly learning, and remembering, where things are. Our new teammate Luke is doing a lot of research on the businesses and layout of the market, which has proved to be very helpful.

We are still trying to figure out how we English speakers incorporate ministry into a primarily Arabic speaking church. To start, we have been praying with the workers each morning that they work, sometimes in English sometimes in Arabic. Andrew was asked to preach this last Sunday and presented a good gospel message, which was translated into Arabic for the church. Ideally I would like to be involved in an English speaking small group or bible study. (Note: English is now the official language of Southern Sudan)

What I’m learning:

I have been going through the book of Exodus and have been encouraged by reading about Bezalel and Oholiab, the workers on the Tabernacle who the “Lord filled with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.” (Exo 35:31). It is encouraging to see that God blesses each of us with different skills and abilities and he will use them for the fulfillment of his purpose. It thought that these passages really applied to Andrew and me. I have been especially grateful for Andrew’s general “jack of all trades” knowledge. It seems like he knows how pretty much everything works. I know that the Lord has blessed him with that and placed him here for a reason, seeing as we are tackling a wide assortment of projects.

Through life here I’m learning to: love and serve my teammates, be a positive example of God’s love everywhere I go, speak a little Arabic, be comfortable with silence (especially in the presence of Arabic speaking Sudanese), be content with what I have and with what can be found in Malakal, run in the mornings whenever possible (it gets far too hot in the afternoon), do various handiwork projects, live with 3 people in a 10’ by 10’ space, understand that Sudan and Sudanese culture are different from America and our culture, and there is obviously much, much more.

Talkin’ with the Sudanese

I want to give you a feel for the types of conversations that I regularly have with different Sudanese people that I meet.

Most people I meet have very limited if any English so those conversations are usually in Arabic and involve simple greetings and telling them that I am a Christian missionary, engineer, and teacher. However, I will usually try to go further and communicate more while still only using Arabic. The people I talk to really respect me for it. I even have many Muslim acquaintances who genuinely like me and seem to always want to talk (it’s a good thing they are patient with my limited language). One taxi driver named Mohammed calls on my cell phone almost every other day. I can’t wait until my Arabic improves enough to where I can start sharing the gospel with them in their language. I know that I am planting seeds by showing the love of God to them and putting much effort into becoming like the ones I want to reach through learning their language.

Occasionally, I will meet some Sudanese who know English pretty well. Usually, those conversations are initiated by the Sudanese person maybe wanting to practice English. Conversations with them start the same with greetings and profession. One of the first questions I am asked is if I am married, to which I respond “No, I am single right now.” Most people are very surprised that I am not married because most Sudanese marry fairly young. I will usually tell them that if I was married, my wife would be here with me. (There is a major difference in family dynamics between Sudan and America. In Sudan, the extended family is very close and usually live right next to each other. However, husbands and fathers often live away from the mother and children for many months at a time and will make occasional short visits to their family.) Usually this starts a talk about the differences between marriage customs and culture in Sudan and America. In Sudan the man pays the woman’s family a dowry of a certain amount of cows. They are very surprised to hear that there is no real dowry in America. I will usually lead the conversation into more biblical topics such as only having one wife and not having sex before marriage (both of which are major problems, even among Christians in Sudan). After that I try to enter into the gospel message (even if they are a Christian). I start by letting them know that we all are sinners (including myself) and deserve punishment, but God offers us forgiveness if we confess and repent of our sins. We don’t deserve to be forgiven, but God loves us. And because he loves us, he sent his son Jesus into the world to die for our sins. All we have to do is believe in Him and not only does God forgive us, but he offers us eternal life in heaven, which will be so much better than life here on earth. Though most of the people who know English well claim to be Christians I have realized here that it is important to continue to preach the gospel message to them.

I get excited when I am able to discuss deeper spiritual matters with the Sudanese. I have really enjoyed sharing testimonies with my friends and getting to hear how they came to faith in Christ. Also, here in Malakal, we have a Thursday night English bible study where we are going through the book of James. Andrew started it, but he is gone on break right now and I took over leading it while I am here. Basically, we listen to a sermon on the section of scripture. Then I will summarize the sermon and reemphasize the main points. After that we discuss the scripture, ask questions, share thoughts, and I help to clarify the meaning of some English words. I also ask a few application questions which each person will answer. This week we went through James 2:14-26, which is a pretty heavy section of scripture dealing with faith and works. We discussed how our works authenticate our faith and if someone claims to be a Christian but their actions deny God, then they have what James refers to as “dead faith,” which is not the genuine faith that God desires from us. We were created by God to do good works, though we are saved by faith alone. Our works show God that our faith is real. We had 3 people in our group this week, but there is more interest among members in the Church. I’d really love to see this thing grow.

One of the most interesting conversations I had was during our outreach in Buma (near Atar). I met an older Dinka woman who was in a group of people that I was sharing the gospel with. While I was sharing, she interrupted and started talking about magic and how she was a magician. Then she went on to say that Jesus and magic were the same. I made sure that she understood that they were not and that Jesus was more powerful than any of her “magic.” I brought up that Jesus raised people from the dead and healed the crippled and blind. I asked her if she has done any of those things to which she responded that her “magic” was powerful and it was going to hurt me (maybe by casting a spell or something). She left before I was able to finish sharing the entire gospel message, which I was bummed about. I was fine and had no problems. However, this conversation brings up a key roadblock to the gospel message spreading and that is the tribal tradition and culture of the Southern Sudanese (I’m not implying that American or Western culture is perfect or better, we have our own flaws too). There are witch doctors and magicians in most villages which I believe are being used by Satan to hinder the gospel from spreading. I have a burden to pray for Southern Sudan that they would no longer conform to the pattern of this world (tradition, culture, etc.) but be transformed by the renewing of their mind in Christ Jesus. It is fun to see solid Christians recognizing parts of their culture that go clearly against the bible and them taking a stand against it. One friend was telling me how two people might not be able to marry if there was a conflict between the two families from even 3 generations in the past (between great grandfathers). He stressed how the bible teaches us to forgive and we should not hold onto these grudges from generation to generation. He and some others have been speaking out about this.

Overall, I have enjoyed the conversations and time spent with the different people here. Through the conversations my eyes have really been opened to how I can be praying for the people of Sudan and individuals as well. I look forward to the day when my language is good enough to have intelligent conversations with the nationals in their own language, but until then I’ll keep on trying.

Round two of malaria and amoebas

Well, some of you may have heard that I got malaria for the second time while I was in Atar. I also got amoebic dysentery one week later, just a few days ago. I left Atar for Malakal to get checked out and it was good that I did since my self diagnosis of having giardia was slightly off (amoebas instead). I am feeling pretty good and will be heading back to Atar tomorrow. Please continue to pray for my health as I have been somewhat discouraged that I keep on getting sick out here.

Travel Adventures Continue

So, my travel woes/adventures continued on my latest trip to Thiangrial. I was originally set to travel on Saturday, April 12^th, but the Lord had other plans for me. Here is story number one: So, I was having a solar panel stand / battery storage unit made in Malakal and it was supposed to be done by Friday at the latest. It wasn’t fully complete on Friday, but I was told it would be ready to assemble in the morning at the compound before I was taking off at 9:30. Well, morning came and after about 8:30 I decided to ride my bike to his shop. He wasn’t there, though some of his workers were and they said he’d be in at 9:00. So, I assumed all the parts fit together properly and took the unit with me back to the compound (my home) figuring he could meet me there and we could assemble it soon. Come 9:00 there was still no sign of him, so I rode down again and he still wasn’t in his shop.

I had arranged for a donkey cart to pick me and my items up at the compound around 9:30 to get to the river by 10:00. Well, the donkey cart never arrived, so by about 9:45 I was able to call one over that was heading back into town. We loaded it up and went on our way. It was the slowest donkey cart ever. I could easily walk 3 times as fast as this donkey was moving. After collapsing a couple hundred meters from the dock, we were able to get it to muster enough strength to make it all the way. By now it was about 10:30. No sign of MedAir, who I was getting a ride from.

As I was down by the river with my items I realized that there was a major interference issue with the solar/storage unit (this is why I wanted to assemble it beforehand). So, I had someone who was also waiting for the same boat watch over my stuff while I ran back to the market to get a metal chisel, mallet, and hacksaw to fix the issue when I am in Thiangrial.

At about 12:00 MedAir arrived with a super packed truck. There were some communication issues and the man with the truck wasn’t aware that I was bringing a large amount of items with me. The boat was overloaded about the amount of my weight and items. I just knew that the Lord was saying to not go today. So I asked if I could be guaranteed to get on the next boat they send, which would be Tuesday. They agreed. I was still a little bummed that I spent half of the day rushing around and then waiting by the river only not to go, but I knew it was best to wait.

I was able to bring the solar/storage unit back to the machine shop and was able to show our machinist the problem. He got the issue fixed and actually found another issue I hadn’t noticed. We assembled it on Monday and this time I knew it was good.

So, Tuesday came around and I was expecting to be picked at home up by MedAir between 9:00 and 10:30, or I’d get a call. No call and by about 12:00 I was wondering if they forgot. Turns out they had some unexpected flights arrive and were dealing with a logistical nightmare. By 1:30 they arrived at the compound and took me to the river. We took off before 2:30 and had a smooth ride. I arrived in Thiangrial around 5:30pm.

Time in Thiangrial was really good. See my pervious post Thiangrial Trip Report for more on the water project in Thiangrial.

I was hoping to get a ride back with MedAir to Malakal, but wasn’t able to. So, on Saturday I had to take a standard commercial boat back. We were told that the boat should be arriving some time around 10-11 in the town of Sheraka, which is about 30 min walk north of Thiangrial. We went up there and guess what we did? We waited, and waited, and waited.

The SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) Commander saw us waiting by the river and invited us into his compound for lunch and to relax in the shade. We ate a local dish cooked by his wife. The boat showed up at about 2:00 and I heard it was about a 9 hour journey, so I was preparing for a late arrival in Malakal. The SPLA commander actually also got me a free ride on the boat as well, which was really nice. So, I hopped in the boat and found a semi-comfortable seat on some bags of sorgum (a grain food) and used some luggage as a backrest.

On the boat I spent a lot of time reading and talking with a few guys, practicing Arabic and they got to practice some English. We were on our way for a couple hours when I heard a big splash right behind me. One of the passengers who I was talking to before fell off the boat and couldn’t swim. By the grace of God, he fell off right next to a group of people on the riverside. There are rarely people along the riverside as most areas are completely barren. The guys on the riverside were able to pull him out in time. The passenger was extremely shaken up, but ended up being okay after a while. We got him back in the boat and kept going on our way.

Time kept passing and before you know it, darkness came over us. A little bit after sunset we hit something solid with the boat and were stuck. Turns out we hit an island covered with lily. The Nile river has tons of lily floating on it, so most of the time you can drive right through it, but not this time. We grabbed some big planks of wood and were able to push off of the island after about 15 minutes of being stuck. Then, we were on our way again.

The boat made its routine stop for food for about an hour between 9 and 10. After that I was asking people how long it would take to get to Malakal and was told another 6 hours. I was thinking that this couldn’t be true and it wasn’t. It actually took us about 8 more hours to get there.

By now I was pretty tired and found a place to sleep. I tried to sleep on some bags of sorgum, positioned between a metal door, cartons of biscuits, my backpack, and a couple other Sudanese guys. It was not very comfortable and I could get about an hour of sleep at a time. By about 5:00am I was awake and could see the UN Malakal compound and knew we were close. We landed soon after and I was off the boat around 5:30.

So, what was supposed to be a 9 hour day trip turned into a 15 hour overnight adventure. Let me remind you that the MedAir boat takes about 3 hours to make the same trip. Overall, I enjoyed my ride. It was great to travel the same way the locals do and the few adventures made the journey a bit more interesting. Cruising at a slower speed was great for reading. I have a much harder time concentrating on the speed boats like I am used to riding on. The boat taking off later was also a blessing because if I got on around 10:00am I would have been in the boat during the hottest part of the day (which gets to be over 100 F).

Now I’m back in Malakal and preparing for moving to Atar. It will be a big change, but I’m looking forward to it.

Thiangrial Trip #2

Recap of First Thiangrial Visit:

In the first visit to Thiangrial (March 8-11) Andrew Buxton and I, Ryan Weeks, assessed the current situation of the installed water purification system there. At the time it was not running due to broken pumps. Despite our best efforts to fix the pumps on site, we were not successful. During our visit, we were able to talk with Joseph, the SIM compound manager and operator of the water system. He expressed some main problems with the current system:

1. They broke both 12V DC water pumps. Both were broken trying to pump from the river to water tank #1.
2. Batteries are heavy (27 kg or 60 lb) and have to be carried from compound to river to treatment system (approximately 400m round trip).
3. Batteries take 3 days to fully charge given the current solar panels and load on batteries.

Taking these thoughts into consideration we came up with some potential solutions to the problems at hand:

1. Find a new pump that will be able to handle the load:

We found what looks to be a great sustainable pumping solution in the Super Moneymaker manual water pump. It works like an exercise stairmaster (you just step up and down) and it pumps about 1 liter per second when working correctly. Right now we have run into a problem with the inlet (suction) side of the pump. We used braided hose (like garden hose) for the inlet of the pump. The hose ended up collapsing on itself due to the suction, however we still were able to get enough flow. Instead of the 60 liters/min right now we are getting about 10 to 15. Plans are in the works to get rigid hose, which wont collapse sent in from Nairobi. Once the new hose is in place we should hopefully see a flow closer to 60 liters/min. Once working properly, for each jerry can (20 liters) that someone wants to fill, they have to walk on the pump for about 20 seconds. Since the pump is manually operated, the battery no longer has to be carried to the river and it cuts back on battery usage, helping with problems 2 and 3 as well.

2. Have a secure storage area for the batteries and solar panels near the purification system:

We designed a stand that could mount solar on top while having a secure place to store the batteries and other equipment. The new stand is placed next to the tanks and allows for full operation of the system from one spot. No more hauling batteries anywhere. The stand was manufactured in Malakal by an elder in the SIC church.

3. Cut back on battery usage or get more solar power:

We decided to make the system a two tank system instead of three, combining settling and purification into one tank, which eliminated the pump from tank #2 to tank #3. We were able to cut back a lot on battery usage due to eliminating the two DC water pumps. Currently the purification system is the only item using battery power, so we were able to use the current 40W solar panel to continue charging the batteries no problem.

Daily Summary of Second Thiangrial Trip:

- Day 1: I, Ryan Weeks, traveled to Thiangrial on April 13^th. After arriving around 5:30pm I just took time to relax and meet with Joseph, the compound manager and operator of the water system, and Sisay, an SIM missionary. We discussed some of the changes to the system and talked about what needed to be done while I was around.

- Day 2: We were able to get some of the BELC students who were around to help out with the work on the project. We were able to empty and clean out the water tanks. We also painted the solar/battery stand. And the brick stands that the water tanks were on were adjusted (raised) to account for the gravity flow of water. We were met with hot afternoon weather followed by some decent rain, so we called it a day.

- Day 3: Today, we placed the tanks on their stands, put together the solar/battery stand, and we hooked up and tested the Super Moneymaker pump. We ran into a small problem with the pump due to the hose collapsing on the inlet (suction) side of the pump. It restricted the flow, but we were still able to pump 10 to 15 liters/min. We filed up the first tank in under two hours. Even though we had this minor issue, I was still very excited to see the pump working.

- Day 4: We ran the purification system and had success. We ran the system for a little about 1 hr and 30 min and were actually oversaturated with chlorine. So it is good to know that the 24hr settling doesn’t have much of an effect on the chlorination process as overnight settling worked fine. This helped us to confirm the switch to a two tank system. We were supposed to have a community meeting in the afternoon, but some miscommunication happened and it didn’t go through due to people not being informed about it like we had originally planned. Since I was leaving early the next morning, I will not be able to attend a community meeting, which I was pretty disappointed about. However, I got to express my concerns and heart about the project to Sisay and Joseph. They will go to the community to make sure there is community ownership (especially in manually pumping the tank each day). They will also introduce the changes to the system.

- Day 5: We made a slight adjustment to the outlet of tank #1 by switching the hose from ½” to 1”. This will increase the water transfer between the two tanks. During the morning, we were able to show the new system to a few women and they got clean drinking water! After this I packed up and headed out to Sheraka where I would catch a commercial boat back. After waiting for over 4 hours from when we were told to expect the boat, it arrived at around 2:00pm. 15 hours later I arrived in Malakal (5:30am the next day). It was quite a different ride from the 3 hour MedAir speed boat which I had traveled on each time before. However, it was enjoyable to experience traveling the way the locals do.

Overall Thoughts about the Trip and System:

All in all I am happy with what was done in Thiangrial. The main thing we wanted was to provide them clean water before the rainy season. That was accomplished.

It is good to learn from your mistakes, so you know not to make them again. We will not be using braided hose on the inlet side of any future system. I am excited to hear how the pump runs with rigid hose on the inlet side, which should hopefully be arriving in Thiangrial very soon. I think that this will make the system very easy to use. If my tests in Nairobi were correct, it should only take about 20 minutes to fill up the 1350 liter tank instead of the current 2 hours.

I was disappointed about not getting to be involved in the community meeting, but am trusting Sisay and Joseph to handle it. As long as the community embraces the system, especially the pumping, and it is run each day, we should be happy.

If you want, check out my online pictures from the Thiangrial trip

What’s next for the Water Project?

A big part of the reason why I had to rush off from Thiangrial was because in only a few days after getting back to Malakal, I will be moving to Atar to help with clean water systems and teach in the BELC school. I found out just recently that an NGO named Action Against Hunger set up a water purification system that meets the needs of the entire Atar community. This was great news, but the system is not very sustainable right now. It relies on diesel fuel for the pumps, alum for settling the water, and chlorine for the purification. Currently there is about a 3 month supply of these items, which were donated, and after that the community is on its own. AAH is skeptical about whether the system will keep operating after the donated supplies run out. Basically, will the community desire to figure out a way to purchase and get the supplies to Atar? Right now it looks like no. So, I will be doing a lot of research within the community and inspection of the system to see how we can make this existing system more sustainable and embraced by the community so it will continue to run. It would be such a waste to just let a system like that sit there. I also will be setting up a small scale purification system specifically for the BELC students and SIM compound while I am there.