Greetings from Southern Sudan

THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US AT HOPE AND RESURRECTION SECONDARY SCHOOL– Many responded with donations for the lunch program. For Jim and me, it was heartwarming to receive word of your support and interest. Lunches are going very well, and I can see a difference in students’ concentration in the afternoon. Nothing that I can say expresses our thanks like some words directly from some of the students.

From Isaac Maker Turic - It was difficult for me when I biked to school everyday and spent nine hours studying and go back home at evening time without getting lunch in the duration. But at this second term I get lunch in school. This makes my studies effective and I don’t think about food at daytime again. So I appreciate you American donors to provide us with lunch. You have done a lot, and I am serious after studies as I am motivated.

From Samuel Dut – About the lunch time, there is a timekeeper in our school. He is very serious for his duties when the minutes are finished at 12:35, he rings the bell and students go out to lunch. There are two ladies cooking for us every day. There is a very big tree in the middle of school where we go under it and find two tables with plates of food for every student. I thank you for giving us this lunch time.

From Mary Athiei Paul – We have a lunch in school here. One day we eat porridge and another day we eat rice and beans. I say this lunch is good because if we don’t have lunch time we become hungry. The food tastes good, also.

From Abraham Magang Machot – In our school cooking began on July 25th. This cooking is going smoothly, correctly and nicely to the present date. Students here are having happiness for their having lunch daily.

A reflection about life here and the progress we believe that is occurring……………..
When I recall what I have shared in this blog, I see Jim’s and my evolution through some stages. We have moved from first impressions of the Dinka culture, past initial frustrations, through day to day coping, and finally to seeing progress. We are now woven into the fabric of the community, and this gives us a new vantage point to understand what we couldn’t comprehend in the beginning. Life here is so achingly difficult, but at the same time these hardships are juxtaposed against people’s striving for the grace to live with dignity.
Reality here can feel like the jagged edge of broken glass. An example of this was last Sunday morning when Jim was summoned to take a very sick boy of about eight years to the clinic six miles away. A boy named Shedit had been bitten by a dog two weeks earlier and now was gravely ill. I did not know this boy specifically, but in my mind’s eye I see one of the many gangly youths with broad grins who enthusiastically greet us when we go to the village. Shedit died that Sunday evening, and you could hear crying in the village when the boy’s body was returned to the family. Children are especially vulnerable to this difficult environment. At the end of this rainy season there is much sickness, especially malaria. Jim and I came down with malaria last month.
There is unrest in this place, and at times the tension can be sorely felt in the students. Violence erupts in cattle camps between clans and tribes, and often results in injury and death and spills over into neighboring villages. Still practiced today is the traditional thinking that involves an eye for an eye. The spirit of revenge leads to much heartbreak in an already challenging place. Recently the government began collecting thousands of automatic weapons left over from the days of war as a way to cut down on the cattle camp violence. Last month in Rumbek, the soldiers abused their authority when searching for guns and the results were looting and injuries. There is a sense of standing on shifting sands. The students of Hope and Resurrection Secondary School will hopefully be part of the transitional generation who will begin to see the world through a wider lens.
What seems to sustain people through loss and unsettled times is that they acknowledge and embrace their interdependence on one another. Indeed, it takes a village to raise a child. In fact, it almost takes a village to get two sick missionaries to the doctor. When we became ill with malaria, our fellow colleagues at school and a friend from a neighboring NGO joined efforts and by 11 AM a medical assistant from the clinic had arrived at school to transport us. At the clinic that afternoon, we awoke to find our beds surrounded by tall, young men in Hope and Resurrection tee shirts. On their way home from school, they had stopped to greet us and see how we were doing. The concern and kindnesses shown to us were ultimately the best medicine we could have received and showed us the power of our informal network of friends here.
It is my nature to most often focus on what can be improved at school. I lean my will and spirit against the problems of absenteeism and attrition. Then I take a moment and step back to see the bigger picture—students solving algebraic equations, understanding force and pressure in physics, learning about the earth’s cycles in geography, and trying to write multi paragraph essays, to name just a few. When Hope and Resurrection Secondary School is viewed as a whole—from the first vision for the school combined with the generosity of donors, the dedication of staff and the efforts of students then I can see that this first year of operation has unfolded like a miracle.
Saying good bye – Jim and I are increasingly thinking in holistic terms with only eight more weeks in Southern Sudan. We arrive in San Francisco on December 16th. As short term missionaries, our term of service was one year with the possibility of renewing for one more year. When we first came I wondered if either Jim or I would want to stay and the other want to go, but mercifully, we both think that it is time for us to come home. The main reason is that we are in the process of accomplishing what we were called to do, and that was to begin the secondary school here. The school is blessed with a competent Dinka educator of thirty years of experience, so he can navigate through both the academic as well as the cultural issues. We are busy passing the torch to Anthony in a myriad of ways, and he is increasingly excited about the opportunity that lay before him. Even though this year has been a once in a life time experience, we realize that our lives are not in Africa but in the US.
I would imagine that we are somewhat changed, but it is hard for us to judge that. My sister Nancy asked me if America looked ugly from Africa, and I answered that American looks beautiful to me. The personal freedom, justice and efficiency that we take for granted are lacking on this great continent, and its people suffer greatly because of it.
During the first month that we were gone, there was a freak electrical fire in the living room of our Cameron Park house. Family, friends, and the insurance company have taken care of the repairs, but most of our things had to be packed into boxes into the garage so painting and installing flooring could be completed. It will be odd to go home to a refurbished house and literally need to unpack and move in again. In one way it sounds overwhelming when I would rather just unlock the door and have it just as I left it, but in another way the circumstances present an unique opportunity for re-examination of a lot of things. Our resettlement into our home seems like a metaphor for the process which Jim and I need to experience as we pick up the dear threads of relationships, as well as chose new things for our interest and energy.
Please pray that we are able to say good and right farewells to the people here.
Blessings to you,
Mary and Jim