Christmas in Sudan

Hey Everyone!!!

Well, here I am in Sudan! After a lot of delays, an overbooked flight, a free night in an amazing hotel and having US$900 stolen in Uganda, I’m really glad to be here, it’s Amazing!!

As we approached our decent towards the small dirt runway surrounded by bush my excitement amplified. Finally I felt like I was really stepping into my dreams and destiny, and all the apprehensions I had, remained in the dust cloud left behind by our landing.
The airport, consisting of an old tin shed on the side of the runway was where we proceeded to get our travel permit, - much simpler than previously anticipated. I can even renew it in town! Perfect!

The drive to base was fun. The roads here are by no means flat and I still don’t know what side of the road you are really supposed to drive on. ; ) hehe… I think it’s more about avoiding the potholes that could swallow your car!
After noticing quite a few armed military personal around, I proceeded to ask Jennie what the current situation was in South Sudan only to learn South Sudan had just declared war with the LRA (Lords Resistance Army), Two weeks ago! The LRA had started raids again for Child Soldiers so the South Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), the Congo Army and the Uganda Peoples Defence Force, have combined, to Catch Joseph Kony who heads up the LRA. So I really am in a War Zone! In saying that I wouldn’t have known it, had I not asked. As there is a strong UN presence in Yei and many NGO’s I think we are pretty safe here. Your prayers would be appreciated though as things can change very quickly and Kony’s camp is only about 50km away!
I’m not fearful though. Actually I feel a lot more comfortable and safer here than I did in Mozambique. The people so far have been amazing. Very friendly and polite. Even when walking around the markets the other day a stall holder gave me a whole bag of dates for free… which I proceeded to pass out to random people in the market while wishing them a Merry Christmas. It was very jovial and fun. I think they enjoy having white people hanging out with them as from what I hear many of the NGO’s don’t leave their compounds much. This will become a little harder for us too once we are on our new base as it is about 8 miles from town so a bit long to walk in. Chris is contemplating buying a motorbike though so that will be useful and by the look of these roads a lot of fun! J It’s like a continuous motor-cross course. Come rainy season things could be a bit different though.

The Iris Children’s Village is awesome. The kids welcomed us with songs and cooked us a special meal of goat and rice. They even went out and brought us Coke, so sweet : ) We were assigned a room to set up our tents and then left to relax.
The base itself is very different from the one in Pemba, a lot less developed and the rooms the kids sleep in are a lot more cramped. Maybe 3 to a bed, but the kids are adorable and so polite and respectful. There is a real family feel about the place with the older kids looking after the younger (and by that I mean the 5 year old looking after the 3 year olds and so on). It is really cute.

Christmas was great fun! The preparations started a few days before with the staff going out and getting a Christmas outfit for all the kids and then going to buy a lamb and a goat and some chickens. (live) The children were given their clothes the day before so they could wash and iron them, which they did so with so much pride. Then on Christmas eve the lamb and goat were sacrificed around much singing and celebrations and the blood was cooked and drunk. Can’t say I was keen to try that.
The next day the women started early in the kitchen killing, blanching, plucking, and frying chicken; preparing potatoes, rice, spinach, salad, goat and lamb (including the innards). It was quite a feast they were preparing.
At about 10am the children cleaned up and got into their new outfits, and looking very, very smart made their way excitingly to the school/church building for present giving! They were so cute in their new outfits and wore them with such pride.
Each child received a Christmas bag with a few toys and a lollypop and the girls all got hair extensions, which is a real popular thing here since no one can really grow long hair. Michele gave out the gifts individually and even I got one! Some great bell earrings (refer to photo) and lip gloss. It was great. After that the kids were straight back into their old clothes and started playing in the dirt with their new toys. Hilarious!
Lunch was a real treat. We were served a huge portion of fried chicken, rice, goat/lamb innards fried in spices, salad, chips and coke. The Chicken took me about an hour to chew through, lets say they kill them a lot older than we allow ours to get or they cook it way to hot and fast. It was entertaining though and by the time I was finished with my drumstick I could hardly touch anything else on my plate. After that I had to retire to ‘tent city’ for a movie nap with Michelle and Chris just to let the meat try begin its process of digestion. : )
About an hour after dinner everyone came together again, dressed in their best, for church and we had a few songs and Michele preached a short story on the birth of Jesus. Then we prayed for the sick. It was a sweet short service, just how I like it.. ; )
Dinner was another amazing meal of stewed meat, a chapatti and poshue but I was still too fill from lunch to even try it.
Pretty much every night after dinner the kids meet together outside for singing, drumming, dancing and prayer. It’s probably my favourite time apart from the fact I can’t understand the songs. Its just fun to dance around with the kids though, be silly and carry on.
Then to finish the night they set up the laptop with ‘the nativity’ before everyone retired with very full bellies and had a good night sleep. Bliss

So, defiantly one of the best Christmas’s I’ve had. Wasn’t high on the entertainment side but felt a lot more like what Christmas should be about. It was really special to see how much the kids appreciated and cared for their new clothes too. Fashion is a big thing here. Rather than just wrapping capalana’s (sarongs) around them like in Mozambique they actually sow them and turn them into outfits. People take pride in the way they look which is nice to see and it tends to show a bit more respect for self. They even paint up their houses nice with designs.

So, since being a child myself I have always thought it would be cool to live the simple life. I don’t know how many of you have read ‘ the little house on the prairie’ but if you have, that’s the life I could see myself living. In a way this is probably the closest I’ll get to it, put into the African context of course. The new base we are going to in about 2 weeks time is a 40 acre bush block (not yet tested for land mines!). There will be no electricity, no running water and no Internet. We do have a well on the property though which is very exciting. Currently they are finishing up the building of Michelle’s house (which will have a generator running for a few hours a day) and they have some of the children’s homes up. When we move we will be in tents along with a lot of the kids, and probably for some time. The visitor’s centre will be one of the last things built but once the offices are done, which will be after all the kids homes, we will get to move in, and make a temporary home. I’m sure this will be a welcome break as the rainy season starts again in February and doesn’t finish until November! It’s going to be fun. : )

I’ve also had the offer to help with organising the Iris school. They have a headmaster but it lacks organisation and they need to employ more teachers, since last year many of the teachers preferred to sit around and drink tea instead of teach. It sounds like an interesting and challenging project for me. I’m really interested in finding some information about alternative education methods though. I don’t think our western school system is that conducive to the African lifestyle. If you have any ideas/information you can pass on I’d appreciate it. (I know there are lots of teachers reading this!) The other thing too is that most of the teachers are not trained. They just have finished high school, which is a big thing here. Many children don’t get that opportunity. That means they don’t really know how to teach, they just know what to teach. So again, if you have any good resources on teaching methods I’d appreciate it.
The other project I’m milling over is in the creative arts department. Getting the kids and possible community members together and teaching them crafts and dance etc…That should be a lot of fun. So if you have some simple yet fun craft ideas send them my way.

I also brought a whole bunch of seeds from Johannesburg so I can start a big garden on the property. Apparently there is a big agricultural guru not too far away too, so I can pick his brains, which will be very helpful. I’m really, really looking forward to having some good home-grown vegetables. They have been a rarity since arriving in Africa.
The food here is pretty interesting. Breakfast consists of the sweetest tea imaginable. (Actually it is hard to taste the tea for the sugar.) Accompanied by fried bread, like donuts.
Then lunch and dinner usually consists of ‘ Poshue’ which is finally ground maize meal boiled into the consistency of rubbery mashed potatoes, (yet not nearly as tasty.) It then comes with an accompaniment of beans or spinach or egg or occasionally meat or fish. I can’t say I really like the Poshue, which is extremely fulling, but the rest is usually pretty tasty and we do get treated to rice every now and then. I’m happy, I’m certainly not going to starve. Then at about 11pm they serve up extremely sweet coffee, which again was hard to distinguish the coffee for the sugar. When Michele and Jennie go to Uganda next week I’m defiantly putting in an order of coffee! And if anyone wants to send a care package, nice coffee is defiantly on the list : )

The weather here is much more comfortable than Mozambique too. Not that we have entered the really hot season yet, but it cools down at night so I can actually sleep! That is bliss as I really struggled sleeping in Pemba. The air is also drier so we don’t have that sticky humid feeling all the time, which is great.

So really I am a very happy camper. I have much to be thankful for. In an environment like this one can be truly appreciative of the life they have lived.
I have had the privilege to hear some of the kids stories, children from the Nuba Mountains mainly. They were born into war and grew up in a life of war. Many times they had to flee from the Arab soldiers into the mountains and hide out in caves. They have had many friends die and grew up seeing so much death. Their fathers and brothers were the ones who had to stay back and fight. It’s a life I could never imagine, and an inspiration to see what incredible young men these boys turned out to be. As I learn more I look forward to sharing their stories with you. There is so much going on in the world it is easy to turn a blind eye. But having a young man sit in front of you and tell you his life, knowing that millions are suffering the same existence right now in the west of Sudan adds a whole new meaning to the events taking place.
Thank you so much for standing with me in this cause.

I really appreciate you all so much. Please keep me up to date with your lives and your families, your all so wonderful!

Love Amy