Safe Passage

I arrived in Uganda late Tuesday night and was met at the airport by Jan Buchanan, a long-term member of the C4C team and Zac Smith. Zac and his wife Beth are here for three months with their year-old son Isaiah. This is their second trip to South Sudan. Zac and Jan took me back to the place we were staying, a guest house for the African Inland Mission group. The next morning, I had breakfast with Myra Mann, a student at Geneva College who will be in South Sudan with me for a month. I knew Myra from Midwest Presbytery CY retreats, so it was great to catch up with her and see a familiar face. Jet lag caught up with me before too long, and I took a nap after breakfast. In the afternoon, I went with Zac, Beth, Isaiah, and Myra to the market. It was a beautiful walk along the hills of Kampala. 

The view from our guest house.

Starting in a city made the transition to Africa a little bit easier. A lot of things were certainly different than Western cities, but there was running water and mashed potatoes. 

We left Thursday morning for South Sudan. We took a MAF flight from Kampala to Arua where we officially left Uganda. Then we stopped in Juba to officially enter South Sudan. In Rumbek, we stopped for fuel but had to wait because we were told that it was raining at our destination, Malualkon. The pilot was getting antsy because the men at the Rumbek airfield are known for hassling pilots so we left as soon as we got a tentative all clear. I fell asleep again on this flight and woke as we were circling the landing strip. The rain and wind were pelting the plane and the strip looked like an oblong island in a sea of red water. God’s provision was evident in this whole day as we were able to take all of our cargo, had safe passage through Rumbek and Juba, and landed smoothly in the rain. Many people came out to greet us as we exited the plane. They laughed and cheered as we climbed down the steps and clambered into the Land Rover that Daniel had driven to meet us.

It was a bumpy, wet twenty minutes as we drove through small villages and the market town to reach Parot. I spent the next five hours being overwhelmed. There were so many things to learn and remember about our houses and food and life in the compound. This was escalated by the departure of the Faris family the next day to America for sabbatical. Natalie, who has done a wonderful job organizing and communicating absolutely EVERYTHING that needed to get done for our arrival, wanted to make sure we were settled in as much as possible before she left. The team had a delicious dinner of sorghum dough and bean sauce.

I slept fairly well though the sounds of frogs, birds, livestock, and people right outside my window may take a while to get used to!

The next morning we saw the Faris family off to the airfield. Our task for the morning was to move the Smith family out of The Big House into the Faris’ house, move Myra and myself into The Big House, and get the Guesthouse ready for Lucas Hanna arriving later that day. Myra and I had fun unpacking our things and setting up our kitchen.

In the afternoon, Jan came over with five ladies from the church. They gave us our names while Jan translated the conversation and then they prayed for us. Myra is named Nybol Kur and I am Akual Bol. In Dinka, the second name you are given is the name of your father. The two ladies that named us named us after their own daughters. You can see Jan’s post about the event here: http://southsudanjan.blogspot.com/2017/05/naming-ceremony.html.

I’m a little bit overwhelmed by the new sights, sounds, and smells, but I am excited for school to start on Monday.