Hot, Hard, Heavy and Hope-Filled

 Four words come to mind after spending three months serving in South Sudan: Hot, Hard, Heavy and Hope-Filled.

February, March and April are the dry season in South Sudan. It is hot. Most days the temperature is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The earth is dry and dust is everywhere. Yet the mornings are beautiful, with temperatures in the high 70’s. You are not encumbered with sweaters, raincoats or shoes. I am enjoying the hot, dry days as we anticipate the new growth that the rains will soon bring.

I am reminded of Hosea 6:3, “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” When it is hot and dry, we can anticipate with so much more joy the promise of rain.

 This is my second trip to Africa. It is an eye-opening experience to watch people work so hard to provide for just their basic needs. I am blessed to live in the United States. I received a good education. I have easy access to food. I have water at the turn of a faucet handle. If you live in the States, Canada, or Europe you are likely similarly blessed. 

In contrast, here in South Sudan water must be pumped by hand from a bore well and carried home in large yellow Jerry cans.  Firewood used for cooking must be collected regularly and carried home.  Food must be grown, harvested, stored and prepared daily.  Clothes are washed by hand and dried where ever you can find a place to hang or lay them out safe from the dust. Hard work is required everyday to eat, drink and survive. Do not be mistaken. The blessings of life are still here, yet the common ones are harder to obtain and many of God’s blessings are entirely different than we as Westerners experience.

Women are the backbone of life in South Sudan. Most of them carry – often alone – the heavy burden of feeding and caring for their children. They do it with out complaining as their mothers have done and as their daughters will do. However, as it is with our Western culture, so it is with South Sudanese culture: Some aspects of culture and how women are treated are Biblical, while many other times it is less so. Our hearts should ache when either of our cultures hinder the relationships and abundant life that God desires for us. 

I am hope-filled as I watch God at work here in South Sudan. Cush Christian School is full of students who sing their hearts out to the Lord, memorize scripture, pray and study. They are hiding God’s word in their hearts. God promises that his word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). 

These boys and girls will become men and woman who will know the truth of the scriptures, as well as mothers and fathers who will lead Christ-centered homes. They will become leaders in their communities and in this new country. They will become tomorrow’s church, witnessing to their neighbors of the saving power of Jesus. 

A Dinka Name

This is Aluel Kuol She is one of the teachers at Cush Christian School. I met her my first day here and she gave me my Dinka name:

Arek Mayuen Padiany

I don't know the history behind it, but it is customary to be given a Dinka name when you arrive. The Dinka consider it an honor to be asked to give a khawaja a name.

Arek  (pronounced Air ache) is my first name.
Mayuen is my surname.
Padisny is my clan name.

Aluel is a mother of four with another baby on the way. She is 34 years old. Her oldest three children attend Cush Christian School. Aluel loves the Lord and is a song leader at church. Her husband is not a believer and does not support her.

She teaches the 1A class. 1A learns to read Dinka, which has traditionally been an oral language. The entire New Testament has been translated into Dinka. Many of the children's parents do not know how to read or write Dinka.

I actually found it much easier to read Dinka than to speak it. Aluel (pronounced L-O-L) is the only teacher at the school who does not know English.

Aluel is a lovely woman who loves the Lord and is raising her children to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).

The Games Children Play

This tree stump is worn smooth near the bore
hole. It is uneven and rocks like a seesaw

I used to think people were more alike than different. After all we are all created by God, we all come in to the world naked, we all need a Savior.

Yes, we have different colored skin, hair and eyes. We all have the same internal organs, learn to walk about one year, of age, lose our first teeth about seven years,  and we all grow old.

Physically we are all similar. Do life experiences  change us? The life experiences of the children here in South Sudan are dramatically different and dramatically limited.

The list of  things Dinka children don't have would be so long I will instead tell you what they do have.

They have two parents, yet very often the father 's only contribution is his sperm, a last name and a clan name.

A spinning toy made out of an empty plastic bottle.

They have a shelter to sleep in such as a mud hut or an aracuba (a shelter of woven grass mats) and food when it is available.  Clothing is optional when children are young. It is not unusual to see little ones up to age four playing around their compounds with no clothing, or with very limited clothing.

Many of the children at school appear to only have one outfit. Others have a bit more. The clothing on adults and on children is in varying states of cleanliness and repair. Many do not know when their birthday is or how old they are. Birthdays are not celebrated, or  acknowledged annually.

I had seen children play with hoops and sticks
in drawings of Colonial America.
They are still doing this in South Sudan in 2019.

Dinka children may not have much, yet they are children —and they do enjoy playing! They play with many things. Old tires and rims are sent spinning and pushed with a stick to see how far they can go without falling over. Plastic containers are turned into trucks, spinning tops, or a display of goods in a pretend store. They love getting cans from the khawajas to play with. Small stones are added to tin cans and old soda bottles to make rattles for babies and worship music at church. (Video of toy made from empty plastic bottle).

There are no playgrounds here, yet if strips of fabric are available they are wrapped around and around to form a ball, a swing or something else that will move and entertain until the cloth is worn out.

Many of the children are curious about America and think it must be a beautiful place full of plenty. Tong Tong one of the students in class 1B. He frequently asks me to tell him about America. When I reply, I have instead chosen to focus on the beautiful things I see when I look around South Sudan; very large, old trees with so much character; open land that goes on as far as you can see; bright stars light up the night sky; and people that are welcoming to strangers with white skin.

This branch is still attached to the tree but it
grew in such a way that - until the fabric
broke - children could sit on it
and swing one another.

The children are tough here, No one complains about being hungry. When a Dinka chld falls down they get up and keep going without a fuss. When your flip flop breaks you walk barefoot until a solution is found. The older students have to be told several times each afternoon that it is time to go home. It is 4:30 p.m. and they would like to work longer. After all, there is no soccer practice or piano lessons to attend, no TV to watch, no books to read or board games to play.

They are children. They fight with one another from time to time and disobey their parents. They fail tests and study spelling words. The teen boys think about girls and the teen girls think about boys. They memorize scripture and hum worship songs while they work. They have parents who love them and want them to be successful at school. They all need a Savior who will give them a hope and a future
(Jeremiah 29:11).

Things I learned in South Sudan

I return home on Monday, May 6 after spending 3 months in South Sudan. I still have a few more blog posts to share. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed the experiences.

I fully expected to learn many things when I set out for South Sudan. I haven't been disappointed.
I hope you will enjoy a few humorous thoughts I have had while I have been here:

• Nose hairs are undervalued
• Sugar is not King
• Noises in the night are not always as bad as you think, nor do they come from things as big as you think
• Ice cubes are a food group
• You can bathe yourself in  6  quarts of water  ( 1-1/2 gallons) and really be clean
• Clothes don't make the man
• "It's a dry heat" is a thing
• Man does not live by bread alone; you need peanut butter to go with it
• Dirt does eventually wash off
• Vendors won't cheat you in the market, they want more of your money on your next visit
• Expect the unexpected and nothing will surprise you. Expect the unexpected and you won't be disappointed
• It never hurts to ask
• It is good to share your food

If you need further explanation of these points, just continue reading:

It is the dry season. It has not rained since November . It has been at least 90 degrees every day since my arrival on February 1. Most days over 100 degrees. Everything is dry. Everything is covered with dust. I have probably breathed my weight in dust and then some, yet those little nose hairs faithfully do their job keeping my body free of dust and dirt. My nose hurts some nights because it is so dry and has been working over time, but I am thankful. They say God know the number of hairs on our head. Our nose hairs are overlooked but valuable.

Over the last year I have read a few books and articles about cutting back or eliminating sugar from my diet. In the United States this is challenging to do. Sugar is in  just about everything. Not here in South Sudan. You actually can survive with out sugar. 

I live in a house that is constructed of cement blocks and has a metal roof. It is open where the rafters sit on the top layer of block. Nothing big can get in, yet there are lizards, spiders, flies and other bugs everywhere. The lizards are the biggest, but they are so afraid of me I have been trying for weeks to get a picture of one. They scamper away before I can get close enough. That said, when you are sleeping alone 6,000 miles from home you can hear goats, mules, roosters, sheep, oxen, dogs and cows just outside your window. Then when something falls on the metal roof or scurries up the screens on the windows your imagination can get carried away. I use the mosquito net even though it is not mosquito season, turn on the fan, and try to remember I am bigger than most of the creatures real and imagined. It doesn't take long to drift off to sleep exhausted from another day.

I miss ice, ice cubes and any variation of things frozen. It is hot here. A cold drink would taste great. At home, when I get myself a cold drink I fill the glass with ice (to the top), then put the beverage in. That is my kind of drink. So, I miss ice. But I miss my husband Warren a bit more!

Here on the compound there are four house that have been built by different families at different times as the ministry has grown. I live in the Big House. It was the first one built and has housed a family of six and later a family of eight. There is a shower stall with a drain in the floor that goes under the house somewhere. No shower head. No running water. Instead, I fill a basin with 2 quarts of water and take basically a sponge bath, then I use an additional two pitchers of water to pour over myself to wash my hair and rinse my body. I feel clean and it is refreshing to pour water  over yourself when it is so hot and you are covered in sweat. Some of the newer houses have improved the shower mechanics with large containers of water, gravity fed delivery, and an actual shower head.

School Uniforms are very common in Africa. South Sudan is no exception. However Cush Christian School made a decision from the beginning not to require school uniforms. It was an additional expense for the families and considered unnecessary. Many of the students wear the same clothes for days. They are soiled and full of ripped seams. No one teases anyone or comments at all on the clothing they wear. I pass many huts on the way to school where the young children are wearing nothing as they rush out to greet me as I walk by. You just get used to it. They say potty training is very easy here. 

When there is no moisture in the air  it really, really, really does not seem as hot as the thermometer indicates. But let me warn you, you don't want to stand in the sun long, or step in the hot sand in your bare feet. Do one of these things and then it does feel as hot as the thermometer says.

I have found the diet here to be challenging. I would not say I am the most adventurous eater. But I will try new things. Watching people eat with their hands -- that I know they have not washed recently -- is difficult. Knowing that there are no rules for food prep is also difficult. So when all else fails I eat unleavened bread that is available at the market. I split it open cover it with peanut butter. I can last several hours with some water to wash it down.

I can really appreciate the Bible verses about washing feet. My feet are dusty and dirty at the end of the day. Nothing feels better than to get them clean. 

The first time I went to the market I went with a team mate that spoke Dinka. Later, I went with one of the older students. That was easy. When I went alone there was a lot of pointing and guessing, yet I don't worry about them cheating me because if I find out I paid too much for something I will take my money to another vendor the next time. There are many vendors to choose from and they know it too.

Everyday I walk the same path to school and home. I meet the same children who all shout "Khawaja!" from where every they are. They come running to greet me with sticky, dirty hands and runny noses. They ask for food. They ask everyday because it never hurts to ask.

I have observed that many of the students share their lunch out of the same bowl. They eat together from one bowl when that one is empty they eat together until the second one is empty. They happily share and never worry that one person got more than the other person. It is quite heartwarming.

Everything here is new. Life is different. Yet the same God that loves me in Michigan loves me here in South Sudan. He is watching over me, protecting me, and  teaching me to lean on Him.

Living Water

Abuk and her sister carrying water home. 

Water is colorless, odorless and tasteless, yet it sustains our lives.

Seventy percent of the earth is covered with it. But 10 percent of the population does not have access to suitable drinking water.

The World Health Organization considers access to water a basic human right. That means that there is clean water available to you within a 30-minute round trip walk.

Warren and I are counting the days until my return. He shared with me recently that he had hoped to get a number of things done while I was gone. With only two weeks until my return, it does not look like he is going to complete the (somewhat long) list. He had to confess that laundry, shopping, cooking and keep up the house takes a lot of time and energy (I will admit, ladies, that I enjoyed hearing this).
Please be kind to him though, I do appreciate the commitment he made for me to experience this opportunity.

Because as humans we need water, getting water is a never ending task that consumes much time each day for the woman here in South Sudan. Collecting water for the household each day is one thing that Warren can't use as an excuse for not completing his to do list!

I was surprised when I realized how much water I am using here  — 60 gallons a week. I am certain that is significantly less than what I use at home. I used to think nothing of lingering under the shower head each morning contemplating my plans for the day. That 60 gallons here in South Sudan includes everything: bathing, drinking, cooking, dishes, laundry. That makes me feel somewhat better about my consumption.

That 60 gallons of water per week equates to 12 Jerry cans. If you can only carry one on your head at a time that means 12 trips to the bore well each week. In other words, you will spend a minimum of six hours a week getting water for just one person. That does not include any possible wait time at the bore well. Consider the number you would need for a growing family of multiple children.

Can you imagine adding another chore to your daily routine that took so much of your time and couldn't be skipped even for one day?

I can only imagine how excited the Samaritan woman must have been  when she said to Jesus in
John 4:15, "Sir give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to get water."

Is it harder for me to think of the difficult work women and children have fetching water here on earth daily, or of those who will perish without knowing Him for eternity?

Watering station at school. Water needs
consume a lot of time each day.
Students take turns getting water.

Jerry cans lined up at the Bore well.
Waiting for your turn takes much time.

Bore hole well near my home.

Delivering water can be a full-time job for young boys.

Christian Radio in South Sudan

Sign at the entrance of the radio station property.

Weer Bei is the name of the Christian radio station here in Parot. Weer Bei is roughly translated  "Redemption" in Dinka. It is pronounced "Wear Bay" in English.

The radio station antenna went up in the spring of 2009.

Radio is powerful tool in a country with high illiteracy.
Since illiteracy is over 70 percent in South Sudan very few can read the Bible, or own a copy, if they can read.

Dinka is an oral language, however the new testament has been translated into Dinka. We have copies of the gospels in Dinka at Cush Christian School. The school teaches children to read Dinka in 1st grade. All other grades read and write in English. At school all students have access to the Old and New Testament  in English.

Every Village  Radio is a Christian Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that supports long-term missionaries by broadcasting the gospel and community development        

Solar Radio for listening to Weer Bei only.

teaching. The broadcast is received through handheld solar-powered radios. In partnership with Cush For Christ, Every Village operates the radio station and provided funding for its start up.

Radio can reach the masses with the gospel, community development, bible stories, health and hygiene education, educational programming, children's programming, music, local pastors, call in programs and news* all done in Dinka, the local language.

I have enjoyed listening to some of the music myself. The ladies often listen on their handheld devices in the morning as they prepare lunch at school.

The antenna itself is quite impressive. The area is without even a two story building, yet the antenna is 79 meters high. You can see it for miles around. I have used it as a landmark myself as I walk or ride the bike to the market. In this way it is like both a spiritual and physical lighthouse. I know I can always find my way home if I can see the antenna.

The sun coming up beside the radio antenna.

The radio station employs several men full-time. They are all local men or pastors. The radio station building also has space for pastoral training.

A large conference was held at the station in 2018 attracting several hundred men from the  surrounding area for Bible teaching. They actually closed the school during the conference and took over all the classrooms to accommodate the large numbers.

Walking to school one morning, I watched the sun coming up over the radio station and thought it was a terrific picture of the radio station's mission of sharing the Son of God with  communities throughout South Sudan giving them a hope and a future.

Romans 10:14 says, "How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can the believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Weer Bei is fulfilling this verse here in South Sudan.


* The radio station does not currently broadcast news. The government shut the radio station down during the Civil War for several days because they would not broadcast news that favored the current government. So until that policy changes the station has decided to broadcast no news rather than news that is partial to the current government or untrue.

Joyfully Sew

As I prepared to spend 3 months in South Sudan I knew I was only able to bring 40 lbs. of luggage. That included both my carry-on and checked bag. So, needless to say, every ounce needed to be valuable.

I had been praying that God would give me wisdom as I packed.

He did!

I am happy to report that with only 3 weeks remaining I have used everything I brought for my 3 months stay.  If I had to pack again there is not much I would change.

                                                                                    I was given this small sewing kit many years ago

by a neighbor. I stashed it away in a drawer and really had never had a need for it... until now.
I filled it with a few different size needles, straight pins and safety pins.

Since I brought only a few skirts and tops I thought if anything became torn or in need of repair I better be able to fix it, or I will run out of clothes to wear.

I have put the needles and thread to good use. But not on my clothes.  They are holding up just fine. Rather, the clothes of the students.

I have stitched up skirts, underwear and broken zippers, sewn on buttons, and even repaired a pair of flip flops.

I have one student who has worn the same shirt and shorts to school everyday. I have seen him daily since school started in February. He does not own a pair of shoes. Yet his mother, who I am sure has many needs, is making many sacrifices so that he and his siblings can attend school — Christian school.

The students do not have much clothing. What the do have, they wear for many days (and nights). Much of what cothing that is sold in the market is poorly made or used. They wash everything by hand and hang it in the sun to dry.

I have enjoyed spending time in the evenings listening to podcasts or audio books, doing some hand sewing and marveling at how God has allowed me to use the two things I love doing  (sewing and teaching) to serve Him here in South Sudan.

Psalm 100:3 — Know that the Lord is God. It is he who  made us and we are his.