Beauty in the Dust

I wonder what kind of a housekeeper I will be when I return home.

Dust covers everything here in South Sudan during the dry season. You could sweep inside everyday and still not sweep it all.

I heard my daughter-in-law tell one of her friends that visited our home that I was a good housekeeper. She said that everything was always tidy and in order. However, even if I never dust again, I will never accumulate the amount of dust at my home in Midland that I am living with at the present.

As far as you can see it is flat, brown and barren here in early March. There has been no rain for many months.

Yet surprisingly there is still beauty! Many of the older trees are substantial in size and have much character. An example is the tree that is a gathering place in the center of the school yard.

Large tree with much character and shade
in the center of the school yard.

This tree is full of fruit. Unfortunately they will not be ripe
until June - long after I have returned home.

Largest Aloe plant I have ever seen.
It is currently in bloom.

 Plumeria.
The bush is all sticks with not a single green leaf.
However, many of these beautiful blooms
are all at the top.

Unfortunately, there is much that is not beautiful. Africa has a trash problem. The missionaries here say the problem has worsened over the past 10 years.

Random trash on the way to school.

Plastic bags and other trash
collect against fence lines

As the borders have opened and more and more products have become available to purchase, there is more packaging waste. People can purchase small packages of cookies or biscuits at the market. They come with plastic wrapping as they would in the States. Store owners offer you a small plastic sack to carry your purchase in as they do in the States. Bottled water, soda and other carbonated drinks are available in disposable plastic bottles as they are in the States.  

Yet unlike the States, there are no garage men, trash cans or garbage bags to dispose of the trash.  At the market they burn the trash nightly. At the compound where I live we burn our paper trash and compost any food waste. At school each classroom has a trash can (an old jerry can that has the top cut off) for collecting trash. There is never any food waste at school. In the past month I have never seen a child leave even one bite uneaten.  Weekly, we burn the trash that accumulates at school. We are trying to train the students to take care of the world God created for all of us and to have a better community for them to live in.

In areas where  governments have limited resources, waste often becomes a lower priority. High population rates and high poverty rates exacerbate the problem.

The South Sudanese are resourceful people. If they find a use for it, then you will not find any of these items by the roadside. They reuse Jerry cans, plastic soda and water bottles, any kind of jar, any kind and size of can. At school we use the pencils and crayons until they are too small to hold and no one complains. Clothing is worn until it is past threadbare and then the fabric is used for rags.

As evidenced by the number of plastic shopping sacks littering the path to school, the South Sudanese have not yet found a use for them. The women sweep the dirt around their huts and inside their compounds until they are spotless, yet they only sweep the trash an established distance away from their homes. The trash collects where the animals graze and along the fence lines that are erected around their cluster of huts.

This is a growing problem across Africa.  Congratulations to Kenya and Rwanda, African countries that have banned the use of plastic bags. Based on my observation it is a step in the right direction.

Taking care of the world God has created ─ as our contribution and responsibility to our own community ─ is one of the messages of a book "Community: Whose Responsibility?" by Bob Nsumba, a Ugandan pastor that my husband and I met in 2017.  As Pastor Bob said, "At the end of the day, it is my responsibility because it is me who throw the trash out of the window of my car or throw out the candy wrapper" (Video clip).

Jan, a fellow team member, spent her first three years here doing hygiene education with the women at the church. Now,  seven years later, she is able to work at the school instead of concentrating on hygiene education alone. The local ladies have taken over the training of others in the community regarding hygiene. This is an example of how these women have taken responsibility to contribute in a positive way to their own community. For example, this past Saturday they held a workshop with about 20 women, continuing to education one another and improve their lives.

Jan has begun having discussions with these same woman about the trash problem. Because I have seen their success in other areas, I am excited about the successful  they will have in addressing this growing problem of trash here in South Sudan.

Please join me in thanking God for what he is doing in South Sudan and for what He will continue to do in lives lived for Him.