Scott Brinkerhoff helped to start Cush Christian School and has a close relationship with most of the older students. One of those students is Chech.
Chech is 16 years old and had been a good student at the school for several years. Chech's father is a pastor at one of the Christian churches in the area. Unfortunately, Chech and his father, John, had some kind of a disagreement during the school break in December 2018. As a result, Chech ran away. Far away.
He had no money, no transportation and no phone. He traveled by foot and caught rides on a very dangerous road for five long days before arriving in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. It is about 786 km from Parot Village to the capital (about 488 miles), but the mileage alone doesn't adequately describe the distance because it doesn't account for the road conditions and difficulties of safe travel throughout South Sudan. Fortunately, there in Juba, Chech had relatives to stay with.
After arriving in Juba, he attempted to enroll in a local school. He said that all the schools he visited were very impressed with his skills in English, yet he could not afford the cost of any of the school fees and he had no source of income.
Until God Showed Up
Scott, my colleague Lydia and I had arrived in Juba on Saturday, February 2, 2019. Our flight to Aweil, South Sudan in the northeastern section of the country was not until Monday, since the domestic airlines do not fly on the weekends. So we were prepared for a two-day layover. Aweil, with its dirt airstrip, is the nearest commercial airstrip near Parot Village where Cush Christian School is located.
However, when we arrived in Juba, our luggage did not.
We returned to the airport the next day in hopes of locating our luggage. We followed a man around the makeshift airport. We went from one out building to another and from one cargo container to another. The situation seemed dim as we searched for our suitcases. Praying as we went, we finally found three of our four bags, which was quite remarkable.
The last missing bag was Scott's. It was his extra bag – full of books and school supplies. We set off back to our hotel with a promise from the attendant at the airport that they would contact us "when" the bag arrived.
Meanwhile, Scott knew that Chech had run away from home. While we were in Juba, Scott learned that Chech was also in the city. So, he reached out to him. Chech agreed to meet. Chech quickly admitted that he had made a mistake in running away. It became clear that Chech wanted to return home and once again enroll at Cush Christian School. But he had no money, no means to return home, and no way to pay his school fees for the upcoming term should he return.
A Plan with a Purpose
It certainly would have been easy to have paid for Chech to return with us. Yet the only lesson from that potential approach was likely that white people have money and money solves all our problems.
Chech needed to have some skin in the game and God needed to get the glory.
As a result, Scott agreed to pay for Chech's return trip to Parot Village in exchange for him retrieving the bag when it arrived and bringing it with him. Chech would have to be responsible and manage many things to make this plan work out. For one thing, it is no easy feat getting in and out of the airport in Juba. And the bag would have to actually "arrive." However, God appeared to have laid out a plan to make it all possible.
Scott, Lydia and I left on Monday. The bag had still not arrived.
Yet miraculously, on the following Friday, with the missing bag in hand, Chech arrived back at the school. His father was waiting for him with a big hug, a sign of affection not often seen in the culture.
Chech is now working as a junior teacher in the 2nd grade classroom. Each week a portion of his pay is subtracted to cover his school fees. He is making good progress as a student, as a junior teacher and as Godly young man.
Several days ago, I put up a map of South Sudan in the classroom that I had brought with me. Many of the students quickly gathered around to look at the map. I overheard Chech showing some of the other boys the route he took to Juba, He indicated it was a long journey — and that he did not look forward to taking it ever again.
Recently, Chech did devotions at school. He chose Matthew 19:26. "But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" Knowing his recent experience made the choice of this scripture particularly meaningful. Chech had lived out the parable of the Prodigal Son in his very own life.
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| Chech with one of his students |
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| Chech pointing out his journey on the map of South Sudan |
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