White Christmas

I came back into Sudan just before American Thanksgiving (not to be confused with Canadian Thanksgiving… although I don’t think even Canadians know when their holiday is). I was able to spend a couple weeks on a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea with my parents and sister. My parents and sister got some good pictures, but I relied on my parents on sister taking photos to capture the experience, so I don’t have any digital pics to post. My favorite ones came from the Coliseum, so if you see my folks, you’ll have to get them to show you.

But, since returning to Sudan, it hasn’t rained once. And apparently the dry heat started a week before I came. So, Christmas was actually a white Christmas for me. The precipitation that fell from the sky was not in liquid form, however, but a constant drizzle of white ash. It’s that time of year. The roads get absurdly dusty and the dust finds whatever crack and crevice it can to get into your clothes, bed, hair, moustache, food and wherever else it manages to make it. The food being all sandy and gritty might be the worst part of it. But, as everything dries and dies, all the plants and grasses that cover the acres and acres of barren landscape get burned off. There are often nights that light up the distance with random fires burning across the horizon, and there is ash everywhere. It floats up with the draft that the infernos cause, and it is deposited all over the country sometimes miles and miles away from the fires. In a way, it really does feel like snow flurries. If only it wasn’t 100 degrees out, I might even be able to convince myself of that.

I did have a good Christmas as I was able to celebrate with a Kenyan, Canadian, and another American who were also in Sudan as we came together at one of our central bases for the day itself. I even saw a Christmas tree with lights, and ornaments. There’s a new cell phone company opening up in the country that used them as marketing tools to advertise the new line. I picked up a few of the ornaments to put up on my tree in years to come. I’ve only got to write on it Christmas in Sudan, 2008 just like the rocking horse ornaments that my grandparents used to get me growing up.

Hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas as well and I hear most of northern North America was covered in the white stuff. Throw a snowball at someone for your friend here in Sudan. And eat a stale, left-over candy-cane for me too. That’s one thing I realized later after the fact that I missed this year.

Very Symbolic

Since this was the first dedication celebration within 20 miles of this church, many many people came from all over for the occasion and to celebrate. We arrived a little after 10am and left a little before 6pm (with a small meal provided before the ceremony and a big one after). It was a long, but pretty nice day. There was one thing that caught my attention and added to the fun of the day. Notice the cross in the pictures below. That's right, it's a Tasmanian Devil toy figure on top of it. Sweet! And there's sweets tied onto it as well. It was used for the procession of the surrounding areas local pastors and Women's Union members as well as by the first or second of six youth choirs that sang from the different surrounding communities. Not sure if the candy would be considered like holy water is or not, but hopefully the kids were able to enjoy the sweets afterwards. Also not really sure that I'll ever see a Devil on top of a cross at a church service again. But, I'm also confident that noone there new the name of this creature is a Tasmanian Devil.

Sunday Best

Thought I'd share some images from one of the first opening celebrations we had in Maridi a couple months ago. These are formal occasions, and there was a relatively new guy there who found these things unusual enough to take pictures of. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it), things like this don't get a reaction from me and are normal, ordinary things that I wouldn't have thought to capture on camera.

This is a common hairstyle for ladies in this area (and apparently also just across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo). Our cook also sports this look occasionally, and looks better in it. A smile may have helped this woman also, though. I actually really like it. I just may even give it a try myself. What do you think?

Road Work

The road connecting Maridi to the state and national capitals is being worked on. Hallelujah!!! It’s not done yet, nor will it be for many months still, but it will no doubt allow vehicles and goods to travel much more easily and open up the town to more development. Unfortunately for us, we’ve already finished all the major transportation we need to in and out of town, but may be able to take advantage of it more in the future as well.

The first task that was undertaken was to clear enough room to widen the road so that it can fit two lanes of traffic. The crew has begun at the town, and they were right outside our compound a couple weeks ago. It has transformed the area as trees, some of which were about 10 feet thick have been cleared and some of the landmarks that were used to give directions are now no longer there.

Did I mention yet that even when the road is done, it will still just be a dirt road??? When hardly any of the roads in South Sudan have been worked on in decades, and it will take thousands of miles of road just to connect all the state capitals, the task of road repair is a big one. And once the rainy season hits again in another half a year, the deterioration won’t take too long, but it will be better than it is now for at least several years. And maybe in a few years there will be the possibility of putting in paved roads. For now, I’ll just rejoice in the better dirt.

Just outside our compound

View when I held the camera overtop of our fence