Building Process

Ok. So I think it's probably about time I explain a bit of what is happening over here and what I've been involved in over the past year. I had some pictures before of building in process, but I want to show and explain a bit of the most important part of the project. The people of the churches are involved in the beginning stages of the project through gathering materials and making the cement blocks used in the new church building. Depending on the church, this can either be the easiest part of the job or the most difficult as some churches are very agreeable to work with while others are very demanding. It is important for the community to be interested and involved in the project, or else as we continue to partner alongside the problems are only compounded and many of the simple things become the opposite.

Last month I had an encounter with some of the management of another NGO (non-governmental organization) involved in some development projects. This organization is working on building schools and they have had some contact with some of the communities we have already assisted with churches. They came by the office and were asking lots of questions about how we make our blocks, how it works with coordinating the work that the communities do, and other aspects of our project. You see, they also know that unless the community is involved, the end result often is taken for granted and not used nearly as much as if the community has a vested interest. They are planning to have the communities be responsible for the same locally available resources that we do. It is encouraging to know that others have seen how we are doing things and consider that it is a worthwhile idea to imitate with other projects. The other good thing about this is knowing that some of the communities we have partnered with will also be getting schools built for the children to receive an education.

We continue to press on with our tasks, and as the dry season is now upon us again, we look forward to getting a lot done in the upcoming months.

Miles and More Miles

651.3 Miles. That’s what the tripometer (or whatever it’s called) reads right now on the bright yellow four wheeler I’ve gotten close to over the past week. While that might not seem like much in a little under a week, the top speed on this vehicle is 40 miles per hour (or a little more), but there are few times on these roads that you actually reach that speed. The rapid survey we are currently conducting is just that, and there were a few teams of us who went out with a translator to some of the far corners of Southern Sudan. I must admit that I feel like a bit of a Nancy. Yes, I may have won Beardapalooza 2007. But, I had a couple months head start on Travis Yates . . . and he still almost caught up with me. I think the mullet helped me convince him to throw in the towel before the end of the year. You may be more of a man than me, Travis, but I’ve got a few years experience on you that gives me the edge in knowing how to prepare for competition.

So, the reason I feel like a bit of a Nancy (yes, that is a derogatory use of a generic female name to signify a condition of weakness. I’ve still got a ways to go to stop generalizing about women in a mostly negative way, but I do recognize that nagging and being physically weaker in general does not equate into being a disadvantage or negative thing in many aspects of life. Nonetheless, being a Nancy is not a good thing.) is because I was supposed to have acquired about another 150 miles or so onto that total. The route I was scheduled for also covered some worse roads and went into some areas that are pretty well cut off from much of anything. I, however, ended up with malaria when the survey was to start and got a less strenuous route to complete once my body recovered. My mileage total also doesn’t include the 125 miles I drove (while sick with malaria but not yet knowing it) on the 4-wheeler back to Yei for the training on how to do the survey. But, that was a couple days before leaving on Wednesday last week instead of Tuesday because of needing the extra day to recover, so it doesn’t make sense to add the mileage total along with the couple days because it will take down my daily average quite a bit. I guess I’ll just need to find another reason why I have to make it to the place where the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, and Sudan all intersect. Anybody got some good excuses for me to justify having to make the couple hundred mile trek?

I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures of the journey. As I’m typing this I’m realizing that to really help you understand what traveling during dry season in Sudan is like I need photographic evidence. It has not rained in several weeks now, and so the dust just collects in open windows on everything inside and outside of vehicles, houses, and otherwise. When on a 4-wheeler, this means that your whole body gets a reddish brown tint to it, especially when you have hair covering your face and sticking out of your helmet. I know I’m not known for being clean in general, but a day of travel on an open vehicle right now is like not showering for a month. So, imagine if I hadn’t showered in 4 or 5 months (because I did at least try to rinse out the dirt everyday, but it wasn’t worth really scrubbing and all every evening). Yeah, I was dirty, but it is a pretty sweet way to see quite a bit of Sudan (when not looking straight ahead to determine how to avoid the potholes that cover the roadway).

So, Mom, please don’t worry. Yes I had malaria, but it is not that bad. I am fine. It did cause me to miss out on my chance to have a 2005 Road trip USA style with Phil, Mike, and David (which will never be topped) and instead settle for the equivalent of a trip just to Colorado and back from the East Coast.

Maridi

Most of you are probably more surprised that I have posted 10-15 times on this blog than that I haven’t posted anything for a month and a half or whatever it has been. So maybe this will be me turning another leaf and getting back into the blogging something like every couple weeks or maybe this one will take quite a long time to be followed up on again. Either way, I hope that it helps those of you who are interested to have an idea of what is going on with me over here in Sudan.

Well, I’ve moved. I’m currently in a town (for Sudan standards, maybe it would be considered a city . . . but probably not even) called Maridi. It’s been a couple of weeks of getting a base set-up by making sure we get a fence up, concrete slabs poured for our tents, a kitchen and storage built, hiring staff to facilitate our operations, meeting with church leaders from the area as well as those of the various churches we are able to partner with, and begin helping these churches move towards the building process through coordinating transportation of natural resources, encouraging the churches to work, distributing tools, food, and getting things prepared at each site for the making of cement blocks. Of course, I’m not doing all this on my own. We have a new staff member from the U.S. that is here with me learning the process of things, and there are a number of national staff that we have added who are helping an enormous amount. We’ve met with fifteen churches (the farthest being about 2 and a half hours away from town) that I hope will all be finished with construction by April and already have another fifteen on their way to being ready for construction.

It’s been quite a change from Yei where there were all different levels of things happening. There, we have kind of a factory where all the trusses and steel going to sites are fabricated, doors and windows and benches are made, and churches were at all stages in the process around there. Here, it is only the mobilization of the churches that is really taking place as things will be shipped from Yei for the construction. Facilitating the churches gathering sand, stone, backfill, and water needed for construction as well as ensuring the proper molding and curing of the cement blocks used for the church are really the only tasks regarding the church building here. Coordinating transportation on difficult roads and in the midst of the continuing rains is the biggest challenge aside from making sure that the setup of the base and coordination with local officials is happening.

So, that’s a bit of an update from me, and here are a couple of photos from here in my new area.

-Joe Dirt

Outside my temporary new home (will be moving into a tent soon)

Looking at a sample of river sand to see if it might be useful for construction

So the roads don't have proper drainage. . . On the right used to be

the road some years back, the bypass on the left is used now

It Happens

BEFORE:

DURING:AFTER: