So, I'm not a camper. I don't like getting dirty. I particularly don't like bugs so my close friends and family were very worried about me moving to the Sudan. Bugs are just annoying, though. I often think if we just cut the food chain at a certain level, could we all survive without bugs? Ultimately I guess not, but surely without mosquitoes (I'm going to ask God about this one day).
Bugs are annoying. If you are familiar with the 80's comedy - Uncle Buck, you'll remember that Tia's boyfriend's name was Bug - why - I'm sure because he was annoying. Hence the comical exchange between he and Uncle Buck:
"You're not a gnat are you, Bug? Wait a minute, bug, gnat. Is there a little similarity? Whoa, I think there is! Ha ha ha" - I love this movie.
I've been suffering with many bugs this week including a stomach "bug" and the plethora of bugs in Kodok. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, I guess.
Friday, October 31, 2008
I hope Jesus hurries.
I am sitting in a place called Kodok, Sudan - a 2 hour boat ride up the Nile River from a bigger place called Malakal. You probably can Google earth-it. More on the trip later but I was sitting with my team having devotions this evening and in response to a passage shared from Titus, our Area Coordinator, a wonderful Sudanese named Dr. Chol said "I hope Jesus hurries." This made me think.
What a statement! So many times I think that we (either aid workers or people wanting to help, in general) try to right all the wrongs in the world - try to fix or correct the injustices. We can't. We never will. Just when we make some progress in one part of the world, something horrific happens in another part. If it isn't hunger in Afghanistan, it's extreme flooding in Vietnam or rebellion in DRC.
Because we are a broken people - a broken society, we will never be able to fix it - we will never be able to rid the world of suffering. The only true relief we will have is in Jesus Christ. I'll patiently await him - not in fear but in awe and excitement. In the meantime, we can keep living each day like it's our last - work as hard as we can, persevere and hold strong in our Faith in Jesus Christ.
What a statement! So many times I think that we (either aid workers or people wanting to help, in general) try to right all the wrongs in the world - try to fix or correct the injustices. We can't. We never will. Just when we make some progress in one part of the world, something horrific happens in another part. If it isn't hunger in Afghanistan, it's extreme flooding in Vietnam or rebellion in DRC.
Because we are a broken people - a broken society, we will never be able to fix it - we will never be able to rid the world of suffering. The only true relief we will have is in Jesus Christ. I'll patiently await him - not in fear but in awe and excitement. In the meantime, we can keep living each day like it's our last - work as hard as we can, persevere and hold strong in our Faith in Jesus Christ.
Friday, October 17, 2008
The effect of travel
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
From Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad, this quote brings me to American election time (just over 2 weeks and counting, people). Voters could be categorised in many ways: Pro-life, pro-choice, big government, small government, environmental, not-so-environmental, Democratic, Republican – but what I find interesting is that this quote splits our population, in a way, also. I could guess we could almost split the population into foreign travellers and non-foreign travellers and see fairly distinct voting lines. Why is this? because something about travelling makes you view the world differently. Something about travelling connects you to another part of the world. Something about travelling enables you to empathise with people - and this knowledge, empathy and compassion impacts our vote. Sure, not all of us go off the beaten path, not all of us have the ability to work in developing countries, not all of us find ourselves in the most remote villages of the world. I would argue that even vacation in a popular destination – Rome, London, Paris - can teach us about the world – can reduce our prejudice and narrow-mindedness.
When we are able to do this, we can see our place in the world a little better. We can see our appreciation for the country which we call our home. I’ve never loved America as much as when I’ve lived away, but my frustration with America has also grown since I’ve been away. I see how blessed our country is – for many reasons, including the hardwork of it’s founding fathers and everyday citizens but how we are becoming self-centered in so many ways. I see how Americans are becoming concerned and consumed with the price of gas, border security and the falling stock market despite the fact that people are dying from starvation, women are raped, children are orphaned and governments are cheating their own people out of funding and good governance in countries around the world.
As the election approaches, let’s research. Let’s look at views on policy, diplomacy – things that will bring the world together, not policy that separates our country from all others and despite the looming recession, let’s set priorities. Let’s put a value on travel as Mark Twain has. Surely travel trumps a new plasma TV, a new boat and an upgrade to an SUV.
From Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad, this quote brings me to American election time (just over 2 weeks and counting, people). Voters could be categorised in many ways: Pro-life, pro-choice, big government, small government, environmental, not-so-environmental, Democratic, Republican – but what I find interesting is that this quote splits our population, in a way, also. I could guess we could almost split the population into foreign travellers and non-foreign travellers and see fairly distinct voting lines. Why is this? because something about travelling makes you view the world differently. Something about travelling connects you to another part of the world. Something about travelling enables you to empathise with people - and this knowledge, empathy and compassion impacts our vote. Sure, not all of us go off the beaten path, not all of us have the ability to work in developing countries, not all of us find ourselves in the most remote villages of the world. I would argue that even vacation in a popular destination – Rome, London, Paris - can teach us about the world – can reduce our prejudice and narrow-mindedness.
When we are able to do this, we can see our place in the world a little better. We can see our appreciation for the country which we call our home. I’ve never loved America as much as when I’ve lived away, but my frustration with America has also grown since I’ve been away. I see how blessed our country is – for many reasons, including the hardwork of it’s founding fathers and everyday citizens but how we are becoming self-centered in so many ways. I see how Americans are becoming concerned and consumed with the price of gas, border security and the falling stock market despite the fact that people are dying from starvation, women are raped, children are orphaned and governments are cheating their own people out of funding and good governance in countries around the world.
As the election approaches, let’s research. Let’s look at views on policy, diplomacy – things that will bring the world together, not policy that separates our country from all others and despite the looming recession, let’s set priorities. Let’s put a value on travel as Mark Twain has. Surely travel trumps a new plasma TV, a new boat and an upgrade to an SUV.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Bless him
We currently have two Sudanese colleagues from our fieldsite, Motot, staying with us. They've been in Juba nearly a month as they were set to attend an IT training which got delayed and now a peace building training - so they've become permanent residents of our compound. The thing I've found about Sudanese is that when given the option, they like to eat. Who can blame them? - many times in their home communities they don't eat much. The Juba team house must seem like Golden Corral. It slightly gets annoying, though, when one of us goes to eat and the food is finished. I've slightly been frustrated when this has happened to me because I, once again, try to relate our cultural norms to the situation - (don't take seconds or thirds until everyone has had firsts) which don't really apply.
Most of the expatriates are out of Juba at the moment at various workshops or in the field so Simon (one of the visitors) and myself were eating lunch together by ourselves. I made a comment about how excited I was to have salad (the cooks had prepared a fresh salad partially from our garden and everyone knows how I love to show excitement for my food) when Simon says to me. "When I came here, I was having trouble with my eyes, now, I see better because I have all these vegetables." Bless him. This just made my heart melt and eyes tear up. Of course we've all heard that carrots are good for your eyesight - and maybe it is a myth, but I doubt he's heard it. Maybe this new diet is making a difference. This is why I love Sudan - a meal can revolutionalise a life. Kids, eat your vegetables.
Most of the expatriates are out of Juba at the moment at various workshops or in the field so Simon (one of the visitors) and myself were eating lunch together by ourselves. I made a comment about how excited I was to have salad (the cooks had prepared a fresh salad partially from our garden and everyone knows how I love to show excitement for my food) when Simon says to me. "When I came here, I was having trouble with my eyes, now, I see better because I have all these vegetables." Bless him. This just made my heart melt and eyes tear up. Of course we've all heard that carrots are good for your eyesight - and maybe it is a myth, but I doubt he's heard it. Maybe this new diet is making a difference. This is why I love Sudan - a meal can revolutionalise a life. Kids, eat your vegetables.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Time on the hands of law enforcement, apparently.
I received the following in my inbox today (a forward from our Logistics Manager). The title of the e-mail read:
Fwd: women in trousers / "inappropriate clothing"
"There are a lot of stories singing around on yesterday's alleged spree
of arrests of foreign and Sudanese women wearing trousers or being
‘otherwise dressed inappropriately’ by police and army in Juba.
Is there any government explanation on these actions? Is UNMIS or any
other agency talking to the county government about this? Can women go
outside today without running the risk of being arrested on such
charges?"
I never knew trousers were synonomous with inappropriate clothing. I'm glad the local law enforcement are spending the time eradicating this very serious issue. I feel safer, now.
Fwd: women in trousers / "inappropriate clothing"
"There are a lot of stories singing around on yesterday's alleged spree
of arrests of foreign and Sudanese women wearing trousers or being
‘otherwise dressed inappropriately’ by police and army in Juba.
Is there any government explanation on these actions? Is UNMIS or any
other agency talking to the county government about this? Can women go
outside today without running the risk of being arrested on such
charges?"
I never knew trousers were synonomous with inappropriate clothing. I'm glad the local law enforcement are spending the time eradicating this very serious issue. I feel safer, now.
Sudanese banking at it's finest
One of my least favourite parts of my job is banking. I’m just not a cash person. I’ll use my check card on a $.69 pack of gum at the gas station if I’m allowed. I don’t like cash – if you have it, you spend it so in always having less I aim to spend less. I definitely don't like withdrawing huge sums of money. It’s just cumbersome, tedious. Unfortunately for me, 99% of expenditure (personal and agency-wise) in Southern Sudan requires cash. I usually get out of going to the bank but this week I’m a bit short-staffed. I arrived at KCB-Juba branch at 9:02 (2 minutes after opening) this morning to find 30+ people in line hoping for assistance from one of three tellers. If you know what to expect (which I do), I guess you just accept it. I still hope for efficiency which leads to a continual rise in my blood pressure as things become increasingly more inefficient. To top it off, four people cut in line while I was there. Now, I know line-cutting (or queue jumping) is handled differently in different places, but with so many different nationalities based in Juba, I never know what is culturally acceptable when it comes to this. I have a firm belief the person who is directly “jumped / cut” has the responsibility of saying something. The British handle this completely differently for which there is a great commentary in the book called “Watching the English.” To these four “cutters” in Juba, no one said anything! One guy had it right – he sent a “queue holder” in for him. The guy stood in front of me through the 1-hour wait and then the account holder came and took his position just as he approached the teller. If only we had a staff surplus!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
