On the Way to School

Each morning when we walk to school we never know what we might encounter. Today was a very exciting day of meeting various things on the road.

Running into a herd of cows is not an uncommon occurrence. These are not your typical black and white milking cows either. You can see that they are a pretty intimidating herd with their massive horns :).

I wish I had gotten a closer picture, but didn't. If you look really closely you can see a small structure in the middle of the road. This is what we call a duka or a small shop. They are small sturctures that are not perminantly settled in the ground. The owner of this one decided that they wanted theirs in a new location. We could tell by drag marks that they had come a long distance.

This is Bethany and Amy. The man behind is moving a couch frame to a new location.

What you are seeing on the back of this bike are many local brooms. The local broom is made with many try reeds tied together at the bottom.

Thank you for enjoying the walk to school with me :).

Werkok

Back to the middle of nowhere. In Werkok we were welcomed by the Mueller family who live alone in this desolate place. They were very happy to recieve vistors. While we were in Werkok we got to experience the two extremes of s. Sudan weather. The first two days we were dying from the heat and the next day it was raining buckets (from the high 90s with around 48-60% humidity to 80s and 99% humidity). We did not travel far from the Mueller compound while there because of the lack of transport. I still enjoyed all the sites around, seeing a local church, and two local schools.


This is Zion Church. If you saw an areole view you would see that it was built in the shape of a cross. This church was built within the last 15 years. There is a great story behind it that involves the Lord calling one man to burn all his idols and spread the message of Jesus Christ. Many excepted Christ and joined in burning their idols. Through this many came together and built this beautiful church.

You can not see it in this picture but within 10ft from this puddle their is a bore hole that is no longer functional. When the bore holes stop functioning people get their water from these muddy puddles of rain water. Clean water is up there as one of the biggest needs of s. Sudan.

If you ever find yourself without an oven, try this method. This is one example of a local oven. I tasted the bread that was baked in this and it was delicious!

This is one of the classrooms at the local primary school. It rained heavily the day before we went there. If you look closely you will notice the wet and muddy floor. Some children are sitting on canisters, but some are also sitting in the mud. In a couple of the classrooms walls were caving in because of the rain. It does give me hope though that some children do care enough about their education that they are willing to come to school, even in these conditions. I can't even imagine what it must be like to try and learn in that kind of an environment.

Hmm.. which way should we go? When it rains the soil in this area turns into muck and it becomes very challenging to get from place to place without rubber boots, which I did not have. I felt like a frog leaping from one lilly pad to the next.

Even though the ground was soggy and the rain was a little unpleasant, the Lord reminded us that He is still present along with His beauty in s. Sudan through this amazing sunset.

Rumbek

Rumbek is the next NGO central after Juba. We went from one extreme to the next, very rural to busy roads. The UN has a very strong presence in this place and it was very evident because certain things were very expensive. In Rumbek we met up with People from Across. They were very kind to adjust their schedules and take us around to their different ministry sites.


These are the four bondas that we stayed in at a guest house right in town. We were within walking distance to the market.

Rumbek was the target of much bombing during the war. This is just one of the many ruins that still remain.
This is the Across site in Akot, which is about a 45 min. drive from Rumbek town. They have developed a training center for health workers and teacher training.

We got to sit with some of the students and answer their questions. along with hearing feedback from them about their studies.

I am standing with Judy who is the principal at the training center. We are standing in front of her beautifully decorated Tukul.

Many Dinka gathered under a large tree on Sunday to worship together.

Goli at a Glance

I arrived in Goli on April 19th. It did not seem too different from Uganda. It was green and there is a lot of vegitation there. Goli is near the big town of Yei where I almost went into shock because I found Mt. Dew. In Goli we stayed at this large training center. Even though the students were no longer present, many others were gathered for a training seminar. Within the first day I was meeting new people left and right. I met this gal Jen from the states who came to Goli to start a school. This school is not yet a formal primary school, but it is preparing the children for when it does become formal. I got the wonderful opportunity to teach with Jen. She was going to have no help during the time I was in Goli and was preparing to teach 80 children on her own. It turned out to be a challenging and rewarding experience.

In February a bush fire came through the training center compound. Many tukuls (huts) were burnt. The Lord really protected those around because no one got hurt. They are now in the process of building new classrooms and housing accomidations.

These are the outdoor showers. I really got used to the outdoor shower in s. Sudan.

These boys are ready to go back into the classroom after their recess break. One of them is enjoying a mango. The mangos were unbelievalbly plentiful in Goli. I have never seen such ripe mangos.

This is one of the classrooms. I taught in here most of the time with the younger children. The children the attend this school range from age 4-16.

Jen and I right before I took off for the airstrip. I thank the Lord for all the people that He brough into my path while I was in Goli.

Roughin it in Malwal Kon

We arrived in Malwal Kon on Wednesday April 25th in the middle of a wind storm. As our plane landed on the dry dirt airstrip the wings were tilting right and left. Our welcome committee was holding their breath as the wheels hit the ground. When we got out of the plane I was surprised the the gusts of wind and dust. I definitely felt like I had arrived in another country.


The round structure in the back ground is called a Tukul. The missionary families that we stayed with live in these local mud houses. I was amazed at their rough living style.

Scott Myhre is taking a turn at the boar hole. Many local people travel a good distance on foot to get water from dispersed boar holes.
At first glance you might think those are monkeys in the tree, but no, look a little closer and you will see that they are children. They are trying to collect the fruit from this tree and having a little fun in the process.

Eating out in Aweil town about an hour away from Malwal Kon. We got bread with various mystery dipping sauces.

Walking to visit some of the neighbors.

In Aweil town you will see lots of donkeys and horses pulling carts Acacia Masso is ready to move to Sudan just for this reason. She recently wrote a research paper on donkeys.

These ladies have made natural peanut butter from ground nuts. The whole process seems very labor intensive.

There are more Sudan pictures to come, so stay tuned...

Jars of Clay

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkenss," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.
2 Corinthians 4:6-11

Education Crisis

I want to share with you a small snippet of an article that was shared with me by one of my team mates. The article is titled “Education Crisis in Southern Sudan,” and it is written by Tim Brown who is a UNHCR Education Officer in Yei, Southern Sudan.


“John Garang spoke of his ambition to ensure universal primary education in south Sudan within six years. However, the legacy of 21 years of conflict and underfunding is daunting. Fewer than 200 of the 1,600 schools in southern Sudan have permanent buildings.[i] Most classrooms have only a board and chalk. According to UNICEF just one in five children of primary school age is enrolled,[ii] dropout rates are high – especially for girls – and only one schoolchild in eight continues past grade four. Half of the region’s teachers have received no professional training and most have themselves completed only about four years of primary education. According to the USAID-funded Sudan Basic Education Program,[iii] a mere 2,500 children – in a region larger than most countries in the world and with a population estimated to be 7.5 million – complete primary school each year. Only 1% of girls complete primary education and only one schoolchild in four is a girl. The lack of female teachers – just 6% of the teaching force – reinforces this gender imbalance. Ninety per cent of women are estimated to be illiterate.”
[i] The south Sudan statistics quoted in this paragraph do not cover the garrison towns formerly controlled by Khartoum.
[ii] www.womenwarpeace.org/sudan/docs/baseline.pdf
[iii] www.careusa.org/careswork/projects/SDN093.asp

When I read this paragraph my heart breaks. To think that only 2,500 children in Southern Sudan finish only primary education, meaning the number for completing secondary education is even lower. The Lord tells us that “children are a gift” (Psalm 123:3) and that we are called to “train them up” (Prov. 22:6). If we train them through the Lord at a young age, the knowledge of Him and desires to live by glorifying the Lord in all we do will be engrained deep within. Even as I watch the children that I am surrounded by here in Bundibugyo, it is painful to think about their lack of a good education. They attend schools where the teachers do not show up, where they just sit in class and copy notes from a board, and where they are set up to fail. Sometimes Hope feels lost here, especially hope in Christ. I do believe that there are some teachers in this district who do care about the success of their students. The Lord has blessed Christ School with teachers that care. But these teachers are a rare gem.

Now, you may be asking yourself, why is Kim telling me all of this? I want to plead with you to partner and commit with me to pray BOLDLY for the education in East Africa, and more specifically in the rural areas of Uganda and in Southern Sudan. Pray that the Lord would provide permanent buildings for schools to meet. Pray for teachers who desire to see change and are willing to undergo any necessary training. Pray for more female teachers. Pray for people to care. Pray for more girls to be encouraged to go to school and make it to university. Pray for the Secondary students in levels 4 and 6 who take exams at the end of the school year, where passing is crucial for them to be promoted. Pray that the necessary funds would be provided for building projects and school resources and supplies. Pray that this number of 2,500 would increase rapidly and in a miraculous way. Pray that hope would be found in Christ. Pray that when changes do happen and numbers do increase that God would be given all the glory. Pray that people would see that this kind of change is not possible without the hands of our Father. The prayer needs could continue, so I just ask for bold prayers. I believe that prayer can move mountains and this is a big mountain to move. A mountain though, that is not too big for God.

World Harvest Mission continues praying, seeking, and trying to develop a vision for how they can assist with this education crisis. Christ School is an answer to that prayer in Bundibugyo. Another way the Lord has answered this prayer is by connecting our East Africa director to people and organizations who are starting to conduct teacher training seminars. Our East Africa director is partnering with some of these organizations to help put on a training seminar in Goli, Southern Sudan. This seminar will be taking place during the week of April 17-24. As soon as our team found out about this training, because of knowing my heart for improving education, they came to me and asked if I was interested in attending. Of course my immediate response was yes. I wasn’t sure though if it was going to be possible for me to go because of my commitments in Bundi. But the Lord is good and He is making it clear that He desires for me to attend. Please pray for my heart as I begin to prepare for this trip. I am not exactly sure what my role will be when I get there, but pray that I am willing to fill whatever role the Lord desires for me to fill.

I have been praying that God would provide an opportunity for me to visit Southern Sudan and that He would show me the desire that He has for me in that place. A huge reason why I decided to extend my time in Uganda is because of my growing desire for improving primary education. I stand in awe of how the Lord is already providing this opportunity to go to Guli and observe teachers who care about being trained on how to develop education. I would also like to travel, when time allows, to primary schools around Uganda. This would allow me to see what kind of programs are out there and which ones encourage and assist students in succeeding and thinking BIG. When I started the process of joining World Harvest and committing for two years to serve and teach in Bundibugyo, I never imagined that I would be given this desire.

As I was writing this, a song by Jeremy Camp came on called “Take a Little Time.” In the chorus he says:

“Take just a little time to give your hands. To see the world, and take just a little time to try and understand, That there is more going on than what these eyes can see.”

Later on he adds:
I know it all seems complicated, there is nothing more that could be stated. Now is the time to kneel, reaching out for what is real. Many times I’ve hesitated, how much I feel, my heart is aching now.”

So, please reach out for our real and true God, “take just a little time” to kneel, lift your hands, look to the Father, and pray BOLDLY for this education crisis.

Better Late Than Never

Every Tuesday afternoon I play basketball with some of the girls from Christ School. It is fun to be able to take them away from the stresses of school and through the ball around.

I invited my cell group over to my home for some Mac'n Cheese after our hike to some waterfalls.
Michelle with some of the neighborhood kids who like to come and visit
This is the church and community center that World Harvest planted many years back and continues to grow.
Giving and recieving is a big part of friendship here. The chicken that I am holding was a gift given to welcome my mother to Bundibugyio.
You never know when you are going to run into a herd of cattle in the middle of the road
Carol, Michelle, and I with some our the neighbor kids out on our front porch
Here I am with my beautiful roomies; Carol, Stephanie, and Amy

Random August Pics

The picture above is of the road going out of Bundibugyo. You will notice how windy it is because it goes around the mountains. It is the only way in and out of this district.

This is the market in Bundibugyo town. I am standing with Pat and Joyce.
These are some of my P7 students. It is late in the afternoon and many of them have already left for the day. This is the second to last week of the school term.

This is one of the beauties of Uganda. Murchison Falls is one of the most amazing waterfalls.

Here I am pointing to our small country of Uganda on the big world globe.

Some of us brave couragious women took on the Nile river. It was quite the adventure. I am the second one on the right.