‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard what God has prepared for those that love
Him’. No truer word. Not in my wildest imagination did I dream that at 53 i
would be riding side-saddle on the back of a bike through forests, with
shouting adults and children running and waving alongside to say “hello how are
you” and wait for you to say. “I’m fine thanks
how are you” What an amazing God we have.
Ok. I’m typing this in word and will try to paste it into
nomads tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. But that’s South Sudan. Every megabyte is
precious and not to be taken for granted.
There’s a company called zane running things (phones and internet) and
it’s spasmodic. We’re only allowed 1.5 gigabytes a month and there are three of
us. So slow means snails pace.
So Maridi...a very beautiful place with fruit trees of every
description all over the place. Banana, pau pau, mango, orange, lemon, lime and
tangerine are the most common and roads of red dust in what you would think are
quiet forests but they are alive with people living in small communities of
mostly small thatched mud huts. Kept very dark to keep the heat out. It doesn’t
matter where humans live in the world. They feel the heat and the cold just the
same. We live about 1 mile from the airstrip and 5 mins walk from
the main road. I live on Episcopal church land which has brick buildings. A
cathedral, primary school, a nursery and Trisha’s house. There are also church
offices. When i arrived i was greeted by half a dozen pastors who sang me a
welcome song. I then climbed into the place of honour (front passenger seat)in
the land cruiser while Trisha’s driver Jackson drove and trisha and leah sat in
the back. I mention this because the roads here can hardly be called roads at
all. They are worse than disused farm tracks and getting thrown around in the
back is bone-breaking. So I was very honoured to be sitting in the front. I
then moved into my little house in the guest house compound. My neighbours were
mostly UN soldiers and police from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. I often talked
around the dining table with the Zimbabweans about life in general. Their view
of the world is very different from ours. They think the only reason the BBC is
not allowed into Zimbabwe is because they haven’t fulfilled their license
obligations. “oh, i see” I said. Anyhoo,
the guest house is very pretty but with very basic utilities. No running water
and electricity is on but too expensive to use. Running water was put in by the
Chinese not long ago but it has broken. It is too expensive to fix and also the
chemicals are too expensive. The trouble here is wages are dirt low and prices
are as high or higher than some western prices. Ie. milk powder is £4.00 a
small can ans wages may be £40 a month. So a lot of tooing and froing with
buckets of water. For me thats just to and fro from the water butt but for
families here starting at three years old its a lot further to carry and while
once they’re older the people may have stoic faces I’m telling you they are
working very hard. You can’t run and help a crying 3 yr old because they must
develop strong muscles to carry heavier loads when they are older.
I went to two church services on Sunday. One in what could
have been one of three languages they speak here and the other in English. I
was introduced at the front and given a great welcome. I also started working
at the nursery. YAY! 71 anxious little faces just waiting for you to be nice to
them. And giggling when you are. At the
moment I’m working with the teachers but I do get to teach the kids Christian
English songs. I stand in the circleof kids outside and sing with them .We love
it! And even though there is nothing in the classrooms but a little furniture
and a blackboard they still like coming to nursery school.
On Tuesday afternoon I started teaching English to the
Mother’s Union. Nothing here seems to go quite as planned but turns out well
anyway. I had 17 pupils of mixed ability so we’re learning to read and write as
well. What an honour. These people have been traumatised by a very long war and
the loss of loved ones including children through illness and yet we had such a
laugh. They were very good and patient with me.
So i was at the guest house for 8 nights (BTW my roof
came alive at night. I had a monitor lizard as a permanent house guest
and goodness knows what else). In the
mean-time Trisha had been getting her guest house done up for me. Two men
putting on a new grass roof, painted inside and out. New curtains and flooring
and furniture. I now have watchman and a
Rhodesian ridgeback guard dog in case any of you were worried. Which you don’t
need to be. The UN are all but pulling out soon as there is nothing to do.
Trisha has not onlyspent a fortune but has also opened her house up to me
completely where i bathe and eat etc. I moved into my new house yesterday and
am very happy . last night i woke up in pitch darkness except for flashing
lights around the room. Fireflies! It was like something out of Avatar ...only
real.
Yesterday Trisha drove us out to a village called Nambiya
where we met with the village in the paiot or meeting hut(we tried to have this
meeting last week but the rains were still on. Trisha used all her off-road
driving training to keep the car on the road and in forward motion but when we
got there the pastor said to cancel as it was too wet.). Trisha is doing her
dissertation on why youth are leaving the church and what can we do to stop
them. Funny how different people are yet we in the church have the same issues
the world over). While i was in there i had to keep doing a reality check. Am i
really here. Is this really happening?
There is a town up the road about a mile away with shops
selling most things we need these days now that the roads are back open. And
markets selling everything. It really is a great place but there is no-one to
collect the rubbish and nowhere to put it if they did! There are loads of
roadside snack places which taste a million times better than McDonalds.
Homemade bread and doughnuts. Japatties, biscuits. Full meals even. There are also a lot of fans of English
football. I found a Liverpool supporter but the rest are very misguided. I’m
putting them straight. Let’s see about twinning this place with Liverpool!!
Ok I’m getting off now to go and take more butterfly
photo’s. I know it’s nerdy but i don’t care. There are millions of them and all
different sizes and colours. There are amazing birds and insects. I can’t stop
snapping but I’m a kawaje(a white person apparently) in a foreign land and
allowed to be eccentric.
I’m not ending without
saying very many congratulations to my neice Sammy and nephew in law to be
Barry in Southport UK on the birth of their baby boy Harvey. I am very, very happy for you. I hope to be checking my emails
tomorrow and hope there is a photo of him.. Love you all and back asap xxxxxx
