Our weekend consisted of R and I working to track down the last kids for letter writing, a trip into town and a restful Sunday to reflect. The letter writing was fun b/c I took from Obadiah and Eli two little sticks with a thin strip of rubber on the end they used for snapping each other with. I found that as kids began to loiter and distract the good kids trying to write and I said “rua barra” they were much more inclined to “go away” if I chased them with the sticks. Of course they laughed (along with me) and ran away. I am such a good disciplinarian. Then a trip into town with Katherine and Kitty, our good pals. I had driven in town once b/c Lance got a bad bloody nose but that was it. S. Sudan is not like driving anywhere else that I have experienced; bad bad roads, police that want to fine a kewaga for open toed shoes, dirt on the lic plate etc. And driving on the right side really means most of the time b/c you are attempting to just find a part of the road that is the least rutted. After Dennis gave me a quick run through on what not to do, I hollered out the window to him, “Thanks Dad!” I felt an exuberance from high school, pretty excited, but then anxious and then excited again. We made it into town to run our various errands of changing money (4SSP to $1USD), buying some snacks for our last days here and seeing our friend Simone at her compound. All in all a fun time and no incidences. Sunday, is a great day always b/c R and I hang out in our place playing cribbage, drinking delicious Ugandan coffee until church, then lunch with chicken and other fixings. After church I read a little, Citizen Soldier, and played R in scrabble. Close to complete contentment for me. A little later we saw 10-20 kids milling out around the soccer field, which is normal. I jumped rope with the kids (thank you Rita Nedele)* and Rachel sat and talked with the girls. We are finally really breaking through after 2 weeks in December in Yei, a month in Kampala and now just over a month in Yei again. It takes a while for these sweet kids to open up. I recall the first time I came for a week and when we were leaving, one boy wouldn’t talk to me and I learned he was sad since I was going away. Now, we have begun to pray that these relationships will be intact when we return and God will equip us to stay for more than 3 months. It has been rich to see these little friendships grow. Their stories are hard to hear sometimes. They amaze me often and then I see how resilient they are and joyful, truly a gift from above in healing, I learn from them. We will really miss these children. When I read them stories like my mom and dad did to me, I am humbled to my core, that we get to have a small role in these children’s lives. Thank you for your support. Hope you can come someday and be changed by it. *Rita, Carrie and Justin Nedele taught me to jump rope at their home when I was just little. Thank you you three.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 06:36:56 +0000
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