Sudan: Extra-ordinary Opportunities

Dear Readers,

This weekend, I get the opportunity to share a report of my Sudan trip with our church here in Nairobi and to give a first hand report of our missionary to Abiriu, Sudan, which means I have to sum up the whole thing in less than two minutes of video and audio report. That is why I am blogging today. I want to get some thoughts that will summarize the thoughts I want to leave with our people in Nairobi.

Three things come to mind regarding Sudan in this year of the Extraordinary: 

1. Extraordinary Hardship: Sudan is a hard place and is not for the feint in heart. A combination of war, generation gap and the proliferation and supply of assault weapons among the civilian population has created a bit of a wild west scenario. Illiteracy has made reasoning a challenge at every level of authority and arguments can easily escalate into violence quickly. It is the graveyard of many missionaries and relief workers. It is also the graveyard of many Kenyan and Ugandan business people. The UN and many aid organizations have lost hope of a solution for Southern Sudan. But that is where God's people can make a transforming difference...

2. Extraordinary Opportunity - If you are the right people... Sudan is a land filled with opportunity for the godly. Most Kenyans and Ugandans who have died because of immorality. It is hard to find a friendly face on the streets of Rumbek, but I can report with great excitement, that Silas is a happy man who loves where he is serving and the people he serves. Whereas many foreigners are seen as intruders, he is fully accepted and loved by the villagers of Abiriu and Abiacho, the village that houses New Sudan Lighthouse Church. In Abiriu (where Pr. Samuel and Silas live) we have been given approximately 3000 acres of land to come (and I quote) "...open our eyes!" The elders of Abiriu have been approached by Muslims from the North to sell them land and they have refused, but have freely given us land as Christians. The invitation has been extended to all our friends. 

3. An open door to engage in the birth of a nation - Southern Sudan is set to hold a referendum in Jan., 2011 to decide whether they want to secede from the rest of Sudan and become their own nation. I believe that they will vote to a man to do so, and we will witness the birth of the 196th nation of the world. We are invited to be there... We have the door. We have the training, we have the character, we have God with us. Let us go up and bring the New Sudan to Christ! Lets really open their eyes!

Cueibet Sudan violence: Calmed down by Wednesday 24th Feb

The violence has calmed down in Cueibet and the villagers are picking up the pieces. The official figure of those killed in the violence as of that day were 21 people, mostly civilians who had stormed the armory in Cueibet trying to get their weapons back from the military. According to Janet, our house mom at KKV who was living in that village for almost four months, this is not a rare occurrence in Cueibet. The combination of over forty years of war in the last fifty three years and low levels of literacy have had its toll on the peace. Today's paper tells of another place in the same Lakes State area that erupted in violence over this past weekend. http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article34294

These truly are a needy people and we are praying about how to proceed. We are asking for all who will to pray for us to hear from God about what to do and how...

I will be writing more about this after this coming weekend here in Nairobi. We are focusing on Southern Sudan in our Missions Sunday this weekend. We hope to present a video about both our trip and the trip our Evangelist, John Magangi, made this past week into Sudan.

Cueibet Sudan violence: As many as 30 killed so far

Dear Readers,        Dozens Killed in Cueibet...

Hit the link above for the news story from today's Sudan Tribune... If you're a praying man/woman please join me in praying for the village of Cueibet, where I visited two weeks ago. The village has irrupted in violence starting this past Thursday, 18th Feb. It is an ongoing feud between neighboring communities over  cattle. Apparently the neighboring community was dis-armed recently and came to get their weapons back by storming the armory at the army camp in Cueibet. We drove through the army camp to get to our guesthouse every day. We also walked past the grounds where the courts are held and two chiefs died in the cross-fire between police and armed civilians. The Commissioner of Cueibet is mentioned in the article. 

Please pray for the people of Cueibet. They are the innocent ones caught in the cross-fire. Also pray for the shop owners, many of whom are Kenyans doing small business in the area... i am sure many, if not all of the shops looted and burned belonged to Kenyan and Ugandan shopkeepers.

Also, pray for our NLC missionary, Silas (pictured below left), who is situated about 15 Kilometers from the fighting. Pray for his safety and for opportunities to open up to impact the community for Christ.

This is heavy on my heart, having seen it all two weeks ago. Especially Janet, (Pictured above with our missionary, Silas and her Son in law, John in Cueibet on 3rd Feb. 2010)  our House Mom in Apartment C at KKV is affected by this news. She knows many of the people who have died, including the two chiefs. She had been up in Cueibet for almost 4 months until we brought her back two weeks ago today...

Jon Stern

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Nine - 9th Feb., 2010

Today was the day we get to go home... The thought brought chills down my spine just thinking of what it would feel like being out of a rough hostile environment for the first time in over a week.. We slept in for the first time on the trip. We ate breakfast at 8 am and then prepared to leave for the airport at 9:15 to make sure we were there at the time appointed for us by MAF (9:45AM). When the driver had not shown up by 9:30, we called our host, Martin, and he got another driver to come. The other driver had gotten caught up in an earlier job that morning and had forgotten to tell Martin. So we finally got to the airport at 10:10 AM. That worked out perfectly since we saw the MAF guys arriving at the same time...

We entered the departure hall to clear immigration along with the MAF representative. This is where it got sticky. We had arrived in Juba penniless except for some Kenya Shillings we had on us which were totally useless there.. Martin had paid for our hotel expenses ($300) with our promise to pay his wife back when we arrive in Nairobi. He also gave us 100 Sudanese Pounds because we were told we had to pay a departure tax each of 20 SP. So we knew we had 40 SP or any other unforeseen bill. Then we remembered that, although we had renewed Janet's pass, we had not registered her.. Immigration informed us of that immediately and we knew we were in trouble.. So we paid for her registration since she was ahead of us in line... Then they looked at John and my papers and informed us that we, too, had not registered and needed to do so at 84 SP each... O Boy... We tried to tell them that we had registered in Rumbek... They ask us for the stamp... We showed them the stamp on our passes and the receipts we got for payment. That was not enough to them. We needed to have the stamp in our passports, not just on the stamp.. I had walked over to my bag that had already been checked to get my receipt and was praying as I went. When I came back the immigration man had changed his mind... He forgave us and let us go. Two other things that I still can't figure out... We had not paid the 84 SP that was required for the registration. We had been told it was 48SP and had paid that in Rumbek. The immigration person in Juba had not seen the difference and had changed his mind... Second, we were not asked to pay a departure tax of 20SP each as we had been told. I don't know whether we had been miss-informed or what... We did not stick around to ask... We went through security and awaited our plane to arrive from the Upper Nile Region of Sudan...

Torit, Sudan a week ago, for the first time in my entire life I had gone into a country that my dad had never been to... It sounded a bit trite the first time the thought came to me, but it really grew as a milestone in my thinking... I have followed in my Dad's footsteps so much in my life, I had never visited a country my dad had never stepped foot until I was 53 years old.

We touched down down in Loki (as it is known to those who often travel through there) at 1PM. I had an urge to kiss the ground after getting out of the plane. I realized that the only other time I had had that desire was when I had landed in New York City as a teenager after having spent the last three years under the dark blanket of the Biafran war in Nigeria. Unlike Sudan Immigration, the Kenyan authorities were kind and professional to all. We all passed through and had a nice soda and cookies as we awaited our new pilot to arrive from another location to take us to Nairobi Wilson Airport.

As we flew toward Nairobi, the terrain below us got greener and greener... Then we began to recognize landmarks below us... Lake Baringo then Nakuru town, Lake Bakuru, Lake Elementaita, Naivasha, Lake Naivasha... Then we flew directly over Mount Longonot and headed for home.

When we got out of the plane, we felt the first chill we had in over a week. For Janet, it was the first one since early October last year. We switched on our cell phones and called home... Molly told us and Carol, John's wife and Janet's daughter was on the way to pick us up at the airport. Then we found out she was stuck in traffic.. Even that sounded good... As we waited for her, our stomachs began to rumble with hunger. We had not had lunch... We thought of going to a nearby cafe to get some food to tide us over for the long commute across town... Then we remembered our peanuts. I had almost thrown them out with the trash in Juba, but didn't and then for the last time on our safari, we quieted our hunger with good ole peanuts...

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Eight - 8th Feb., 2010

Our cell phone alarms went off at 6 AM Monday morning. John got up and jumped into the shower. O boy, no water... Evidently the tanks outside had leaks in them and the water had drained out as soon as the generator had stopped the night before. We had been told to be at the bus by 7AM no later, because we had to be seated upon arrival... So Rev. had arranged for a small taxi to drive us with out luggage to the bus. We arrived at 7:10 AM to a scene of chaos. The bus had come in the night before from the Town of Wao. More and more people were arriving so we decided to board the bus immediately to get better seats. We were seated no more than 5 minutes when we were approached by a group of travelers from Wao who were headed to Juba as well. They claimed they had seat numbered tickets and we were in their seats. We soon discovered that the bus company had told us only half the story. They had told us that we couldn't be given seat numbers and would be seated in the morning. What they didn't tell us is that those buying tickets in Wao the day before had numbered tickets. The free seating started where their tickets ended.

When we found out the whole story, we kindly gave way and moved back two rows and were assured that we could keep those seats. Between then and the time we left Rumbek at least two other groups of people boarded the bus and wanted those same seats.. The students who had the tickets with numbers on them would leave and come back again with their seats taken. Arguments almost turned into fights several times as we sat there sweating and eyes bulging praying for this bus to get on the road.

It did at about 8:30AM. All disputes settled and all 80 seats taken, we rumbled out of the town... We three had a problem. We had used all our money on the bus tickets and on the run down guesthouse the night before. We bartered with our missionary and agreed to give his fiance' some shillings for Sudanese Pounds. We had enough for a few sodas and water on the way.. We all of a sudden realized that we had 8 or 9 check points to go through and a possibility of being asked three times along the way for 10 Pounds each. We didn't even have enough to pay one time. One can be thrown in jail and kept back from the trip for not paying... So we prayed and believed God. I am glad to announce the faithfulness of God. We were not asked one time for the 10 pounds... We made it to Juba by 6:45 pm. At our last check point just outside of Juba, a member of the military police brought onto the bus a metal detector and waved in up and down the isle. Then we were all asked to get out and have a body search. As my turn came for search the MP asked me if I had a pistol on me. I mis-understood his English and said yes... Then he asked me again and when I understood him, said no, laughing... He let me pass and get on the bus again, but a guy who sat across the isle from me was found with a pistol on him. I later put two and two together and realized the MP was asking me a serious question. I was fortunate he was an understanding man...

We almost crawled off the bus upon arrival and were met by our Juba host in his flashy new Land-cruiser and taken back to our simple Kenyan hotel which now looked more like the Ritz Carleton in comparison to what we had seen since being there one week earlier.

We showered and showered and showered, put on our remaining clean clothes and ate a meal fit for kings... Chicken stew and chapati. The rest of the evening was spend with our host, Martin, and his friends telling tales of Southern Sudan and just how wild of a country this place is...

Once again, we fell into our beds and slept soundly... this time with air-con and fan going the whole night... Wow, what a feeling... Cool!

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Seven - 7th Feb., 2010

Sunday morning held a special surprise for us at the guesthouse. Someone brought some fish for sale and so we added pan fried fish to our breakfast menu. We also discovered that going over the logs the day before had resulted in a flat tire on the Land-cruiser. After Balaah and a co-worker had changed that one with a tire from the other base Land-cruiser, we took off for church.Once again, we met up with the rowdy youth, but Balaah was finished playing around. We didn't eve slow down and hit the first log at about 50 kph. Because we had already passed another place where they had blocked the road the day before and had already opened it, we thought that was it... One Km down the road, however, we saw that they had blocked the road once again... As we came closer to the logs, we noticed something very strange. The youth were hurrying to open the road. They moved the log from one side and then quickly opened the other side. We were half wondering if Balaah's boldness of the day before had intimidated them, when we saw the reason for their quick change of heart. From the other direction there was a police vehicle approaching. That brought a burst of laughter from us all as we reached the roadblock just before the police and continued without incident... Wheew, what a drama!

We reached the church compound and found them already in session, praising God in great joy and anticipation of their guests... New Sudan Lighthouse church meets under the trees where they have constructed a make shift brush arbor for the platform (they bring plastic each Sunday to cover the arbor). They also constructed some benches from tree limbs for the congregation to sit upon.

It is hard to explain in writing the joy we felt in our hearts to worship together with this congregation of one year. There were about 20 adults and 50 or more kids in attendance. They have modeled their church after ours in Nairobi. They even name their kids church program "Kids House". You could hear them speaking in their Dinka language and every once in a while they would use a borrowed word like "Kids House"... It was great to be with such joyful people who live in the midst of such a hurting rough community. You could tell the people really love and respect our missionary, Silas, as one of their own. As is the custom in many parts of Africa, if you are a missionary how happens to be at church, you are asked to preach. Both John and I declined, but were given time to say something. We got a good amount of video footage and pictures of the congregation and hope to have it made into an update for our next Missions Sunday.

As the service drew to a close, someone brought a child to be prayed for. The child had had boiling water spilled on him and was in great pain. In those areas there is very few medical treatment options. We prayed for the child. The child stopped crying... After the service many people came to greet me. She was among them and I did not recognize her and I patted the baby on the bottom in greeting. The baby cried.. I felt so bad...

The service being over, our attention turned to getting back to Abiriu to have lunch with Silas and Samuel and then get to Rumbek before dark. We discovered that Samuel's wife and their daughter, Grace, had not attended and were told that in the morning, after Samuel and Silas had come to the church on Samuel's motorcycle, they send another brother to go get Samuel's wife and kid. The motorcycle broke down and so the young man had walked all the way back (7.5kms) to the church and arrived as we were finishing. So, we all went out to the road to get a matatu (minivan) back to Silas's house. We decided since one did not appear at once, we would start walking and catch it when it passed by. Not one ever came and we ended up walking in the 100+ heat for the 7.5 kms back to Silas's place. We ran out of water on the way and were quite dehydrated when we arrived. We immediately got water and sodas at a kiosk in the village before proceeding to Silas's house. By then it was almost 3pm and the afternoon was moving along.. We got out the peanuts we had stored in Silas's house earlier in the week and ate an impromptu lunch. Then we headed for the bus stop and waiting for a matatu.

After about 45 minutes a matatu arrived and although fully packed out to my assessment, Silas, John and I were squeezed in by the grace of God and inhaling at the right time. About an hour later (5pm) we arrived in Rumbek and made our way to the Nationdit Bus office where we met up with Janet. She had borrowed money and had gotten her pass renewed earlier on Sunday. We exchanged our last Dollars, bought three bus tickets to Juba for the following morning and started making calls looking for a place to eat and then rest. We ended up eating at the same Ugandan restaurant we had eaten breakfast at on Wednesday morning. Beans and Chapos never tasted so good... Then we got a place to stay that is in the same compound as a Kenyan missionary (Rev. Benjamin Makanda) that Silas stays with when he comes to Rumbek. It was upon seeing the state of dis-repair of that guesthouse we realized the blessing of staying at Diakonie in Cueibet. The room that John and I slept in was filthy, although we had been told that it had recently been cleaned. Nothing worked because the generator had not been started yet. We used one of our bed sheets as a makeshift curtain for a bit of privacy. When the generator came on, the tanks began to fill and after a while water began filling the toilet we had used which had not been flushed yet. After a while longer, we were able to shower. We were almost out of water, so our host, Rev. Makanda, went out on his motorcycle after dark and got us some water. Thanks to God for His people... Although we were hot and sweating profusely even after showering, we finally succumbed to exhaustion and slept hard.

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Six - 6th Feb., 2010

Saturday morning was cool and we woke up from the best night's sleep on the trip. We showered, packed our bags and then went for breakfast... As we ate, we talked about how nice it would have been to stay an extra day to worship at the New Sudan Lighthouse Church. As we talked, something arose in John and I and we changed our minds about the whole thing... Faith arose in us and we reasoned that God was for us and we would in fact make that flight out of Juba even if we traveled by bus on Monday from Rumbek to Juba. So we agreed and changed our plans...

We sent on Janet ahead to Rumbek to get her pass renewed. When Janet came to the guesthouse, she was already packed to go. We also had another thought that we should get a letter from the Commissioner to help her renew the pass. So she went and caught him just as he was leaving the house. The letter he wrote spoke of a man touched by the life of a godly woman. He spoke with highest regard about her character and how much of a peace maker she it... I was blessed to read it. The new plan gave John and I time to spend with Silas and Pastor Samuel in Abiriu, so we left our stuff at the guesthouse, loaded Janet and her stuff into the back of the Guesthouse Land-cruiser and took off toward Abiriu where they would drop us off and continue to Rumbek with Janet.

That is when we began to run into some trouble. About 5 kilometers down the road from Cueibet, we saw logs stretched out across the road and a group of village youth standing if front of it with crude weapons (spears, knives, clubs and the like)... Thank God I never saw an AK47... By the time we stopped the vehicle I could tell our driver (a local named Balaah) was already angry at them for their behavior. After a barrage of argument from both the driver and the mob, he put the Land-cruiser back into gear and powered the vehicle right over the logs and off we went. He then explained to us that a local chief had passed away and the youth had been "sent" out to gather money for his funeral... Balaah didn't buy it.

We thought that might be it, but about 3/4 of a kilometer down the road we saw similar road block. These guys were already angry because they had seen us run over the other road block. As the argument escalated, the tempers grew hot and things were approaching a physical fight. Just as Balaah was about to put the vehicle in gear a second time, a young local we had been carrying in the Land-cruiser decided to get out and try to defuse the situation. That didn't do anything but give them a hostage. Balaah didn't realize the man had gotten out and took off over the logs again.. Then he realized and stopped about 100 meters up the road... Finally after about a five minute stand off, they released the young man and we continued... The problem for us is that we had to return past that point in the evening and again Sunday morning as we started our trip back.

John and I spent the next 6 hours as the guests of Silas and Samuel and Grace, Samuel's 18 month old daughter who had been born in Nairobi in 2008 while they were our guests at Nairobi Lighthouse Church for training... We had a blast. We ate, sang and spent about 2 hours talking to Samuel's 91 year old dad about the Lord. Evening came quickly in such good company and we proceeded to the bus stop in search for transport back to Cueibet and the guesthouse. We waited for what seemed like an hour... Then, who should show up??? Balaah, on his way back from Rumbek... So we hopped in.

As we went we prayed for peace and safety on the road. Our prayers were used once again, as we approached the same series of road blocks we had hopped in the morning. This time, the mob was even angrier to begin with, because of the way we passed over the logs in the morning. Balaah stopped and started to argue with them... I got to thinking that he was actually enjoying the argument... In mock, he gave thew a one pound note at them... About 1 / 20th of what would have appeased them. That really made them mad... They began to grab at anything they could get ahold of in the front of the vehicle. Now seated in the front was Balaah at the wheel, John in the middle and me at the passenger window. Nobody except John and I knew that John had Silas's laptop computer in a plastic shopping bag under his legs... Fortunately nobody grabbed for it... (I think they did not see it). Then a bit of comic relief... They grabbed for small plastic bag in the middle of the dashboard. As a hand reached it another one reached over the top of John's head and grabbed the same bag. Then a tug of war ensued... I looked up and recognized him as the same young man who had tried to break up the argument that morning... He was about 2/3rds the size of the young man from outside who was tugging against him. But guess what... The guy in the car won and got his treasure back... (it was a bag of fruit). Then they tried (unsuccessfully) to get the car keys out of the ignition. That really made Balaah mad and he started it and climbed over the logs and off we went...

When we got to the next and last barrier, Balaah had had it. He hit the log going about 50 mph (70kph)... We hardly felt the log as we bumped over it... I gained a new respect for Toyota Land-cruisers that day.

Back at the guesthouse, we ate, traded stories and prepared to leave. We also requested Balaah to drive us to church, which was past the crazy youth barricades...

The other thing we had on our minds that night was the fact that Balaah had reported to us that Janet did not have enough money to renew her pass... We had given her 15 SP short of the amount needed... Money was running out quickly and we trusted God it would be enough to get us to Juba...

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Five - 5th Feb., 2010

Friday morning began again with a great breakfast at the guesthouse. About mid morning, the Commissioner's driver appeared driving the Commissioner's personal vehicle. Today was the day to see our new property the elders of Abiriu have so generously offered to us. We later learned that the Commissioner had reserved all land in his own area of Cueibet to be given only to Catholics. Abiriu is situated about 20 Kms back toward Rumbek and is where our missionary, Silas, lives. As we drove we got the overwhelming sense that God's favor was on us and that we were about to be greatly challenged to further action in this part of Sudan.

I need to add as a footnote that I did not expect to find that all the places we had planned to explore were all located within a twenty Kilometer radius. It was becoming obvious to us that there is something special about this particular area.

Our first stop was to meet the elders of Abiriu. They included the Chief, the elder in charge of justice, an administrator for the Commissioner and several other dignitaries. Upon meeting them, we who could fit, got into the Land-cruiser and proceeded to the lands. The first one was a bit out of town and off the main road. A new road was already under construction going right past the land. The land they gave us there is about a 1/4 mile along the road. From there, they say the land is ours until we reach another home stead... We asked how far that is and they said it is one or two or three kilometers... so maybe two miles in.. We asked what kind of animals are there... We were told we can find Hyena, leopard, antelope and lots of snakes and scorpions... We asked about elephant and lion... No lion, but there are elephants, but we probably wont see them, just their tracks...

Then they took us to another land. This one is situated on the edge of Abiriu village on the main road... (By the way, that road goes all the way from South Africa to Nigeria and is called the Great African Highway). This land has about 200 yards or meters of road frontage. From there it goes back about 1/2 mile before it reaches another homestead. When the Chief began to speak, he said that now that we (the guests) have actually shown up, he would now add another 100 meters of road frontage to the deal. So between the two lands, we have been offered about 5 square kilometers of land... This says two things to me... One, it says how much land is available in Southern Sudan. Two is says how much these people are desperate for education.

The chief said that he had had offers to sell the land to Arabs from Northern Sudan and had refused them, because these people do not want Islam in their villages. They want Christianity... They want Christian Education. They see that as the best way forward for their people. They also said they had given land to other Christians and had seen them come and then go... Their hope is that I would not do the same thing.

I spoke of the honor it was to be the recipient of such generosity. I also said I don't like people who promise and then do not do as promised. So, I gave them no promise. I said I would go back to Nairobi and pray. Then I would communicate with them... I asked them to be patient with me as I am heavily involved in Kings Kids Village and have ongoing responsibilities there...

On the way back to Cueibet, we stopped to see the home and mother of a dear brother in the Lord from that area who is studying in Nairobi and attending Nairobi Lighthouse Church. Peter Malou attached himself to me about a year ago one Sunday morning. He began to greet me and want to know me more. One thing he kept saying is, "You can make it up in my home area." I didn't know what that meant, until we made the trip up to Cueibet. I now fully understand that there are many who would never be able to deal with the environment of Southern Sudan.

It was a great joy to meet Peter's mom, brother, uncle and nephew, among other relatives and neighbors. We were even able to make a small video clip of his mom greeting him and challenging him to do well in his studies. I then had the privilege of showing Peter that video clip this last Sunday, 14th Feb. He cried tears of joy and hugged me... That was worth the whole trip just in itself...

Later that evening, the Commissioner came to see us at the Guesthouse and we reported to him that we had seen the land. Then we prepared to leave on Saturday. One thing that we had on our minds was to try as much to insure that we would be in Juba on Tuesday morning to meet the flight going to Kenya, since that was the only MAF flight that week. We knew it would take another day and a half if all worked out smoothly, to get back to Juba... That meant, if it didn't work out smoothly, we could be stuck in Southern Sudan for another week... So, we planned to leave for Rumbek on Saturday, catch the Sunday morning bus to Juba and stay in Juba two nights awaiting the flight... We also wanted to insure that Janet had time in Rumbek on Saturday to get her pass renewed which had expired a month earlier. After another great meal, we emailed and then prepared for the first day of our trip home... That night it was a bit cooler and we both looked forward to a good night's sleep...

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Four - 4 Feb, 2010

I overstated the comfort of the guesthouse at Diakonie. It was great in that it was private and virtually bug and spider free. The other critters I was told about was the huge snakes and scorpions in the area. In retrospect, I do doubt a bit that there are that many, because we saw neither the whole trip. We got up and had a nice breakfast of boiled sweet potatoes and instant coffee shipped in from Kenya. We also checked our emails again. As we were doing so, the Commissioner's driver came by to pick us up. So we quickly readied ourselves and off we went. After we picked up the Commissioner from his office, he and his body guards hopped in the Land-cruiser (his personal one this time) and we took off down the road. After touring for a while we came upon a plain that seemed to stretch over the horizon in two different directions - North and South. We crossed a small river and then came back over again. All I could see was the potential for rice fields in the near future. In fact everywhere my friend John looked he saw amazing potential for large scale farming...

About a Kilometer on the road back, we turned to the south and drove into a small hardwood Forrest. Once inside, the Commissioner told us this was the home of the Catholic mission in the area. Soon, we came up to a gate that guarded several compounds that had been sectioned off for different projects. The first thing we came upon was earth moving equipment busy clearing a place for their most recent construction project... Student Housing for a new Polytechnic school. As we drove through an inner gate we stopped in front of the dining hall of the volunteer housing complex.

We were ushered in and given juice and water to drink. Then the father showed us around the complex. As we were touring the facility, he shared his story of how he had established the place in 2005. He had spent his first 6 months sleeping in a tent. He testified to the large population of large snakes and scorpions.

The more I was there, the more I gained an appreciation for the Catholics. They are an amazing organization of people of faith who, by their strength in numbers and unity alone, can go into areas others only dream about going into. After the tour, we all were invited to a lunch of Italian pasta and cheese imported from Italy especially for the Italian volunteers who donate one or more months of their time to this outpost.

I left the place hoping that someday I could build something that even remotely resembles the excellence and goodness of what they are accomplishing in Southern Sudan. I also went away hoping that the Commissioner was not hoping that I could pull off anything of that magnitude... We went back to the guesthouse at about 3pm full and in a good mood.

Once back at the guesthouse, we (John and me) took some time to sit down with Janet find out why her two week trip plan in October 2009 turned into almost four months... Also, what was her desire about Cueibet? Did she want to stay there permanently and give up her career at KKV? She was very quick and clear to state that she wanted to come home to Kenya so badly that God would have to speak to her in a loud voice to get her to go back to Southern Sudan again. Her story was that she had gone up to secure some documentation for the land that we had been offered by the local people. She had gone up with the determination to see the documentation through. After a month, instead of securing the documents, she had run out of money and felt foolish about it. She decided to work her way home by selling some home made jewelry. When that did not sell, she tried to get a job teaching English to make enough money to get back. It was finally in Mid January, she gave up hope of getting back. She had tried on several occasions to email us and even sms us... She never got the opportunity. Each time she would get into town, she would find out that the internet was down. Also, she was not allowed to use the guesthouse computers because of regulations. It was late January that she found out that we were coming in February. I have to admit, the story was hard to believe at first... But then, I realized where we were and it came to me that she was really stuck... So from that time onward, we decided to take Janet with us back to Nairobi.

That out of the way, we spent the rest of the day looking forward to the following day, checking out our new property in Southern Sudan.

Cueibet Sudan trip: Day Three - 3 Feb, 2010

We woke up at 6:45, just as it was beginning to get light outside. The temperature had cooled down enough during the night that I was able to sleep with a sheet over my body without sweating.

We had some prayer that morning together and I recall our missionary, Silas, using the phrase over and over again, "In the mighty name of Jesus"... It struck me that he prayed as if his life depended on every request he made for safety and guidance... After a day, I realized that it does...

We walked into Rumbek town just as the sun was rising and were good and thirsty as we were hungry by the time we reached a cafe. Most cafe's in Rumbek are run by either Kenyans or Ugandans. We ate at a Ugandan one... I had egg and chapo, a soda and some water... (Too hot for tea)...

Then we got another tuktuk and headed out to the airport. We had to register within three days and the main place to find immigration officers was at the airport. We had a hard time getting through to immigration officers why we had come... It was after talking to three officers, we were finally able to get across the purpose for our visit... In Juba, they had told us it cost 84 SP to register.... Here they said it cost 48 SP. So, we asked for receipts in addition to the stamp in our pass (a visa that one carries in addition to a passport).

That done, we went back to town and drank more sodas as we awaited public transport to take us to our final destination, the village of Cueibet, the County seat of the Commissioner who had invited us to come to Sudan last September when he visited us at KKV in Nairobi. After a few minutes, a Toyota Land-cruiser Matatu or taxi showed up and we piled in with about 20 other people bound for all points in that direction... I had clocked the distance by Google Earth to be about 30 miles (45 Kms). About an hour out, we stopped at Silas's house in the village of Abiriu for a minute while he rushed to drop off our third piece of luggage which had carried 12 liters of bottled water and 4 lbs of peanuts we had packed for the trip. By that time, we dropped off only two remaining liters of water... We still had 3/4 of all of our peanuts left... and boy would they come in handy later on the way home...

After another bumpy hour, we finally arrived in Cueibet. Silas walked us over to a kiosk where Janet hangs out alot. It was a mix of grocery store clothing store and hair salon; a Kenyan run business.

There, we were told that Janet could be an number of places at the moment, but would be sure to return shortly.. John and Silas went off to try to find her and returned after a while with no success. So we finally went next store to a Ugandan restaurant to have some lunch. When finished, we returned to find her there at the kiosk. What a grand re-union. Then she took us straight to the Commissioners office, a ten minute walk past military camps, police posts, a make shift court and jail... All these were bush type hut structures... So different from the development of Kenya...

Once inside the brick building that resembled a run down police post in rural Kenya, we were ushered into the office of the Commissioner of Cueibet, Mr. Kon'gore. Upon seeing us, he was overjoyed and quickly brought the meeting he was chairing to a conclusion... We talked for a little while and he then had his official land cruiser brought around to take us to our guesthouse. It happened to be the very Medical facility were were asked to spy out while in Sudan. More on that later... We reached the guesthouse at 3pm.

Diakonie is a medical relief organization based in Germany. Their stated purpose is to help in relief efforts on a short term basis in disaster and war torn areas of the globe. They are built a series of ten medical clinics in the Chueibet area with a central clinic and base in the village of Cueibet. They are presently planning to finalize their side of the project by turning the facilities over to a local NGO (Non - Governmental - Organization) to continue to serve the medical needs of the area. I was sent up there to gather information and media so we could ascertain the possibility of taking on such a project.Once settled, we spent the rest of the day cleaning up and adjusting to the environment we had come upon.

I had been told that this was the most innovative and beautiful facility in the entirety of Southern Sudan. My first impression of it was that of an outpost far away from any technology of any kind. How wrong that first impression became to be as we discovered German technology at its best... That facility is run almost solely on solar technology. They have an inversion unit that is powered by twenty truck sized batteries hoked up in series. Those batteries are in turn charged by solar power. That system runs 24/7 and powers everything from their satellite internet for the two PCs in their office, the satellite TV service and the TV that plays it, one lighting point per house, and lights that light up their dining and social halls. The only thing left for the generator that runs for a few hours each night is the ceiling fans and a couple extra lights in each house. We enjoyed showers in our rooms and the relative cool of screened in bedrooms.

The mostly Kenyan staff that runs the place were very friendly and we had nice fellowship with them. We ended the day by eating a nicely cooked meal by the kitchen staff. After that, we checked our email and updated our facebook pages... Exhausted from our two and a half day trip, we slept well irregardless of the sweltering heat.