The day started in a rush. I had put my cell phone on a different charger and I had slept through my watch alarm. I was awoken by my 18 year old daughter, Christen who was going with a different mission team to the coast of Kenya the same morning. I got up, got my phone, got dressed and out the door in five minutes. We got to John Njeru's house at 5:20. We called him when the night guard failed to open the gate and woke him up as well. His phone was set an hour behind, so his alarm had 45 minutes before it was to go off. By the skillful driving of our friend, we got to Wilson Airport on time (6:00 AM) to check in at MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) to get weighed in for our flight.
We left at 8AM on our way to Lokichogio, where we cleared immigration leaving Kenya for Juba. Excitement was in the air as we touched down in Torit (en rout to Juba from Loki) and Sudanese soil for the first time ever (for me that is). My very first scene of Sudan was that of a small village I later learned was called Torit, made up on of nothing but round huts the Sudanese call Tukul's.
My second view was that of about thirty soldiers waiting with three trucks at the end of the runway, weapons drawn... After we landed and taxied to their end of the runway, they just stood there waiting. Then we turned the airplane to the SUV to the side of the runway. The soldiers then got back into their trucks and left the scene. Evidently they thought we were an expected dignitary.
My second view was that of about thirty soldiers waiting with three trucks at the end of the runway, weapons drawn... After we landed and taxied to their end of the runway, they just stood there waiting. Then we turned the airplane to the SUV to the side of the runway. The soldiers then got back into their trucks and left the scene. Evidently they thought we were an expected dignitary.
Excitement grew as we landed in Juba, the new capitol of South Sudan. My first scene that remains etched in my mind from Juba is the heat of the air as the doors opened into the 105 degree F heat of the day. From there, we were taken to the arrivals building where we met a group of immigration officers seated on the counters, glued to the TV set in the corner, watching an Arabic music video. When they finally noticed us they just waived us through as if there was no immigration at all. I later learned two things from this. 1) The immigration officer who had the stamp was on lunch break. 2) This is a game they often play with foreigners coming into their country. They let you in and then harass you upon return. When our host arrived, we were advised to hang around a bit and see if he would return. After ten minutes, he did and we got our passports stamped entered... Now, besides getting our passports stamped, they have something else called a registration. Their stamp says we must register within three days of entering S. Sudan. We went in to do that and the guy who had the stamp for that was also on lunch break and was not due back for a time. Longs story short, we never did get registered that day, so we decided to do so as soon as we arrived in Rumbeck... More about day one to follow...
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