Yiiga

Have you ever had a day were everything just blesses your socks off? I had one of those the other day (a month ago now...) ...

It was rather wonderful right from the start. I emerged from my tent in Gasmala (after a huge thunder and lightening storm from the night before) to find Tia (one of my favorite ladies) and her little grandson, Babylon, greeting me from not too far away :) Babylon said "Kawaja, I niini?" (which is, in english, 'White person, did you sleep?') and Tia corrected him, for the 20th time that weekend, "her name is Kata..." so then he just smiled and said, "Kata, i niini?" To which I replied that I did indeed sleep well :) Then he trotted over to share with me a plum which he pulled from a little pile he had tucked away in his grubby little hand :)

The morning continued with enjoyable interactions while I 'packed up camp' and prepared for the bike ride back to Doro... the morning entertainment for everyone was to discover that the ground was in fact DRY and the weird "On Kata" (Kata's house... my tent) DID keep the rain out... it was quite a marvel to everyone, especially Pastor Hurun's wife who was convinced that come morning I would have been afloat :)

So I said my goodbyes and headed off on my bike with a travel buddy named Peter, who was also heading into Bunj (the town just past Doro) on his bike. It was one of those rides that went by especially slowly - Peter's bike isn't exactly what you'd call 'bush worthy' - but was very enjoyable... because I was biking so slowly I got to just look around and SEE all the amazing things along the way and have my breath taken away yet again by a God who loves me so much as to grant me the desires of my heart... down to the very last detail. As I drove my little bike through the dirt and mud of this 'road' in the middle of the bush, on such a sunny-and-perfect-cloud-day, I just couldn't get the smile off my face :)

So I arrived back to Doro to find that the Congdon family and Justin (the rest of his family were to follow next week) had arrived safely the day before... it's always exciting to see friends and have new faces around...

Then, after a little visit with Nancy it was time to check email... my inbox was overflowing with love from home, in response to the news letter I had sent out just hours before leaving for Gasmala days ago. It was rather amazing how many people wrote back addressing the email to "Kata" :D Again... just couldn't stop smiling. Thanks for the emails you guys... I just can't tell you how GREAT is to hear from you. REALLY.

The next thing was probably the 'cherry on top' for my day... Pastor James (my 'dad' from Gasmala) was bringing the village 'crazy man' for Dr.Rob to assess. Some of you may know that I just have a heart for the psychological aspects of what these people have gone through, and it has been my prayer to somehow be used by the Lord in this area of people's lives... So, I asked Dr.Rob if I could sit in on his assessment (I wanted to learn and hear what questions he would ask, among other reasons). There was little I knew about this man prior to our meeting that day... I knew that he was feared in the village, really had no friends other then pastor James who would visit him, and that he talked to himself. When James arrived with him I was looking for an excuse to go out to where he was waiting to interact with him. "Would he like some water? - it's a long walk here..." "yes, kata, bring him water." Perfect :) So I approached this beautiful old man, who had seen so much in his life, and was a broken shell of someone he'd once been... his eyes looked uncertain, and his hands trembled slightly. He sat with his legs crossed, wearing a baby blue shirt (pants too of course, but his shirt just stuck out to me) and a crocheted barrett, holding a walking stick. I come over, stuck out my hand to greet him and said "I niini?" His eyebrows shot up as he realized the Kawaja had just spoken Mabaan and returned the greeting with a smile. I gave him the water, and we were friends. This 65 year old man had won my heart, and I was done for :) James asked him if he wanted more water and he said "no, but when I do, I will ask her for it." ... :)

This man, about 15 years ago, had burned his house to the ground in the middle of the night - I think all his family escaped alive, however, left him shortly after. This was the start of his mental illness from what we can tell... If you are doing the mental math, this started DURING the time of the war, when he was still living/hiding in the bush near Gasmala (I've been told that Gasmala was quite a battle zone). After this, he went to a Refugee camp in Ethiopia, called Sherkole, where he stayed until a year ago, returning on the back of a Lory (truck) like thousands of others. Since then he's been largely ignored my most villagers who are scared he will kill them, and, as he told us, sometimes goes for up to four days with no food. He told us about the voices he hears in his head, that sometimes he sees people others can't see, and other struggles he's had along the way. Dr.Rob did a thorough assessment with mental, spiritual, and physical aspects, coming to the conclusion that this man has a genuine mental illness (rather then a solely spiritual problem) or a physical problem/illness that is manifesting with these psychological symptoms.

I just sat and watched throughout the meeting, and couldn't keep myself from smiling at this beautiful man, desperately loved by God, who has seen more trauma then I can imagine, who had a slight smile on his face because he had no idea what Dr.Rob was doing... prodding and poking and listening and asking him to balance with his eyes closed and his arms outstretched :) And I just had this heart-conversation with Jesus that went something like this... "Lord, I just love people who are hurting like this... rejected castaways that have yet to discover just how much YOU love them..." "Chris, I'm reminding you of why I brought you here, remember... to tell people about MY FREEDOM... I make beauty from these ashes..." "Lord, would You just use me... can I be a part of it?" ...

I was thankful that Dr.Rob didn't ask me to pray when we were finishing up, because I wouldn't have managed through it... as it was I sat there with tears running down my face because I was breathing deeply of a Life Worth Living... THIS is what it is about... not medications and treatments, though those can be wonderful... but just loving on people who need to know that there is Water they can drink, and NEVER be thirsty again. Jesus has not abandoned them, Jesus is not afraid of them, Jesus has made them - down to every molecule... and loves them enough to have died, even if only for them.

Before we stood to part ways, this man looked over at me, put his fingers to his mouth and said in Mabaan, "Drink"... I said, "Do you want to drink water?" He smiled and nodded, looking shy yet pleased that we were communicating. I smiled and started off... Never before have I gone on such a joyful errand. When I presented him with a very full cup, he drank it all, then stood up with his walking stick and started off home...

You guys, can you pray for this man? His name is Yiiga. Pray that the church in Gasmala would really reach out to him - follow the example of their pastor and love on this man that the world has rejected. Pray that he will KNOW of the Love of Jesus and be forever changed by the Living Water. Pray with me, that if the Lord see's fit, this man would be spared from further struggles with mental illness, that the medications we gave him would make a difference, and that he would one day give testimony of our miraculous Lord. I hope and pray that I am within ear shot one day when this beautiful man says "yes" to the question, "Do you want to drink Living Water?"

"Toola Kaata" ( "the Girl Kaata") - Part 1

Kaata came from a Kawaja village in the year 2009 to Mabaan. And she stays in Doro with her friend Vicki. And she goes to Koongaji, village of Gasmala to stay with Pastor James Haruun Ewo.

Her heart is very good. She came from a country called Kenada, which is a village of Kawaja's. She stays with us even though there are many pigs. And she eats our strong (fermented) Mabaan food. And goats are there sleeping near to her house.

(more to come...)
*translation by Kata

Long Overdue

HI Everyone! I'm so sorry for my long silence! :) Hard to believe a whole month (plus a bit) has gone by since I last posted, there is so much say yet I know I'll never get it all out! Let me be brief... Everything is Fine. (haha, just kidding - that was more so to give my parents a flash back to my high school days where my answer for everything was "fine" :P )

These past few months have been filled with trips to Gasmala and a growing Mabaan vocabulary - Praise the Lord. We had a few really big dumps of rain, and then nothing for like a week and a 1/2... Needless to say, we're dyin' for rain again! What had been turning an incredible shade of fluorescent green has now gone brown yet again. This past week we were "dumped on" by the Sahara to the north of us... Sand storms up there created really really bad visibility and air quality for us for over 48 hours. We coughed and prayed for it to pass! In the picture I'll post here it looks like fog, but I assure you, it's dust. It's nasty stuff.

As you can see by that picture the construction of the hospital continues by the Grace of God! We have been encouraged by many things in this process and are getting excited as each stage comes and goes :) I'll have more pictures as things keep progressing! Keep this in your prayers during the summer (our rainy season). WE currently have a team from the US with us for 2 weeks, then a team from Scotland will be coming a week later for another 3 weeks - these people are great provisions and will keep things moving at a nice pace :)

So, that is my brief update :) The only other thing I wanted to tell you, is that I am having a book written about me :) Now, don't get too excited, I dont' think it will be ready for publication for quite some time...

Pastor James, my Mabaan Dad, came over to me a few weeks ago and said "Kata" (my name here...) "I am writing about you, and want you to read it"... He, quite literally, has started a book (he's about 2 paragraphs in at the moment) about me and my life in Gasmala :) How amazingly sweet is that... I just couldn't stop smiling. He was so proud of himself, yet excited to show me he cared enough about me to put pen to paper and chronicle my life with them. My cup Runneth Over. He says "Maybe, as I write it, little by little it will become a book... one day it will be published, I dunno. Then the children will always remember Kata who lived with us... is it not good?" :D How can you not love people like this?? I feel honored indeed.

I will start translating them, and little by little post what he writes :) Even if it's only ever published on my Blog, I'll feel like a million bucks. The Lord gives Blessings abundant, and don't ever forget it :)

Rain Drops Keep Fallin' On My Head

So today something terribly exciting happened. After 6 LONG months of dust and dry, cracked ground, the heavens opened and Lord Poured forth RAIN :)

The clouds started to form in the late afternoon... dark and grey-blue, very promising... And so the observations started :) We stood out side for hours, watching the clouds form... watching them pour out rain in regions far away... the winds kicked up bringing dust and cooler air from the North - which I'm told is always the direction the first rain comes from... We stood around, did a little jig to encourage the clouds, laughed and told stories... and waited...

And then it happened... the first drop :) Then another, then another... then, an absolute downpour... you could almost hear the trees crying with joy :) - oh wait... perhaps that was the crazy Kawaja's running around dancing!

It's rather amazing what a little rain will do for your soul... the promise of Green, higher river waters, growth of crops, cooler temperatures... *sigh, our cups runneth over.

Remember the Mabaan in prayer - some of who have yet to get their roofs up and ready/repaired for the rainy season, that the crops (that weren't destroyed by last year's flood) would flourish, that Malaria would not run rampant but that this would be a year of decreased infections, that wells would put forth clean and abundant water for villages all over the province, and that above all these people would KNOW of the SOURCE of the LIVING WATER that NEVER RUNS DRY.

Flying By

How in the world did two weeks in Nairobi go by without me blogging ANYTHING! Heavenly days! May apologies people... I will try to do better! It certainly isn't because there is nothing to say!

I leave in the morning to fly to Lokichoggio, in Northern Kenya, where I'll stay the night and then leave from there to fly back into Doro the next morning (April 7th).

My time in Nairobi has been sooo nice. I think the most giddy I've ever been in my whole life was the 24 hours leading up to coming, and then the next 2 days after getting here! I know two months isn't really very long to be in the bush, but I felt like I was re-discovering a life I once knew... light switches that would stay on as long as you wanted, water coming out of taps that I didn't have to pump or scoop, SITTING to go to the bathroom... man! It was sure exciting :) I also was VERY happy to discover that my feet can indeed return to their natural pink color... the black dirt stains weren't totally permanent... it just took 3 baths and much scrubbing to find the pink again!

I enjoyed eating some foods that are absent in Doro, such as fresh milk (well, technically that exists, we just don't drink it...it's REAL fresh :), yoghurt, beef, cheese, broccoli (man, I was craving broccoli!)- lots of great treats!

My first morning in Nairobi I was standing in the kitchen by the sink (yay for sinks!) filling up the kettle (yay for kettles!!) with water for my tea, when I just got this big wave of joy, contentment and "homey" feelings... I pondered it for a few minutes to try and figure out what was feeling so wonderfully familiar as to make me this elated inside... I realized that it was the way the sun was coming in the window! Now I know that sounds rather crazy, but it's true. I hadn't noticed until that very moment that we have no "windows" in Doro - no glass... everything is screen or just open. And that familiar sort of "heat" created by sun beams traveling through glass was just an amazing feeling... I was over joyed :) Isn't that ridiculous!? I felt like I was on some sort of "upper" for the first few days back (I can assure you I wasn't)... but it was really fun.

Anyway, I'm really just posting a quick one to thank you for your patience and to promise more posts in the near future! I have spent so much time uploading pictures onto facebook (b/c it takes too much bandwidth to do it in Doro) that I've totally neglected my blog! But - I will rectify that as soon as possible!

Please pray for our flights and that my supplies that I'm trying to get back into Doro (on various different flights over the next month or less, hopefully) would find their way in quickly and easily and not take any detours to that "place" in Loki where things get lost (like my first broom attempt and Sandy's table!) :) Thanks everyone and I'll post again soon! Love ya's :)

Thank You for your Patience

HI everyone! This is just a quick blog post to let you know that I am alive and well in spite of my blog-silence :D These past few weeks have felt very full as I've traveled back and forth to Gasmala for Lanugage Learning, done laundry and email catchup on days "off" while continuing to review Mabaan, and head to the market again to gather more supplies for the next few days out there! I really have been enjoying my time, but I find it emotionally draining as my need to communicate and express myself is certainly squelched by being surrounded by a language that is complicated and very different. The women are wonderful and are so good to me - patient and really wanting to be helpful in my learning process. I am amazed, really at this opportunity and get really overwhelmed by what I gift from the Lord this is when I stop and think about it. I must say though, that I am looking forward to my 2 weeks in Nairobi that are coming up on the 24th of March. I find my moods changing more frequently and things are annoying me that weren't 2 weeks ago... like flies landing on my arm and tickling me when I'm already hot and cranky and don't want anything in my personal space!!! Didn't they get that memo!? For the love ;)

Anyway, I SOOO appreciate all your prayers and reminders of love that you are sending me via email, blog comments, or Facebook :) I'm anxious to get to Nairobi in hopes of being able to talk by phone with more of you and do some extended emailing (we've been on restrictions out here, and only get to use our internet for certain times of day and can't do downloading or other things that take up band width - another reason for the length of time since I've posted). Please please don't stop praying - if anything increase it as these next 2 weeks go by... I don't want to start spacing out or lacking motivation... I'd like to finish off this segment well.

I love you all, and am SO very thankful for you. Thanks for caring and following along. Much Much love across the ocean! :)
Christiane.

No Small Thing...

I can hardly describe to you the extent to which one wakes up with excitement-to-overflowing on a day that we are to receive a plane in Doro. When you live day in and day out with the same group of faces, doing much the same (all be it rewarding) tasks, with little awareness of the outside world, knowing that a plane is on it's way and will arrive around lunchtime makes me giddy enough that it feels like Christmas. I'm sure this isn't something you'll be able to understand from where you sit reading this entry, but, I do declare it to be true :)

Over a week ago, we were expecting a plane that was coming to pick up a two short term guys who'd been here for a few weeks. Now, by this time I'd learned not to "hope" that my missing box or order of eggs or other goods from Loki would arrive... the disappointment can feel devastating, so best to try and forget about the possibility... However, this particular day all my things did arrive! My last box that I'd waited 2 weeks for - containing laundry soap, my cell phone chord for charging, toothpaste (which I was quickly running low on), a quick-dry bath towel, and a bunch of goodies that I'd been given for my birthday (dried fruit, and a package of Peanutbutter/Choc Oreos - woah nelly!). When I opened my box I could hardly contain myself as I found in it more items I'd forgotten that I had packed in there, last minute... like 5 shiny green granny smith apples... :D Heavenly days! And not only that, Leah (our logistics gal in Loki) had sent me 2 FLATS of eggs (when I'd ordered 2 doz.), AND Leah had also sent our Doro team POTATOES and CARROTS. We were all fit to be tied :) !!

As much as life here in Doro is good, it isn't always easy. But, I have been blessed by the realization that I am feeling, possibly for the very first time, true and genuine appreciation for the little things in life... well, here they are big things. May God give us the Grace and Gratitude to truly appreciate these things no matter what our circumstances.

Update on Rahil

Hi Everyone, thanks so much for your prayers for this little girl, Rahil, and her family. I wish this update was going to contain wonderful news of a miracle... it's not. The short version of her story is this... After 36 hours of IV malaria treatment, our dear little Rahil started to improve, for which we praise the Lord. On about day 3 our clinic people went up there in the morning to find her IV had come out. Even with the IV treatment she'd been receiving, she was still dehydrated, and they were not able to get another IV in. That left oral treatments as the only option. From this point on, her condition started to deteriorate once more. On Day 4 she was looking quite bad, and Sarah, our Physician's Assistant said, "there's just no life behind those eyes..." The next morning, at about 5 am the parents took Rahil home to die. Here in Sudan, our team is noticing that it is really important for people to die (at least the children) at their home. I can't say I'm sad to report that Rahil is now in the loving arms of Jesus :) But, I wish, for the parents benefit, a miracle had occurred. Our God He is Mighty and His Will prevails, even when we don't understand, or get our way. I do know, that in all things He get's the Glory, one way or another. The story of this family isn't over... He is still at work in them. Perhaps, as I move to Gasmala (where they are from) you'll hear more of this family and what the Lord is up too in their lives... let's keep praying for them. (again, this picture is not the child I'm referring too)