"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.

- C.S. Lewis



Someone broke my 4-wheeler when I was on break in Nairobi. So I was driving a Honda 125 motorbike quite a bit this past week. I drove it 5 hours south and fell three times on that ride. Shortly after that I drove it through a muddy patch and came to a stop to high-five a kid who'd been cheering me on. When I stopped I put my right foot down, only for it to sink into the mud and I toppled over for a fourth time that day. A few days later I was driving it back North, and here is a diagram to explain that day.


1) I wiped out five minutes after getting on the bike. After that the kick-start wouldn't work so it had to be push-started.
2) My buddy Chris Wulliman picked me up and took me aways until our paths split, then he gave me a push start and off I went.
3) Here there were two roads. I took one and figured it was ok because I was headed into the sun which meant East. It was 3PM. It was going the exact wrong direction and it wasn't til I was practically back to the start that I realized my foolishness.
4) I veered off the road to avoid wiping out in a giant hole. I ended up dropping the bike anyhow trying to get back on the road. The bike decided it was done after that. My German Emergency Doctor friends happened to pass in their truck and we loaded up the bike and they took me home.
5) The last 30 minutes or so I was riding shotgun with a German nurse who is totally insane. Like Pyschiatric Hospital insane. She told me herself, along with a number of other "didn't need to know that" items.

Anyhow, during that ride (between items 4 and 5) I was sitting there cursing myself for wrecking a bike and then I realized something. I'm riding around in the back of a truck with a few Nuba people, holding up my broken bike with my legs, sitting next to a Nuba guy who's not a doctor and has performed 17 emergency C-sections in the last few months. Bouncing around and banging my head on this metal bar like 30 times. Drinking an ice-cold water from their cooler. And I thought, "Wow, my life is awesome right now."

"Everything that is done in the world, is done by hope."

- Martin Luther

After we finish building a church their is a giant party called an If De Ta. Lots of people come and pack the building and its basically a really long, high-energy church service. Lots of choirs, and singing and dancing, and thank yous, and sermons, and random diatribes by random people who don't really have much to say. This is Komo Church yesterday. The service lasted like 4.5 hours. I did get a little sleepy at one point, but overall its a lot of fun. I walk around and take photos as an excuse to move around and play with the kids outside instead of listening.




Above is Komo Church before the celebration begins. Below is Me and Pastor Santino. He's a nice guy and he's travelled with me to visit some churches before. Dude's real short. He had to stand on a cinder block to see over his new pulpit.

Correction

I was chastised a little while back for the opening of my last blog, so I think I better explain what I meant better. I'm not referring to the guys in the field at all, who are all great and thoughtful people with good hearts. It just seems that as an organization (and yes the individuals setting the tone) don't really care about why we do what we do, but if something looks good at first glance then we plow ahead and never stop to think it through. For example, someone committed us to rebuilding every church destroyed in Sudan, without having a clue what that actually meant, or thinking through the missiology of it. Anyhow, I do love and appreciate almost everyone in this organization and there is no where I would rather work than the Nuba Mountains in large part because of the awesome team we have here.

"If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say."

- Winston Zeddmore, Ghostbusters

That quote has nothing to do with this blog, but it may just apply to the average Samaritan's Purse employee. Not that they are all about the money, people just don't like to ask the hard questions about what our programs are really doing. Once something is set in motion everyone assumes things are good without actually thinking about them. I digress...

So 2/3s of our team flew out for a conference last week and I was kind of left in charge of Kauda our main base. I was excited about that until I realized that the 1/3 of people left was the totally unhelpful group. Still not a bad week, got to do some stuff I don't normally do.

On Saturday the people who had flown out were supposed to come back, along with some extra people who needed to stay the night before flying out in the morning. Total we were planning on having about 30 people on the compound that night. So I stressed all day, counting beds and blankets and making sure we had enough food. I had our guard kill two goats (this is normal meat here) and the ladies were supposed to cook it all up. I spent about an hour myself cutting up tomatoes for a giant salad we made. And just when we went to pick them up at the airstrip, a giant cloud formed. The plane got half-way there and the wind started blowing hard enough to rock our trucks and lightning started striking everywhere. When torrential rains started a moment later it completed the scene, and the plane turned around and landed somewhere else for the night. All our preparation for nought. This is what we refer to as the "Nuba Factor".

But my adventures were just beginning as the Nuba Factor struck once more. I told one of the ladies I would drive her home because she stayed late to help cook. Normally it is a 15 minute drive. Of course thats assuming the rain hasn't just destroyed the road. So I got stuck for about an hour and dug out with a shovel and my hands. Then I dropped her off and got stuck in the exact same spot on the way back. I dug for another hour. I couldn't figure out what I was stuck on, as all my wheels seemed to be on the ground, but when someone realized that my 30 minute trip had taken about 150 minutes they sent someone to help. Apparently my wheels weren't locked (4-wheel drive related thing) and when he locked them I moved effortlessly. Fun times.

Then I got home at 10:30 and spent about 45 minutes in a cold shower, cause thats how long it took me to scrub the mud out of my arm and leg hair.

Other interesting Nuba occurences:
1) Sergey, my Uzbekistani friend, killed a cow with his truck. A week later a letter was sent to all NGO's and the UN asking who did it and saying that the owner was threatening to go to the local sorcerer to put a curse on him. The letter also stated that the sorcerer has power of thunder and other harmful things. Fortunately the matter had already been cleared up by then, so no one has been struck down by lightning to my knowledge.
2) Troy, my Missourian friend, was asked to help transport a dead woman from the hospital back to her home to be buried. He did and then they got stuck in the mud for hours. Him and the dead body. Shades of "Little Miss Sunshine".
3) We had four quads drive in a convoy from Kauda to our southern belt (a place called Morro). I was really annoyed with the trip for a while cause I thought it was unneccessary, but then I realized something: How many times in life will I be able to drive 4-wheelers cross country with 3 buddies, and call it a part of my days work.
4) I avoided the return drive because there were some VIPs visiting and one of them thought it would be fun to make the journey by quad. I reluctantly gave up my quad, and took his place on the tiny-4 seater plane. So I sacrificed my exciting 4 or 5 hour ride through mud and bad roads, for a boring 20 minutes on a plane :) I've flown more times in Africa now than in the rest of my life combined.

Thanks for the love and prayers people. Hope to see some of you before too long.

love, shaps

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more."

- Macbeth

Well no picture or even a drawing with this post. I'll claim I'm tired, but I'm probably just lazy. What to write... I'm feeling bogged-down with decisions about the future. I kinda want to go back to school, but to go next fall requires getting a bunch of apps done by the end of this year. Maybe I won't even want to go next fall, but if I do I need to be ready now. Annoying. I want to stay in Africa for a while once my contract is up in mid-november, but I have a hunch that my family might not be happy if I don't come home for the holidays if I don't have a real job. And once this contract is up I'm sure my cash will dry up quickly and I'll need to either survive as a freelancer or get another job. Thinking of investing my money in my favorite football (soccer) team. COYS.

So, I have this problem where I sit down to type up reports and get work done, but I end up wasting entire days at a time without doing anything. Today was one of my good days, and I probably only put in 2 or 3 hours of real work. I'm basically Peter from Office Space. Now when I'm out visiting churches I do put in long days and I work hard. Just not when I'm staring at a computer screen. I probably read 20 articles on the New York Times website today. Probably 20 more on various sports sites.

You guys remember when they give you personality-type tests in college - sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholy. I was a sanguine-phlegmatic as a sophomore in college. The definition of that goes something like this: "Most likely to be voted 'most likely to succeed', least likely to actually do it."

I'm sounding depressed so I'll try and list some good things now:
1) My boss Zaki got stuck in a big flowing river and messed up a truck pretty good.
2) I have the only 4-wheeler that works properly, probably a direct result of the fact that I drive really slow.
3) My friend Patrick, our Kenyan mechanic, has taken a job in Nairobi and so won't be here for the last 2 months of my contract. Means no one to talk to once everyone else is in bed after midnight.
4) Mark Twain is great.
5) I successfully gave off the impression of working today everytime my boss walked by.
6) The Lions are 2-0.
7) Tigers still have a shot at the playoffs.
8) I wrote a really good report in my 2 hours of work today.
9) I have to drive 4 hours south, then 4 hours north, and then 4 hours south again, in about 2 days. On a quad, with a passenger, probably in the rain, and I can't see with my glasses and I'll probably ruin my phone worse than it already is.

Alright, I'm really grumpy for some reason. Half those things weren't even good things. Just things off the top of my head. 1, 3, and 9 are actually really lame.

love and miss people,

aaron

"The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?"

- Picasso


Well noticing that I haven't blogged for a while I have rebooted my blogging career with an artistic expression of a recent adventure.

My friend Tim got stuck in a river with his truck. We sent a tractor to retrieve him and this also got stuck. So Tim and about six guys with him needed rescued. We had an old truck with no headlights and a 4-wheeler. So we plugged a spot-light into the 4-wheeler and drove ahead of the truck with no lights.
So in the picture I am on the back of the 4-wheeler holding the spotlight while Troy drives in front of me, while engineer Oliver drives the big crappy truck with our boss Zaki riding shotgun.

Further notes on above painting:
1) Old English D on my hat just as in real life (go Tigers).
2) Troy is a big guy.
3) The 4-wheeler looks slightly like a wagon that would be pulled down the street by a toddler. Don't be fooled, it is a manly vehicle.
4) Oliver has a big smile.
5) Zaki is always on the phone.
6) Beneath the vehichles is a sketch of the road. The X is our base. The small man is Tim.
7) Brown denotes muddy spots.
8) The brown creature is a bush baby. They jump across the road sometimes. They look like beanie babies but they jump like Tigger of Winnie the Pooh fame. Seriously they are like 4 inches big and they could easily jump over my head I think.

Now that the blog is updated I move on to catching up on the emails I haven't replied to in months.

Ma'a Salaama (which means "peace out" in Arabic).

This was only the third worst time I was stuck this day.

"I'm not a genius, but maybe you'll remember this, I never said I ever want to be a man."

- White Stripes lyric that immediately comes to mind when my coworker told me I was becoming a man out here.

Chronological Highlights of my last 3 days:

• Get stuck in the mud. My comrade Ryan was behind in another SP truck and pulled me out after 5 minutes.
• Get stuck in a sandy river. 4.5 hours of work, drank lots of river water to fight of dehydration, and we were out.
• Became acutely aware of lack of food all day apart from a piece of bread for breakfast and a handful of peanuts.
• Person guiding me to destination took me down a foot path and the ground crumbled beneath the truck. I actually thought we were stuck forever. See picture above. 20 guys from the village came out and we were out in under an hour actually.
• Now dark, attempt to cross a sandy river. I succeeded but when I got to the path on the other side I couldn’t get up the hill. When I reversed got stuck. Spent the next six hours digging out of sand. Got some reinforcements from nearby village. Arrived at someone’s house to sleep at 1am. End day 1.
• Driving back from village we slept at, planned a short day of dropping off my translator and then going home and sleeping. Instead got stuck in a small river. 1 hour or so of work and we were out.
• Dropped off translator and realize I have a flat. Replaced flat with spare and began journey home.
• Driving fast to avoid getting stuck, I slid in the mud and I sheared the right side mirror off of the car. Also busted the snorkel in half, so I will no longer survive if I drive the truck totally under water (I anticipate this happening any day now.)
• Being smart I drove off the road to avoid big mud holes. Unfortunately the side of the road was sludge. 2 hours of futile work. Realized my high-lift jack was no longer functioning. Realized another tire was now leaking air.
• Hiked to Heiban, hour and a half away, barefoot in the dark through mud, rivers and thorns. Water was thigh high on multiple occasions. I was wearing jeans for some reason.
  Slept at our Bible School in Heiban, where I found one of our tractors. End day 2.
• Take tractor out to truck and haul it out of mud.
• Get stuck 5 minutes down the road, but tractor was still just ahead and pulled me out no problem.
• Left tractor and entered home stretch back to base. Got stuck. Dug out in 10 minutes.
  Get stuck again. Worked for over an hour, truck full of other NGO workers shows up and they help push me out.
• Arrive back at base. Shower and realize the pain in my feet is not from cuts, but from splinters. Spend 30 minutes digging them out.

The mud is slowly killing my will to live. In case you are counting that is 10 times stuck in 2.5 days.

Other than that, things are great. We got a big shipment of food in, so now we have cereal and potato chips and ramen noodles. Probably the most exciting thing in my life right now. Oh and I get two weeks off starting in one week. I don’t know what I’m doing for sure yet, but I am very ready for a break.

Me and Pastor Matta Mubarik, my recent translator.

"Anybody who wants to get their way says that Jesus supports their view. But that isn't Jesus' fault."

- Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz

Hey people, think I'm past due for another update. Here are a few recent highlights.
1. Got stuck in the mud this morning. I don't really mind that anymore. What I do mind is when I have people ranging from 12 year olds to 65 year old women pointing and telling me what I'm doing wrong as I attempt to get out. None of them have ever been in this sort of situation before, much less driven a car. I had about six people tell me I needed to move the jack I was using to the other side of the car, even though I was obviously doing everything I could to move it and it was stuck. (If the winches are broken on the front of the car [and they always are when I get stuck] then the next way to get out of the mud is to use our high-lift jacks to get the wheels off the ground and then we stick a bunch of rocks under them.)
2. Spent yesterday (Sunday) up on the mountain right behind our compound. Only like a 15 minute hike up, but it's really nice view and quiet and I spent like six hours there reading and writing. It was my favorite day in a while.
3. The sister of a guy who works for us hit herself in the foot with an axe. So I drove her to the hospital, only like 25 minutes away, but it is up the worst road in the area. The ride wasn't comfortable for me, but I think it was worse for her judging from the amount of blood she left on the floor. Watched the doctor stitch her up with no anesthetic cause he said he had to get the bleeding stopped right away.

Apart from that I want to talk about my guy Hamad. Hamad drives a truck for us in one of the areas we work. While I was up there I was sharing a tent with him and I figured out that he's my new role model. This guy is from a totally different world. He's 60 years old, uneducated, lived his life in a war torn land. Doesn't know much of anything outside of the Nuba Mountains. He was forced into being a government soldier during the war. They kicked him out of the army when they realized he was purposely shooting his gun over the heads of people during battles cause he didn't want to hurt anyone.

The man has as much Godly character as anyone I've ever known. He's works harder than anyone else around. He's humble. He gave up his bed for about five days to someone more than 40 years younger. He's generous. Where most of the other guys want to ask us for things (sodas, food, clothes, etc..) Hamad is the one guy who always wants to share what he has with us. He has integrity. When most people are sick they feel the need to moan and put on a show so we let them off work. When Hamad is sick he tells us and then continues to smile and have a good attitude anyhow. He's content. He's not well-off by the world's standards, but he's happy and he doesn't complain and he praises God for what he has. And he has faith. When he talks about the war he talks about how God was faithful. When he talks about the current hardships in Nuba, he talks about how God is still faithful and will take care of their needs. When he prays he prays with passion.

Could Hamad give an intellectual defense of his faith? Probably not. Could he argue the finer points between Calvinism and Armenianism, or for that matter Catholocism or Protestantism? Definitly not. Is he a more worthy role model than anyone I've known who could do those things? Absolutely.

"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."

-Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Comtemplation

Well I'm still enjoying myself in the Nuba Mountains. I've traveled north to a place called Kaliib, which we consider our Northern Belt for church reconstruction purposes. The SP guys up here are great and it's a very encouraging group to be around. I'm researching some churches, making sure they meet our criteria before we commit to working with them. Then the ones that do meet the criteria I need to sit with and interview so I can write up their history. While I still think much of my job is frustrating, I realized that it can best be described as "making social calls and drinking tea". All in all it's a pretty good lot.

Experiences of the last few days:
1) I had a meeting with some pastors who then invited me to attend a wedding that would begin there in about an hour. But then they told me my pants were too dirty so I would have to change. Since they were my only pair of pants, I wasn't able to attend the wedding.
2) I was in a nearby town and had stopped to talk to someone. A pastor I didn't know came up and asked if I could give him and his family a ride somewhere. Technically we aren't supposed to do that, but I thought I was headed that way anyhow. As we were driving I found out that this pastor had just returned from Khartoum for the first time in 11 years. He had fled there during the war and was just now returning. I thought that was pretty sweet to get to drive a family home after they'd been forced to leave 11 years earlier.
3) I eat bread for breakfast and rice and lentils for lunch and dinner. We do have biscuits and fruit for snacks, but the meals are pretty consistent up here. I enjoy it.
4) Got on the wrong road when driving back from a church site and eventually started to think we were lost forever, then we popped out on the main road within sight of our own compound.
5) Got stuck in the mud three times while driving from our main base up to our sub-base in Kaliib. One good shower for 30 minutes can turn the roads into a nightmare. The drive normally takes about 4 hours and we made it in 61/2 or 7. That's actually pretty decent. It's going to get worse. Further south guys have already spent the night stuck in the mud.

The trick to this place is simple: Nothing is going to go according to plan, so accept it. Life is pretty good once you have that rule down.

"To be content with little is difficult, with much impossible."

- from list of quotes I had to write when I was in detention in high school.

One trip probably 2 months ago now, I went out with my translator on Monday morning and didn’t return from our trip til Friday night. We were driving around in the ’78 Rover without a roof or windshield in 100+ degree days, getting dusty and burned. I didn’t drink anything that could be considered cold or even cool that whole week. We ate with church leaders wherever we were, which meant local fare. It was a rough week. I think all of Friday I was only persevering through the hope a cold coke that night. When I got that coke it was the greatest coke of my entire life. Those five days with no creature comforts sweetened that coke immeasurably.

Two months later I don’t have bad memories of the rough week before, but I have a great memory of that coke. It was worth the rough week. I guess what I learned and am still learning here is that there is so much beauty in simplicity instead of self-indulgence. I probably had a cold soda almost every day in the states, even though I had cold water, coffee and whatever else available as well. But all those self-indulgent cokes don’t measure up to the one that I had when I’d gone without for a short time. Granted I still overindulge when that option is open to me, but I’m hoping to change that so that I can better appreciate things when I do partake in them.

Never Confuse Movement with Action

- Hemingway

Rest and Relaxation Uganda-style

Two weeks off, no strings attached after ten weeks in the field. Me and Jeff Mills and Chad from B.C. We were ready for a break, but the chance to eat some good food was probably what we were really chomping at the bit for. We went to a food-court type place called Nando’s for our first post-Sudan meal. Three of us split a pizza and some sodas, then we ate some cake and goodies from the bakery, then we had ice cream and hotdogs. It was a good day. The rest of the R&R I managed to eat Indian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Lebanese, burgers, fries, fried chicken, and more pizza. It was all better than Sudanese. In fact I need to stop thinking about it because I’m about to start crying now that I'm back in the field.

So we stayed a number of nights off and on in Kampala, the capital, and it’s pretty nice. Quiet, not a ton happening, but good food, safe, nice roads. My standards for what makes a place nice have probably dropped quite a bit now. We went rafting the Nile. I went into this with no fear. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was unreal. Huge level five rapids. The first couple I was still having fun. Then we flipped and I got stuck underneath the raft (for like 5 seconds at most). Basically as soon as I sucked in some water I stopped enjoying myself. From that point on I faced these rapids with pure dread. We flipped twice more that day and one time the next. And really it’s not that bad. The river is very safe for how big the rapids are. I just found it incredibly terrifying for some reason. No one else (girls included) found it nearly as terrifying as I did. Regardless, it was huge rapids on the most famous river in the world and I’m glad I can say I did it. I just don’t want to do it again. Ever.

Our only significant road trip then was up to Murchison Falls State Park. The falls are part of the Nile and are spectacular. It is possibly the strongest flow of water in the world, as the river narrows extremely quickly creating an amazing scene. When the water falls it seems to spray back upwards 50 some feet because of the sheer force of it hitting below. Very cool. We took a boat ride and a game drive in the park. Here are the numbers: 200+ hippos, 12+ crocodiles, 4 elephants up close, bunches from a distance, 20 giraffes (maybe, I fell asleep for part of the ride), lots of deer type things and cape buffaloes, and 1 female lion napping next to her most recent victim.

Hippo Story: Me and Canadian Chad were walking along the Nile in the state park. There was a path and no warning signs or anything, so we thought it was safe. There were hippos down and across the river so we were walking their general direction. After a few minutes we turn and see the hippos right across the river from us. Just as I commented on it, we hear a noise behind us. We turn and there’s a giant hippo like 25 feet from us mowing through some grass and bushes and anything else in it’s path. Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa. Knowing this we probably should have walked away, which Chad did. But having my camera on hand, I really wanted to have a national geographic moment and capture the perfect shot. So as it continued eating I took a bunch of photos. At one point I lowered my camera and realized, “wow that thing is really close to me.” My best guess is 15 feet. Just then it paused and looked up for the first time, and I backpedaled quickly. Got some more photos from a little further away, but it was quite a thrill. Maybe the highlight of my African experience to this point.

I climbed a little mountain and a few kids tagged along. When we got to the top they told me they were going to visit their grandparents. I asked what they were talking about and they pointed behind me. I looked over and there was this crazy little village on top of the mountain. The closest houses are destroyed but if you towards the back you can see the places people still live.

"I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position."

- Mark Twain

Lot I'd like to write at the moment, cause it's been a frustrating day. But I'll try and organize my thoughts, into a readable form.

The good: Went out to visit some churches the other day, and the first day out was amazing. We drove to a place called Kaya, that is essentially the point where Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo come together. We had a truck drive us there, and then we unloaded our motorcycles, one for me and one for my translator John. We drove up a hill to a church we had to visit. I looked up and for the first time in this country, I was generally struck by how beautiful the place was. The hill was looking down on the town and across a river into Uganda, and the landscape was green and hilly and flowering. I genuinely felt happy just to be there and see it.

The first pastor we talked with that day was the Sudanese version of Brando in the Godfather. It was hilarious. We got our work done and went into town to find some food. We found one little restaurant that still had food at that time. It consisted of three unmatched tables and a motley collection of chairs. It was lit by two oil lamps, one in the front eating area, and one in the back kitchen area. We ate fish, rice and some less desirable items, and drank warm cokes. As we drove back to the church we were going to sleep at, we passed by the one hotel in town, and noticed people gathering. We stopped and managed to watch the entire Manchester United/AC Milan Champion's League Match. There were well over 100 people watching on a 21 inch screen. Someone from one of the churches somehow cleared out a spot up front and I had one of the top 10 seats in the house. Beautiful game, though ManU snuck a win. We left there at midnight. Great day.

The Bad: Woke up the next morning, got on the motorbike. I was still a little sleepy, when I noticed a bump in the road. I reacted and grabbed the hand-brake. This is a bad thing to do. The wheel shot out and I skidded along in the dirt on my side. Praise God I was wearing pants, and I got up with only a few scrapes on my legs and palms, and a bloody ankle. The cheap Chinese bike still worked, though the left side of the bike was bent inward. We continued on our way. A few miles later, John's bike got a flat. He pushed it for a while, and then I sent him ahead on my bike to find the people we needed to talk with. So after a mile and a half or so of pushing the motorbike, I arrived at a church and met with all the church leaders soaked in sweat and covered in orange dust. While we met with the church we had someone fix the motorbike. We left that town and headed towards our next destination. About 3 or 4 miles out, the same tire blew again. Sent John ahead on the good motorbike, pushed the bad one for about 2 miles. Showed up at another church soaked in sweat and dust-covered.

The Ugly: After the tire blew the second time I called into our compound a couple hours away. Found out our guy who had been in jail was finally released... and another guy had been in an accident. He came around a corner, and a motorcycle was flying towards him while driving in the wrong lane. The motorcycle hit and the guys flew off with a bunch of broken bones between them. Fortunately our guy got them to the hospital and they admitted their own fault. We'll still have to pay a lot of money, because the legal system is designed to bilk money out of whoever has it, but at least no one is in jail. As of now we have both guys that were in accidents stuck on house arrest, meaning they can't leave the compound and thus can't do their work.

Anyhow that is the story of Sudan. Great experiences, frustrating experiences and horrible driving experiences.

Concerning my job: I still haven't made up my mind about whether I like the project I work on or not. I have figured out that I'm not an important part of it. I honestly don't think it makes sense to hire someone for my position, especially in light of how they have now handicapped me from effectively getting information to donors, which is what my job is really meant for. Really frustrated based on some conversations I've had today. But I still like being in Sudan, and they pay me. So all in all I guess life is still pretty good.

"We are in power. Nobody will deny it. By virtue of that power we shall remain in power."

Jack London in The Iron Heel.

So one of our guys, a Kenyan named Oliver, rolled a land cruiser yesterday. He was giving a lady and her baby a ride and the lady smacked her head real bad. She went to the hospital and he went to jail. She'll be fine, we'll just have to pay her some money and probably pay the courts.

Ridiculous things relating to this situation.
1) Jeff Mills came upon the accident in a different Samaritan's Purse truck right away. Some military guys were there. They had loaded up their own truck to take the lady to the hospital, but when they saw the SP truck they basically threatened Mills with their guns and made him get out of the truck so they could drive our truck to the hospital instead of theirs. When they brought the truck back later that day, they made Mills pay them money or else they were going to arrest him.
2) The guy in charge of the jail said we could get Oliver out at 9pm last night... so long as we brought him back by 5:30 in the morning.
3) The traffic police said we could get Oliver out at 8am this morning. Of course they hadn't slept off the alcohol by that time, and when they did show up some time later, they said they didn't want to work on Sundays. By work they meant sign the two papers neccesary to have him released. So he spends another night in jail.
4) They don't feed people in jail. Friends and family have to take food every day.

the computer won again and I started a blog...

I guess if I have a blog I can rant for a long time about things, without feeling like I'm cluttering people's emails. I still appreciate your emails though and would like to get updates on people's lives.

First blog entry... I eat poorly, I sleep weird hours, I rarely shower, I've shampooed once in the last 8 weeks... yup, pretty much the same life I've had since the beginning of college.

I've been flown to the south of Sudan to a place called Yei. I'm writing for Samaritan's Purse, specifically for their church reconstruction program. We are supposed to rebuild every church destroyed during Sudan's 20 year civil war. My job is to write reports on churches so that we know the history and present status of the churches we are working with.

I was in a place called the Nuba Mountains in the middle of Sudan. It started out rough, but I pretty much love it now. But I'm now in the south because we need some specific church reports to make some donors happy. I guess I don't really like my job at the moment, but I love what it allows me to do.

Things I love about life right now:
1) I'm in Africa
2) I drive fun vehicles like 4-wheelers and 1978 Land Rovers on ridiculous roads
3) My coworkers with SP
4) The fact that every time I get a good meal or a coke I appreciate it about 20 times more than I used to

Things I don't really love:
1) Working with a translator. At least once a day I want to choke my translator, no matter who it is.
2) The fact that my dirty laundry disappears from my room and is never heard from again.
3) Sitting at a computer and typing reports. I think it takes me about three times as long as it should, because at best I can only focus for a half an hour at a time.

I guess that's just a partial list, but it'll do.

Further notes about the '78 Rover. Jeff Mills (my buddy who I now get to hang out with because he is working in the spot I was just transferred to) informed me that in the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy" a similar vehicle is dubbed the antichrist. Seems pretty accurate. After I'd driven the car for a week and a half the ignition went out and we had to start the car by having one person touch a metal rod to a couple of screws under the hood, while a second person pumped the gas. The car wasn't capable of idling, so this had to be repeated many times every day.

I did become quite attached to the car though, and was very upset to learn that while I was in a different area someone else had ruined it. Apparently he wasn't aware that you need to check the dipstick regularly when a car has a known oil leak. So the antichrist is no more. RIP.