-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.
6.25.2007
6.05.2007
"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.
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.
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.
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