Mundri at last.

We made it! I heard that Mark (my bro) explained our adventure getting here, but we are here nonetheless. I have heard lots before coming here about the mango trees. Yup, it's true, from my house I am staying, I can see dozens of them at least. As for the people here...they are awesome.

Here is my favourite story so far here....
Yesterday I was sitting underneath the shade of the Mango tree (which is quite pleasant) when some kids walked by. So Mark and I motioned for them to come over. We went into the house and got a few chairs. That is how guests know they are welcome to stay and chill a while. So these boys sat but they didn't know English. So we just chilled until another group of boys came by and wondered what was up. So we told them to come over and I got some more chairs. Our place has about 15 chairs handy to use for this occasion. It took no time at all before there were none left. (And yes at this point, some girls came by too).

One of the boys who came by knew some English. Quickly I grabbed a book and jotted down some Moru phrases from him. One of these phrases was "Come here and sit." So I used this for any children coming by. Then I remembered about some things that were given to me by my dear friends before leaving Canada. I was given some things pill shaped thing that when you put it into water, a dinosaur comes out after a few minutes. This was quite a surprise to the children here and I pretended that the foamy dinosaur shape was alive when it lunged at the children. They lept back and then I started laughing. They did too. It was fun.

In total, I think there were probably 30-40 kids that came by throughout the time and many would come back with others and get me to show them the dinosaur show. ha, I loved it. I think I will do okay here. My worst experience here was the first night when my flip-flop broke. So I had to go to the market and buy the only pair of footwear that would fit my seemingly gigantic feet...a pair of used, fake, crocs. haha, I have never worn these before but I am learning to get used to them. I would say that if this is my "bad" experience, I am doing alright.

As for things with our mission here, we have been meeting with a local, retired pastor who has a vision similar to ours. We have already met and discussed a bit with some of the local leaders governing NGOs who seem to express excitement with our ideas. We will be meeting with local chiefs of the clans here in Mundri to see if they support this idea on Thursday afternoon. I know this sounds vague but I will give more details as we develop the project plan more and more.

Three things to pray for:
1) Open doors with the Chiefs the project.
2) More connections with kids to play with.
3) A cheap motorcycle to buy/borrow so I can get around in this place.

By the way, the meeting with the Chiefs will be held under one of our mango trees....awesome :)

Guest Author Time!

Hey everybody. So this is Adam's brother, Mark. I too am now left to wander somewhere deep in the South Sudanese wilderness although I'll be here only another week and a half or so. In the meantime, Adam and I have traveled together with Lexson from Juba after finally finishing our business there to the smaller but vibrant county of Mundri. We left around mid-afternoon on friday and until that moment, we were unsure how we would be travelling. Somehow, Lexson managed to procure a prison vehicle to tow us to Mundri. It was a Land Cruiser with benches running along the sides in the back. Lexson rode up front with the driver, while Adam and I rode in the back along with Lexson's aging mother and aunt. The journey went relatively smoothly until a few hours in, when the the aunt yelled something in Moru to Lexson. The vehicle stopped and Lexson instructed Adam to open "only the small door." (the back of the Land Cruiser shuts with two doors together). In retrospect, I wish Lexson had impressed upon us the gravity of the situation but he chose not to. Before we knew it, there was something of a cough and we were splattered with something that in a second I realized to be poor Auntie's vomit.

That's right. She puked on us...and I was covered from the neck down. Adam's arm and leg were also among the casualties. I didn't really know how to react so all I managed was a toneless, "Darn." Adam was still processing what had happened and what was all over us. We jumped out of the car and I started dumping water all over myself to rinse it off. Meanwhile, Lexson had seized the moment and was furiously taking pictures of the situation between bellows. It was actually quite hilarious and we didn't contain ourselves for long. Of course the humour was quickly lost when we got back into the vomit-smelling vehicle and bounced along a dirt road for another hour and a half praying that grandma and auntie (and by this time Adam and I as well) would hold it together and not allow a recurrence of the original event. After what seemed like forever we arrived and were forced again to wait for an eternity to shower. Nevertheless we have lived to tell the harrowing tale and are safely in Mundri as of now.

The Nile and things.

As said in my last blog, my brother was coming. Now he is here and things are sweet. We have had some good times. The first adventure we took was on Sunday when we caught some “bodas” to the edge of the Nile and went swimming. We chose to go to the area where most the kids were playing (and apparently where people are bathing...hmm). So anyways, we cooled off for a few minutes and then realized that everyone there was filling up there UN donated jugs to get water from the river back to their mud houses. Naturally, Mark and I were put to work. We started a service for a little while of filling up all the locals jugs so they wouldn’t have to wade into the water as deep and carry the water as far. I think we created quite the scene because it didn’t take long before a small crowd formed to observe this sight.

Today we were able to get our registration papers from the Ministry of Legal Affairs which was really cool. We are getting closer and closer to getting to Mundri. Also, this morning we found out there is a guy here named Charles who knows Lexson and said that he would give us his plot of land that he has in Mundri for our projects. That is a huge answer to prayer and it was really encouraging. I don’t know exactly the shape of the land yet but it is still exciting. We are going to be writing introduction letters to the NGO’s here and we are hoping to be able to generate some optimism from organizations that we can work with here.

For those of you who know my eating habits, know that I enjoy ice cream. Actually that is quite the understatement. Everyone before I left asked me, “How are you going to deal with being in Africa without ice cream?” I was sure that it would be next to impossible to find ice cream in the Sudan. Well today, Mark and I found it. I got the largest serving possible of soft serve ice cream. Then Mark needed help finishing his portion. So I gladly obliged.

Anyways, there has been some request for prayer requests on this blog. So I think I will start putting three things that you can be praying for at the end of my blogs. Cool?

1) Smooth sailing as we finish up here with registration in Juba so we can get to Mundri ASAP.
2) Positive response from the NGO’s here to aid us in our projects.
3) Open doors and optimism from the people as we head to Mundri.

Well I hope that gives you an idea of what to pray for and thanks for asking :)

Tastes of Canada

Taste #1: Today, my brother is coming to visit. That is pretty awesome. What a guy, traveling literally across the world to come hang out. He has informed me that is just inside the border on his bus...woot!

Taste #2: Shania Twain was playing on the radio (or at least I think it was).

For the record, I like taste #1 more than taste #2 :)

I am Sudanese.

Since arriving in Juba, I have begun to embrace many things about the culture. On of these things is tea. Now the picture of tea your mind probably just jumped to, is probably not the tea that I drink. It includes 2 scoops of milk powder (because you can't really get milk in liquid form from my understanding), then as much sugar as a child could ever ask for (except I put much less than locals) and then a tea bag...or sometimes Nescafe instead. The other day, I had caught a boda (motorcyle taxi) to go to a linguistic institute to buy a book to learn some Arabic. (Which by the way I am no longer a Mazungu...I am a "Cawaya"). I was walking along the road after I bought the book and walked past a group of guys chillaxing in the shade during the morning tea time.

"Hello. Come have tea with us."

hmm, never take food from strangers. But I do like the idea of stopping in the shade and forgetting about my duties for the day.

"Okay."

So we hung out for a while and talked about life. Then just when I was about to go on my way again, Lexson came by on his boda.

"Oh hey, I stopped to have tea."

"haha Adam! You are Sudanese!"

Nice, I have done it. Too bad everyone still looks at me like I am the strangest Sudanese man to walk the country. In fact, yesterday I made a poor little girl cry simply because of my skin colour. Rats (in the words of Charlie Brown). And she is my neighbour. Her family is trying to help her adjust. But mostly they just laugh a lot and think it's quite funny.

Anyways as for my work here, things are going well. During the course of this week, we have managed to register the organization (Afro-Canadian Evangelical Mission) with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and with the Ministry of Legal Affairs and a few other logistical thing such as getting a PO box and design business cards (which apparently are the bees knees around here so we really can't function without 'em). So ya we are getting closer and closer to being able to operate and I am truly excited to go set up camp for a while in Mundri. That is the place where I will be hanging out working to start developmental efforts focused towards children. It is a state over from here and from what I hear, about 4 hours on a terribly bumpy road. But the good news is, it's supposed to be much cooler there which will be a sweet change from this intense heat. Oh and yesterday, I saw my first African storm which was accompanied by watching a transformer blow up across the road (for all you transformer nerds...don't worry, it was a decepticon). haha okay just kidding but it did make us lose power once again for 1 day and counting. The whole scene was quite spectacular though :)

I got some pics up finally now too. Just a couple. The first is of the day Lexson and I left. The next is of a sign in Kenya that I am still trying to make sense of so I just had to snap a shot. I don't really have any pics of Juba yet because the police have laws against taking pics so I have been hesitant.
If you can't read it, it says: Credit will only be given to people over 85 years of age. (Provided accompanied by both parents)
Ha and weirdest thing is that this was in a photocopying place. Both parents? 85? hmm.

Juba...the land of fancy toilets.

The travels are finished...mostly. I made it from Nairobi, Kenya to Entebbe, Uganda in 14 hours by bus. Along the way we could see some zebras which was sweet. In Entebbe I rested for 1 day and then left again for another 14 hour trip to Juba, Sudan.

Do you know those days when you were a kid and you were sitting at the back of the bus and the driver goes over a speed bump and you bounce off the seat? Those were the days eh? Ha, except it is a little less awesome when those speed bumps come for 75% of the ride. Okay, I exaggerate a little, but seriously, the bus ride to Juba left at 1 a.m. I thought I could get some sleep during this trip...which is a little hard when your head keeps bouncing into painful objects. Anyways, all that to say, I wouldn’t recommend the bus ride to many people, but hey...it was cheap right?

But now I’m in Juba! Hooray :) It feels great and the people are awesome. I am amazed at how undeveloped this city is for being a capital city of a new country (as of this coming July). At my house there is no running water and the power has been out for at least half of the time I have been here.

We went to start the registration process of the organization today and things worked out well so far. We are hoping that all will go smoothly with the ministries. The first important guy ended up going with us to a cafe where I was able to buy him lunch...that's how you get off to a good start, ya'know?

Other than that, I am sweaty all the time. It is crazy dusty here which sticks to you. And I use a squatty potty for all my business...not as bad as people make it out to be. But can I just say again, I am finally in Sudan!! So these things are little things that I am learning to smile about. In saying that though, when you sit on your golden thrown in Canada (or wherever you might be), please just say a little prayer of thanks for your running water--because that is a beautiful thing.

Oh and also Lexson is kinda famous here. We were waiting for a bus this morning and a guy drove by, and pulled over and picked us up because they have a history. That guy called him uncle because they had a good relationship from 20 years ago. Then we go to get internet, and the guy here is a guy that also calls him uncle and keeps telling me how good of a man Lexson is. Then as we are talking with him like 2 more people come by with very excited expressions and leap into his arms and they talk for hours. Wow. Oh and the guys at the ministries that we are registering the NGO with, are all people he has a history with. He knows everyone which has been beneficial to say the least!

Okay well that is that. I have my cell phone now...once again the number is 011-249-955-701-807 but I have heard that google phones may not be working to call even though I told many of you to use it. If not skype works but it is a bit more money. So you can always email. That is cool too. Peace out team.

Some Updates

Okay so I just wanted to update everyone with what is going on real quick.

First of all, if by any chance you tried to call my phone, it probably didn't work. I found out that using that number makes it so I was roaming so my credit ran out quickly. haha I should've known but I am new to the world of SIM cards. But when I get to Sudan it should work.

I got my Southern Sudan Permit to travel today. What an exciting thing! A year ago, God told me to go. Now I am going. So good.

On that note, I am leaving Nairobi tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. and driving through the day to Kampala, Uganda. It will be sweet in the day...hoping to see some wicked-cool wildlife and stuff. Then we should be there til about Saturday morning or evening when we will leave to go to Juba. We decided that the all-at-once bus ride from here to Juba was a little too long for both Lexson and I. Let's take it easy. So that is the game plan. Should be in Juba, Sudan around Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

Okay see ya later.

P.S. This is a shout out to my friend Matthew who is 6 and hangs out with me in Sunday School. I miss ya buddy.