Ikotos

First, Happy Thanksgiving!!

After being in Torit for only a shorttime, Linda, Matthew and I traveled to the little town of Ikotos. Ikotos is only a short 20 minute flight southeast of Torit. Meghan

Baird is a short-termer there teaching in the secondary school. She lives on the AIC compound with Jordan and Andrea Scotland (AIM leaders in Ikotos), but they are home in Canada for the Christmas holiday. Since Meghan was by herself we went up to encourage her and to get a feel for Ikotos.

Meghan and Wanii

Ikotos is a beautiful little town located near the Imotong Mountains (highest point in Sudan). It’s a little less civilized than Torit, meaning that there are more people who live in the “bush”. (The bush is basically people living in tucles, or mud huts, away from the actual town. There is not much running water, so water must be carried by bike, wheelbarrow, or atop heads from the bore-holes.) The people in Ikotos are very friendly; even friendlier than in Torit. It was hard to walk through the market and not shake at least 50 peoples’ hands.

Imotong Mountains

When we got to Ikotos, Meghan greeted us and immediately took us to the catholic diocese for a workshop she was attending. She was attending a peace-building worship along with several representatives from towns all over South Sudan. There was actually a gentleman there from EMU who was helping with the workshop (small world!). We hung out there and we got the chance to meet with Tobiolo (the pastor of the AIC church in Ikotos). That night we had fun just hanging out at the Scotland’s compound getting to know Meghan. And actually Meghan and I had to share a bed and ended up talking until almost 2am that night. I forgot how much I missed girly time! Meghan is from a little town in Maryland and she attended WVU for her second undergrad. When she finishes her year in Ikotos (September), she’ll return to WVU for her masters in counseling.

Saturday we had to go to the SPLA office to basically sign in with the local government and verify that we were legal to be in Sudan. After a little interrogation (nothing major), Tobiolo took us back to his compound and we just sat and talked for several hours. Toby told us about the LRA attacks on Ikotos and showed us pictures as well. The LRA attacked Ikotos in 2005, killing hundreds of people and leaving even more homeless or without families. It was really sad to listen to these stories and even scarier to know that these awful things took place only two years ago.

Sunday, Meghan and I got up really early and hiked up to the top of this little hill where the Catholic Church was located to watch the sun rise. It was beautiful! When we got back we attended the AIC church and it was so small! There were so many children in the church and they all love to sing! We had the chance to listen to the youth, children, and the Women of Good News all sing. It was so wonderful! After church, Linda, Meghan and I spent some time baking. The Scotlands have a charcoal oven and we don’t have one in Torit, so we took advantage of this! We made bread, peach cobbler (Meghan actually had canned peaches!), chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and granola. It was so much fun to be in the kitchen baking! The woman that Meghan did her home-stay with, Agness, was celebrating her birthday that Monday, but since Meghan had to be at school Monday, we visited her that afternoon with the peace cobbler. Agness is just a young girl, perhaps 20, but she already has two children. She was so sweet! When we got there she served chipatis (a cross between a pancake and a flour tortilla, but more bread-like…ok that probably doesn’t make sense but that’s the only way for me to describe it!) and we served her the peach cobbler.

Meghan's Tukul

Monday was kind of a rough day for me. I was fighting a cold and it just got worse throughout the morning, so I stayed behind while everyone else went to the school. I was feeling a little better when they got back and had to help Meghan and Linda to type up some exams for the teachers at school. Since Meghan is American they have come to her with a lot of their typing needs. She was really thankful that Linda and I were there to help her. Later that afternoon Meghan, Matthew, and I went into the market to do some shopping. The market isn’t as big has Torit but things are a little cheaper in Ikotos.

Tuesday, Meghan and I spent a lot of time copying exams and then went to the school. It’s actually a pretty big school and the primary school is close by. Since primary is bigger, they use some of the secondary classrooms. After introducing me to the teachers, Meghan introduced me to some of her students. Since they were in the middle of their exams we didn’t stay much longer. Later that evening Linda and I hiked up to the same little hill to watch the sun set over the Imotong Mountains. It was so beautiful!

Wednesday, was so busy because we were preparing for Phil to come to Ikotos with a group from Open Doors (this is a Christian organization but I’m not entirely clear about what they do). Meghan, Matthew and I went down to the school to wait for the plane to come in while Linda stayed behind with the Women of Good News to help fix lunch. The group from Open Doors was suppose to come to both of the schools to see how they were doing (I guess they have been supporting these schools) and then we were to have lunch at the AIC compound. Well the plane showed up 2 hours late so when they finally got there, they had to rush to the SPLA office to “check in”, stopped by the primary school, and then finally got to the secondary school. After a few songs and introduction of teachers we traveled back to the AIC compound for lunch. We ate a rushed lunch because we had to meet the plane leaving for Torit. Meghan came back to Torit with us so she could celebrate Thanksgiving with Americans. The Open Doors group was only able to stay in Torit for 45 minutes before they had to board the plane again for Loki. We had such a full day but it was so good to be back in Torit. I think I could definitely stay in Ikotos but God has plans for me in Torit.

I will have to post another blog entry after we celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend to let you know how Americans in Africa celebrate this holiday!

The First Days in Torit

I’m finally in Torit and it has been just a complete change from the States to Kampala to Torit. Linda, Matthew, and I landed in Torit on Thursday (Nov. 8) in this 4-seater plane. We were greeted by Phil (Linda’s husband) and a wheelbarrow (for the luggage). Their house is located right beside the dirt airstrip so we didn’t have far to go. The house is large (4 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, dining area/living area, den, and veranda). The Bylers are currently sharing the house with Russ and Lyn Noble (more AIMers), who are in the process of building a house at the church compound. So, there are 6 of us staying in the house along with the Noble’s cat, Pussywillow, and a number of large lizards (although they just stay outside).

Torit is a rather large town, not a city by any means, but there is a large community here. There are many people who live in town around the main street but also many who live in villages (or suburbs) on the outskirts of the town. The roads are all dirt with many deep trenches in the middle of them. It has been relatively rainy here, so the roads are still muddy in places. (The rainy season should be over but it’s rained just about every day that I’ve been here). There are mountains off in the distance that practically surround Torit and they are beautiful. It’s rather hot during the day but it’s still relatively cool compared to what the temperatures are like during the dry season, which we are fast approaching.

Our first day here (Thursday), Phil took us into town to get our Torit passes (basically a 6-month visa). This process was rather a funny experience that I will have to share at another time. We also visited the Africa Inland Church (AIC) where we were greeted by all the children at the pre-school there. There are children everywhere in Torit! And almost all of them greet you saying “Morning!” no matter what time of day!

Friday, Linda and Phil took Matthew and I back into town. We stopped at the hospital so that I could meet some of the HIV/AIDS counselors who I will be working with. Afterwards, we split up. Phil took Matthew to meet with the Minister of Education to talk about the plans for Matthew teaching in the secondary school. Linda took me to the AIC church to meet with the pre-school teachers. I met with Charles (head teacher, I guess) and his assistant, Rogers (I think) and talked with them for a while. The pre-school consists of children ages 3-10. However, there are only two separate classes: 3- and 4-year-olds and 5- to 10-year-olds. Charles took me to the youngest class and they were just sitting, unaccompanied, under this tent. They greeted me with song and Charles introduced me. He then took me into the church for the second class, where they also greeted me with song. After talking some time with both Charles and Rogers I found out that they would like me to teach math (all I can do is laugh…some of you understand!) and English. I was somewhat frustrated when I left a little later. There are only two teachers (Charles and Rogers…both of whom sat with me in the office practically the whole time I was there) and there is just no organization. It’s frustrating because I just don’t know how many of these children are getting any form of education. I’ve been talking to Linda and Lyn and I have some ideas about how to teach. We’ve also come up with a schedule for me so that I’m in control of what I’m teaching and not loaded down with all the teaching.

Saturday was a down day because it was so rainy and I was just not feeling too great. My body was and still is adjusting to a new environment and new food. Meals are different here. The big meal is during lunch, breakfast is kind of on your own, and dinner is not much more than bread and tea. We eat a lot of bread here and not a lot of meat. Meat is available it’s just a little difficult to get a good cut of meat. There isn’t a lot of fruit in this area. We do have some oranges (which are actually green) and bananas from time to time. We have lots of veggies. There are several different vegetables that are grown on our compound. However, we have problems with the monkeys stealing our vegetables. Apparently, one of the monkeys walked in the back door and took a carrot right from our kitchen (they don’t grow carrots in the area, so Lyn was a little upset to see that get taken!). (There are about 4-5 monkeys that belong to the ministry of environmental wildlife just up the road from our house. They are more of a nuisance than anything else!)

Sunday, we attended church at AIC. The service was about 3 hours long but it really didn’t feel that long. Half of the service was in Juba Arabic and half in English. Russ preached and one of the pastors, Johnson, interpreted. After the service we walked out singing and then made a line right outside the door that wrapped around in front of the church. This was a greeting line. This way everyone could greet one another and shake hands. Africans like to shake hands!

Monday, I went to the HIV/AIDS clinic and met with one of the counselors, Richard. This was such a great experience! Richard walked me through their procedures at the clinic when they’re in a counseling session, showed me how they give the HIV tests, and explained about the different tests (there are 3) and how they counsel. I was even able to sit in on one of the counseling sessions with this young couple. They were to be married and just wanted to be sure of their status. Richard asked the couple what they knew about HIV and gave them the chance to share their knowledge on the subject before he filled in the gaps. He even told them that the clinic promotes abstinence for all people not married and once inside marriage, to be faithful to their partner. This was very encouraging to see. After we gave the tests, we asked a few more questions while we waited for the results. The tests themselves are the same idea of a pregnancy test: 1 line meant that it was negative and 2 lines meant that it was positive. If this test turned out to be positive then we would administer two other HIV tests to make sure of the final results. These two tests had very good results. This was such a positive day and I’m so excited about being able to help out at the clinic.

There was so much that I was uncertain about coming into Torit concerning my ministry. But it seems that God is laying the ground work before me and my ministry is starting to take form. Praise God!!

Learning the Language

Today was the first day of the LAMP course (language acquisition made practical). Now before I get into my day I need to share with you the people that I am taking this course with. Our facilitator is Linda Byler one of my team leaders in South Sudan. There are 6 of us Americans: me, Joelle (a girl from upstate NY who is working in Kampala for 7 months), Matthew (a guy from Lincoln, Nebraska who is working with me in Torit), Jin (a guy from PA, I think, who will be working Kampala), and Mike and Susan (a couple from Mississippi). There are also 3 girls from Germany: Rahel and Sabrina (who are working in Aurora, Uganda) and Miriam (who is working in Gulu, Uganda). There is a girl from Ireland, Louise, who is working in northeastern Uganda. There is also a couple (Nigel and Rowena from the UK) who will be taking over the Matoke Inn sometime in January. Ok, now that you know of everyone…we started the day with prayer and testimonies. Each of us will be sharing our testimonies throughout the next 5 days. Joelle and I shared this morning. Afterwards, we met in the AIM office to watch a few videos on language learning. We are approaching learning the language in a slightly different way. We are taking it beyond the classroom. We will not be allowed to take notes but will need to just listen. We will also learn through interacting with the people and asking them for help. Oh, and I will be initially learning Ugandan and when I get to Sudan I will learn Juba Arabic (It may not really make sense that I’m learning Ugandan first but I’m actually learning how to go about learning a language so that I can apply the techniques when I get to Sudan.)

After our morning session and lunch, we partnered up and went into the villages outside of Kampala to interact with the people. Our task was to listen to and watch the peoples’ interactions with one another and to interact with them ourselves. Our goal was to learn a little of the language. I partnered with Susan and we went into the village of Zzana. We needed to buy some fruit for someone at the inn, so our first interaction was with a woman vending on the side of the road. After buying some pineapple and tomatoes from her, we asked her how to say “thank you”. We were then approached by a man named Julius who helped us with a few more phrases. We talked to several other people and the reception was just so amazing. They were thrilled that we wanted to learn their language. We would go back and forth listening to phrases and repeating after them. They were incredibly patient and laughed with us when we couldn’t say something properly. After an hour we returned to the inn to meet with our individual language partners. During this time we met one-on-one to learn key phrases. We would be recording them on recording devices so that we could practice later on our own time. The phrases we learned today were a greeting for the afternoon, a response to that greeting, a formal goodbye, and thank you. My partner is a Ugandan girl named Doreen. She is 22 and has just finished school. Her older sister works in the AIM office here. She is a very sweet girl and very patient with me. The language is definitely challenging and I get tongue-tied quite often. So a major prayer request right now would be that I would continue to learn the language and apply this new technique of learning so that I may be able to use it in the future. This is what the next few days of our LAMP course will look like.