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!!
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