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July 19, 2005
Base, Team, and People
Dear Friends,
Hello from Kurmuk, Sudan. We've been here only nine days but miss you already. You would be surprised how much we think of you and hope to see you. We are so thankful to be here and to be in your prayers.
Lots of news here! Sorry for the really long email, but there's so much to say. Kurmuk is a great place. If anything, we are rather surprised by how content we are. Several things make that possible.
First, the base. The Samaritan's Purse environment is a nice stable compound to live and work from. We know where to sleep, eat, and work and are not constantly struggling to survive. The office has a meeting area, dining area, and there's a well-stocked storeroom. We stressed about bringing AA batteries for example, but there are plenty here. The accommodations are quite basic by US standards, but we have little luxuries such as Tang and bottled (glass bottles) soda bought over the border in Ethiopia.
Imagine, a 150 meter square area right in town with a high grass fence. There are 5 or 6 tall trees and 3 good-sized brick/plaster buildings. The main one contains the office, storerooms, and an eating area. Around are sheds and tukuls (mud-huts). One tukul is where the cooking and laundry is done. Two Toyota Landcruisers and a few Honda ATV's sit near the front gate. There's a radio shack where the HF radio is; the antenna consists of two very long wires strung up in the trees. There are about 7 tukuls. Ours is toward the back of the compound surrounded by peanuts, okra, and watermelon plants.
Second, our team is fantastic. There is a very experienced SIM missionary here named Claire Coburn who has been working with the Uduk people for almost 10 years now. Her insights into the culture and the people we are meeting have been invaluable. Brian and Jen Gresham are an awesome young couple with whom we have a good time. Brian and I throw the football sometimes. Jen and Beverly work together at the hospital. Earnest Wangombe is the Appropriate Technologist. He has this awesome donkey cart program to teach people the value of using animal labor. And Dr. Mubarak is an incredibly qualified veterinarian-turned-agriculturalist who runs a demo farm nearby. His tukul is next to ours. And, last but not least the SP program director is Tohru Inoue. He and I have really hit if off because of our engineering backgrounds and discipleship focus.
Third, the people. We feel so comfortable with the Sudanese people here because they are so welcoming. I met one of the senior nurses walking down the road this morning, and he ran out of English words trying to tell us how welcome we are to work here. He is a good example of people whose lives say, "Even though the war has devastated our country, we believe in it and will work hard to rebuild it. If you are here to help, we believe God has sent you. Thank you for coming."
We have to mention Dr. Atar. He is a Sudanese man who went to medical school in Cairo and accepted a position at the hospital in Kurmuk during the war. He told us stories last night of how 150 wounded showed up at the hospital after a major battle. He and four men managed to treat them all. He and the current SPLA commander are mature Christians who founded Unity Church here in town. Atar has achieved hero status with us and almost everyone else.
However, there are some challenges: tukul life, language, and learning our jobs.
Living in a tukul is like being outside without being outside, if you catch my meaning. The rain does not come through, and bugs can't get in as long as we don't leave the door open. It stays fairly clean, again as long as we don't track dirt in on our feet. The walls are chest high; then there is about 8 inches of screen followed by the very high thatched roof lined with
thick
plastic. Even hard rains don't get through. However, we were amazed to discover an entire ecosystem living between the thatch and the plastic. Something like 40 little blue-tailed lizards call our tukul roof home. They eat well on the moths and bugs trying in vain to get inside. You would not believe the amount of noise a moth can make flapping its wings against the plastic and, furthermore, how lizards charge through the thatch trying to catch it.
Still, it is a nice tukul with a concrete floor and 12volt power for a fan or a light. I have rigged up some scary looking wiring for our stuff. No way would it pass the electrical code.
Here's the main reason I sat down to write: God has miraculously provided a language tutor. I [Chris] was getting frustrated after about five days because we could not find anyone. (yeh, I know. . .) So, before dinner one night, I went for a walk with another guy. The very first person who
engaged
us in conversation (I am not making this up) was an out-of-work Arabic teacher with seven years of experience. His name is Mohammed, and we found him sitting under the baobab tree near his house. We met again the next day for tea in the marketplace and agreed to terms. Earnest had been looking for someone as well, so it worked out perfectly. We meet for an hour in the morning and afternoon. He has great teaching methods and is teaching us the classical Arabic pronunciation as well as the simplified Arabic spoken around here. Praise God for providing for our needs.
The last challenge, learning our jobs here, is perhaps the most difficult. Beverly has been observing for about 5 days at the hospital. In consultation with Dr Atar and the others, they decided she would be the most helpful at the outpatient clinic. That way Atar can do rounds on 70 beds in the morning while she and the other staff do outpatient. Saturdays and Mondays are the worst, just like in the US. There must have been 100 people there today. And almost all are either malaria, or malaria complications. Dr. Atar has two possible appendectomies, and he did a skin graft the other day.
Also, Bev will be training the nurses by following a curriculum that Atar has set up. And right now, she is preparing some lessons on health for a girls' seminar in a few weeks.
My ministry is a little less straightforward and will require a lot of prayer to head in the right directions. On Tuesday, I get to substitute teach a TEE class for Peter the Uduk evangelist who is off in the bush with Tohru scouting out destroyed churches. Then, hope you are sitting down, I was asked to preach at the Unity church this Sunday. I'll preach in English, and Dr. Atar will hopefully translate for me. I'm not scared yet but probably will be soon. I've never preached much less to a congregation of 150 Sudanese from 5 different tribes and 8 different denominations. Pray!
However, some specific things are emerging for me (Chris) to do: 1)
discipling
one young man from the Uduk church, 2) teaching elder training workshops in September, 3) some sort of micro-enterprise project for the Unity church, and 4) some projects related to the community center, which is a city-wide outreach.
Those are the main things but many more ideas and projects are being
discussed: outreaches to the Funyj ('foonj') community and also taking some trips to the Mabaan area about 3 hours south of here to encourage the churches there.
Such a long email, but there is so much going on that we just had to tell you about it. Thank you for your prayers and emails. We are so encouraged by them. Thanks West End Community Church for the .mp3 sermons. We are enjoying them.
Our love to everyone,
Chris and Beverly Crowder
Kurmuk, Sudan
Published at July 19, 2005 07:38 AM
