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January 10, 2006
We Get the Boot. . . Almost
Dear friends,
It was so good to see many of you over the holidays. Sorry it was such a quick visit. We arrived safely back in Sudan and are now re-acclimating to the heat. It's 9:30 as I type here in the SP office. The wind is gusting in a weird pattern, and the temperature inside the office is 93 degrees F with 10% humidity. I just heard a fuel drum outside go "sprang" as it cooled down.
Today was a bit discouraging, but I think God threw us a wild pitch forcing us to depend on him. After a Christmas break, the blockmaking program which I [Chris] manage was supposed to crank up work again . . . but it's not going to happen. Before I tell you what went wrong, a little background.
We started this program in order to support a community center ministry and also supply building materials for Kurmuk. We got a letter from the government agency with permission to use an old abandoned building 2km outside town. We hired 20 men and have made 15,000 blocks in 4 months.
For me, it's been a chance to get to know the workers by name and begin to understand their lives and struggles. It's been a huge time investment and honestly quite difficult to be a manager as well as a friend who is concerned about the souls of my workers, first and foremost. I have struggled with being openly disrespected and every week saying "no" to "give us more money." I have had to accept missing my production target in favor of being a real and knowable guy.
Anyway, here is the problem. Unbeknownst to us, the land had been assigned to another NGO called CEAS (Church Ecumenical Action Sudan)! We had renovated a building, built a small business, and dug huge holes in the ground and now we were going to be forced off the land. It is depressing to say the least.
Today when we got out to the site (after 3 weeks of holiday for the brick program), we were shocked to see a brand new fence going up, two new outhouses, foundations laid for a new building, and all our holes filled back in! And it wasn't even CEAS, it is yet another group turning our business into their new home!
So, on Tuesday I get to tell 18 guys they are out of work. That's hard news, when you have not worked in years. One salary will sometimes be spread among twenty friends and neighbors. Firing someone is like firing an entire family.
How can this happen? The biggest reason is simple inefficiency in the only form of "government" present here, but is doesn't stop there. For several years, the governor and his cronies had a monopoly on the brick business. If you wanted a permanent building you had to buy his bricks. Now that there's another source, they don't like it. For instance, the government halted construction of a school and are saying that our blocks are "of poor quality". The other reason is simply corruption, trying to force us to buy his bricks at a high cost and a 10% fee for transporting them from a city 2 hours away.
So, that's the news we got today and it set me back. Why are we trying to help when our help is thwarted by corrupt and inefficient government officials?
My colleague Brian and I took stock of the situation. We really feel
strongly that, while we are trying to do good deeds, we need to be doing each and every thing in Jesus's name. The school we build may be torn down, but our friendship with the night watchman will remain. Blowing up a soccer ball in a caring way, or giving a cup of water in Jesus's name, will ascend to God like a sweet aroma. The young man we invest in may be the next President of New Sudan.
Maybe God threw us a crazy pitch to remember Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good" and also 2 Peter 1:8 "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Lord, we know all this Stuff will be forgotten someday, but Love will
remain. Help us to love as You did and not grow weary.
In Christ,
Crowders
Published at January 10, 2006 09:42 AM
