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August 26, 2006
She Didn't Know
Dear Friends,
We have not written lately about life here in Khartoum - so, let me tell about something that happened today. I was doing some research on secondary school curriculums for our next project, Southern Blue Nile Academy. With God's help it will be the first secondary school in an area of one million people.
On my way back from Arabic class, I wheeled "Mitsi" the pickup truck into a semi-shaded parking place near a school I had spotted earlier. The driver behind me tooted his horn in annoyance. I walked up to a green metal gate, but it would not open. I studied it carefully and finally noticed a wire. I pulled the wire and the door unlatched. I went into the British-model school to see what it was like.
I greeted the two ladies sitting at the desk, or at least I tried. The one with her head covered refused to shake my hand. "Ok, I thought. She must be devoutly religious." So, mustering my most polite Arabic, I tried to ask them about the curriculum.
I was surprised to find out the devout lady was more comfortable with English! It turns out she was Romanian. I can only guess that she was married to a Sudanese or Arabic man.
We discussed the IGCSE curriculum, and then another teacher joined our conversation. He asked in a curious way about what I was doing. I was wary, but I decided to tell them a little bit: "I'm thinking of starting a secondary school in the south." He nodded, knowingly. I felt like that approved. We talked about how schools were needed in the south because of the war. He agreed by saying, "Yes, there are not even roads much less schools."
The Romanian lady's face changed. She didn't know. She had not heard about the devastation of 21 years of civil war. She did not know about my friend Stephen who fought for six years and walked from Ethiopia to the Nuba Mtns to Juba and back again. She did not know about my friend Joseph who was taken away as a slave. She did not know about 2 million deaths and 4 million displaced.
"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at her colleague. He explained to her that there was not one meter of paved road in the south, and the only schools were under the trees. I added that a lot of the people had been living in refugee camps in Ethiopia, Kenya, or Khartoum. She waved her hands in frustration. "This information does not get to Khartoum!" she exclaimed.
I offered to have tea with them sometime to talk about it. I wonder if God could use knowledge of the terrible civil war to open their hearts. The lady is quite devout in her faith, yet I was impressed to see a bit of compassion there.
That little incident symbolizes the huge gap between Khartoum and the rest of Sudan. Khartoum is a fairly modern third world, safe city. The rest of Sudan is completely undeveloped. Flying into Khartoum at night, one sees streets laid out in an orderly grid pattern lit by modern streetlights. Incredibly, we saw a Ferris wheel out the starboard window from our airplane when we arrived.
Flying into south Sudan at night is, well impossible because there are no lights to shine on the few dusty airstrips. There are no Ferris wheels. Only schools under trees and grass huts. But there are a lot of little churches; even a few big ones. Each little church, even if it is only a homemade pulpit in a clearing, is a "city on a hill." Our team's goal in south Sudan is to help those little churches to grow and make more little ones so that our light will "shine before men."
SIM's purpose is to glorify God by planting, strengthening, and partnering with churches around the world as we evangelize the unreached, minister to human need, disciple believers into churches, and equip churches to fulfill Christ's Commission.
Chris and Beverly
Published at August 26, 2006 07:52 AM
