Leaving Sudan

November 9 turned out to be my last class with the Toposa women. Anna and I had shopped quite a bit the day before for tomatoes, onions, rice and beans, tobacco, etc. We had to hire two Toposa girls to help us carry our wares back to Anna's home more than a mile away in the noonday heat. The next day the man who said he would drive us and our gear to Nacipo could not make it. So, we got everything together and paid a Toposa woman who was going to attend the class to help port our things to the village about two miles away. It was hot but bearable. Christine lives near Nacipo and we met her along the way. I was the only one who did not carry anything on my head.

65 women participated, not counting small children and the chief and his retinue; we met under two large nadapal trees. I taught them through interpreters (English to Arabic to Toposa) about whip worms and round worms and pin worms and the damage they can do to someone's intestines. We showed pictures since there was no blackboard (too difficult to carry). They seemed impressed and said that most of them and their children had suffered from worms in the past year or so. We handed out the vegetable seeds I had brought from Nairobi. When we had the question period after the presentation, one of the women thought it would be helpful if a large tukul was built to accommodate the number of women coming to these health promotion classes. It would be placed centrally. I said we would consider this but that they would have to build it themselves. They said they would build it but would need to buy poles and wire to bind the sticks and thatch together. I believe we will do this since the chief was there and said he was not against the idea. It shouldn't cost too much. I left early and walked back to the compound and Anna and Christine showed the women how to cook rice and beans. They said the women were most grateful.

Three days later we were to go to Loolim. I sent Anna and Christine there but because the tribesman who said he would tell the women of the upcoming class failed to do so, only 25 or so women attended. They were most enthusiastic and I know they will get word of a tukul to be built in Nacipo and they will want one too and their village is much larger than Nacipo.

I had already said good-bye to the St. Bahkita school girls at their end-of-year party which was quite an event. Many speeches and tribal dancing and recitations followed by an excellent meal. The goats were prepared in three or four different ways and I ate a little of each. Afterwards there was a dance with the Comboni Boys' 8th graders. You must realize that the "boys" are in their late teens and twentys and the girls are mid to late teens. There was a full moon and the night was magical.

On November 22, The Maryknoll sisters, Madeline and Theresa, prepared a Thanksgiving Day meal because I was to leave the next day. It consisted of a luscious tuna casserole with dried vegetables and pumpkin pudding. After dinner we sang "America the Beautiful." During my year here in Narus I always had breakfast with them and ate lunch and supper with the Ugandan sisters. All have been most gracious and helpful to me.

Two days before I left Narus, I went on a three-hour hiking tour with Anna; we visited four villages and one small cattle camp tucked away behind a hill. Several Toposa families from near Nadapal had come to live there and set up an interim camp. There were cattle, goats and six or so camels. They slaughter the camels and sell the meat in Narus. I also saw women hanging out goat meat to dry and 7 and 8 year old girls balancing water containers on their heads as they headed from the bore hole to their village. Anna knew everyone except the people in the cattle camp.

I said so-long to the sisters and the compound personnel as I loaded up my two suitcases and a duffle bag full of memorabilia the Toposa women had given to me - a pipe, two beaded arm bands a four inch thick beaded waist band, two herding sticks taped together and a beaded goatskin skirt I had bought. Sister Susan Clare had already left for Uganda and Sister Edvine, Headmistress and Sister Agnes, Pre-Unit teacher remained. Sr. Agnes came with me to Loki where I took a plane to Nairobi.
I hope to return next spring and stay until June. I left the educating of the Toposa to Christine and Anna who are far more able than I and who understand the needs of the women. They will carry on the Toposa Women's Health Promotion Project while I am gone.

Now I am in Nairobi seeing some of the friends I have made here and taking care of odds and ends. Will fly out on Dec. 20 and get into San Franciso on Dec. 21 where my friends will collect me.

The Kenyan Sisters of Mercy in Nairobi have been most hospitable and patient with my many comings and goings as I used their convent as my base when I was in town. I am grateful to them and to all the sisters at the Diocese of Torit Compound for their patience with me as I struggled with customs and culture and food and scorpions.

I will take a several month hiatus and give some fund raising talks while at home.

I am deeply grateful to you who have read this blog and to others who have emailed me words of support and for all your prayers which kept me focused on the St. Bakhita school girls, on the Toposa and on the God in whose loving gaze all this makes sense.

Since I last wrote there has been more violence at the border of South Sudan and Kenya such that we had to postpone our flight for five days (border was closed for several days). Now the Kenyan army has 7 outposts in the land the South Sudan Toposa feel is theirs. A few days before we flew in to Loki, hundreds of warriors massed less than a mile from our compound. Things have since cooled somewhat.

While I was in Nairobi I made my retreat at the Passionist Retreat Center in Karen, just outside Nairobi. While attending daily Mass I met Sharon McMillan, a Notre Dame de Namur sister who graduated from Mercy Burl in 1966. She is only the fifth American I have met since January. She and I walked two miles in the rain to her convent where we had a breakfast of Peet's coffee and cornbread. I only mention this because it is not my usual fare.

Did some shopping for the Toposa women's project and bought fifty pounds of colored beads and fishing line, etc. along with close to 100 packets of seeds for them to plant during the next rain. The seeds included secuma wiki (collards) okra, squash, and chard.

The day after we (Sisters Madeline and Theresa and I) returned, St. Bahkita's school threw a good-bye party for the girls (class 8) to which the Comboni Boys school (class 8) was invited. There were two hours of speeches, then a delicious supper followed by dancing under an almost full moon. Truly magical. On the following Monday all class 8 students were driven to Loki in Kenya where they will sit for their exams. The outcome of these exams determines whether or not a student can attend secondary school. You need a score of 250 out of 500 to make the cut off.

If I can get a vehicle Anna and I will go to the village in Loolim to give a class for the women there on Nov. 11 and then back to Nacipo on the 21.

There is not much else to report except that I finally got a ticket home and will arrive on Dec. 21. Don't know yet if I will be returning in the Spring.

Again, I appreciate your emails to me at (in case you forgot) kconnolly40@yahoo.com

God bless you all and your families.

MERCY OUTREACH

Things have calmed down since I last wrote. The drought is in full swing even though we had some rain last week.

Two Saturdays ago we began an outreach program for the Toposa women of the Narus area. Anna Mijji, Lucy and Christine are working with me or more correctly, I with them to educate the women in the areas of health, cleanliness and nutrition. Our first class was held on Sept. 19 in the parish hall. 30 women were present, not counting children. It had poured the night before and was misserably mucky outside and it took 20 minutes just to get to the parish hall from our compound. The lesson was on washing hands before cooking and of course after going to the bathroom. The Toposa go outside the village when they need to go to the bathroom. However, goats and such wander around and get offal on their hooves, etc. and bring it into the tiny villages where toddlers play. They in turn get this on their hands and when their mothers pick them up they get it on themselves and if the mothers forget to wash their hands (they dont wash) it may get into the food and if the person who defecated has diarrhea and/or worms, then the rest of the family may also get this. I mimed this little scenario and the women clapped at the end - probably in relief. We also talked about the advantages of eating greens several times a week. Afterwards we entertained questions and comments such that I will be getting seeds for green leafy vegetables for them to plant when it starts to rain. I also suggested that they use the money they make when they sell firewood for greens once a week. They didn't like that idea. As the women left the parish hall where we had met, we gave each a large bar of soap and a large plastic cup with ground maize, enough for one meal of porridge.

The following Saturday, we met 55 women at the Nacipo primary school. Nacipo is a collection of five villages under one chief. The chief's three wives were present. I did the mime of how to give your family worms and diarrhea but the audience did not clap. This was a far more sophisticated audience. We taught pretty much the same things and had pretty much the same questions afterwards.
We gave out soap and maize but because the weather was good, Anna showed and had the women help her prepare some greens. The younger women took our other large pot and filled it with the leftover maize and made porridge. Between the cabbage and the porridge we fed over 100 people counting children. The chief's #1 wife wondered why her husband received tobacco and the woman did not. Forunately I had one roll left over so I gave it to her and she sniffed it and found it to be adequate. She cut some shavings for herself to chew and gave some to the other women who had brought their pipes. They were a happy contented lot. They suggested that we give them clothes so we thought of buying bolts of good cloth and cutting it into two meter segments and giving them this instead as their clothing is threadbare. I must admit I really enjoy working with these women. They do ALL the work while the men sit under trees all day.

On Mercy Day, 09-24-09, I was stung by a scorpion who had gotten into my unzipped suitcase. The pain was worse than an acute appendicitis or muscle spasms which cause you to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. The interesting part was how you are treated: half folk medicine and half modern medicine. I went to the Maryknoll convent where Sisters Theresa and Madeline wiped my finger and a straight edge razor with a sterilizing agent and then Theresa made a fair cut next to the sting and squeezed my finger until it was bleeding freely. Then she placed a black stone on it and taped the stone securely. The thought is that the stone will suction out the poison with the blood. Psychologically I felt good but I was still in agony. Fortunately, Charles, the clinic director, came to the convent compound and gave me two pain shots and I was good to go by the next morning.

I'll be going to Nairobi on Oct. 7 to make a retreat and buy some things for this new project. Will be back in South Sudan around the 25th of Oct. or so. I do not know when I will be returning to the states. Am having an awful time getting my return ticket changed and I started the process in early Sept.

Owls wait for full moon light,
while in my room I hide,
Terrors burrowed in the thatch,
God, let them stay outside.

Chanting down the path come they,
leading cattle home.
Toposa herdsmen sticks in hand,
cattle never roam.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!

The day after I wrote the last blog I flew to Loki (Northern Kenya) where I usually get picked up and driven to Narus. Instead, Peter, from the diocese compound, picked me up in a taxi and I went to stay in a small hotel. Two days before there had been cattle raiding between the Toposa (South Sudan) and the Turkana (Kenya) and the day before some Toposa tribesmen had shot the number one Turkana warrior, one of his wives and three of their children. All this had taken place in no-man's land between the borders of Kenya and South Sudan. The day I flew in had seen a peaceful demonstration by the Turkana of Loki asking the govt. of Kenya to do something about the situation. That march turned ugly and a riot ensued, Sudanese offices were trashed and looted and stones thrown at all cars with Sudan license plates.

I stayed at the hotel for two nights until the Kenyan Army secured the area and we went in a convoy to S. Sudan. The raiding and fighting continued and carried over to very near our compound. You could hear the gun shots and our little clinic received several tribesmen who had been shot. Five Toposa and 2 Turkana were killed in the surrounding area. The tribesmen brought some of the rustled cattle into Narus, just down the road from us, and were distributing some of the cattle to the various chiefs. Neither the South Sudan nor the Kenyan governments have done much to get control of this situation.

Things have settled down a bit but the Kenyan teachers in both the primary and secondary schools have been unable to return to Narus. This is taking a toll on limited teacher resources. Not all the students have returned either, though most have. I filled in last week but only as a stop gap and reviewed material for three grades in one room. To top it all off, because of the drought, the garden which the girls had dug, planted and tended so carefully had all died for lack of water, even though they had carried water a long distance to water each of their plants. You can get discouraged in a hot minute around here but no one does. They work through it all and do the best they can and so do I.

Sister Angela, the nurse from Kuron Peace Village who was shot last February, and I drove in the truck which still has the bullet hole in the door where she was shot, to the town of Kapoeta, about two hours from Narus. This town had been captured by the govt of North Sudan during the war and wears its scars with pride. We saw the hospital which is operated by the diocese and is running on a skeleton crew and we also saw the two churches which were bombed during the war. (Sister Angela is shown in the picture above, caring for a pregnant woman who had walked 7 days to reach her clinic, given birth under a tree an hour before she got to Kuron, and then nearly died because the placenta had not come out. Sister Angela saved her life.)

The hospital in Kapoeta is clean and well run. It had several wards for new mothers and infants, active TB patients, and then a number of folks suffering from malaria. They even have a lab where they can test for a number of illnesses. I asked about HIV patients and they said they two last year and only one so far this year but they feel there are more out in the community. AIDS is not quite so rampant here as it is elsewhere in Africa because the long civil war isolated the region. Sister had to visit the UN Headquarters and Catholic Relief Services in order to see if they would give her the food she had requested last FEBRUARY. No, they had not even read her letter and proposal but they would get to it and no, they did not have any extra food to give to her to take to her clinic in Kuron, an 8 hour drive away. We finally got a little food from the hospital.

On the way back from Kapoeta Immanuel, our driver, who had been in the army during the war, told us that the main road in Kapoeta had been so heavily mined that they had to build a completely new road around the town. Sister herself can regale you with stories of her work with the Toposa in Kuron. She has 5 girls whom she helped to deliver and who are named after her - each is called Sister Angela. Sister tried to get the mothers to drop the "sister" but has had no success. Angela is very well respected for all she has done and the lives she has saved. The Toposa show their respect by blessing her. One man whose son she saved, covered her freshly washed and ironed white habit with tobacco juice. A woman whom she had helped blessed her with goat dung. The new school, newly painted, was covered in cow dung by the men as a blessing in thanksgiving.

Will begin a new venture this Saturday at the parish hall in Narus. Christine and Anna and I will begin an outreach program to teach the women about basic sanitation, nutrition and health, etc. I will report more on this in October. We will be serving maize porridge with sugar if any of you are interested and can make it to Narus on the 19th of September.

God pops out everywhere here and challenges us to recognize his presence in people and events.

OUTREACH

There is nothing new under the sun as is reported in Ecclesiates. The Toposa have been herding cattle and living off the land for thousands of years and they do tend to humor our poor efforts to "improve" their lot. What they may not see clearly is that global warming is having a serious effect on growing crops and may be causing water shortages, all of which will affect their culture. This is not to mention the encroachment of modern towns and technology which is creeping closer and closer to their villages and is already having an effect on the children.

With all this in mind, I began to meet with the paramount chief of all the Toposa who live in and around Narus and then with a lesser chief in an outlying village within a half hour walk from my compound. We still have two or three more chiefs to meet with and get their permission to visit their villages and speak with the women about nutrition, sanitation and health issues. When I and Christine, a social worker who is employed by the Torit Diocese, met with the chiefs, their priorities were food, water, and health. I was encouraged in this work since our goals are so similar. I did tell them that we could not dig a borehole for one of the villages which is running out of water and whose women have to walk a long distance just to get the water twice a day.

Christine and I arrived at the village of the lesser chief about an hour or so before sunset to see an elderly blind woman in rags picking her way across the village enclosure with a stick to tap on the ground. We were met by women and children. One of the women attempted to pull my dress up and off me before someone told me that she wanted it. We did a little negotiation and I told her I was too fair to wear just a beaded goatskin around my waist and beads on my neck.

The chief was ill with a cold but he came out to see us. He was tall and fine boned, about 45 years old. He, along with most of the village men, dress in western clothing while the women and girls wear traditional attire. Toward the end of the visit he told me his daughter was ill and had been bled the day before. I asked him to bring her over and so he called to her and she came. She is four years old and was wearing beads around her waist. Her stomach protruded but was soft to the touch. She had ten small cuts about one and one half inches long on her back. Cutting is the Toposa way of relieving pain and hopefully, curing a sick person. She also had a runny nose. I thought she might have pneumonia as she complained of aching all over. I told the chief to bring her and himself into the clinic the next day to get a diagnosis and some medicine. Since I left for Nairobi the next morning I do not know if this happened but I had clued in the medical director to expect them.

I spent several days of my holiday in Jinja, Uganda, just over the Kenyan border visiting a Holy Cross sister, MaryLou Wahler. She took me on a tour of Lake Victoria, Bujagali Falls and showed me where the Nile begins its 4,000 mile trek to the Mediterranian Sea. MaryLou has lived in Uganda for 27 years and no matter where we went she knew someone. I stayed with her in the convent where the postulants live. There are four of them, 2 of whom are from Kenya. They grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including Jack fruit, a putrid smelling fruit which is quite large. Uganda is lush and green with paved roads, electricity 24/7, and full of various kinds of food including Nile Perch and Talapia. It is a stark contrast to South Sudan. I must admit I did fantasize about applying for a transfer.

I leave tomorrow for Loki where I will stay overnight and be picked up the next day and taken to Narus. School begins on Sept. 3.

Do I miss Burlingame, my family and frieds? You bet I do! Hope to be home around Christmas time.

(Hot) Summer Musings

On Sunday, July 5, I watched an elderly Toposa woman wearing tattered clothing filled with holes, go up at the offertory and put some money into the collection box. She was the poor widow with the mite.

I visited the homes of two Toposa Kindergarten girls I had worked with when I helped the Kindergarten teacher last Spring. They live in a very poor section of Narus in small one room homes made of mud brick and with thatch for roofs. They sleep on mats on the floor. The girls wear ragged soiled clothes to school and a neighbor had suggested I get them something nice to wear to school so I bought each a nice dress. One girl came to Sunday Mass in it a week or two later with her brother in tow to show me her dress. By then it was dirty and starting to show signs of wear. The other girl wound up wearing her dress to school the day that the girls received their report cards. She placed 7th in a class of 110. I gave her a large bar of soap and a book of African folk tales and then showed her how to wash herself and her clothes. This girl lives with her mother and sibs as her father lives in Juba with his other wives.

During the summer term I began to work with the girls' football (soccer) team. They are a scrappy lot and enjoy running around and kicking up a lot of dust in the hot equatorial afternoons. They even let me be a goalie when they were short one goalie. I blocked three shots and let one go through. Not bad for the old girl.

Class 8 girls debated class 8 of the Comboni Boys School. The topic was that technology has had a deleterious effect on society. The girls were all for technology and won the debate. The boys spoke English better than the girls but the girls had far more cogent arguments for technology than the boys had against it. One of the boys said that technology was bad because it made it unnecessary for men to have more than one wife but that men needed more than one wife! Then it took the judges almost one hour to give out the results of the debate as they spent that time explaining how a team that loses should behave. At that point I knew the girls had won and that the boys' egos needed to be soothed in advance.

Trivia: Did you know there are two different fruit trees in the compound called "brother's heart" and "sister's heart?" Brother's is a larger fruit and both are delicious.

A couple of weeks ago 9 of the school's goats were slaughtered for the 830 girls to eat for lunch. They cook every part of the goat except the head, hooves and skin. The girls eat it, entrails and all, and are grateful for it. We ate the liver at the convent.

Sr. Marilyn came to Narus on July 10 to my great joy! She came bearing many gifts, among which was an electronic book reader, the Amazon Kindle. The device can hold 1,000 complete books. Sr. Edvine, head mistress, is using it and will see if it can be adequately recharged using a solar recharging device. If so, then Mercy Beyond Borders will order enough to supply the upper grade girls.

I took Sr. Marilyn to see the clinic near our compound, run by the Diocese of Torit. There was a man who had been shot in the leg during a cattle raid lying on the porch because he did not want to be indoors. There was also a four year old boy who had fallen into the cooking fire on the floor of his hut and had sustained some bad burns to his torso, leg and foot. We were assured that both would be all right.

Sisters Marilyn and Judy received the royal treatment both from the Sisters of Mercy in Nairobi and the communities here in Narus. Maybe some of that will rub off on me by association. They are excellent ambassadors of what the teachers, the church and the country of South Sudan are trying to do to help their people.

Remember us in your prayer.

No, I did not ride off into the sunset on the back of a giraffe though I find the thought tempting. There is, however, some catching up to do.

In May, the rains came to the mountains and flooded the river next to the compound. It sounded like a train rushing through but lasted only a few hours and then was gone. This kind of rain can sink a lorry foolish enough to attempt to cross even if the water level is low.

School was supposed to have begun on May 4 but because CRS (Catholic Relief Services) had not delivered the food which they supply to the primary and secondary schools of the area, the girls and boys of the local schools did not return until two weeks into the summer term and even then a number of girls came as late as three weeks. Then there are always some girls who do not return because they have been "booked" or promised in marriage.

I resumed teaching grades 7 and 8 a course in nutrition - some of the exciting topics included kinds of foods, vitamins, minerals, and what the girls eat at home as compared to what they eat at school. Recently, Mercy Beyond Borders committed to buying ten goats a month so the girls can have goat meat at lunch and dinner. This truly is a real treat for them as food is scarce. The rains have been sporadic at best since May and many of the crops have shriveled up.

The Toposa are hardest hit since they are pastoralist who plant a little sorghum and maize. Their diet consists mainly of goat, milk and chipati (tortilla) made from either maize or sorghum. Most refuse to eat greens. The women work hard building all the tukuls and the grainaries, they fetch water three times a day and cook all the meals. The girls stay at home to help their mothers while the boys watch the goats and cattle. Because there is so little grass or leaves for the cattle, the young men take huge herds far out into the bush into what is called a cattle camp and stay there until all of that vegetation is gone. Some of the young women go with them to do the cooking. The young men and boys tend to wear western style clothing while the old men and most of the women and girls wear traditional clothes. The women wear goat skin "skirts" embroidered with very fine bead work. They also wear many beaded necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Some of the bracelets and anklets are made of metal and can be eight or so inches long. A hole is made below their lower lip and a post inserted at the end of which is a metal ring.

I have found the Toposa to be friendly and curious, especially the children. On my treks into the bush I bring my binoculars and when I use them to look at the wildlife, I attract a number of children who have to have a look too. I try to tell them that they can learn more of this if they go to school but their parents, on the whole, do not want them to go because they need them to work and also because some of the parents say the children will want to leave their village when they finish school.

Sister Judy Carle, a good friend and Sister of Mercy, came to Sudan for a visit and stayed with me in Narus. The Primary School girls took to her right away so I offered her a position at the school (any position really). She respectfully declined. Of course that means that there is a position waiting for one or two or several of you readers here at St. Bahkita's School. Some of your donation monies has gone into buying soccer, volley and net balls for the girls as they have NO ATHLETIC supplies. I also took Sr. Judy to visit the local clinic run by the Diocese of Torit. While we were visiting the ward, we saw three men who had been shot in a cattle raid two days before. It will take years to get the tribes to discontinue this practice.

Sister Angela, the nurse who was shot in the leg a few months ago is back in Sudan working at the clinic in Kuron (a six or seven hour drive from Narus).
She works with the Toposa there and they are very glad she does as she has saved many lives.

Sister Marilyn Lacey of Mercy Beyond Borders and a Sister of Mercy will be coming for a visit on July 6 and I am very much looking forward to this! This whole venture is part of her vision of what needs to happen in order to educate girls and bring them and their families a better way of life.

What do I hear when I pray either indoors or outside of an afternoon:
goat bells, cattle tearing at the grass, countless birds chattering,
Toposa men chanting and druming, lizards rushing in the brush.
I love to watch the leaves and the tree trunks catch the last glimmer of sun light around 6 pm or so as the birds settle down for the night. There are far more pros than cons in living in South Sudan. Come and see what they are.

Let us pray for each other

Learning alongside my students

After Easter I began teaching five Standard 4 students (fourth grade) in science. They are between the ages of 13 – 17. They are older because their parents may finally have gotten the resources to send them to school and/or to be able to manage without them at home. These students are delightful and became even more so as we got to know each other. I took them on walks to the immense dry riverbed near the school where they looked for geodes and quartz. It didn’t take long for them to surpass their teacher in being able to spot a potential geode (a rock that when broken open has beautiful crystalline formations inside). The quartz indicates gold; later I was told that there is plenty of gold in South Sudan but no waterpower to extract it. Now we are looking at the various phases of the moon with my 7x35 binoculars. You can see the craters distinctly.

Lest you think this is a one-way education, they have taught me WHEN to plant, HOW to turn over the soil, and WHAT grows well here. They have planted sorghum, greens, beans and groundnuts. All the plants are up and should be harvested in June. The girls have also shown me what plants are medicinal, what plants I can pick and eat right from the tree or bush, the signs that indicate if it will rain, and how to shell groundnuts. The rains began March 30th and have been frequent enough to make the crops grow well, thank God. Last year was not as good.

Sr. Agnes, a Ugandan sister, and I met with some parish women last Sunday and discussed what the village folks feel is needed in the way of information on nutrition, sanitation, health care needs, AIDS prevention, etc. Now I need to locate two or three women to train who speak both English and Toposa and/or Arabic. They will accompany me into the bush to speak with women in various villages about the topics most important to them.

Last week one of the schoolgirls killed the resident 39-inch long Savannah Monitor Lizard. It had been eating all our duck eggs. However, it is survived by several of its progeny who live in a large hole in the backyard of the Maryknoll convent.

I pray in the Maryknoll backyard where I can see the acacias (thorn trees), neem trees (medicinal) and the nadapal trees (most shady). There are mountains to the South, East and West of us. These are the “everlasting hills” which were here before Abraham and Moses. This is also the land where humans first began to walk upright. We are 200 miles as the crow flies from Lake Turkana where the Leakeys found so many fossil skulls and bones on their various expeditions. It is humbling just to be living here.

This is all the news that is fit to print, as they say. Please feel free to drop by. Lots of hospitality here.

EASTER SUNDAY

May you all be filled with Christ's peace this Easter Season.

Yesterday I got to tour the local clinic operated by the Diocese of Torit. It consists of two buildings. One is office space including meds dispensary and a place where pregnant and nursing women are seen. The other building has around 16 beds and is arranged as a ward holding both men and women with curtains to separate them. All the people in the ward were of the Toposa tribe. There was a teenage boy and a man who had both been shot during a local cattle raid (rustling) by another tribe at the beginning of the week. No one was arrested and the tribe will handle this in their own fashion. Then there was the fellow who had gotten into a fight with his brother and his brother used a panga (machete) to cut his bicep. An elderly woman was coming out of an "alcohol induced coma" as the director put it. The director is kind of like a nurse and he sutured the man's bicep muscle and lanced one of the gun shot victim's wound which had become infected. I was quite impressed. He has next to NOTHING to work with.

School ended March 27 and report cards were handed out the following week. Every student in every grade is ranked against her classmates and I was helping the Kindergarten teacher average out grades and ranking the students all BY HAND. The older students left school almost immediately for home not waiting for their report cards. I watched in awe as they walked the mile from the school to the main road balancing a suitcase and books or a mattress or a small trunk on their heads without dropping a thing as they scrambled down a very steep ravine.

At the main road they wait for "buses" to come by and drive them as close to their villages as possible. One girl lives 15 hours away including a 4 hour hike up a mountain. She lives in a village that her family have lived in for well over 100 years. Her parents still grown their own grains and vegetables. Her father buys two calves each year and lets them grow to maturity. He then sells them to pay for her tuition and buys two more small calves.

About 10 days ago I went to Lokichoggio just over the border into Kenya to help with the food shopping. I had my first cold drink in 5 weeks and my first hamburger since coming to Africa. I was filled with gratitude. Even had a barber cut my hair for $3.50 American. He did a good job. Because we had a lot of food in the pickup we had to create manifest for both borders and customs. When we got to the Sudan border we had to pay a small bribe - the price of a pack of cigarettes - to the SPLA guard before he would let us through.

We all attended Holy Thursday Liturgy which was beautiful and Good Friday Liturgy. However, only one of the five sisters attended the Easter Vigil which was to have begun at 7 but started closer to 8 and lasted until 11. There were many baptisms I am told. The sister who went to the service believes that there were a few people baptized who were not supposed to be but lined up anyway.

All you nature lovers should come to visit Sudan. I showered with a frog and had a small bat in my bedroom last week. Found out he may be living under the eaves of my tukul.

Again, thank you for your prayerful support and interest in this Mercy venture.

No Way In - No Way Out

Four days ago, the Sudan war veterans who lost a limb during the war closed the Ethiopian and Kenyan borders because they have not received their pension for four or five months. No one can drive in or out though they can walk across the borders.
The vets also stop cars and lorrys along the main roads and make the drivers park their cars and walk. Sixteen people have been killed so far because they did not do as they were told. Several groups of folks are staying at our compound because they cannot leave, even to go to the next town or village by car. Hope the food holds out.

Last week the girls showed me the Neem Tree in the courtyard. They pulled off a twig, chewed on it for a minute or two and created a toothbrush that really works. You can use the same twig for almost one week. In class they told me that some of their grandparents would cook an ostrich egg or use ostrich oil for a chest cold. They would also boil the leaves and roots of the neem tree and drink it for a headache or put the leaves on a big cut as a poltice. The tree is large and lovely and if I can smuggle some seeds in I shall but will probably have lost all my teeth by the time it grows big enough to use as a toothbrush.

I spent Friday afternoon until early evening with the girls at their compound. Some of them were practicing net ball (volley ball). One of the girls came up to me and asked me to play. I declined since it was about 98 degress and with the humidity around 110. Then she asked me why I wore funny clothes (blue slacks and a green blouse with gunboats for tennis shoes). I told her I always looked funny and that even my niece, Tara, when she was little, said I dressed "dorky." I explained that many American Sisters had not worn habits for about 30 to 35 years.

The past few evenings, after the 8pm evening supper, I sit outside until almost ten. The sky seems to hang lower here than in th U.S. The Big Dipper is right on top of you and Orion looks so protective. Because there are no town or city lights for miles and miles, you can see all the stars. It is quite beautiful. Then there is a group of birds who talk in their sleep around 2 am. They dont have anything in particular to say but they seem to enjoy the chatter. It is very soft and really lulls you back to sleep.

This coming week is the last week of the term and the girls will have their exams and return home the followig week if the roads are open.

I have met several Toposa children on my stroll through the bush. One boy had a very old bow and ten arrows of museum quality. He uses the arrows to shoot birds and to scare away wild animals from the herds. The other boy had a leather whip of sorts, also very skillfully made. The children are thin and forage for berries and seed pods from trees and bushes. We have plenty of food so I bring bread and split it up with them whenever I meet them.

One more thought. You are NEVER alone here in the bush. There is ALWAYS someone around and as an interloper, I am fair game. Birding turns into Toposaing. Actually, I am the one who is spotted by the Toposa.

Time to go visit the girls at St. Bahkita's.

SUDAN AT LAST

SUDAN AT LAST

It took 7 weeks to the day but I finally have arrived in the village of Narus, Sudan. No one even looked at my visa when I went through the check point manned by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The weather was hot but not oppressive and the landscape very much like Southern Arizona. It was beautiful.

I have my own room (tukul) with running water - but no water is running so one uses jerry cans filled with water to wash with. I eat all three meals with the two Ugandan sisters who staff the school. Sister Edvine is Headmistress and Sister Susan is the Dormitory Matron. There are 800 students, 200+ of whom live in the dorms. The school has a bevy of goats which are loosed on the school grounds after breakfast and after lunch at which time they eat ANYTHING which hits the ground. The place is close to immaculate. They could replace the seagulls that clean up after school lunches in San Francisco. Besides, you can eat the goats too.

I began teaching by helping the Kindergarten teacher three days after I got there. She has 110 children ages 5-10 not counting the 3 and 4 year old sibs of the students. They come to school so they will get two meals that they may not get at home. Anyway, I had 50 of them for two hours straight. They were delightful. They speak Toposa, Arabic and are learning English and Kiswahili. They learn Kis. because they are tested on that language when they take their tests at the end of the 8th grade. The students take the test given in Kenya and Kis. is mandatory.

Each class has a Head Girl who helps the teacher keep order in the class. They carry a small switch or twig from one of the trees and use it on their classmates if they misbehave. I only saw the head girl hit one person once and that was when I learned of this custom. The other head girl used her composition book to whop two girls on their heads until I asked her to discontinue this. She was dumbfounded. She thought there was some miscommunication. Anyway, that wasn't as bad as watching some of the smaller girls spit on the floor. They know how to count and they know their a, b, c's and they are such eager learners so I guess I can wait on the spitting.

The next day I taught a hygiene class to the 7th grade which is called class seven in Kenya, Uganda and Sudan. These girls were anywhere from 12 to 16 or 17 as the girls begin school at different ages. I thought I would get their attention with all the things that can go wrong with your health in Africa if you don't keep yourself clean so I talked about ringworm and foot rot (athlete's foot). They weren't too fazed because they know they won't die from this but I did get their attention with the Guinea Worm or Tape Worm but I did not go into any detail. I can tell I can milk this topic and all the other worms who are lying in wait for the unwary. At the end of class they wanted to know about America and they wanted me to teach them a song so I wrote the words to "I'm being swallowed by a Boa Constrictor" on the board. When they "got" the punch line they laughed and I walked out into the sub Saharan sun.

On Saturday I did some laundry and dug the dust out of my room and they went to toss my trash in the trash pile. I was wearing thongs because I was in the compound but I managed to step on a thorn tree (Acacia) thorn about 2 inches long. It went right through the thong and straight into my foot. It hurt and still hurts, but it wasn't a scorpion sting so it is minor.

Three brothers who teach at the high school and five sisters met last night for prayer and supper. We are going to try to do this every month.

I understand Sr. Marilyn Lacey's book, "This Flowing Toward Me" is in its second printing and is only in it second month of print.

Thank you for reading this blog. Remember

Two Sundays ago we went to Mass to the Holy Ghost Father's compound which includes grammar and secondary schools - about 30 acres in all. After Mass we visited the cemetery within the grounds to pay our respects to the first 3 Mercy sisters who died in Kenya. As an added treat I got to see the grave of the sister who died from a hunting spider bite 18 months ago.
Speaking of such, the geckos are a delight to watch, especially int he chapel. They have plenty of moths to eat as there are not screens on the windows and you need to keep them open day and night because of the heat.

Those of you who were at Mercy Burlingame's Golden Jubilee Celebration last June might remember the lovely blue dress I wore. I had bought it in Nairobi in May. When I returned here I discovered this type of dress is only used as a house dress or bathrobe and so I have not worn the two I have outside the convent but I will wear it to teach in Narus, Sudan.

Yesterday I got my Sudanese visa. A truly beautiful document, only it had me as 5'2" with brown eyes and grey hair and born on Mercy Day. The passport number and photo are correct and that is all that matters. Thank God they did not ask for my weight.

You can tell I am grasping for things to write about. Politics is always a hot item here. The headlines in the "Daily Nation" say "ANNAN CALLS KIBAKI(president) AND RAILA(an MP) TO GENEVA." Former UN chief backs local tribunal but warns: Hurry up or list goes to the Hague. It has been more than a year since the election violence and there has been no prosecution of the perpetrators of election violence. Well over 1000 people were killed in the rioting and several hundred thousand displaced.

Then there is the famine. Not too many countries want to help Kenya since there has been some serious corruption in regard to the maize that was stored for just such an occurance.

Hopefully, the next blog will be from Sudan.
Thank you all for your support of this venture.

NAIROBI - AGAIN

Yes, it is true. I am still in Nairobi and will be here another two to three weeks. However, I have been doing some research for the nutrition class I will be teaching in Narus. Did you know that a given weight of dried caterpillars is two and one half times more nutritious than an equal amount of red meat protein wise? Or, the same weight of live and wingless termites is just about equal in protein as the same weight in red meat. Stock up! Also cow peas have the most vitamins and minerals with cassava leaves not far behind. I have eaten these veggies which are quite good.

I met with the Vicar General of the Diocese of Torit who assured me that I will be able to go to Sudan after I meet with Bishop Akio. The bishop has a diocesan meeting until the 17th of this month. He told me that the diocese of Torit is larger than the state of New York and has 15 Sisters in in and about 50 priests. Rome has asked the European orders to send their sisters to Southern Sudan. I am not sure if many will come. Time will tell.

I also had lunch with the two Maryknoll Sisters, Theresa, 73 and Madeleine, 88, who will be living very near me in the same compound. Both sisters have been in Sudan for years. They live in a semi-cloistered setting and have an extra bedroom for anyone who may wish to have a prayerful experience. Theresa does spiritual direction. They meet a real need, especially for religious and clergy. They were kind enough to share their "bitten in bed by scorpion" stories. I am going to have a cat tethered to my bed and that is final!

Two weeks ago the teachers strike was still on in Nairobi and I visited a Mercy primary and secondary school run by the Mercys. They also have an Aids/TB/Perinatal Clinic next to the school. The seconday school (high school) girls were in full uniform and the class bells were automatic so that each time the bell rang the girls would go to their next class and study and tutor each other. I was quite impressed. The school has two billy goats who keep the grass under control. The convent has several cats which keep the mice and rats at bay. A very substantial dinner is served around 1:00 each day for the girls. It was chicken and rice and veggies the day I was there.

On Sunday I hitched a ride with another sister, Sr. Goretti Rule, a good friend of Sr. Jean Evans, going up to Nakuru where the Novitiate is. Nakuru is in the Rift Valley. The convent is quite large and has a view of the lake. There are three novices and a novice mistress. The postulate is in another city and has 4 postulants. All the novices are Kenyan. I am considered an ex-patriot or ex-pat. Those who enter are in their 20's or 30's. This is a time of quiet and study for them. One of the women, Sr. Willamina, is Turkana (Northern Kenya) and was bitten by a hunting spider when she was younger. It was a harrowing tale but I am still going to Sudan.

I stayed long enough to visit Lake Nakuru, a National Park and Game Reserve. Sister Goretti Rule took me on a tour in their vehicle and we saw 6 White Rhinos. They are much bigger and less aggressive than their cousins, the Black Rhinos. We saw the delicate Lesser Flamingoes for which the lake is famous along with some less than handsome Malibou Storks. There were all types of birds and deer and hippos and Wildebeasts and Cape Buffalo and zebra and wart hogs and their families lounging around. We stopped to eat within the park and a Massai warrior stood guard to protect the diners from the baboons who are always looking for a handout. I took a few pictures which I will attempt to
bore you all with when I return.

FYI - Sr. Marilyn Lacey is preparing a show of the photos we took on our visit to Narus and Nairobi in May of last year. The exhibit will begin sometime in March and will be located at the Retreat Center in Burlingame.

Thank you again for your prayerful support. Waiting, even for the Lord, is not my strong suit but waiting is good for the soul.

Nairobi at Last

Sunday, January 25, 2009

At 5:10 am this morning I could hear the Muslim call to prayer from the nearby mosque, the birds cheering the sun up, the dog pack next door barking, and the ever present traffick all at the same time.

The Kenyans I have met have been very gracious and friendly. There are few people of European decent. Lots of Somalis and Indians.

I am staying with the Irish/Kenyan Sisters of Mercy here at Villa Maria. They are great gals and I am lucky they have taken me in. I feel as though I am at home with my family on a Sunday afternoon back in the 1950's. I've not heard this many broughes in one spot in years.

I have been here for one week and have set up a bank acct., got the cell phone up and know how to get around somewhat on my own. Since I voted for Obama I feel like a national asset here in Kenya. The people have been so excited and filled with hope. Right after he was sworn in they lit off some serious fireworks in Nairobi which we could not see because of distance. The papers are filled with news of the drought which is causing famine in some parts of Kenya but the grain (maize) that should have helped the people was horded and sold by corrupt gov't officials.

The other news is of the high number of people killed each week in accidents involving lories, motorcycles and MATATUS. A matatu is a van which seats about 12 people but usually has 15 or more in it. The drivers routinely play "chicken" with other vehicles. There are no stop signs and I have only seen two or so signals in a city of over one million. It's a game of centimeters!

Mail costs more than in the U.S. It takes about $1.30 just to mail a letter. At least the stamps are pretty. And speaking of pretty, Kenya is a most beautiful country. We are at about 5500 feet so the weather is perfect. I have not seen clouds like these anywhere else where I've traveled. Even the birds are exotic. One in particular, the Hadada Ibis, prays with me almost every morning before we go to Mass. Nairobi is a very Catholic city. There are churches everywhere and they are filled on Sundays (but not with Ibises).

I am still waiting for the bishop of the diocese where I will be living to give me the okay to go to Sudan. He had a priest from his diocese die and the diocese had to prepare the funeral that was held yesterday. The funerals tend to last 2 and 1/2 hours and then there is the burial.

The blessing rite after Mass two weeks ago is still in effect. I pray over ALL the words to the hymns and the blessing itself. I know I have not gone to Sudan alone.

On My Way

Less than 24 hours till lift off for Africa.

My community of Sisters of Mercy here in Burlingame, CA had a very moving blessing ceremony at the end of the Liturgy on Sunday, January 11, 2009. Following the Liturgy there was a luncheon in the dining room. I feel spiritually strong enough to begin this adventure - a ministry of teaching young Sudanese girls in Narus.

After I arrive in Nairobi on Sunday, Jan. 18, I will begin the process of getting an E visa for Sudan. It takes two or three weeks. I should be in Narus in early or mid February - the hottest month of the year in Southern Sudan. Kathleen