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.