A long time of not writing....

Dear Friends,
Greetings! It has been too long since I have last written. Sometimes life here in Khartoum takes on a frantic pace of its own and before I know it two weeks has passed!

Many light and humorous things have happened in this time span, as well as sad and painful things. In my Oral English class last week I took in copies of pictures I printed using my new printer purchased here in Khartoum. These were pictures that I have taken in a number of countries including Northern Ireland and Southern Korea. There were also pictures from China, Sudan and Kenya. One of the pictures features my daughter and her husband on their visit to me in China in 2008. We went to Beijing and the photo was shot there.

Several of my students commented on how much she looks like me in the picture -- which for a mom is (always) a nice thing to hear. Then one of the students asked how much dowry he paid for her. The question threw me a bit for a moment, but of course in the context of Africa it made a great deal of sense. The students looked a bit taken aback when I said that he didn't pay a dowry, he just had to promise to love and cherish her. I thought maybe they were thinking, America's the place to find a bride -- for free!

This has been the two week's of seeing African dreadlocks on a man and having a friend point out to me that he was wearing extensions in his hair. So now I wonder -- do the African American men with dreadlocks have extensions in their hair -- or does African hair grow out when it is transplanted to North America? The same with the women.

Having made several trips to an African dress making shop in the last few weeks I noticed a group of women sitting outside of a building. I asked my colleagues/friends about these women as I often see groups of men but not women. They were sitting outside of a Doctor's Hospital. It turns out the hospital has no place for them to wait for surgeries or appointments inside so they sit patiently outside and take the time for being social and catching up with friends and other women.

One of the issues that I am being challenged in here in Sudan is: What is the culture and what is the Bible? Since I am here as a Christian minister, teaching at a Christian College, this is a question that I am faced with almost daily. Not only is the question for me, what is North American culture and what is the Bible; it is also, how do we separate culture from the Bible on a daily basis? There is always the difficulty that the Bible comes inbedded in its own culture AND the Bible is only relevant IN culture. So it becomes, what are my interpretive tools for understanding the Bible and what it means for my life today? If I believe that the Bible is a book of revelation that speaks against oppression and inequality then how do I speak the message of freedom into every culture in which I am a visitor or a resident? These are some of the important issues that I am wresting with.
Blessings,
Debbie