Better Together

Dear Friends,
March greetings from Malakal! I do not know exactly what season we are in here but since the weather is into the 100’s (although probably under 110F) I presume it is not winter and probably not spring.

I returned from Ethiopia just under a month ago. It has been a busy month!

Last week I came down with a terrible sore throat and very swollen glands. One of my students took me to a doctor’s clinic and I was prescribed antibiotics which did not surprise me at all considering just how horrible I felt! I realized during the office visit, which was very brief, and then the finger poke for blood (I ended up screaming involuntarily because it hurt!) that diagnosis are done very differently here than in the states or even in China. The doctor asked me my symptoms and took my blood pressure. The rest of the work relied on the blood analysis which did show bacteria and of course explained why I felt so ill.

Based upon the results of the blood analysis the antibiotic was prescribed. So we went and got the antibiotics and then headed home. I was really dragging by then! Thankfully the medication kicked in and within a few days I was up and running again.

Yesterday, with faithful assistance from other students, I brought home a bed frame for my full size mattress that was hauled here by the college (Nile Theological College) from Khartoum. I no longer have to sleep on a mattress on the floor! The zipper on the mosquito net tent has stopped working and will need to be repaired so this new bed was none too soon!

The two rooms and veranda are beginning, bit by bit, to look like home. It is a challenge with no Target, Costco or Ikea nearby to accomplish this. The bed frame was brought home by donkey cart yesterday. Things move a lot more slowly by donkey than by truck.

Not having transportation of one’s own does create challenges here in Malakal. I have now learned that the taxis have specific routes in town. As long as one is going on their route the price is fairly inexpensive, say two (2) South Sudanese Pounds....a little less than $1. each way. However, if a person wants to deviate from the route and go someplace a block or two over, or to another part of town, the sky is the limit on the price and it will often shoot up to 30 or 40 pounds. In China the taxis used a meter and went everywhere, they may have had difficulty finding a place, but if they got lost they would usually reduce the price to compensate for time spent finding the place.

The best thing in the case of transport then is to only frequent places that are a direct route for the taxis, shop light, or expect to spend a lot of money. Clearly then as I furnish this new home I am spending quite a bit of money on transporting items to the house. There is no free delivery with purchase here.


For some reason this semester is longer than most of the semesters have been. I think it has something to do with working around rainy/muddy season. After this semester the seniors will have only two semesters left and, God willing, will graduate in June of 2013. I think that some of them have serious cases of senioritis already. Even in a well developed country with established infrastructure and routines it can be difficult to concentrate on college for four years, or more depending on how many classes one can take per year. Here in South Sudan, and especially with the disruption caused by the move from Khartoum last year of the English Track to Malakal, it becomes much more difficult to focus. Students are worried about their families. They are worried about finances. We have no printers and to make copies in town is very expensive. There is no lighting in the library which makes it hard to study. Some of the students receive only one meal a day to eat, that is the breakfast (around 10:00 a.m.) which the college provides....the students pay a small monthly fee for the meal.

God is faithful and gives us all strength for the journey and for each day. As my student’s often say when I ask how they are doing, “somehow”. Somehow we are all struggling through this together. We are stronger as a group than any of us individually. I think that is probably how Jesus planned it. When two or more are gathered in his name....
Blessings,
Debbie