Debbie's Journey Continues

Quilting prisms together....

2012-01-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!
I am discovering that is a rewarding as well as exhausting feat to teach cross-culturally. Today in Theology II class (Sin & Salvation) I realized that I needed to find out what, within the cultural context of my students) the meaning of the word Sin is for them. I first introduced three viewpoints of sin: Reformed (corporate and about God’s work in us); Catholic (original sin) and Evangelical (personal and an individual choice for salvation). Then we had something to base our discussion on.

I was really glad I asked. It appears that Africa has been highly influenced by missionary theology and is in the original sin camp. So I explained that I see things from a Reformed perspective and very much emphasize social justice and structural sin. So while I will not tell them how to think, they must sort this out for themselves, I will indeed be presenting material from my own bias even though I will try to give them information from the other viewpoints as well.

Perhaps it is this way with all teaching. I just happen to keenly feel the need to know about viewpoint as a white American teaching black Africans, and primarily men at that. I do not want to teach in an unexamined way, that is, as if only my own viewpoint exists. That could be very confusing for the students, as well as invalidating, and also incorrect.

I realized in class today that our discussions are circular. A student will pose a question. Then other students will reflect on a possible answer. Then I put in my understanding. Then another student will ask a question and then same thing again. The more the questions that are asked and the more the reflection, the more clarity comes. It is a group project really. Together, all of us, are stitching a quilt. A quilt seen from many prisms, because each person contributes something unique of their own and it grows into a gift from the group to all of us.

One of our conclusions today was that God called Abraham and sent him out because God created Abraham for this purpose. We also realized just how missional the Old Testament is by looking at Abraham’s Call and Send narrative alongside The Great Commission where Jesus Call and Sends all Christians.

We talked about a wide range of subjects today in this our first Theology II class. I was happy to know that most of the areas the students wish to touch upon have been covered in the syllabus. We will talk about economic justice and ecological justice. We
will talk about alcoholism and the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and we will talk about healing from the wounds of trauma (such as a generation or two of civil war), as well as the training that is needed for counselors.

It is good to be in the classroom again!
Blessings,
Debbie

Dust Bowl and other thoughts....

2012-01-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!

Life is different here in Malakal. It is intentional. It is slow. Everything takes a long time. Some of this is because without a car I must walk just about everywhere. Not as many different tasks can be accomplished in one day as at "home" in Seattle. Of course I also don't have to deal with things like, say, cleaning the oven. Because I have no oven. I do have to cope with never ending sand in this, the dry season.

I have never seen sand like this before. Blowing. Everywhere. My tear ducts have sand in them. My clothes have to be shaken out before wearing them.

I understand the term "The Dust Bowl" now, from the Great Depression in the United States. When the land turned to dust. Yes, it really does. Turn to dust.

Today I must walk to the college to see the Academic Dean. Then I must walk to the bank to see if the wire transfer from Seattle has been deposited into my account yet. These two locations are on opposite ends of the town. I won't be walking on sidewalks. They don't exist here in Malakal. Only the sides of the streets. Most people walk in the middle of the streets because that is where it is flat and easier to walk. The sides are full of potholes and mountain ranges. I think it is because the grading equipment that evens the center of the roads out does not extend far enough to smooth out the sides as well.

Dust poofs up with every step. I totally understand now why Jesus wanted to wash the feet of the disciples and they didn't need a full bath. The feet here become filthy. At least mine do. Dust caked on. Everything dries out on the skin. Lots and lots of lotion gets used and still the skin gets dry. Glasses give some protection to the eyes, thank goodness. I've noticed that after just a few minutes my glasses look as though they haven't been washed.

I worshipped Sunday in the small Nuer congregation near the college where I have decided to belong. The female pastor said that now that I have been there twice on my own (without being invited to preach) that they know that I belong to them fully....I was invited to preach next week and reluctantly asked if I could hold off on that as I begin teaching this week and will not have time to do a sermon justice.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Opening Day at the college for the Spring Semester term, 2012. Wednesday the Concentrated Courses begin. For at least the first five days I will have to walk the 15-30 minutes to the college from where I am currently living, and the same back later in the day. If I am able to move on February 1 then my walk will shortened by over 2/3rds! Then I will have to start using my exercise machine to get my 45 minutes a day of exercise!

Blessings,
Debbie

It's the small things....

2012-01-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!
Today the power came on for about two hours in the middle of the day. I got to lie in bed reading with a LIGHT! I got to have the fan on sending somewhat cooler air over me and the soothing rhythm of the sound of its whirring was a delight to my ears.

I realized that most of us in the developed world don't realize how special these things that we take for granted are -- electricity at the flick of a switch, rarely failing us.

Today Malakal was: long walks. I walked to one bank and then I walked to another bank. I bought peanuts and sesame cakes from a young boy. He shows his appreciation by giving me five cakes when I have only paid for four. I felt guilty until someone told me he wouldn't do that if he couldn't afford to.

I walked home a different way from the second bank. Dust, dust is everywhere. I saw the back of a grown man in a nice suit as he peed in a ditch. I was stunned, why I don't know, I saw fairly old kids pee and poop in the open in China.

A man asked me why I wasn't in a car. It was hot and dusty and I was walking. He probably thought I was with an NGO (Non Governmental Organization) as they are prolific in most places in South Sudan and other parts of Africa as well. I said I am with the church and I don't have a car.

Wire transfers from banks in the United States apparently take longer here in Africa. The bank in the US said the money would be in my Malakal account today. The bank in Malakal says it will be next Monday. Life is slower here. It just is.

It is slower here. And it involves lots of waiting. I got used to that in Israel/Palestine and in China. In Israel/Palestine people couldn't make specific time commitments because of the amount of unpredictable time involved with going through checkpoints. In China there was always chaos in the hospital, at the pharmacy and the banks. Whoever could shove the most got served first. In Malakal in my own bank it appears chaotic, whole groups of people sitting and no "take a number" system. However I have discovered that under the apparent chaos is actually structure. The workers in the bank go back and forth between people. No one gets upset if they are sitting in the Bank Manager's Office and someone else comes in and sits down too. Even I am learning not to get upset:) Eventually everyone has their request listened to. In the United States one person gets the full attention of the employee until they leave the bank. Here five people at a time might get attention. And somehow the business gets done; gets transacted.

I have also discovered in the banks in Malakal that if I don't have a routine transaction, like taking money out of my account, that I can go directly to the managers. They don't seem to mind. I don't have to wait in line for an hour to get redirected to another person. That is kinda nice.
Blessings,
Debbie

A Brief Day...or a Brief on a Day....

2012-01-17T06:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from dusty, dusty Malakal! Today I found out that a gas station isn't always a gas station! Sometimes it is a can of gas at a cans of gas store and is poured into the gas tank with a funnel....open for business, it is one way to get fuel.

My houseguest and colleague and I were driven to all sorts of places in Malakal that I had not seen before today by the church driver, Peter. We were trying to locate the place where NGO, church worker types sign up so that if there is an evacuation we can be evacuated by the United Nations. In this respect Malakal is very similar to China. One must expect to spend time looking for places and not have appointments backed up to the adventure.

Directions can be nebulous, meaning that they point to a general direction and not, perhaps, to a specific location. Only by visiting several destinations in a general direction can one find the specific location. It was like that today. One hopes that ultimately one will end up in the correct building. It was the correct the building although it turns out that there are other buildings and NGOs that must be visited BEFORE we can sign up at the United Nations building where we first began. Confusing? It is just Africa....

I should have had breakfast, that might have helped:)
Blessings,
Debbie

Sorrow and Joy!

2012-01-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from dusty, dusty Malakal! Today has had many walks in it which would surely thrill my female doctor in the states and the male cardio doctor in Ethiopia....at least none of them were done in intense heat.

My student who is helping me in the renting of the house which I hope to move to at the end of January or early February gave me great encouragement today. We had walked towards the college to meet with another student whose father owns the house. On the way back to my current home we passed many young women. I found myself wondering what their fates would be in life. Were they to marry young and spend their lives cooking on charcoal stoves for the many children which they would begin to bear very quickly after their marriage? Young women who have not been exposed to anything else but what their culture dictates don't even know that there are options for them out there, that we live in a big and international world.

My student began to talk of encouraging girls to sign up for the Diploma Program at the Nile Theological College where I teach and where he is a student. I suggested that they sign up for the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Theology degree programs....I think that he is saying they may be intimidated by a four year program for now. Perhaps the place to start IS with the three year Diploma Program and then encourage them to go on for the BA or BTH and to encourage those that follow on their shoulders to go into the degree programs.

God has sent me a student in this young man who understands that this culture and society is not naturally encouraging of the development of women, young or more mature, into strong and independent people. The culture does not encourage the cultivation of their minds or thought processes. This young student is indeed a great encouragement to me!

I then said that after we have more female students then we must see to it that the church begins to ordain them! Yes. As a speaker at the previous semester's Opening Conference said, "If you give the women a reason to come, they will come!"

Please pray for God to open wide the gates of this Theological College to female students. Please pray that God will open wide the eyes of those in the community whose encouragement for the women will be necessary in order for them to seek an education. This seeking will be an indication that the Kin-dom of God is at hand!
Blessings,
Debbie

Wow! Half way through January!

2012-01-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from dusty Malakal.....! I am doing well in my little town. I have a houseguest for now, a fellow Presbyterian Co-Worker, Sharon, who is staying with me. She is teaching me things like the art of making charcoal fires and cooking over said fire. I have "suddenly" become a huge advocate of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls! I say, "let them learn these important survival skills before they grow up and need them!"

I worshipped today at the church where I have chosen to be in community. It is a small Nuer church with a woman pastor. I was made to feel very, very welcome. I hope to be moving to a new home by the end of the month and this church is quite close to the new home. For this morning getting there included a 20 minutes walk and then some more after I was met by a friend who showed me the way. When I had gone before to preach we went by taxi and I had not a clue how to get to the building.

The church is in a small neighborhood and I discovered this morning it is very close to a branch of the Nile River! I believe it may be the White Nile that is here in this part of South Sudan. The White Nile and the Blue Nile join in Khartoum, Sudan, I have taken pictures of that joining. But today's sighting was of one of the branches. There were naked people taking baths in the river so I did not go close up.....if someone has no source of water at home and getting water to said home would be a major undertaking, then bathing in a nearby river seems to be a good solution.

In my new home I will have a source of water, however I will have no water inside of the house itself. This is going to take some getting used to. There is an outdoor building with two rooms, one of which has a traditional toilet and the other is simply a big room with a drain, meant to be, I assumed, a bucket bath (aka shower) room. I have asked if the owner would install an actual shower in it and a Western type toilet seat on the traditional toilet. I think that jumping from the frying pan into the fire all at once as far as living more Sudanese might be too much for me.

I will have my solar cooking, electricity at night as I am still in the area of Malakal which receives electric, and I am learning to cook with charcoal on a charcoal burner. It is somewhat similar to a barbecue in the states, it has been suggested to me to stock up on three or four bags of it during the rainy season as it won't be available then. The wood is too wet during rainy season to be able to burn it for charcoal. I have learned that charcoal is a major cause of deforestation because the wood is burned to create it. I am also figuring out that coal is a totally different product as it is dug out of the deep earth. I am not particularly happy about contributing to deforestation, however there have to be alternatives if electricity is not available and the sun is not bright/hot enough.

I think that Malakal is getting more used to myself and Sharon. We are being greeted by more people as we walk to market and walk about the town. It can be nice to be remembered. The children also seem more comfortable in talking with us. It will be strange to be here alone again when Sharon leaves, perhaps it is all the better than I am moving to a new home and will have something to keep me busy for a while, besides teaching too!, making it into a home. I have dreams of cushions on the floor of the veranda, which will be my living room and office, and pictures somehow gotten on the walls. I looked for furniture today. It is very high priced in the market so I am going to have to find another way of obtaining it. In Khartoum I probably could have put the word out and found used furniture to buy from another ex-pat, there was a lot of passing around of homes and furnishings there. There was also a much larger ex-pat community, more like the size that was in Nanjing, China when I was there.

Blessings,
Debbie

Catching up with December.....

2011-12-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

December 24, 2011

Dear Friends,
Greetings from the Big City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Big Lights, Big City!

This past week and a half has been a whirlwind and I find it is high time that I take a few minutes to blog about the adventures and other things that I have been involved with!

I set out for Addis Ababa on December 14th. I arrived on December 15th. We had quite the little adventure at the airport in Juba that Wednesday. In the beginning, in Malakal, our plane arrived late and so of course we took off late on our scheduled departure. When we arrived in Juba late the plane apparently was in need of either refueling or topping up, I was never clear about which. We were disembarked from the plane and sent to get an exit stamp on our travel documents. Many people now have visas, I have a travel permit as the visas were not issued until a few weeks after my arrival in September in South Sudan.

No one told me that the luggage procedure had changed. The luggage now stays on the plane during the stop over in Juba, previously it had all been taken off the plane and had to be reclaimed, then people had to take their luggage to the reloading area. So when my luggage did not appear I was rather panic stricken as to where it had been gone. Eventually I was told about the change in procedure.

I am a bit fuzzy on some of the details but apparently some kind of negotiations were going on around the refueling issue. As the negotiations were ongoing and perhaps the refueling was even occurring 5:00 p.m. came and it was time for the airport to shut down. The airport shut down and the air traffic controllers left the tower and there we were -- a plane that was going nowhere, packed with our luggage and a planeful of anxious passengers.

The long and the short of it is that God had blessed me by sending a group of people with whom I had acquaintance on the same flight and I was able to join their group. By the time we figured out that the authorities were all gone and no one was around to help us the skies were dark. As far as we could tell we had been left at an airport outside of an unfamiliar city with no place to go, no place to eat and no idea what time the flight would resume in the morning.

This was a particularly distressful evening as there were many foreigners who had connecting flights out of Addis Ababa ; those flights were missed and when we did at last arrive in Addis the next day the airline was having to cope with rebooking people to many different global destinations including China.

Someone suggested staying put, which was a fine idea as there was no place to go anyhow. Eventually the airline sent a bus to pick up those of us who had no NGO (non government organization such as the United Nations) to come and whisk us away. The bus took us into Juba proper and began searching for enough hotel rooms for everyone. The joke on board was that the bus was having fuel problems and next we’d be jammed into a taxi and then we’d be put in a donkey cart. Fortunately we taken care of before the situation came to that point.

We were put up in decent hotels and fed, thankfully. The next morning we were taken back to the airport in Juba and eventually our flight left and we were on track again. I was one of the most fortunate people because Addis Ababa was my termination point and I didn’t have to rebook anything. This was especially important as I had left Malakal with a bad cold and it was getting worse. By the time I reached my accomodations for Thursday night I had a fever and was both sizzling hot on my skin and freezing cold inside. The friend with whom I stayed the first night is a nurse; she diagnosed a sinus infection and we were able to find antibiotics the next day and get me on the road to recovery. Unfortunately since then stomach ailments have come my way, as for many other people here. However, last night I was able to sleep without struggling for breath! Alleluia!

When I was in Juba overnight I realized for the first time that Malakal has no traffic lights. Juba is HUGE compared to Malakal. Addis Ababa is HUGE compared to Juba. Juba has a lot of hotels, I know this because the airline bus we were on the evening that we were stranded in Juba stopped at quite a few looking for rooms. I believe that Malakal may have three at the most. Addis Ababa has many more than Juba.
I have had a hair trim and my teeth cleaned. I have stocked up on imported food. I finally realized as I was shopping in the imported food store, Novis, here in Addis, that it is the imported foods that really increase the grocery bill. This was true in China as well. The local food was/is somewhat less expensive. So now I need to find a routine with which I am comfortable of how often I will be indulge in, say, basil pesto for my pasta. Using the local tomato paste that comes in little plastic packages is going to be less expensive, even though in Malakal it is expensive simply because everything in South Sudan is expensive. It is still cheaper though than imported basil pesto. I don’t have a blender so making my own pesto isn’t realistic in Malakal. And....a blender isn’t realistic with so few hours of electricity. The simpler the cooking the better.

Today is the Augustinian calendar Christmas Eve. It is a bit odd to be in a country that follows the Julian calendar for religious celebrations. Odder still, Christmas is still considered a religious celebration here and not another secular holiday. At any rate, we Western Christians are offbeat here with our December 24 and 25 Christmas Eve and Christmas. As with China, I think that some of the stores here may keep their Christmas decorations up all year round. It might be a bit odd for the locals to have a bunch of people showing up who do not celebrate Christmas at the same time as the local culture.
Blessings,
Debbie

First Bat Sighting!

2011-12-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Well, I've found and seen my first bat here in Malakal! There was a big creature that looked like it had flappers on the veranda. It was black and very, very fast. I think I was afraid to stomp it with my Birks! It looked like a big beetle.

I went to my neighbor's for movie night, we watched Little Women, and found out that the creature is a BAT. I suppose even bats have to start out as babies. Gross!

I've had to crush (hard for the vegetarian here!) two baby snakes in the house as well....I just hope I haven't missed any of the little creatures!
Blessings,
Debbie

International Differences and other observations....

2011-12-02T04:10:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I attended a Security Meeting at the United Nations this morning here in
Malakal. It never fails to strike me as odd that walking into a building and then a
room that has lights and is a just-right temperature during the day feels so normal. When
it's not.

It isn't normal here in Malakal to have lights during the day or air conditioning. In Malakal
these are artificial conditions created by using a generator. And yet when I encounter these
conditions it just does seem so normal. I hardly question it until I remember. I'm in Malakal.

Walking into the UN Compound and the meeting room was, then, entering another world.
Kind of like the movie Avatar except not quite so exceptional or beautiful as the Avatar
world on the alternative planet.

We were not offered coffee and that lack did not fit in with my expectations of this alternative world, this different planet. Other than that it reminded me of buildings I was in when I lived in Jerusalem. NGO buildings that seemed so clean. So technology oriented. So normal in the midst of the craziness that was Jerusalem.

Malakal is not crazy in the way that Jerusalem was. Malakal also does not have narrow windy streets with vehicles careening along threatening to annihilate pedestrians. The little store across the street from where I live here in Malakal is closed today. Perhaps the shop keeper is Muslim and observing the Muslim day of Friday prayers. That is like Jerusalem. But Khartoum was like that too. Anyhow, Jerusalem is a mix of ancient/modern and is HUGE. Malakal is not huge and is more like a recovering war zone. Because it IS a recovering war zone.

So I learned today what the difference is between American Red Cross shelters in the United States and the gathering points for foreigners in Malakal if we should ever need to gather. The American Red Cross FEEDS people. If the foreigners in Malakal ever need to gather we will be at MEETING points and NOT feeding points.

This does not particularly phase me as I grew up in the Seattle area and consider Seattle home. In Seattle of course we try to dismiss the fact from our everyday existences that we live in an earthquake prone area of the world. AND at the same time we are have emergency (particularly earthquake) preparedness drilled into us from the crib on. We are supposed to have three to four days of food, water and medicine handily available in case of an emergency because public servants will not be able to serve us and aid us for at least that long. Maybe they will trying to serve and aid their own families.

So this is not unfamiliar to me and I realize that I can fill a carry-on (plane) rolling suitcase with non-perishable food that does not require cooking and keep it nearby me at all times in the house. I also realized this morning that it is a good idea to have more than I can eat in this suitcase as there will be people who did not grow up with emergency preparedness drilled into them from the crib and they will not have done this for themselves. I can share.

So, life meanders on. I stopped in at the Ethiopian Airlines office which has a tiny office in the South Sudan Hotel, on the way home, and made sure that my e-ticket was on the manifest for my flight to Addis Ababa this month. I'm very excited -- I was the very first name on the list!

Next week finals to grade and final grades to assess. I need to begin packing for Addis Ababa. I need to continue updating the lists for shopping for food that I can't get here in Malakal that I plan to bring back with me. Need to decide what to take with me for working on the dissertation proposal for the University of South Africa (UNISA) that is due early next year.

I think that the internet connection here in my home is threatening to cut off so I will stop now and publish this blog and share it with you on Facebook.
Blessings,
Debbie

Learning Lessons

2011-11-28T02:43:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I think that as a teacher I learn as much in every class as my students do. The students seem to be enjoying the conversational way that I teach as well as the dialogues that we have in class. Today things became a little bit heated and I had to act as referee some of the time, but it is a new learning experience for them and over time I believe that they have come to appreciate this style of teaching/learning.

We talked about Biblical culture and Jesus culture today, alongside South Sudanese culture. It was explained to me that not only is there segregation between the sexes here, there is also segregation between age groups. Men and women do not eat together and a mother-in-law would never eat with her son-in-law. This is to show respect to the mother-in-law. I was incredibly saddened by this as I would be very hurt if my own son-in-law was to not eat with me when I visit my daughter and him in the Seattle area. Apparently in another show of respect a son-in-law will cross a street to avoid an encounter with his mother-in-law if he sees her coming towards him. I explained to the class that in the United States this would be considered very rude for a son-in-law to avoid his mother-in-law.

I think that the other thing that was important to me today was the following. The class and I were discussing how the students, as pastors and educators, will begin to see to it that the girls and women of their congregations become educated so that they can become truly equal with the men. Since it is the men who are educated at this point and education, or lack thereof, is a stumbling block to equal access to other cultures in the world, etc., the girls and women must be brought to an equal playing field. Or, to look at it another way, the ground at the foot of the cross must be equalized. Since it was all women apostles who were at the foot of the cross the women need to know this truth and know that Jesus died to set them free and give them the opportunity to live abundantly in that freedom. This freedom includes the right to learn how to read and write, to travel, to know other cultures, and to eat at table with their husbands and children.

The men in this all male class told me that they do not eat with their wives. For the most part their wives become upset if they try to help them with cooking or doing dishes or any other part of the household care. I made a statement which led me to this conclusion: If a 30 year old man is marrying a 14 year girl who has no education, is illiterate, and immediately begins to have babies, what in the world are they going to have to talk about? That is when the light bulb went off. WHAT IN THE WORLD WILL THEY HAVE TO TALK ABOUT?????? No wonder the men don't eat with their wives. At this historical moment in time what kind of conversations can these men and women have with another when there world experiences are so far apart.

As long as men marry women who are so much younger than they are, who have no education and are not literate, they are marrying women with whom having a RELATIONSHIP is not the primary goal. These marriages truly are for producing children. When women begin to be educated and are able to read and write and have meaningful discussions, then perhaps men will marry women closer to their own ages. When women are educated perhaps they will feel that they have the right to insist on birth control and not only waiting until older than age 14 to marry, but also older than this to begin having children. They may insist on waiting to marry and have children until their bodies are physically ready to handle sexual relationships and childbirth.

And perhaps when women are educated and conversant on the subjects which come to interest both men and women, maybe, just maybe, husbands, wives and children will sit down at table together and talk to one another. And maybe it will become acceptable for the entire family to contribute to the household chores and the cooking.

I am praying.
Blessings,
Debbie

By request the sermon Waiting.....

2011-11-27T09:23:00.000-08:00

“Waiting”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Rev. Debbie Blane
Malakal, 11/2011

In Malakal we know all about waiting, don’t we? Waiting for the roads to be improved. Waiting for the prices of food to go down. Waiting for the rainy season to finish.

This sermon is about the most important wait of all. The wait for Jesus’ return.

After Jesus death and resurrection the first Christians knew about waiting too. When Jesus ascended into heaven the early Christians thought that his return was going to happen very quickly. They thought that he would be coming back to them in their lifetimes. After all, Jesus had preached that the Kingdom of God is at hand! They thought this meant that he was coming right back to them.

They waited with impatience and anticipation. They waited and waited. And then some of them died as they waited.

The Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle of 1st Thessalonians to the grieving community in Thessalonica. They were concerned that some of the Saints, some of their Christian sisters and brothers, had died before the Lord returned. Perhaps they did not have a full understanding of the resurrection and the fact that the living AND the dead would see Jesus again. And that they, the living, would see the Christians who had already died, again.

This is why Paul wrote this letter. He wrote it to comfort the community at Thessalonica and to explain the resurrection to them in more detail.

The belief that Jesus would come again soon was so strong that the Gospels were not written until many years after Jesus death and resurrection. They were finally written because the last witnesses to his earthly life were getting quite old. It was decided it was better to write down what they remembered than to have the first hand witness of those who had lived and walked with Jesus when he was alive on earth lost with their deaths.

Paul wrote his epistles long before the Gospels were written. They were written to the churches as a way to communicate with them, they were probably not originally intended to become a part of Scripture. That would have happened when people began to think about a New Testament. When the church was no longer considered a part of the Jewish community and it was considered important to put together the Gospels with the letters of Paul and the other epistle writers.

Let’s move on to yet another understanding of waiting. The Presbyterian Church (USA), my denomination in the United States, observes a church year calendar in our preaching and in ordering our year from January through December. TODAY, four Sundays before Christmas Day, a season in the church called Advent begins. Advent means “WAITING”. What are we waiting for? The celebration of Christ’s birth!

We Christians are used to waiting and waiting and waiting! It is nothing new to us! We will wait for the celebration of Christ’s birth during Advent.

The first Christians waited for Jesus to return after his death and resurrection. They waited to be reunited with him.

We still wait, two thousand plus years later, for Jesus to return. We wait with great anticipation and joy in the knowledge that Scripture tells us that indeed Jesus will return “with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God!”

We are comforted by the First letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, just as the original community would have been comforted.

WE have the 20/20 vision of hindsight to know that Jesus will indeed return. We don’t know when. We aren’t supposed to know when. We are supposed to live our lives while we wait. With great anticipation and joy, looking and longing for the time when we will see God face to face. Looking and longing for the time when we will be reunited with the Saints who have already died.

Whether we are already dead or we are still living when Jesus’ returns, we will see him. And seeing Jesus will be worth the wait! Seeing Jesus will be even better than the end of the rainy season!
Alleluia?
Alleluia!

Languages

2011-11-06T10:51:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Yesterday I learned that South Sudan and the United States have a similar struggle. English is becoming the linga franca in South Sudan as it is in the United States. English became the linga franca for the United States when the first Europeans colonized the Indians who were living in the land.

In South Sudan there are many tribal/people group languages that are dying out from disuse as people move towards the common language of English. In the United States in our history indigenous people were punished for using their tribal/people group languages and were forced to use the language of the colonizers, English. This has been true in other countries as well, such as the Philippines.

From the reading I have done I have come to understand that in the United States the original indigenous groups are trying to bring their languages back into use before they become extinct. And I understand from talking with people here in South Sudan that the same is true here. There is a renewed desire to "save" the original languages from extinction.

This is a difficult issue. While it is important to have a way for people of different countries, cultures and tribes to communicate with each other, thus a common language, it is also important for the original languages to be preserved and recognized as an important part of culture.

As a joy to report, the electricity came on here an hour earlier than usual tonight in my house. The governor of The Upper Nile State in which I reside was at the Nuer (one of the South Sudan's Nilotic tribes/people groups) worship service that I attended this morning. He shared with the congregation about the improvements that they can expect in the coming months. More hours of electricity was one of these for those of us who already have it. Having it was something that those who have not had it for at least three months can look forward to in the near future. The roads are to be improving soon as well.....I am praying for that!
Blessings,
Debbie

The Bank

2011-11-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!

Today I was able to open a bank account in Malakal! This is very exciting as it means that the Republic of South Sudan now has a banking system! It also means that it should be much easier for myself and other foreigners (aka ex-pats) to get funds for living expenses in South Sudan.

After a long while of frustrated waiting I realized that in South Sudan one customer at a time is not helped. Instead the banking personnel help several customers at a time. I was told to wait several times and after a long, long time someone would come with the next piece of information that I needed to in order to open the account.

The bank is the Kenya Commercial Bank. There is also a Western Union inside the bank building. This is very exciting as well because when I first came to Malakal in February and then again in September there were no Western Unions. This was the first country I had ever been in that had not had one. This is definitely a sign of progress and one for which I am most grateful. I should be able to wire money to myself from my USA bank account and this will make my life much simpler! Now if only we can get the potholes in the roads to disappear!

The picture that I put on the blog today was taken yesterday. A student accompanied me to the place for having passport pictures taken as the bank needed two of those. On the way from the business district (stretching that term very thin indeed) to my home we were met by this herd of cattle. I have a friend in the US who has a farm and I was close to a couple of her animals, I don't think I've ever been this close to cows. It was a wee bit unnerving, but once I got presence of mind returned to me I grabbed my camera and started shooting! I liken this picture to one I took in January of 2010 of the camels at the pyramids in Sudan. Enjoy!
Blessings,
Debbie

A Day of Observations

2011-10-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from Malakal! The picture in this blog post is that of one of the choirs from the College Day at the end of August at the Nile Theological College. We had two choirs participate, one was a youth choir and both choirs had beautiful music and voices.

Yesterday I saw a dentist here in Malakal. Today I had a tooth x-ray taken and got my first prescription filled. Prescription medication is relatively inexpensive here. Everything else is dreadfully expensive.

When I was in China female students accompanied me shopping and to doctor and dentist appointments. Here in Malakal it is male students who accompany me. I so appreciate and value their willingness to take leave from classes and walk long distances in order to be with me in unfamiliar settings.

I observed today the poor donkeys in the town. The donkeys are forced to stand with no food or water and no place to lie down in the heat. One of them today looked so tired, its eyes were closed and some of them were shaking. I feel so so badly for them.

The water in the town is dirty. I think this is true in many places in the world, I just happened to observe it today as my students and I were passengers in a taxi taking us to and fro. One of the students took me shopping in the souq, the vegetable market. I was grateful for his help. I got tomatoes, potatoes and onions. The little bit that I got came to 22 South Sudan Pounds. On the black market the exchange rate today was $1. to 4 SSP. The bank rate is $1 to 3 SSP. Either way those were very expensive vegetables.

I used my solar stove for the first time today. I tried cooking lentils for lentil soup. I apparently did not keep them in the sun for long enough as they were still a little chewy, however I rectified this on the electric burner and added dried onion, garlic and olive oil. I had made white rice and added that to the soup along with almond butter and it was a fairly tasty dish.

I had help tonight getting my printer up and running. Making copies here in Malakal is very expensive. Most things are very expensive. I am hoping that it will be more economical to use my own printer in making copies for students. I have not figured out how to teach without using books. I have found that some of the students have difficulty when the lesson is solely my reading to them from a book. I think I would have difficulty with that as well as I am not an oral learner.

I continue to be a fascination to the people of Malakal as there are so few white people here. I had well meaning person lecture me in English today that I should be using an umbrella to protect my fair skin. This is probably true.

The roads here continue to scandalize me. The potholes are sometimes very deep and extremely difficult for the cars to navigate. They also make walking hazardous.

Many of the children of the town can be seen in school uniforms in the afternoon because school is out for the day. There continue however to be children that are not in school. There were two children who were collecting empty plastic bottles for use in selling oil to people outside of the town. It is likely that their parents cannot afford the school fees. I find it heartbreaking and again realize how much I value the American school system of free public education primary through secondary. We should not take this for granted in the United States. There are so many countries where education is simply not available to those without a means to pay a fee and buy uniforms and school supplies. There are not enough charities to fill the need.

I have now seen dentists in China, Sudan and South Sudan. I have had x-rays taken in China and South Sudan. Because in the United States lead aprons are used on patients to protect us from the radiation of the x-rays I am very aware of the fact that this is not done in other countries. Once again today I was exposed to radiation without protection. However I will say that the x-ray of the tooth in question was of a very good quality. The x-ray equipment was from Dubai and has been in service for seven years. The technician said it is very good equipment.

The office in which the x-ray department was located of course has a generator. I became very homesick for Khartoum when I realized that part of the reason the office was cool was due to a ceiling fan very much like the one in my home in Khartoum. I think many of us at the college are missing the luxuries of power during the day (and night) and plentiful and fairly cheap food and choices of food in Khartoum.

The small can of milk powder in a little store today was 35 SSP. I understood why a woman on the plane from Addis Ababa Ethiopia to Malakal had two large cans of milk powder as carry-ons. I will probably do the same myself on my return to Malakal when I go to Addis Ababa for Christmas. I want to use the milk powder with water to make a milk base for pasta. A simple and delicious meal.

Tomorrow I will probably cut up the potatoes and onions that I purchased today and put them in the enamelware pot in the solar cooker and see if I can then feast on solar food. I will let you know how it works out!
Blessings,
Debbie

Bumps in De Road

2011-10-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! One of the things that has become crystal clear in the short amount of time that I have been here in Malakal is that roads are an urgent infrastructure issue. My prayer is that the roads in this new country of South Sudan are a very high priority for the new government.

The worst of the mud is gone and yet mud remains. However now the biggest hazard are the incredible potholes. They are like giant pockmarks on someone with chicken pox. They are dreadful. I had to go to a dentist today and on the way there my student's and I took a taxi. He had to navigate very carefully around the holes. The church car has been in the shop for a week because parts to fix it have had to come from Juba and Khartoum. The church driver is much more aggressive with the potholes, he may be a more experienced driver. On the other hand, the taxi driver may rely on his car for his total income and if it has to go to the shop for repairs then he loses money as well as having to pay money out.

I believe that in the entire country of South Sudan there are only about 100 miles of paved road. It is not possible to drive from Juba to Malkal because of this. One must fly. I experienced some culture shock when I was in Rwanda recently because of all the paved roads. We took a road trip to a beautiful resort some three and a half hours out of Kigali and all of the roads were paved.

In order to move ahead with development in this new country the issue of the roads must be addressed. NGO's and the United Nations may be willing to come in to underdeveloped areas as their purpose is to give humanitarian aid. I don't think that companies who are needed to provide employment and other necessary services will be so willing.

Please pray for the priorities of the new government to include making life more livable for the people of South Sudan.
Blessings,
Debbie

culture

2011-10-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I have some stories and other things I've been holding for the blog until I felt better, maybe now is the time.

I found out today that there are eight generators in Malakal. One of them is working. Presumably the technicians for the seven that are not were Northerners who returned to the North. The generator in my part of town just happens to be working and this is why we have power most nights. The cost of fuel may have to do with shorter hours of power.

I had previously blogged about a man who had shared that many men from the south of Sudan were able to make the trek to refugee camps elsewhere and earn an education by the sweat of their brows and their muscle power, doing work that most women are not able to do. I asked him if he had ever thought about taking his sister with her and supporting her so that we too could receive an education. He told me that the trek out of the south was trecherous and dangerous and girls were not allowed to go. I could read between the lines of what he was saying. Conditions were completely uncertain and girls/women would have been vulnerable to rape and kidnap and murder. I now understand, and told him so, why there were the Lost Boys of Sudan and NOT the Lost Girls and Boys of Sudan.

Another student shared with me that the relative with whom he is staying in order to attend the Nile Theological College is a man with two wives and many children. He said at one point the man had 40 children staying with him. I have heard of and read of situations like this before. This man has the advantage of living on a large plot of land in a town. There are schools available. Many many places in our world are so rural that there simply are not teachers to serve. Either there aren't enough students to make it feasible to pay a teacher, or, as with doctors and other professionals, the living conditions are simply too challenging and no teacher will go there. At any rate, this man invited his relatives to send their children to live with him so that they could attend school.

I had a picture in my mind of my two children and how every morning before school I put breakfast on the table for them and when they got home from school they had a snack and talked about how their days had gone. Clearly 40 children are not going to get that particular kind of love and attention. They ARE going to get something that chances are none of their parents got. A chance to learn to read and write, and something about the world beyond their little village. And maybe someday they can pay forward and do the same thing for other relatives.

It is heartbreaking sometimes how slow the progress and yet how deeply meaningful the progress.

The last story is one told me by the student who is living with so many other young people in order to make his way through college. He said, "maybe when you get home you will write a book." I told him I already am.

He said that there was a man who got a good theological education, perhaps at the Nile Theological College. The church wanted to appoint him to a post in a small and remote area who was in need of a good pastor. This man decided that he had a good education and he deserved more than to be in a little nothing place. So he joined the army and after a number of years had been promoted and had made a name for himself. No he was a big man around town. So he decided it was time to get married. I of course in the midst of my student telling the story am thinking, oh, so he found a woman to marry.....NO he married 40 women.

Why I thought he would have been happy with one I don't know......The end of the story (I won't go into my various emotional and other kind of reactions/responses to this) is that when he died "they" of course had a fancy schmancy funeral for him based on his hugeness in reputation, etc., And there were at least twenty little children there sobbing for their father.

The moral of the story, and the reason my student told it to me, was that this man was all about HIM. I pray that he thought about his wives and children and their fates after death but with his eyes on himself I am not believing that. My prayer is that God stepped in and provided for all of those widows and all of those children. I think that is not easy for a widow with a child/children to find another spouse. In this culture being without a spouse is no easy thing at all. It is a sentence to perpetual poverty.
Blessings,
Debbie

The Kin_dom of God Drawn Near.

2011-10-11T02:58:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I am entering my third week of not feeling well in the mud capital of the world, Malakal, South Sudan.

This morning a little piece of the Kin-dom of God marched into my yard here at the SIM Compound and sang and prayed with me and then left.....leaving me feel renewed in my sense of call to each one of my students.

The Senior Class of the Nile Theological College should have received two lessons from me today, a total of three hours. Instead I am still not strong enough to get to them down the road a piece. The class (about 22 students) talked to the Principal of the College this morning and asked if they could take some of the class time that was not being used by me and come to the compound to pray for me. The Principal agreed to this.

I was thankful that I had been able at long last to accomplish getting my hair washed this morning. Yesterday I just didn't have the strength to wash it, this morning I began by washing the hair first and me second. Mission Accomplished!

I had put on one of the outfits that was new in Khartoum so at least I looked presentable. I got a cell phone call about a half hour before they appeared that they were all on the move up the road....and then there they were. They opened the gate between the school/church side of the compound and the side where the two houses are (instead of the front gate by the main road).

They streamed into the yard and I invited them on to the covered porch. I realized in retrospect that just as I had claimed my students by coming to Malakal, my students were claiming me by coming to me when I was ill.

They organized themselves so that different students had different parts in the short worship. We began with Kumbaya.

I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving. They did not stay long as I was still weak and they had work to do at the college. But later in the day I began to improve......
Blessings,
Debbie

Putting Two and Two Together

2011-09-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Just this morning I have literally put two and two together and understand something I was told by a student a while ago.

He told me that during the civil wars between the north and the south in Sudan some of the boys were able to leave to go to refugee camps in order to receive education. I asked about girls being able to go. He said that girls could not go too far from their parents. Of course I immediately began wondering what in the world he meant by that. And he answered me. He said that boys, young men, men, are capable of doing physical work that is very hard in order to support themselves. And girls are not. His sister was not able to go to Nairobi with him because she could not do the kinds of work he could do. Later I thought, I should have asked why he did not take her with him anyhow and support her so that she also could have received an education.

Now, the reason this has become vividly clear for me today is because someone was using what I suppose to be a machete to keep paths clear here on the compound where I live. There are two homes, I live in one, this man and his wife live in the other and have an extra room for guests. The grass is definitely not the tame sort of stuff that we have in Seattle. I don't think even a seated lawn mower would touch it.

A couple of weeks ago a man had been paid what would be the equivalent of $100. USD to come in and chop the whole batch away. The grass has already re overtaken everything. I have just found out that snakes can hide out in that grass. I now have no desire to go anywhere...except that apparently there are also occasional sightings in houses as well.

Now, the work that this man did to chop the entire jungle down (calling it a lawn would be far too refined) took several days. Maybe a girl or young woman could do that work. I don't know. I did hear of a case in an email from Khartoum of a young mother/widow with a one year old daughter and no way to support her except by selling tea which is not a sufficient income.

Perhaps by now you get the gist of what I am getting at? It is a pity, a travesty of justice and an incorrect way of thinking that values the work of the muscles of a man more than the work of a mother struggling to keep her one year old daughter alive. We know that the muscles are valued more because of how much they are paid.

I see this as yet another stumbling block to women's ability to help change the world. The male and female bodies were created differently by the Creator. And the work that both genders do should be equally valued and equally compensated. How is the cycle ever going to be broken if this does not change? Who is going to pay $100 USD for a cup of tea? I don't think I've ever seen a man selling tea. I am sure that it is considered women's work and beneath the dignity of a man who has muscles that can earn much more money.
Blessings,
Debbie

Keeping up with the Joneses.....

2011-09-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from Malakal! I have been here now for about three weeks. This week I have not been feeling well. Fortunately I was able to teach on my teaching days of Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday I had a low fever and rested.

I am beginning to make some progress on my dissertation proposal for the Doctor of Theology in Missiology program at the University of South Africa (UNISA). This is a relief as it has been several months since I have been able to focus on it.

The mud here in Malakal apparently lasts from around May to the end of October, so essentially half a year. Please pray for the government to become more responsive and responsible to the needs of its people and develop a plan for paving the streets here in the town. I have been here for, as I said, about three weeks, and have hardly left the house except for going to the school. It is just too difficult to move about.

I did find out this week that there are people who think that all Americans have access to free skiing lessons. And I have decided in my own head that not only should all American children spend time abroad in another culture, all American children should learn the basics of camping.

As the electricity here has diminished I have found that I do not have the skills to know how to survive without electricity. I wish I had brought a Coleman camping stove for instance....well, at any rate the gas is hard to find as well because it comes from Khartoum and Khartoum is not letting goods through the North-South border. The situation here has deteriorated since Independence in July and what I have come into is different than what I knew and understood to prepare for earlier in the year.

This country does need more than prayer, it needs a great deal of practical help. Most of the people walk in the mud barefoot...I am quite certain they cannot afford shoes or boots. Walking in the mud barefoot means that they may encounter glass or other things that could hurt them.

The dogs continue to howl at night and I am finding I am not sleeping well because of this. Yesterday 7 dogs broke through a loose place in the metal wall surrounding the compound and were in the yard behind my house. That unnerved me. I told my newly returned compound mates that every night I have thanked God that I am a safe place where the dogs cannot get hold of me and tear me to shreds. Now I am not so sure that this is true!
Blessings,
Debbie

An Earlier Entry that is now being put into the blog....

2011-09-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greeings, at long last, from the new Republic of South Sudan in Africa!

Today is Thursday, the first of September, 2011. I arrived after a long journey in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, yesterday, Wednesday, the last day of August in 2011.

It was a long journey indeed. This statement of course has multiple meanings and multiple layers. The particular meaning I am addressing here is that the flight from Washington D.C., once safely on board the aircraft, lasts for 13 hours. That is long time to be stuck in a small space with very little wiggle room and no access to one's regular routine.

I had the extreme luxury of three seat sot myself! I put all of the armrests up and spent most of the 13 hours prone and covered with blankets. It made the passage of time more bearsble.

I had dreamt of shopping at the Ethiopian Airport upon arrival in Ethiopia, our first port of entry into Africa. Shopping and finding a Diet Coke. Instead we were ushered off of the plane and directed into a small space that had no water, let alone Diet Coke and no restroom in sight. The choice to leave for shopping, etc., would have meant going back through security and I declined that. So by the time I got to Juba I was overwhelmed by the heat and the crowding in the tiny airport there. The Danish woman whom I met in the airport in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) said that the hardest part of the return journey for her from Denmark is always the arriving at the Juba airport. I did feel better after knowing I was not alone in my emotions.

Thankfully I was able to get a six month extension for my Travel Permit issued on the spot. I am grateful for the friends who told me to have $100. US available for that purpose and two passport pictures as well. I got the passport photos taken on the way to the airport in Louisville on Sunday! All was in hand.

The pastor and his wife who picked me up at the airport helped with the permit process and then with gathering my eleven bags. This was no small feat. I believe that there were four men and at least three flatbed carts that hauled my moving-to-Malakal load out to their vehicle. I was so thankful to see that it was an SUV type and not a small car.

They managed to get everything in and we directly to the Mission Aviation Fellowship to drop the 11 bags off for transport to Malakal as space allows. While I did prioritze the bags you might well imagine that with each bag containing some books for teaching that in reality all of the books are actually equally important...I am praying for quick success in recieving my bags at my new home in Malakal.

The next stop was the Ethiopian Airlines office for my round trip ticket to return to Addis Ababa and pick up things like my two burner stovetop and my teaching materials for the coming semester which were left in Addis when I returned to the states in March. The office was so crowded that we left and I am hoping someone at the Episcopal Guest House where I am currently staying in Juba will be able to help me with that endeavor today.

The Guest House was the next and last stop. As I expected it is a far cry from the Embassy Suites or the Hilton in Arlington, Virginia. Too much of those hotels in the D.C. area can take the edge off of a person, and that edge is necessary for surviving in Afrtica. It is a fine line however. I discovered on my extra day in D.C. (due to a Hurricane Katrina related glitch as related to you in a previous blog) that I really am going to have to take vacations. I need to have time to not be stressed about anything. The only way to do that is to truly get away from my daily activities. Part of what doing that will mean is that some of the edge will soften and I have to be aware that my return to life in Africa will be more difficult in the beginning as a result.

The Guest House is clean and, as I have a room to myself, has plenty of room for sorting through my two carryons that I kept with me and regrouping myself in order to get organized for the days ahead. I must prepare myself for the preparations to finally leave for Malakal so that I can set up house and be ready to start teaching at the end of September. That is a rather interesting paradox I suppose. I have to get organized in order to get organized. But, there you have it....

Juba is a pleasant little city, at least so far. It reminds me of Nairobi more than it reminds me of Addis Ababa. And it does not remind me of Khartoum at all. Khartoum is definitely an Arab city and it is a major urban metropolis of several million people. Juba is definitely an African city as is Nairobi. I keep reminding myself not to get too accustomed to, for instance, the paved streets in Juba, becasue it will make Malakal all the more difficult if I do. I am so grateful for the fact that because South Sudan is considered a hardship post each of us who works and lives here is given a "time-out" every three months to leave South Sudan for a time of renewal and I think probably shopping for things that cannot be found here as well.

Praise God for power as well! Another multi-layered word, power. I had carried my African cell phone with me across the world and back (anything I needed immediately upon my return to Africa had to stay with me and thus to travel to the states and back) and last night was able to find someone here at the Guest House to help me get the SIM card in. I remembered the code, I made it easy, put it in and got it charged! I was able to call the Principle of the Nile Theological College to let him know that I am here at the Guest House and will be in Malakal next week, God willing. Not surprisingly, he already knew I was here and that my bags had gone to MAF.

I have learned that it is best for me to get my UBS modem for the internet on my computer once I am in Malakal. There is a chance that when I move around South Sudan that the modem will not work, that it will be finely tuned for Malakal. This does made working on line a challenge in this new country.

So, I have arrived. I had also traveled to the states and back with one of my African adaptors, being that my computer is dual voltage it is no plugged into the adaptor and is charging away....again, I am thankful for electricity here in Juba. It will not be as plentiful in Malakal. In caes you are curious, I am typing this blog into a Word Document. When I am able to get on-line with my own computer again, and this may not be until net week in Malakal, then I will cut and paste this document into the blog. This is assuming that the blog is not blocked. If it is then this will hopefully go into an email. Once has to be creative when technology is still developing in different parts of the world!
Blessings,
Debbie

waiting, waiting, here!

2011-09-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from Malakal in the Republic of South Sudan! I have another blog that is in a Word Document on a different computer and someday when I am able to do so I will put it in this blog so that you can read about my adventures as I left the United States late last month.

I have been in Malakal for over a week now, I am not sure of the exact date. I am experiencing things here that I have never experienced before. For one I now live in SubSaharan Africa vs the high dry desert of Saharan Africa in the north. I was struck by how green South Sudan is when I entered through Juba in August. Juba is the capital of the new country, at least for now.

I now know that the south is green because of the "rainy season". The rainy season means torrential rain that downpours, sometimes for hours at a time. Due to a particular kind of soil here in Malakal it turns into a deep, thick and incredibly slippery mud. I have not ventured too far out of the Sudanese Interior Ministry (SIM) Compound where I am living, I am waiting for the rains to subside next month. I have found a nearby, very nearby I might add, small store that sells the Sudanese bread which is something like American pita bread. I have learned from fellow sojourners along the way to carry peanut butter with me and in Khartoum I fell in love with different versions of Nutella. Therefore as long as I stay supplied with all three components I know that I will not go hungry. This is good because the roads do not look safe for pedestrians.

Outside of snow in Seattle I have never seen such driving conditions as I have witnessed here over the past week or so. When I am able at some point to get on to my own computer I will be able to share the photos that I have been able to take, this will I hope give you a better idea. A week ago I ventured to the Nile Theological College campus which, it turns out, is down the road from me and may end up being a good walk when it is dry on the main road. I am very lucky to live on the main road and across from highly identifiable entities such as World Vision International. This is good because SIM doesn't have a sign on its fence or gates and there are no addresses here that I am aware of.

So, I ventured to the college and then as I attempted to cross a mud fiord (correct word?) I had a close encounter of the muddy type. Suffice it to say that my friend and colleague Mistire got me cleaned up, found clean clothes for me to wear and washed my muddied dress. She also proclaimed that the $30. boots that I brought from the United States are too heavy for me in the mud. It is true that one of the boots stayed stuck in the mud as I continued to move forward and that was the beginning of the unfortunate tale. My daughter and I went to at least three or four stores when I was in Seattle in order to find those boots. I guess I should have taken someone with me who was familiar with Malakal mud. Ah well.

Outside of the rain the challenges in list of priorities which I am facing are:
1. I have no coach at the moment. I am praying that the furniture I had in Khartoum, a living room set which included a coach is awaiting drier weather at the college....drier in order to be able to move on the road which is a foot high in mud at the moment.
2. Probably a bigger challenge actually than the coach is the lack of electricity during the day. On a dark and rainy day like this one I am not able to read. This for me is very difficult. When the power came on at 7:00 p.m. I started crying folks. I think it was frustration and joy.

I hope to get in a regular pattern for blogging. I must say that true to my nature the two things I have missed the most (besides the coach and obviously family and friends) is being able to write and to read. I am on a borrowed typewriter and finally decided to heck with it, I will blog anyhow!
Blessings,
Debbie

painting the town SLEEP

2011-08-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Well, this is unexpected. I am able to write a last, last blog entry before I leave the United States.

I am ensconced in a less luxurious hotel room than last night as this one is not a suite. The suite was, well, sweet. However this room still has a wonderful bed and a soft, oh so soft, comforter that is indeed very comforting.

The last two days have been quite interesting. Due to Hurricane Irene there were glitches with the computer system at the United Airlines counter in Louisville. I was charged domestic luggage rates for nine excess bags to Juba, plus my two free ones. I will say that the people in Louisville were helpful and kind. And I am very grateful to my friend who stayed with me until almost boarding time and went and got me another suitcase when the $60. for 20 pounds overweight shot up to $400. on the computer and it was clearly cheaper to pay $100. for another bag. (These numbers will have some repeat action later in this account.)

I got to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. in fairly fine shape and got to the hotel without incident as well, extremely grateful to have been able to leave my 11 checked in bags at the airport and to have only my two carryons in hand with me.

This morning I got up and had sufficient time to get ready and ate a very good complimentary breakfast on the hotel. I was extremely tired and knew that what I really wanted to do was just crawl back in to bed for a few hours....little did I know.....

I got to the airport three hours early and went to the Ethiopian Airline counter. I was told almost immediately that Louisville had checked my bags through only to D.C. and not to Juba, even though Louisville had told them me that the bags were checked through to Juba. Okay, the long and the short of it is that due to the computer glitch in Louisville, which was due to the hurricane (does this sound a little bit like the story The House That Jack Built?) I was charged domestic charges on the luggage which should not have been charged at all and I was NOT charged the international charges that I WAS supposed to pay. International charges are $200. a piece (at least to and from the United States), whereas domestic is $100. So my charges needed to be doubled and I need the baggage receipt to show that the bags were checked clean through to Juba. I couldn't be issued a boarding pass until this was done, a key piece to note in this saga.

Apparently in Louisville on Sunday the 28th things were happening like....my flight from Louisville to D.C. was fine and on time but the next leg of the flight (which I was not supposed to be on and in fact was not on) had been cancelled because of Hurricane Irene. The computer was not allowing people to even go to D.C. who were checked through to the next destination, it may have been New York.

Okay. So I was directed to United to take care of the problem as it was United where the problem originated. I went to the United desk. I was asked what time my flight was leaving (later I understood why I was asked that) and directed to the Additional Services desk. That is when the nightmare began.

Tonight in the hotel I am switching the projector and the computer from my backpack to my rolling bag. For two hours I stood in line at the Additional Services desk with 25 pounds perched upon my aching back. Never a good idea.

I took my place at the end of a line of people who were waiting to rebook their flights due to cancellations to due Hurricane Irene. I noticed many of the folks were going to Boston and there had been no additional flights scheduled and there was a lot of unhappiness to go around.

After today I consider myself a seasoned traveler. So I quickly noted that I really should leave the area where I was standing by oh say 10:30 for an international flight at 11:45....a lady (a normal person, not an employee) had let me know soon after my arrival that my problem was hurricane related due to the computer systems. She said a lot of people were just paying the extra charges and then dealing with reimbursements later. My bet was that a lot of people were not flying to Juba and then to Malakal where there has been no power and no internet for three days. It is not easy to use Skype without internet. So I made the fateful decision to stick things out and take care of it stateside.

The long and the short of it is that no one came through the group asking if anyone was there for any reason besides rebooking. There was only one employee dealing with this massive group of people, and sometimes there was no employee at all. I understood that they had everyone available on the front lines, but sometimes there are extraordinary situations that call for extra-
ordinary responses.

I finally decided to start asking questions. I untied the ribbon from the post and started making noise. I was not there to rebook and I had a flight to catch. Maybe there were other people who had immediate needs too. This is not to say that one person is more important than the others (except maybe the Pope or the President of the United States) but instead that sometimes one person's matter is more urgent and needs to be repriortized.

Not one single employee listened to me at this point or made any kind of move to help me or to see if other people were in the same circumstance as myself. Eventually someone did make a feeble attempt but I was still ignored. At one point I advocated for another woman, left my rolling bag with the man from China who I had struck up a conversation with being that I have lived in China and could speak somewhat knowledgeably about his home country, took this woman by the hand (so to speak) and found someone several counters away who would listen to her. I should have stayed and gotten help next, but no I was foolish enough to think that the line was going to start moving more quickly when a second employee finally showed up at 10:30.

At 11:00 I finally got my turn. That is why I am at a hotel here in D.C. tonight. Fortunately my case got turned over to someone who actually knew what to do with me and who was kind and very helpful. He thought I had a boarding pass (oh no, no, no, no, no) and was hustling me down to the gate when I said "I don't even have a boarding pass." Ah, the fateful words....well, the good news was that the double charge was made on my credit card and tomorrow morning the luggage will be good to go and should (I do repeat should) meet me in Juba on Wednesday morning. He took me to the Ethiopian Airline counter where they were stunned to know that I had been there for three, I repeat three, hours. "They" sent me to the reticketing counter in the basement and the angel God had sent to me accompanied me. He made sure that they had me on the same flight for tomorrow, I got my printed information proving the same, and then we went back upstairs where he proceeded to find me a hotel voucher from somewhere. He also provided me with a food voucher.

I took the shuttle to the hotel, went and got two Diet Cokes, crawled into bed and slept all afternoon. Remember the statement at the beginning about wanting to sleep for hours.....?

So I'm now typing my blog, watching CNN, more rested and have another wake up call for 6:00 a.m., planning to again get to the airport at 8:45, three, I repeat three, hours early. Apparently all I have to do this time is to check-in. Right, I'm supposed to believe that????? :)

I do hope and pray that everyone in South Sudan got my email letting them know I will be a day late. I hate to worry people. The helpful man at the airport did tell me that the airline will know in Juba that I will be coming in on Wednesday and not Tuesday and so will hopefully be able to tell my folks in Juba that. Sometimes one just has to leave it in God's hands.....

Now, on to other things....I have been reflecting in between all this drama and trauma, about what the word ancient means to me. Like the Ancient of Days. Like the Ancient Ones from the movie the Whale Rider. Like the ancient ruins in Rome and in Whitby, England. Like at St. Patrick's church in Northern Ireland.

Ancient and also stormy, windy nights. These two things seem to hold something in common for me. I can sense eternity in them. I believe that it may be that the connection with the Communion of Saints, past, present and future, becomes more clear, more real, more authentic, genuine and present to me with the timelessness of ancient and with the power of stormy, windy night. Still mulling on it....
Blessings,
Debbie

End of my time in the United States for this year

2011-08-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from Washington D.C.! Tonight I am tucked away in an Embassy Suites hotel room in Arlington, Virginia. I flew in to Dulles International Airport in D.C. from Louisville, Kentucky late this afternoon. In the morning I board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Juba, South Sudan via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The stay tonight is what is known as a "forced stay." I had to come to D.C. today because the timing of the flights is not right for same day D.C. flight and African flight. The good part about a forced stay is that Ethiopian Airlines picks up the bill. I suspect that they have some sort of a deal with the hotel chain, maybe discount based on volume. At any rate it is a really nice room, or really a suite. There is a living room of sorts on one end, a mini kitchen and bathroom section in the center and then a bedroom on the other end. There are two big screen tv's....good grief Charlie Brown!

The bad news is that with a nice hotel come big price tags. They want $2.00 for a little bag of m&m's, I don't think so! So dinner was the Manager's Hospitality this evening....free Diet Coke (other people were having the free alcohol) and all the popcorn I could eat. I'm becoming very fond of popcorn!

I am very aware of the fact that tomorrow I head into a time of uncertainty and that the level of comfort in my life is going to diminish rapidly. I am appreciating my last night of drinking tap water and having a thermostat. Malakal, the town in South Sudan where I will ultimately land has been without electricity for three days now, not unlike what the our states here in the US which were hit by Hurricane Irene are facing, except that with Malakal this is going to be more chronic.

The end of the planning is at hand. Planning lists, what will I need, what might I need? What does one take to a place that has food shortages and where electricity is not consistently available? I hope I've planned well enough.....I have heard that the border between Sudan in the north and South Sudan has been closed by Sudan. This means that supplies are not coming in to the new country. Supplies like kerosene and propane. This means that cooking options are limited. If electricity has been out for three days and no one can get hold of kerosene and propane what does one use for cooking? Apparently charcoal is one alternative and I have been told that the charcoal in South Sudan is not treated with chemicals as ours is here in the states. I do have a solar cooker with me but it won't arrive for a while and I have never used it before.

My luggage will be taken to the Mission Aviation Fellowship on its arrival in Juba. Piece by piece it will be delivered to me in Malakal over the course of weeks. Part of the planning has been to try and prioritize what I need first. Plates and silverware in the first box. Most of the books I am taking with me are later on. Books weigh a lot, theological education is a beloved and expensive vocation.

In the midst of all the packing, anxiety and travel I have been contemplating yet another tension in my life of faith. Being a Christian does not guarantee safety or a smooth ride. "God does not promise life without pain, God promises to walk with us in the pain." On the other hand, I do believe that when I am walking in God's will that God goes ahead of me and prepares the path, the way. You might see why I spend time contemplating these two ends of the spectrum.

While I am in Ethiopia it is likely that blogspot will be blocked. If this is so I will blog at debbiesjourneycontinues.wordpress.com. Please feel free to join me on my journey at that blog if this one is not accessible to me. I don't know if blogspot will be available in South Sudan or not; so check them both out and keep walking with me on the journey.
Blessings,
Debbie

Living Conditions

2011-08-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!

Today I am going to blog about a question that I put on Facebook. It is something that I've been nibbling around the corners of and finally figured out what it is I want to know more about. Or know more deeply.

How does "bloom where you are planted" fit with Jesus' "foxes have nowhere to lie their heads and neither does the Son of Man?"

Okay, here goes:

I am beginning to think/discern/contemplate that the differences between these two life-styles may have to do with kind of life to which one is called. I say this because I know that some people are called to live in the same home in the same neighborhood in the same town, state and country their entire lives. And others of us seem to be called to perpetual movement.

Maybe this is connected with the spiritual gifts with which the Holy Spirit endows different people. I read recently in an article in Sojourner's Magazine about someone who had been given the gift of stability. I am stable in how I deal with life, not flustered by every little thing that gets thrown at me (at least not for too long) but I wouldn't say I've been given the gift of stability. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally LONG for it.

Maybe it has to do with the particular work that God calls each of us to, or how we are called to raise our children. I say this because over the course of time I have come to realize that there are different kinds of Family Planning. One of the kinds is: What is our plan for this family? How do we want this family to contribute to the world? What are our goals for our children and for our lives together while they live with us? And then, for instance, there are certain vocations which travel more easily than others. Being a stock broker on Wall Street might mean being a stock broker on Wall Street. Being a teacher, or a minister (of which I am both) or a doctor or nurse or computer technician might imply the ability to travel with that skill set to other places.

Maybe it has to do with each unique person's unique journey with God. For me I think that blooming where I am planted did not allow enough water to reach my roots. Maybe it was a little too easy. Maybe it did not develop TRUST hardy enough in me. Maybe TRUST was the spiritual fruit of the spirit that I needed to have developed most in me, and this is the way to do it.

Maybe for someone who is called to bloom where they are planted learning how to be consistent is the lesson in their lives to which God is calling them. I don't know, it just kind of makes some sense to me. Whatever it is that we need, we get.

In the Gospels Jesus says he can't stay one place too long because he came for many. In a sense he kind of had a home base with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But he didn't have a HOME. His home was with God, his Abba. On the other hand, in Exodus the Israelis were kept on the move for 40 years before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land and bloom where they were planted. Do you think God lost the map that showed the entrance to the Promised Land? I don't. I think God was forming God's people into God's people so that they would be prepared to settle down and take root.

There are different kinds of "missionaries". All Christians are called to be missionaries, whether in the local neighborhood or across oceans. To be a Christian missionary means to speak of and show in action the love of God in Jesus Christ. I think that when we are open to being used by God for God's purposes in the world that this will happen. In opening ourselves up in this way to God we also open up God's ability to deepen us and grow us in the best ways for who we are and what we can give to the world. What God can give to the world through us. Those ways may surprise us, they certainly have surprised me!

So whether we are supposed to bloom where we are planted or be like foxes without beds and pillows, we are still on a journey of discovery that is put in place by the God who loves us. When I was in Bible College a few years back (as a non-traditional student) I used to be amazed by the people who were downsizing their wardrobes and belongings. These were the folks who were being called into overseas mission work.

Here I am a BA in Biblical Studies and an ordained minister several years later trying to decide what part of my life I can fit into eight boxes as I head overseas again in a few short weeks. I find God's sense of humor, well....humorous. haha. I guess the joke is on me. I am not a pot, I am a fox.

God knows me so much better than I know myself!
Blessings,
Debbie

theological reflections

2011-08-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!
One of the things that I do as I go about my life is to write myself notes. I write notes that are a to-do list. I wrote notes about reflections and thoughts. I write notes about subjects for blogging or for my monthly newsletters.

This particular blog is going to be about a theological reflection that came under a subject for blogging. It is about: Free Will v Irresistible Grace.

I personally have come to believe that free will and irresistible grace both exist and are in tension with each other. Kind of like "done and not yet".

I think this is Armenianism and Calvinism arm wrestling together. My understanding of the two, briefly, is that an Armenian believes that we can move towards God and Calvinists believe that God moves towards us. We either have the free will to decide to move towards God or God moves towards us and draws us to God through Christ in grace that we are not able to resist, we are swept off of our feet, so to speak.

As I said, I think that both ends of this continuum are at work and that we live in both of them. One of them, free will, lets God off the hook. If it is our choice whether we move towards God then clearly it is our fault if we don't choose to do so. On the other hand, with irresistible grace the responsibility is put squarely on God.

Perhaps I am taking the cowardly way out by claiming that both God on the hook and humanity on the hook exist. Or perhaps I am claiming the mystery that is. There are an awful lot of people who have not chosen to move towards God in this world if that is the reality. Maybe living a God centered life is a little too demanding? On the other hand, God has chosen not to move towards an awful lot of people if irresistible grace is the reality. I have heard it said that a Calvinist does not judge who God has or has not claimed, we just continue praying for Christ to act in the lives of those for whom such action is not yet apparent, to us anyhow.

This will be a good discussion for me to continue to have in the innermost regions of my heart and soul as I turn my face towards South Sudan. What does Christian discipleship entail? If God has claimed me is my life not supposed to be marked in a particular way? If I have claimed God, either first or in return, am I not looking in a different direction than the rest of the world?

If I am a Christian, or a God fearer, do I look towards the ferocity of the battles in the Old Testament or to the non violence that Jesus preached/preaches in the New Testament? Which of those realities claims me? Owns me? Holds me captive? Am I captive to violence or am I captive to the Kin_dom of God drawn near? Is that a violent Kin_dom or a peace loving Kin-dom?

The tribes of South Sudan continue to interact with one another violently. For those that say they are Christian, what does this mean to them? Have they chosen to draw near to God as an Armenian, or has God chosen to draw near to them as a Calvinist? Do they belong to God whether by free will or irresistible grace? And how does this form and change their reality?

These are questions that my students and I will be wrestling with....theologically reflecting.
Blessings,
Debbie

Fall Shadows

2011-08-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from Louisville!

Even though it is hot and muggy outside, I can feel fall and that is exciting and sweet to me.
I can sense fall in the shadows as they they fall in the apartment. The lighting of the sun coming
through the windows is not as direct and brutal as it is in the high summer months.

Fall has always been special to me because it meant that it was time to go back to school and start learning again! It means classes and community and thinking and praying. And nowadays it also means for me, teaching! I find myself delighted and enchanted with the role of teacher. Everything that I see or touch during the day is a potential teaching tool, a new way to show my students a practical application to a lesson being taught. And while this is a process that goes on all year, it is especially during the season/time of fall that it becomes intensely precious and real to me; I get to go back to South Sudan and start teaching again VERY SOON!

I am sitting on the coach in "my" apartment at the Furlough Home on the campus of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. This has been a wonderful temporary home for the last few months. I am coming to accept that homes will probably always be temporary for me. There is a struggle within me to learn how to make "home" lighter, to travel more easily. I enjoy creating home and making home inviting for myself and others. I am moving into the concept of doing that more and more with local materials and not so much with taking home with me.

My hope for the Nile Theological College is that at some point down the line we will be able to move into a more adequate facility for a college. We are blessed that we are being hosted by a local Christian school in Malakal, and just as with a host home, it isn't quite our own. I am learning both in my own personal life and in my communal teaching life to be something like the Israelis of the Hebrew/Old Testament who were kept on the move for so many years, finding God as their true home.

So here I sit on a coach as I type this blog. I am surrounded by the supplies that I have been purchasing, and some that have been gifts, over the last few months while I have been "home" in the states. I have plastic trunks (only to be found at Walmart as far as I have seen) and a limit of 50 pounds for each trunk. Pretty hard to figure out what 50 pounds is....books and cooking supplies seem to be the most important items to take this time around. Somehow when I went to China in 2007 I didn't think to take kitchen things and my apartment was indeed fully supplied (although I went and got my own dishes because I didn't like the mismatched lot in the kitchen there). I never asked about the kitchen in Khartoum in 2009 and yet it was indeed fully furnished. This time I have inquired ahead in 2011 and I know that I won't have anything in the kitchen, except running water and that is a huge plus in South Sudan! So I am taking from the United States what I can anticipate needing....I may publish a book someday with a list of everything that I took to set up house in Malakal!

I have had major moves in 2007, 2009 and now 2011. I pray that I will be able to settle down for a few years now and dive joyfully into the work that the Lord has made for me. For Just Such a Time as This I am being sent to Malakal in the newest country in the world, the Republic of South Sudan. Our God is an awesome God and I am awesomely joyous that I will be going soon to my new home and to continue my work and be with my well loved students and colleagues once again. I know that the heat will be there and I will face on a daily basis the challenges of living in a less developed town and country. I also know that I will have to daily draw on Jesus' strength to see me through the trials. And yes, there will be trials.

Somehow I have to get the 500 pounds of going home into the ten pieces of luggage. If there is more than 500 pounds then they may not be going home with me. I am praying now for patience and fortitude. If I can do this job and do it well it will make my homecoming easier. Not easy, but easier. I need to be able to eat, to clean up in the kitchen, to wash my hair and take my medications and vitamins. I need to have the things with me that I require to keep my body, mind and spirit healthy. I seem to require different things as a North American than my African brothers and sisters. So I have to haul with me those differences. That's okay.

That's just okay. That is just fine.
Blessings,
Debbie

My Good Reads book review of Karen Armonstrong's "Islam"

2011-07-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

"Islam: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles)" by Karen Armstrong.

As usual a well written book by the author....condensing a mass of information down to a readable document. Since I don't know much about Islam I can only assume that she has written factually and knowledgeably. Her descriptions of fundamentalism, whether Muslim or Christian or Jewish, were very helpful to me. She says that fundamentalism is a reaction to modernism....modernism being that which diminishes traditional and core values. When fundamentalism is the response/reaction the core values of all religions such as compassion and tolerance are overridden by the struggle to survive. I found this to be a helpful explanation. A helpful read, I recommend it.

passive and active solar and a multitude of other things.....r

2011-07-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings from the New Wilmington Mission Conference! I am in New Wilmington Pennsylvania this week on the beautiful campus of the New Wilmington College....it is a Presbyterian college and has small versions of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. It is hot and humid here, although thankfully the last couple of days have been cooler than the first day, Friday, was.

I preached on Sunday at the Bell Memorial Church in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. What a wonderful church that was! The people like each other! They were friendly and encouraging to me and it was obvious that they put mission at the center of their mutual life together as the church. They are involved in many projects locally such as raised beds for growing produce that is donated to the local food bank. Someone had gone far beyond the call of duty to create and provide a bulletin board that featured pictures I have used in monthly newsletters of both the North and the South of Sudan and the display had a Sudanese shirt and even currency from the North!

This was a people who had a good grasp on the challenges, and opportunities, that I will be facing in the South when I return to a new country and village in August. I will continue in the same work in a new place. I will face the challenge of electricity 12 hours a day, during the evening. This means figuring out how to remain cool during the long hot days in Malakal. Because electricity will not necessarily be consistently available I also have to have alternative ways to cook, light the house, provide a breeze to combat the heat, and power my computer as much of my work involves internet and word processing, among other challenges.

I have heard that alternate sources of cooking fuel such as propane are possibly in short supply because the government of the north in Sudan is making crossing the border difficult for those who would promote trade between the two countries. Sudan, in the north, is the primary source for propane and other fuel sources. I will be taking a solar cooker and black enamelware cooking pot with me, these of course will only work on bright sunny days so I must come up with other ways to cook as well....propane, kerosene and electric being three of these.

When I lived in Khartoum I was able to obtain bottled water so I didn't have to worry about purifying water. This will not be so in South Sudan. The Nile Theological College has a Katedyn water purifier system that should be waiting for me in the south, and I have obtained a portable solar system for using the sun to kill the bacteria in the water as well.

Shenango Presbytery has heeded my call for help in obtaining a solar generator and is in the process of fundraising for one. I am grateful indeed for this partnership! This would enable me to use one of the most consistent and readily available natural resources of South Sudan -- the sunshine! -- to provide for my fuel needs in cooking, lighting, cooling, etc.

I have learned about both passive and active solar heating and cooling during this time in Pennsylvania. At one of my host homes I learned that passive solar is used in places that do not have enough year round sunshine to rely on solar energy alone. Passive solar means that the people who design a home take advantage of what sunshine energy there is and make up the difference between their energy needs and what is available through solar with another power source such as electricity. Large windows are put on the south side of a home, with smaller ones on the other sides. There can be coils put under the flooring in areas where water flows if a person chooses to heat some of their water with solar. Another design feature can be a double vacuum door. This is where there are two entrance doors with an area between them. A person enters the first door and when that door is closed then enters the home through the second door. It is similar to the function of layering clothes in the colder climates, the air is trapped between the layers....in this case the heat is not allowed into the home and in the winter the cold is not allowed in.

In an active solar situation solar panels on the roofs of homes are used. When I was in Sacramento, California earlier this year my host home had solar panels. The water was heated with solar and much of the electricity came from solar. The solar is off of the power grid and my hostess only paid for the electricity which was used from the grid when the solar power didn't generate enough energy for her needs. She had small electric bills.

I look forward to the day that solar is a main source of the power in the world. We will probably always have to rely on other sources of power as well, particularly in countries in the north because sunshine is simply not plentiful enough to supply all of the needs people may have, or think that we have.

New Wilmington is in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I had not seen a horse and buggy with Amish people inside before this week, well perhaps in pictures....I have heard that the furniture that is available here in amazing as it is handmade by the Amish. I have also heard that they grow wonderful organic produce. I must admit that I admire them for maintaining a style of life that, to me, appears to be very difficult when there is such abundance of cars, electricity, cell phones and other modern conveniences surrounding them. I may live a similar lifestyle to theirs in South Sudan but it isn't like I will be surrounded by the conveniences of the United States....so I do have an admiration for that ability to steer a course that they believe in and adhere to it.

The music here at the New Wilmington Mission Conference is remniscent to me of the Prayer and Praise at the Lutheran Bible Institute (Trinity Lutheran College) when I was a student there. So many familiar praise songs. I do believe that there needs to be a mix of praise worship (contemporary) and traditional hymns. Our traditional hymns as the church universal are important to keep alive in both our hearts and in practice, many of them are treasures of theology. I become concerned when all or most of the music at church sponsored or church related events is modern. We do need to support our contemporary musicians, artists and liturgical dancers, etc., and at the same time we need to be sure that our heritage and tradition is not lost to the coming generations. At the Bell Memorial Presbyterian Church this past Sunday I was so happy to experience both a worship team with modern songs and then, later in the service, a beautiful traditional hymn from days gone by.
Blessings,
Debbie

American Culture

2011-07-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I am entering into my third day here in Pennsylvania in the United States. I have the blessing of a morning to myself in a peaceful home with wireless internet.

I am enjoying the rolling hills and compact, rounded trees of Pennsylvania. I have been in this state two or three times now and each time am struck by the differences between the rolling hills here and the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The are both beautiful in their own ways....for me the mountains will always be home.

Yesterday I was able to visit a Presbyterian Church Camp in those rolling hills of Pennsylvania. The camp is located on a large piece of very beautiful property. Tranquil and serene are the words with which I choose to describe this church camp. Of course the scene at the swimming pool was not tranquil and serene -- squealing children, lots of splashing and yelling, and, dare I say, joyous goings on and music made to the Lord? However, the rest of the property was tranquil and serene.

I had an interesting conversation yesterday which led me to reflect on several things....those things are what I am going to share with you today in this blog.

It is possible that around the year 2000 a cultural shift began to happen in the United States. Now, probably some of this was taking place before the year 2000 and certainly it has continued since the year 2000. For a long time our society has been transitioning towards being mobile and, well, temporary. People take a promotion with a job and the whole family moves across a state or across the country. I heard on television about a new scheme being considered for corporations whose employees must frequently relocate; having the employees rent their homes. Then there would be a network of homes for rent across the United States, fully ready for new occupants to move in with just suitcases. Somehow takes the punch line out of giving our kids wings and --- what is that word????? -- ROOTS??????

In having our lives become essentially rootless things are disappearing like, for instance, neighborhoods. Now people just happen to live on a street with other people. The idea of children growing up in the same home with a neighborhood full of other children, their best friends and playmates, who they know all of their growing up years, is becoming a thing of the past.

As I was having this conversation which, on the surface, was related to the shrinking enrollment for Church Camps, I realized some different things.

The face, and the depths, of America are changing. Our values are changing as well. I understand from listening to other people that in perhaps the 50's and 60's (of the 1900s) church tended to be a cultural thing, that was what people did on Sunday mornings, they went to church. Then perhaps later in the century it became that people made a real choice to go to church on Sunday mornings because that was where they really wanted to be. Church held meaning for them. They weren't going to another country club, they were going home.

Church attendance is shrinking now, for a variety of reasons, and so is Church Camp. America's soul is being eaten and occupied by material wealth and consumption. Neighborhoods are rare these days. The kind of neighborhoods where kids grow up together and there is a weiney roast on the 4th of July.

Sports have become King, as far as I hear. There is now a competition for soccer and other sports on Sunday mornings. As I listened to the other person involved in this conversation at the Church Camp yesterday I found myself thinking, someone is making $. Someone is making money, and lots of it. If sports and other camps which are almost required, even though no one would say that out loud, to "fit" in, someone is making money. Sports and consumption are competing with God in American society. MONEY is competing with God, with Jesus Christ, in American society. I kid you not.

The way has been found to undermine relationships. We are kept on the go. We are earning more money and becoming slaves to the jobs which move us to other cities in other states and keep our relationships from developing into RELATIONSHIPS. We are not encountering the Risen Lord in the idolatry of making money, of fitting into American culture and therefore we see no need to send our children to Church Camp where American culture might have a chance of being undermined. OUR lifestyle might be undermined. And by golly, we can't have that! Now, it wouldn't happen by someone verbally attacking capitalism, although that could happen. It would happen because children might encounter God for themselves.

They might encounter God for themselves away from the noise of American consumption and away from the idolatry of Sunday morning sports. They might HEAR God in the quiet places at camp. I found that there were a lot of quiet places at the Church Camp in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. All it took was walking a little ways from the swimming pool and there was plenty of quiet. There were plenty of places to commune with Jesus Christ and discover the he is more important than the money that someone is making by transforming our American society into a transitional, rootless, sports loving, belly gazing country.

While we cannot produce an encounter for someone with the Living God, we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit in helping to create spaces for that encounter. It is the work, the job so to speak, of the Holy Spirit to encounter. I saw the "dorms" for the youth at the Church Camp. I was overwhelmed. Those dorms, while extremely frugal to American youth would be considered luxurious to my Sudanese students in South Sudan. My students often have to ride 2 1/2 to 3 hours EACH way to the college on a bus and are as likely to go to a home with no electricity as they are to go to one without. More likely actually. To have a simple dorm with a bunk bed and a kitchen area on the campus of the Nile Theological College in Malakal, South Sudan, would be a miracle. The money that we Americans spend on buildings and structures in the United States is so extravagant, it was a relief to me to see a simple dorm at the Church Camp. Even so I am quite certain that a Refugee Camp anywhere in the world would never look so good.

The youth at the Church Camp aren't allowed to have MP3 players, cell phone, computers or tvs. The space is created for an encounter. The possibility exists.

I wonder if that possibility ever exists for their parents.
Blessings,
Debbie

Taking Responsibility

2011-07-12T18:18:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,
The last couple of days I have come to see a pattern in the way that governments relate to their predecessor governments. There is a certain period of "grace" when, for instance, the Obama Administration could "blame" the former Bush Administration for many of its woes because it was clear to all involved that those woes were inherited. Wars, economic problems, a devastating recession. The time has come and gone when the Obama Administration is responsible for its own course and can no longer blame its predecessor administration. It must now take responsibility for its own leadership and policies.

In a similar way I have noticed that the newest country in the world, and Africa's 54th country, South Sudan, has acknowledged that as of Saturday the 9th of July, 2011, its problems can no longer be blamed on the government of President al-Bashier in Khartoum, Sudan in the north.
I will say however that I think that the condition the country is in that the new government of South Sudan is an indictment on the governance of the government in Khartoum.

Until this past Saturday South Sudan was a part of the largest country in Africa, the Sudan. Had Sudan wanted to make unity with the south of Sudan a priority, and an attractive priority at that, it might have invested resources in developing the south. It might have chosen not to engage in two civil wars with south, intentionally bombing the infrastructure of the south. The government in Khartoum bombed hospitals, schools, civilian areas including homes, police stations and military compounds. Khartoum was attempting to bring the south to its knees and force the south to remain part and parcel with the north. Strange way to bring compliance, isn't it? It tried to do this by being abusive.

Injustice. South Sudan is a green and fertile region. Yet as a result of years of having her natural resources exploited for use by the north and her people forced into slavery to satisfy the labor needs of the north; as a result of having little or none of the oil revenues which were taken in by the north invested into her people; the new nation of South Sudan has the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Approximately 80% of females in South Sudan are illiterate. A girl child in Sudan is more likely to be married by age 14 than to be in school and it is highly likely that she will have endured female genital cutting. So while South Sudan is a green and potentially fertile area, potentially a bread basket for Western Africa, at this moment in time she is infertile because of the lack of care shown to her by the north. The north has not invested in her, loved her or shared her riches with her.

Now, at some point very soon South Sudan will have to take full responsibility for the condition of her citizens. At some point she can no longer blame, or indict, the north for the goings on in the south which is now an independent and sovereign nation.

South Sudan has some major challenges. Among them are: fighting corruption. There is tribalism run rampant in South Sudan, members of tribes side with one another and fight with one another. Attitudes have been formed in the bush and not in the civilian ranks. In the bush the leader is the one to whom all things are given, the leaders in South Sudan are not used to giving to other people what is rightfully theirs. Along with health care, education, and coming to understand what cultural practices are harmful as well as the value of girl children and women, South Sudan has its hands full. May God be with her and may the international community and the South Sudanese ex-patriots who have benefited from living out of the country be with her as well.
Blessings,
Debbie

Jesus' Yoke Is Light

2011-07-11T19:14:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I figured out a few weeks ago what this Bible verse is talking about. Come to me all you weary and burden laden. Let me share with you because my yoke is light and you will no longer be tired.

I realized that for me it means I can stop worrying. I have nothing to worry about. Let Jesus' take that burden from me and I will take his yoke.....to take his yoke means to trust him. No one ever said to be a Christ Follower was going to be easy and at the same time I think I know now some of how it is supposed to "work". Being a Reformed Christian of course I know I can't work my way to salvation, but that's the point. If I am working, and worry is work, then I am trying to do things that are not mine to carry. I am taking on the burden of the world and not the yoke of Jesus.
Blessings,
Debbie

May 1, 2011, my first sermon while itinerating.

2011-07-07T20:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.carmichaelpres.org/ministriessermons.htm

I am not able to connect to Carmichael Presbyterian through this hyperlink. Please try putting the address into your search machine.
Blessings,
Debbie

Reflections on ministry and the Holy Spirit.

2011-06-20T14:01:00.001-07:00

June 19, 2011

Dear Friends,

Greetings. I have been in Oregon now for three days. Friday I arrived in the morning at the Portland airport and spend the day with Wycliffe missionaries at their home. I also had the joy of a long nap. I do not deal well with jet lag and by the time I got to Oregon around 11:00 in the morning I had been up since 4:00 a.m. Eastern Time which was 1:00 a.m. Pacific Time. I was pretty darn tired!

Saturday morning was a time for a presentation in an intimate group at Jim and Louise’s home. I was asked to share my story, and to start at the beginning. So they heard it!

Saturday I was taken out to lunch at Bob’s Red Mill, different than the Red Mill in Seattle. I was in organic flour heaven! It turns out that not only is it a natural foods restaurant it is also a natural foods grocery store. I was able to find sought after vegetable broth powder to put in recipes in Sudan that call for chicken broth.

Saturday night was spent with another host family, a second career pastor and his wife. It was wonderful to hear the stories of how God has worked in their lives bringing them to a time of a new ministry after retirement.

Today has been a blessed time of preaching and “camp”. This morning I preached at a small church in Portland. I am preaching one sermon for all of the itineration times as there is not time to write a new one for each Sunday. I also am preaching one that I preached in the chapel at the Nile Theological College in Khartoum. I want to give the congregations a flavor of what it would be to hear a North American ordained woman through the lens of a Sudanese man or woman.

This morning I felt a different voice in the preaching. This was the voice of the teacher, the one who makes the bridge between the listener (the student) and God’s Word. It was the voice of the one introducing uncomfortable and radical thoughts and trying to keep God’s actions in the world accessible though possibly foreign.

The Holy Spirit was strongly present in the service and the congregation felt it as well. We had trod on Holy Ground.

This afternoon I was whisked away from Portland and brought to a Presbyterian Church camp in the woods. This is the first week of camp for the summer and the program this first week is for Middle Schoolers.

As always when I come someplace in the mountains surrounded by trees I think of Buck Creek in the Cascades mountain range in Washington state. That camp has since passed out of Presbyterian camps but was formative in my own youth and in the childhoods of my two children.

There was a campfire tonight that I chose to attend. I was absolutely freezing with my African top and jean skirt, someone was so kind as to find me a camp t-shirt with long sleeves and it helped some, but let me tell you it is cold at night in the woods!

The flames of the fire reminded me of my years at Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Issaquah, Washington. At the Providence Point site there was a wooded area near “the loop” (a paved road that went around most of the multi acred property). The area had a campfire pit and rough wooden benches lined up the way that such things are at campsites. Tonight as my guide and I approached the campfire I was reminded that these times of fellowship, singing, story telling and fires are also times of faith formation. That is what I experienced at LBI (now Trinity Lutheran College) and what I hope the young people who are at this camp this week will also experience.

Community away from the formal setting of a church building forms faith in different way. This community is perhaps more wholistic, just as the community is where I teach in South Sudan. Bible Colleges, church camps, mission trips, provide a 24/7 experience of eating together, singing together, worshipping together, talking together. Praying together. Hearing God speak in community for a longer stretch than Sunday morning service. With those of us for whom relationship is a major faith vehicle, spending time in community, soaked in community, away from other distractions, can be a way for God to speak to us that may not happen in other settings.

I realized tonight at the campfire that this has been a special and powerful day. It has been a gentle powerful, not an overwhelming powerful. Kind of like the movement of the Holy Spirit this morning through the sermon. Gentle, not overwhelming.

The Apostle Paul experienced Jesus Christ in an overwhelming bee sting kind of way. My own experience of Jesus Christ has been in a gentle rosebud opening slowly over time way. Jesus knows that not everyone is capable of enduring the flame of overwhelming. On the other hand, not everyone has the patience for the gentle rosebud.

Tomorrow I have 45 minutes with the kids. I’m taking pictures of my students in Africa and I will tell their stories. I will tell the story of how God in Jesus Christ got me to Africa and the story of God in Jesus Christ is working in the lives of my student.

We will also pray. Sudan is on fire today. South Sudan will (hopefully) be declaring independence from the north of Sudan on July 9^th, 2011. There are forces in Sudan that are not happy about this separation. There are many battles being waged against the civilian populations of Sudan. Prayer is needed. Against this backdrop of human pain and suffering is the story of hope. My students are that story.

Hope.

Blessings,

Debbie

Prep time....

2011-06-15T16:15:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings. As I spend my time in Louisville, Kentucky focused on preparations for returning to Africa I have learned a few things.

What will soon be South Sudan is considered a hardship post. This not only means that there are what, to an American, seem to be very basic living conditions, it also means that even just getting there to begin one’s work is hard. It takes more work.

Some of this is because there is not an infrastructure to speak of in a country that has been torn apart by almost 50 years of civil war. Looking the last few days at pictures and readers journalistic renditions of what is happening in Sudan in general I realize that it is very hard to focus on things like getting an education when most of the llife’s energy is spent trying to find something to eat every day.

Therefore, there is very little infrastructure. This means that there is no easy way for foreigners to get money to the south for daily expenses. There are no banks in Malakal, where I will be living. Because of the border disputes with Khartoum in the north of Sudan there are many road closures. The cost of gasoline has risen and this means that food prices are going up and there are severe food shortages in many areas. The water in Sudan is not drinkable, at least not for an ex-patriot from the United States. I must plan ahead as to how to obtain clean drinking water and what food to take in order to be able to eat while I am learning the lay of the land when I arrive in my new home.

There is a shortage of electricity. In the area where I will live in Malakal there may be 12 hours of electricity per day. I am having to learn about inverters, rechargeable batteries and solar cooking. I am taking a battery operated fan with me and will need to look for a solar powered flashlight.

There are limited supplies of things like shampoo, no one I’ve spoken to has seen conditioner so I am having to take in my own supplies of those personal essentials. African hair is different than Western hair and so it makes sense that the stores in this little town would not have the kind of hair products that I need.

I’ve been told that there is no hand lotion to be had in Malakal. So I am taking my own supplies of lotion, feet become very dry and flaky in the African climate. There are probably few doctors and no dentists where I am going so I am investigating where I can find services when I need them.

Some of this looking ahead is because eventually I will be returning to a first world country and I will need to keep myself in a physical condition to be able to return with grace. An analogy would be this: I used to wonder why missionaries sent their children to ex-patriot schools instead of to school with the local children to whom they ministered. At some in Khartoum I realized it is because the missionary kids need to be prepared to re-enter, or enter for the first time, their first culture, the culture of their first tongue. Those young people may choose to go to college in the United States, they may choose to follow God’s call on their lives in the United States. In order for that to be an option for them they must be able to relate to the academic curriculum that other children who are in school in the United States are experiencing.

My issues are something like that. While I am spending a significant amount of my adult life in other countries, I must be prepared for the time when I will return to the culture of my first tongue, to the United States.

In a sense I have a foot in both worlds. I am living and serving in Africa, and yet I must always remember that to some degree the United States is the home to which I will return when God calls me back there. In advance preparation for that time I care for myself as if I was in the United States to the best of my ability in a country that is far, far different from my own.

I hope it is helpful for me to share some of my journey in this time of preparation for my return to Sudan. It is a time of trails and exhaustion. What keeps me going forward is knowing that God is sending me to South Sudan for Such a Time as This. I have an assignment and the Lord is providing me with the means to fulfill that assignment. God has given me a strong love for my students and that is my driving force.

Blessings,

Debbie

This is the 100th BLOG!

2011-06-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I am watching CNN in my apartment at the Furlough Home at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I am missing advertisements for Abu Dhabi, Egypt, UAE, etc., on Al Jazeera television that was available to me in Khartoum, Sudan. I am certainly becoming more informed about political issues in the United States however!

I have just under two months now until I return to Africa on August 2nd. I have collected a battery operated fan for the hot days without electricity in Malakal in the south of Sudan, as well as ordering a basic solar stove and a bag to purify water through solar heat. I find it ironic that the batteries which will power the fan will have to be recharged at night with electricity. I wish that solar was more advanced at this point in history. I think it is a cutting edge and has not been developed to a point of daily use yet. I do trust that in due time it will be as common and reliable a technology as electricity. In countries such as Sudan where solar heat is plentiful most of the year, I hope it will become a widely used and free form of power and fuel after an initial investment for solar equipment. In places in the world where there is not yet electricity, solar could well be the next step in creating a powered infrastructure.

I also have a mosquito net tent coming to me via UPS. The malaria bearing mosquitos are rampant in Africa and South Sudan will be full of the pesky creatures. Learning that I will need to sleep under netting in order to avoid the ailment I began to question if a tent might exist. I feel claustrophobic under netting and was thrilled to learn that yes, tents do exist. The one I will take with me to Africa has coverage quite a ways up the sides because mosquitos can bite through netting. It also has a zipped front so I can easily get in and out. I don't know if my bed will fit into the tent or if the tent will have to sit on the bed, but I feel better already knowing that I will be protected from mosquitos and all sorts of crawling insects and rodents....

The solar equipment and the mosquito tent were given to me by friends in Sacramento. I am very grateful for their care.

I'll write again soon and let you know how the preparations are coming. Please be aware that there is a great deal of military conflict in Sudan in the Nuba Mountains right now and keep the Sudanese people in your prayers.
Blessings,
Debbie

God's Mercies

2011-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! The last few days have been filled with God's mercies fresh every day.

I continue to be in a time of transition as I take care of medical needs, do itineration and prepare for my return to Africa. God continues to speak to me through other people and through circumstances.

One person recently told me that she feels God is looking out for me. Another person recently gave me an option that I had not thought of for a situation. I could feel God speaking to me through her words. The dental work that I need before I go back to Africa was unaffordable for me in Seattle and yet here in Louisville it is more so. God is merciful and faithful.

I believe, help my unbelief. In times of stress I continue to need to pray this short little prayer many times a day. It is short and potent. It is potent because it is so honest. I believe. Honestly Jesus, I do believe. Help my unbelief. Help me when I fall short in belief and have trouble trusting your plan because I cannot see that plan. I need to start adding, "thank you for loving me no matter what the circumstances. Thank-you for caring for my physical as well as emotional and spiritual well-being." Amen.
Blessings,
Debbie

Packing

2011-05-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I dislike packing intensely. I am in the midst of packing this morning in Seattle. I have finally figured out that it is more than trying to fit too much into too little space. It also has to do with packing signifies change in my life and sometimes that can be a little bit unnerving.

I realize that for many people packing and change means they are embarking on a new adventure and this is greeted with expectation and joy. I get to the expectation and joy eventually, however I usually have to work through anxiety and the facing of the unknown first.

It has good to be "home" in Seattle. It has also been difficult. While I have family and friends here my life isn't here any longer. At least not for now. Of course, my life really isn't anywhere right now. At least not for now. It will be eventually in South Sudan in a not too far off future and yet that will be a new place that I have only glimpsed for a brief two days earlier this year.

In the meantime I will return tonight to Louisville, Kentucky. I do have a temporary apartment there and yet my life really isn't there either. I will spend the next two months doing itineration, finishing up shopping and details for my return to Africa, catching some hours to do reading for my doctoral dissertation proposal and praying towards the journey that will take me back to Sudan in August.

I reflect more frequently on this journey that is both life and also God's vehicle for God's purposes for my life. That is, God created me for a purpose and the life that I live is the vehicle for that purpose. I was in awe at my daughter's graduation from Trinity Lutheran College this May. I saw young people whose lives have been changed by faith and academics. None of us know how God will shape our lives when we go forward to "begin" our adulthood. God has worked even in the life of Prince William who knew his role from his birth. Watching life and God's work in life unfold is an awe inspiring mystery.

There are times when I embrace this mystery more readily than at other times. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
Blessings,
Debbie

going home different

2011-05-18T14:21:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings again from Seattle! Last night I went to the Seattle Presbytery meeting. It has been several years now since I was at one of the meetings in the Presbytery whose care I was under for about ten years.

I realized that yes, I can go home, and yes, I am a different person now than I was then. It was wonderful seeing many people who are dear to my heart. It was interesting seeing again people whose views on many issues are very different from my own. And yet we are all a part of the one church, in particular the Presbyterian church; in general the catholic church universal.

I was struck by how many journeys intersect at these meetings. There were two examinations for Inquirers to move into Candidacy. There was one Certified Candidate being examined for ordination. I know how much it has taken to come to those different junctures on the journey of faith and academics.

God gives us each gifts and life is the vehicle those gifts are placed in. Our journey is on that vehicle and the means and the goal are to love and serve the Triune God forever.
Blessings,
Debbie

How time flies!

2011-05-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Time flies! I am now in Seattle after seven weeks in Louisville and time itinerating in Sacramento, California.

I am on vacation, doing some itinerating, and getting some medical appointments taken care of. I am also learning about solar cooking and mosquito net tents. I will be taking two simple solar stoves back to Sudan with me along with the cooking pots that are designed to be used with them. From what I understand this new way of cooking (new to me at least) will be equivalent to using a slow cooker. I am looking forward to that; putting food in a pot and returning hours later to a nicely cooked vegetarian meal.

I am also trying to locate the equipment to have a solar fan during the hot Sudanese days. I will have electricity at my new home in Malakal, however it will be 12 hours at night. So I need to find a way to have a fan and stay cooler during the days.

Life in Malakal will be much more rudimentary than it was in Khartoum. I am having to think ahead to what the things are I will need in order to live as normal a life as possible. Fortunately because South Sudan is considered a hardship post I will be able to leave Malakal four times a year and go somewhere to shop for things that cannot be purchased there. Which, judging by my two day visit earlier this year, is just about everything. I will be living a more basic life and certainly eating a more basic diet.
Blessings,
Debbie

Back in the USA!

2011-03-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
I had not realized how darn long it has been since I have communicated with you! Anyhow, I am back.

I have also opened a blog on WordPress because BlogSpot was blocked in Ethiopia. I am not sure how I am going to keep two blogs going, if you have suggestions please let me know.

I want to finish blogging about Ethiopia in this blog entry. I made notes to myself as some point in Addis Ababa specifically for this purpose.

I have realized over the course of the last few years that it is impossible to accurately describe what another country is like. This is especially true when the other country is in a less developed part of the world. In Europe I could wax eloquent about Gothic architecture and the feelings that were evoked in me as I experienced in being places of such historical significance whose histories stretched so far back in time. While geographically the continent of Africa is as old as the rest of the globe, many of the countries were themselves created by European colonists who had never set eyes on the people groups and cultures of the continent. This is to say that while there are cultures that are as ancient as any anywhere else in the world, the historical past is not always present in the same way in less developed countries as it may be in other parts of the world.

For instance, when I was in Egypt I asked why the city of Alexandria has buildings dating essentially from the 1600's or so, it is a pretty modern city for being so very ancient. Granted there were two devastating earthquakes which took the first two cities under the waters of the sea. I was also told that the building codes were not up to par in the ancient days. and that people did not recognize the value of conserving history and the past until relatively modern times.

So when I speak of Addis Ababa I am speaking of a culture perhaps more than an urban metropolis that is teeming with historical architecture. In Addis one day I saw two sights that I knew had I not been aware that I was not in the United States would have given me a great jolt and given me a huge clue that I probably indeed was not "in Kansas anymore". First there was a whole line of donkeys with bundles of wheat strapped to their backs crossing a street. Immediately after that as the vehicle I was in crossed a street of its own and turned a corner there was a whole row of shoe shiners. These are typical sights in Addis Ababa. They are a signal to me that I am in a less developed part of the world than most of Europe or the United States.

Passing by parks one can see some of the many homeless people of Addis Ababa. There are usually many people sleeping, and sometimes groups of people talking. Some of them look downright miserable which is quite understandable as I have recently been to Addis when it is not a warm or hot African climate. I know that the unemployment rate in Egypt before the recent uprising was approximately 35%. I do not know the unemployment rate in Addis Ababa, however I can assume that it is high. There are no government programs to help with those who are down on their luck. There is no free medical care. We don't know how good we have it in the United States, even at the worst, compared to other countries that have next to no infrastructure. Having an honest government whose desire is to actually serve the people and not itself also helps. And I do recognize the fact that the United States does have poverty. I also know that Africa is the only continent in the world left which has extreme poverty.

I was told while I was in Addis that there are many women leaving for Sudan. I don't know if the majority of them are Muslims. I say this because I think for people in North Sudan it will make life at least somewhat easier to be Muslim. Once the separation of the North and South of Sudan has become legal and binding it will be more difficult to be a Christian or any other kind of believer in Khartoum or other parts of the North. However, the Ethiopian birr (the name of their currency) continues to be devalued which makes for great prices for Americans and others, and makes for misery for the Ethiopian people. Their money is worth less. Store owners often compensate for this by raising their prices. Salaries do not increase and so people have less money with which to buy higher priced staples like cooking oil. The Sudan pound is also losing value and when I was back in Sudan at the end of February and the beginning of March prices had indeed responded to this devaluation by climbing higher. However, it could be that women, one of the most vulnerable segments of any population, feel that Sudan is still a better bet for earning a living than is Ethiopia.

Being back in the United States I can....drink the tap water. Turn on a thermostat and have heat in the whole apartment to keep me warm even while it is quite cold outside. Have reliable electricity. There are many modern cars on the roads. I can once again flush toilet paper down the toilet. Restaurants have flush toilets and toilet paper is provided, along with soap I might add. The stores are....well, how do I find words for what the stores are like? Large, well lit. Overwhelming amounts of selection. Some prices are very cheap, some prices are very expensive compared to overseas. In Khartoum I had a satellite dish that got plenty of channels including CNN, Al Jazeera News and BBC News. I had no monthly bill for this service, just had to buy the dish. Here I have to have Cable TV. I get CNN but I don't have Al Jazeera or BBC. I miss them.
Blessings,
Debbie

Alexandria Egypt

2011-01-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings.
Perhaps because one's culture always seems in more in focus I am finding that the African and Arabic cultures are very complex and multi-layered.

I have been to the Middle East and I understood there what an Arab culture meant. Then I went to Northern Sudan and I came to understand what an Arab culture meant in an African country, I thought. Because when I came to Egypt everything underwent redefinition. Now I am in an Arab country on the African continent because in no uncertain terms Egypt is not an African country.

Ethiopia to me has become the land of the shawls. Khartoum and Egypt are the land of the head scarves. Khartoum has many tobes, the cloth that married women wrap around themselves, the traditional wear of Sudan. I have not seen many of those here in Egypt.

I know that Christianity was in Egypt in the first century and I believe it was in other parts of the African continent in the first century as well. Christianity is not an import to Africa. Now that I have come to realize that Egypt is ethnically and culturally part of the Middle East and not Africa I am trying to discern the threads of the African church in early Christianity. I know that the church moved up from Africa into the Middle East and eventually into Ireland, having an influence on the monastic communities in that country before moving back into Europe and now back down into Africa.

Augustine, a well-known church Father, was African. What does this mean? Were his thoughts formed by the African tribes or by the Arabic tribes and nomadic people of the Middle East?

Ignorance is not bliss. It is shock. I learned things when I came here to Alexandria that I probably should have known before I came, but I didn't. There have been two earthquakes in Alexandria, the last was in the 12th century A.D. The two earthquakes destroyed two ancient cities and both of them lay under the sea. The city that Alexander the Great founded and began to build was the first.

The current Alexandria, one could call it modern, dates back to the 18th century. There are very limited Roman ruins dating to the 2nd and 3rd century A.D. The catacombs date to the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.

I asked my tour guide what happened between the 12th and 18th centuries...why are none of the buildings older than the 1700's? He told me that there were no laws protecting the ancient buildings. People would tear down and build up. Tear down and build up. My consolation was that even though in terms of time the city is relatively recent, the culture is deep and very, very old.

Now, the area where I believe my ignorance was the most vast was this: I thought that there would be the ruins of the Alexandria Library that burned in the first century B.C. Julius Ceasar accidently burned it, so it is rumored. But no. There is a brand new, and I admit beautiful, library built on the ruins. The only thing old is a bust that was found under water that is either of or from the time of Ptolemy the 2nd. This sits in front of the library.

The library is designed to look as if it rises from the sea. It is breathtaking. I got quite a few pictures of it and will post them either here or on Facebook when I am able to figure out how to do so.

There is in current Alexandria a wealthy class of people, the street where the church and Fairhaven, the school for mentally challenged students where I have stayed this week, is located in the wealthy part of the city. I know in Japan when I was there the guest house was located in a wealthy part of Tokyo because the guest house was originally built in a poor area and the wealth was created around it. That may be the case here as well. There is also a middle class and impoverished areas of town. In many countries it is a rarity these days to have a middle class so I was surprised to learn this.

The architecture here in Alexandria is Baroque Rococo and it is Italian. It is quite beautiful. Last night while walking to the Julian Calendar Christmas Eve Service I was struck by the beauty of the area we were walking in. The buildings were at least 100 years old and the moonlight lit things up in a manner that highlighted the trees, the palm trees and the Italian features of the buildings.

Christians are about 10% of the population in Egypt. In Alexandria itself of course there was a vibrant community of Jews beginning with the founding of the city in the 4th century B.C. When Israel declared herself a state in 1948 the vast majority of Jews made the decision to leave the city and immigrate to Israel. It is believed that they felt there might be a better life, aka as higher wages, in Israel than in Egypt. Egypt does have an employment rate of about 35% which may make the case for a better life in Israel a strong one.

There is a large Sudanese community here in Alexandria. Some of the Sudanese have official refugee status and thus have financial support and other services. The ones who could not gain that status and chose to come to Egypt anyhow are here struggling. With a 35% unemployment rate no one from outside of Egypt is allowed to work here.

Thanks to Alexander the Great coming from Greece, Greek was the language spoken in Egypt until the Islamic invasion in the 600's. It is now Arabic. Greek spread out from Alexandria to become the lingua franca in the Middle East during New Testament times and contributed mightily to the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Whenever a church is built a mosque is built facing it. It is said that this way the two religions are hugging each other.

The last thing I will address here is what someone told me about the culture. There was a mix up with the tour agency and tour guide who showed me the city this week. I mentioned to someone that it would have been courteous for the company to let me know that things have changed. He said that in this culture that would not have been considered. My response was that while I understand the need to adapt to new cultures, if a company is working with foreigners it is important to understand the culture of the foreigner and respect it. For me it was anxiety producing to get into a car with two strange men to whom I had had no introduction in order to go on a guided tour. If someone had let me know that circumstances had changed before the men arrived at the compound I am staying at I would have felt more assured in going with them.

In some ways this is a similar issue to wrestling over, what is mine to point out in another culture that in harmful? Or, how do I lead others to see the harm in what they are doing to another person?
Blessings,
Debbie

Egypt.

2011-01-02T04:09:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Blogging is not blocked in Egypt so I am back, at least temporarily.

I am here in Egypt for a two week stay and I am just over half way through that time. There have been many thoughts and emotions that I have experienced this past week. When I think geographically about going from Ethiopia to Sudan to Egypt I realize the incredible diversity in people groups and climates on this African Continent.

Ethiopians, while African, are not the very black Africans of Southern Sudan. And neither the Sudanese or the Ethiopians are the Arabs or North Sudan or Egypt. Ethiopia and Sudan both have many African tribes such as the Anuak in Ethiopia and the Nuer in Sudan. In Egypt I find only the Arabs.

It is very clear to me having been here in Egypt for only a week so far that the Egyptians totally identify with the Middle East. Egyptians are Arab and not African by ethnicity. At the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo the seminary was very much geared to cooperative work with the Middle East, with other Arab countries. While there was at least one Sudanese student there is was clear that the seminary does not feel connected to Africa in the same way as the Middle East. I am coming to see the cultural bridges more clearly. Egypt is a bridge between Africa and the Middle East much the same way that Turkey (and to a lesser extent Russia) is a bridge between Europe and Asia; Saudi Arabia is a bridge between the Middle East and Asia.

I am now comprehending that while the Arabian Penninsula is not a continent in its own right it is certainly the Middle East and Arabic and is considered to be a part of Asia. On the other hand when I examine early Christianity I am aware that the strip of land which fronts the Mediteranian Sea (including Israel/Palestine and Syria and Lebanon) as well as Greece (Athens) and Italy (Rome) in Europe and Northern Africa (Egypt and Ethiopia) are all a part of the Biblical witness for Christians.

Part of my desire to come to Alexandria in Egypt, where I currently am sitting and typing in this blog, stems from the class I taught at the Nile Theological College in Khartoum, Sudan, just about a year ago. The class was on New Testament Background. I realized then that Alexander the Great had swept down from Greece in 400 B.C. and, among other accomplishments, had built this ancient city of Alexandria. In Alexandria was born a great hub of Jewish culture, language and literature. From Alexandria the spread of Koine Greek created the lingua franca of New Testament Times. Between the culture and language of Greece and the military might and the roads of the later Roman Empire, God had put in place over a number of centuries the means to spread the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have desired to see this place and walk in its streets since I renewed my learning about this period of time which led up to the spread of Christianity in Europe, Asia and Africa.

In seminary I learned about Alexandria and at the same time my thoughts were distracted by a multitude of other things which I was learning. The Greek culture that Alexander the Great brought with him from Greece was modified by the existing Semantic culture of Palestine and the surrounding cultures such as Persian. This modification came to be known as Hellenistic. Hellenistic then was what happened when Greek culture came into the ancient cultures between Greece and Egypt. In Alexandria the Jewish community came to read and speak Greek to the point that Hebrew was no longer in use for reading the Bible. Thus the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek and became the Bible for the first Christians as well as for the Jews. As the Christian Scriptures were written in Greek they were added on to the First Testament to make the Christian Bible which consists of the First and Second Testaments. Because of the Roman system of roads the early Christian missionaries were able to take the Gospel to Europe and Africa as well as to every part of Asia Minor. The Christian faith became the religion of the Roman Empire by the 4th Century A.D., under the Emperor Constantine. Alexandria had much to do with the reasons for the spread and the acceptance of Christianity in the ancient world.

While I was in Cairo I saw the Pyramids of Giza. I was able to take a leisurely boat road on the Nile River. Despite the fact that in Khartoum I live near the Nile River and cross it nearly every week I have never been on a boat road in it. I was able to see the first mosque that was built in Cairo in the 7th century by the Muslim who founded Cairo. Then I was able to see the Coptic churches in the Old City of Cairo. This included the church which is built on the sight where it is believed that the Holy Family stayed in Egypt after the birth of Jesus.

Europe is old and has great history. In Rome and Athens I saw ruins which stretched far beyond the first century A.D. Here in Egypt there is history dating back millenium before the birth of Jesus. I have a heightened awareness of the work of the Triune God of Christianity in human history long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There are such roots and there is such tradition. These things are capable of imprisoning the Gospel in such a way that it can no longer reach out to people. These things are also capable of keeping the Gospel alive and growing when people do not try to capture it for themselves.
Blessings,
Debbie

A Busy Week

2010-11-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This has been a busy week and it is only Wednesday night!

I do not have a car in Sudan so I either hoof it (walk) or take rickshaws (small motorized quick rides) or buses. I have discovered that when there is a lot of traffic the best way for me to cross streets is to walk by the side of the buses that are turning the same direction as I am going. I am protected from the oncoming traffic and can move forward much more quickly than if I waited for traffic to stop for me.

Several things happened today that I am going to share with you, my reader, in various ways. The first was at a doctor's clinic. With the upcoming Referendum on January 9, 2011 which will determine whether Sudan remains Africa's largest country or divides into two countries, there have been rumors abounding. One of the rumors is that medical facilities in north will no longer (be allowed to) treat Sudanese from the south as soon as possibly December.

The doctor today was very clear that Christians and Muslims worship the same God through different religions and that we are to obey Allah (The Arabic word for God) and Allah tells us to love one another. He said that he is always available to all of his patients and it doesn't matter to him if a patient is from the north or the south. What a blessing this man was! I have no idea if doctors all over the world take the Hippocratic oath, I do know that God has touched his heart and spoken truth to him.

The second thing that happened took place on the bus coming back from the city to the suburb where the Nile Theological College (where I teach) is and where I live. There was a Sudanese Arab woman wearing a tobe. I have mentioned these tobes many months ago. It is essentially a large piece of cloth that married Sudanese women wrap around their clothing in a particular way. It is considered the National Dress of Sudan. The tobes can made of very beautiful cloth, I myself have had a two piece outfit made of a beautiful tobe.

This woman was sitting in the bus crying and was clearly pregnant. It was distressful to me to see her crying and I kept making eye contact with her to try to let her know that she isn't alone in the world. When it came to my stop I got almost off the bus and then was able to put my hand out and touch her hand. She touched my hand back and when I looked up at her she was smiling! I pray that she understand that she is not alone.

The third thing today was also an encounter with a Sudanese Arab. I don't know if people come to me for help because I am a foreigner and they assume I have the ability to help, or because of something more personal. Today was one of the few times I have wished that I could be transported back to a somewhat comfortable middle class existence in the United States for a day or two.

I had to explain to this person that I am a widow, that I have no brothers and sisters and that I am supporting myself. I do not have the ability to pay back rent for anyone nor to support a family. Unemployment is so rampant here that I can understand that desperation that underlies the desperate hope that a foreigner will hold the solution to the lack of money for food and shelter. There is not a social welfare system as far as I can tell, that appears to be The Family. If someone is a converted Muslim then The Family is no longer available. And if The Family is just as impoverished as the one seeking help then all of them are together in the need and not able to be a part of a solution for one another.

When I speak of converted Muslims losing family support I should add that I don't know what happens when Christians leave the faith and perhaps turn to Islam. I don't know if the remaining Christian family members will support that person or not.

I think the deeper point of this sharing with you is that instead of treating people as people, instead of realizing that whatever the religion we are all God's children and we all must eat and have shelter, sometimes this gets forgotten as people create criteria for something that is not meant to have criteria.

There are no social welfare offices, no social workers that I am aware of, no community agencies. The churches appear to be financially unable to step in and help their struggling brothers and sisters.

I watched a special on AlJazeera English TV this week. It was about the marshlands of Iraq. The particular tribe who has inhabited the marshlands for thousands of years angered Sudan Hussein when he was living. In retaliation he dried up the marshlands and an ancient civilization, culture and way of life was destroyed. The people in the marshes used to be able to meet their daily needs, their daily bread, in the marshes through fishing and hunting, etc. Now they go at 2:00 a.m. every day to try and find reeds to bundle up and sell. If they have no customers to purchase their bundles they have no money. They are unemployed and have no future. This is what it fees like here in Sudan much of the time.

I do not think that the God that we Christians know in the testimony of the Gospels in the person of Jesus Christ intends for people to live without hope. There comes a time when a forward movement must happen, something must change. The status quo becomes intolerable, unsustainable and has no life left in it. This is what has happened to many people here in Sudan, and perhaps in much of Africa.

When someone has no prospects of employment, no food to feed the children, no money to pay the back rent, what does a Christian say to that person? What is the plan for moving forward? What is the plan for changing what doesn't work any longer? Yes, Jesus provides. And some of that provision comes from the good sense that he has given to us. Some of it comes from a sense of desperation being turned to joy in the morning.

I pray constantly for the people of Sudan that their pain may turn to joy. Please join me in these prayers.
Blessings,
Debbie

PIZZA!!!

2010-11-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This has been a lovely day. On my birthday in August I was treated to pizza at a local restaurant by American friends and their daughter. As I near departure for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I took them for pizza today at the same restaurant. Man that pizza is good!

I realized after sitting and talking with them for a while that my bottle of water was still cold. At home in Khartoum after about five minutes of sitting my water begins to get warm. The restaurant was nice and cool so I realized that a good gauge for how cool a building is has to do with how long cold drinks stay cold...

The other thing that was realized today is that in Khartoum was have to ask for our check, our bill, how much we owe for the food. As one of my friends pointed out, in America there is a mentality of getting people in and out, rapid turnover in order to earn the most money possible on food service. Here, as with many facets of life here, people linger and talk. There is not a hurry and we had to ask for the bill. I could see once I was aware of the low turnover in customers that the same people were still at the tables and while a few people came in, there was not a mad rush in or out.

On our way out we passed a table with many, many children at it. I think that it was a birthday party! I admit that I don't eat out very often here and at the same time I have never spotted a child's birthday party before! That was a nice thing to see.

We headed to a Western type mall after lunch to shop for things that we cannot find in the dukans (little shops) on our side of the Nile. It is nice occasionally to visit a large, well lit store with roomy aisles and merchandise that really looks like what would be in a typical American Target or Sears.

The temperature is beginning to very, very slowly come down. At one point in the shade outside today and with a breeze it was quite tolerable. Unfortunately shade does not walk with me when I move, so that didn't last long!
Blessings,
Debbie

Leadership

2010-11-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This week one of the things that I learned about here in Sudan is leadership. I think that what I have learned could be applied to any number of countries and situations, I just happened to learn about it in the context of Sudan.

There are the leaders who are imposed on people from the top. The ones who are interested in their own well-being and not concerned with the needs of the people whom they are to govern.

Then there are the leaders who are elected from within the community. These are the leaders who are seen to have the best interests of the people at heart.

A student whose wife had a difficult labor and delivery and was not recovering well after child birth lives in a remote village in the south. She lives a five hour round trip by foot (hoofing)from the nearest medical facility. Her father-in-law lives near the medical facility and had asked a local government official if he could borrow his car to go and pick his daughter-in-law up and take her for medical care. Round trip by car the journey is about half an hour. The government official refused.

I was astounded and I will say deeply offended when I learned this. Government officials are to be servants of the people -- SERVING the people. Not so in this case of an official who was assigned to this village and not elected from within. It also showcases the lack of value put on women and maternal health. I found out later that Southern Sudan has the highest rate of maternal deaths related to child birth in the world.

There is a much bigger picture to life than one's own narrow focus. I think that in many places in the world people must just survive and that concern for that bigger picture is not on the personal radar. Those of us who have the ability to look at the bigger picture must do what we can to create opportunities and change, even transformation, for those whose worlds are by necessity so small.

My students who have lived in other countries definitely have different perspectives and are more open to new ideas than those who have lived in one small village all of their lives. May the God of Abraham and Sarah, Issac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah, show us how to open doors, minds and hearts for those who cannot see. May the Holy Spirit blow through Sudan, and other countries, pouring out upon all who need new vision and hope.
Blessings,
Debbie

Polygamy & Other Cultural Differences

2010-11-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings!
This past week I learned that a woman is considered a polygamist even if it her husband who has chosen to take another wife, with or without her consent. This culture is a difficult one for me to comprehend as it is clearly advantageous to the men, with the women having little or no impact on the very things that completely affect their lives.

Women do not take two husbands. But it is believed that if a man consults the first wife about the taking of a second wife that this creates equality and gives the first wife a part in the decision making. I do not believe that this is the case.

I also observed this past week or so that I have never seen a fire hydrant here in Khartoum. I have never seen a fire station nor a fire truck. I do upon occasion see and hear ambulances. They are not accorded the courtesies of those in the west, traffic does not make way for them. I always pray as they go by that the patient will make it to the hospital in a timely manner.

The season is now winter here in Northern Sudan. This means that the temperature of 100F is delayed until late afternoon. The advantage to this is that the sun does not scorch us in the same relentless manner as during the rest of the year. As with this time last year I can tell that the season has changed by the changes in the shadows. In that sense only does the season here remind me of home in Seattle.

I was invited to the home of a colleague/friend for lunch, around 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, this past Sunday. It was a lovely time of visiting and seeing her home and spending time with she and her husband. I am realizing that the architecture here in Sudan is quite varied. Her home is actually a free standing house with a staircase leading to the rooftop where the family has beds for use during the summer months. In the first floor of the house there are two bedrooms, an inside bathroom (shower and toilet), a living room (known as a parlor here), a kitchen, dining room and visiting area with armchairs and a tv. This contrasts with other homes I have been in that are designed quite differently and also with compounds that have several rooms that are built individually on the property, very unlike what we consider a home in the west. With the design of having several rooms on a property it is more practical to have extended family live together than it would be in different rooms in a single house. Different culture, different needs, different designs.
Blessings,
Debbie

Autumn in Khartoum.

2010-11-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! It has been five months since I have blogged and I think it is high time to pick this practice up again.

I had a lovely learning vacation in Ghana and Ethiopia this summer. I have since my return to Khartoum in July been working on class preparation, and now the last few months, teaching.

It can be hard to give an accurate picture of the heat here in Northern Sudan month after month. It is intense and scorching. We seem to be headed now towards "autumn" in Khartoum. At the moment this means that the shadows in the outdoor area of my little home are changing. It also means that I have been quite ill for the past few days as my body is adjusting to the change in seasons.

At some point in time the daytime temperature will begin to drop a little bit, not enough to allow a white Christmas, but enough to give some relief to the sizzle. It is getting darker earlier at night as well. Tonight it was pitch black out by 6:45, in the height of summer the light seems to linger until perhaps 7:25 or so.

I reached my own conclusion today that Northern Africa is in a permanent state of colonialization. Technically both Sudan and Egypt are on African soil. Now, not having been yet to Egypt I cannot comment in a meaningful way on the culture there. I do know that Northern Sudan, at least particularly Khartoum, is Arabic. This is not an African city culturally although it is geographically. Centuries of occupation by outside peoples and forces have changed the character of what once was indeed African. I can only wonder what it might be like here if the Muslims had not swept down into Northern Africa from the Arabian Peninsula in the single digit centuries of the last two thousand years. Whereas Islam is moderated in, for instance, West African countries through African culture and indigenous leadership; here in the North the leadership is Arab and therefore not indigenous. Here is the Sahara the harshness of the sun is somewhat matched by the harshness of Islam. It is a different kind of Islam that I have always known in the West.

Perhaps in Western Europe and North America Islam is moderated through indigenous leadership and culture as it is in Western Africa. Christianity here in Saharan Africa is certainly different than Christianity in the states. It is indigenous Christianity. Missionary Christianity named the Gospel for the Africans, named Jesus for the Africans, however Jesus was here on this continent long before the missionaries. The original missionaries didn't understand how to see Jesus' presence already in the African culture and so they thought that the culture had to be destroyed in order to make room for Christ. Nowadays the fastest growing Christian groups here in North Africa are the indigenous Christian churches.

Just as there are differences between Western and Eastern Islam, there are differences between Western and Southern Christianity. Because of our distinctive cultures we will never be exactly the same and we are not supposed to be. In Christianity the Body of Christ is full of diversity and ever present challenges to listen, learn, grow from our context and love our brothers and sisters in Christ who are different than we are.

Blessings,
Debbie

Church & Other Things

2010-05-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I have been kept very busy the past two weeks or so since the end of classes at NTC. I have also had a cold as so many other people at the college did towards the end of the semester.

I have attended a church community meeting comprised of primarily lay people with a sprinkling of pastors. I was the only female pastor in attendance and there were perhaps two other women, lay women who were sent by their congregations. I met a deaconess (female who holds the office of deacon) which I was glad for; as of yet the Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) does not ordain women as elders or pastors.

I have been told that the women in Africa buy gold jewelry when they can afford it. This is their banking system. They have the gold when times are tough and they need money. Once I understood that I began to notice that many women, even those of modest means, do indeed wear gold earrings or necklaces or bracelets. They may not trust the banks or other financial institutions and jewelry is under their own control.

Several weeks ago I visited a church in an area where many satellite dishes were visible. I assumed that this meant the area had electricity. I found out that this is not so and the TV's were powered by generators. Yesterday, Sunday, I was taken to another church which was more than an hour's drive from Khartoum. The area in which this church was located does not have government services for electricity or water. There were however electric lines and poles. The area produces its own electricity which costs about $16.00 a month. While the church did have several light bulbs which were turned on as darkness overtook the dusk, there were no fans or swamp coolers. They probably cost too much to operate.

This church consisted of a large compound and within that compound was a wall with three rooms in it. There were two worship areas and a small office area between them. The rooms are all made of mud. In the far room worship is held during the cold season (since I didn't think winter here was cold I was a bit puzzled about that). The pulpit was made out of mud as well and painted white. The floor is dirt and the walls had crosses painted on them.

The second worship room was the larger one and this where we worshipped yesterday. It is the room for hot weather. The pulpit in this room is wood but the floor is still dirt. Women were on the left in chairs, men on the right sitting on metal benches. The children were anywhere they could find a parent. In the front row was the music director and two amazing African drums. One of them had a very deep booming sound and the other a lighter one.

The church has a Presbyterian pastor and an Episcopalean pastor (I don't think they are called priests in Africa). The property belongs to the Presbyterians but is shared with the Episcopals which I thought made great sense from a stewardship point of view.

As we drove through the narrow alleys with the mud buildings of the refugee camp we encountered a donkey drawn water cart. I had not seen one of these before. Since the government does not supply water it is delivered to the residents in a large metal tube, poured out into containers that are left besides the entrance to the mud buildings.

During our service the children were free to play outside in the compound. I found myself thinking what a perfect solution it was. They were close by their parents and there was plenty of room for running and playing.

I also found myself realizing what a privilege I have in visiting places in this country that most people from the United States will never see. Khartoum itself is a cultural revelation for me, and when I am driven to points outside of Khartoum it is like traveling to another planet. Mud floors, mud walls with beautiful crosses painted on them, holes in the walls for ventilation and then the doorways that have no doors because there is no need for them.

I could tell as I preached that some of the people know English which indicates that some of them have at least some level of education. I knew this because when I said something funny two or three of the men would laugh before what I said was translated into Arabic. The congregation was made up of Nuer and Dinka tribes people but here in Christ they are one and I believe that the common language of Arabic was being used in the worship service.

The Presbyterian pastor had six beautiful well-behaved children, two boys and four girls. And his wife had a beautiful voice. She did a solo which I cannot describe -- it was African in nature and she beat the small drum and the choir leader punctuated on the larger drum here and there. Because of the language she used I couldn't understand her, but it was profound.

I have learned now that there are approximately 560 languages spoken in Sudan. Sudan is made up of many tribes. Arabs are a tribe, then there are the African tribes and tribes that come from the Nuba Mountains in the West. I have finally reached an understanding of why people have been asking me about the tribes in the United States. Now I explain about the Native Americans and the tribes that inhabited North America before the Europeans colonized the land. I also have a greater appreciation for the linguistic richness of Africa in general and Sudan in particular. Most of my students at NTC know at least three languages; their tribal language, Arabic and English.
Blessings,
Debbie

Two weeks of learning and participating in life in Khartoum.

2010-05-16T01:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! It has been two weeks since I wrote in this blog. Two weeks which have been full of activity, ministry and learning.

I have hosted an end-of- the- year party/movie viewing in my apartment for my English class. I have preached twice in local churches and I have baptized three young women! I've spoken at a conference for Women and Men in Ministry Together and with a small group of spouses of students at Nile Theological College where I teach. The small group talk was about spouses (all of the spouses in attendance were women) supporting their husband's ministry. I have also had small group discussions with students in my apartment. It has been a busy two weeks!

I attended a Christian church wedding here in Khartoum. I was amazed by the sermon, some of which was translated for me by one of my students. The minister said that marriage is between one man and one woman and called for the groom as well as the bridge to be a virgin.

The wedding was beautiful and there was a huge reception afterwards outside of the church on the grounds. The bride and groom were wearing very Western bridal clothing, this didn't surprise me too much as that was also the custom in China. At least here in Sudan the men and women wear their customary Arab or African garb on the streets -- imaginative and full of color (except for the men who wear white). In China nearly everyone wore Western apparel.

In speaking more at depth with my students I have learned that even now there are villages in Sudan, particularly perhaps in the South, which have no internet and no cell phone coverage. When a student comes from a village like that it is very difficult to communicate with his wife. Our female students at NTC all seem to have families here in Khartoum and do not have those communication problems.

An American friend commented to me recently that in Khartoum there is really no middle class as there is in America. There are the rich, and there are the poor. I remembered this a few days ago when in front of the college I saw a woman with plastic sandals (we used to call them zorries when I was a kid) on her hands. Then I realized she was using her hands to drag herself along the sidewalk. Then I realized that she had no legs and she was using her arms as legs and her hands as feet. I admired the tenacity of that woman. I can only imagine the challenges that she faces every day of her life as she feeds herself and tends to her most basic of needs.

I continue to try and piece together what the differences and similarities are between Arab and African culture. Khartoum is an absolutely fascinating mix of the two. I will be leaving in just under three weeks for my vacation time to Ghana and Ethiopia. I am looking forward to being immersed in cultures which are bound to be much more African. I have already spent time in the Middle East, in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, and a brief visit to the Golan Heights in Syria; so I have some exposure beyond Khartoum to Arab culture. The only other African experience I have had is my ten days in Nairobi last September. I expect to learn more about African culture and to experience more of the differences and similarities first hand.
Blessings,
Debbie

A Day in the Life....

2010-05-02T21:23:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Yesterday was an amazing day full of many different activities and much learning. I will share some of it with you....

In the morning I spent time with some of my students. We traveled by bus to a park in Khartoum. There are a few parks where there is an entry fee, in this case it was 1SDG which is about .40 USD. The park was a pleasant change from either the NTC campus or from my apartment.

I was told that there are over 500 tribal languages in Sudan. I have had many people ask me about the tribal languages in the United States and I always reply that English is our language though we also have Spanish in certain areas. I am aware that some Native American tribes in the US are working to bring their languages back from the edge of extinction. Sudan must be, in this sense, like America was when the Native Americans filled the country. It has been challenging for me to begin seeing things from this perspective, but I think it is also a good thing because it gives me at least a slightly better understanding of some of the language challenges facing the Sudanese.

It appears to me that most of my students speak their native tongue which is the language of their particular tribe. Then they speak Arabic which is the official language of Northern Sudan, probably because it is the language of Islam. Then they speak English. In my eyes this is an amazing feat! Our learning in class appears to be multi-layered!

Yesterday evening I went to a worship service at a beautiful old Episcopalean church. This is also where the Couple's in Ministry Conference took place this past Friday. In this place are the church pews of my heart. The ceiling is raised and the building reminds me a little bit of the majesty of the cathedrals in Europe. It also reminds me a little bit of St. Mark's Episcopalean Cathedral in Seattle on Capital Hill.

I saw with my own eyes the church of Sudan at this service. The service was filled, FILLED, with young people! The minister who invited me to participate with him in the service said that while North American churches are ageing, the church in Sudan is filled with young people. Being from Seattle, Washington it was really kind of hard for me to fully comprehend what I saw in the pews.

The young men were on the right from where I was in the front of the church, the women filled the other two rows. There was a choir -- a choir! Different groups had on different colored robes symbolizing different things. The five young women who were baptized were sitting in the front dressed in white.

The service was conducted in one of the tribal languages. I could tell this because the writing in the New Testament that my host had was definitely not Arabic. When I asked him about the language he told me that it is their tribal language.

The congregation is made up largely of young women who are in North Sudan because they have had to flee situations in other parts of the country. While they are literate they are mostly uneducated.

I have now learned that when I am asked to "encourage" a church it means I am going to be preaching and not just be present with them. Having once again not realized this I quickly figured out what to say. I had been asked to talk about the value of education and since this figures in very well with baptism a message fell into place.

The Apostle's Creed was recited, by memory. At this point I was thinking about the Compline service in St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle Sunday nights at 9:30. That service is filled with young people from the city. The first time I went to that service I was overwhelmed because it was clear to me that the Compline filled a spiritual void for the youth that were there. At Compline the Apostle's Creed is recited as well. Everyone stands up as if on cue and recites it, turning at the appropriate time. It is a beautiful moment to participate in. This worship service last night was a beautiful moment to participate in as well.

There were five young women to be baptized. Rev. Johnson baptized two and I baptized the first three. I stroked their heads with the water and he told me later that they had liked that. Precious children.
Blessings,
Debbie

Busy, busy, busy.

2010-04-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This past week has been busy. Last Sunday I was invited to a Sudanese church for morning worship. I managed to miss the cultural clues and did not realize that I was supposed to preach, a lost opportunity! I was able to say a very long prayer for the congregation however!

In this church the men and the women sat separately. There was a good range of ages, from two little girls to young women and men to the more mature. I think this is a good sign of Christianity being embraced by families and by people of all ages in Sudan.

This coming Sunday I will be going to a worship service in the evening where 80% of the worshippers are illiterate young immigrant women. I am looking forward to "seeing" how God will use me in this new context.

Thursday of this week we had a seminar on The Church & Technology. I had been somewhat apprehensive thinking this would focus on technical issues regarding, perhaps, computers. Instead the Roman Catholic speaker shared with us theologically and used Biblical references in discussing how science and technology are not in opposition to Christianity. It was a good presentation! Someone pointed out the wisdom of making it theological at a Theological College. It reminded me of my science class when I was at Trinity Lutheran College (back then it was the Lutheran Bible Institute). The Professor knew that Bible College students weren't going to be so interested in math and science so he related the subjects to the Scriptures. It is a good technique for keeping the interest of the less technically minded!

From the seminar I went to a Women's Conference, day one, for the spouse's of the clergy here in Khartoum. The churches in Sudan do not yet ordain women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament thus the reason that it was a Women's Conference. I was asked to speak a word of encouragement for the women and I talked about balance in life, being sure to take time for one's self and for God amid everyday tasks.

Today I went the the second half of the Conference which was now for the clergy and the spouses. I was asked to give encouragement today on partnership and ministry, on women's development and on sharing household chores along with congregations encouraging of clergy wives. This is the first conference at which I have been invited to speak. I appreciated the invitation. I am thankful to be getting more plugged in to the local church here in Khartoum. The biggest obstacle really is my lack of Arabic because it precludes my having conversations with many of the local people. I need to begin finding the time to memorize vocabulary words.

On the way to NTC to meet one of the women in order to travel with her to the conference I saw a man urinating at the side of a building. I saw him look both ways and then zip his pants. Well, in China I saw children answering nature's call in the middle of streets and sidewalks, they would just pull their pants down where they were. It was a bit stunning when they were older children. With the very little ones their parents would hold their hands as they did their thing because the little ones don't wear diapers and their clothes have holes for this purpose.

It has been very hot here the past few days and between the heat and all of the activity I am finding I need to drink a lot of cold water. As long as I am at home cold water is not a problem. When I carry it with me it becomes literally hot very quickly. Hot tea or even coffee simply does not quench my thirst when I am internally hot. I need something COLD.

I am most fortunate to work at a college which is at a crossroads of busy streets here in the little town of Bahri. It seems that most people in the Sudanese churches are aware of the college and know where it is located. Thus it is a good meeting place for finding other destinations. And if being a white minister wasn't enough of an identifier, working at the college that is connected with the churches finishes the job. I think it will be hard to remain anonymous.
Blessings,
Debbie

Things I am learning.

2010-04-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This past week or so as the volcanic ash cloud wreaked havoc with air travel in European air space, I learned how other things were being affected by the crisis as well.

In Nairobi the Rose Market was directly impacted. Roses in Nairobi are grown, harvested, packaged and flown to Tescoe Supermarkets in the United Kingdom. With no planes able to pass through European air space for up to a week the rose market in Nairobi lost millions of dollars in sales. Not only was money lost in sales, the companies who employ people to ready the roses for market had to compensate the UK markets for the losses that they sustained. It is possible that many businesses around the world will have their ability to remain in business impacted by this crisis. The roses in Nairobi were being taken out of their cardboard packaging containers that were ready for flight, taken out of their bundles and were re-processed to go into a composting machine.

Such is our global economy that every continent is tied to the others and what affects one country or continent has an impact on the others.

I learned today on AlJazeera News that President Bashira has won re-election in the Sudanese elections, the first in 24 years. The opposition parties had all withdrawn from the elections, effectively leaving him as the only candidate. There is concern that there will be attempts from this government to delay the Referendum Vote of 2011. This RV is to decide if Northern and Southern Sudan will remain one country or if the South will split off into its own autonomous country. Either way the vote goes will have deep implications for Sudan.

The semester at the Nile Theological College is drawing to a close. There are three weeks of classes left and then a week for tests. I have decided that I prefer semesters to quarters, I like having more time with each group of students. Having more time allows me a better chance to memorize all of their names, and a better chance to get to know them as individuals and possibly to discern the best ways to help them learn. My philosophy of education is that the relationship between the students and the teachers is the vehicle for learning. It is important to have the time for that relationship to develop. Where do they need more information? Where do they need prodding to do more exploration? What are they strong in that needs encouragement but perhaps not quite as much focus? So much to learn, and yet --- learning!
Blessings,
Debbie

Some Questions with Answers

2010-04-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I received some questions about the last blog and I tried to find some answers today. The answers are provocative.

Polygamy is legal here in Sudan. Polygamy allows a man to be married to more than one wife at a time. As far as I can tell there is no limit although I believe that Islam allows only four. The issue of paying a dowry for a wife does not create a hardship multiple marriages as it is only for the first wife that a substantial amount of cows are paid to the father/family. I would assume that as daughters are married off and cows brought in to increase wealth that more wives can be purchased in this way as well. Second wives, etc., may either be purchased for considerably less or perhaps even for nothing. I was not able to get the criteria for a first wife versus a second wife. Hopefully this will come.

Polyandry is not legal here in Sudan. Polyandry would allow a woman to have more than one husband. So whereas a man can simply continue to marry more women, a woman must be divorced from the first husband before she can marry a second husband.

Christians also practice polygamy here in Sudan. I think that polygamy and dowry go hand in hand in maintaining a woman's value to be attached to the fruit of her womb. If a couple is engaged for a lengthy time waiting for the man to afford the cows to pay her father if she comes to an age where she may not be able to bear children, he is free to separate himself from her and move on to another, younger woman.
Blessings,
Debbie

The Last Few Days

2010-04-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! The elections in Sudan are in progress. These are the first multi-party elections in 24 years. Thus they are the first elections ever for a generation of Sudanese. From my apartment I have the TV and internet to keep me informed, I have heard nothing extraordinary from beyond the gates of the compound where I live.

Originally the elections were to take 3 days for 16 million registered voters. In part due to the fact that many people have never experienced voting there have been challenges, including late arrivals of ballots. The voting has now been extended to 5 days.

This past week a friend drove me to a Western style shop called Home Care. In my excitement over going to a Western store I lost my keys at some point after locking my gate. They have not been found so I had to purchase a padlock to use on the gate. Inside of the compound there are bolts which slide across the gate so there are no security issues while inside. It is when I leave that the apartment becomes vulnerable, if someone found the keys they could easily get inside. I may need to ultimately replace the lock that is embedded in the gate. The interesting thing to me is that the new padlock is made in the USA, all of the older ones in the apartment (to the main unit including the living room, and to the kitchen) are made in China.

Two of the issues I am wrestling with here in Sudan are: polygamy and dowry. In many ways these two issues are directly related to the status and the rights of women. A man can marry another woman without being divorced, I do not think that a woman can marry another man without a divorce. This is something I want to check into further. I have found that there are women here in the North whose husbands have simply left them and gone to the South to marry a new wife and have another family.

In China and India families pay a dowry to the husband and/or his family. Here in Sudan the future husband must pay a dowry to the bride's family. This is how families become wealthy. If a father has several daughters he will have many cows as his daughter's marry. Whose best interests are considered in marriage? The father who covets wealth or the daughter?
Blessings,
Debbie

Holy Week Retreat with NTC

2010-04-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Christian Holy Week Greetings! I just spent four days with my students and other faculty members and staff from the Nile Theological College on retreat. It was really more of a conference but the truth was that underneath it all that didn't matter to me so much as spending a deeper time of fellowship with my students.

The accommodations were similar to the most rustic hostels that I have stayed in -- thankfully the hosteling experiences that I had all over Europe prepared me well and I kept in mind that I would be back in my own Western style apartment -- SOON.

We were on a school campus about a half hour by bus away from the college. While the accommodations themselves left a lot to be desired, the campus was pleasant. It is a large piece of land that is owned by the church in Sudan. There are very many trees and while the weather was still hot, under the shade of the trees it was comfortable enough to bring chairs and have discussions.

There were also worship facilities that were large enough and, oh so thankfully, had good fan systems for air circulation. I admit here that I am missing high church worship. I miss liturgy and candles and church pews. It was however good to be with my students in their worship element and watch their joy as they sang (usually in Arabic) and clapped hands in praise to our God.

Elections are coming soon in Sudan. Please pray for the country and all of the people therein.
Blessings,
Debbie

An Abundant Learning Experience, for me.

2010-03-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! So much has been going on in the past week or so that I have needed time to absorb and process much of it. Now I am ready to share with you some of the things I have been learning.

Nile Theological College has a yearly retreat. The retreat always begins on the Wednesday of our Christian Holy Week and ends on Saturday. We share Maundy Thursday and Good Friday together, returning home on Saturday and then disperse to our own churches on Sunday to celebrate the Resurrection on Easter!

I volunteered to help with this retreat. I have finally realized (I know this took me a while) that there is no kind of a Social Committee at the college. I volunteered to head the "secretaries" committee which apparently means I am supposed to be in charge of making sure the whole retreat runs smoothly. This was a big mistake on my part to volunteer for this. But I knew I couldn't do the food, transportation, budget or retreat location...THAT is why I made this naive choice.

We began planning six days before the retreat. In Sudan this works. In the US it would not. The meetings have been very interesting. I of course have very limited Arabic. I have noticed that many of the other Retreat Committee members actually have decent English but apparently they don't think that they do. The meetings are being held in Arabic with different people trying to translate for me. Sometimes it is a comedy of errors. So far I have realized that I have no idea what I am doing and it is a very good thing that I have several hard working students on the Secretary (and Social) Committee helping me. Since I introduced the film Whale Rider and the idea of having time to sit and get to know one another I personally have added the word Social to the Committee title:)

Whale Rider of course was chosen by me because ultimately it is a film about an indigenous group of people in New Zealand who, with great difficulty, let go of traditions which have kept them blind to new possibilities for generations. I also chose this movie because it is a girl who moves into a position of leadership that has always been held by a boy. And it is a film which upon my second of many viewings I realized is about discernment. Discernment to, say, the ordained ministry, can be a slow process that takes place over time. The young woman's call to ride the whales is a call that she discerns slowly over a period of time. You may see the connection between the culture in which I am now living which does not ordain women to the ministry, and the Whale Rider whose tribe came to accept that she was the next called leader.

In Oral English class we have had many very good discussions. Last week the class told me that they appreciated talking about the poverty of Africa and Sudan in particular because it gives them the opportunity to think and plan ahead. I brought the book Dead Aid: why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo with me here to Sudan and introduced it to my students. We talked about the cycles of aid and how it can keep countries in a dependent state. The students told me that the main reason for the poverty and hunger in Sudan has to do with the extremely long civil war here. This war began as soon as Sudan achieved independence from colonialization.

Sudan is rich in natural resources but there is not technical development to extract and use them. There is a lack of modernization as well and I think that this goes hand in hand with the civil war.

In the coming months I will be doing more reading about neo-colonialization and the global economy in order to write a paper that hopefully can be used as a resource by the students in understanding underlying issues of poverty and perpetuation. Neo colonialization is an economic colonization. When a country is no longer physically colonizing and exporting resources from another country, in today's global economy country's are often colonized from afar by paying huge interest rate payments for loans to build infrastructure, etc. Often the money that comes from the International Monetary Fund, etc., comes with strings attached. Or for instance the US will present an aid package that includes a requirement to hire a contracting firm from the United States. In this way the cycle of poverty continues. A bridge may be built in Sudan, but if local people are not hired to do the labor, then it is not reaching deeply into the problems and issues of development and unemployment. The market must be developed inside of a country and not be constantly imported/exported.

In Southern Sudan girl children are valued in the sense that they can make a man wealthy. If a man has two girls, and no sons, then he will receive a handsome payment of cows and he will be wealthy. Illiteracy is encouraged because the propaganda argument is that if a girl is educated she will become a prostitute. Clearly this makes no sense. But one can see where a poor family would be believe that their chances of leaving poverty in the past will be gone if they send their daughters to school. A book I read earlier in my stay here in Sudan is African Women: Three Generations by Mark Mathabane. If you have a chance to read this book it is very informative and talks about lobala which is a bride price paid in South Africa by a man for a woman to the woman's family. This unfortunate practice usually leads to the man feeling that he owns the woman and having no respect for her as a human being.

There are many issues, many traditions, here that hold people in captivity to illiteracy and ignorance. Please pray for the softening of hearts and the knowledge that we are made in the Image of God. It is for freedom that Christ set us free and my prayer is that particulary in the Christian community this freedom will break the bondage of captivity. I also pray that this freedom will be available to all of the people of Sudan, the rest of Africa and to the entire world.
Blessings,
Debbie

More on Education

2010-03-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings. I was asked a question about the educational system in Sudan that spurred me to ask further questions which led to a more comprehensive understanding which I will share with you now.

Religious education is required in Sudan as a part of the public school system. Christian students can attend Christian classes on Fridays (the Islamic day of worship) and take their grades back to the school to fulfill the requirement. Many years ago there were very few centers where Christian students could go and so many of them had no choice but to study Islam in the public school. Due to advocacy and a deep concern on the part of Christian students and parents there are now over 90 centers in various parts of Khartoum where the students can receive the Christian education.

However the further issue and problem is that Islam is found in every part of the public school curriculum. It is in the math and the science and geography. It is not possible to avoid exposure to the Muslim faith in the public schools in Sudan.

It is good for us to be aware of these issues that Christian parents and their children face in Sudan. For ex-patriate families it is not just a difficulty in their children having to study in Arabic, it also has to do with the continuous lens of Islam for every subject to be seen through. The lens of course is also true for Christian Sudanese children. This is very different than studying Islam, or Christianity, as religion, as in a Comparative Religion class. This is about the formation of children and how they view life and the world.

Please pray for the faith journeys of the children here in Sudan. Please pray for the wisdom of their parents. We need to remember as a global community that financial limitations may lessen the ability of parents to care for their children as they might want to do. In other words, if parents work on Fridays they may not be able to take their children to Christian education classes. And if parents do not have the funds they may not be able to afford a private education. Even public education costs money, for uniforms, school supplies and possibly for tuition. Pray for options and opportunities for all children in the world. In every country and on every continent.
Blessings,
Debbie

catching up with things....

2010-03-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I have notes to myself all over the place here today it seems....that is notes for writing in this blog! So here goes:

In talking with ex-pats and also Sudanese families who are Christian it has finally gotten through to me that in public schools here in Northern Sudan students are required to read/learn the Koran, which of course also means learning Arabic, and to pray as the Muslims do. This is because public school is Islamic. Okay, so this is why ex-pat families put their children in International Schools. There also seems to be quite a strong movement towards home schooling here. I've had some Christian Sudanese families tell me that when they have tried to have their children in the public schools they come home and want to do the Muslim prayers because this is indeed what they are learning in school.

An American and his children took me shopping to some ex-pat stores this week. It was wonderful to be in large, well-lit, air conditioned stores for a little while. However, some of the prices of the imported food took my breath away! China was cheaper. A bottle of basil pesto, probably about 8 ounces, for $10.00. In my dreams! My host had forgotten that his car was almost out of gas and so as we glided into the gas station and stopped in front of the gas pump the care literally took a last gasp and the fuel was gone. I was so thankful that we made it! A little too hot for running-out-of-gas adventures here.

Another discovery I am making as I talk to more people is about the practice of polygamy here. It appears that there are wives in the North whose husbands are now in the South and the husbands have remarried. Because polygamy the husband can do this legally. What I don't know is if a woman can remarry without having a divorce. Clearly this puts the male population at a great advantage and leaves open great opportunities for injustice towards women. There are men in the South who have fathered entirely new families, and ignore their former children and spouse(s) and responsibilities.

The civil war took limbs, took hope and took memories. The cruelty that has been practiced by soldiers towards other soldiers and by prisoners is unfathomable. What is the point of taking pictures from someone other than to pierce their soul and cause them irreversible pain? The depth of depravity that human beings have towards one another, not only here in Sudan but in so many places in the world, does not cease to shock, amaze and sicken me.

Being that I have not strayed far from Khartoum in the time I have been here I have yet to discover if there are significant differences between Sudanese Africans and Sudanese Arabs. I have been told that there are but I desire to encounter these differences for myself. Is it inherent in culture or being that women are property? That people can be objects? That one race is inferior to another? From where do these ideas/system of beliefs originate? Do I have the right to believe that my belief system whereby all people are created equal because we are created in the image of the Triune God is a better and more just system than one that puts a premium on the male being?

I have so much to learn. So much. And I also have much to teach.
Blessings,
Debbie

Two Tales of Creation, Sabbath & One Tale of Re-Creation

2010-03-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

Two Tales of Creation, Sabbath & One Tale of Re-Creation

Reverend Debbie Blane

Nile Theological College Chapel

Wednesday March 10, 2010

Genesis 1:26 – 2:4a

Introduction:

I acknowledge the fact that in this sermon I am projecting back into this Scripture as a Christian. How I am going to examine this passage is not as a Jewish person would see it.

As a Christian I immediately “see” The Trinity in this passage. I will explain this more fully in a minute.

When I was in seminary I studied a man named Gregory of Nazianzus who lived in the 4^th century – with Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa the three men were known as The Cappadocian Fathers. As I studied Gregory of Nazianzus and read about his work my life was changed. I wrote a paper about his theology and my life has been informed by what I learned ever since that time.

The Cappadocian Fathers were known for their work that was done around the Triune God – the Trinity. They envisioned the three in one as a community of equal, self-giving members. There was no hierarchy in their Trinity, there was no one person of the Trinity above or below any other. Gregory envisioned and named what he called the Perichoresis, a very special theological term that essentially means the Dance of the Trinity.

By talking about the Triune God in terms of a dance, of sharing and rejoicing together and then inviting humanity to join in this dance we come to understand that the image of God, as seen in the Trinity, is RELATIONSHIP.

2 Tales of Creation:

The first tale of creation is a tale of human beings – made in the image of God.

“Let us make humankind in our image” – God is Triune.

We human beings were created in God’s image –

Male and female together.

In God’s image –

In relationship.

Now – we go to the

Second Tale of Creation in Genesis 2 & 3:

This is the creation story where God created man first and then woman from the man’s rib. The man was Adam, before the woman’s creation he was earth, made from dust. When the woman was created Adam became man and the woman was Eve, woman. Until they were both created they did not have distinct identities.

The second creation story is also the story where the serpent tempted Adam and Eve and they – both – ate from the fruit of the Forbidden Tree.

This is the story of what happens to we human beings when we try to be God in our own lives – our own God’s. We do this, just as Adam and Eve did, by not obeying God’s laws for our lives. God’s laws are designed to allow us to live in Triune Community.

Let’s go back to Genesis 2:3:

Keeping Sabbath requires letting go of control of our world. Each of us has to let go and watch as God does it all. Just like in the original, the first, creation story.

With Jesus’ incarnation and death and resurrection he healed the separation between human beings and between human beings and God. In our lives today it is possible that keeping Sabbath is one of the best reminders for us of the Triune Community we are invited to dance with. This isn’t OUR dance. It is God’s dance, on God’s terms. And WE are invited to participate, not to run things.

No more separation.

No more self will.

But sometimes that can be hard to remember on a daily basis. Sabbath keeping can help to take us back to that.

Finally

a vision of shalom, peace, and complete healing:

lived all the time, every day is Sabbath day!, in Rev. 21:22-27 through Rev. 22:1-5.

We won’t go back to the Triune perfection of creation. Instead we will be in a re-creation—a new creation. All of God’s people will be dancing along in the Dance of Life, in the Dance of the Triune God in a city full of God’s people – we will go from Adam and Eve to a whole city rejoicing, singing, swaying together and holding hands in circle upon circle.

Forever.

Amen.

A long time of not writing....

2010-03-06T23:38:00.000-08:00

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

Other Examples of African Hair

2010-02-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

African Culture/This goes wtih the previous pictures

2010-02-21T23:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I just posted four different pictures and in this blog I want to give an explanation for the pictures.

The first three pictures are of typical "neighborhoods" here in the greater Khartoum area. What I have learned about these neighborhoods is that they probably began as refugee camps during the civil wars that have raged in Sudan. An American friend who was here ten years ago told me that he could tell that things have become much more stable because instead of just tents or very temporary structures things are more settled and permanent now. Some of the neighborhoods have electric lines indicating services are being provided. Having heard this observation from someone who has seen the changes first hand I have begun looking more closely, for instance, at television footage from Haiti. There are definitely the tent cities and temporary structures made of what appears to be corrugated tin, etc. Now I know that it will be a process over time for these temporary housing situations to become more permanent as Haiti, and other places in the world, stabilize and as the people gain more strength to move beyond the crisis stage.

This was a very important piece of information for me to hear. Healing from natural disasters or human conflict happens over a number of years and the outward signs of that healing may be manifest in society taking on a more permanent way of living.

Now, I also posted a picture of a beautiful woman whose hair has a red streak in it. I was amazed to learn that Africans have very short hair, it simply does not grow very much. The woman typically go into the souk (marketplace) and buy strands that are woven into their own hair and they are able to create many stylish hairdos with these strands. I will try to post some other hair designs soon. I think that some of them wear wigs in addition to the strands. It has been fascinating to see a woman two days in a row and have her hair be totally different at each meeting! Africans are very creative people and I see it in their clothing as well. I am having some outfits made for me here in Khartoum and have enjoyed looking at the colorful fabric that the tailor hangs in his shop. When the clothes are ready I will post pictures of those outfits as well!
Blessings,
Debbie

African Culture

2010-02-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

The Heat Is On

2010-02-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! The temperatures are beginning to rise here in Khartoum. While this change is still somewhat subtle, I am acutely aware of it because it is already warmer than my own Pacific Northwest comfort zone. I was in Phoenix, Arizona this last summer visiting a friend for a few days and it was close to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. That was suffocating for me and is the kind of temperature I can expect in the next few months here.

So as the temperatures begin to soar I will be looking for ways to survive. Finding a small cooler to keep water and pop during the day at the college will be one of those ways. When I am so hot only something cold helps. I will also be turning my swamp cooler on Saturday. I've put it off as I have tried to acclimate and also because I know it will be on for many months and I've tried to save some money, but I am reaching the end of my ability to endure warm air being circulated by the ceiling fans.

I have had both meaningful conversations with my English class this week and also the honor of listening to each person's story of their life during some of the darkest moments of their countries' recent history. As I listened to each student it occurred to me that the Christian faith may be most vibrant in times of need. Each of my student's has a deeply rooted faith. They have prayed to God in Jesus Christ in times of troubles that most of us from North America have no experience with. They trusted fully that God was with them and would provide for them. It occurred to me during class today that when life is easier, when we know where will sleep at night, what we will eat day after day and when our housing is stable and our families safe that maybe we do not perceive such an urgent need to pray for Christ's presence in every moment of our lives. I have always heard that a persecuted church is a strong and growing church. Perhaps security leads to complacency.

My students range in age from what I believe is mid-20's to probably at least 40 in age. It is wonderful having such diversity in age and life experience in the classroom. While they have a core that is common because of the civil war in this country, how each of them survived and found their way to the college is God's gift to them and what makes each of them uniquely who they are. Their English language skills are good and I have found that all of them have a large vocabulary. The biggest challenge that we seem to have, at least in classes, is understanding each others English with our different accents.

On a personal note I am realizing that my morning walks to the college have been strengthening me. This week I am going to reach for the goal of leaving even earlier and adding an extra block to my walk. This may realistically be what I can expect in terms of exercise here. It is something, and for that I am grateful.
Blessings,
Debbie

This past week.

2010-02-12T22:22:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! There are three things I am going to share with you today.

The first is the fascinating subject of household help. Well, at least I find it fascinating. In the US the goal of someone who cleans houses for a living is to have as many clients as possible, to move through each house/condo/apartment as quickly and efficiently as possible and move on to the next assignment. This is to maximize earning potential. I have now found out that in Sudan the idea is to spend as much time as possible with one client in order to maximize earning potential. This is what the super rich in the US call live in help, or at least I think so.

I am looking for someone to come in once a week and clean the apartment. Period. 3 to 4 hours max. Yesterday I interviewed a woman who another teacher from the college brought to my apartment in hopes that she would be the person I could employ for this. She was asking for twice the amount of money that I can pay. I told her that I cannot be her only source of income, that I would need her to be working for other people too. The hope apparently is that I would start her with one day a week and perhaps move to two, or even three. This way of thinking has helped me in re-evaluating American independence. Many Americans (most I dare say) value their independence and "space". This is an important part of American culture. For cultures which are more family/relationship/unit based, such as Latin America, Asian and African, this desire for independence probably does not make a lot of sense. I am so curious as to where these differences have come from. Suffice it to say that for now I do not have someone to help me with the housework, and this is NOT a good thing.

The second point of interest for this writing is America as the land of opportunity. A few years ago I would hear this phrase and took it for granted without understanding the depths of implication and promise that are made in uttering it. I have an Asian friend who is struggling with the desire to move beyond the limitations that her culture is placing on her. She does not fit the box of her culture and I do not know what decisions she will ultimately make for her life. I do know that once again I have realized how many cultures, countries, continents, have such a lack of vision, of imagination or insight for the possibilities for human life.

I read the book Angela's Ashes several years ago in my preparations for going to Ireland. The book was thoroughly depressing but it got me to think in some very important ways. The book was the first time that I had ever realized that there are some places in the world where a person is not allowed to go to school or to try something new and different. Angela's Ashes stated very plainly that in American anyone can go to school. I had taken that for granted because that is what I grew up with. In that non-fiction book I learned that the Irish Catholics in Ireland would not let Frank go to school because he was poor. And I learned that the Protestants would not let Frank go to school because he was Catholic.

America was the place he finally made his way to, and he was able to go to school. In America 36 year old women can go back to school and earn multiple degrees. This is not true in many places in the world. Poverty can be money. OR poverty can be a lack of opportunity, vision, imagination. Poverty can be the lack of options, possibilities or even the chance to try.

The third thing that I want to share is a discussion that happened in my classroom this week. I have been amazed by my students this week. When I give them a topic to discuss and come to a consensus on they quickly do so. When they are able to frame a topic based on their own experience they are very articulate and imaginative. Since I highly value imagination they earn great brownie points with the teacher, who is of course me.

We discussed what happens when culture disagrees with what is written in the Bible. The students said that there needs then to come a process of separating out culture from the Bible teaching.

When the Apostle Paul says that women should keep silence in the churches we must put this in the cultural context of the first century CE (Common Era). Women were illiterate in the Biblical times. Their brothers were taught at home by their fathers and they eventually went to synagogue to learn Hebrew through reading Scripture and then obtaining Bar Mitzvah. But the girls remained with their mothers learning how to keep house and care for children. In Sudan there are places where girls remain illiterate and are married off at the age of 15 because there is a fear that they will become pregnant. This may have to do with a lack of sex education. Here the students saw a direct correlation between their culture and Biblical culture.

When women become literate, when they gain knowledge then they can become participating members of the community. I shared with the students the story of Mary and Martha and how Jesus encouraged the literacy and learning of women by welcoming Mary into the discipline of learning at his feet. One of the groups in my class said that women with Ph.D.'s do not need to be silent in the churches. I don't think that women need a Ph.D. to no longer be silent -- but I was thrilled that the men in the class could see the principle so clearly. Silence is not a gender issue, it is based on illiteracy and ignorance. When people become literate and understand how to learn appropriately there is no longer a need for silence.
Blessings,
Debbie

Arabian Adventures.....

2010-02-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

Visitors, Sickness & Other Adventures....

2010-02-05T02:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! It has been far too long since I have written to you, and I am so sorry for that. Just last week (it seems like last year already) I finished teaching the Concentrated Course in New Testament Background. The next day the group of Presbyterians who I had been joyfully anticipating arrived from the United States. I then spent four of the next five days in their company, taking part with them in their activities. Finally, the last day I was with them, this past Monday, I began to feel ill and by Monday night I was quite sick. It was not until yesterday that I began to feel somewhat better, thus my lack of writing about the goings on here in my life in Khartoum.

With the group I took a bus to Elobeid and spent the night in a gracious Muslim house of hospitality, aka a guesthouse. It was very basic but it was clean. Along with the others in the group I was granted a photo permit for the touring and was able to shoot many delightful pictures, some of which I will share with you. There appears to me to be a definite type of Arabic architecture. This is the compound structure, a wall, or a gate, that is set down first and within this wall the buildings of the home are arranged. I believe this is what I also saw in Palestine. One of the things that struck me in Palestine were the beautiful doors in the gates and the ironwork on the windows. It is true here as well. The wall may be of mud, and yet nearly always, in the midst of the monotone line of walls, there is a metal door painted a vivid purple or blue or whatever color strikes the fancy of the owner. The doors are never wooden, they are always metal. I suspect that this has to do with the harsh elements.

There were what to my eye appeared to be neighborhoods along the way. Some of them were vast. Like the largest of suburban subdivisions in the states. Or what in the United Kingdom is called "estates". As we went West some of the dwellings were round in shape. I hesitate to call them houses because they aren't exactly that by my American eye. Which begs the question: what defines a house? A group of people living in something? A style of architecture? Whatever I want it to be?

In the enormous unpainted panorama of the desert in Sudan there were always the flashes of color; both the doors of the dwellings and in the clothing of the women and children. The men almost always wore the long white garment and turban, but the women and children seem to find life in the colors that flow from the beautiful clothes and thobes (pronounced tobe) that they are attired in.

The further West we went the more the landscape looked African and not Arabic to me. Someone else commented to me that the Arabic influence in Khartoum itself is very strong. I know when I stepped off the airplane from Nairobi onto the ground at the airport in Khartoum in October my breath was pretty much literally taken away. The airport was definitely Arabic, more so than anything I had ever seen in Palestine or perhaps even in Jordan. For me as an American there is such an air of mystique about Arabia. The Thousand and One Nights kind of thing....the question that comes up for me again and again concerning this culture is: can there be love without equality? I do know that I realized at the point of the landing of the plane that Nairobi was AFRICAN and Khartoum was not.

This of course will lead me onto a rabbit trail....there are African Arabs and there are Asian Arabs, and I am so very interested in finding out more about both of these groups. Of course, there are European Turks and Asian Turks as well.

I have now been to the pyramids! Not the Egyptian ones, but indeed pyramids. The cemetery of a proud people. To contribute to the lore of such a place there were hordes of Sudanese camel riders in traditional garb, which of course if probably what they actually wear. I can definitely say about Sudan that the people for the most part are not becoming Westernized in their outerwear. I appreciate that because I feel that in China a valuable part of their culture is being left behind as they shun their traditional garments.

Two of the people I was with very comfortable sat on their camels and took off with their guides. I on the other hand felt rather ill on mine. Of course it could have been the beginning of what would hit me full force later in the evening with feeling sick, but nonetheless I didn't feel safe at all way up high on that animal! So I stayed up just long enough to have a picture or two taken. I will say that in 1996 when I was in Israel and Palestine that I had a picture taken of myself on a camel in Jerusalem....if I can find that picture I can have a Then/Now comparison. I don't think I fancied the ride much back then either.

Since all of these adventures I have explored the Sudanese medical system much more intimately than I ever desired, just as what happened to me in China. The doctors speak good English and are certainly educated in Western medications and their uses. I found out that blood can be taken without using a tourniquet, the first time time it was done that way and I didn't come as close to passing out as usual. The second time the tourniquet was used and I had to as usual force myself to remember to breathe. There were copious supplies of clean single use cellophane wrapped needles in sight at both of the places I had blood drawn. I am beginning to get used to not lying down for the draws -- at least here in Khartoum I could sit, in China that was not an option.

The doctor's office and the two hospitals which I have seen now were both clean. This was in sharp contrast to the Chinese facilities in Nanjing. The European SOS clinic in Nanjing was clean to Western standards. I was not able to find an actual SOS sign hanging anywhere in the sites where I'd been directed from the American SOS telephone line. There is not the convenience of being able to use a credit card as I had in Nanjing. I am going to have to pay cash and be reimbursed for treatment -- which is okay unless something major happens and I have to be, say, hospitalized, at the tune of much more cash than I happen to have on hand. But I think that this is what most people in the world face, especially in a cash and carry health care system world.

I was impressed by the female doctor who talked with me at one of the hospitals. She asked me more questions than the male doctor at a private practice a few days before. She also ordered a CBC, Complete Blood Count, which he had not done. So I feel that she is more thorough. It turns out that malaria can sometimes present the same symptoms as severe stomach ailments and so I had been tested to be sure I didn't have malaria. I was relieved when the test came out negative as I have been taking malaria medications faithfully for several months now.

The Americans have gone home now. I was left with a wonderful supply of DVDs, purple pillow cases and other things which are hard to find here in Khartoum. Having realized that the key for not only surviving but flourishing here lays at least in part (for me) in having an enjoyable home to live in, I so appreciated the gifts that make that more so. Now I need to get back on track with grading student final exams, getting final grades calculated, learning how to cook properly here so that I avoid illness as much as possible, and investigating how to get regular exercise in this place of heat, ants, mosquitos and flies.

I am coming to a philosophical attitude towards my ability to adapt to a culture that is so very different from my own. I will do the best that I can, and give myself grace to realize that this will never completely be my own culture. I don't have the ability to live in the ways that some people here must live, not perhaps by choice. I will always be an outsider, if for nothing else because of my white skin. But as an outsider who respects the culture and wants to build relationships, perhaps part of what I can contribute is to become a bridge between my own culture and the culture here in Sudan and Africa and the Middle East. Isn't it fascinating how many cultures can be/exist in one place at the same time? Sudanese, Nubian, African, Nuer, Middle Eastern, etc., etc. etc. (As my hero Rex Harrison would have said.)
Blessings,
Debbie

cultural differences

2010-01-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I am writing early Tuesday morning before heading off to class for the day. One of the issues I am having to adjust to is that of "titles". In the United States I am used to the informality of simply being called Debbie, even in a church setting -- at least most of the time.

Here in Sudan it is really necessary to be known as Reverend Debbie because there is a certain respect that comes with a person being ordained. It is a bit odd of a twist as the churches in Sudan do not at this time ordain women to the ministry. Outside of my physical appearance clearly not being African or Arabic this sets me aside even more. However, my hope is that being Reverend Debbie from a country in which the Presbyterian Church (USA) does ordain women will make a difference for the women here in Sudan.

In my concentrated course this past two weeks as we are studying the New Testament Background we are as teacher and students understanding that in Jesus Christ there is no East nor West, no male or female, no Jew or Gentile, at much deeper level. As we study how the Jewish Christian church became the Gentile Christian church the understanding that God's plans for humanity transcends all barriers and the foolish wisdom of humans has become much more clear. I think that the class I am teaching is comprehending more fully that God's plan is not only for the church as a whole, but for the women and men within the church. The call to ordained leadership is not based on gender -- but instead on God's plans and wisdom for the very church in which that leadership serves. God wastes nothing. This means that the gifts of male and female are to be utilized to the fullest in the service of our God and of the church of Jesus Christ.
Blessings,
Debbie

what a week!

2010-01-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I have been grading papers today, well, actually, reading them and recording them as received -- a friend and killed the mouse for me that was caught in mouse glue on a board....and the power was out for several hours.

I now know that the electric meter will say 0000 if I am simply out of kilowatts and need to feed the meter. The meter is totally blank with no numbers at all if there is a power cut from the company. I was trying to sleep on the coach with my feet sticking out and touching the end table when the power thankfully came back on a few minutes ago!

I have not written this week as I have been consumed by the concentrated course I am teaching at the college. Three days left and then I will need to get grades turned in and prepare for the first week of the rest of the semester -- no more concentrated courses Praise the Lord!
Blessings,
Debbie

So Big

2010-01-16T09:53:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings. This has been a week of big things. A big disaster in Haiti. Learning more about the bigness of the problems/issues here in Northern Sudan.

Some of my students take up to four buses to get to college for classes. I don't have the heart to mark them late on the attendance sheet. How many students in the US have to wait an hour for a bus to catch another connecting bus to catch yet another bus that goes over a bridge and then get another one to get to their classes?

The students can't afford the copies I need to have them make in order to do reading for the course I am teaching them. One student asked if I could have someone in the US send textbooks for all of them, about 24 of them in all. I had to say that this was not a realistic solution.

I met yesterday with young people from the youth of the Presbyterian Church here in Sudan. They have very intentionally elected their first woman as a Chairperson. She wanted to talk to me away from the group. The youth group in general needs funding to carry out projects. They have no money. They need people to be trained, most in religious education but also the practical skills that churches need to have -- administration, finance, building and grounds. My students are a mix of ages, some are fairly young, some are fairly mature. I have heard that in Southern Sudan men were simply ordained without necessarily having special training. I think this is true of the underground churches in China as well.

The young women need funding in order to develop their leadership skills. Women are not yet ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church here. They will need to have leadership skills which are honed along with good solid theological degrees, necessary at the BA level. NTC is a major partner with the church in training future pastors. The young women do not need only education at the college level, they need encouragement and mentoring.

Later myself and the PC(USA) staff person who I was with met with a women's group from a church. They were lovely and against many odds meet on a regular basis. Without a budget they make hospital visits and carry out other ministries. With sewing machine given as a gift from a Presbyterian congregation in the states they do sewing projects. I think that they are going to be willing to make me African clothes...it will be a good way for them to earn money and I will at last have found a whole groups of female tailors! They need funds too. They want to take young women, a teen-age group and a young 20's group, on separate picnics. They want to talk to them about being adult women in Sudan, to encourage them and help them celebrate their coming maturity. They have no money with with to do this.

Everywhere I look there are good ideas, important ideas. There are needs for help in developing web based newsletters and email pals. There is need for sending people to conferences. There is a need for developing English language fluency and accounting skills. There is a need for enlarging the worldview of the youth in a global community that will require specific skills and knowledge for Sudan to be fully engaged with it.

I was told that women who sell tea to the unemployed men are widows. Life is hard for the widows, they earn a few cents a day to survive on.

I was told that while there is development in the country Arab workers from other Arabic countries are brought in to do the work, thus the African workers in Sudan remain unemployed.

There is hope. There is intelligence and commitment. There is a lack of resources.
Blessings,
Debbie

teaching

2010-01-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings. It is very early Friday morning here in Sudan. I had better do some writing before more time goes on. I've been teaching since Tuesday and I've been too tired to share anything with you.

One of the striking features, to me, of Khartoum is how much garbage is littered around the city. I asked someone about this recently and he said that while some people pay for garbage service many people do not and there garbage then ends up in the streets and trenches. The service for January was 14 Sudanese pounds. I paid it and I can only hope that my garbage was picked up and put somewhere besides the streets. If a person makes 20 Sudanese pounds a day I can see where 14 pounds would be a lot of income to pay for garbage.

I've taught three days so far. It drains me to the bottom of my toes. I am so tired I go home and take a nap afterwards. These are mature students that I have. They ask deep questions. Sometimes I have to say that the question isn't a part of our course. I am also discovering that how I am choosing to teach the class may be different from what they are used to. So what does a teacher do when reading is necessary, the course is too short to put books on reserve in the library and the only alternative is to make copies of the reading and the students can't afford the copies. They can't read at night, many of them informed me that they have no light at night. Okay, so they are living without electricity. This is a profoundly different world which I am entering into.

I had read that Africa in many ways experiences the Old Testament first hand. I now know this to be true. They have tribal conflicts, there are wars over control of resources, dowries are still paid for the right to marry a woman. In a sense the entire world lives with all of this -- I suppose in the West and in most developed countries these issues are just more hidden now under a sophisticated veneer.

I keep saying to the students that the Old Testament is stories. The stories are about human beings. We find ourselves in the stories because humanity hasn't changed. That is part of the reason for learning in this class -- how will the students help their congregations learn how to make that connection between the stories and themselves. WE are the people in the stories, it isn't us and them it is US.

I was able to attend an ordination service yesterday. There were a group of men who were ordained -- kind of like a mass or group wedding, but for service to the church. It was quite an event! My ordination was wonderful and yet it wasn't like a party as this one was! At the end a woman even walked around praying perfume on people -- the sweet scent of Jesus being poured out among us I was told. The preacher for the service talked about ordination saying that it is not "work" in the church, it is life. I believe this. Ministry is incarnational. We are to pour out of lives to those we serve. My students are doing further study since most of them already are pastors. I pray that I am one more model to them of a pastor who pouring out her life to serve her students.
Blessings,
Debbie

Heat

2010-01-09T04:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Well, I think that the coolest weather of the "winter" here in Northern Sudan may have come and passed now. Today and yesterday that fan in the apartment has not quite been enough to keep me cool. I am going to hold off as long as I can on using the swamp cooler as the cost of electricity will double and I also want to try and acclimate as much as I am able.

I went to the suq with a friend today and afterward we talked for a few minutes in my apartment. I told her that even more than sweating is the fact that the heat makes me tired. Yes, it does make people tired and it is really hard to do much in the afternoons here.

We went into a stationary store and lo and behold I found a man who was more tired than me. I was utterly amazed. I felt for him though. The store has no air conditioner -- nothing here does -- and it had probably been a long day on his feet. It helps my compassion when I remember how easily I get fatigued here.

A mouse just ran into the apartment from the porch area and into my bedroom disappearing behind the chest of doors. I am not happy about this. I was getting used to the lizards. Now mice.

I did get some traditional Sudanese things purchased today to begin decorating the apartment. This includes the little "stove" where one puts coals and on top of the burner goes the little Sudanese coffee container. I'll have to get a picture of it on here because I don't have the words to describe it. I also got another scarf...green nail polish (woohoo!) and some odds and ends. My balancing act is this: now that I have the resident permit I want to make the apartment more of a home. In China I went a little bit overboard and ended up giving a ton of stuff away when I left. While there is nothing wrong with giving things away here in Sudan I would prefer to be somewhat more prudent with my resources and purchase what I will take home or send home. So I try and keep that in mind at the market.
Blessings,
Debbie

stones and uncooked beans

2010-01-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Hmmm. Well, this week I have discovered that there are differences in quality in the tall pots of cooking "ful" that are available around town. The last two batches I've purchased have been from the same shop and I won't be going back there again. I've bitten on stones and have forced myself to eat less than fully cooked beans -- some of them were cooked but some were not. Uneven quality I say, and even I have higher standards than that.

I am still squeamish every time someone uses their bare hands to handle the food that I am going to consume -- date bars, falafel, whatever it is. Maybe I as a Westerner think too much about what the consequences of bare hands and my food could be. Maybe here in Sudan there just isn't time to think about that kind of thing. Or, ignorance in this particular case is perhaps bliss?

School has been pushed back for a few days. The opening seminar, on Spirituality and College, I am quite looking forward to that!, will be next Monday. We begin teaching on Tuesday. I am coming to the conclusion that perhaps Africans are better able to see the big picture and we Americans are more stuck on details. It will get done, we just have to get 24 class periods in. China was also comfortable with ambiguity. When will the tests take place? We don't know yet. In the states the calendars are out in black and white well before the semester appears on the horizon. Many lands, many kinds of time.

On my way home from the college yesterday I did one of my shopping as I walk trips through the main block of town. After I had picked up yogurt, shampoo, Diet Coke and date bars, as I got closer to home I said hello to an elderly man who was sitting in the shade. He seemed shocked to have someone talk to me. He had a little bit of English but I had to begin saying, "schway Arabic" very quickly. "Very little Arabic!"
Blessings,
Debbie

FDA & the lion's den

2010-01-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! After three days being locked up in the apartment working on my syllabus for the New Testament Background class I'll be teaching, today I left home to go and forage for food for a few minutes. I needed a break!

I found my ful again. It is probably easier if I just try and go to the same person when I can to get the ful as we are learning to communicate. I dredged in my memory and thought I'd heard the word "laban" used for milk so I said that and indicated a crumbly motion with my hand. He got it and produced the cheese that goes with the ful! As soon as I can I've got to continue on my Arabic vocabulary work.

A friend recently asked me if buying the ful is a way to connect with the culture here. Yes, it is. It is also a way to begin building relationships. At least that was what I found in China. I'm not talking like come over for coffee relationships but simply I see you, acknowledge and recognize you, and she seems to like our food and wants to make the effort to buy it from us kind of relationship. I also happen to really like the ful. It does need olive oil, salt and the cheese to enhance it, but it is good and I assume it is healthy.

Now, on the other hand....I inwardly cringe when I see it being ladled into a container that looks like a plastic pitcher and put into a bag -- that is the standard take-out, a plastic bag. And when I realized the man today had falafel, I asked for some of that and he used his bare hands to put it into another plastic bag. Be still my heart. I never got sick on street corner food in China because I didn't like it and therefore didn't eat it. Here I like it. I just pray for protection for my stomach every time, let me tell you! Because I know there is no FDA, there are no standardized rules for cooking and serving here. In Rome, do as the Romans do....

Speaking of Rome, or whatever empire it was that Daniel lived in, at the moment it escapes me having had my head in Rome for the day today....I passed my own version of the Lion's Den on the way home this morning. One night recently something got the neighborhood wild dogs barking and barking and barking. I did not appreciate it one little bit. And I thought to myself that this is why I am reluctant to walk home from the bus stop on Sunday nights in the dark -- these wild dogs really scare me. So today on my way home from the ful and yogurt and date bars run after I had crossed the secondary main street onto my side street I saw a whole lot of dogs sunning and sleeping! Truly one of them looked like a lion and that was the first thought that passed in my mind -- Daniel and the Lion's Den!

I finished the rough of the syllabus today. I need to make a copy of it so that I can see the whole thing at once, fix the errors and then take the book listings and numbers and the books to the college and get started on making copies for reading that goes with each day's topic. There is no place to buy theological books in Sudan. I was shown one Christian book store that had both English and Arabic books. It was definitely not a college or seminary type bookstore. So we do what we have to do to teach the students.

I am reasonably sure that a Kindle from Amazon.com would not work for me because I have discovered that even as big as the screen is on my 15 inch Apple Computer it drives me crazy not being able to see a whole document at once. I think I will probably always be a paper kind of person. Who knows?
Blessings,
Debbie

Markets from around the world.

2009-12-31T00:08:00.000-08:00

Khartoum, Sudan

Nanjing, China

Tokyo, Japan

continually surprised

2009-12-30T01:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Good news today....the walk down to the main street is getting shorter, aka I am getting more used to it....I found the "ful" place that had been closed without a trace the other day when I went looking with someone from the college. Ful if you remember is the bean dish that is eaten here in Sudan for breakfast and many other meals as well. It is quite good. I am now warming it up on the stove with tomatoes, oil, salt and Sudanese cheese. I used the green peppers I got at the suk the other day the first time I made it and unfortunately they were not sweet they were the spicy kind. So now I have a bag of peppers to find a new home for.

Having found the "ful" I ventured along the row of shops nearby. I found again my date bars. Having got them home now I see why I like them so much -- there are oil stains on the box they were put in. Sigh. Oh well. Nobody had large tubs of strawberry yogurt -- must have been a run on it earlier today. I was fortunate enough to find fresh milk however. Now I can have my somewhat foul coffee -- I still have to get the person who has volunteered to show me where the good coffee is to show me.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find a good quality lotion made in the states in one of the stores and the same store had Pert Shampoo! This is very good. Sometimes the water pressure here is just not good enough to do a shampoo and conditioner, I've been looking for a 2 in 1 and Pert is one of my favorites.

Quite a few of the shopkeepers speak decent English here. It is quite helpful. My numbers are getting better as well and I was able to tell someone today, "Arabic schway, schway," my Arabic is very little. The word for water, schway, in Chinese is the same sounding word in Arabic for very small, very little. Go figure! I can now ask how much something is, beekum. I need to start working on the names of groceries like milk and yogurt. A ful sandwich is exactly that, sandwich is the same as in English!
Blessings,
Debbie

Christmas and on and on and on and on....

2009-12-27T01:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! I had a very lovely Christmas Day. I worshipped at the Pentecostal service first and then spent the day and evening with a fellow teacher from the college, his family and another family from the compound where they live. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. I so enjoyed talking with four other adults about all sorts of topics, staying at the table after an awesome banquet and relaxing.

People do seem to have trouble imagining what to cook for me as I am a vegetarian. Magda made me macaroni and cheese. Little did she know that this is one of my most favorite dishes in the whole world! She was worried about how it would turn out but it was absolutely wonderful! And the vegetable dish was raw tomatoes, cucumbers, onions mixed with oil, lemon juice and salt. It is very interesting not to have cooked vegetables as a dish -- and I just realized that is a lovely contrast to the vegetables in China which were always cooked. Even salads.

The family had gone all out for special treats for Christmas. We were treated to beautifully colored and frosted cookies and sweets that I cannot describe adequately because they are not like we have in the United States. They had a tree up and the house was very cozy in spite of the weather outside not being cold.

The conversation was quite interesting to me. I have now found out that when I ask an African or an Arab where they are from they will tell me about their ancestral home. Unlike in the United States when I am asked where I am from I will say Seattle and not England, Scotland and Ireland. Or sometimes people will say they were born in Portland, Oregon but grew up in Seattle. It seems to be that in the US we think of where I am from as the same thing as where I live. This is not so in African cultures. So I learned that there is a distinct difference between "where I live" and "where I am from".

Other things which came up and which I am still sorting through trying to reach a semblance of understanding is that of refugee status. It seems to me that in the states people do not remain refugees. They seem to become citizens. Here in Sudan there are people who were born here but are still considered citizens of another country because that is where their parents came from. I believe that this is also the case in Palestinian refugee camps in places like Jordan. In that case I believe that the refugees will not give up their refugee status because they do not want to abdicate their right of return to Palestine. In Sudan it is somewhat a different situation. There seem to be some countries where people do not become citizens. It appears that a Sudanese is someone whose family has always been here. People that come here from the outside are not Sudanese. I may have an incorrect understanding of this, if I found out that I do, I will be sure to update you, my readers!

There are people here with refugee status who have never left Sudan in their lives because to do that they could not return unless they become citizens of another country (like the US) and came back under the protection of that country. Then they are no longer refugees but that might affect their own right of return to their original ancestral lands. I need to check further into this...

Yesterday I rested. I was so worn out from Christmas that it took a day to recover! The woman who cleans the flat every couple of weeks showed up at last and cleaned it. Very nice to have the floors swept. I had to explain to her that if she is unable to come on a day that I am expecting her I need her to call and let me know. Otherwise I am stuck at home all day waiting for her. And if that happens more than twice I will need to find someone else to clean the house!

I have discovered an interesting and very nice thing here. When someone comes to the house/apartment and I ask for a ride to town (really about two long blocks away to shopping), people always want to take me around for the shopping and then bring me back to the apartment. It is so interesting! In the states I would ask for a ride somewhere and then be dropped off and that of course was what I expected here. But not so!

So this morning someone came by and I asked for a ride to the shopping. He ended up taking me to all the places and bringing me back, very nice. I am growing accustomed now to buying ful, the bean dish. It is very cheap and very good and I think very healthy. I bought ful and falafel so I will have plenty to eat for today and maybe tomorrow too. I also finally went into a sweet shop near a grocer where I can get yogurt. I found a lovely pastry with a date filling and bought half a kilo of those (I have absolutely no idea what a half a kilo actually is) and they are utterly delicious! After all the treats on Christmas I couldn't just go cold turkey!

I am currently reading a book called African Women: Three Generations about a granny, a mom and a daughter in South Africa during apartheid. It is grim. These are true stories about the family of the author. It helps me in understanding about African culture more and that is important for me right now.
Blessings,
Debbie

Sometimes things are hard to find out about.

2009-12-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings. Today I was in a car with colleagues going along a street in Khartoum. I was able to ask questions about some of the people I saw.

There are always a lot of people, mostly men, hanging out near the women who make tea for a penny or two. They are unemployed and hang there hoping for something to change. Apparently however the job listings, say for the government, are not printed but are word of mouth. So probably nothing will ever change for these people and they will remain unemployed.

We saw several people who I guess I would call crippled. I've never seen quite anything like the arms and legs at the angles that they have them at so I'm actually not sure if it is crippled or maybe arthritis as well. I know that in Nairobi there were a lot of people suffering with polio. Some of these people have parents who bring them from home by bus every day to sit and beg and then pick them up at night. Some of them live on the streets begging for enough money to buy some food and then sleeping on the street until they eventually die.

There are always hordes of people, particularly men but some women and often young children, who are selling things as cars drive by. This is a form of self-employment and is somehow based out of micro-loans. There are a lot of children begging and a lot of women with children begging. This morning I saw a woman with what appeared to be a baby covered by a shawl and it occurred to me that she could be pretending to have a baby. I have been severely reminded of Jesus saying to the disciples, "the poor will always be with us." Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have been called to Sudan for a particular task and I cannot change the entire Sudanese economy and way of life.

The dust will be with us always as well. Every time I walk to the bus station I remember this. I usually wear my Birkenstocks and I remember that Jesus washed only the feet of the disciples because that was all that was dirty. And yes, they were definitely dirty!

I continue to marvel that the women with burqas and covered faces can navigate through the dust and the dirt roads. There are of course many paved roads but the back roads not so much. Maybe it is because I have not been walking them my whole life that I have a harder time negotiating rocks and ruts. I do admire their ability.

Language acquisition is slow but I think that it is better for me when I take the long road look. Over a period of time much will be gained, in the short term it feels like very little. I got a passing grade for my "final exam" today after five tutoring lessons. I think the teacher was very generous:)

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. This past three months or so in Sudan has gone very quickly. I have accomplished much of my task of preparation for classes that I will be teaching in about two weeks and am looking forward to my working with my students! I'm also looking forward to finding ways to get more clothing in the African style, each country has a unique fashion and they are all quite beautiful!
Blessings,
Debbie

A Day of Learning

2009-12-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! A full day today! It began with my ordering "ful" at the local restaurant on the way to my language tutoring. The man in the restaurant recognized me and knew what I wanted! Then on to tutoring. I am working on vocabulary, numbers and grammar.

I am doing so-so with numbers one through ten. They float in my head just like the Chinese numbers did. My assignment is to have them down pat with no errors by Wednesday. Sigh.

After class a friend from the language school and I went to one of the suks (marketplace) together. It was a big help having someone point out to me where to get scarves and then she took me to the woman's section where the traditional Sudanese household articles are. My vocabulary grew. I am not doing complete sentences at this point but I do know that beekum is "how much?" and "maja" is that. In China I was able to get along pretty well by saying "tigger" which met "that" and pointing. So I should be able to do some of that with "maja".

We looked for incense at the suk. I cannot for the life of me figure out why every country has a different form of incense and a different way of burning it. I have to start over every time! In China there were sticks, cones and spirals. Here there are piles and what look like crystals. At least this is what we found so far. There were also thick sticks. Apparently I have to find coal which is lit first and then the incense is put upon the coal. This concerns me. I thought that coal kills people -- or maybe I am thinking of charcoal briquets. If anyone knows about this please let me know. As I was wilting in the heat I wished out loud that everything could be in the same darn place instead of going from one place to the other in the suk. My friend said that this is why the pace of life is so slow in Sudan, because everything takes so long....

We went to the little grocer near my house (forget the Arabic for grocer!) and what I bought was 7.5. It reminded me of how it was in China when I finally understood 1-10 and then got totally confused when 1/2 got thrown into the mix! It will take time.

I have discovered that while ancient Greek is a language based in verbs modern Arabic is a language where the Arabic can be spoken without verbs and they are simply assumed. This does explain why many people for whom Arabic their mother tongue speak what sounds like broken English. I think that, for instance, "beekum maja" could be a complete sentence Arabically speaking. However in English it would be "what price that?" So I would need to supply the "what price is that?" and often people for whom English is a second or third tongue do not do that, therefore sounding odd in the translation.

Greek is a nifty language whereby a single word, a noun, can contain an entire sentence consisting of subject and verb. So I must accept that grammatically Arabic is different. I have learned today also about the definite article "al" which turns restaurant into the restaurant. Also I have learned more about both interrogatives which create questions and so many of the little words such as "in" and "from" that must simply be memorized.

I found out some very interesting things today. I now understand why in this particular Arabic culture the left hand is considered the "potty" hand and only the right hand should be used to shake someone else's hand, or hand money or food. Except in a foreigner's home there usually is not toilet paper in the bathroom. The toilets are either of the squat variety or holes in the ground. And often there is a pitcher that looks like it is for watering plants. I thought all along that the pitcher was for cleaning the toilet after use. Noooo. I found out today that the water in the pitcher is to use for clean-up with one's left hand after using the toilet and this is why the left hand is considered the potty hand. Sometimes there are hoses attached to buckets of water. My goodness I felt ignorant when I found this out.

I also found out that in traditional Sudanese homes there is a plot of land and the rooms are separate structures on the land. There is usually a central outdoor room which is where people basically live. Then there is the kitchen and the bedrooms and an outdoor bathroom. The bathrooms have half walls constructed around them. I would assume that a shower would be in a separate structure. So I have been in some traditional homes. I do not live in one of them and many of the foreigners who I have visited do not live in a traditional type of home.

I also had an answer to a question about the beds I have seen in houses. The Sudanese do not use couches in their living rooms. They have beds unless it is a more affluent home and then maybe there is one coach and the rest are beds. Guests lounge on the beds and may be told it is fine to take a nap. They make the house pretty by having nicely made beds with pretty materials.

I got more help with the hand signal for the bus system today. Hopefully Wednesday after my tutoring session I will be able to get a bus for myself this time. Inshallah! (God willing.)
Blessings,
Debbie

A More Traditional Culture

2009-12-19T03:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! Yesterday I worshipped at the Pentecostal church and then spent the day and evening with friends. A. is a teacher at Nile Theological College and M. is his wife. There two daughters were off visiting friends. They took me to their house for lunch and other friends of theirs joined me. It was a good day and evening.

I am feeling like I am learning more about Sudan at a wee bit deeper level now. The title of this blog, "A More Traditional Culture" can be taken in many ways. Tradition has many dimensions in this land of sand and blue, blue sky. Today I walked to the little grocer just down the road for yogurt, bread and eggs and I was struck by the fact that the sky is today as blue as the ocean.

Tradition means, in one sense of the word, a culture and society that is not materialistic in the same was as the West. I do not get the feeling here that keeping up with the Joneses or having the latest technological advances in one's home or pocket are important -- at least not yet. I don't know what will happen in Sudan or other parts of Arabian culture in the future. And I have not yet been to the African part of Sudan in the South. Because I know that it is less developed than Northern Sudan I imagine that it too is less materialistic than the West.

There seems to be a more expansive openness to God here than I ever experienced in China, for instance. Maybe with less materialism there are not as many distractions to pull people away from the roots of life. While many of the young Muslim women do make fashion plate statements with the head scarves and modest dress, the reality that I am aware of every place that I go are the tobes, the full cover cloth that women put over their dresses, the long white tobes that the men wear, often with beards -- and the ever present donkeys with their carts.

Yesterday my friend M. said that things are improving here for women. Some women are now wearing jeans and women do not have to wear burkas if they do not want to. She also said that Khartoum is a good place to raise children. This is the second time that I have heard that sentiment. I thought about it and I realized -- no drugs, no alcohol, maybe less peer pressure. The thing of it is that for instance even the young men in their 20's seem to still live at home until they are married. Who is perpetuating this conservative society? The people who grow up and become adults in it. I think that there may be a higher value put on things like respect and honor than what I have seen in the West. Something that I realized in this conservation was that there is a difference between respecting culture and being held captive by it.

Now, traditional of course can mean other things as well. Even among Christians the cultural traditions often hold more weight than Biblical principles. Marriages are still often arranged. Women are essentially "sold" to the highest bidder. Marriages within families are not unusal. There was an interesting article on the internet a couple of days ago -- actually more like heartbreaking. The article focused on two 16 year old male Palestinian cousins. Until they hit puberty they had been believed to be girls. They attended girl's school and were socialized as females in their society. With the onset of puberty came facial hair and male characteristics, both physically and hormonally. They have had to cut their hair, begin to attend a boy's school and begin the difficult adjustment of being male in a society where previously they had been female. A medical authority has stated that this problem, which is not uncommon in Arabic cultures, is caused by inbreeding. Cousins marry cousins, families do not want to go out of the family for marriages. I have also heard this about some of the African tribes.

Here in Sudan, and probably other countries as well, there is a high bride price. The perspective son-in-law will collect money from his uncles to help pay the price so that after the marriage the bride is expected to wait on the husband and the extended family as well because they all own a piece of her so to speak.

It was an overwhelming day yesterday learning so many things that seem like they would be in the distant past but are instead life today. What an amazing thing though to live in a place in the world that is so incredibly different than where I grew up. Because I am still who I am here it can be hard to remember that outside of some of the ex-pats, the people who I come into contact with every day see the world very differently than I do. They experience life from a different car. At the table yesterday we discussed how when people from different cultures marry one another it is so important that they would have learned how to talk to one another. Some of the women here may marry a Westerner to show off that a light skinned person desired them. Many women bleach their skin because they believe the lighter they are the more refined they are. I was told that there are some light skinned Arabs who will not intermarry with others because they do not want to lose their original light skin. The light skin issue also appears to have to do with the racism that is directed towards the Africans by the Arabs. The lighter a person is the further from being African they appear.
Blessings,
Debbie

Third Arabic Language Lesson

2009-12-16T03:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings! Today was my third tutoring session. I am not tutoring, I am being tutored. I need to make that clear. The words are becoming a little bit less tortuous. I have two more lessons in December, both next week. We will see after that....

I managed to find the right bus going to Khartoum 2 today, and I got my breakfast sandwich ordered as well! Again it was delicious and at one pound (about 40 cents) it is definitely the right price. After the lesson I wasn't able to flag down a Bahri bus and after waiting in the sun for over half an hour I finally gave in and hired a mini van. The driver was a young African (not Arab) man and he must have been impressed by my being an American as he wanted to take my phone number when he dropped me off. Fortunately I don't remember my phones numbers and he assumed that this meant I don't have a phone. I didn't lie, I just didn't volunteer the truth. I had him drop me off at a tiny grocer down the road from me where I frequently go for yogurt, bread, eggs and my poison, Diet Pepsi (although I prefer Diet Coke this store doesn't have it). I had to get yogurt and Diet Pepsi and I figured that way he doesn't actually know where I live. He was nice and had really good English -- I suspect he may have come from Southern Sudan where the language that is spoken is English.

Yesterday I had written quite a bit in the blog and then I must have made an error in saving it because most of what I wrote was no longer there when I posted it. So today I will re-tell some of the content. The residential areas in Khartoum, Bahri, Khartoum 2 and Odurman are streets that have long metal fences with gates in them where the houses are. The gates of course then are opened and lead to the houses, often with some kind of a courtyard surrounding the actual house. I don't think that I have seen any front or back yards per se like those that we have in the states. I have seen one garage. Sometimes the bathrooms are a separate room in the courtyard, sometimes they are a room in the house. In my own apartment I have a bathroom off of the living room in the main body of the house. I have been in several homes where the bathroom is a separate room in the courtyard with a shower and squat toilet, occasionally also a Western type seated toilet.

The stores have the kinds of "doors" that I saw in Jerusalem, Palestine and I believe Kosovo. They are like very heavy metal blinds that move up and down to open and close. They are kind of like old fashioned rolling desktops if any of you, my readers, remember those, except in metal and not wood.

While I waited on the street hoping to catch a bus with the Bahri hand signal there was a man who tried to sell to me and anyone else in sight two adorable twin baby goats. Oh my gosh they were cute! I was praying that they were not headed into someone's soup pot for tonight because I know that goat meat is quite popular here. I don't know if people eat baby or grown up goat meat.

I can tell it is winter here in Khartoum not so much by the temperature, because really this is right now like a really nice Seattle summer, but by the shadows. The shadows are more like fall at home than winter at home, but it is definitely the light that is giving me the clues. So far the whole two months I have been here it gets light around 7:00 a.m. and gets dark around 7:00 p.m. It will be interesting to see what happens in the months to come. Today on the bus at one corner we had quite a bit of a wait and I enjoyed the show of the shadows of leaves on one of the walls which surrounds a house on a street corner. It made me think of Hebrews in the Bible talking of how we are the shadow of the reality.

Again there were many women in burkas and men in the long white garments. One of the men was walking in such a way today with the sun just so that I realized he really needed a slip underneath his! The donkey carts are everywhere, with the little donkeys in the front. At one point today I saw a donkey cart being loaded up with bricks. A few days ago at another location in town I saw bricks being made.

Masalama (Peace be upon you),
Debbie

This That and The Other....Thing.

2009-12-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings! Sometimes there is so much going on, or so little outwardly but a great deal inwardly, that it is hard to put things into a coherent pattern of thought. I realized yesterday, for instance, that it makes total sense for the Sudanese to eat dinner at 11 or 12 or 1 at night and breakfast at 10 in the morning. Okay, I might be starting to think like a Sudanese, should that have me worried? Well, the reason it makes sense is that the weather cools down somewhat in the late afternoon and evening. I had written on Facebook recently that if I could switch nights and days temperature wise I would be better off. Essentially by not doing meals according to US standards the Sudanese are switching parts of the day to their weather advantage. Now this does not explain why the Europeans do the same thing....

I had my second language class yesterday. I found someone who helped me get "ful", the incredibly wonderful vegetarian bean dish that the Sudanese have for breakfast, and apparently for dinner as well if they can find it. It is cheap, healthy and I don't have to make it although I could. Tomorrow morning I will be purchasing it again on the way to my third Arabic lesson. I need to find the shops closer to my apartment where I can buy it freshly made. Apparently many people buy it, take it home and fix it as we in the states might fix tacos. It can have salad or cheese, etc., put into it. Basically it is ful beans and tomatoes cut up and cooked together.

So the same new friend helped me find the bus back to Bahry where I live. Before I had been taking the more expensive mini buses, the bus is under one Sudanese pound, or less than 50 US cents. Once I have mastered the bus system it will be ever so much cheaper for me to get around. In China the buses were often so overcrowded that people were hanging out the windows and doors -- I kid you not. Here it is not possible because each bus is fitted with seats on each side of the aisle and there is not enough space in the aisle for people to stand. There are also no bars to hold on to for standing. I much prefer this way of doing buses! It is similar to Palestine because one does not put money into a machine on getting in the bus -- instead it is handed person by person up to a man (I've only seen men doing this) who takes payment, makes change, helps people get off at the right stop and announces what the bus is at each stop to help people find the correct bus.

Every time I go out I re-enter a form of culture shock. I have decided though that even though the culture is very conservative by American standards I like the fact that there are moral values that seem to be deeply rooted and not driven by the latest fads. I have more to explore in regard to this because I of course am only seeing things as an outsider. If by any chance I ever feel that maybe it isn't sooo different all it takes is to see one more woman in a burqua (which I do frequently), one more man in a full-length white outer garment (which I do everywhere) or a donkey cart with a donkey attached and I realize I am truly in a different world. However, smiles and kindness are universal languages. I have had plenty of people do their best to help me as I navigate in this new universe.
Blessings,
Debbie

My International Lifestyle:)

2009-12-15T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hand Made Mattress (Khartoum Sudan)

Hand Made Candle (USA)

Glowy blue computer cooler (China)

Cool purple shoes (Egypt)

What a Day!

2009-12-09T02:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings! I've just arrived home from another day of firsts around the neighborhood and city. I went by bus to Khartoum 2 today, recognizing landmarks and managing to get off at the absolutely correct place to find the Language School where I had gone yesterday to inquire about their programs. This morning I went back and had my very first private tutor lesson in Arabic! I am excited that I got a better handle on the gender endings of words and also learned a basic formula for questions and answers where I can figure out how to answer the question from the question itself. Then I found my own way home by mini-van. I was able to use Arabic numbers to negotiate the price and to direct him to my home once we got over the Khartoum 2 to Bahri bridge. Eureka! Success!

An old woman approached me as I was getting into the mini van to come home, she put her hand to her mouth to indicate food. I simply do not comprehend how someone with no teeth manages to eat. I have been told not to give money because the next time the same person will seek me out and a cycle will begin that is never ending. It is difficult because there is so much need here.

I am utterly amazed every time I venture out at how many many wear the full burka treatment including the veil over their faces. I've noticed now that the veils hook on to another head covering on the back of the head and then fall over the face. I also see many many women with gloves on as well. Even some of the women who wear head coverings without covering their faces wear the gloves. The gloves are black and some of them are intricately decorated, others are just plain. It truly reminds me that this is a radically different culture when I see so many covered women at one time. In the states it is an occasional thing to see a woman in a burka. Here it is almost the norm.

If there were no burkas to remind me of the difference in culture the donkey carts would. I had today a sense of beginning to enjoy the Arabic culture more. Yes it is conservative past my comfort level. But it is also earthy and in touch with reality in a way that more modern and consumer oriented societies are not. This culture has its moral values and they define it. The heat, the dust, the clothing that is suited for the desert and the modesty of Islam all contribute to having a different pace and rhythm. I am trying to reason out what is the difference between a different pace and irresponsibility. In Palestine because of the many checkpoints that people must pass through to go from Point A to Point B and because of the arbitrary decisions that are made of who is allowed to go and who not to go people cease to make firm plans. But if I remember correctly people would call to convey what was going on and how long it might take them to come. Here in Khartoum mostly people just don't show up. To me that is irresponsible. On the other hand I can understand where time moves differently.

Courtesy. That is the word that comes to me. Is it a Western thing to believe that it is courteous to let someone know when plans have changed?
Blessings,
Debbie

Neighborhoods US & Sudan

2009-12-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to figure out some of the differences between the US and Sudan and I realized that it might be easier to show pictures. The first picture here is of a neighborhood in Chicago. Independent structures with architectural variety. The second picture shows some of the agrarian nature of Sudan, with housing structures in the background. I am not sure that I have seen independently standing houses here. Instead there are usually long walls and gates in the walls leading into a kind of courtyard where each house is. It is a very different concept in neighborhood design than what we find in the US.

Beginning Language Lessons

2009-12-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings! For a while things had ground to a halt around here but they are now picking up. Today I took a public bus for the first time. The design of the bus means that they are much less crowded than the buses in China -- to be honest, that I was very thankful for. Waiting for the buses reminded me a lot of being in Jerusalem, lining up and hoping for an empty one. The buses here do not have numbers so I had to learn at one station that there are three lines and each line has a different destination. On the very first bus going into town God sent an Arabic angel and her little boy and she helped me and paid for my fare. Very kind.

So the purpose of my going into town today was to venture to the Arabic Language School. This particular school is run by a married couple from Korea, they were very nice folks. We decided after much discussion and my sitting in on the tail end of a group class that I am better off with a personal tutor because I will have the time to myself and be to ask as many questions as I need to. I start tomorrow...gulp. So tomorrow I have to find my way back to the school bus again. The Korean lady took me out to help me find a way home today - I may have to do that alone tomorrow, but on the other hand that may be what I request my first lesson to be on! I asked for a patient teacher and the co-owner said the man who will be my teacher is very good at working with children. Perfect!

For the ten minutes that I sat with three other students and their teacher today I realized for the first time how learning one language may make it easier to learn others. I know understand the functions of nouns, verbs and adjectives. I understand gender usage which of course we don't have in English but Greek certainly does and so does Arabic. So we will see how this goes.

Every time I am out and about in Khartoum I am struck by just how different it is here. The best adjective right now is simply dusty. There is dust everywhere. In fact for tomorrow when I have to deal with running after buses on the way home I am going to wear my tennis shoes for the first time since I have been here so I will have better traction than in my Birkenstocks. It is almost like being on a sandy beach - all the time. But then there are the people and the African and Arabic clothes which I love and also which is such an obvious signal -- this isn't the states.

On the way back today I ended up taking a kind of mini-van. Smaller and more expensive than a bus. Not as big as a big van nor as little as the motorized rickshaws. It was kind of nice to get a taste of freedom as the driver got me through the traffic and back across the bridge towards Bahri, my general neck of the woods. When we got to the crossroads that I now recognize he asked me which way to go. I had him turn away from home and then I knew when to say "Hallas", finish, when we were near the store I needed to shop at. I did my shopping at the store, loaded up my backpack and proceeded down the street. At the next corner I knew where to go to get my falafel and then I went into the store where I bought my wonderful soft pillows hoping to find pillowcases, alas there were none. Lastly I finished at the store two blocks up from my apartment where they sell the best quality large bottles of water that I use in the machine here at the house. I phones the college for help and they found a rickshaw and driver to bring me to the apartment, he came in with me and changed the water. He then took the empty water container back to the store for me. So I am learning now how to navigate.

At the same time last night I was reading in the living room on my very comfortable coach realizing how nice it is to have a room that I feel at home in. It was not that way in China where the most comfortable furniture was the bed.

By the way, the new bed that I now have is wonderful! I have taken a picture and will get it on here soon.
Blessings,
Debbie

Learning, Learning, Learning....

2009-12-02T20:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings once again! This week has been a quiet one. I have been reading and making notes and learning a great deal about both the History of Missions and the New Testament Background. I am discovering that in order to prepare to teach I almost need to write a paper -- which is fine by me because I love information gathering and organizing. This is one of the most effective ways for me to learn and to integrate in order to pass the information on to my students.

On Facebook this week at one point I had the following status update:
"...The kitchen had been quiet for a couple of days, no sightings of wandering reptiles....then as I sat to relax on the covered porch just now I saw them! TWO lizards at once running across the floor towards me until I SCREAMED! ....and then they ran away!

I've since spotted one of them in the living room. It took shelter behind a book case when I went after it. Not that I would have done anything to it because I certainly don't want to touch one of them!

I have asked several of the ex-pat women here where they get their hair cut. Every one of them has said that another woman from the ex-pat community has done that for them -- my New Zealand friend who is gone now said that she cut her husband's hair and he cut hers. Some of them have said that they have it cut once a year when they return home. I have become very grateful for not having a high-maintenance hairdo of any kind. I have seen the male counterparts to a woman's hair salon here in town. It was quite fascinating and certainly would cut down on overhead. In an alley there were men seated in chairs with a mirror in front of them hanging on a fence and the barber behind them -- cutting!

I apparently live in a part of town that has relatively stable power. Even so I have noticed that several times a week the electricity cuts out for a few hours during the day. Praise God so far it has not happened at night. Which reminds me...being from the Pacific Northwest in the states it is a real shock to be paying less for electricity right now in the winter here in Sudan. I am not having to pay to heat the house -- nor to cool it, I am simply running fans. It is good that I am saving money now because I am sure I will need that money come the summer months to help pay for the cost in double electric bills to cool the apartment!

One of the subjects which has come up fairly frequently in conversations here in Khartoum is that of polygamy. I had read in The Will to Arise, and in some other books as well, that in many ways Africa as a continent is living in Old Testament times; that the culture is like that of the OT.
It has been interesting and fascinating for me to hear about the ways that this seems to be true. Polygamy appears to be a cultural issue. It is practiced by both Muslims and Christians. Christians will argue that polygamy was practiced in the Old Testament and therefore is appropriate for Christians to practice. When a man's first wife is unable to become pregnant then a man who can afford to do so will marry a second wife in order to have children. I came here to Africa knowing that one of the issues I was/am wrestling with is that of what is Scriptural and what is my Western culture? The practice of polygamy is one of the areas where I must continue this wrestling. Of course polygamy then draws one into many other issues, including the authority that men gives themselves over the lives of women. These are issues I will be asking my students and colleagues about. I will be listening to their answers and reflections. I will continue to learn to sit with another culture's way of being.

Another issue which I have both read about and also am seeing in practice first hand is the educational situation here in Africa. Most institutions of higher learning require teachers to have at least a Master's degree. Most of the colleges educate at the Bachelor's level. Until the educational system has matured and is able to offer Master's degrees either 1. students need financial assistance to study for a Master's outside of Africa or 2. the faculties will consist of primarily foreign teachers. I suppose that since the goal seems to be for teachers to have a higher degree than their students that teaching with a BA won't be encouraged. I believe that there is one faculty member here at Nile Theological College who graduated with a BA from this college and then studied elsewhere for his Master's degree, returning to teach at the college.

I am hopeful that today I may be able to finish the preliminary work on the New Testament Background class for January and move on to designing the actual course. I also have to go grocery shopping which is a bit of a challenge. I don't of course as of yet have a car and I don't know how to explain in Arabic to a taxi how to get to my house -- and if I have a heavy backpack full of groceries my back hurts for two days. I may resort to a rolling suitcase as I did in Nanjing, even though the roads here are not as smooth as they were there. I also may have to begin teaching myself Arabic as it does not look too likely at this point that I will have a way to get to formal lessons in the Khartoum across the Nile. Please keep me in prayers for solutions to my transportation issues. I am sure that over time things will be work out. They did in Nanjing so I have no reason to believe that they won't do so here as well. It takes time to assimilate and integrate.

Time seems to slow down here in the heat of the desert and in the Arabic culture. Maybe it is just hard to be too rushed in a tobe and in the dust.
Blessings,
Debbie

Worshippin' Friday

2009-11-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This has been such a nice day. I was collected this morning by the family of a colleague and friend from the college and taken to the KCC, Khartoum Community Church. This is a Pentecostal service. It was very multi-ethnic and multi-cultural and reminded me of the International Fellowship in Nanjing China. The advantage to this particular church (vs the church in Nanjing) is that the local people can attend it as well. Both this service and the service at the Khartoum International Church are in English.

It appears that basically what is available here is Baptist or Pentecostal. This is not to say that there are not other options, it just means that I haven't come across them so much yet.

I need prayer as to the transportation issue. It appears that many people here in Khartoum started out living near where I live (Bahri in Khartoum North) but they have migrated across the bridge over the Nile River to other parts of Khartoum such as Odurman. The friends who brought me today will be moving to another part of town tomorrow and as such will not be able to help me out again. Ideally there would be a neighborhood church to which I could walk every week -- be it Friday or Sunday -- but where I am living now this is not the case. I trust that something consistent will appear on the horizon to one of the English speaking services in town, either the KCC or the KIC (see names above and match initials), or that I will be led to worship in an Arabic speaking service closer to home.

After service we joined with friends of my friends and went to a Syrian restaurant for lunch....I was so very excited to see humus for the second time in Sudan! Again, it may be here all over the place, but I haven't seen it! I was able to order tabouleh salad, a great favorite of mine and lentil soup that was vegetarian. It was great fun to sit with others for a meal again.

I am slowly realizing that religion and culture are intricately intertwined here in Sudan. This may be true all over the world, but since this is the place where I find myself residing for now it is the place that I am analyzing. I have learned things from The Will to Arise, a book on African theology from a feminist perspective; discussions with colleagues and others; from The Princess, the book I recently read on Saudi Arabia, and also from the Madeline Albright book which I am currently reading. The way that I am beginning to tell if something is cultural is if it is practiced by both Muslim and Christian Sudanese, although this is certainly up for correction.

Tomorrow should be laundry day. Yesterday would have been but the electricity was out for several hours and today might have been but I didn't return from worship and fellowship until late afternoon and a nap was in order.
Blessings,
Debbie

American Thanksgiving while in Sudan....

2009-11-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Greetings! I made a fun discovering yesterday. I've had some long top/skirt sets made for me here in Khartoum. Looking at the length of the long top I was wearing yesterday decided to try it on as a dress -- it made an adorable short dress! I can't wear it like that here in Sudan but the next time I leave the country I will all have sorts of cute short dresses to take along with me!

By the way, at church last Sunday someone told me that there is an exercise gym on the second floor of the Alba (may not be the correct name) shopping mall near the airport here in Khartoum. She said it has stationary bikes and the like. She is interested in looking into it in mid-December when she returns from her home country and invited me to consider joining her. I don't know how I would deal with the transportation issue but I am quite thrilled about the idea of having a possibility -- and someone to be accountable to as well. Several people have told me that there is just no way to get exercise here in Khartoum. It is too hot to walk and I have not seen one single piece of exercise equipment in any of the stores that I've been in or walked by or gone by in a car. So this is hopeful!

A friend who is also on Facebook said today that he heard his first Christmas commercial. He is in the states. I remember my first Christmas in China in 2007. I went into the Walmart store in Nanjing and there was a whole section of the store devoted to artificial trees and decorations and Christmas music being played that could be heard through the entire store. I was in shock. It bothered me a great deal because I realized that in Communist China Christmas certainly is not a holy Christian holiday. China had found a way to milk a Western tradition as a money making venture. It was worst for me to have this in China than even in the United States because at least in the states there is still a vestige of understanding of the true meaning behind Christmas. This is not to say that there are not Chinese Christians, because there are. But even my Chinese students at China Pharmaceutical University who were not Christians and had no idea what the meaning of Christmas was, were excited about Christmas trees and presents and a festival.

In Sudan it is going to be another matter altogether. I was in Israel and Palestine in December of 1996. I remember how subdued Bethlehem and the West Bank were. And in Israel proper it was eerie for me knowing that I was there in Advent and there were no Christmas decorations, no Christmas music and no glitterama. Of course Israel is Jewish and Northern Sudan is Muslim, but the point is that same. There will probably be no Christmas decorations, no Christmas music and no glitterama here in Khartoum. This coming Sunday, November 29th, 2009 marks the beginnning of Advent. The International Church here in Khartoum is not liturgical per se. The college has ended chapel services for fall semester as it is almost finished now. Tomorrow I will accompany another teacher to a Friday morning Pentecostal service which will likely be non-liturgical. I do not miss the commercialized aspects of Advent and Christmas in the United States. I DO miss the markers that we are in a set apart season, a time for awe and anticipation. Instead I will need to do this setting apart for myself.

Today was my first American Thanksgiving in another new country. From my experience so far in traveling and living abroad I would say that the first year in a new country is the most difficult. There is the adjustment to the new culture. It takes time to learn where to grocery shop and the proper ways of dressing. And it just plain takes time for friendships to form and become a vessel for nurture and joy. I spent today alone although someone from the college did accompany me to purchase a large container of water for my water machine and vegetarian pizza. The power went out this afternoon and into the first of the darkness. I was planning to sleep in the living room with the doors open so as not to be locked into an airless darkness. And then, praise God!, the power came back on. I may still watch a movie. I trust that Thanksgiving next year will be different. By then I should be sufficiently connected with an ex-pat community of Americans somewhere that I will have fellowship on this American day.

I was asked today to teach English to some of the students at the college, along with History of Missions and New Testament Background. I was assured that this was more of an Oral English than a grammatical English. I've realized that I can do with these students so much of what I wanted to do in China and was not able to do because of the limits put on Christians in that country. I can hand out readings from all sorts of literature that are based on Scripture or on thinking from around the world and have the student's discuss those readings. There is potential for this being a rich time of learning for both my students and for me.

I am currently reading The Mighty and The Almight by Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State in the United States. I would recommend this read to anyone who is interested in learning more about the United States and our relationships with countries in the Middle East. It is a fascinating and informative book.
Blessings,
Debbie