To start off, I made it back safe and sound from Sudan! God was and continues to be so good and so faithful and He has kept me safe even while I was in a region that is considered hostile. I don't even know where to begin with what all has happened since the last time that I wrote to all of you. I was on my way to Sudan the last time, and that in itself was an adventure. I find myself amazed at how much patience the Lord has given to me and also taught me to have for all of the circumstances I've been in. So many times, I think how I would have reacted to a situation maybe just a few months ago and it's nothing like I see the way I'm reacting. It's absolutely incredible! Praise God!
After I left you last time we left from Lodwar (John, Joel, Micah, Duncan, and I) and headed towards the Kenya-Sudan border. We spent the night on the Kenya side in the border town of Lokichogio. We had a few issues with booking a ride to get to Loki but besides that we didn't have any major issues that day. I think it was about a 6 to 7 hour ride to Loki, and in case you hadn't noticed already, when it comes to public transportation and getting around in Africa, every trip takes a LONG time. But like I said we made it their with no issues and didn't encounter anymore problems until the next morning after packing all of or thing into a station wagon. Before we could head out the driver needed to go get gas but apparently there has been a shortage of fuel in Loki so it wasn't until several hours later than we wanted that we finally left for Sudan. Once we got to the border we had no major issues. The only issue we had was that I was never told that I needed 2 passport sized photos to recieve a visa into the new GOSS (Government of Southern Sudan). So after paying to have those made I got my visa and we were on our way. From the border it was about 4 hours to the town of Kapoeta. We didn't stay there long because after we met up with William we loaded everything, people included, into a pickup truck and began our trip into the bush. The Sudanese environment was very different from Turkana. For one, everything was MUCH greener! It rains there a lot more, so much so that the people that we were working with are communal farmers and a lot of them have not only goats, but cows. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get some pictures up for you guys within the next two weeks (no promises though :/ ). Not only is it greener though, there is actually dirt, not sand like in Turkana. The dirt there has some funny characteristics to it though. You don't notice them though until it gets wet. As soon as water hits it it turns into a Georgia red clay equivalent of "if you get stuck in me, you're not getting out any time soon!"
During what was supposed to be a 2 hour ride to our camp in the village of Kalakamoga (sp?), we had an intimate encounter with the wet soil/clay. About 30 or so min before we got to the camp we ran into a small river. And when I mean small you should really be thinking about the creek bed behind your house when you were growing up (if you didn't have one and it makes you feel better, I didn't have one of those either...). We really shouldn't have had any problems getting through this creek but we were proved wrong as almost 5 hours later we finally managed to get the truck out of the mud... The problem was that it was still on the wrong side of the creek and the driver had killed the clutch. So we weighed our options and we figured we had limited options.
Oh and I feel like I should mention that while we were stuck some locals came and after asking for some money (acting out of good nature isn't something known to them), the men stripped naked and helped us to push the truck out. Yeah that's right, we had naked locals helping us to push our truck out of the mud in the middle of the night. And that night wasn't the only night to have a run in with the naked issue there. It's actually normal for most of the young kids to be seen going around with no clothes on at all and the men have no problem stripping down in front of the kids or women. And the women and kids don't think anything of it either.
So as I was saying, we settled on what was to be done as it neared 11pm. They told me that there was a place called a Carter Center near where our camp was and that there was another American who was working there. We figured that they would be much more inclined to help us out if they knew another American was in need of some help. So with the plan for me to go and talk with this person, William, Duncan and I footed 2 hours through the Sudanese bush in the middle of the night to our camp. We got there at about 2 in the morning and I passed out on the mat there. I remember that when Duncan woke me up a little after 6AM, I realized that I was in the exact same position I had fallen asleep in. So we headed back out (did I mention that all this walking was done in Chacos?) and walked the 15 or so min to the Carter Center. After talking with the American, a Christen Murphy, we found it to be such a blessing and provision from God that they decided to help us.
I hate to have to cut the story short but it's getting late and Joel is ready to go so I'll have to continue later. Just know that I haven't even gotten to the first day I actually spent in Sudan so I've got a lot to tell about. Hopefully I'll have time to write all of it down.
Thank you so much for all of you that are praying for me. I can't thank you enough because the Lord has kept me safe and blessed my time here in the most incredible way! I love all of you and I can't wait to see all of you again back in the States and tell you about how good God is!
In Christ Jesus,
CT (A.K.A Wafula [my new african name])
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