Travelogue: Sudan (MCC EARM meetings)

29 March 9 a.m. Uganda time
I am starting this email above the clouds in an Eagle Air twin prop 18 seater. We took off in cloudy, rainy weather this morning on our flight to Yei (pronounced “Yay”), southern Sudan (for those of you who are scrambling to look up Yei on the map, find Juba and then look south and west. It’s close to the Congo and Ugandan borders). This is where the MCC EARM (East Africa Regional Meeting) is happening. So in this 18 seater are Doug & Deanna Hiebert and their two little girls (from near St. Catharines, mind you!), who are Great Lakes Country Reps (that would be the African Great Lakes; the countries of Burundi, Rwanda, East Congo). Also Mike and Maguay Soloman and their two boys, Country Reps for Tanzania and Dale and Gann Herman, Country Reps for Uganda. And of course yours truly, Amani sitting by herself in a single front seat on the left, Sophia and I in the last two seats on the right (next to luggage and cargo) and Wanda and Abby just in front of us. So far the lush green scenery below has been wonderful, such a contrast to the dry and dusty brown of Ethiopian right now.

We started yesterday in Addis. We left the house at 8:30 a.m. and made it to Bole Int’l airport by 9:00, in time to begin check in. We were supposed to leave at 11 a.m. and arrive at 1:30 p.m. in Entebbe, Uganda, but we didn’t leave until noon. That’s the way it is here. However, amazingly, we landed at 1:30 p.m.! Go figure . . . We were picked up by the Central Inn shuttle and taken to where we would stay overnight. We looked forward to meeting the Hieberts and Solomans there but to everyone’s surprise and consternation, when they arrived the Central Inn said that it was full, sorry. They offered to take them to another hotel. They wouldn’t work with them to accommodate them any further. It was slightly awkward for us because the Hieberts and Solomans had been in conversation with CI for a month and we just booked the other week and they got bumped. We arrived first and our rooms were ready. Another TIA (“This Is Africa”) moment. So they went to the other hotel but came back and we all ate supper together. The children played, the women talked and Mike, Doug and I played Scrabble.

I’m looking out my window and continue to see nothing but beautiful landscape. It’s the rainy season here and so everything is very green. Unfortunately none of that rain has made it over the mountains into Ethiopia.

We made it through the night at CI but I must admit I didn’t sleep well. In part because there were voices outside our rooms, in part because Wanda and I were in one room and the girls in the other (if we had a ‘do over’ we would split up ourselves and the girls) and also because of the room doors. On the outside was a huge bolt to lock the door from the outside! It made me paranoid over night, I kept imagining someone locking us and the girls in our rooms and we couldn’t get out. There are iron bars on the windows so it’s not like we could break a window and get out. So I prayed for safety and that nothing would happen, but I still slept very light. Early morning a thunderstorm came through the area. The thunder and lightning and the pouring rain actually relaxed me, first thunderstorm since last summer and it was nice. We were up early (5 a.m.) to dress, pack, eat a light breakfast and head out to the airport for 6 a.m. And here we are up in the clouds!

Lots of things are happening in Ethiopia right now. We are in the midst of a drought, no rain in Feb and March. Now the people we have been helping with our partners (MKC RDA and CFGB) are starting to feel the pressure. No rain, no water and people are now walking up to a full day to fill their jerry cans with water. No rain, no crops. No crops, no income and no food. It seems we may be on the verge of a crisis in southern Ethiopia. This is all new to Wanda and myself so we are working with partners and MCC folks in Akron and Winnipeg to try and respond. But the government needs to declare an emergency or otherwise we won’t be able to operate freely (sorta works like when the President declares a place a ‘disaster area’ then FEMA can go in and give emergency help, bringing in supplies, offering low costs loans for rebuilding, helping the state and local gov’ts with money, that they can’t otherwise).

We have enjoyed hosting people in the past week. We had 4 people from Toronto for supper one night, two of them attend Toronto United Mennonite Church. That was fun. They are all psychiatrists and are here on a government exchange program. They were delightful in their questions and conversation. Diverse too; ethnic Russian Mennonite, Chinese Canadian, Jewish Canadian, Japanese Canadian. We had homemade pizza, salad and chocolate chip cookies and tea for dessert. This coming month we’ll be hosting 2 10,000 Villages VIP’s from Akron and in May we’ll host more MCC persons coming for a variety of reasons. We enjoy hosting and it’s been so interesting to hear people’s stories coming through on why they are here and to answer questions about what we see and do.

I’m looking out below and seeing a long snaking river with ‘lakes’ within the river basin, sorta like the North and South Platte river basin in Nebraska. This is the White Nile river basin. I think we’re in southern Sudan now. For those of you who think of Sudan as desert the answer is yes and no. From the capital city of Khartoum to the north it is mostly arid and brown desert and inhabited mostly by Muslim Arabs. South towards Malakal and Juba it is green and lush and inhabited mostly by Christian or animist black Africans. The tall Dinkas come to mind. The 50+ year war/skirmishes have a lot to do with riches, both agricultural and mineral. The north tries to impose control and siphon off wealth for the north and the south resists. Of course the tensions are more than economic but that is foundational.

So we are flying into southern Sudan which is not run by the gov’t in Khartoum these days but by GOSS (Government of Southern Sudan). So our visas have to be gotten from GOSS. Fortunately our MCC CR in Sudan, Rob Haarsager, got all our visas and will be waiting at the airport in Yei for us when we arrive, to hand us the visas. We had enough trouble getting the Ugandan visas. They wanted to see our GOSS visas or else they wouldn’t let us in Uganda. So eventually they allowed me to write a letter, as the NGO head in Addis, requesting that the Amstutz family be granted a visa on the basis that we were only in transit through Uganda. They allowed me to endorse myself and our family and so we are winging our way to Yei.

We landed in the forenoon on a long dusty runway under the hot African sun. The long runway in the middle of an empty plain led to a small house which the GOSS customs officers were sitting in, waiting for everyone to deplane. Two groups were waiting for the passengers, MCC and a group called the Harvesters (I don't know anything about them except that they are working at orphanages in Sudan). We waited to fill out forms and to register and then we through our luggage on the back of a Toyota pickup and a dozen of us squeezed into a Toyota Land Cruiser to take the bumpy ride on dirt roads through Yei to the RECONCILE compound.

Yei is a hub of economic activity, being at the crossroads of trade from Uganda, Congo the Central African Republic and Sudan. We saw a fleet of motorcycles in the downtown commons area up for sale. But everything is dirt, no grass on the commons. But the surrounding area is all green; trees, bushes, wild grasses. It is the rainy season.

Evening falls.

We are in Yei, Sudan and have an exceptional wireless internet connection! So I’m going to send this off right now. Amazing, can’t find something like this in Addis but out here in the middle of nowhere (check your map) we have a great signal!

March 30
That was fun. Talking to Grandma & Grandpa Amstutz on Skype computer-computer and talking to Aunt Debbie on Skype computer-phone. And who was that answering the phone at the Kindlers? Someone named Aaron but with a voice an octave lower! I was sure that I had the wrong number when we rang and this unknown voice answered. Someone is growing (Deb said he is now 5'7")!

So tomorrow night we'll try calling more relatives before we go back to Addis. Grandma & Grandpa Roth, Amstutz' in Kidron and hey, maybe a shout out to Anita and Kenneth in ABQ (are you off tomorrow?). The connection is not always clear, sometimes choppy and sometimes the connection is dropped. But we learned something; those of you who have Skype can do what I did; give myself $10 credit on the Skype account (put it on my Mastercard). So you call from computer to land line . . . for 2 cents a minute! Yep, you read that right, beats any plan anyone has come up with yet! So if you can figure it out you can call us for great rate!

So now it's evening and we've had a good day. The adults sat in meetings most of the day and talked about MCC business and life. The kids were entertained by young ladies from Uganda and Sudan. They played games and watched a Scooby Doo video we brought and played on our computer (this thing is versatile!). Later in the afternoon Wanda pointed out our three girls playing in the water and mud. Yes, they were getting muddy but upon closer inspection they were creating a mud dam to hold the water from draining away (the water came from an outdoor spigot where people were washing hands). One our friends pointed out that they were being good MCC'ers. Sure enough, they were making 'water catchments', ponds that are built to catch the water so communities can access water. They had been with us when we were in southern Ethiopia and had seen some of the water catchments there (which are quite dry now).

Now it is evening and the distant flashes of lightning fill the sky. The sky reminds me of a Gulf Coast Florida sky, high cumulus clouds by day, threat of rain from the afternoon on. The warm humidity of the air and the flora and fauna also are similar to Florida as well. It is almost time for all the lights to go out. The generator runs until 10 p.m. then is shut off. All the lights go out and we're left in the darkness of Yei. But the starry, starry night is bright with the millions of stars above us.

March 31

Another hot, humid day in Yei. We sit around wooden tables in plastic lawn chairs all day long and slowly get warmer. In the morning it is quite pleasant, even cool. But by evening I am dripping and ready for a shower.

After long sessions yesterday the EARM meetings came to a close. We were all relieved that all the business had been attended to and tired from sitting. It has become customary when there is a break folks open up their computers and begin checking email, news, sports, etc. The biggest interest over this weekend was the election in Zimbabwe. Whenever computers were opened the question was; what is the latest from Zimbabwe? The outcome remains in limbo but there are signs that Robert Mugabe's reign is coming to an end and that would spell hope for the lives of the masses of poor and those who fell from middle class to poor class during his oppressive regime. We also kept track of the NCAA tourney and of course email.

But the biggest blessing was the ability to use Skype. We called Grandma Roth and heard her voice loud and clear. But, sadly, she said she couldn't hear us. So our phone time was cut short. We then tried calling Aunt Anita & Uncle Kenneth but they were not available so we left messages ('calling from Yei!'), marvelling at the miracle of communication over such a great distance in extremely remote locations (after all, we are literally in the middle of grass huts and no electricity. When the generator goes off at night, it becomes quite dark with the stars and moon as the only lights). But the connection hit a sweet spot when we finally called Kidron; we reached Grandma & Grandpa as well as Uncle Lon, Aunt Heidi and Jakob, Katie and Greta. We heard them clearly, they heard us clearly and we spoke with joy and amazement for 50 minutes! What a blessing! And all for free, it's hard to believe. So when we finally hung up everyone was happy to hear familiar voices.

April 1

So now it is time to go. EARM was good to us. The girls enjoyed the large compound, playing with each other, the other children, the water and mud, goats, chickens, and exploring. The first round of passengers loaded in the Land Cruiser and headed to the landing strip (I would fain call it an airport) and our turn is next in about an hour. We'll spend 5 hours at the Entebbe airport waiting for our Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis, arriving tonight at 8:30 p.m. The girls should be in safely in their own beds by 10 p.m., Lord willing.

A special thank you to all of you who have waited patiently for almost 2 months to see a new blog. I apologize for not writing but I hope to write, even short entries in the future on a weekly basis. Call it a renewed new year's resolution. I wish to thank my brother Lon for gently prodding me, in the best possible way, last night while we were talking. Of course friends and family are waiting to hear from us. So we shall try again at regular missives . . .