Highs and Lows.

The past few weeks since I returned from Zanzibar have been, how should I say, eventful. Upon returning back, I slipped right back into work, going out and researching different areas. I ran across a group of refugees again, and heard that there situation has gotten worse since I saw them last. They are now having problems with food, and have lost 6 people in the last 3 weeks to starvation. I reported them to the UN to try and get some food in for them, and I'm going to check on them again this week. I plan to take a nurse with me to evaluate them, and see just how malnourished they are. Not far from that village, we heard reports that an NGO's vehicle ran over an anti-tank land mine. I was heading in that direction the next day and saw it. The anti-tank mine was planted in front of a school, sometime during the war. The vehicle that ran over it belonged to an organization that helps with education in Sudan. The driver and his passenger were leaving the school when they detonated it. Only the passenger survived. It was a bit eerie to stand in front of what I couldn't even recognize, was a truck. I could see blood on the seats, and there was a huge whole in the ground from where the mine exploded. It was quite the reminder to stay on the roads. There are mines all over that haven't been discovered yet. We have a few different organizations that devote their days to searching, finding, and removing land mines.
A similar discovery was made a while back at a site where Samaritan's Purse was planning to build a basketball court. Three RPG's (rocket propelled grenades) were discovered, undetonated in a tree right beside the primary school here in Yei. They were removed right before the basketball court was dedicated this past Saturday, which brings me to my high for this week, among all these lows.
Joe Wilson, who left for good on Sunday had come up with the idea to build a court for the kids here in Yei. Luckily he got it finished in time to dedicate it on Saturday, and be able to play basketball with the kids before he left. It was a great way to end an otherwise rough week. We had a blast. It's pretty awesome to have about thirty kids between 4 and 14 chasing you around the court trying to steal the ball from you. We were out there literally all day with those kids, it was a great way to just enjoy being in Sudan with nothing to worry about for a few hours. I don't have anything intellectual to add to this. I haven't connected the dots of why the things I've experienced these past couple weeks were significant. But despite the lows I had, I still know that I'm "home" here. Let's see what this week has in store.