Who gonna run this town tonight?

So as that song was getting wide spread play in America, I was heading to Lebanon. The original plan was to visit Syria as well, but I decided to stay in Lebanon, namely Beirut. I was more ready than I'd ever been for R&R this time out. I stayed in Sudan for 14 weeks instead of my usual 10. An extra month in the field will definitely prepare you for R&R. I flew out of Nairobi in the afternoon and reached Doha, Qatar about 8 pm. My flight to Beirut wasn't until 8 am so I had planned to sleep in the airport. That planned failed. So as I wandered around Doha International Airport (which sounds larger than it is, it's more like the airport in Fayetteville, NC) I met some interesting people. It was apparent that I was in the middle east. There weren't a lot of white dudes around that night. If there were they were mostly British guys. I met and chatted with an Iranian guy for a while and before I knew it the sun was rising.

The flight to Beirut was only a couple of hours and I was greeted by my co workers at the airport with a sign reading "Jay Z." Even after 48 hours with no sleep I could still laugh at that and just mumbled "I wish" and we were on our way out. We rented a car and immediately headed out of the city of Beirut up to Tripoli. Tripoli is a friendly neighborhood that's 100% Muslim and the people were very inviting. We stayed in a "Hotel" that was family owned and run. Sort of like something you would expect to see in a Chevy Chase vacation movie. We beat around Tripoli that night and headed out the next morning.

On the way we stopped for "breakfast." In Beirut there's everything, restaurant wise, that we have in the States. Burger King, (went three times) Pizza Hut, (once) Starbucks, (probably twelve times) Dunkin Doughnuts, (zero) because there was Krispie Kreme! (I lost count on this one) So once we were outside of the city those things disappeared. We followed the locals to a small part of town and went into a food vendor's shop. With our Arabic being non-existent (Sudanese Arabic is very different from the classical one) we just pointed and said "four of those." It turned out well though, we had these pizza pocket things that had basil, oil, and cheese in them. So we washed it down with a cup of coffee we bought from the back of a bicycle and headed up to the cedars. In the mountains of north Lebanon there is a forest of cedars that is presumed to be one of the oldest in the world. There are mentions of it in the Old Testament. It was cool but it really just was a bunch of cedars. Good enough. We took lunch there and then started to drive for Balbeck.

The drive to Balbeck was definitely interesting. We drove through the mountains of north Lebanon on roads that were at sometimes about as wide as a driveway back home. And no guard rails. Now I'm not afraid of heights, ok yes I am. So that was an interestingly, terrifyingly, amazing drive. Along the way was pretty remote desert with the occasional passing truck. Kind of like in Body of Lies when Leo is driving to meet that terrorist informant. But still a good experience nonetheless. We reached Balbeck in the afternoon to see an old Roman ruin. It was interesting, but if you've seen one you've seen 'em all. So we made our drive back to Beirut instead of sleeping in Balbeck. We had been told that Hezbollah has a strong presence there and not five minutes out of the car young boys were trying to sell us Hezbollah T Shirts. And since some Americans were recently kidnapped there we decided it best to get back to the city.

The next morning we drove down to the Israeli border. We spent the afternoon at an orphanage that one of our friends runs there. It overlooks Mt Hermon, the site of Jesus' transfigurarion. We met the children and spent some time looking around in their very impressive garden. We had asked if someone would be willing to drive us to the border so we could take a look. Israel and Lebanon are not on good terms with each other. Lebanon being mostly Muslim in faith and Israel being mostly Jewish have fought over land on the border for years. Not too long ago Israel was firing missiles into Lebanon. So the situation now is still tense, but peaceful. On the drive down to the border we saw many billboards that Muslim extremists have erected to praise martyrs for their suicide bombings. There was a very strong UN presence there as well. We snapped some photos of the border, took a group picture with the UN guys and after a shady Arab guy in a small truck stopped and yelled at us in Arabic, we thought it best to get back to the city again.

I spent the next few days taking in Beirut. For me being away from home it was a nice place to be. Some of the same comforts from America are there as well as great Lebanese culture. The people in Lebanon are the warmest people I've ever met. Me and my buddy (whose name is actually Buddy) found a blues band at a local place and saw them three nights in a row. When they'd finish their set they would sit and talk with us, recommending that we see this or that and just chat about life. So during the day we would beat around the city taking in great Lebanese food as we went, and then we'd go hear unfamiliar people perform oh so familiar songs and then spend a couple hours just chilling with them. I didn't want to leave by the end of the trip. The people, the food, the culture, and being right on the Mediterranean was just too much of an experience to leave after a little over a week. I will definitely plan to go back to Lebanon one day. So as all of the locals we met there would say when they found out we were Americans "don't believe all that you hear on CNN. Lebanon is a great country."

P.S. Sorry I couldn't post photos yet. My computer cord got fried from a power surge on our generator in Yirol, Sudan. I'll get some up once I can get my photos off that computer.

Wau, I've been in Aweil.............

Well since R&R in June, I've been back in Sudan working from Aweil mostly. Shortly after I got back we prepared to drive from Yei up to Aweil. It took us about four days to get there, but well worth the drive. Our projects are moving up to the Wau and Aweil area next year. I along with some other researches went in to do the assessing in preparation for us to move projects into these areas. Once i reached Wau, I was sincerely impressed. Wau is the second largest city in South Sudan, second to Juba. Wau was controlled by the North during the war so most of the buildings there were not destroyed. The second largest Catholic Cathedral in all of Africa is in Wau, South Sudan. Of which I do not have a photo of yet. My apologies. Wau is one of two cities in South Sudan that actually have paved roads so that was nice. From Wau, I headed up to Aweil where my work would be for the next couple of months.

Aweil is a victim of flood planes. Many of the areas flood completely during the rainy season. However Aweil is a very flat section of South Sudan which makes for great drives, especially around sunset, or when a storm is rolling in. The people in Aweil are Dinka, and quite delightful. They are a peaceful sub-clan and couldn't be more excited for us to be there. Pretty much everyone out and about in the markets are more than helpful. The people have been great to work with for assessments and research.

One downside to living and working in the Aweil area is the food shortage. The crops from last year were not so productive because of flooding. Many of the people are suffering from starvation. On a clear day when it's not raining, you find ladies out in fields collecting grass seeds to pound into flour. These seeds have no nutritional value at all, but its something to fill the people's stomachs. So food shortage and flooding are the main problems facing these areas. Some of the stories I've heard about during the war here are the worst I've heard any where else in the country. I've met many women who were slaves up until just a few years ago. I've heard stories of torture that will never be forgotten. People who were blinded by having needles inserted into their eyes, people beaten so badly they are crippled now, and many accounts and scars from gunshots and stabbings. The people in Aweil have suffered greatly. Some people have had to witness their families being burned alive. The militias were very strong in the Aweil area and people were dominated by these groups. It's sad to hear these stories and know how much people have gone through, while also trying to understand how one person could do these types of things to another.

There are many organizations here trying to help with some of the issues and problems that the people suffer from. So hopefully we can come in as well and be a small encouragement in an area full of hardships. The people in this area deserve encouragement from any angle that they can get it. I'm sure I've never met people as strong as the ones that I'm living among now. May God bless them for their faithfulness and diligence to overcome.

I've been covering Church dedications in Kajo Keji the last few days of my time in the field before I go out for break. Once I come back in to the field I'll probably be heading back up to Aweil to continue researching. Ten weeks from them I'll be coming home for a visit. I can not wait to get back and see everyone and spend Christmas in the States with all of my friends and family. I hope this message finds you all doing well and on top of life. God bless.

Jeremy

Zanzibar Round 3................

In case you didn't get enough the first time I wrote about Zanzibar, let me tell you about my third trip there. This R&R I decided to go back to the delightful island off the coast of Tanzania. I really am going to take advantage of the opportunity to see more places in the east, but you just can't beat Zanzibar! My friend Bethany flew out to meet me and hang out with me for the two weeks that I had for break from Sudan. We beat around Nairobi for a day then headed out into the Indian ocean. After arriving at the airport cautiously early, and waiting for three hours to board a plane with five other people, we were on our way. I was looking forward to the full moon celebration that takes place each month in Nungwi, but we missed it by one day. So we spent a couple days in Nungwi on the beach and dodging all the hagglers who want to arrange a snorkeling trip for you, or have you purchase some of their hand made collectibles that they purchased from a mass producer in Dar es Salaam. We journeyed down to Stone town on our third day to see the markets and do some shopping. We experienced many people in Stone town who want to sale you a CD of music from Zanzibar and they all start singing the first song to you as if you'd recognize it like it's on MTV or something. We were able to have lunch atop the Africa House hotel one day which was an awesome place to hang out. One night I hate grilled shark for the first time in an outdoor market, along with breadfruit and fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. I'd never had either, but now I now I'll never eat shark again. We did treat ourselves to one night at the Serena Inn, a five star hotel in Stone town as well, which was quite an upper scale treat. After a couple days in Stone town we headed back up to Nungwi to relax on the beach. It was rainy a couple of days, but for the most part we got to enjoy the most beautiful sunsets on God's green earth every afternoon. A couple of days the tide was low enough for us to go out and catch a glimpse of all the different sizes and colors of starfish sunbathing in the shallow water.









On another day we made our way up to the aquarium where there's a conservation project to preserve the lives of the sea turtles. Afterwards we saw this boat that matched Bethany's shorts. Nice to see Zanzibarian fisherman have taste in boat names. (The state, not the school, Go State!) Walking the beautiful beach by day followed by dinner on the water and great conversation by night proved to be another fulfilling time in Zanzibar, Tanzania. You really can't go wrong with restaurants on the water with breath taking sunsets at any rate. The seafood and spices are the freshest on the planet which makes for wonderful seafood curry. It was great to see Bethany and have time to spend together just catching up, in paradise. Living across the globe proves to be trying at times on friendships back home, so it was nice to have a wonderful part of home come to visit. I think she enjoyed Zanzi, if not she is really deceiving! We spent our last two days together back in Nairobi in shopping centers and great restaurants. Which brings me to my next life changing experience, the best meal I've ever had. I had heard about a Cuban restaurant here in Nairobi a few months back and we decided to try it. I never thought a meal could be a heavenly experience but I have been trumped on that one my friend. On the menu a glimmer of light appeared around the fillet so I read the description. It was a fillet of beef stuffed with onions and cheese and smothered in a blue cheese sauce. Grilled beef with cheese in it and on it can't be wrong from any angle! And trust me when I say it will change your life. We in America don't have that great of a relationship with Cuba, but in some aspects I think we are missing out. They know their way around a piece of grilled meat! I really am sorry about the Cuban Missile Crisis and all the complications around Gitmo, I really am. But that was the best meal I've ever had in my life! The empanadas were a great starter, and the tastiest ones I've ever had, but that steak will make you wanna slap your mama! No joke. So this R&R was definitely amazing. The only bad thing was when my external hard drive was stolen. That was definitely a blow to my happiness. Long story short, by my hard drive being stolen from my check bag by someone when I was boarding a FLY 540 (that's right, I put you on blast, and now refer to you as DON'T FLY 540) flight means that all the photos that I've taking in Sudan and East Africa over the last year are gone. Yeah. It sucks. But other than that, it was a wonderful trip with an even more wonderful friend. I'll fly back in to Sudan at the end of this week and continue on with my crazy life. Cheers. Jeremy.

I'm a fan of laughter........

Sorry I’ve been away from the blog world for so long. I realize I haven’t posted anything since just before I went to the U.S. It’s partly because I haven’t had much internet connection here, things have been pretty busy, and I’m kind of lazy. So after coming back to East Africa from my home leave, I began back in Yei again. I was just in transition on my way to Kajo Keji. I spent about two weeks there writing stories for the church dedications that were going on. I was able to get out into the bush and see the country side there. Kajo Keji is about 15 miles from the border to Uganda. It is a very peaceful and a comfortable place to be. However, during the war it was one of the worst areas for fighting. There was a heavy presence of GOS troops there during the 90’s. Since it was on the border to Uganda and Uganda was one of its allies, the government troops kept a large amount of infantry in that area. One day as I was traveling out to a site, my translator showed me the area of one of the larger ambushes in that area. The SPLA had set up to pounce on a convoy of government troops that were making their way back to Wudu from Uganda. There were approximately 160 government troops traveling together. The group of SPLA rebels only numbered about 50. The SPLA set up on top of a ridge just by a river bed that the road crossed. As the convoy came through the SPLA shot missiles and RPGs at the convoy completely defeating them. All of the frames from the burned vehicles were still there, and still in a single file line. My translator, Chaplain, informed me that the skeletons of those GOS soldiers remained there until the late nineties when the government of the South instructed the villagers to clean them up. It was an eerie reminder of just how soon ago the war here had ended. A few days later I received instructions to head up to another area for research.

I left Kajo and headed to Terekeka.I made the 8 hour drive to Juba, the capital and spent a few days there preparing to go to Terekeka. I headed up to Terekeka to begin assessing. Mundari is the prominent tribe in Terekeka. On the drive in one of the first things I noticed was a girl whose body was painted completely red. The Mundari women, upon getting married, paint themselves completely red to show the community around that she has now been wed to her husband. It’s partly so the other men will know she is no longer available, and a way for her to brag without speaking. As we reached Terekeka I had arranged ahead of time to stay with another American at his compound. Harvesters is a faith based NGO that builds orphanages in South Sudan. Once I reached the town I didn’t know where the Harvesters compound was so I had to go in and ask someone to tell me. My translator found two young guys and they agreed to help us out. They showed us how to get to Harvesters and we returned them to town as we were in need of lunch. We dropped them back off and found a “nice” little Ugandan restaurant to eat at. About half way through our meal those two young guys showed up. Now, you should understand that being white here can be horrible sometimes. The Sudanese, especially the ones in the bush, automatically think you have tons of money. They have actually been taught as children that the government in America just gives us money and we don’t have to work. We have all the money we won’t and it’s just given to us. So it sounds funny to hear that, but to live in a place where that is the people’s reality of us can be scary. These young boys proceeded to tell my translator that we needed to give them 50 Sudanese pounds (about 20 dollars) for taking us to Harvesters. I told them that I had never paid for directions and I wasn’t starting today. I told them that I was here to do work for the Bishop. The Bishop is one of, if not the most respected individual in the community. I told them if they wanted money they would have to ask the Bishop for it. I was thinking that they would just leave then, fearing the Bishop. Well they called my bluff. They said, “You need to go and get our money or we are coming after you tonight. We know where you are staying because we just took you there.” So I called their bluff and went and got the Bishop. When we came back they were gone. I explained to the Bishop what had happened and he told us we’d be fine. A few days later he gave a speech at a funeral about how Samaritan’s Purse had come to help the community and those boys had tried to rip us off. The boys were actually there and later turned themselves in to the police and issued an official apology to us. So after all that madness for one day we went to Harvesters and spent the next few days doing our assessments with the Bishop. The Mundari are a very different tribe. Their scaring is similar to the Dinka, but way more elaborate. Terekeka is right on the Nile River, and I slept only a couple hundred feet from the bank to the Nile there every night, in a tent. That is where I came down with malaria for the second time. I’ve always heard that the second time you contract it the symptoms aren’t as bad. That’s all lies! It was the sickest I’ve ever been in my life. First I had a fever of 105 for about three hours. The nurse at Harvesters wrapped me in wet sheets to cool me down. I passed out once my fever broke. When I woke up around midnight, my body was so cold my teeth were chattering and I looked like I had convulsions. Once that stopped I felt about 40% normal. Then all over again. I’d get a horrible headache and fever. Then the fever would break and I sweat and be freezing. Round and round I went for about three days. I was taking a medication to cure the malaria and eventually I was well enough to stand up. Once I could stand, I left and went back to Juba for about an hour, then on to Yei. I just wanted a comfortable bed to finish recovering in. I’m sure you’ve never had malaria, but to make a 6 hour drive on these roads with malaria is not a treat. It makes a good story, but there’s not a lick of fun involved in that let me tell you.So once I got back to Yei I was instructed to stay in the bed and just get well, and that’s what I did. The symptoms come and go for about a week. One minute you feel like a million dollars, the next minute you’re wondering if you’ll wake up in the morning. Not fun at all.

So after all of that, I left Yei and drove up to Rumbek. That’s about a two day drive. We drive all day, overnight in Mundri and then drive all day the next day. So I’ve been back here among the Dinka. Things are okay, but there’s lots of fighting. Cattle raiding is at it’s peak for this area right now. The Dinka value their cows above all else. I moved our carpenters to a church today to work and we had to supply them with an armed guard. It’s pretty funny to see a pastor with and automatic assault rifle staying at the church. But it will be necessary for our guys, especially once the community learns they are there. The chance that they will be robbed is very high. But anyway, he’s there now to help protect them.

I’m also with my best Sudanese friend, Moses. I came here to manage this base while the regular manager was out for his R&R. It’s been good to spend time with Moses and all of our Dinka staff again. I only know a small amount of Dinka, but we can still communicate enough to laugh, a lot. I’m a fan of laughter. With all the stress that comes along with this job, you have to laugh. To find common ground in humor on the other side of the planet, with people that are so different from me is a life saver. I’ve been back in the field for 9 weeks and I’ll go out for my R&R in about 10 days. I’ll be going to Zanzibar for my third time. Yeah it’s that good. And I’m sure this trip will be even better than the first two. Best regards to all of you.

So I've spent the past couple months in Yirol, South Sudan. After coming back from Christmas vacation in Zanzibar, Tanzania, I flew in to Rumbek. Rumbek was once considered to be developed into the capital of South Sudan. After a day or two there, I made the 3 hour drive over to Yirol. In between the two areas there are vast amounts of water and wildlife. To see birds that are four feet in height, families of baboons, and an abundance of other animals was quite the "African" experience. Upon reaching Yirol, my first impression was that it was just another South Sudan village. Indeed it is, but it was so much more. On the compound there we live in mud tukuls very similar to that of the locals. There was no power, it was hot, humid and just boring for the first few days. So as I got my lists of villages together to research and hired a translator, it was just another day in paradise. But I soon came to love Yirol so much. Aside from the fact that I was very sick for a couple weeks and had no idea what the problem was. There are many security issues and tribal conflicts sometimes on a daily basis. I had more things to go wrong with my work in Yirol than anywhere else I've been. Although I still had an appreciation for the area and the people. The locals of the greater Yirol area are all Dinka. There are many sub clans of people within the Dinka however. Those sub clans tend to rival each other frequently. From cattle raids, to arguments, to all out fighting and killing, the sub clans don't get along all the time. But the people I encountered in Yirol had a tremendous impact on my life. Sadly a lot of people in conflict areas, or areas that are suffering, have figured out how to embellish their story to receive pity. For someone like me, who wears my heart on my sleeve, they can smell me coming. But the people in the bush areas of Yirol haven't had enough people from NGOs around to grasp this concept yet. So what I usually ended up with, was being face to face with someone who had never really been helped. I witnessed things in Yirol that I've read about here in Sudan, but never actually seen, at least not to the extent that I witnessed here. One day while traveling back from Bunagok, an area about two hours into the bush from Yirol, I saw children drinking from he dirtiest water I had witnessed yet. In Bunagok the boar holes dry up this time of the year. There won't be water available again until the rains come. When I saw the children gathering the water to drink, I stopped immediately. I wanted my translator to tell the children to boil the water before they drank it. The kids just started laughing, and continued drinking it. A similar case was in the town of Bunagok, I saw a kid with a plastic bottle filled with mud. My first guess was that my small friend was just playing with the bottle. Soon he removed the cap and began to drink the water off carefully keeping the dirt in the bottle. I told him to stop drinking that, it was going to make him sick. He just smiled and continued drinking. The people of these areas usually know the water isn't safe, but what would you do if you were that thirsty and had water in a bottle? Even if you knew it would harm you, you'd do the same. And so would I. Because of the water issues, food is also scarce in these areas. There is no cultivation this time of the year because the ground turns to a bone dry desert. WFP (World Food Program) has a strong presence in these areas and they are distributing maize flower and oil for cooking. So to meet some of the people that I've met, and have some of the conversations I've had, I have so many questions. The first obviously being "Why?" Why do these people have to suffer so much? Why do we have it so well? And why do we not take more time to seek out people who are suffering and lend a hand? Surely we could spare $20 to an organization that's helping, or better yet give of our self to help. I've developed this theory while traveling and living in Sudan. Generosity isn't so much a choice as it is a responsibility. Selfishness is a horrible disease that every person on the planet has, some worse than others. Some people use ideas such as these as the punchline to jokes to take the emphasis off the fact that they themselves do nothing to help anyone outside themselves. Now it's easy for us, especially me, to do things or give to those that are special to us. Someone whom I love or care about, it's easier to give. I try my best to show those that I care for how much I care. But I don't have that same drive for people I've never met, until I'm placed in their situationa and I can see the suffering. I've been told by some that you can't save the world and it's ridiculous to give up everything for an ineffective cause. But many years ago a group of people had similar beliefs. Even you don't possess faith in God, you have to admit that this is admirable.

³²All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. ³³With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
- Acts

If we, the progressive world, adopted this lifestyle, people would think we were crazy. I mean, everyone can rise above their situation and be self sustaining no matter what their circumstance, right? Absolutely not. Some people need help, and if all those who aren't trying to help are just criticizing, then they shouldn't help. Give freely, not because you feel convicted. But if you do feel convicted, good. We should.