We have had some changes in the last month. Lynn has been really busy with the construction of our first school building. This has been interesting as he deals with a contractor who knows no English and does not have a lot of patience with Lynn's slow Arabic. Then there is the teacher who speaks pretty decent English but does not know construction terms and the church Elder that only speaks Murle but helps to make decisions about the building! it makes for very interesting meetings:) We are very thankful that all of these people have a wonderful sense of humor
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| Humm, what DID Lynn say?? |
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| John Mushingo, me, Peter Shabak, Peter Gai |
The man in the stripped shirt is the site contractor, Tiro, and the other man, John, is the foreman. John speaks a little English and Tiro even less so communicating is interesting:)
Rev. Peter Gai is the Moderator of Presbyterian Church South Sudan and is also the Chairman of the South Sudan Council of Churches. He was also on the plane with my dad when they were flying in to dedicate the Nuer Bible - the plane that crashed with 22 people on board and not one person was injured, even the woman 7 months pregnant with twins!
Rev. Peter Shabak is the man I work with the most as he is the Treasurer and John gets us money when we need it. These men are a lot of fun to work with even if I could not get them to smile for the picture:) Yes, I feel short around them!!
One of our co-workers, Debbie Blane, left last week. She is in need of a hip transplant and was in a lot of pain here so the best option was to head to the States. Our other co-worker, Leisa, who had ankle surgery is hoping to be back in October. So, changes keep happening and we never know who or what it might be.
I do a lot of walking - exercise in the morning and then walk either to or from the office which is about a 30 minute walk. Then there are the days I walk to the Nile Theological College (15 min one way) or over to the ECS guesthouse (10 min one way) where we meet for short meetings or maybe even to get lunch. Then we walk for groceries, out to eat and to church. I thought when you got older you slowed down and did not do as much physical stuff??!! We are some of the few white people we see out walking so people recognize us now and greet us as we walk by - a nice side effect of not having a car.
I have been working with lots of different people, TEE, NTC, Womens group, PCOSS office, and then with the people in the apartment building and it has been fun to work with so many different people and to hear their stories.
Things remain a little tense here in Juba. No gunfire at night but lots of NGO compounds being broken into and lots of petty theft. We are safe and do not go out at night unless we are in a taxi. During the day I walk all over the place but it is all on main roads. I can still buy Nutella so I stay calm and happy! HA :)
