Anticipation

We have been and still are anticipating many things in the next 2 weeks.

We had been anticipating the return of the Deputy Chairman of the IO forces on Monday. No one was sure what the reception would be like for him and as it turned out it was both good and bad.

We are anticipating the return of the Vice President on the 18th - or at least that is what the media is telling us. No one is sure if he will come back to Juba or not and if he does come what that might mean for the country. Overall people are hopeful that his return will be a good thing and that this country may finally be able to take a real step forward. We shall see.

We are anticipating returning to the States for 3 months. a time to reconnect with grandchildren and meet new grandchildren in person rather than just on Skype. A time to eat foods we have been craving, having long talks with people we have missed and of course a chance to shop for things to bring back.

We are anticipating meeting many new friends that we have gotten to know through email. A chance to put faces to names and tell about South Sudan in a more in depth way.

An update on Pochalla. We have not sent the builder back to Pochalla and now that the rains have started we may opt to try and find someone in Pochalla that can finish the work. We have been told that some materials were stolen (and the thieves caught so maybe the stuff will be returned) and that people are trying to rebuild their burned homes. The people of Pochalla want to move forward but need much prayer to overcome the anger that burns just under the surface.

This last Sunday we visited the Pochalla people who were brought to Juba for medical care. One was a little boy of about 6 who had been shot just over the hip bone on the side and the bullet was in his bladder. To see this young child with bandages all over his abdomen just broke my heart. His mother was killed in the same fighting. So much senseless killing and hurting. I also found it interesting that this little boy was being entertained by playing games on a phone:)

There is also the anticipation of having 7 new students going to Yei Teacher Training College in May! This is really wonderful as we were late getting the applications out and then Yei had to agree to a late start for these students. I admit to being grateful that these students are all from the Juba area so I won't have to try and arrange flights for them!:)

There is one thing I am anticipating that is not so much fun - jet lag. I already have trouble sleeping so who knows what that will do to me. I will be using jet lag as an excuse for anything silly I MIGHT do and I will use it the whole 3 months!! Stop rolling your eyes, family!

2 steps forward.........

Pochalla. What can I say? Lynn arrived back from Pochalla on the Tuesday the 15 and on Monday the 21st fighting broke out in Pochalla. The contractor and mason were there as well as many other people that we know. We had communication for about 2 days and then the one place that has internet  the folks were evacuated. We have been told that in the first 2 days 7 people were killed and since then we have heard that more have been killed. Some people have fled to Ethiopia and others to the bush. Homes have been burned and the rains have started which means people are sleeping out in the open in the rain.

Today we received a letter saying that things are now calm and the people are pleading for aide groups to come back in to help them. We are not sure if the situation is actually safe for our people to go back in. It hurts to know that so many people are hurting and there is not much we can do.

We have been getting caught up on all kinds of paper work this past week. Lynn has things he needs to get done before leaving here so he has been at home on the computer - not the most exciting thing to talk about but it is a big part of his job.

For me, the Treasurer is gone again for about 2 weeks so I don't have a lot to do. I am taking this time to redo my program for keeping the project accounts and playing with the excel program and realizing that I have only scratched the surface on what it can do. Maybe I can find some time in the States to take a class on excel, or find some high school person who would be willing to work with me:) Or maybe I will just go with what I know!

This is a short post but I wanted to let you all know about Pochalla.