Bikes and other news

Here in our corner of southern Sudan transportation by bicycle is quite popular. Hardly anybody has a car, and the roads are dirt and in quite poor condition, especially during rainy season. Thus, in order to get between villages people normally either go by foot or by bicycle. Knowing that the use of bikes is very handy out here, Justin, the water project manager started a bike hire scheme a few months ago. Some generous friends of his back in the UK donated some money to get the scheme started, and with the money he purchased four nice mountain bikes in Nairobi as well as a supply of parts for repairing and maintaining bikes. These bikes are now stored in the water project office building, and anyone in the community can use them for a small fee of 2 Sudanese Pounds per day (less than a dollar in US currency). Over the past few weeks the scheme has really been taking off. We’ve had well over fifty hires in the last month, and we typically get several people over the course of a day coming for a bike. The bikes are good sturdy bikes, so they work well on the rough roads in this region. It has turned out to be a good way to help people in the community, as well as bring in a small amount of money so that the scheme can support itself to some degree. Managing the scheme has been one of my (Stephen’s) main jobs here, but one of our Sudanese workers is also heavily involved in keeping it running.

In other news, life in Sudan continues to go very well. Work with the water project is steadily progressing, and we are continuing to learn a lot. Many of the local men are working in their fields pretty much every day, and some crops are just coming into harvest. The corn is ripe, and it seems that every time we go to visit a village these days we receive a gift of many ears of corn. It is really tasty, especially when roasted, which is the most popular way of eating it around here. Will leave you with a few pictures of the bike hire and other happenings!

Bike hire!  On the left is Abel, who works for the water project.

This cat loves popcorn.  For real.

We had a meal on the compound for a group of (adult) students, and pretty much everyone helped prepare it.

It's rainy season! 

On the road to Nalgan, where we went for church last Sunday.

The church at Nalgan.

Lots of birds!  This picture is for my (Ginny's) dad and Uncle Bob.

Of many new things

We've now been in Doro for close to 3 weeks, and have (shamefully) not put up a second blog post in that time.  We're very much enjoying life here, and have gotten settled in well.  Slowly by slowly, we're learning how much really needs to be put out of reach of the pesky thieving dogs (including laundry soap and french presses, apparently!), but the new fence has curtailed their activity.  Needless to say, everyone is exceedingly grateful for the new fence.  

Since herds of goats no longer wander into the compound, we took time this past weekend to set up and plant our garden!  We're now eagerly awaiting the first signs of the coming okra, eggplant, tepary beans, cow peas, pumpkins, cilantro and tomatoes.  Especially the okra.  And cilantro.  

Planting the garden!

During our orientation to the water project, I (Ginny) learned how to use the water testing kit we have, as testing will be one of my responsibilities.  Included in the kit is the ability to test for fecal coliform bacteria, complete with a mini incubator.  The EPA drinking water standard is that there should be none.  Among the water samples we tested were the barrel from which we get our water, and from our Katadyn  ceramic filter, which we use to purify our drinking water.  There were a number of coliform forming units in the source water, but in 100 mL, our filtered drinking water showed none.  We like our filter.  (Pictures of the test results below!)

collecting some river water to test

We get our water from the barrel by the shower.  See all the little yellow bumps on the paper?  Yeah, lots of coliforms.

But then it goes through a filter, and ends up with none!

Stephen has been going in to Bounj, the nearby town with a market, a number of times to meet with some church elders there about starting a vegetable garden project.  The church has hired a manual irrigation pump from the water project, and the idea is that it could be used to irrigate the garden.  They've cleared the land, and on Thursday there will be a work day to build the fence.  Around here, a fence is a vital first step towards a productive garden, as the local pigs and goats would otherwise enjoy the produce long before it's ready for the people.  

The cleared land for the garden.  You can kind of see some indentations in the ground - we were told that this is where land mines have been removed.

One of my (Ginny's) main tasks during the first few months (while it's rainy season and it's hard to go anywhere) will be to undertake an evaluation of past projects.  I've been spending a good bit of time this past week doing some of the preliminary work - spreadsheet templates, brainstorming, and literature review.

There is no doubt that it is rainy season!  As I type this (at 9 PM on Tuesday, assuming it probably won't get posted until Wednesday evening), it's raining for the second time today, and I can hear crickets chirping and frogs croaking.  Our Bata gumboots that we picked up in Nairobi were a beyond worthwhile purchase.  Also, I'm not sure that I believe the stories about the heat here.  Actually, I do, but thus far, it's only gotten as high as 90 a few times, I've used both the sheet and the bedspread all night every night for at least a week, and I've needed to wear long sleeves on at least 4 separate occasions.  

Seeing as this is getting long, we'll leave you with a couple more pictures...

Joseph, a water project employee, explains the stall where he's selling flocculant and chlorine for water purification.

Setting up a tent roof so we can cook outside even when it's raining!  Note the safety standards again - bare feet, and standing on a plastic table.

First Look at Doro

We've finally made it to Sudan!  

Last Thursday was our flight.  We and 7 others arrived at Wilson Airport at 6:30 AM for our AIM-AIR flight.  The planned route was a short hop to Eldoret (about an hour from where Ginny used to live) to pick up another passenger and refuel, a bit longer flight to Lokichogio (on the Kenya-Sudan border) to drop off the passenger, exchange some money, and refuel again, followed by a flight to Bor, Sudan to drop off a passenger, on to Yabus to drop off 6 passengers, then finally to Doro, where the pilot would overnight.  Life being unpredictable, it didn't quite happen that way.  To start, the load was 200 kilos overweight, so we had to sort out on the runway in Nairobi which of our cargo could stay, and which needed to come.  As it turned out, we left almost all of our stuff except a few essentials.  The two hours to load the plane left the pilot a little nervous about whether we would be able to make it all the way to Doro, what with his flight-day length requirements.  By the time we arrived in Eldoret, we got word that it was raining both in Yabus and Doro, so we may have to overnight in Lokichogio.  Once we got to Loki, word was that it had quit raining, and the runways were both looking usable again, so we took off to Yabus, skipping the Bor stop (that passenger was willing to be dropped off the next day).  After testing the runway by touching the wheels on it and lifting off again, the pilot decided the runway was in good enough condition, circled around, and landed the plane, much to the delight of the Yabus passengers.  They unloaded, and we continued on to Doro to test the runway there!  After a brief 12 minute flight, the pilot tested the runway, approved its condition, and landed us.  We had quite the welcoming party waiting to meet us!  

The runway is right next to the SIM compound, so we were taken to our new home, which is a tukul for the time being.  There was a team from Scotland leaving on the plane the next morning, so our first meal was their farewell - a nice team pot-luck.  That night, we were welcomed with a very loud thunderstorm, complete with rain blowing in our windows.  Our blanket hasn't yet arrived, and extras were in short supply with all of the people on the compound that night, so we shivered a little through the rainstorm.  As soon as it let up, the shivering ceased.  

We are, as I mentioned, living in a tukul for the time being.  It's a mud and straw type of building, and the one we are currently in is usually occupied by an Ethiopian couple who will be returning in August.  There will be a little shuffling around once they return, at which point we may be moving into either another tukul or a new tent.  There are pit latrines - three for the whole compound.  One has a seat, but the other two are squatting types.  There are two bucket showers which are quite nice - there's a regular shower head on the bottom of the bucket, and it's raised on a pulley system.  A third shower area can be used for a sponge bath.  And we have high speed wireless satellite internet.  There is a monthly bandwidth limit, so we do have to be careful about our time, file sizes, etc, but it works quite well.  

Since we basically arrived in time for the weekend, we've been spending our time getting acquainted with the area and the way of life around here.  Here's a few picture highlights: 

Here is the Doro Airport, i.e. the murram airstrip as we were getting ready to land...  It's very lush right now, since it's during the rainy season.  So far, it hasn't been hot yet.  We've had a couple of rains and some cloudy weather since arriving.

In front of the AIM-AIR plane (a Caravan) shortly after landing in Doro.

Here is the tukul that we are living in for the time being. It's quite nice and cozy inside!  That's a large baobab tree in the foreground.

The plane departing the next morning.  It lifted off the ground just a few meters before some puddles from the night's thunderstorm.

Stephen's first lesson: how to weld! They are building a new fence at the compound and let him give the welder a try. Note the safety precautions - welding goggles and gloves are a must, but flip-flops are all right.  There's a quad bike attached to the front of the trailer that was covered in children during the whole process.

We went to the local market for some basic supplies and got lunch. It was quite yummy!

Cooking dinner in our "kitchen". Most of the cooking takes place outdoors over jiko's, which are basically mini charcoal grills.  There is a charcoal oven on the compound which we'll have to try sometime!

Ethiopian Adventure!

On July 2 we took a trip to Ethiopia for a few days. The idea for this trip was conceived a couple of weeks ago, when we found out that we would not be able to fly to Sudan until July 8 due to the limited number of flights. Rather than just sit around in Nairobi for three weeks it was suggested to us that we go on a field trip to Ethiopia to visit some water projects that SIM is doing there in conjunction with the local church. We were only too happy to oblige, as we are always looking for a new adventure to go on or a new country to visit! This is a brief overview of our time in Ethiopia.

We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at about 1:00am on July 3 after our flight from Nairobi was delayed by about two hours. The man who was scheduled to meet us at the airport was an Ethiopian who works at the SIM office in Addis. I called to let him know that we were running late, and he seemed somewhat happy because he was in the middle of watching the Ghana - Uruguay world cup match and didn't want to be interrupted! (Too bad the game didn't end so well.) We finally arrived at the SIM guesthouse in Addis at 2 AM and settled in for a short night of sleep.

The next few days were spent driving and visiting two SIM sites which were about 200 km south of Addis. The countryside in Ethiopia is really scenic with lots of mountains and lakes. Both of the sites we visited were in very rural areas where the local people are living in very basic living conditions. The first sight was near the village of Tuffa, where SIM has set up a water irrigation project to help the local people water their crops. The second site we visited was at the village of Langano. SIM has a larger station set up here, with a variety of projects going on including a health clinic and a sports ministry. There are not any water projects going on currently at this site, but there were some well drilling projects that had been recently completed. We visited several of these wells, which had been fitted with simple hand pumps and provided the people easy access to an abundant source of clean water.

Our final night in Ethiopia was spent back at the SIM guesthouse in Addis. We had most of a full day in Addis, which gave us some time to do a little shopping and relax. We also went out for dinner at a local restaurant that night, which was a real treat. Ginny has always loved Ethiopian food and has introduced me to the tasty deliciousness as well. We have been to numerous Ethiopian food restaurants all over the United States and Kenya, so we thought it would be a real treat to actually get it in Ethiopia! Not only was the dinner fantastically tasty, it was amazingly cheap. Due to the current exchange rate between the US dollar and the Ethiopian birr (the local currency) we only spent the equivalent of about $5.00 for a huge plate of food. Not bad!

Overall, even though the trip was very brief, we came away with a good appreciation for the work that SIM is doing in Ethiopia. We also enjoyed getting a little insight into the Ethiopian culture, and seeing the beautiful countryside. One of the more challenging portions of the trip was communication - our driver who we were with pretty much the entire time was a really wonderful man, but his English skills were somewhat lacking, and we had zero knowledge of Amharic, the main language in Ethiopia. So there were a number of times were communication was very difficult, and it made me realize just how important learning the local language is if you really want to be an effective missionary. Even though we will only be in Sudan for about five months, we are going to do our best to learn as much of the local language as we can. We would definitely appreciate your prayers that the language learning would go well especially considering our limited time!

Tomorrow morning bright and early we catch our flight to Doro, Sudan where we will be for the next few months. Our next update will be from there. Thank you all for your continued support. We can't tell you how much we appreciate you praying for us, and would appreciate your continued prayers as we begin our work in Sudan. Will end with a few pictures from Ethiopia.

 This is a fairly typical sight when driving in or around Addis. The blue van is a taxi - this one happened to be very loaded down!

 There were a lot of these huge and very interesting looking trees near Tuffa, at the first site we visited.

 Here's Ginny walking through a cornfield in Tuffa as we were getting our tour of the irrigation project.

The road to Tuffa was very rough. This picture doesn't really do it justice - the land rover was definitely about the only type of vehicle that would have made it!

A typical scene in the area we were in - lakes and mountains were quite prevalent.

This was near Langano. I thought the Acacia trees contrasted against the dark sky looked neat.

 One of the well sites in Langano, with the local people demonstrating the use of the hand pump.

There are donkeys everywhere in Ethiopia.

Eating lamb tibs (a local Ethiopian dish) at the Addis airport before flying out.

Weekend in Kijabe

We've been in Kenya for a little over a week now and are pretty much all recovered from jet lag! So far most of our time has been spent getting oriented for going to Sudan, and working on shopping for all the supplies we will need in Sudan. Not too exciting, but all necessary things. This weekend we were anxious to get out of the city, so we went up to Kijabe and visited friends up there. Kijabe is a little north of Nairobi and is the location of Rift Valley Academy (RVA) where Ginny went to highschool, and she still knows some people there. It's in a great location right on the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

 A chameleon! This one was caught in Kijabe.

The town of Kijabe. We got yummy Kenyan food (stew and chapatis) at one of the little Dukahs (like a mini-restaurant).

Tennis and basketball courts at RVA with Kijabe Hill in the background.

Us in the forest just outside RVA.

A butterfly that we spotted in the forest.

A view out over the Great Rift Valley. The mountain on the right is Mount Longonot, a dormant volcano.

Hello from Nairobi!

Tumefika Kenya!  (We have arrived)
We got to Nairobi last night (Friday) after a night flight from Newark to London, just enough time in London to get to our next plane, and a day flight from London to Nairobi.  We're a little sleep deprived, but  glad to be here.  We're staying in a self-catering guest house while we're here, and have the weekend to just rest.  Orientation starts Monday, and we may be heading to Sudan as early as Friday, but that is subject to change of course!

So far today, we woke up at 5, fought being awake for an hour, and finally gave in and got up at 6.  After a couple hours enjoying a leisurely breakfast and a little reading, we went to Yaya Centre (mall-type place) for some groceries and a cup of coffee.  In the kitchen are fresh avocados, mangos, and okra, among other produce, as well as some delicious fruit juice.

The question now is this: nap, or no nap?  We're a little sleep deprived from the traveling, but trying to fight jet lag...  If we're sleep deprived when we go to bed tonight, that will mean we'll be more likely to sleep a full night and get over jet lag faster, right?  But, OH I'm so sleepy right now.....

Travels!

School is finished for the summer, and coursework forever (at least for this degree).  As promised, we took off from Indiana the day after I (Ginny) turned in my last assignment.  Our friend Corrie drove up from New Mexico to help us move.  We managed to fit most of our stuff into the two cars, and took off across the country.

We arrived in New Mexico May 22nd, and have been enjoying ourselves visiting friends & family and being back in the Southwest!!  No more of this Midwestern business, at least for the foreseeable future.

Highlights of our past couple weeks include: Stephen's sister's (Laura's) wedding, catching up with friends, meeting some new folks, and hiking/camping around Mesa Verde.

As for our travels to Sudan go, we have our full support pledged!  Most of that is in-hand, but some is still coming in through monthly gifts.  This is a huge blessing in the very short time we've been raising money.  We know some generous people!  ALL the support we've gotten has been great - a number of people have not been able to give financially, but are faithfully praying for us.  We're still looking to leave the US June 17th from Newark, but still waiting for our tickets to be issued...  The British Airways strike has delayed that, but we've been told they should be issued by Monday, so we'll see.  We are looking forward to greeting you all from Kenya in just two weeks!

And now to leave you with some pictures...

 

Laura and James Holland, with attendants

Camping in the San Juan National Forest, near Mesa Verde

Geology of Mesa Verde!  Yes, reading it while I walked - I had to know what was going on around me!

Us at Mesa Verde