I just finished talking with DiAnn after she returned from Juba, Southern Sudan to Nairobi, Kenya.

First of all, DiAnn asked that I extend her heartfelt gratitude for everyone’s continued prayers for health and safety, especially during her time in Southern Sudan.

It was obvious in visiting with her that the days spent in and around Juba, Southern Sudan were quite an experience.  She shared “everyone I talked to, it was like God had put them in my path”.  As one might expect, she would begin to cry when visualizing various scenes, especially those involving the children.
 
A few highlights I’ll share from our conversation:

  • As we drove outside of Juba, land mines were everywhere with signs posted and it was amazing that people were living there - if you could call putting together a couple of sticks and having naked kids running around “living”
  • Drove all over Juba - even their finest buildings we would condemn and tear down - ruts in road are so bad we wouldn’t consider them roads
  • Christian’s there have incredible faith
  • Tuesday afternoon spotted sign said Pentecostal church - think mud/clay structure with thatched roof - driver got out for permission to visit - 6 men were outside - all very, very poor - you shake everyone’s hand when you arrive and also when you leave - women were working inside the church - goats everywhere - goat droppings everywhere all over the floor - women would lay out an old plastic bag and then take stones to smash the dung/mud/dirt together so it would harden, making the church’s floor
  • Visited former Islamic hospital where women took their sick babies - it was shut down after they caught on that there were never any baby boys that left the hospital alive

So much more I could share, but I’ll leave that for DiAnn to share in her own words.
 
When you later read details from her journal that she plans on posting after getting back home, one common theme that she noted often while in Juba was how hot it was.  For example, on Wednesday night she said she was ready to have me come get her stating “it was so hot my toe-nail polish melted” :)   She said “could have kissed the ground in Nairobi” when she returned to Kenya earlier today.
 
I could also tell from our conversation that she has some definite opinions now about the Non-Government Organizations, NGOs, as they are referred to locally.  NGOs have setup headquarters in Juba with objectives of helping the situation in Southern Sudan.  I’m guessing that from DiAnn’s perspective after having talked with the numerous locals, it’s quite evident there’s tremendous room from improvement on how resources are managed.  Seeing money spent by these organizations on expensive Toyota Land Cruisers running around in the same place where the Sudanese couldn’t afford proper food and shelter didn’t quite make sense.  DiAnn can elaborate later.
 
Pray for DiAnn as she switches gears and will hopefully be able to enjoy a couple of days on safari before wrapping things up with Nairobi contacts and heading back home.
 
Have a God Blessed weekend!
 
Dean