On Tuesday afternoon I returned from the Masai Mara Safari for my last stay at the Mayfield in Nairobi. I was ready to go home, but I needed to see James one more time.
 
Wednesday morning I accompanied my Canadian friends to the New Life Hope orphanage. There I held sweet babies, kissed them, fed them, and wanted to bring them all home.

DiAnn & Orphan 

The home there is spotless, and the caregivers are devoted to each one of them. What a wonderful way to spend my last day in Africa.


 
Once lunch was over, my bags packed, and my heart feeling bittersweet in leaving, James arrived. He wanted to talk with me about my “adventure” in Sudan, and I’m selfish. I wanted to see him one more time–like a proud mother. We discussed my experiences–those items listed in this blog. We laughed and we spoke again of the need for grass roots help. He told of his concern to keep corruption out of Southern Sudan’s government, but the temptation is real.

He told me about SPLA troops training those from Darfur who desperately need to defend their families and homeland. The Darfur situation is complicated, especially when I consider that the Christians in Southern Sudan are helping the Muslim people of Darfur. James explained the dynamics of it all: basically the people of Darfur are black and the government is Arab. Doesn’t matter that they practice the same religion, one of many factors that make this situation so complicated. So the root of the problem is a caldron of politics, race, religion, and a government that does not care about its people. I heard from different people how mass graves cover the results of genocide before the African Union or UN troops can investigate. Ugly things. Inhumane treatment. I could probably write pages about what little I learned. But the truth is, the genocide has to stop before more innocent people are killed.
 
My plane left at nearly eleven that night. Strange going home.

Additional pictures from the New Life Hope orphange can be viewed here.