Jeff and I were on a road trip into Sudan with Hal Hansen, a geologist from Ukiah, California, to evaluate boreholes in the Magwi area where we were trying to open the SudanVenture Resource Center to help the resettlement of thousands of refugees being repatriated from Uganda. My journal entry reminded me of the exhaustion of the 8 or 9 hour journey of about 100 miles to our work area the day before. It was night by the time Jeff and I got to our camp and set up our air beds in the grass thatched hut we called home there. A memory captured in my journal brought back the earthy smells, the sounds of silence punctuated with wild bush noises and emotions of that night, feeling amazed to find myself in this place where few white women would ever walk, the privilege of being there and the sense of being totally overwhelmed and full of fear for the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of people returning to their devastated land after decades of war. I wrote:
June 12, 2008
"We went into town for dinner (beans, rice & fish) then to settle Hal and his daughter and her best friend, Katie, at the rustic Magwi Guesthouse where the only security was a nail in the woodwork to twist round to keep the door from blowing open in a strong wind. As we walked through town people warmly greeted us. The chief of Panyakwara threw his arms around Jeff and hugged him several times. Francis, our Sudanese Co-Director, said people are encouraged to see Kirsten and Katie...young white women coming to visit. Even at the Sudan border I could see people were excited to have some youth coming. The young Sudanese immigration officer commented on how young the girls are (they had just graduated from high school having not yet turned 18).
Thank You, Lord, for encouraging us and the people of Sudan Thank You for the courage of these young American women and their willingness to 'rough it' with us.
Back at our site, Jeff and I had to set up our beds after dark and were challenged by our exhaustion but managed and were happy to get to bed. Fireflies rested on my mosquito net giving an illusion of a starlit night."
