Look at my lovely Tukul! This will possibly be my first house in Mundri.
After a squished car ride and a night in Kampala we left for Mundri, s. Sudan on Tuesday morning. I knew going that this time would be different. When I was in Mundri last year the new location had not yet been appointed. Now that Mundri is the official site for the new Sudan team, it is slowly becoming a reality that soon it will be my home. This time as I walked down the road passing men, women, and children I greeted them with the thought in my head that soon all of these people are going to be my neighbors, some will become close friends, and some of the children I might be teaching or interacting with on a daily basis. My love for the Moru people increased greatly in my three days there.
One of my goals for this trip was to have a meeting about primary education with those from the church and district who are involved with education development. The Lord answered this prayer with a 2 ½ hour meeting where we were all able to share our vision for education in Mundri and also those present who are currently involved in the schools were able to share the struggles they were facing. I came out of the meeting feeling ready to dive right in. The thought of having to wait 6 more months seems like a life time away, but I know that the Lord still has some preparing to do in my heart. Before the education meeting I took some time to go and visit the Parish school. I first greeted the preschool children who were over 200 in number and then the rest of the school which I am told there are close to 900 students when they are all present. It was a bit intimidating walking into the middle of their square formation where they responded to their head teacher with a chant and some stomping. It was almost as if I was in the middle of an army brigade responding to their commanding officer. I felt like I was shouting when I greeted because I wanted to make sure they all could hear and understand me. They responded with a very warm welcome and much enthusiasm. Soon after the students dispersed to their classrooms, I moved around to each class and even sat in on an Arabic class where I learned the word for bell.
Right now it is the middle of the rainy season. However, we were there for almost 3 days and it did not rain a single drop. It seems the rain must come in spurts. If I were to guess I would say the temperature was in the 90s most of the time. It did seem pretty hot. When it is hot out people do a lot of sitting because it is too hot to move around. While we were there I was introduced to the custom of sitting under the mango tree. During different parts of the day there are certain places that one should sit. In the morning you start inside the round hut where you are served tea and bread. Once breakfast is over the chairs are all moved outside under a huge mango tree which provides sufficient shade. The chairs remain there for most of the day and then like clockwork they are moved again to a different area outside because the placement of the sun had shifted and the shade of the mango tree is no longer enough. When I head to Mundri more permanently at the beginning of 2009 it will be the hottest time of year. I think I will be doing a lot of mango tree sitting at that time. But I look forward to getting to know my neighbors, future colleagues, and friends as we sit together and enjoy the blessing of a Mango tree’s shade.
One of my goals for this trip was to have a meeting about primary education with those from the church and district who are involved with education development. The Lord answered this prayer with a 2 ½ hour meeting where we were all able to share our vision for education in Mundri and also those present who are currently involved in the schools were able to share the struggles they were facing. I came out of the meeting feeling ready to dive right in. The thought of having to wait 6 more months seems like a life time away, but I know that the Lord still has some preparing to do in my heart. Before the education meeting I took some time to go and visit the Parish school. I first greeted the preschool children who were over 200 in number and then the rest of the school which I am told there are close to 900 students when they are all present. It was a bit intimidating walking into the middle of their square formation where they responded to their head teacher with a chant and some stomping. It was almost as if I was in the middle of an army brigade responding to their commanding officer. I felt like I was shouting when I greeted because I wanted to make sure they all could hear and understand me. They responded with a very warm welcome and much enthusiasm. Soon after the students dispersed to their classrooms, I moved around to each class and even sat in on an Arabic class where I learned the word for bell.
Right now it is the middle of the rainy season. However, we were there for almost 3 days and it did not rain a single drop. It seems the rain must come in spurts. If I were to guess I would say the temperature was in the 90s most of the time. It did seem pretty hot. When it is hot out people do a lot of sitting because it is too hot to move around. While we were there I was introduced to the custom of sitting under the mango tree. During different parts of the day there are certain places that one should sit. In the morning you start inside the round hut where you are served tea and bread. Once breakfast is over the chairs are all moved outside under a huge mango tree which provides sufficient shade. The chairs remain there for most of the day and then like clockwork they are moved again to a different area outside because the placement of the sun had shifted and the shade of the mango tree is no longer enough. When I head to Mundri more permanently at the beginning of 2009 it will be the hottest time of year. I think I will be doing a lot of mango tree sitting at that time. But I look forward to getting to know my neighbors, future colleagues, and friends as we sit together and enjoy the blessing of a Mango tree’s shade.
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