Journal of a bush fire

Thank you for all your encouragement throughout this week and your promises for prayers and even offers to sent stuff. Until now I was unable to sort out how post can actually be delivered to me, so right now nothing can be sent (those of you that have the address in Uganda, please don’t send anything there, as it will not reach me anymore). I hope that the address problem will be solved soon, but please pray for that as well, specially since I’ve had to ask my family to replace some of the stuff that has been burnt.

Let me now fill you in on the gaps of this week: The fire broke out Monday around noontime. I was still in class teaching when we felt the heat of the fire coming. By then, it was already too late. What had started out as a small bush fire, soon developed into a massive fire, driven on by a strong wind. The classrooms are about 500 meters away from the compound and living quarters and at first we couldn’t get there because the fire closed off the way. When we finally made it to the compound, the first huts were already on fire. Since our huts are – were - built in circles of 10 each, and all quite closely together, the fire spread within minutes to the other huts. There was no time to drive away the cars, so they caught fire one after another and the tanks exploded – thank God that nobody was hurt that day. In a whole, we’ve lost 48 huts, 4 cars/tractors and an enormous amount of furniture, bedding, mats etc.

However, none of the permanent cement buildings were damaged, so we accommodated the women and children there. Unfortunately, most of them don’t have roofs yet, none of them have windows and doors, so we pray that nobody will suffer from Malaria or get the flue. The men’s compounds was mostly still in tact – only a few huts burnt down there, so they just squeezed together and everybody had space – not all had a bed though. Our principle himself had to sleep on the porch on the floor.

Due to a serious accommodation problem for the staff, half of the staff members were taken out to Yei, the next city, including myself. When we came back Tuesday morning, I was very impressed by the vigour the students and the staff had already started tearing down the ruins of the huts and clearing out the place. Then Wednesday, everybody helped to clear away the rubble from the huts – I still have blisters. I am just so impressed about how much students and staff worked together in 40 degrees heat and about how the students responded to the crisis – in faith and honest prayer. On Wednesday, JP, the director of Open Doors Africa, came to assess the situation and the losses. Wednesday was also my first night out in Goli again, and it feels like being back in school. The members of staff now sleep in two of the classrooms, 7 females and 10 males.

We decided to get the students back into lecture mood as soon as possible and so I had a full schedule on Thursday with 5 classes. It has been better than expected. Everybody is coughing and paining from the smoke on Monday or from the work that followed. However, spirits are still high and if we can keep the devil from succeeding to discourage us, than we are quite ahead of him, I believe. For many students – and some of the Sudanese staff, the fire brought back memories from the war when their homes were bombed and finally burnt down. Please pray that God will also heal the emotional scars that the fire brought about.

Please pray for the staff and the students, for our living together and sharing of quite a close community. Pray for an extra amount of grace as everybody is stressed out and it is easy to lash out at somebody or react emotionally for no reason. Pray that God will really lead us and guide us in this situation and that we can listen and follow. Please also pray for our health as some people are still sleeping on floors, without mosquito nets or in provisional accommodation like tents.

Thank you so much again for your prayers and for thinking about us. May God bless you and keep you.