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.

Arrival in Sudan

This is now my first newsletter from the Sudan. I arrived safely here in Goli last Thursday after two days of travelling and actually met a few more staff from Open Doors on the plane who also worked in Goli. I was welcomed more than warmly here by my friends Heidi and Heinz, who I met last year and kept in touch with.

During the course of the week I got to know the other members of staff who are all very nice. We are a good mix of nationalities I think: About 10 Sudanese, 2 Kenyans, 9 South Africans, 2 Germans, 2 British, 3 Americans and one German-speaking couple (Heidi and Heinz; he is from Austria and she is from Switzerland – I got in trouble for calling them German before). We are all responsible for different things that are run on the base: a clinic (for the community and staff), the English department, the women’s department (for pastor’s wives – they are taught English, bits of theology, Aids awareness, hygiene etc.), the theological seminary, and a teacher training course. The teacher training course is run by FCE (Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education), cross meaning the cross of Christ in this respect. They train teachers how to teach e.g. maths, English and geography in a Christ-centred way and how to include the Gospel in lessons (I expanded on this because I think their organisation is doing a fantastic job!).

For the first 3 days I shadowed all the teachers, which gave me a good idea of what Goli is like and of different teaching styles. I started teaching myself on Thursday with the advanced women’s class and an all male class of Sunday school teachers, who still have to improve their English. Right now, I am learning how to work in 40°C heat (apparently hotter times are still to come at the end of February) and not to be bothered about sweat running down my legs…

Just after I came last week the leadership changed, i.e.
George William is now in South Africa for one year and Oliver, a Sudanese, has taken over the post of the principal. This was quite an ad-hoc decision, which was made in December, and – as usual in such a situation – it always brings insecurity with it. Please pray for Oliver that he will find his ground quickly, that the staff gets used to the new leader soon and that any difficulties that might arise are dealt with in a Christ-like manner.

Unfortunately, I found out that my parcels still haven’t arrived. They have been kept in Kampalla now for almost a month and all my teaching material is in there plus a lot of the stuff that we specifically bought for Sudan. Officially, they should be sent up on an Eagle Air plane next week… Please pray that they will arrive soon and that nothing has gone “missing”.

Thank you for all your support and for your encouragement over the last few weeks, specially leading up to my arrival in Sudan. Officially, we have had wireless internet on the base ever since last Friday (I feel like I came at the right time :-), so I would be more than happy to hear your news (unofficially, it sometimes works, and sometimes doesn’t, but better that than nothing at all… ).