Mediocrity Is Easy

It's hard to believe how quickly the last six weeks have gone by-- how many adventures, and day after day seeing the Lord at work.

I'm still processing the time Sam and I spent in Sudan. I'm still not sure how to feel about the country (plural). If you're up on your history of Sudan, then this is old news, but here a basic rundown:
- won independence in 1956
- borders Egypt to the north, Uganda to the south (borders other countries as well, e.g. Kenya)
- the north is mostly inhabited by Arab Muslims
- those in the south are mostly non-Arab sub-Saharans (black) who are either Christians or practice traditional African religions (see wiki for more info)
- the north and the south have basically been at war since 1956
- beginning in the mid 80's through 2005 Sudan went into a full-on civil war... with a twist
- the north was using those from the Darfur region to do their bidding in the south
- with the Sudan's second civil war, the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) was formed to protect those in the south from the Darfurians being used by the north.
- long story short, in 2005 a peace treaty was signed by the north and the south, standing until 2011

That being said, by 2005, most of the people in the south had all moved to refugee camps in neighboring countries (particularly Uganda and Kenya). A few moved up north to Khartoum before the south realized the north was using the Darfurians.

Soooo... three years after the peace treaty, Sam and I went to Turalei, S. Sudan... located near the north/south border. Everyone living in the town/village had within the last two years moved back from refugee camps, as it had been wiped out during the war... which means every person we met, over the age of about 16 remembers fleeing from the enemy... they remember homes being burned... people being hacked up... women being raped... and their entire world being torn to pieces.

I still don't know what to think.

Below are a few pictures I took around the village, and then in one of the schools we visited (yeah... they don't have buildings... they meet under trees). I'm uploading more to Facebook as we speak... and if this internet connection keeps up, Sam is gonna upload some of his pics to Flickr (he's took a ton of sweet pics).









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10 hours later...



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Other news, left Kampala, Uganda yesterday morning-- flew to Johannesburg and caught a bus to Gaborone, Botswana. South Africa/Botswana have been a completely different African experience, thus far. It feels like America here. Tomorrow we'll be out in a village, visiting an orphanage... I hear we're washing 200 school uniforms by hand... And on Sunday we'll be heading for Zimbabwe. That's it for the moment. -- John