I've gotta make this really quick, but we're in Zimbabwe, staying at a backpackers lodge. Had a heck of a trip getting here... caught an overnight train, super long bus, weird time at the Zimbabwe border... but here. Long story short, things here are so terrible. Inflation is soooooo high right now. Today one US dollar = 100,000,000,000 Zimbabwe Dollars... that's right... ONE HUNDRED BILLION. People here can't afford to buy anything... and even when they do pull some money together, there isn't any food to buy. Grocery stores are empty. Like... empty.
Things are great and I love being in Zimbabwe... thinking about staying longer.
We've spent the last three days in the village of Gamadubu (sounds like Hom-a-dubu). Anyways, Jess and Ana have been helping a woman named Shirley feed ~130 children every Saturday, and pay for their schooling Mon-Friday. It's a really neat program, and they've got some really great plans for 'The Project' in the future. This morning (Sunday) some folks from Gaborone came to donate blankets... but only 70... so from the 130, the most 'at risk' children received blankets first... beginning with HIV/AIDs children, then orphans, then children whose parents don't take very good of them... and so on. (ps, blankets because it's been getting down in the 40s at night... it's winter here). While it was unfortunate that the people donating blankets didn't bring enough, 70 children will be sleeping warm tonight.
In this picture you can see the first children in line to receive blankets (far right, back)...
(what are Sam and Ana doing?)
And on a funny note, when the folks showed up to give out blankets, all the children lined up and sang the song 'God is Good to Me' for about 2 minutes... and this yellow piece of paper is what was attached to each of blankets... :) 
(God is good to me, God is good to me, He holds me stead and holds my hand, God is good to me)
Anyways, tonight we're catching a train to Francistown, and from there taking a taxi into Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is going through some awful times right now-- to get the run down, click here and read what's up on the International Crisis Group's website
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
I've been in Jinja for the last three days. No internet access where we were. Tomorrow = Sanyu Baby Home and then visiting another super sweet ministry. Tomorrow I'll hopefully have a chance to upload pics/videos etc etc... things have been so busy (and great). xoxo
So I just took a 4,000 shilling Boda ride to an internet cafe so I could upload some pictures/videos from Sudan, but when I got here I realized I left my camera cable back at the place I'm staying. (longest sentence ever)
And I didn't even need to say anything... but know that the effort was made. Until tomorrow
I've gotta keep this super quick, but I promise pictures and videos tomorrow.
Few highlights from Sudan:
- lived in a mud hut with a grass roof for 10 days
- on the 4th day we were in Turalei, the Bol family killed a cow for us... with a spear.
- we ate the cow over a period of four days... and they don't have a fridge... or power for that matter.
- after filming in a larger school (700 students, 6 teachers) in Ajak, we were 'raided' by the SPLA and our film was confiscated... totally crazy.
- almost didn't make it back to Wau because of rain
Anyways, crazy trip, but totally worth it. Today I've been working in another orphanage, and filming there tomorrow. I'll mos def have videos up soon.
-- John
PS: this orphanage is completely supported by 'random' donations. If you're interested in paying for some x-rays, meds, food or anything for the cuuuuuutteeest little kids, I'll have that info up tomorrow as well. PS: a set of x-rays run around $7 ... so cheap.
Just a super quick post to say that against all odds we're back in Juba... should be back in Uganda by tomorrow evening.