Compound Clean Up

Visitor David H. with lush vegetation in background, late Sept.

By the end of the rainy season (October), our compound was quite overgrown with vegetation of all kinds. We liked this because it was so green and lush and gave us some privacy from our neighbours.








 

 However, during the following months, all this vegetation turned brown and dry, a real fire trap. The tall grass and undergrowth are an ideal hiding place for snakes, of which we've seen (and killed) several during the past months. And by our neighbours's standards our compound was looking really messy. Plus thieves have had an easy time prowling around at night without being seen.




So, we hired some women from our local church to come and uproot the grasses and undergrowth and put them into piles that we could burn.

The women appreciate the work not only for the money it provides but because they can take any grasses or sticks they would like. They use these for many things, particularly for making grass huts or thatching the roofs of mud huts.







During the past weeks we have spent quite a few enjoyable evenings burning the piles of grass, twigs, leaves, etc. It's been a fun team activity.

 

The change in our compound has been very dramatic. Completely new views have opened up.

Before: storage shack barely visible on middle right

After: clear view all around the shack

This is the "after" view of the second picture in this post. My teammates the Ward kids call this area "the forest" and enjoy playing under and around the trees. Before it was so overgrown they couldn't get near them. The building that's now visible just a little above the centre of the photo is our new guest house.

 This is a view from the centre of our compound looking towards the south west. Before, we couldn't see the huts that are now visible in the middle of the picture. Now, we can not only see better but hear better. I noticed last night how well I could hear this neighbour and some of her friends sitting outside talking and laughing.

"A" Names Abound

Virtually all Dinka women's names start with the letter "a." There are very few exceptions. And there are many names that are very common. The Dinka don't try to be original with their children's names. They're all named for a relative or perhaps a close friend, so often there are several people with the same name in one family.

For example, one of our neighbours has eight or nine wives (yes, polygamy is very common here)--or it may be ten by now, as he just married another one! The first girl of each of his wives is named Alek, which I think is the name of this man's grandmother. Since the girls all have the same paternal name, they are often distinguished by using the name of their mother as their second name. So the girls are known as Alek Atap, Alek Ajuong, Alek Atong, etc.

These are the wonderful ladies of the Parot Church Health Group that I have been teaching, minus one lady who was absent. (In case you're wondering, the photo was taken just before Christmas and they're holding pitchers that I gave them for pouring water to wash hands, or any other use.) These women's names are:  Front row: Akec, Agau, Aluel   Back row: Awek, Acol, Anon  Missing: Aluel

And for the record, my Dinka name is Agop. :-)

Brackenhurst Beauty

I spent Christmas and New Year's in Kenya at the Brackenhurst Conference Centre. What a beautiful place! Coming from the dry season brown of my area of South Sudan, it was such a treat for the eyes and soul. And weather was cool and refreshing.

I'd like to share some of Brackenhurst's lush colours with you, thinking particularly of those who live in places that have already had lots of snow so far this winter.

 

The flower beds and shrubs at Brackenhurst are magnificent. Such a variety of colours, shapes and sizes, all a wonderful testimony to our amazingly creative Creator.







 I really liked these funky fuzzy purple flowers, and the striking simplicity of the calla lilies, pure white against the green.

 

 

Brackenhurst New Year's Conference 2012-13 Group Photo

From Dec. 28-Jan. 1, I attended the Brackenhurst New Year's Conference, an annual event that has been taking place for decades. There were 150 participants of at least 10 nationalities, fellow Christians serving in various countries in this part of Africa. I met some wonderful people, and the Bible teaching by the Kenyan pastor who was the speaker was fantastic, a real feast for the soul. My body was well fed, too--the Brackenhurst buffets are SO good! 

Happy New Year!!

Tok Ku Rou

Back in May I posted about boys playing mancala. I have heard the Dinka here call it "awet," but I have been doing a little research online and found that it is also called "tok ku rou." This literally means "one and two," which conveys the idea of counting. Very appropriate, since this game is based on much counting and calculation.

There's a big tree near our radio compound where there are several awet "boards" dug into the sand and they get good use. One day earlier this month as I approached the tree I saw two men playing. They graciously let me take pictures and video.

Each player owns two rows and only plays in those rows, but tries to capture counters from his opponent's side. The Dinka in our area use four rows of 10 holes, although it seems that 12 or 13 holes are more common.

                                                       

Interestingly, I found a striking picture on the net of a Dinka man playing this game sometime between 1947 and 1951.

Herd 'a Cows

Starting last month, as the grass was drying up and everything getting brown, herdsmen began taking their cattle down south of us to an area where there is more grass. A few weeks ago while driving to the Dokkul church I "ran into" a herd of cows. I saw them ahead of me, stretching across the road and down both sides of it (where there are side roads that we often drive on because they are less bumpy than the actual road).

So, as is often the case here, there was no choice but to drive through the herd. (By the way, the arch-like structure you can see in the distance is a bridge; and yes, they had to close ranks and go over it, which I unfortunately didn't get to see.)

I managed to take some video while driving through the cows, which was a little tricky. I actually tapped one of the cows on the behind with the front of the truck--no harm done, though; he sauntered away as if nothing had happened.

Parot Church

Here are a few photos of a service last month at our local church (courtesy of visitor Dale Ward).

Some of the children's choir as they come in singing

See the "kawajas" (white people)? They're my teammate Daniel and I

Patriotic Moment

Last Sunday I went to our partner church in the village of Dokkul with the two deacons from the Parot church, who are members of the women's health group that I teach. After the service, the deacons did some health teaching with the whole church. One of the two topics they taught about was the importance of handwashing for disease prevention.



I got a kick out of the this t-shirt that one of the Dokkul deacons was wearing. Very appropriate given my nationality and the topic being taught!

It's always heartwarming to see a Canadian flag, particularly out here in the middle of nowhere, when it's completely unexpected!

One of the Parot deacons, Aluel, on the left, helped count the offering with the Dokkul deacon in the pink t-shirt.