A New Year

         

View from Salesian Mission in Nzaikoni, Machakos County, Kenya

   Happy End of February everyone! It has been over a month since my last blog post and a lot has happened in that time to say the least! So I thought I would finally give you all an update. In my last post I talked about how I was about to head to the Salesian mission in Nzaikoni (a small village a few hours outside of Nairobi), for a while until the conflict died down in South Sudan. I will pick up from where I left off and work my way back to the present day. When Mike and I arrived in Nzaikoni in mid January we were blown away. Nzaikoni is basically one of the most ideal locations you could ever imagine. It is on a mountaintop out in the Kenyan countryside, is quiet and peaceful, green and beautiful, and has perfect weather all the time. 

          After relaxing for a week Mike and I were finally put to work in the local public high school, General Mulinge High, where we taught during the rest of our stay. I was teaching computer classes and Mike was teaching biology and English. I loved teaching there and the students and teachers were incredibly welcoming to us but it just didn’t feel like home. During our entire stay in Nzaikoni I just wanted to be back in Gumbo at Don Bosco. My time in Kenya really showed me how much I have come to love my home in Juba and all the people there.  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long because after two weeks in Nzaikoni we received an email from Fr. Ferrington (the Salesian delegate for Sudan) telling us we were expected back in Juba on the 2^nd of February. Earlier that week the rebels and the government signed a “ceasefire” agreement” so the community decided it was time for us to come home and get back to work in Gumbo.

            After arriving back in Gumbo Mike and I were immediately put to work, which I couldn’t have been happier about. A few hours after getting off the plane we were in the office at the secondary school making the class schedule for the new school year. The next day I was back in the classroom teaching at DBSSS, but a lot had changed since December. The biggest of those changes is that the majority of our students from last year have not returned because of the ongoing conflict. Many of them are still displaced in refugee camps in South Sudan and the neighboring countries and some have even joined the rebel army. Unfortunately, ever since the ceasefire agreement was signed both sides have repeatedly broken the agreement and it still doesn’t look like South Sudan has found peace just yet. Almost 900,000 people have been displaced due to the fighting at this point and even here in our compound in Gumbo we have a camp that is home to over 100 families.

Salesian refugee camp in our compound in Gumbo.

            I will elaborate on that because that is actually a big piece of news. The night before Mike and I left for Kenya hundreds of women and children from the northern town of Bor arrived in our compound in search of refuge. When we returned we found that the Salesians here in Juba had built a camp behind the vocational training center on our compound, which is now the home of those who had come from Bor. Fr. David the secondary school principal, has been running the camp since its creation and some NGOs in the area have been aiding the camp as well. Since Fr. David has been tied up with the camp he does not have much time to be at the secondary school which has changed Mike and I’s role at the school a bit as well. When I first arrived I was teaching business and English but as of last week I have shifted into a more administrative role. Mike and I have been helping with the registration of new students and getting everything organized with the school as we have already begun the new school year alongside.

            Earlier this week we actually took our students to the refugee camp to help clean up and distribute donated items such as food and sanitary items to the people staying there. It was beautiful to see the students serving their fellow South Sudanese whose lives have been turned upside down by the civil conflict. I hope South Sudan’s future is full of love and service between people rather than South Sudanese fighting South Sudanese. In the past day or two the rebels have reclaimed the key oil town of Malakal in the northern part of South Sudan, which marks the biggest clashes since the “ceasefire agreement” was signed. So please continue to pray for peace here as we enter into the month of March. God bless!

                                                                    MORE PICS!

Another picture from the camp here in Gumbo.

St. Francis of Assisi Parish run by the Salesians in Nzaikoni, Kenya.

General Mulinge High School

Me and James a student at General Mulinge.

Me and some of our teachers at Don Bosco Senior Secondary School. From left to right: Mr. Pio, Me, Ms. Florence, Mr. Benon

            

Praying for Peace

          Hello! I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying the new year. I just wanted to write a quick update on how things are going on mission here in Africa. On January 6th Mike and I found out that we were being reassigned to serve in Kenya until the conflict subsides in South Sudan. Less the 24 hours later we were on a flight from Juba to Nairobi and we have been staying with the Salesians in Upper Hill (Nairobi) since our arrival on the 7th. Mike and I have enjoyed our first week or so in Kenya but of course we wish we were here on different circumstances. Gumbo truly feels like home now and we both are anxious to get back to the community and our ministry there. We are continuing to pray for peace in South Sudan and hope that the fighting ceases soon. Please keep the people of South Sudan in your prayers as well, for more and more people are being forced to leave their homes and are losing their loved ones due to the conflict everyday. Unfortunately, it does not seem like there is going to be an end to the fighting as soon as we all would have hoped. Both sides are refusing to agree to a ceasefire and the peace talks in Ethiopia have yet to produce any positive results. This afternoon Mike and I will be moving to our temporary site in Nzaikoni, Kenya where we will be serving until we can return to South Sudan. We do not know what kind of ministry we will be doing there but we look forward to serving the people of Nzaikoni in any way that we can. 

      In addition to this brief update and thought I would share with you a short article I wrote for the Salesians here in Upper Hill for the Don Bosco Kenya website on the situation in South Sudan. I wrote this the first day we were here so things have progressed a bit since but here it is:

    “Salesians Aid Refugees as Conflict Continues in South Sudan”

    For the past three weeks Africa’s youngest nation, South Sudan, has been experiencing unrest, a mere two years after its independence from the north. What started out as a supposed political “coup” has escalated into not only a political but ethnic conflict as well, which has driven the country to the brink of civil war. The fighting has mostly been within the national army itself, between those loyal to current president Salva Kiir (of the Dinka tribe) and those loyal to ex-vice president Reik Machar (of the Nuer tribe). Hundreds of thousands have been displaced due to these events and thousands of people have been killed. Over the past few days, peace talks have begun in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but an agreement has not yet been reached and fighting continues to plague the nation.

Women cooking in the UN compound on the outskirts of Juba where many people from our parish are currently seeking refuge. 

In South Sudan the Salesians of Don Bosco currently run four centres located in Juba, Maridi, Wau, and Tonj. Since the fighting began on the 15^th of December the Salesian community in Juba have been working tirelessly to assist those who have been displaced.  During the days leading up to Christmas they housed, fed, and provided medication to nearly one hundred refugees from local villages. After a few days they also provided them with safe transportation to the UN compound on the outskirts of Juba. As the conflict continues the number of refugees in the Juba UN compound has reached an estimated 30,000 and this number is increasing daily.

Refugees staying at the secondary school at the Salesian mission in Gumbo.

More recently the current fighting in the northern cities of Bor, Malakal, and Bentiu has sent even more people to flee their homes and seek refuge in Juba and in neighboring countries of South Sudan. Over three hundred people (mostly women and children) arrived at Don Bosco – Juba on the evening of the 6^th of January seeking refuge. The fighting in Bor which is currently held by the rebel forces continues and the national army is reportedly working to take it back from them for a second time in the past three weeks. We continue to hope and pray that the fighting ceases soon and peace can be found once again in South Sudan. 

            

  

One Church, One Tribe

          

        As many of you probably have heard or seen in the news things are not currently going so well here in South Sudan.  It all began on the evening of December 15^th when an “attempted coup” occurred in Juba and since then rebels believed to be lead by former Vice President Riek Machar have taken control of multiple South Sudanese states. Thousands have been killed and injured, and tens of thousands of people have been displaced. To say the least it has been a far from peaceful week leading up to Christmas. It has been sad to see this young nation turn back to its violent roots just as it was beginning to progress forward. One of the major problems that has caused so many problems for the people of South Sudan is that of tribalism. The people here do not identify themselves as South Sudanese for the most part but as a Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Zande, etc. There is a lack of unity, which has once again resulted in suffering though before it was between North and South and now it is between themselves as a nation.

            But if you want to learn more about the conflict I am sure CNN or the New York Times can explain it much better than I can so I will spare you a poorly written news report and try to shed a little joy on this whole situation. Among all the suffering and unrest in South Sudan in a little village outside of the nations capital of Juba something very joyful happened. You might think that Christmas would be forgotten this year among all of the fighting but you would be very wrong. Due to the conflict all Christmas Eve masses in the diocese of Juba were cancelled but here in Gumbo we just celebrated a little earlier, with a 3pm mass. People were singing, praising, and celebrating the coming of baby Jesus as if there was no conflict at all. As if there was peace here in South Sudan though that is far from the truth.

            Going into the mass my mind was still terribly distracted by all that has been going on and a frustrating afternoon of scrambling to get everything ready for the mass at the last minute had only put me in a less joyful mood. But then something amazing happened and everything changed. Amid all the bad news and the struggle this nation is going through we welcomed over fifty new little boys and girls into the Catholic Church through the sacrament of baptism. The Christmas joy had finally arrived in Gumbo! It was such a gift and all my distractions just went away and all you could do was be joyful and smile.

       The parents all lined up in the middle of the church as Fr. David and Fr. Jacob went through and baptized them one by one welcoming them into Christ’s church on the eve of his birth. It just shows that in the darkness the light is always shining and that light is Christ. On a side note, I also got a kick out of some of the little ones sucking on their baptismal candles as if they were candy. It was an added Christmas present to an already incredibly beautiful moment. What was most beautiful about the whole celebration was that amid all of the tribal and political tensions for a few hours everything was different. There was no separation, no tribes; we were all equal; we were all one people, one Church celebrating Christ together.

           

        With that I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Thank you all for your continued prayers and support it means so much to me as I continue on my journey here in South Sudan. Please continue to keep this nation and its people in your prayers. Pray for peace for they need it badly here, and we can only hope that things do not worsen as we enter into a new year. Enjoy your families and friends during this joyful celebration of Christmas and remember that it is all about Him! And the word was made flesh..and dwelt among us! Our Lady Queen of Peace, Pray for us! 

           

         

                                                                      MORE PICTURES!!!!

Nativity Scene in the Parish Church!

God is with us!

Babies eating candles!

More babies eating candles!