Welcome to Gumbo

          On Wednesday, August 28th my journey to South Sudan began as Mike, Ariel, Theresa, and I flew from JFK to Cairo, Egypt.  After a long 12 hour flight we arrived at the Cairo International Airport safely for our 22 hour layover in the Egyptian capital.  When we went to the Egypt Air desk to get our hotel vouchers we discovered that for 40 extra bucks instead of taking a shuttle from the airport to our hotel immediately, we could take a shuttle to the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx which are about 45 minutes from the airport.  Though we knew there is a lot of unrest in Cairo we decided that we couldn't say no to the opportunity to see these famous landmarks of Egypt and so we quickly signed up for the tour.  It was amazing seeing the pyramids and the sphinx but after hardly sleeping on the plane and then going on a four hour tour out in the heat of Egypt we were exhausted and passed out on the drive to the hotel.  Our hotel, Le Meridien, was a five star hotel and was easily the best I have ever stayed at in my life.  We spent the night there and then woke up at 5am to leave for the airport at 6am.  Our flight left at 9am and then we were off for Juba.

          We arrived in Juba a few hours later and were met at the airport by our fellow site mate Tom Kelly who I mentioned in my last post has been in Gumbo for the past year, and by Michael, a lay volunteer at our site.  After driving through Juba and across the Nile River into Gumbo we arrived at our site, Don Bosco - Juba.  As we entered the compound and drove by the parish, schools, the volunteer house where we are staying, and the house where the Father's stay, it finally hit me that I was in Africa and I am going to be here for a whole year.   We moved in to our rooms in the volunteer house before going to the Father's house for our first meal in Gumbo.  We relaxed for the rest of the day and then most of Saturday after the girls headed out for their site in Maridi.  

        On Sunday we went to the end of the 9am mass at the parish church to introduce ourselves to the people and then went to the 11am and introduced ourselves at the end of that mass as well.  It was great to get to meet the people we will be living with and serving here in South Sudan and they got a kick out of my attempt at greeting them in Arabic....something I will definitely be working on.  On Sunday we also experienced our first rain storm here in Gumbo.  That night we also went to oratory for the first time, when all the children come and play in the compound followed by a rosary and goodnight talk.  Thanks to the rain only about 50 youth showed up opposed to the usual 200 or so.  It was a great first few days in South Sudan and I look forward to the days to come and getting more involved in the community here.  I still can not believe I am in Africa, and I thank God for bringing me to this beautiful land to serve His people.  I don't think I will ever get used to waking up and getting out of my bug net surrounded bed and walking out of the volunteer house and seeing Gumbo and the distant mountains beyond Juba but I am enjoying every second of it.