First Weeks In Sudan

We made it safely to Sudan! I have been adjusting to the new food, climate, culture, and many more new things. I am staying in a safari tent next to the main house with Larissa. The tent is spacious and cools down at night more than the main house, but it also gets very hot during the day. Larissa and I pretty much stay in the main house during the day to avoid the heat of the tent. The rest of our things arrived several days later, including my bike. Having a bike has made moving around Mundri a lot easier. I also have my own sheets on my bed, which somehow makes it feel more like my home.

Last Friday was my first full day in Mundri, and my birthday. I was feeling pretty sick most of the day, but I had a great birthday all the same. I got a lot of wonderful and practical gifts from the team. The night ended by watching an episode of Gilmore Girls in the yard in our movie theatre, which consisted of a bookshelf with a computer on one of the shelves and plastic lawn chairs in a half circle. A few days later when I was feeling a bit better, Karen made me an orange cake from my mom’s recipe which was delicious and reminded me of home.

Michael, Kyle, and I had a great meeting with the local water commissioner and learned a lot. As we were meeting with him, a report of a broken hand pump came into the office. It was only about a 5 minute bike ride away, so we went out to look at the pump and talk to some people from the community. We arranged to meet with the local pump mechanic two days later and bring Michael’s welding machine to observe the repairs and weld a crack. It was a great learning experience. The mechanic had a tremendous amount of experience and did a lot of the repairs by sight or feel. After a few hours of repairs there was water coming out of the pump! We also had the opportunity to observe a borehole being drilled in Bari. Bari is about 12 miles from Mundri and a little over an hour away. This bore-hole is likely the last bore-hole that will be drilled until the next dry season.

Praise God that in the last two days I have been feeling a lot better and I have regained my energy!