African Women

(A photo of the batik I have hanging in my room)

Moringa

I planted over 30 moringa trees a little over a week ago, and 8 have already come up!

Welcome Interns!

The interns arrived safely and with all their luggage! Phil, John, and Jordan moved into their room yesterday which they are calling "The Bachelor Pad". This morning they are already at work assembling their bikes. Please pray for these men as they transition into life in Mundri.

Thursday the interns will join us in starting the work on the water project in partnership with the water office staff and the community. Please join us in praying for the water project.

• For wisdom as we continue with the water project
• For our relationships with the water office staff and community
• For good communication especially with many cultural and language differences
• For safety in all the work we do this summer
• That God would provide a good translator for the training of the water office staff who is able to understand and communicate engineering and technical concepts
  

The Blessings of Rain

It was a long and hot dry season, but God has brought the rain to Mundri! We returned to a lush, green town. People are out in their gardens digging and planting and we are no exception. Larissa and Scott are hard at work planting fruits, vegetables, flowers, and experimenting to see what will grow in Mundri. Even Liana has her own small garden. Saturday I planted two rows of Moringa trees. I love the taste of Moringa leaves, and it won't be too long before the trees provide some shade. Even the Moringa seeds can be used for water treatment.

Seeing everything growing around me, I realized that in some ways my spiritual life has mirrored the weather in Mundri. During the dry season, I was weary, tired, and spiritually dry. In God's providence, I then had the opportunity to travel in Europe and be blessed by nice hot showers, comfortable beds, and great food. As the rains started in Mundri, God placed people in my life to pour into me. I had wonderful conversations at the WHM conference with older women who have walked through many desserts and seen God faithful through them all. I was encouraged by other single women serving God in Europe in a completely different context, but facing similar struggles. I laughed a lot with new friends and connected with friends from my sending church in Richmond.

I was even blessed by wonderful conversations with Larissa. I have lived with Larissa for over a year now in tight quarters in Sudan, but during the dry season we hadn't been connecting or encouraging each other in the same ways we had during the last rainy season. Especially after we moved to the new land with more personal space, we each in certain ways retreated to our new spaces.

I came alive as the World Music Mission team poured into us through their worship, especially when they sang "Did you Feel the Mountains Tremble", a song that meant a lot to me after singing it in worship with hundreds of other college students so many times at the CCO Jubilee conferences.

When I returned to Mundri I was greeted with exuberance by friends at the secondary school and the water office. I am so happy to be back home in Mundri, and I am praying for the rains to continue to bless the land and for God to continue to pour into my heart.

As a team, I think we have all noticed that the scripture verses that talk about the blessings of shade, shelter, and rain mean so much more to us now. And I can identify a whole lot more with Jonah's response when God took away his shade plant.

Isaiah 32:1-2 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

"When you think your well has run dry and you send it down for one last try and you raise it up to find it full the overflow so beautiful..." - Jason Gray, When the Stars Fall from the Sky

Spain, Portugal, and Greece

It had been over a year since I had seen my parents, when I met them in Madrid. We spent two weeks touring Spain and Portugal by bus with a group of people from around the world, a funny and knowledgeable tour guide, and a driver that got us through narrow streets that I probably couldn't drive my old Civic through.



I was immediately struck by all the intricate decorations on buildings and statues. Sudan is recovering from decades of civil war and new buildings are built strong so they will last, but with little artistic expression.



We saw many cities, but my favorites were Granada and Salamanca. I got to spend a perfect sunny afternoon walking through the gardens and buildings of the Alhambra. That evening I met up with a friend from Richmond who now lives in Granada. We had a great dinner and even better conversation.


From Madrid I flew to Athens and spent a day seeing the sights before heading to the WHM conference. After two weeks of traveling, never spending more than two nights in one city, I was ready to settle down in one place for seven days.

When I arrived at the WHM conference, I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of people who were ready to talk. People knew who I was and had been reading my blog, but I had no idea who they were. After the initial wave of people subsided, I was incredibly blessed great conversations throughout the week.

In the places where I was feeling empty and weary, I was encouraged and blessed with words of hope and truth.

In the places where I had begun to serve more a development worker and the Gospel had become peripheral, I was challenged and convicted.

The best part of the WHM conference for me personally was worshiping with hundreds of people who love God. As our voices sang out lyrics of praise, hope and truth, I felt that we believed the lyrics and were claiming those truths for the nations. As the conference ended we sand the doxology and tears started streaming down my face. It was truly beautiful.

PRAYER REQUEST:

In Greece I met new friends, had great conversations, laughed, swam, and enjoyed lots of salad (with feta of course). For me personally though, the two weeks in Spain and Portugal followed by the WHM conference was a lot of people time. I am currently still in Uganda, but before I get on a plane to Sudan, I am taking a prayer day. Please pray for me over the next two days as I spend time in the word and in prayer. Pray for good times of processing the last four months in Sudan and processing all the things God showed me during the WHM conference.

Praise God!

God has provided in unexpected and amazing ways! We now have all the funding for the summer water project and the computer lab that I mentioned in a previous blog post and in my last prayer letter. Thank you to all of you who have been partnering with us in prayer.

Birthdays Around the World

My first full day in Sudan last year was May 1st, which just happened to be my 25th birthday. At dinner, Karen asked me where I had been for every fifth birthday in my life.

*3 years old*

I was born in Stamford, CT
I celebrated my 5th birthday in Darien, CT
I turned 10 in Mexico City, Mexico
I was living in South Florida for my 15th birthday
I was studying for finals at Penn State on my 20th birthday
And I landed in Mundri, Sudan for my 25th birthday.

I turned 24 in Richmond, VA, was in Sudan at 25, I will be in Uganda for my 26th birthday, and I have no idea where God will lead me for my 27th birthday!

*lunch with the ChE girls for my 21st birthday*

I'm excited to see how God continues His story in my life over the next year.

Want to send me a birthday card or letter? If you mail it to the following address, I will probably get it in about a month at the WHM Retreat.

Christine O. c/o World Harvest Mission
101 West Ave. Suite 305
Jenkintown, PA, 19046

Bonus points to anyone not in the picture who can identify where we had lunch for my 21st birthday. =)

Data!

Yes, I'm excited about data. There are a few development and aid blogs that I read occasionally. Today on one of the blogs, I found out that the World Bank has given the public free access to data including over 2,000 development indicators for countries around the world.

http://data.worldbank.org/

Check it out if you are interested. They have data by country, and I briefly took a look at Sudan. Hopefully I will be able to check out more of the website when we are in Kampala with good internet. If you choose to look at the data about Sudan, keep in mind that statistics for Sudan as a whole can often be misleading because of the disparity in development between the north and the south.

I Saw the Light

...and so did all the termites!

Last night hundreds of flying termites flocked to the lights in our team house. It is hard to see in the picture, but they were everywhere! They were crawling on the walls, swarming around the lights, and in our cold water (which is a precious commodity around here). Michael fought back with a spray can of Doom, the very appropriately named insecticide.

Although I find the sheer number of flying termites disturbing and I am not a fan of insects flying around my head, I was in some ways happy to see the termites. The termites come out after the first rains of the season, and yesterday it rained all night and most of the morning. It was a much cooler day, which was such a blessing after several days of VERY intense heat and blazing sun. As we continue to pray for the rains and the growing season in Mundri this year, we praise God for a day of rain that soaked the dry, cracked ground. The other reason I was happy to see the termites is that termite paste is a local delicacy, and although I personally don't eat termites, I'm happy that our friends will be enjoying them soon.

Termites are so destructive in Mundri. They eat the mahogany and teak used for construction and their massive mounds sit in the middle of maize and sorghum fields. Even though for the most part termites destroy, the clay from the mounds can be useful, they make a good source of protein, and they are a welcome harbinger of the rainy season. So last night I was in some ways happy to see the termite infestation, but that didn't stop us from fighting back with Doom.

Summer Projects

Summer in Sudan means summer interns. We are excited to welcome four interns to our team this year, two of whom are engineers. They will be a big part of the work we do as a team, and as we plan for the summer there are two funding needs that I want to share with all of you. I am praying that God will provide the funding for these projects in time for the summer interns to be involved in the construction, installation, and training related to both of these projects.

*long line at a hand pump in Mundri*

The first is the Sudan Water Fund. We have the funds to start a project which will turn a high yield borehole that currently has a hand pump installed into a solar powered network of taps. This will increase the water supply in Mundri town without having to drill new boreholes. It will allow one borehole to provide the water that 3-5 boreholes would supply to the community. It also has the added benefit of not requiring women and children to have to pump the water by hand since the pump is powered by solar panels.

Procurement of supplies is one of the largest chanllenges in Southern Sudan for a project like this one. We are planning to buy supplies while we are in Kampala in April, but we do not have the funds to buy everything needed for the whole project so we are currently planning on a smaller scale version of the project that can be expanded when we have more funds.

I am praying that in the next week, God would provide additional funds so that we can buy more supplies on this trip to Kampala to be able to complete the full version of the project while the engineering interns are in Sudan.

Give online at http://www.whm.org/project/details?ID=19202 or contact me by email at ChristineOlmeda@gmail.com to give by mail.

*Thomas, the headmaster, in front of the computers in unopened boxes*

The second project is the completion of a computer lab for Mundri Secondary School. Since you are reading my blog, you probably have access to a computer and probably own your own computer. It is probably high on the list of the requirements you would have when considering a school. At present there at 10 computers sitting in boxes at Mundri Secondary School and a generator sitting idle in the teachers' office. The computers were donated to the school, but the school does not have the funds to complete the wiring and build a secure room to house the generator. The cost of finishing the work to provide a functioning computer lab is about $2,000 US Dollars, which is not too much more than the cost of buying a decent computer in America.

*Hanging out with some of the teachers from the school*

Over the last year as I have been teaching Physcis at Mundri Secondary Schoool, I have become friends with the students and teachers. I have seen the teachers work to share their needs with the government and NGOs, and I have seen the community come together to collect some money for this project. Please join me in praying for the funds to complete this computer lab when the summer interns are in Mundri. The interns will be also be serving by teaching Physics at Mundri Secondary School and helping with a club for the students on Saturdays where we will share the gospel, teach critical thinking skills, and practice English.

You can give to the Mundri Secondary School computer lab project at http://www.whm.org/enter-a-desig by entering 11926 as the designation number, or contact me at ChristineOlmeda@gmail.com to give by mail.

*A tree planted before the war at Mundri Secondary School
The tree still stands but most of the buildings were destroyed*

Please also check out Bethany's blog to read about the need for latrines at Mundri Secondary School! I take it toilets would also be a requirement for any school you were considering.

http://bethanygrace.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/things-we-take-for-granted-toilets/