The flight in was amazing, particularly the second leg over the south of Sudan. The pilot knew of a place to see migrating Cob (little impala?) and we spent 10 minutes chasing them across the plain at 100 feet. There were literally thousands of them, running in all directions, and flocks of birds taking flight. It was a sublime experience.
After settling into my tukel I quickly got busy supporting Rob Hinton (another Engineer) who has been overseeing the construction of the new clinic. He is glad to have another Englishman around! He has been making good progress given the huge logistical challenges, with lorryloads of materials having to come hundreds of miles from the north. The foundations are dug, the columns starter bars are in place and the latest challenge has been to find good aggregate so that concreting can commence. I helped set up some big water tanks for the construction work and have been making column formwork, amongst other things.
Rob has been developing good relationships with the other NGOs in the main town Bunj, Relief International, Mercy Corps, etc. I have joined him on several visits and am getting to know some useful people; the NGOs are good at helping each other out in different ways. We also managed to meet the commissioner in his office yesterday morning and had a pleasent chat for 10 minutes. We are working hard at getting his backing for a borehole to be drilled for the clinic by one of the NGOs.
The team work so hard at the clinic and nutrition village. Emily, Rob Hinton's wife, is apparently the only practicing doctor in the county. They have a stream of people waiting to be seen at the start of each day and typically see 60+ people in a day, with only one small building and 5 old beds, with no power or water. The new building is going to be a maternity ward with a small operating theatre. (Picture below is of patients waiting outside the existing clinic).
We have Liz Lee here who is an Architect from New Zealand, so between the three of us there is a good team on the job. We have a fantastic Kenyan foreman called John with us and we all admit the project wouldn't be going anywhere without his help. He does an excellent job of managing the Sudanese work force (picture of him below teasing local kids).
I am grateful to God that I am meeting some of my other objectives too. I went to church at a village 45 minutes cycle away, where one of the team spends 4 days a week learning language and we have a good relationship with the church. I went prepared to give a talk and Pastor James who I had met earlier in the week was keen to let me. I told them the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and taught that Jesus was fully God and fully man - using 2 passports - and that Jesus has power over death. I made a 6" door frame from bamboo to represent death, but managed to cut my finger when I pulled it apart to show how Jesus had defeated death! It made shaking everyone's hands after the service a bit tricky... They seemed a really mature and committed church - apparently they meet most evenings in the week to sing and pray. Quite unusual by all accounts.
I am beginning to get a better understanding of how the NGOs work and of the water needs in the area. Pastor James has offered to take me round some villages where he is concerned about their access to safe water. The fact is there is a queue outside the government's tent where such things are coordinated, of people asking for a borehole for their village, so there is plenty of need. The challenge is to see how SIM can fit into the picture effectively.
Tomorrow will bring big changes as the Congdon famliy, together with Rob and Emily leave, and my family arrive. We will probably be moving into Rob & Emily's house, which is well set up and this afternoon I made a sandpit (and cover) for the children just outside and identified two trees that can take Deborah's hammock - so hopefully everyone is going to be happy!
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