I have just returned from an intense six day trip to Doro.
It went very well and I was able to spend useful time with Hiakie and Helenne
working on plans for the Secondary School, with the Water Project team and reviewing
the work of the Housing Project.
Below I have chosen six pictures that capture something significant
about my visit and the work we are doing in this place. Hoping it gives you
some insight into what is important to me at this time!
A place to call home
It may not look like much, but this is the wonderful tent I
was able to stay in during my visit. Why is this significant? Well, my visit
coincided with a team of 8 Ethiopian evangelists and 5 Americans helping to
build for the Health Project. Our housing is always stretched in Doro, so I was
touched that Hiakie and Rangtei had prepared this tent for me, making sure I
had everything I needed (note the cooking stove and basket of charcoal ready
for use). Hospitality remains one of the most significant ministries we can
undertake for each other in the Christian family.
A fair wind
I was so encouraged to see the progress made on the
construction of the school. Despite the challenges we have faced in getting
materials to site, God has enabled the work to progress in a way that feels
miraculous at times. I was able to have these windows fabricated in Nairobi and
sent to Doro by air amazingly quickly. Gilbert (wearing the white coat, centre)
is our Kenyan foreman, and he is doing a super-human job of progressing the
work on the classrooms and teacher housing simultaneously.
Commitment to what
matters
This photo shows morning devotions with the construction
workers (many of them students). Hiakie and Rangtei, together with James and Helenne, have shown
amazing dedication to the men who work with us, wanting to invest in their
lives and work for a better future for them. This is what the Secondary School
is all about, so it is wonderful to see that we are starting with such a focus.
Moving mountains
A truck of rock? What could be significant about that? Well,
for me this was one of the most wonderful sights of the whole visit! Over the
course of the last year we have watched the cost of aggregate from the local
quarry increase from 400 south Sudanese pounds, to 1000, then 1700 ($350) – and
the piles get smaller and smaller! The difficult and ongoing negotiations with
the quarry operators were a serious cause of stress to Hiakie and Gilbert. But
now that the UN is working on the Doro airstrip a company is bringing murram (a
dirty rock, not like river gravel) from further away. While I was there they
brought Hiakie four trucks costing 3,000 south Sudanese pounds each ($700) –
the equivalent in gravel from the local quarry would have cost at least 5 times
as much! Mixing enough concrete for our buildings is a realistic prospect once
again...
Enough is enough?
I enjoyed the two days I spent with John and Abel discussing
the Water Project – but why chose a photo of them killing a snake in our
office?! Watching a project like this develop over several years is very
interesting; discovering which aspects of running an effective project the team
struggles with and seeing them develop and overcome different challenges. It
may seem mundane, but keeping the office organised and clean and tidy continues
to be a struggle - and is hampering our progress. Everything is covered in dirt
and our books and equipment are getting spoiled. The office is in a badly made
brick building, with crumbling concrete floor, doors that don’t fit and a
colony of bats that make a mess everywhere. Their pooh has even burned holes in
our whiteboard! So, now I am thinking, is it time for a new office? Perhaps a
nice sealed prefab would be just the thing...
Family friendly
During my stay I also had the pleasure of getting to know a
missionary family recently arrived in Doro with another organisation. It wasn't so long ago that housing suitable for SIM missionary families were in short
supply, but thanks to the work we have done with the Housing Project since March
this year, we know have enough housing to offer it on a temporary basis to
people such as these! It highlights the value of the project when you think that this family would
have struggled to make a start in Doro without SIM being able to offer them
this accommodation.
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