Yabus Friends

Kids movie at our house.

Antony and Sonia joined us for the last three weeks of homeschool. Class picture: 2009

River slide

Eli invented a great water slide down at the river one day. He took a long piece of black plastic, set it up on the sandy incline that runs into the river, and made a super duper water slide for the kids. At first Evan, Praise, and Isaac tried it out, but soon all the other village children joined in when they saw how much fun it was.

This is what they looked like in the end!

Thanksgiving in Sudan

Lori, Phalice, and I, the three American women on our team, spent most of the afternoon cooking up a storm. Yes, this is our kitchen.

Dreamwhip in Yabus? You bet ya! Lori's parents sent homemade whipped cream packets.

Our team gathered for our special Thanksgiving meal. These were very strange foods for them to try but overall we had a very good time and we were all stuffed by the end.

THE MENU:

Glazed ham

mashed potatoes and gravy

green bean casserole with real frenchfried onions sent from the States (except made with mixed vegetables)

jello fruit salad

homemade rolls

pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top!

Coffebreak - Sudanese Style

I gathered the team in the racuba (dried grass shelter/Sudan style gazebo) and served them all Sudanese coffee. I'd done the whole process myself: roasting the beans, pounding the beans, brewing the coffee in the clay pot, etc. so I was so thrilled to serve my SIM family true Sudanese coffee. Should I mention the whole process took more than an hour?

I want to apologize for not updating our blog in such a long time. We've had some internet problems in Yabus, so we weren't able to post updates. We are now in Uganda enjoying a sweet time of rest and family fun with Bethany's family who live here. I will try to put up a few pictures from our last month in Sudan and then give you a peak of our past few days here.

Beautiful colors, beautiful sisters

Over the weekend we had a fun girls night. On Saturday night all the women on our team here in Yabus gathered in Asule's home with hot and cold beverages and lots of toenail polish. We spent the evening laughing, sharing stories, learning from each other's cultures, and most of all, enjoying each other's company.
Halfway through the evening, I looked around the room and noticed how diverse of a group of friends we are. Here, in the heart of Sudan, in the middle of the continent of Africa, we have 2 Americans, 2 Indians, 1 Nigerian, and 3 Sudanese - living together as friends...and most of all...sisters.
I marveled at how much we love each other and how we feel so much like family. I marveled at how God called each of us and brought us to the same place in Sudan to serve Him together. And I thought about how this is a tiny glimpse of what heaven will be like.

This is what our feet looked like at the end of our "spa." We'd all had foot massages and pedicures. And even though most of our feet are usually calloused and cracked from the heat and dust, I couldn't help thinking of the verse, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." Rom. 10:15

Off to Chali

Today Eli and Pastor Joseph drove four hours on the quad bike to an Uduk village called Chali. Eli went to meet with some SIC church leaders about starting discipleship in Yabus. Please pray for his safety and for clear communication and good relationships during his three days there.

Aunt Canberra

Canberra is a special friend and amazing teammate. She has a heart for children and every day you can hear children's laughter and singing coming from her house. Today I couldn't find my boys and when I went looking for them, this is where I found them - eating candy and having a lovely visit with "Aunt Can".

Finding my identity

Me and my girls - sometimes I forget I'm white!

As a missionary kid growing up in Africa, I always struggled a bit with my identity. I knew I was an American, but when I was in the States, I didn't feel like I belonged and it never really felt like home. But I also knew I wasn't Ugandan (where I grew up) because my skin was white and my culture and language were so different. As a child and even into my teen years I tried so hard to be like my African friends - acting like them, doing the types of things they did and even trying to speak with their accent. One day I even went as far as rubbing charcoal all over my body just so I could be black!

As a new missionary to Sudan I again feel the struggle of who I really am. I've tried so hard to learn their language and culture and learn how to do things the way they do (although I've completely failed at carrying large jerricans of water on my head!) But I'm learning something. I will never be Sudanese. I'm an American and that means it's OK to act like an American, as long as I'm not offending anyone. My Sudanese friends know I'm not Sudanese and they love me just the way I am. As I grow more comfortable with my own "culture", I'm learning to glean the good things I admire from each culture and mix them into my life. The result? A little bit of everything. But isn't that what heaven will be like?

I've learned how to make coffee Sudanese style - roasting the beans over a fire, pounding them, then brewing the very strong, black coffee.

Here I am learning to make kisra. I had another lesson today. I still haven't gotten very good at this one. It's like a giant crepe pancake but made of sorghum.

2 Priceless Pics

I think this picture speaks more than a thousand words. If you study it long enough, you learn a lot about Sudan - the animals, the homes, the dirt, the poverty. Take a minute and look at it. My favorite part about this picture is how at home Isaac is. He's relaxed and happy in an environment that most of us would feel uncomfortable and out of place.

After a big rain yesterday the three boys had a great time playing in the mud. What a threesome!

More fun with Mom and Dad

Mom has probably played close to 50 games of Uno with Isaac and Evan. They never tire and neither does she.

Dad is such a good sport, helping Eli out wherever he needs it. The two of them spent most of yesterday out in Gondolo fixing the sorgum grinding mill. They had to pack all their tools and the generator on the quad bike and Eli drove his motorcycle. Their trip home was tricky since it downpoured rain just before they left to come back. So Eli was fishtailing through the mud and Dad had the trip of his life.

Lots of good experiences

During this first week back in Yabus, we've taken Mom and Dad to meet many of our friends. They are greeted very warmly everywhere we go. Some of the new experiences for Mom and Dad:
-Driving to church on a quad bike through grass that's 10 feet tall
-Drinking strong Sudanese coffee
-Eating asida (consistency of playdough) with kudra soup (slimy and green)
-Greeting in Arabic

The men sit under one side of the tree and the women sit on the other

Mom is a big hit everywhere we go. She's lavished hugs on many many people!

Home in Yabus

Hello All!

Yesterday afternoon we flew home to yabus, Sudan, but this time with my parents, Skip and Ruth Sorensen. It's been one big fun adventure since landing. I never realized what a big deal it would be for people to meet my parents. But we've had a steady flow of visitors and friends who are eager to meet them, especially my mother. For some reason, she is significant and receives many affectionate hugs when she's introduced as Bethany's mother. (People have also commented she looks young enough to be my sister and young enough to still produce more babies!)

Mom and Dad fit so beautifully into life here. Mom's love and joy in life overflows and impacts everyone she comes in contact with. I know how to find her on the compound by listening for her laugh (or the laughs of those in her company!) Dad has been working way too hard. He's doing a lot of fix it jobs around the compound, gardening, and manually pumping water for the whole team. Both have been sweet servants.

I'm so thankful we have more than two week to spend together here. Tomorrow we'll venture out to Gondollo, the Ganza village 4 km from our home, to encourage the believers there and introduce my parents. It should be a fun and very eventful day.

I just want to comment on one more interesting thing. Everytime we return to Yabus, Isaac and Evan are overjoyed and so obviously feel more "in their element" when they're here. Yabus is their home and where they're most comfortable. But this time I noticed it with Joshua as well. While we were in Nairobi, I was shocked that Joshua wasn't interested in eating any of the delicious foods that we'd missed - they were too new for him. He was also very clingy and nervous around most people. But as soon as we settled back into Yabus yesterday, he polished off his first bowl of rice and beans and has been eating like a horse ever since. He's also happy to be back to lots of open space and all our animals: goats, chickens, cat, dogs, and donkey. Seeing Joshua so much at home here, has made Yabus all the more home for all of us.

Fun in Kenya

Tomorrow, Wednesday, we start our three day journey back to Yabus. We've spent a wonderful two weeks in Nairobi and feel rested and ready to head back to our "family" in Sudan. This time we're heading back with Bethany's parents, Skip and Ruth Sorensen who are coming to visit for two weeks.

Isaac had a great sword fight with his Uncle Stan

Last weekend was our highlight of our time in Kenya. We went to Kijabe where Rift Valley Academy is located. My little brother, Stan, is a junior there. We stayed with our colleagues and good friend, the Congdon family, and enjoyed a fun and relaxing weekend including: sledding down a grass hill, watching Stan and Eli play rugby, roasting marshmallows over a fire, and eating lots of yummy food.

A day in Gondolo

This sweet lady passed the time by smoking on her pipe.

The balloons I packed were a huge hit with all the kids. They lasted longer than I thought they would with so many thorn trees everywhere. I even caught two grown men fighting over one!

Last Sunday, we spent the day in Gondolo village to celebrate our teammate Lori's house opening. Until now she's lived on our compound in Yabus, but she now has her own mud hut in Gondolo. After church, all the church members and other neighbors walked back to her house and we immediately began making coffee and tea for all the guests. But as you will see in the pictures, we made coffee Sudanese style. First you wash the coffee beans, then roast them, then pound them, then brew the coffee in an old tin can over the fire, and finally you pour the brewed coffee into a jebuna - a clay coffee pot. It's quite a process but makes deliciously strong coffee. In the course of the day I think we did the process at least 6 times until everyone had drank all the coffee they wanted.

It was a very hot day but the boys did amazing. One fun thing wedid was teach some of Isaac and Evan's friends how to play Uno. The kids caught on fast and had a great time playing in the shade of a tree. Meanwhile Joshua had fun pushing around a homemade bike made of wood (see the picture.)

Quite a full day but also a very special day. After lots of goat soup, kisra (sorghum pancakes), and coffee we left in time to get home before dark. The next day we flew out of Yabus for a two week break in Kenya. It was a great finish to our time there.

A Season of Teaching

This week was Eli and my first week of teaching at the BELC in Yabus (Basic Education Learning Center). Eli is teaching English and Bible and I'm teaching Math. So far we're both really enjoying this new role. Our students are great and it's fun to be back in the classroom again. Another teaching role I have is with Isaac, Evan, and Praise. Praise is our teammate's son and spends most of the daylight hours at our house. Even with my two hour math class every morning, I am determined to keep homeschooling my boys as priority. So while Joshua takes his morning nap, the boys and I "do school". I took these great pictures today and as I look through them again, my heart swells with love and thanks. What a blessing these little boys are to me. And I'm privleged to be training them up to be godly men.

Eli's rocket stove

I just had to post a blog about one of the many creative projects Eli did last week. He researched mud/clay "rocket stoves" on the Internet: a very easy, cheap, efficient way to cook. So he decided to build one as an experiment with some of his friends and if it worked, get people in Yabus building and using them. It meant a morning full of mixing mud, patting mud, and molding a practical piece of pottery.

Becoming a Sudanese woman

Yesterday our family went to visit a dear couple in Gondolo, a Ganza village about 4 km from Yabus. Gideon is blind but is a beautiful musician and leads the music in the Gondolo church. His wife Rhoda has a misfigured hand so she has to do everything with one hand. They have twins - a girl and a boy. The girl's name is Inia and the boy's name is Inias. They're a wonderful family.

When we arrived Eli and the boys sat on a mat in one of the huts while I joined the women in the cooking hut. The cooking hut is always full of intense smoke so my eyes were burning the whole time. But I enjoyed helping them cook the meal. First we made tea and served the men. Then we made "asida" which is made of sorghum flour and water into the consistency of playdough. We made okra soup to go with it. They cook their okra by whisking it with a branch (like a wire whisk) until it turns into a green slimy soup. It doesn't look appealing but it's very tasty and I acutally crave it sometimes!

After dinner, I helped roast the coffee beans, then pound them along with dried ginger, and brewed the coffee in their special clay "jebuna" pot. We served the men in their hut and we ladies stayed in the kitchen and each drank at least three cups.

Meanwhile the boys did great. They played happily outside with their crazy dog named "zuruf" which means hunger in their language. The dog lived up to its name as it was all skin and bones. We drove home just as it was getting dark and later, even after my bath, I remarked to Eli, that my hair still smelled like campfire smoke. That's when I realized...I'm becoming a Sudanese woman.

Eating and enjoying the finished product: asida and bamia (sorghum and okra)

A much better week

After several weeks of sickness running through our family, this week has been a relief in so many ways. Not only do we all feel better, but we've been able to get back to normal activities. Personally, I, Bethany, was getting stir crazy.
On Monday morning I decided this week was going to be different. So I went to greet my neighbor friends and ended up staying to grind sorghum on the rocks with them for a while (my back and arm muscles were sore the next day!) In the afternoon Joshua and I trekked through the slippery mud to visit some of our Uduk friends. I drank tea and coffee and then ate 2 dinners - one at Hisi's house and one at Wako's house. By the time I got home, it was getting dark, Joshua and I were both covered in mud, and we were stuffed with food!
Tuesday's highlight was going over to visit a friend named Elizabeth who just had a baby girl. I took her some goat meat I bought for her in the market and stayed for some tea and coffee. She proudly announced that they had named their new little girl, Bethany. Wow, another Bethany in Yabus!
Yesterday was our teammate Lori's birthday. The kids and I colored some birthday signs and wrapped a small gift to take to her. Later I baked a yellow cake, made tortillas, and our team enjoyed a yummy dinner together, complete with cake and candles.
Today my highlight was four wheeling through the mud to Gondolo. Gondolo is a Ganza village 4 km out of Yabus. Lori has been learning to speak Ganza and focusing her ministry with the Ganza people. They've built her her own house so I was tagging along to help move some stuff to her new house. What a ride! I wish I had taken my camera so you could better see what it was like. Since we've had some good rains lately, and the dirt is what we call "cotton soil" so it gets really mucky when wet. Lori and I (plus a mattress, a water jerrican, and a full action packer trunk) were sliding around on the path, splashing mud up into our hair and splattering our arms with muddy water. We couldn't help but laugh at ourselves. To us, it was just a ride to Gondolo, but we know people in the States would pay a lot of money to go four wheeling on a quad bike through tall grass and mud in the middle of nowhere.
I came home on my own and ended up getting the quad bike stuck in a deep rut. I had to run back to the village to find some strong men. When I entered the first house I got to, there were three good men: two of them I knew, one of them being the chief of the village. Of course I had to sit and chat for a while and then I explained my predicament and they excitedly agreed to help me. I was wondering how it would work out because they smelled strongly of alcohol. But they did a great job and once we had finally pulled the quad bike out of the rut and to the top of the hill, there was a lot of cheering, high fives, and me praising their strength and power!
I arrived home muddy from head to toe but so invigorated from my adventurous journey to Gondolo.
It's been a much more eventful week and I've enjoyed it immensely so far.

Sickness hits

Since Eli returned from his trip in Ganza land, our family has been sick with one thing or another. It started with Isaac and Eli getting high fevers. Eli was only sick for the weekend but Isaac ended up being down for most of last week. Evan had some bowel issues all last week and then over this past weekend Joshua and I came down with the flu. I've been laying low all week and thankfully Eli's been around to help out with the kids.
I just wanted to explain why you haven't heard from us in a while and I'm also asking you to pray for our family's health.

It is hard to describe experiences which are brand new. Pictures do a good job so enjoy the many pictures we took. We learned a lot. First of all, I am glad we brought the donkey. Second, our water filter did not put out the 5 liters per hour that it boasted. Third, the girls we went with put us men to shame. They did a great job walking the 80 kilometers, cooking bush style over a fire, and sleeping in a tent each night.


We stayed in several villages and walked straight through many others. The Ganza people are not many, probably around 1,600 by our estimates. There is a complete lack of schools, government presence, clinics, or clean water. However, we were enthusiastically greeted each place we went, sometimes with a double take, as not every day brings 4 white people on foot to their village.


The chiefs were helpful in letting us know how many people lived in the area, what their needs were, and that we were welcome to come back.



Setting off the first day. Our donkey did so well. Ahhh, the eagerness of the ignorant!



We would arrive in the village and ask to talk with everyone in the morning. Lori would speak in Ganza as she has been studying it for a few months. I would speak in Arabic and then she or another of our Sudanese colleagues would translate into Ganza.


I got to share a little bit out of scripture from Creation. We asked for the Ganza creation story and then gave them the one from the Bible. It was a very interesting time.
One of the villages, Dugubele, is placed right next to some beautiful rock formations.

I read books about witchdoctors and they always looked the same. They always wore horrific masks made from hair, bone, and horn. They were dancing or chanting or something like that. Meet Gusmala. He is a witchdoctor who listened quietly and is very interested in learning more.

Peter and Samson happily walking through the bush. The Sudanese can keep up an incredible pace when walking. I am glad the trip was only four days long.

Does this picture even need a caption?