Allison's Blog: What She Sees

Posted by: whatallisonsees | November 8, 2009

Part one: Suggestions. Part Two: Some news of Malakal.

Howdy my friends. I have a quick question for you – I have been doing this blog for a while now and would like your suggestions on how to improve it or encouragement to keep on doing something you like. Comment here or email me at allikay@gmail.com

Thanks!

Today was great in Malakal. I met a ton more people, went to an Arabic church, into town for food, hung out with the family and just enjoyed the day. The church was great, tons of singing – videos to come when I have a better internet connection. The whole church would sing, then there were opportunities for groups of people representing each of the tribes to come forward and sing… which meant all the white people got a turn. So the six of us, my brother, sister in law, Avery, and 2 other missionaries on the property headed to front and did our best rendition of O Come Let Us Adore Him. It was a hit, at least I think it was. Though – following the AMAZING music from the tribes, we might have looked quite silly.

After church everyone files out and shakes every person’s hand. When you get to the end of the line, you join it and start shaking everyone else’s hand. I like that. Personally greeting everyone, even the teeniest kids. It was fun.

Here are some pictures from the day. Soon I hope to have some of the “Suk,” the local market in the city.

My new friends on Loki. Lea was the one that took care of me there before I headed to Sudan.

My first experience sleeping in a mosquito net.

My favorite picture yet. At the Loki police station

I wanted to climb these mountains!!!

Avery loves her bottles of water!

The face killed me!

The church choir.

A super pic by Allison, my sister in law. Taylor enhanced it. It was amazing to watch this little boy, probably no older than 2 being completely content for 2 hours during the service. And, he was sitting directly in the sun shortly after this picture and was dripped in sweat. This people are far different from any I have known before.

Some of the kids from church.

Allison and me in our formal Laos for church. The women are very specific about these laos. Apparently mine was tied incorrectly so a super kind woman came and untied and fixed it for me. She was so gracious about it. Looks like something you just throw on so you don't have to care about what you are wearing, but it is quite the opposite. The shirt underneath MUST match and the skirt as well.

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Posted in life

Posted by: whatallisonsees | November 7, 2009

Finally arrived, 4 months in the making

I made it to Sudan!! it took me 5 months it seems, but I finally got here! I know I have only been traveling since Monday, but in some way, the last 4 months on the road have been awesome, totally, but also a way to kill time until I got to come here to see my family.

I left Friday at noon and headed to Loki in Kenya for an overnight stay. The lady that runs the guest house there, forgot to get me, so after an hour of being a little nervous and waiting at the airport, I asked someone for a public phone to call, but my number didn’t work. Luckily, grace from God completely, he recognized the woman’s husband’s name and called him over (he worked at the airport). So he gave me a ride (phew!)

Turkana woman (not my image)

While driving to the compound I observed the indigenous people of the area, the Turkana tribe. Very interesting people – the women are super buff and do all of the work. They care for the children, do all the heavy lifting and money making and prepare all food, yet they are always last to eat. They wear thick brightly beaded necklaces, and beautiful long scarfs. The men wear short skirts, from the same looking scarf and just hang around town. I bet these women would be killer climbers, really athletic, thin and tall. I saw some potentially great cliff there, maybe one day I will get to check it out. (pictures to follow)

I had a wonderful visit, played some volleyball with the family from the guest house, ate a beautiful hotel that used to be full vacancy all of the time, but when all the NGO’s moved back to Sudan when it was allowed and safe again, it left places like this hotel empty almost over night. After a super buffet dinner, we headed back to the guest house for some sleep to prepare for the next day.

My first experience with mosquito net: a good one, I’d say. No bites! Woke early and by 6:15 headed out to the Loki airport to fly to Juba, connected there on a different flight to Rumbeck, and then on to Malakal and finally arrived about 1:00. It was SO good to see my brother, super fit and really happy. We grabbed some sandwiches and I shared my observation of how super tall and long limbed the Sudanese people were, and he kind of emphatically (not really sure what that word means, but seems appropriate there) told me, “just like you.” What? Really? I am tall, and thin-ish, but they seriously have the longest bones ever. Someone should google it and let me know.

Moving on, we grabbed some sandwiches and finally headed back to the SIM compound. We we arrived, much to my surprise, Avery and Allison were waiting on the step and Avery didn’t stop saying my name for 5 minutes! I have been storing up so much love for her over the last year, that it just poured out! It was so great to see her in real life. She looks just like my sister and is the happiest baby! I can’t wait to continue getting to know her. She warmed up in about 5 minutes and the rest of the say she was keen to play with me anytime. After playing at the house, Taylor, Allison, Avery and I headed to town for dinner food. The market was a sight. So much going on – so much business. Donkey carts, chickens, produce, everywhere!

Fabulous dinner made by Taylor and another guy at the compound, Andrew. A Darfur guy joined us for dinner, Mohammed, and I wished so badly I knew more Arabic than just “peace be with you” and “how are you.” Oh well, a gal can only do so much.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow. I am so thankful that I going to be able to spend so much time with my family over the next month.

Cheers, y’all – may God be with you today.

In Africa…

The first days in Kenya have been interesting. It has been a more intimidating experience than I expected. While in the Amsterdam airport, I had to go through security again and packed into a line of an entire group of people I had never been around or seen before. For the first time I think I felt like a minority and very vulnerable. Even when I have traveling to Mexico or China, when I was the only tall white girl for a long time, I didn’t feel out of place somehow. Maybe it was my confidence that allowed me not to notice how of place I looked to everyone else. Well, that was missing in Nairobi my first couple days. I don’t know how to explain it, but I didn’t like it.

I met a cool dude on my flight to Nairobi that has a non-profit out of Louisvill, KY where he travels to train people across the planet on disaster relief training and outdoor wilderness training. He raises money and then invites people for free to come for the 8 or 9 day training course. Amazing work. Wish I had his site for you, but can’t find it right now.

I got to the airport, sailed though getting my visa, and ALL of my bags arrived (yahoo!!) and then had an easy pass through customs. Beverly, the wife of the SIM Sudan director and also the missionary relations and general health lady, met me at the airport, super nice of her! We loaded up and headed out and saw 4 wild zebras on the side of the road, crazy, eh??

Got in and settled in the house I am borrowing while some missionaries are on home assignment, started watching something on my ipod and at 11:10 pm, all power went out! And with a clouding night and no street lights, the house turned pitch black! Ok, admittedly, I started to get scared. Come on, first night. alone. no idea what just happened. eek. Luckily those ipods are quite bright, so I was able to find my headlamp and checked things out. Then I crawled back in bed and fell alseep pretty quickly, only to wake up at 3:30am and stayed out. Half jet lag, half excitement.

Went to some orientation of how to stay safe in Sudan and also some information about the culture. I love how important greetings are in Kenya and Sudan. Everyone gets greeted all the time, strangers on the road ot best of friends. And if someone leaves and comes back 10 min later, you greet all over again. Now this is a place I could call home – I love meeting strangers! I am always that girl that says hello in an awkwardly silent elevator and such.

I walked around a little by myself and have started to feel a bit more confident here. Nairobi is quite a dangerous place and every where is gated. No joke. All businesses, restaurants, store fronts, apartments either have really intense metal cages behind the windows and/or a 12 foot tall metal gate where a guard stands 24/7. Freaky. So far so good. Glad about that!

Big negative: I busted my knee. For real. I’ve never had an athletic injury before, but after talking to a nurse practitioner and today getting checked out by a sports medicine lady, they have deemed my troubles to over use. Makes sense since I have been aggresively hiking almost everyday for about 4 months now! I have a knee brace that has been helping a little bit, but mostly I am trying to chill as much as possible. Since rest in the best medicine and that’s an impossibility since my feet are my only transportation here in Africa, I will just push through.

I leave tomorrow for Loki in Kenya, spending the night and then onto Malakal in Sudan. I CAN”T WAIT TO SEE MY NEICE!!!

One surprise about Sudan, if I get bitten by a snake or scorpion, I have to wait it out. I thought they were joking. If anyone knows me, I have minimal pain tollerance, so let’s just pray that doesn’t happen. (I bought some codine over the counter just in case)

Salek Aleakum (Means peace be with you in Arabic.)