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A Journey of Faith, Hope and Reunification in Bor/Jonglei, Sudan by Carol Francis-Rinehart |
page 2 |
 In order to visit Southern Sudan, we had to
have official SPLA papers. (The SPLA is the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army--now a partner in the unified Sudanese government.)
Upon landing with our SPLA papers in hand, the cousin of one of the
“Lost Boys” of Denver, happened to check our travel papers. I was
able to deliver the first of 10 envelopes to families inside South
Sudan!We stayed at the Baidit compound using solar energy to charge Bol’s computer, printer and digital camera as well as Isaac’s camera that was donated by one of the “60 Minutes II” cameramen. We paid $10.00 a night to stay in a jot within the secure compound located near the UN compound and the Baidit airstrip. We were picked up by a local NGO representative that we had contacted via shortwave radio while in Kakuma and were told of the landmines in the roads. They were “tagged” by a mound of tree branches and the locals were aware of what roads to take that were safe. International detonation crews were working throughout Bor to clear all the landmines. There is hardly any road infrastructure, and we had to use the cattle roads between villages to drive on to get from place to place.  We were on the road to Konbek payam, where Isaac Khor Bher would
soon see his mother Yar Ngong! After being on the road for an hour
and a half, we had to stop and ask for help in locating Isaac’s
village. He did not recognize the area due to the bombing and
depletion of many trees. Who should we stop and ask, but Isaac’s
first cousin Peter Toure! We headed back to his mother’s jot and
granary in a down pour of rain which is considered to be a blessing
in the Dinka culture. We drove up to his mother’s jot where she had
been anxiously waiting for over a month. She ran up to Isaac
hugging him and singing a traditional Dinka mother’s lullaby. Isaac’s reflection on that moment was “The dream of coming home
and seeing my mother became true at that point. I almost cried and
it is not culturally appropriate for a man of my age to cry.”As Isaac’s American mom, it was extremely moving to see him wrapped in his mother’s arms. It was a dream fulfilled. We celebrated Isaac’s homecoming for two days with gifts of freshly slaughtered goat, singing, dancing, praying, blessings, and relatives  coming from
miles around. Included was Isaac’s 83 year old aunt who walked for
hours in the heat of the day to see him. “Seeing my family in
the current situation of surviving after the war with hardly any
food, clean
water, adequate shelter, no schools, disease and no
health care clinics brought me to the realization that I needed to
make a response to the dire situation that many Southern Sudanese
are facing.”What Isaac, Bol and I heard most clearly was the need for schools, clean water and healthcare. We assessed Isaac’s village of Konbek and visited the only school under a tree. The teachers were volunteers without pay. There was no physical building structure; just the typical school under the thaau tree with a blackboard. There were a few girls, but boys were the majority of the students without books, pencils, or paper. |
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