is a Primary Health Care Center run by Medicins Sans Frontieres. It was interesting to see from the air how different the Nuer tukuls look from the Mabaan tukuls.
While the pilot fueled up the plane we walked to the PHCC to use the latrine and shook hands with many smiling Nuers. The place was buzzing because they had some
visiting eye surgeons seeing patients. We wished we had more time for a tour of the place. God-willing we will soon have similar facilities for the Mabaan people!
We hopped back in the plane and headed for a village on the White Nile in Dinka land where we have another base, to drop off Jimmy and Barb who are setting up a
water-purification system there this week. The Nile was breathtaking--so vast and sparkling in the sunshine. The land is so green this time of year and the Nile is
overflowing its banks. On both sides of the river around the village there were huge pools of water among the trees. We stepped off the plane to greet Sisay, one
of our Ethiopian colleagues who is currently running the Basic Education Learning Center there by himself, and many tall, smiling Dinka people. We had to laugh--so
many of them were chewing gum. It was quite noticeable--the gum-chewing Dinkas!
Then we got back in the plane and the pilot asked if any of us would like to take Jimmy's place in the co-pilot seat. I volunteered and was soon flying over some
of South Sudan's vast oil fields with the pilot explaining different features of the landscape to me. As we neared Y., about 20 minutes by plane from D. where we live, the pilot asked me if I'd like to fly the plane and I was definitely up for trying that! He showed me how to push the controls in (slowly!) to go down and out to go up and how to watch the horizon to keep the plane level. I helped descend toward the airstrip in Y. as he showed me how to watch the instruments to make sure we were descending at the correct rate and heading in the right direction. I even got to help land! In Y. we picked up teammates Vicki and Abebech who had spent a week there at one of our other bases and dropped off some mail and supplies for the missionaries there. Then it was time to head the short distance home to D. No one else was interested in co-piloting so I jumped in the front again and this time got to steer the plane as we taxied down the runway and then made our ascent after we had taken off. It was very exciting! Maybe I should give up nursing and become a pilot!
It was such a joy to land in D., hop out of the plane, and be greeted by so many friendly, familiar Mabaan faces! We were home! Our compound looks a bit different, as heavy October rains have destroyed most of our grass fence and also caused damage to other buildings. Fortunately, we have a builder from Kenya called John who is here for three months to work on the buildings on our compound, build new tukuls for staff arriving in the next few months, and finish the Community Health Worker Training Center.
Some of you have been praying particularly for little Issa, who was severely malnourished when I left for Nairobi. His father is one of the men hired to work with John on our compound, which means he now has a job and can provide for his family. He was very concerned about his lack of work the last time we visited them. He greeted me with a big smile when I arrived on the compound and exclaimed, "Issa tamam! Issa kues!" (Issa is strong! Issa is fine!) Vicki says she saw Issa once a couple of weeks ago and he did look much better. I can't wait to see him! We're going to G. for Creation to Christ teaching on Saturday so we will see him then. I'll keep you posted, but let's praise God for this wonderful answer to prayer.
Today Vicki, Grace and I cycled into B., the market town and received a very warm welcome from everyone we met. It was great to be back! On the way we bumped into Stephen, his mother, and big sister by the road near their hut. This was a direct answer to prayer--I had been praying that we would bump into them since I had forgotten how to find where they lived so we could do a home visit. Stephen is the first severely malnourished child that we came across back in August and the last time we saw him in September he was still struggling. Today he looked amazing! I don't think I would have recognized him had I seen him without his mother. She emphasized that she's giving him lots of milk! His face was full and he had flesh on his arms and legs. His mother was overjoyed when we told her that many people we know have been praying specifically for Stephen. We stopped to visit with them in their hut for a few minutes and his mother shared the struggles they are having as her husband also has no work and their fragile grass hut covered with a tarp gets flooded with water during the heavy rains. We prayed with her and asked the Lord to provide a solution to these problems. Please join us in praying for Stephen's family.
I have another story about a child we met yesterday but this story warrants its own post so I will continue later...
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