Great trip to Sudan and Uganda

I was invited to Sudan to do Sunday School teacher training and thought it would be an easy trip to arrange. How wrong I was! I could not get a flight to Torit from the Kenya side at all for when I wanted to travel, so had to go through Uganda where there are regular flights twice a week. I was not happy because it meant I had to be in Sudan two whole weeks, and didn't really want to be there that long. But, as usual, God knew best... I needed that amount of time to get the training organized, do it, and then observe the teachers actually teach Sunday School. The church at Torit had let Sunday School slip, so bringing them some new materials and gearing up the teachers (all young men) revitalized their program. I also brought materials for the nursery school and did some training and modeling with the teachers there.

Torit is a very interesting place. It is growing daily as more people return to Southern Sudan to settle. There is tension between those who went into exile in Kenya or Uganda (better educated) and those who stayed behind (braver), so it's not easy in the church - especially among the women, who are finding it hard to work together. The older ones demand to be the leaders and want the respect, but the younger ones have all the ideas and know quite a bit more than the older ones. My missionary friends, Russ and Lyn Noble, sometimes feel stuck in the middle practicing diplomacy between the two groups. They are training literacy workers for the local vernacular language. Tough work. Lots of people, especially older women, can't read and want to learn how, but finding reliable literacy teachers is not easy.

I went to Sudan expecting to find little food or at least not much variety, but the food was fine. Lots more supplies are coming in from Kenya and Uganda so there is more in the market, plus Russ had planted a nice garden. The Sudanese like to cook with peanut sauces, and I really like that! The two weeks went by pleasantly and I was glad I was there that long.

Because I had to travel through Uganda, I decided to stop off for a week to visit a new missionary there who has taken on a large task. Sarah thought she was going to just be teaching in a school where nursery school teachers are trained, but when she arrived she found out she was to be the director of both the training program and the nursery school on campus! Bit of a big shock. She had a rocky start, but is finding her feet. She wanted me to help her redesign the curriculum for the training program, which I was happy to do and found it really interesting. I had to dredge up old memories of my own training a few hundred years ago. She is struggling with the nursery school because they don't teach the way she would like them to and how she would like to train the student teachers. In Africa, nursery school is seen as 'school-school', and if you're not teaching two year olds how to read and write, you're not really teaching them! She is trying to help her students see the importance of play for small children and how they should build up 'pre' reading and writing skills before trying to force the children to learn what will come very easily when they are a bit older. I had fun observing the children, speaking to the students and helping Sarah organize some of the donated books and supplies that are all just in a pile in her office.

It was also fun riding around Kampala on 'boda-bodas', the motorcycle taxis that are common there. I didn't go anywhere where the traffic was bad, so it was relatively safe! I also couldn't believe all the changes in the area around the AIM Uganda office. It used to be the office was up a dirt road in a wilderness area. Not anymore. The road is paved and there is a big shopping mall. I was horrified, but then I went to a great bakery in the mall and decided progress was good!