One Pound

Every city and town has those who are less fortunate than others and also those who have been reduced to begging for money. While in Lui for the Consecration of Bishop Stevan, Ezekiel and I, along with a couple other priests went to go explore the town and see the market. While in the market for the first time, a man came up to me and extended his hand. I was under the impression he was attempting to greet me so I shook his hand. Afterwards, I turned away and continued with roaming the market with the others. I noticed he was still following me, and continued to extend his hand every time he caught up with me. It was then that Ezekiel told me this man was begging for money.

The following day after the rehearsal of the consecration, Ezekiel and I, along with the same group of people, went to see the market again. The man who was begging me for money the previous day was now following us again and asked one of the priest, for one pound. In Southern Sudan the money system goes by pounds, one pound is the equivalent of about $0.25 in America money. When we left the man, one of the priest told us about a man the community nicked-named “One Pound” in Yambio.

He told us that in Yambio there is this man who begs more money, but more specifically he begs for one pound. He goes up the priest there and says, “Father, I need one pound.” When they give him one pound he is just ecstatic- comparable to a young child who just their favorite toy. However, when people give him more than one pound he refuses to take it. He says, “Oh no, no no. My friend I only need one pound.” What is an absolute riot about this fellow is if you give him a 5 pound bill he will reach into his pocket and give you 4 pounds back. This man is serious when he says he wants only one pound.  

The Consecration

                 The consecration of Bishop Stevan was a momentous occasion. The consecration was scheduled to take place in Lui on Sunday June 26^th 2011. Bishop Peni and I headed out that Friday along with his driver Ezekiel, who is also his Chaplin, and Gabriel, the Coordinator of the Evangelists. Because the roads in Sudan are very poor the 150 miles we traveled to get there took us roughly 7½ hours.

Along the way we came across a petrol gas truck that had fallen over on its side and barrels of gas were spilling all over the road. The offended truck had completely blocked the road creating a big traffic jam. We were stuck waiting for about 40minutes until a tractor came to flip the truck right side up, meanwhile, others were out by the truck trying to salvage the remaining barrels of gas.

Praying over the New Bishop

When we reached Lui we were greeted by a large number of youth singing welcoming songs, we were then directed to our guest house. It was very interesting to see all the festive decorations being put up and very large amounts of food being prepared. 

When all the Bishops had arrived we gathered in anticipation of the arrival of the ArchBishop Daniel Deng. Bishops are some of the most highly respected people in Sudan, and when addressed, they are referred to as “Your Lordship” and the ArchBishop is addressed as “Your Grace”.

The New Bishop addressing his people

There was a special designated place for all the Bishop's and Government Officials to dine, as well as to converse with one another so they don't have to be among the other visitors. Being Bishop Samuels Guest I was among the Bishops and Government Officials.

On Saturday there was a rehearsal for the consecration the following day. The rehearsal itself took two hours just to briefly go through everything. I quickly realized the service tomorrow will be one unlike any other I have ever attended. The Archbishop wanted to have the service in Lui because he wanted the people of Lui to see how its done. He said “I could have consecrated him in Juba, but I wanted the people to learn and share this experience with him.”

The service was a magnificent one. The non-stop joyful singing, the powerful words being said, the decorations prepared, and the amount of people there to witness this momentous occasion was something to behold. There were over 5,000 people in attendance at the service. Even the Governor of Western Equatorial came to witness this life changing event. The service lasted 5½ hours and things had to be cut short and also removed from the original schedule just to save time.

Afterwards we all gathered for lunch, in our designated places. Because people were in such a rush to get going home we left at 3pm. The trip back to Nzara was longer than the trip up, because we got trapped in a major rain storm that put us back a couple hours later.

Bishop Samuel and Myself along with the other Bishops, in front of us, the ArchBishop

But all in all, the trip was very nice, and it was interesting to meet all those bishops and the ArchBishop, and I was glad to be present at that consecration as

Bishop Stevan is the last Bishop to be consecrated before independence.

Life In Nzara

Ring of Flowers presented to me upon my arrival 

Imagine a place where you are awakened by a rooster at 5:30am, a place where any little breeze that passes by feels like a God send, a place where gathering under a mango tree is where fellowship happens and school is taught. Compile all that and you have a general sense of how life is here in Nzara. Upon my arrival with the Bishop we were greeted by the whole community. They made rings of flowers for us and had a service that was very nice. I stay in a tukol in Father Bob and Karen's compound. 

Emmanuel and I practicing Zandi

Since I arrived in Nzara I have been laying low, observing, and learning. The language is Pazandi, and a very nice gentleman named Emmanuel William is teaching me the language. Emmanuel is one of the more fortunate youth here. He is 21, he has completed school and at the end of August he will be going to seminary in Nairobi. Emmanuel is also my tutor for learning the Zandi language. I have almost gotten the language down, so next month we will start in on Arabic. Interestingly enough there are only 2,000 words in the Zandi language. 

Showing Grace how to form words

In the mornings I act as an assistant teacher for Karen North's English class. Yesterday Karen was not feeling well and was under the impression that she had malaria. She told me of the time that she had malaria previously and said how she is having the same same symptoms now. After testing for it she found that she didn’t have it and was greatly relieved. Because Karen was not feeling well it was up to me to teach the class by myself although i did have some help from Emmanuel. He translates from English to Pazandi. I really enjoyed teaching these people because of there desire to learn.

Teaching English 

 Towards the end of August Father Bob and his wife Karen are going to return to America for a Church Convention and also to visit all their friends and family. Their plan is to return to Africa in January 2012. In Karen's absence I will be teaching the class for the five months they will be away. The English students range from ordinary villagers wanting to learn English, to priests of the Cathedral and also the Arch-Deacon of Yambio.

The youth are not only just interested in me but also the toys I brought with me. They are completely fascinated by my Ipad, Ipod and MacBook Air Laptop. I also brought with me sports equipment such as, frisbees, footballs, baseballs and soccer balls. It is interesting to teach them these games that we Americans play because it all seems so foreign to them. None of them had ever thrown a frisbee before and a few are actually getting the hang of it. American football is a sport they just cant understand, because here they call soccer “football” so it's just very confusing. Although I am still the only one that can throw the football it's still fun to watch them attempt to. 

The Youth blazing an area for the Volleyball Court

Last week the youth all gathered in hopes of making an area ready to build a volleyball court. Volleyball is a very popular game here, and driving through the town I always see people playing volleyball. After much hard work, the volleyball court was finished last night and we hope to have our first game tonight.

My New Home

The Volleyball Court