In a Bit of Hot Water

This is a monumental day here in Nyala for SP. As a relief organization we tend to be reactionary on many things - often to our demise. So last year at the end of the really hot season we finally got an airconditioner approved for our TV room. But it hasn't been used much because the weather cooled off. So now that the really cold season has passed we are installing our hot water heaters for the showers. For the last nine months I have been boiling water on the stove and pouring it into a bucket so I can have a warm bucket bath. But this ritual is no longer required as of February 6, 2007 (at least until it breaks and we have to order parts in). I have been claiming lately that the reason for me not getting up in the morning to run has been that it's too cold and takes too long to have a warm bucket bath at 7 in the morning. So that excuse has suited me just fine for the last couple of months. But now with hot water heaters I have run out of excuses - so if anyone has some good ones for me please share. But really I am so excited about my new hot water heater and just think of how much better I will smell now. Really everyone benfits from it.

I also wanted to share a sad story with you. It may seem weird to talk about silly things like hot water heaters and then a sad story like this in one blog but this is what life is like. Enjoy the good things and still greive over the sad things.

My finance guy here in Nyala goes every Sunday morning to the prison and spends time with some of the inmates. He will just go and listen to them, help them with personal needs and sometimes teaches and prays for them. So often he will come to work on Sunday afternoon with very interesting stories. This Sunday he called me and told me that he was in prison (he meant that he was visiting but it scared me for a moment) and that there was a Christian man that died the night before and there was no one to take care of the body. No one knew how to bury a Christian man so the responsibility fell on him. So he washed the body, dressed him again, took a group of inmates out to the grave yard, dug a grave and burried the body. This man I guess was a military man that spent three years in a military prison and lived off of maybe one meal a day until he was transferred to Nyala two weeks ago. My guy didn't even know the man and only briefly interacted with him the week before. A couple of things really hit my heart when I heard this. One is how horrible it would be to die all alone with no one around you that loves and cares for you. His family has no idea that he has died and they will never be able to be there for his last breath. To die alone - I really don't wish that on anyone, even though it happens all the time. The other thing that really struck me was how selfless and courageous my finance guy was to take on the responsibility to look after a complete stranger's body. He could have walked away and hoped someone would do something but he didn't he took on something that was really beyond him and gave a stranger the respect that we could only hope someone would do for us after we pass. It is the most real expample I have ever seen of the good samaritan story in the bible. I am in awe of his actions and have so much to learn from his display of love and compassion.

The good thing about this story is that I hope this man that passed went from the worst place on earth - starving to death in a dirty dark prison in Darfur- to the most beautiful pain free place he could ever imagine.

Puppies!

While I was home last you may have heard me talk about our dogs. When I returned I had discovered that one of them had disappeared and the other one had six puppies. So instead of two dogs barking all night and brining in all sorts of interesting 'treasures' into the compound, we now have seven. Life for a dog is Sudan is not a nice one. They have rocks thrown at them and are beaten so I thought is was kind of my to want to end their life early on. But I lost that vote so now we have to find homes for six puppies in an environment where they are pests - not pets. But they are kind of cute and I find it funny when they try to bark and scare me off when I come to see them. So if anyone wants a pure Sudanese mutt let me know and I can try and get it to you.

Other than trying to find homes for these puppies, we have been keeping ourselves very busy. The situation here has changed a lot for us. The areas that used to be safe for us to work have been unsafe to go to for over six weeks where our unsafe areas have opened up for us to work in. In one area right now we are trying to get blankets, jerry cans and soap to over 30,000 people that have fled their homes and are living under trees while their children die from the cold. While the sitaution for Darfurians continues to decline the areas that NGO's are able to travel in and work in decrease. There has been at least three NGO's that have pulled out of Darfur all together becuase of insecurity and their inablility to do the work that needs to be done. So we go through the ups and downs off it all yet seem to continue operating and have been safe doing so.

Even though it seems like the craziest place to work I am loving it. I used to count down the days from at least four months before I got to go home from Mozambique. Even though I was a 20 min walk from the beach and all the seafood I could eat, I didn't like it. But here I am in the desert in the middle of the world's largest humanitarian crisis and I love it! I love going back to Canada to see everyone but at the same time, I don't want to leave this place. Ya maybe I have just gone crazy. But at the same time I do need short breaks to eat some good food and get away from the war zone, so I am off to Egypt on the 16th. I have found a great little beach resort on the Sinai peninsula that I'm going to hang out at for a week and get some sleep. I'm looking forward to it.