Goodbye Doro...

According to 'Blogger', it has been a frankly unacceptable two weeks since I last wrote. You can generally take it as read that if there is a long period of silence things have been either boring or bad. If they are boring I wouldn't want to trouble you with them (I'm all to aware of the risks of just writing whatever comes in to your mind and publishing it on the world wide web...I don't want to be that guy). If they are bad, well, then I wouldn't tell you about them here.

The Canadian team who are with us are now drawing to the close of their time after two weeks of sterling work. They leave on Friday. Unfortunately, so do I. I have been summoned to Nairobi to work there for a couple of weeks. I'm so excited I think I might explode. It says in Philippians 2:14 to do "all things without grumbling or questioning". Sometimes this is easier than others...

One of the guys on the Canada team is a bit trigger happy with his camera, and so I have stolen all of his photos. This is good because I am anything but trigger happy with my camera...and am desperate to get hold of any good photos I can find. For instance, he took this one of our compound at night, which is class (if you look closely you can see my two Kenyan sidekicks in the background):


And this is me showing them around the building site and pretending to know what I'm talking about.

I'll give ten (Sudanese) Pounds to the person who comes up with the funniest caption to that photo...

In all seriousness, I am even more sad to leave Doro this time than last. My friendships with the Sudanese guys have kept me going, and I shall really miss them. They continue to provide me with good company and banter. One particular area of concern for them is my ongoing singleness, and in a culture where guys often get married at 16 this is understandable. Recently they have devoted a lot of effort to trying to find me a wife...I on the other hand, have tried to explain to them all the issues that would create for me, whilst keeping on my guard to avoid potential awkward moments.

I have also made another step in the right direction by having the chance to eat with some of them. One evening I went round to the house of some of my friends just after dark (I only recently discovered that I was allowed out after dark) and sat round the fire with them as they prepared food. Being British, I didn't want to impose myself on them and planned to leave as soon as the food was ready. This was, I'm afraid, exceptionally naive of me (as I have been told before how important it is in Sudanese culture to show hospitality to guests) and when I made to go Michael responded with a very offended sounding "you mean you don't want to eat with us?!" I made the most profuse apologies and sat with them in their tukul to enjoy a simple, but very tasty (it wasn't goat) meal with my lesson duly learned.

On a positive note, my Arabic has been steadily improving over the last month, to the point where I can almost understand whole conversations that people have. Unfortunately this uses up pretty much all of my brain power and I am pretty incapable when it come to making contributions myself. Particularly if they extend beyond saying where I am coming from and where I'm going. There's a kid in the market who I sometimes buy from who laughs at me every time I try to speak Arabic to him...

On another positive note (particularly for the Sudanese) the rain has continued to descend. Sometimes in spectacular fashion. This is important as you need rain to grow food. And here, they dont have a lot of food. The other day I heard that a neighbour (And friend) of ours had not had a proper meal in months...when you realise it is that close to home it is astounding, and more than a little uncomfortable, given that we have so much. It certainly draws passages like Matthew 6:25-26 into sharper focus...

And so it's off to Nairobi again. I doubt I'll have much to report while I'm there, buying supplies for a building project doesnt usually make for good stories in my experience. But I shall keep you posted as to what is going on. There have been times in the last week when I have wished more than anything that I wasn't here. I hope they won't be repeated...