One Last Day

Today was a good day.  And not just because I spent the morning wandering around giving advice of dubious merit whilst managing to avoid doing any proper work myself.  It reminded me of the heady days of 2010.
I have seldom, if ever, had good last days in Doro but I am happy to say that today bucked that trend.  You may recall that my last day back in September 2010 was spent lying under a tree with malaria, wondering if anything I'd done had been in any way worthwhile (apparently tropical diseases can do that to your state of mind).  Today I was reminded that it was...

This morning I lead prayers with the CHW's (Community Health Workers) at the clinic.  These guys pretty much constituted my group of friends last time around and our get together this morning was just like old times.  It was a timely reminder of the value of building good relationships with the Sudanese people and not just focusing on the practical task in hand.  A couple of them even called me 'Leader', which was kind of my nickname when I lived here (I've had worse). And there were lots of kind words. 

The rest of the day was spent catching up with some missionary friends here, and contemplating if/how/why God calls people to the missionfield, and the relative worth of practical tasks over telling people about Jesus.  Challenging stuff.

This evening I treated myself to a walk round the maternity unit that I worked on last time out.  It actually looks pretty good (apart from all the spiders webs, rat droppings and thousands of pounds worth of medical equipment lying about in boxes).  I think they are hoping to have it opent by the end of the year.

So all in all, I have been reminded of the worth, in every sense, of the time I spent here previously. And have had my desire to return and live here one day reaffirmed.

Also, in case you are wondering, I now leave first thing tomorrow morning.  So I am off to spend my last few waking hours with my friend Dau who arrived on the plane we are leaving on.  He's the first Sudanese guy I ever held hands with.  We have a special bond.

As one of my good friends here likes to put it:  My cup runneth over...