What Does This Mean?

I saw this video in church a month ago. So, what does it mean? What do you think?

Boma Update

I have spent the better part of a week recovering from the trip to the Sudan. This week I will be editing a video that will be disseminated in a number of places. Soon my blog will return to its original purpose: questioning traditional thinking on everything concerning religion, politics, and popular culture. I will continue my involvement with the Boma project. Please check (and bookmark) the Partners in Hope web site (www.partnersonline.org). Under the Ministry tab you will find a blog link, as well as Twitter and Facebook feeds. Please stay involved in this project with me. As things unfold there will be a great need for all kinds of support!! For now, check out some of these pictures from the trip. Take note of the wreckage of a U.N. transport plane that crashed on the muddy airstrip a couple of months ago.

Back Safely!

I just got back into Nairobi tonight (Wed). I feel tired and extremely DIRTY! The Sudan is like nothing I have ever experienced in Africa! Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and experienced over the past 6 days. It is wild beyond anything I imagined. There is a vibrant community of NGOs and other aid workers (mostly American) operating from Nairobi, Loki, and into southern Sudan. I have met so many other Americans and some Europeans who are working here. The UN World Food Programme has a warehouse in lower Boma. We transported tons of US AID up the 3500 ft climb to our compound in upper Boma. I don't know how we got that truck up that mountain, because it is dishonest to call that rocky trail a road. Owww! Right at the end of the muddy airstrip we saw the burned out remains of a UN plane that crashed a few weeks ago. That's what you want to see when you are coming in to land! I spent 6 long days up on that mountain. What did we do? We had meetings (negotiations) with the area chiefs, we made bricks, helped with construction of the second set of classrooms, conducted a pastor training workshop, trekked to several villages with a 60-pound generator to show "The Jesus movie," and maybe most important - we spent the afternoons sitting under the mango trees drinking tea. And then there's the truck getting stuck in the mud halfway up the mountain. We had to go dig it out. But we won't talk about that right now :( On Saturday the Murle tribe had a strange chest-thumping partnering dance - kind of like an ancient mating ritual. Seeking adventure, I joined in. When someone told me that I may have to take a Sudanese woman home, I ran back to the compound and hid away! We were in an area of the Sudan controlled by SPLA rebels. I managed to befriend their commander, "Chief Lino." It would have been awesome to pop off a few rounds of his AK47. I asked, but he said no. He did offer, however, that any of his soldiers would come to my aid any time. Nice! On Sunday we went for a walk to check out the old airstrip on the far side of the plateau. A few hours later we ran into a de-mining team from the UN who informed us that we had been walking through an area with landmines!! That's too much danger. Good thing we are off that mountain and back in the relative safety of Nairobi, Kenya.

Hello Nairobi

It's just past 9am on Thursday March 12. Yesterday's travel wasn't too rough, though transferring from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 at Heathrow was a sticky mess!! I have never seen so many people packed shoulder to shoulder in my life. I did run into the South African baseball team though. What are the odds? We arrived at Jomo Kinyata Airport in Nairobi at about 10pm last night. When you step off a plane in Africa there are very distinctive sounds and smells that are really familiar to me, and always bring back a flood of memories - both good and bad. Your senses are immediately assaulted with a feeling like "It's still 1975 around here." And then the slowness begins! NO ONE is in a hurry here - ever! But, TIA. (This is Africa) That's part of the charm I suppose.

I have just enjoyed one of those leisurely African breakfasts at a missionary compound called "The Mayfield House." African slowness means you get to sit around and drink lots of coffee and talk. I just met an American woman over breakfast who returned from the Sudan yesterday. Her MAF charter flight had to detour to pick up 5 people who had gunshot wounds from a raid on a tribal village close to where we are going. So, I am scared and excited - but mostly excited!

We'll spend today in Nairobi, and then we leave at 6am on Friday morning for the Sudan. Please keep us in your prayers. The adventure begins :)

Goodnight, and Good Luck

I'm about to leave for the airport. I'll be flying from Dallas to London to Nairobi to Loki to Boma. Whewww! I'll stay in touch as best I can while I am away. Please keep me and the mission in your thoughts and prayers as the Sudan is not a safe place to be right now. I return to Dallas on March 26. Goodnight, and Good Luck!

Back to Africa!

I’m going back to Africa, but I need your help. Please read on . . .

I love Africa. In many ways Africa is still my home. I was born in Africa. I lived in South Africa for the first 20 years of my life. The sounds, the smells, and the tastes of Africa are real to me. The people are wonderful. They are full of joy. They are welcoming and hospitable. And yet most of Africa is a continent without much hope for its people. Extreme poverty is not a cause but a result of Africa's problems. According to Genocide Watch, since 1960 about 9 million Africans had been killed through genocide, mass murder, and targeted starvation. The Sudan, in particular, is a nation in turmoil. Northern Sudan is Islamic, southern Sudan is Christian and Darfur in the west is an area of continual genocide.

A group of Sudanese church leaders met in 2004 to formulate a plan to begin the process of restoration in the lives of their people after more than two decades of devastating war. During this meeting, an organization was founded – The Sudan Evangelical Alliance (SEA). SEA exists to offer financial, educational, and spiritual support in order to bring new life and hope to the people of the southern Sudan.

When asked to prioritize the needs of their people, the local leaders of SEA said that giving their children a better life through education was at the top of their list. After some investigation, the SEA identified an isolated and impoverished tribal community in southeastern Sudan called Boma. A majority of the people in Boma are presently trapped with little hope for a better future. There has never been a functioning school or church in Boma. After meeting with the tribal chiefs and sharing with them the desire to help build a school, their response was to give 52 acres of land for this project. With two classrooms completed, “Faith Learning Center” opened for kindergarten and first grade in January of 2008. Work has begun on the next phase of additional classrooms which will house a secondary school. The school building project also serves as a workshop for training local Sudanese men to gain skills in brick making and construction. After developing part of the land as a farm, each household in Boma was provided with seed to plant corn using farming techniques taught them to raise their own food. The first harvest in Boma took place in July of 2007 amid much rejoicing. The school itself will have a farm from which students will be fed and the surplus sold to help pay teacher's salaries. Parents will work at the school and farm as payment for their children attending. The SEA hopes to be sending teams of medical personnel to begin training in community health issues and initiate the process of opening a clinic in Boma. While all of this is taking place, the teachers, staff, and volunteers will be sharing the gospel with the people not only in word, but also in loving actions.

Each aspect of the Boma project is designed to train the local people with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to independently operate the school and farm. When sufficient progress has been achieved in Boma and the school can stand on its own, its operation will be turned over to local leadership. (Please watch the video below)

So, how do I fit into all of this? One of the organizations supporting the SEA’s Boma project is Partners in Hope. Their goal is to raise funds to build an orphanage and boarding facility close to the school. As the school grows this will be a necessity. Since I have taken survey trips and medical missions to Africa as part of my work with the East-Reach mission in Zambia, I have been asked to take a trip to the southern Sudan in order to meet with local leaders, villagers, and children. My task will be to assess needs, get my “hands dirty” with construction and farming, and return to the U.S. with information to assist in raising the funds needed for constructing an orphanage. I will be departing on March 10th, and will return on March 24th. The total cost for this survey trip is $3000. This covers airfare to Nairobi Kenya, a charter flight to Boma, lodging, food, and travel visas.

If any of my friends and readers would like to help with this effort, I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for safety and success. If you are able to, I would especially appreciate your financial assistance. Any amount will help. If you are interested in being a part of my new and exciting opportunity to spread hope in a very dark part of Africa, please contact me soon. My email address is: charles@partnersonline.org. You can also contact Ryan at Partners in Hope. His email is: ryan@partnersonline.org.

God bless you, and Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika (God bless Africa).

DOUBT

Run, don't walk, run to see this movie!