Friday in Yei

So it was a day off today because we are having a church opening on Sunday (usually we will have Sunday's off - but we did a bit of work anyway. Here are some photos from the day as we drove out to see some more churches.

Downtown (D town for those of you in Pittsburgh) Yei:

Here is inside one of the old churches:

Here is a church in the beginning stages of being built with the foundation layed out:

Like I said before, churches have to collect several materials: two kinds of sand, one from the river, the other from a pit. These two are mixed together for block making. A church will make there own blocks (around 1000) but we have someone there to assist them. They also need to collect stone and break it into small pieces for the foundation. The last thing they need is mirrum (a reddish dirt), that is used to help level the foundation before the slab is poured. Here are some photos of these materials (top left are blocks, top right is river sand in the front and pit sand in the back, bottom left is river sand, blocks, and mirrum, botttom right is stone):

And here is one nearing completion with Jeff and Peter (site manger):

have a great day,

phil

The Yei Base

Greetings from Yei,

So for the next few days I am getting oriented here, working with a guy to learn what I am suppose to be doing before heading up to Tanj. Basically I will be part of a three man team: a engineer, logististion and I will be the mobilizer.

The steps in building Churches is pretty simple although the process and work is quite difficult.

• Step one is to find the Churches and take an assessment of whether they need to be rebuilt. The main qualification here is that they were destroyed during the war. Currently there are 570 church sites identified.
• Step two is to meet with the church and see if they are willing to partner with SP in rebuilding. If agreed, they sign a contract agreeing to provided/collect the sand, stone, and water for the project. SP then agrees to actually build the building; a team of builders will be brought in for the actual construction.
• Step three is for the church to begin collecting supplies. SP provides the transport but it is up to the church to provide the labor to go and collect the supplies. It also includes breaking stones and clearing the site. This is where I will come in - my responsibilities will to help motivate the church in collecting the supplies, keeping them encouraged and making sure they have all the tools, transport and other materials they need. SP does not just want to give a hand outs but realizes that somethings need to be provided if anything is to be accomplished. This process can take up to a month or more depending on how quickly the church volunteers work. Sometimes they will work very very slowly, in which case we may move to another site until they are more serious.
• The fourth step is to have the building team come in and construct the church. The Yei compound is the main staging area for all materials moving north. Both iron (for trusses) and wood (doors, windows, pews, pulpits) projects are done at workshops here. Most of the wood is mahogany.
• And finally there is a grand church opening (I am going to one on Sunday so I will get to see what that is like.

One issue here is the feeling from the churches that more should be done (i.e. the church should be bigger or there should be better benches, etc). I know this will be a frustration, but in many ways this is part of working in development.

For those of you interested the SP Compound in Yei is at:

N 04 05.560'
E 030 39.905'

Elevation at 2983ft

Everyone I have met as a part of this project is a guy around 25 years old - I am the old guy out here but I guess I am just trying to still be tough like them.

SP Compound in Yei:

Wood working shop at the compound:

until next time -

phil

Heading for Yei

So tomorrow around 6am I am head out for S. Sudan - Yei (on the boarder of Uganda). There are actually commercial flights going in now so I will catch a flight in with another guy coming back from R&R. So after Yei I head to Tonj. Below is a sat map of the area, you can find a larger one at:

http://www.respond-int.org/Respond/viewmapdetails.html?map_id=367

Follow the red line from right to left and Tonj is at the end.

Another good map is through google, Google Earth will be better but this isn't too bad: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=sudan&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=7&ll=7.373362,29.421387&spn=3.311773,8.547363&t=h&om=0

I think the largest city I will be nearby is Wau.

Unfortunately, I think I will only have very limited email capacity here and will probably will not be able to update my blog for a while but I will as soon as I can.

Well that is all for now. May our Lord fill you with the fruits of the Spirit that you may share the love of Christ with those around you.

a fellow servant,

phil

Stop over in France

Well friends and family I am now in Kenya for few days of orientation before heading up to Sudan. Samaritan's Purse has a nice guest house that I am staying at so that is a plus. Before getting here I spent a great couple of days in France. Here is a photo from the top of a mountain (Mont Sainte Victoire in Aix - southern France) that a friend of mine and I climbed:

And of course what would a stop in Paris be without seeing Norte Dame:

Well, on Wednesday I finally get to Sudan - I am interested to see what it will be like. I may not be able to post much to my blog up there but will whenever I can or when I get back through Kenya.

One more photo, here is sky picture from southern France:

Orientation Week - Boone, NC

Well I am here for a week of orientation. Above is a picture of the crew that went through it with me. Two others are headed to Sudan, while the others are headed to South East Asia and El Salvador. It has been a good week but all of us are ready to head out. From left to right it is me, Margeaux (Field Support Unit based in Boone, Josh (headed to Sudan), Terry (Field Support Unit in Boone), Jared (headed to Sudan), Mike (headed to Indonesia), and John and Connie Bowman (John was in Afghanistan with Tera and I for a short time) they are head to El Salvador.



Here is another photo from where we took a little hike at Bass Lake just near Boone.

I hope and pray all of you are doing well. I will write more when I am in Sudan.

phil