Sudanese-American Thanksgiving

I am sorry that it has taken this long for me to update you on what is up here in Ikotos. The past month has been VERY busy. Between setting mid-terms, to then setting and typing final exams, and even typing exams for the other teachers, attending a Peace Workshop, and then traveling to Torit for Thanksgiving, I have not had a lot of time on the computer.
First, school is just about over for the 3rd term and the students will be traveling home for their long break (like our summer break). After Wednesday, I will not see many of them until February 1st. They finished taking their exams last week, while I was in Torit. I will miss the students, however, I am also glad for the rest. During the next two weeks I plan to paint the inside of my tuukel, varnish my kitchen table, re-boot my computer after first organizing all the pictures on it and transferring them to my flash disk, and then finally going to Gulu to see the IDP camps. I will be travelling with LWF by rode, 7 hours, to see the place that I have been campaigning for the past 2 years. Although, you should know that the LRA has affected this part of Sudan just as much as it did Uganda.
In Gulu, I will spend only about 3 days before heading back to Ikotos and then heading to Lokichoggio,Kenya; Nairobi,Kenya; and catching a ride with some missionaries (The Carpenters)to Kampala,Uganda. I will be spending Christmas in Loki with the Hildebrandts: Jon and Ginny. Jon is a pilot for AIM Air and Ginny is an excellent cook. Another short-term missionary, Kelly Miller, will also be joining me on this tri-country excursion over the holiday season. Kelly works in Torit with the HIV ward of the hospital and at the AIC pre-school. She lives with the Bylers and Matthew Lovelace, a full-term missionary teacher, along with another couple, Russ and Lyn Noble.
In Nairobi, we will not only enjoy being there on election day, but also have fun in the big city for a week. Personally, I am looking forward to some good coffee, pizza, and ice cream-- like any modern American.
In Kampala we might try to visit a wildlife preserve or game park. There is one that has some fabulous waterfalls, which I will look forward to seeing. That will all be done during our week to kill, before the Central Regional conference. The conference will also be for about a week.

So, Thanksgiving... I flew to Torit (a 15 minute flight) to spend the holiday with some other Americans (those mentioned above). I arrived there on Wednesday the 21st and stayed until Friday the 30th-- so a week and a half, I was there. You all were celebrating on Thursday, but because of tired travelers, we decided to celebrate on Saturday, which gave us the energy to cook and have fun. We had some Sudanese guests that happen to be in town, who had come from Juba, and then many Sudanese from right there in Torit. All together making up more Sudanese than Americans, thus calling it a Sudanese-American Thanksgiving.
Our traditional Thanksgiving is a celebration of the harvest and thanking God for good food, but also a celebration of the first pilgrims with the American-Indians, and thanking them for teaching us about new crops and sharing time together. Well, I thought about that with our Thanksgiving celebration because here we are, both Sudanese and American, sharing ideas together, teaching, learning, and enjoying each others' presence. Everyone had a good time laughing, eating, singing, and drawing. As you can see be one of the pictures, Linda had the idea of doing a collaborative drawing in which everyone drew a picture of what they were thankful for this year. For me, I drew a picture of Africa and a heart on Sudan, with people holding hands, because I am thankful to have made it here. For my blind friend Willie, I drew his picture for him as well. He is thankful for friendship, so I drew a picture of him and I.
After drawing, we all explained what we drew, translating in both Arabic and English. Then, we ate a dinner of: pumpkin soup, cooked pumpkin leaves with peanut sauce, rice, corn bread, meat, and bread. For dessert, we had pumpkin bread, chocolate cake (icing and sprinkles compliments of Trinity care package), and papaya. Everyone was well-fed and happy with the menu. I was surprised, but even our Sudanese guests enjoyed the chocolate cake-- most of the time my friends here do not enjoy sweet foods, only sweet tea.
Finishing up the night, we sang songs and chatted until it was time to disperse at dark. The moon was a beautiful orange pumpkin that night, as seen above.
While in Torit, during the next week, I was able to sit in on HIV counseling and even watch a HIV test be given, and learned about the different kinds and how to do them. I was surprised at how easy it was to do. Just one drop of blood from the finger, onto the tester, wait 15 minutes and the results are in. But of course, it is good for them to come back within 6 months because there is a window period whereby the test shows negative and maybe later will show positive.
I also followed Kelly to the Pre-school, where she teaches primary 1 (1st grade). Those kids are cute, but boy, I don't think I could handle that everyday, or even every other day! They sure do have a lot of energy-- that is an understatement.
It was cool because there, I was able to help by putting my small juba arabic into practice. In Ikotos, Linda and Kelly assisted me with my school stuff, and in Torit, I was able to be a translator and an extra hand for discipline. Both mornings, I also slipped away to be with the little little ones, to teach them some songs like "This is the day that the Lord has made," "skimmer-a-rinky-dink," and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." Those kids were great and hilarious!
So, that was my time in Torit, in a nut shell. In the next entry I would like to show you pictures from the STAR Peace Workshop and let you in on the peace building training that is going on here in Ikotos, for people from all over South Sudan. This particular session was on "restorative justice." I'll let you know more about it later. Thanks for letting me fill you in on this past month. I hope that all of you also had a great Thanksgiving. Feel free to comment and let me know!