Thoughts and Stories from my Seldom Boring Life: the last 2 weeks

A quick update of what I’ve been doing these last 2 weeks…My boss, Francis, finally did arrive. Unfortunately, he only stayed for 6 days before heading off to America to speak in churches and raise money. In the few days he was here, however, we had a good time together visiting the 3 program sites around Khartoum and gaining a better understanding of what Kids Alive-Sudan is all about. In reality, though, I’m still struggling to find my place in the midst of the work here and to fill my schedule with productive activities. A major hindrance is my lack of ability to speak Arabic, which keeps me from most activities with the children, unless I have someone to translate. I can hang out and play, but not much really beneficial I can do for now. I will be in Arabic class 3 times a week, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I am able to communicate enough to find more productive ways to be involved. In the meantime, I’ll probably end up helping teach some English classes. I’m not particularly fond of teaching English, but it’s such an important tool for the children and is one of the few areas where I can be useful at this point. The importance of English is increased due to the fact that most children in our programs are originally from the south of the country, whose official language is now English. So, if they ever return to their true home, being able to speak English will be essential.

I am also helping out with administrative tasks as much as I can. The programs here are underfunded, with the global rise in food prices hitting especially hard (food prices have doubled this year), so I am working on developing contacts both inside and outside of Sudan who can help meet the needs of our children. I’m also working hard to improve the child sponsorship program (this was my job in the Dominican Republic), which will be essential in gaining more funding through Kids Alive. Hopefully Francis will come back from America with a pile of new sponsors and that program will be up and running.

So, things are generally still a little slower than I would prefer, but each day brings new experiences and challenges. I’m in more of a learning, observing mode now, which isn’t always fun, but it’s good and it’s important.

I posted some pictures below.

Until next time…