The last couple of weeks not only have seen the first days of a new decade. They have also brought with them lots of changes our lives here in Kapoeta.
Francis and I threw a New Years party, complete with party hats and horns, for the few foreigners who remained in Kapoeta through the holidays. We decided on a brunch, though, since we were otherwise occupied on New Years Eve, being the first night that the streetlights were turned on in Kapoeta. The county commissioner (head of the local government) switched on the diesel generator, threw the master switch, and then we drove around town in trucks to watch the streetlights come on as the sun set. The commissioner and Francis’ employees threw mini rallies under the lights, shouting out political slogans (“SPLM oye; Referendum oye”). After over a year of living here, it was great to finally see it up and operational, but now the hard part begins—building capacity to maintain the system and operate the utility.
The new year also saw a departure of Peter, the man who had served as my gardener and our nighttime guard since we arrived. When I hired him, Peter had told me that he wanted to go back to Kenya to get his highschool diploma (though Sudanese, nearly everyone with an education here studied in refugee camps in Kenya or Uganda during the war). I did what I could to keep him prepared; I required that he keep detailed records of his gardening activities, made him calculate areas when planting grass, set up a “chemistry lab” for soil testing, and passed on lots of books and magazines for him to read. …and sure enough, he kept to his word, leaving for school just before Christmas. His departure was both happy and sad: he left with some of the kindest words I have ever heard from the Sudanese, planted sunflowers in the garden so that I would think of him when I saw them, but he leaves behind big shoes to fill. I’m certain it was God who sent Peter here when we arrived last year, knowing that I wasn’t prepared to deal with staffing issues that plague nearly every organization here.
And finally, yesterday marked a new day for Southern Sudan. After 6 years of living under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), southerners finally saw the day in which they could go to the polls to decide whether they will stay united with the North, or separate to form their own country. Voting will actually continue all of this week, and it will likely be a couple weeks before all of the ballots are counted, but this is a huge step. Though there were fears that there would be violence preventing a vote, at least in Kapoeta there has been peace (I haven’t been out of the compound today to learn if the same was true throughout the country).
So, those are the major things to report. I continue to look for a job here, Francis continues on with “bringing power to the people”, and together we deal with what life brings us. Among our most recent gifts: a broken washing machine (awaiting parts from the US), a broken AC unit (requiring total replacement from Kenya), but also a Catholic lectionary and song book in Toposa (from a very nice seminarian). We think often of our family and friends, and thank God that we are doing this together.
