Maridi, New Sudan

In the week I was in Maridi I saw and experienced many interesting things while serving with Answering the Call, an international Christian mission organization. www.answeringthecall.org.


The northern part of Sudan is Arab/Muslim. Southern Sudan, or, New Sudan, is mainly Christian.


Parade Magazine lists the top 10 worst dictators in the world on an annual basis. The leader of Sudan went from #6 last year to #1 this year; the #1 bad guy in the world. His government has supported genocide, mainly of the black African people of the south. They have been oppressed, enslaved, bombed, attacked, murdered, pillaged, raped, and abused during the many years of civil war.


Now there is a peace agreement between the Sudan government and the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) , in New Sudan. According to the peace agreement the mostly Christian south will be autonomous for six years, leading to a referendum to secede from the largely Muslim north.

New Sudan is in desparate need of roads, clinics, schools, electricty, and running water. The Sudan government and SPLA reportedly have agreed on how to share power and oil revenues; the establishment of separate monetary systems in the north and south; the exemption of non-Muslims from Sharia law and security arrangements involving the two armies.

A few years ago, aerial bombing left the people in the rich agricultural area dependent on food aid. Now people are planting crops and building houses, schools and clinics, with the hope that the peace will remain. In many areas there are still land mines buried and travel is unsafe. At this time, we were told we should not travel beyond Juba, as mines had not been cleared to that point.

An estimated two million people have died in the war since it erupted in 1983.

For a photo essay on the suffering in Sudan, go to http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/sudan/index.html

Answering the Call team members, Dr. Gus Foderingham, Elaine Frantz, R.N., and Don Eckenroth (team leader, medical administrator), had been there five times already; this was their sixth trip since 1999. They’ve done a lot of work there – that first year they were treating the sick under a mango tree. By the next year the people of Maridi had built a little hut to serve as a clinic. Now there is a clinic building with concrete floors and brick walls, including a room where they store the monthly shipments of medicines sent by Answering the Call.

In the first two trips over there, Gus and Elaine were treating patients. When they would leave, there would always be many who were not treated, and may not be around the next time. The team decided it was necessary to help the people of Maridi to help themselves. So Gus began teaching and training them to diagnose and treat the specific diseases they deal with there: tetanus, malaria, river blindness, all the diarrheal diseases, malnutrition, and other problems.

I watched Gus teaching a select group of Sudanese nursing and medical students, and was so impressed with his success through the cultural and language barriers. He’s a remarkable person, and they are remarkable survivors and bright, eager students.

At first the plan was that my role would be to help out as a pharmacy tech. But when we arrived in Maridi, we learned that since Answering the Call’s last visit there, the people had made more advances, had sought out further education and were continuing to see patients and run the pharmacy on their own! This was exactly what was needed, and the team was overjoyed to see that the needs from us had moved from treatment to education and encouragement. There are great success stories that have come from the medical efforts, all of which will hopefully be posted soon on Answering the Call’s website.

Since the clinic was running well on its own, we decided I would share our story of tragedy and faith and give encouragement to the people of Maridi. I had just begun sharing our story here in Texas, and was open to the idea in Sudan, but concerned about how to tell the story, given extreme cultural differences. So, we took some time for me to share it first with a few people who could help:
Rhoda, a pastor there, the head of the “Mother’s Union”, a church-led group of women;
a wonderful young man named Robert Krause, a 22-year old missionary spending a year (9 months down, 3 to go!) in the Central Africa region (Sudan, Uganda, and Congo);
and local pastor, Rev. Gersome (pronounced “Gar so’ ma”), who also worked as our interpreter several times.

What a tremendous help each of them were! Robert is one remarkable young man and we really clicked together as a team. As Gus was teaching his medical students, Rev. Gersome scheduled speaking engagements and assembled various groups of people to come and hear our testimony. I would share our story and then Robert would follow up with scripture, prayer, and encouragement.

We were asked to speak first with a small group of people at Rev. Rhoda’s home.

The next day, as we accompanied Rev. Gersome out in the bush to the home of his aunt who had passed away the previous night, we were asked to give words of encouragement to the extended family and friends who had gathered there to mourn.

The next day we addressed a large assembly at the church, after the morning worship service, then another large group at the new school, where 502 children are enrolled, and then later at an adult school, with several hundred adults eager to learn more about God.

One day Rev. Gersome even took us out to the open market, got the attention of hundreds of folks there and set us up to share our message of faith and encouragement right there in the open market!

Speaking in the market (we called it “The Maridi Mall”) was quite an experience. I was a bit nervous about doing this. First we walked around and observed all the people trading their things (what little crops they had, soap, and various things), and then Rev. Gersome asked if we were ready. I had no idea how to do this and honestly, it was a little intimidating - I just had no idea what to expect, nor what to say. But Gersome started talking, getting everyone’s attention. A large crowd gathered and I tugged on Robert’s sleeve and whispered, “You go first.” Brave Sir Robert – I don’t think he’d done anything quite like this before either, but he sure jumped right in. And it really helped me because as he was talking I was able to think about what I would say. Each time I spoke with a different group, the message came out a little differently. There in the market, the theme turned out to be what Mycol kept saying in the last year of his life: “We are not promised tomorrow.”

One of the things I struggled with at first was how to tell the story in a way that would make sense to people who have no exposure to or understanding of our American way of life. I know how I tell our story here at home. But how would a Sudanese person understand the concept of buying one’s “dream home”, Matchbox cars, children’s crayon drawings, wedding rings, etc? What we ended up doing is altering the story in some ways, and explaining other things that were significant to understanding. The point of my testimony, however, was essentially the same: Even though I don’t understand, my God does.

I was able to say to them that I, too, know suffering; that I, too, know pain; that I, too, do not understand why; and that I came to encourage them, that God speaks to each of us in ways we will understand; that God has shown me over and over that He is with me, and has spoken to me in ways meaningful to me. He speaks to each of them too.

The response we received every time we went out to share was really incredible. People wanted to touch Mycol’s ring. They looked at photos of my family. Women were moved to tears. Men and women wanted to hug and thank us for coming. Many asked us to come back.The people of southern Sudan have suffered great losses for many years and are in need of encouragement and hope. They are peaceful, loving people, who are hungry for knowing more about God.

I will post photos soon.