On the road to Lainya

We left Yei early for the 40 miles, 2-hour drive to Lainya. I had a meeting with Peter Amidi, the Bishop of Lainya who I last met in Salisbury at the Sudan Partner Conference in July. CMS Ireland had been successful in obtaining 75% funding from Irish Aid for a new Primary Health Care Centre in Lainya as part of its Health Line Sudan programme. This not only involved building the new clinic but also the training of 12 health staff. I had to meet the Bishop, Diocesan staff and the IMG builders to make work plans and agree a start date for the building.

Lainya is on the main road from Yei to Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, but the road, or should I say dirt track, is in extremely poor condition, especially given it was a major road. Because of the rains and heavy traffic the road was severely pitted with large potholes in places we were forced to drive in first gear. Although it was bad, I experienced much worse last year
driving between Maridi and Yambio when it took 8 hours to complete 84 miles!

About 10 miles from Yei we came across a queue of about 6 articulated fuel tankers parked at the edge of the road – a sure sign of a hazard ahead. We progressed around the next bend to find another artic sitting at an acute angle stuck in the left side ditch. Further ahead another artic was completely on its turned side in the right hand ditch with another, slightly staggered, turned again on its side blocking the remainder of the road.

Furthermore, a large 4-wheel drive demining truck had obviously tried to pass these trucks on the left side only to get stuck in the left hand ditch. Finally, the front driving wheels of a minibus was stuck in a deep rut, created by rainwater, the wheels did not touch the bottom of the rut so it was helpless. Welcome to road travel in Sudan – what a mess…how would we pass…the only thing we could do was wait…

While we were waiting a Landcruiser some how squeezed through what seemed an impossible gap then got stuck at an acute angle in the left side ditch. Aboard it was Herman, a colleague from Zoa, racing to the Yei airstrip. We decided, as we could not progress any further to phone Bishop Peter and give Herman a lift to the airstrip. Thankfully about 3 miles down the road the
Zoa Landcruiser caught up with us and Herman was on his way to Yei airstrip.

We headed back to the roadblock and by the time we arrived the minibus had been pushed out and we progressed carefully through the chaos. It’s amazing what an adventure a 40 miles drive can be in Sudan, in the end we were thankful to God for a safe journey.

Three men surviving Sudan…

John arrived in Yei with Edward Chase, a friend from Christ Church, Winchester. They had been cooking and looking after themselves for a few days before I arrived. John assured me that he had been given sufficient recipes from Poppy that 3 men could survive on.

Breakfast was usually cereal or porridge and John was a dab hand at making porridge, followed by tea or coffee and sometimes bread and bananas. Lunch was whatever the students were eating at the Yei Vocational Training College, usually rice and beans. Dinner, however, was another matter, John used his culinary skills and opened a packet of something to russle up
something edible. The boy scout training came to the fore as I tried to cook a couple of dinners. The meal I was most proud of would read something like this on the YVTC Restaurant Menu…

Starters – A fine selection of inventive thinking and a creative imagination (there were none)
Main Course – Finest Irish creamed potatoes, with hand-picked local grown
Yei cabbage, roasted tomatoes and red onion and succulent tinned ham
Desert – Locally grown fresh pineapple
Followed by a selection of cheese triangles, tea or coffee.

Not bad for 3 men in Sudan…

Patrick’s dream

The day before I left Yei I attended a meeting of the Board of Management of the Yei Vocational Training College (YVTC). It was John’s final meeting and he had invited 4 members of the YVTC Management Team including Head of Studies and Senior Driving and Vehicle Mechanic Instructor, Patrick Lutwama. Patrick, a Ugandan, had been an instructor at the YVTC since June 2005.

As the meeting progressed I noticed that Patrick, who has a quiet nature, attempted to say something on a number of occasions but could not quite attract the attention of the Chair, Bishop Hilary.

Finally, just as the meeting was coming to an end, Patrick seized his opportunity to speak. He started confidently to tell us how he had a dream the previous night, he dreamt that John was teaching him something and was at the blackboard in one of the college’s classrooms. However, Patrick could not really make out what he was writing and what he was trying to teach him.
Just as he was about to see clearly what was being written, he woke up. He was so frustrated and started to analyse what was he had learned from John in the previous 27 months.

When he thought carefully about it he felt he had learned 4 important things from John:

1. he needed to be strong and God would provide

2. he had learned about the importance of prayer

3. he had been taught to care and be fair and finally…

4. he learned about the need for hard work


John was clearly moved by what he heard and everyone was truly astonished by the wisdom that Patrick shared. Bishop Hilary thanked Patrick for sharing his dream and encouraged him to take what he had learned from John into this next phase of the life of the YVTC and to pass the four points onto the students.