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A letter from Sue Ellen Hall in Sudan |
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June 2003
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Salaam alaikum from Khartoum! The summer exodus has
taken many of the foreign community away for a break from the
heat, but some of us remain. Being here in Sudan, where the air
is often filled with dust from one of the haboobs (dust
storms), where the Sahara desert is creeping southward, where
street sweepers are kept constantly busy and where piles of dirt,
sand, mud, and gravel appear in new spots almost daily, made me
recall a remark made many years ago by one of my co-counselors
(a soil conservationist) at a camp in Arkansas. “Dirt is
simply displaced soil.” I began to think about soil and
displacement and turned to the dictionary, primary resource for
an English teacher!
soil (noun): 1. the portion of the earth’s surface consisting
of disintegrated rock and humus. 2. the ground or earth: tilling
the soil. 3. a particular kind of earth: sandy soil. 4. a country,
land, or region. 5. any environment nurturing growth or development.
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Brickworks by the Nile. |
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The last meaning (5) caught my eye. The dust
and the desert aren’t particularly “nurturing”
to growth or development, but the piles of “displaced”
soil seem to have a purpose. The mud comes from the sewers that
are being cleaned out in anticipation of the short rainy season,
in hopes that flooding will be minimized. |
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The dirt, sand, and gravel are often
used in the construction of new buildings and the paving of roads,
signs of development, at least here in Khartoum. Walking along the
Nile I’ve watched bricks being made from the river silt, the
same silt that turns tap water brown in the summer. So is this displacement
of soil a bane or a blessing? A nuisance or a nurturing? What of
our personal displacement? |
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In human terms, perhaps displacement
is really being not where we think we ought to be but where God
wants us to be. Whenever frustrations or doubts arise about why
I’m here and what I’m doing, the words from Ephesians
seem to surface: “Now to him who by the power at work within
us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask
or imagine…” (3:20). Grow where you are planted, even
if it isn’t in the soil you might have chosen. God is with
us and is working through us wherever we are. Our presence is a
blessing. After all, we aren’t misplaced (lost),
but moved, perhaps in order to see things from a new perspective
or to allow new growth to happen. For example, in Sudan one of the
reasons the church has grown in the north is because of the displacement
caused by the ongoing war and tribal conflicts. Looking at the faces
of the children gathered for vacation church school at the Sudan
Presbyterian Evangelical Church one sees a beautiful rainbow representing
both African and Arabic Sudanese, and hope for a future free of
tribalism. |
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Aida Nasser, first Sudanese woman lecturer at NTC. |
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Give praises
- for the many blessings of last year when I was on home assignment
in the United States. While I spent the first and last months
with family in Texarkana, Arkansas, from July to November I
was constantly being displaced. Driving over 14,000 miles, “from
sea to shining sea” (literally!), I slept in 58 different
beds, ate countless (delicious) meals, visited and shared at
many churches and conferences. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality
of family, friends, and strangers who became friends. One of
the great beauties of our connectional church is meeting sisters
and brothers everywhere I go, truly the body of Christ and Christ’s
love made visible. I also rejoiced at the diversity and gifts
within our congregations and the variety of worship experiences.
Some were new churches, some old, some big, some small, some
ecumenical. Thanks to all I met and to all who continue to pray
for me.
- for the visit to Sudan in January of the Reverend Fahed Abu-Akel,
then moderator of the PC(USA) and a person displaced from his
original home in Palestine. With what joy he was received by
the Presbyterians here as he shared with them in worship and
fellowship!
- for the Nile Theological College Easter retreat, held not
where planned, but right next to the market where the sound
of hymns could be heard over the shouts of hawkers. On Good
Friday a prayer walk took us to the Coptic Orthodox Church and
then to the banks of the Nile where we prayed in the midst of
families picnicking by the river as the sun set and the dust
from departing cars settled on us.
- for the introduction of Arabic Sunday School materials provided
by classmates of mine from language school in Jordan who now
run a Christian bookstore in Jerusalem.
- for the chance to teach a short conversational English course
to a small group of women (Christian, Muslim, Sudanese, Yemeni,
Ethiopian) at a newly opened teahouse for women only.
Please pray
- for the ongoing peace process in Sudan.
- for the churches of Sudan and for the training of teachers,
pastors and all church workers.
- for NTC and the new term beginning in July. I will also be
co-teaching a class in teaching methods with Aida Nasser, the
first Sudanese woman to teach full-time at NTC. With the addition
of the Arabic track and the departure of faculty for graduate
work or new positions, the teaching loads for our Sudanese colleagues
have increased.
Your sister in Christ
Sue Ellen
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
37 |
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