November 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

Here is the second installment of my orientation in southern Sudan

“What is your tribe?”

Peter, our Murle watchman at the Boma base, looked intently at me, awaiting my reply. I’d risen early to sit outside and quietly enjoy the beautiful sunrise over the green Boma hills; he’d seen me and came over to chat. I didn’t answer, so he continued, “You talk like a mzungu, but you don’t look like one, so what is your tribe?” I looked just as intently at him, and finally replied, “I don’t have a tribe.” “But you must have a tribe,” he insisted.

There was no quick answer here, but there was no evading Peter, even this early in the morning. As a bright young man, eager to learn, and like others here, he was curious about this Black woman who was working as he’d only seen mzungu’s working previously. “OK,” I said resignedly, “my tribe are those Africans who chose to survive the middle passage.” His face went blank; I was used to this response to the word “middle passage.”

Peter, English student and watchman at the Boma base, asked Ingrid, "What is your tribe?"

During the first trip of my orientation, when I’d been asked about my tribe at the Yei Teacher Training College, my response had been the same: a brief history lesson on the capture of Africans in Africa and their subsequent enslavement in the New World. Once again, African-American and Caribbean history was part of teaching English in southern Sudan. Peter listened intently, for in addition to being one of our best watchmen (he’d shot to death a python on our base!), he was also a level 2 English student in our Accelerated Learning Program (ALP). I also taught ALP level 3 English to 18 other young men and ALP level 1 English to 12 women.

On the other side of the room from where I taught the women’s class, Lucy, our ALP math and science teacher from Uganda, taught pre-level I lessons to about 30 women. The one-room training center, divided into two classes, was reminiscent of schools for African-Americans in the American South during the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Teaching these adult Murle learners was a joy, because they were eager and determined to learn. They had a wonderful sense of humor as we worked together to communicate and learn from one another. It was inspiring to teach the women because they’d come to class with their babies strapped to their backs and a toddler or two holding their hands. Sometimes, the classroom got so hot, it was all they could do to quiet their agitated babies: they’d suckle them to their breasts with one hand, and with the other hand, they’d hold their pens, writing in their notebook the basic English sentence I had written on the board: “We are here.”

While in Boma, I also participated in a girl-child education sensitization meeting with elders from a neighbouring Jie village. Increasing the population of girls in the school in southern Sudan is a pressing agenda.

Later, I flew to Juba to attend meetings with MoEST, that is, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology of GOSS (Government of South Sudan). I went from actually teaching in southern Sudan to hearing the theoretical and economic concerns of building its education system. This was insightful, for in addition to government ministers, there were many Christian and secular NGOs there to discuss their varied education projects. It was also good to discover Juba, a sprawling, dusty, bustling town, as it may be our “home” base next year.

Later, I flew to Adol to join Janet, my Dutch colleague, at a teacher-training program, where I taught Christian religious education to 40 Dinka trainees: 39 men, 1 woman. This was an unexpected opportunity to engage the students about Christianity. At times, I felt I was preaching, and other times, I was doing a lot of basic Bible teaching; this experience was wonderfully rewarding!

That sums up the second leg of my ACROSS (Association of Christian Resource Organizations Serving Sudan) orientation in southern Sudan. I returned to Nairobi on October 11 to attend the PC(USA) south and east African mission co-workers retreat held in Malindi, on the coast of Kenya. I got to meet all these amazing “traditional missionaries” and learn of their experiences in Africa. I also met Elder Bob Wilson, the assistant moderator of the General Assembly; it was encouraging to meet and talk with him about ways to expand the Black churches’ participation in supporting international mission, especially in Africa, where there are only four African-American mission co-workers (of a total six!) in the PC(USA).

Lastly, it was an intellectually and spiritually stimulating experience to engage the teachings of Ghanaian theologians, Drs. Kwame and Mary Bediako. They are wonderfully gifted, compassionate teachers, whose scholarship challenged our perception of ourselves as twenty-first century mission co-workers. As the center of Christianity shifts from the West to the South, Drs. Bediako suggested that we ask ourselves, “What is Africa teaching us as we ‘do’ our Father’s mission here?” In reconfiguring Africa as teacher, we stand to gain an expansive and deeper revelation of our Lord Jesus as the God of the nations.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for the nation of southern Sudan and for me as He ministers with and within me here.

In His Risen Life,

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 10