The Best Girlfriend in the World

3D reborn HDR

Originally uploaded by ukweli

Her name is Maureen. She has waited very patiently for me to return from Sudan for over a year. One might think that was enough. It was more than enough, really. But did she stop there? She did not.

I’ve been riding this bike frame for 9 years now. It was a hard day for me when I sat on the top tube and it suddenly was entirely separated from the seat tube. It honestly felt like a pretty bad omen considering the timing–days before I left for Africa. I look forward with relish to reassembling the thing from the ground up. Maybe I will finally build those disc brake wheels I’ve thought of for years.

I was simply flabbergasted when Maureen slid this thing out of a large box she had in her closet. I would not have guessed in 100 years that she had accomplished this for me and kept it secret. There is quite simply no material gift in this world I would have been more delighted with.

Maureen, you are a gem. I don’t even know what else to say.

The End is Nigh

There is a time to face facts. With the Kororak Primary School that time is now. The first school building simply will not finish during my time in Sudan. I admit to real disappointment.

My replacement–an engineer from Kenya named Moses Wandabwa–is with us now. I have given Moses all the information on the school, and I am confident that he will have little difficulty seeing it to completion. But there is a pang. If you have ever handed someone else a crying baby with a suspect diaper, you may recognize the feeling.

In the end, it was the mobilization of basic materials that slowed us. Sand, gravel, large stones, and water were and are needed in an abundance I could hardly believe. The community was very willing to help, but the work was simply monumental. There was just no speeding it up. Gravity is not someone you can get into a hurry. I know this.

I predict two more full weeks to completion of the first building. I would expect the next building to follow in less than a month and a half. As it stands now, the first building has three trusses erected on steel beams and about half of its first meter of stone wall complete.
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Toby days remaining: 4

Foundation Pour

I started my day today with the following:
1 fried egg on bread
4 tablets Coartem
1 pill multivitamin
1 pill probiotic
2 tablets extra strength Maalox PLUS
2 pills acetaminophen
500 ml Coca-Cola

Given that breakfast of champions, it is probably safe to assume
anything suspect I now relate is due to hallucination. I don’t normally
ingest quite so much chemistry in the morning. I have been caught in
what I now believe to be a cross-fire between several body ailments. It
is exceedingly unpleasant when hunger makes you nauseated, nausea makes
you thirsty, and drinking water makes you hungry.

Cement was poured into a hole in Kororak today.  PICTURE There is no turning back
now. There is every reason to hope we can have masons bringing up the
walls before the end of this week.

I had intended to pour the remainder of the foundation tomorrow.
However, one of our tractors’ trailers broke down. This means we won’t
have sufficient sand tomorrow to mix concrete. I dare say that in the
course of my time here, there has rarely been a week that one of our
trailers was not broken. Sure, the X-prize is cool, but if you want a
real design challenge try building a trailer that will operate for three
successive weeks in Nuba.

Toby days remaining: 14

Kororak Primary School Underway

Grass burned in Kororak today. After a short meeting with a few members
of the school committee and teachers of Kororak, we chose a site for the
first set of classrooms. The committee has wisely decided to place the
two buildings at opposite sides of the ample playground. Anyone who has
witnessed the synchronized shouting that serves as a memorization
technique in African primary schools will appreciate the acoustical
foresight of this decision.

Our chief Marcos is gifted when it comes to official action. He took the
siting as a queue and immediately set the 7 by 30 meter swath of earth
on fire. Nearly burning down the former school was perhaps a subtle hint
that everyone is very ready for some new classrooms.

A leader from another community has already approached me about a school rebuild in their area.

Toby days remaining: 25

Double Christmas Miracle

Some months ago in Kororak, we completed the construction of a small clinic. There was at this time a meager clinical service there. Following the completion of the clinic, medical service in Kororak came to a halt do to complete lack of medicine. This was very disheartening as easily treated problems such as malaria and worms take a serious toll on the children of the area. Pregnancy complications are also a very common problem. Taking people on emergency trips to faraway clinics has been a second job for our compound staff ever since I arrived in Moro.

The people of Kororak have started an initiative to improve their school, which is in a very poor state, structurally. They have raised tuition and hired new teachers, and hope to hire yet more. Their goal is to not only improve the level of education and increase enrollment, but to replace the buildings as well. Along with my former teammate, Andy Scheer, I was eager to be involved in the project. The budget for the new buildings, humble as they will be, is well outside the means of the Kororak community. My hope that the building phase would be started before my departure was fading.

I approached a medical NGO in Lewere called German Emerency Doctors–Cap Anamur in Germany. The most hope they could give us was that when their director next visited, they would tell him about the situation in Moro, and they would see what he had to say. Meanwhile, we were waiting for permission from Samaritan’s Purse to seek outside funding for the school construction. A surprise visit was indeed made by the GED staff to Kororak, and many encouraging things were said. Months went by waiting for word from higher up regarding the school. Pastor Morris and I began to openly wonder what would happen if I, as the last SP member involved in both projects, were to leave Moro before either was started in earnest.

Christmas Eve, 2008, I was the recipient of an email from Samaritan’s Purse leadership informing me that the Kororak Primary School was not only a valid project, but was also fully funded. The next evening I was having a Christmas dinner when I was told by a member of the German Emergency Doctors that the Kororak clinic had “the green light.”

I’m calling it the Double Christmas Miracle. I’m happy.