Water!! Precious water!

Blog – 30 March 2012 WATER!! – precious water! We in the USA often forget how essential water is to life! But here in South Sudan, with delayed rains, we see signs of the importance of water all around us. The land is dry and dusty - feet are dirty after even a short walk; lines of yellow plastic containers await filling at every borehole scattered around the town and in the villages; women and children chatting in those lines and then gratefully carrying the water-filled containers on their heads to their homes. Thankfully our borehole pump is only 40 feet away from our room – but we are learning how to conserve this life-giving resource. (No, I haven’t tried lifting the container up on my head!) I read these verses from Isaiah 44: 3 with new eyes today: “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” We have been in South Sudan nearly a month now and must renew our VISA soon. We are grateful to have found a wonderful language helper, Rachael, who is a teacher at the nearby Yei Teacher’s Training College. Our efforts to speak Arabic are met with smiles, laughter, and kindness – we continue on!  We have enjoyed several visits to churches and are pleased to be welcomed into God’s family here. Most of our time the last 2 weeks has been spent working with Diantha and Steve Hodges, writing a grant for Saving Lives at Birth, offered by a group of donors interested in supporting projects which will help to reduce the number of deaths of pregnant women and newborns. We feel the “Safe Birth Committees” within churches here are a great network for reaching out to all women and families in the rural communities and believe this can be the means by which additional health training can lead to improved pregnancy care and safer births. The grant is to be submitted this weekend! We request your prayers regarding this serious health need and the grant. We visited an orphanage called Iris Ministries on the outskirts of Yei recently – there has been a request for health screenings of roughly 120 children and a planned session for older teens on STDs soon. This should be interesting! We have identified a need for school health screenings in church nursery and primary schools as well and believe it will be a great place to start identifying significant community health needs. We are also looking ahead to applying for a grant from “Imagine No Malaria” with UMCOR over the coming months. Thanks for your prayers! Rabuna kali barigu ita! (God bless you!)