We arrived in Awiel on Wednesday 18th. We flyed out from Juba on a small twin engine aircraft which took us two hours to arrive at Awiel. Surprisingly we met the Vice Governor Victor Deng, a trained COC pastor at the airport as he was traveling to Juba. I introduced him to Steve at the airport and he said he will be coming back within 4 days. He offered us transport to my mothers house (which I couldn’t locate even) where we will be staying for the next few weeks. We came to the house and met my sister Achol who gave us a warm welcome, sprinkling water around as a sign of peace and welcome. In the evening we met my mother Adut who received us with a highly welcome kissing me on the cheeks, also receiving Steve kissing him on the cheek like a lost son coming back home. We do stay in our mums house. The services are not that bad. We are not complaining. We pray that God will keep us in good health for these weeks.
We managed to share our vision with the Governor Paul Malong who was supportive and encouraging and we expect everything to go smoothly when we visit the areas surrounding Awiel, but we realize the area is so huge. But after the visitation of those areas we will visit with him again to share the findings from the grassroot and we hope he will bless what we really find and work together hand in hand. As he mentioned we are in need and need the help of friends who will help to push ahead the wheel of development for the community of Awiel. And we expect to share our work together with him.
But we had second meeting with the minister of Education after we departed from his office. We engaged with him in the issues of education and realized that the formal education is not adequate because lack of finance and trained teachers. His Excellency Kuach Wol indicated that the work of Church of Christ in Maliek Alel is excellent – they have established Bible training to train church workers and pastors which need the support. He offered himself to assist our transport to Malek Alel and back to Awiel.
About Me
- Steve Blacket
- My connection with South Sudan began in 2004 when our church sponsored a refugee family, and my involvement in ministry amongst Sudanese grew rapidly from that time. My partner in this ministry from the beginning has been Rev Joseph Mawien, and it was his request that led to our first trip to Sudan in 2008 from which this mission has grown. The relationship with Bangladesh has also grown out of a friendship. Vana Bawm first contacted me in 2009 and we have worked closely together since. I consider myself incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to provide mission and development in these two beautiful countries. I am thankful to my two dear brothers, Joseph and Vana - wise and visionary Christian leaders. It is through them that I have been received as family even before entering their countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment