First Impressions: Sunday, 22 June 2008: Escape from Sudan

On Thursday I drove with Fr. Martin Vuni and three other passengers from Torit to Narus, Sudan, which is about half an hour from the Kenya border. We hit some unexpected heavy rains on the way, and had to wait about an hour for one of the flooded rivers to subside enough for us to cross it. During the night it also rained heavily in Narus, which is normally a very dry and dusty place. The deluge turned the dust into mud, and it took us almost an hour to get from the compound to the main road, just a short distance away. At one point we had to use the winch to get the vehicle out of the mud, and at another point we had to get out and push, which resulted in me getting spattered with mud. In the end, we made it across the border, accompanied by a Kenyan police escort, and to Lokichoggio in plenty of time to catch my late afternoon flight to Nairobi.