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| A panoramic view of the mountains on the edge of the village (click to enlarge). |
We picked up the remaining grain in Palotaka on Thursday, February 11, and had hoped to deliver it the following day. However, the one of the trucks had a problem with its tires which took a whole day to fix. So we set out early on the morning of Saturday, February 13, for the village of Chahari and the town of Chukudum.
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| Rain in February! |
Amazingly, as we turned off the main road to head toward the village it began to rain. This is something extremely unusual for this time of year. The closer we got to Chahari, the heavier the rain became, until I began to get concerned that the grain might get ruined. When we arrived we parked under a tree to try to protect the cargo, and I began to pray intensely that these desperately needed food supplies (as can be seen in the malnourished child shown below) wouldn't be damaged. Thank God, by the time we began to unload the rain subsided.
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| A malnourished child watching the grain being unloaded in Chahari. |
The usual crowd gathered as we began to unload the 100 kg sacks into the community center. They were placed in the room where the village radio operator was sending and receiving messages for people in the village. Since there's no cell phone network here, it's the only way for the village to communicate with people outside.
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| Grain in the radio room. |
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| Monyomiji. |
Pretty much everyone joined in to help the unloading process. Women in groups of five or six dragged the sacks across the floor and hoisted them onto the pile. And of course the monyomiji were there: village "elders," young men in their 20s and 30s charged with protecting and leading the community. It's great to run into them; they're full of life and youthful energy and dress exotically with feathers in their hats, pierced noses and ears, knives strapped to their arms, wild braided hair and leggings - kind of tribal hip or punk. I think its a cultural common denominator: young men everywhere want to attract attention and impress. Since they're usually eager to show how strong they are, they're great to have around for something like unloading grain.
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| More monyomiji. |
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1 comment:
LOL! I LOVE this post, Father! Maybe you can turn this impromptu youthful display of strength into a weekly event and make a big spectacle of it for them. I've seen a few wrestling matches in Ethiopia; but never seen the stick-fights (I think they have them in Sudan among the Nuba too).
One question: I know there is a significant amount of rubber in Congo (and I believe Uganda). What would do you think would be the success of starting a tire manufacturing plant in south sudan? I spend a lot of time wondering about what African countries could possibly product for export.
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