Every so often, the power will go out for days at a time.
Laura and I joke that this happens to force us to go to the restaurant/hotel in
town with a generator so we can meet people. Almost every time we take a trip
due to the power being out, we have run into individuals who have played a key
role in our lives here.
This day was no different. The power had been out for days,
so we made our way to the Baro Hotel to charge our computers. We went to the
charging station, a circular concrete seating arrangement with outlets. This
area is always full of Nuer men charging their devices.
 |
| Charging circle |
As we sat working on our computers, some Nuer men were discussing
the war and Nasir came up. (Our Nuer is just about good enough now to pick up
on the gist of conversations). We deduced that the fighting had finally come to
Nasir. We quickly asked the men, who were surprised we could understand them,
and they confirmed the news. The government troops had made it to Nasir and there was
fighting.
My heart sank. A week earlier there had been reported a
horrible massacre in another town. I feared that the same would happen for
Nasir, and if thousands weren’t killed, then the town would be burned to the
ground for sure. I began to prepare for the worst, but prayed that God would
intervene.
Over the next few days we heard reports of the town being
burned, we ran into some MSF workers from Nasir, and our compound manager
showed up. All reports weren’t good, but the validity
of the information was not clear.
As the week pressed forward, we learned that no civilian
casualties were reported and that only sections of the town had been burned. Praise
God. This was truly a miracle after what
had happened in previous towns. We
continued to war in prayer for the protection of the people as well as for our compound.
Over the weekend, our compound manager went to Nasir to
check on things. We received a report from another NGO friend who had recently
arrived in Gambella that everything was ok on the compound.
We continued to pray for massive angels to surround the compound and the area.
Then, a few days later, our compound manager returned with
news that our compound had been looted. We learned that not everything was
taken, but that the place had been trashed. I began to feel angry and
frustrated… couldn’t they just leave it alone if they didn’t want it?
Everything I had so carefully planned for and purchased in
the US was there---good shampoo, knives, a good camping stove, nice sheets, my
clarinet, the bible I had since I was 16… many things. And that’s what they
were… just THINGS.Countless people have lost loved ones all over South Sudan or
lost all their belongings or food stores... my things could be replaced.
As I wanted to be angry with the people who did this, I
began to see that what I needed to do was forgive them. I began to really see
why to not lay up my treasures on earth--- they can quickly be destroyed.
After the initial shock and feeling of loss, we conversed
more with our compound manager. He spoke of the unfortunate happenings as an
everyday occurrence. I realized that I
had been given a chance to get a glimpse of what the South Sudanese (and so many
others across the world) walk through for years if not an entire lifetime. I
will never be able to fully relate to the tragedy of losing loved ones
horrifically in battle or witnessing a massacre in front of me. I will never
know what it is like to walk for days upon days in the hot sun with no water or
shelter in order to seek refuge. I will never understand what it is like to be
packed inside a refugee camp with no shelter from the sun or from the
torrential down pours of rain or having to live in quicksand-like mud without something as little as a tarp on the ground for escape. I will never know what it is like to be raised in a culture where war
is the norm.
But God is good and his purposes will be accomplished for
his glory. I am so thankful that through this loss, He has enabled me to inch
forward as I try to relate to these people whom I love so much. I still stand
by the fact that it is a HUGE miracle there wasn’t a massacre in Nasir. Yes, it is a loss and it is normal to walk through a grieving process. But, any day
I would trade a looted compound for the lives of thousands of South Sudanese.
