Looted

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.