Throwing your hat over the wall. . .going in circles.

Ramblings and Musings from Uganda

 

Going in circles . . .   There are lots of challenges to driving in Uganda.  Driving on the left side of the road.  Steering wheel on left side of car.  Weaving in and out of thousands of motorcycles.  And then there are the roundabouts.  Where we Americans would place a four-way intersections, Africa has a fiendish invention called the roundabout.  You enter it and drive left (clockwise) taking either the “first/second/third exit.”  Since you enter the roundabout at “six o’clock”, each succeeding exit is 9 o’clock/noon/and 3.

I’m proud to say that I made a 360 on this Jinja roundabout.  Ended up right where I started.  There’s got to be a story lurking in there somewhere.

Sun. 7 July 2013

Throwing your hat over the wall.

There’s an Irish story about two boys who loved roaming the green fields of Ireland.  When they’d come to a high stone wall, one would take his cap, fling it over the wall, and say,  “Well, we don’t have much choice now. We’ve got to climb over and go ahead.”

In the past year, DeDe and I have “thrown our hats over wall.”  It is a privilege to serve in a new place and new ways.

We’re learning, researching, and going to the world’s newest country, South Sudan.  That will be the source of my writings this week.

South Sudan is a tall wall.  A difficult place.  At times, a scary place.

We can’t get over this wall without the grace of God.

And that grace is shown through your prayer support.  We are desperate for your prayer.  Literally desperate.

Listed below are current prayer needs for our week.

Pray on!

Curt

 

 

 

How you can pray for DeDe and I this week: we’re in Jinja, Uganda (the reputed source of the Nile.)  DeDe is tutoring pastors at Uganda Baptist Seminary and I’m taking a course on Sudan.

DeDe is working with pastors on their research papers.  Pray for clarity/understanding/connection and encouragement.

I’m in a group of about 70 persons learning more about Sudan and South Sudan. Most are diplomats/aid workers/academians.  Pray I’ll be a sponge and a good witness.

I’ll be sharing what I’m learning at the Sudan Course all week.  Follow our journey at http://www.creekbank.net/blog    @curtiles   #RVISudan  #Open Hands Africa

A diplomat told me during a Nile kayaking trip he met a group of Southern (“Hey, ya’ll”) “Hellfighters” on the River.  This is an American Christian Biker Group.  Anyone have any ideas how to find out more.

“Ground Truthing” is finding out the real facts by putting “boots on the ground.”

A century plus after Livingston, Speke, Baker, and Stanley, geographers are still discussing the real “source of the Nile.”

You cannot understand South Sudan without The Sudan, nor The Sudan without South Sudan.

Standing on the bank of the Nile after dark.  See the Southern Cross above and the Big Dipper behind me.  Pretty cool.

Thanks to all of you who’ve supported our ministry, Open Hands Africa. Your gifts have allowed me to attend the Sudan Course.