Neither of us have been stellar with African geography. The Cape? The Gold Coast? The Horn? These have always had a familiar ring, but uncertain physical placement.
Neither of us could have said prior to last year that we had much interest in going to Africa, even. Our thoughts have often drawn orbs around all of the difficulties known to the continent: the wild animals, the intense heat, the persistent sun, the vast deserts, the rampant diseases, and to our "Western" eyes, the seeming lack of "progress". All these had formed a menagerie or montage that made us shrink away. Any "Amens" out there?
Whether or not your minds have formed the question, it has been generally in ours: Why Africa, then? Why South Sudan? Surely, you've all had such questions of your own lives. Ultimately, this is only a question God can answer. We just get enough glimpses to give us faith and courage.
Civil strife in Sudan had been raging since the time of its colonization by the British in the late 19th Century. All of this escalated in the 1970's and continued in varying degrees until a peace-accord was reached in 2005. At this time, the north, which is largely Arab Muslim, agreed that the south, largely tribal of Christian and Animist backgrounds, could be semi-autonomous, and then hold a referendum on the severance of nation in January 2011. Not surprisingly, the Southerns voted overwhelmingly to separate and form their own nation and government. And so, in July 2011, the world welcomed its newest nation: South Sudan.
This begins the next sojourn into a war-bruised nation, where our hearts cry out for God's intervention, and that "swords might be beaten into plowshares".
For God's Glory, and our ensuing Joy!
Stay tuned.
1 comment:
Good morning how are you?
My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from South Sudan? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in South Sudan in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
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