What a crazy few days we’ve had. We left Nairobi early on Tuesday, where 9 of us flew into Tonj. Sabet and Jim Ennis were waiting for us at the airstrip. It was a weird feeling arriving after being gone for 2 years. In some ways it seems like yesterday that I was here and in other ways it feels like eternity. Definitely my greatest moment so far was meeting Sabet’s Mum and Dad for the first time, especially his Mum, who moved from the capital Khartoum to Tonj since I was here last.
While the Gamboa family was with us we focused on the shoe distribution that the kids at their school raised money to do. It was a special time on Wednesday giving shoes out to kids in a remote village. And later we went to one of the lepers colonies where I saw some old friends and even a deaf boy that I hadn’t seen in years. He’s now taller than me! He used to come and do odd jobs for us and we would feed him and take care of him. His mother is one of the lepers and had trouble cooking etc. Now he’s a young man. After the Gamboa’s left we moved out of the bedroom our family uses as the grass roof is failing and is full of rats that kept me awake at night. We’re now in two small rooms and trying to get organized with school. We’ve been eating fresh Papaya from our trees everyday and enjoying a slower paced life. Even the new cell phone service has had no connection for the past 2 days. Yesterday we woke to Jed having a few itchy spots and by the end of the day he was covered and has chickenpox! Hannah is still struggling with her cough also. Both the kids are enjoying having their cousins to play with.