post sudan

I have been out of Africa for over a month now, but Africa has not come out of me.

When people ask me about my summer, about my experiences in Sudan and about how I have adjusted, I rarely know the right words to say.

Sometimes there aren't any. It is difficult for me to tell people how I feel back in America, knowing that so much of myself is somewhere else. I think about the children in the orphanage, about my neighbors in Wadupe, about Ena and Boy and Monday and Condition... I think about them all the time. I wonder if they are sleeping, I wonder if they are hungry, I wonder if they are sick. Sometimes I picture the kids running barefoot around the compound, laughing and screaming and picking on each other like kids do. My heart suddenly becomes incredibly full... and I miss them. I miss their faces, their laughter and the all the silly little ways they would make me laugh.

It is difficult for me to walk through Target or the Pitt or the grocery store. I think it is because I feel surrounded and trapped by materialism and wealth and people so consumed with their own agendas that they have forgotten that they are still people. I miss the simplicity of being, I miss being defined by who I am as a human being, not by how much I do.

It is a struggle for me to reconcile the world of America with the world of Sudan. As referendum approaches for Sudan, tension between north and south is increasing. Peace is coveted, but not expected. I beg you to become a voice for these people. Be aware of what is going on in the world around you. It is so easy... so incredibly easy for us to become comfortable here and forget that there are millions of our brothers and sisters suffering around the world. I beg you to pray for them. Cry out for justice for these people.

Because they are people, just like you and me.

Here's some interesting articles to read:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/30/sudan-poised-between-peace-and-civil-war-as-elections-loom.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8943745.stm