Joyeux Noel!

On the 23rd, just one day after 3 trips to the doctor in one day (and several antibiotic prescriptions), we drove to Paris. I was a little worried about the drive since lately, Lia had been asking, "Are we there yet?" after a five minute drive to church or the grocery store. Somehow, we managed. We checked into our hotel and called Marc's cousin. He and his girlfriend came over and cooked us dinner in our little kitchenette! Marc's grandparents who were also staying in the hotel, came by for a little visit as well. Remarkably, the girls both went to sleep in the same room, and didn't wake up even with all the noise and excitement in the next room.

The next day we went on a little walk around the hotel, enjoying La Bastille and Le Jardin des Plantes which had a few animals (miniature Koala bears and kangaroos). Lia enjoyed chasing pigeons and avoiding Mommy's camera.















































I found a stand selling crepes right by the playground - happy day! - and we chased our ham and cheese crepe down with some real Italian pizza in our hotel room. Naps were followed by a Mass at a nearby cathedral. The kids did well for the first hour, but we left a little early since they were literally running circles around us. That evening we had réveillon* - I like this tradition very much! An exciting thing was that at the mass, Bonpa ran into his cousin whom he had not expected to see, and invited her to join us. So I met another member of the French extended family.

*In France and some other French-speaking places, including Quebec, Northern Ontario and parts of the U.S., réveillon is a long dinner and possibly party, held on the evenings preceding Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The name of this dinner is based on the word réveil (meaning "waking"), because participation involves staying awake until midnight and beyond. The food consumed at réveillons is generally of an exceptional or luxury nature. For instance, appetizers may include lobster, oysters, escargots or foie gras, etc. Quality wine is usually consumed at such dinners, often with champagne or similar sparkling wines as a conclusion. (from Wikipedia)

Marc's aunt and cousin had prepared all of these amazing hors dòeuvres (the photo shows only a portion of the food presented), including foie gras, champagne, wine, chocolates and many other delicious treats. We did what we could.

The next day was Christmas day! The cousins and grandparents came to our room to open gifts. Kaia took a little while to warm up to Bonpa, and treated him with "The Look", but eventually gave in to a smile...

After a hurried gift opening, we rushed off to the Seine for our lunch cruise. We were quite early, so Lia and I went on a little adventure to see the tower. Very exciting for Lia - she knew about la tour Eiffel, but unfortunately, only from watching Dora! %Where are we going? Tower, mountain, winter palace! We did it! We saved Friendship Day!%

Oh, Dora! Is there anyone you cannot help?

Lia and I also chased pigeons.

At last we were seated, the boat started moving, and we were served our amuse bouches. Lia was not so sure what she thought about French cuisine. We didn't tell her what escargots are, but still, she passed. Thankfully, there was a slice of meat on top, and that went down without question.

The meal was over 4 hours long, and the kids did suprisingly well. Lia found a Venezuelan friend at a nearby table. They were speaking German and Spanish to each other until they realized they both spoke English, and things went better from there. Besides, they were both able to communicate without words through the magic that is dance.

The food was amazing, the scenery superb and the company delightful - what more could you ask for?

After the cruise, we said some goodbyes, and went with the cousins to see another cousin who is a firefighter in Paris. We hung out, heard some stories, and as we were saying goodbye, he gave his patch "Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris" to Kaia - ripped it right off his jacket (it was velcroed, but still, very cool!)

Then we had Reveillons part Deux (still lots of food leftover afterwards!), and we made a gingerbread house (the Canadian contribution)! All in all, a wonderful time! Joyeux Noel!

Getting ready for Christmas/Weihnachtstag/Noel

Despite trying to fit in with German culture and celebrating new holidays and practices (St. Martin's Day, St. Niklaus Day, etc), we broke with German tradition and set up our tree ahead of the 24th. Weihnachtsbaum were being sold from the beginning of December, but they aren't usually decorated until the 24th. We decided we couldn't wait. We put on our Bruce Cockburn Christmas album (best Christmas album ever, by the way), and decorated our Tannenbaum with ornaments brought from Canada and a few purchased here. Kaia enjoyed helping, handing me ornaments as carefully as she could. Lia enjoyed hearing stories of where each ornament came from, and when Granny happened to call in the middle of decorating, she was treated to a spontaneous and heartfelt, "Thank you for the beautiful ornaments, Granny!!"



Above is a picture of part of our new nativity scene. I had seen it in a store in Köln, and then at one of the booths at the local Christmas market. We visited it every time we went to the market, and Marc and I had several "discussions" about purchasing it. I was for, he was not...
One evening Marc and I arranged for a baby sittter, and went to the market by ourselves to get some Christmas presents and have an evening out. We went to see the creche, but it was gone! I was very sad, since I had this little hope that maybe Marc would come around. I looked so crestfallen that Marc very quickly whispered in my ear that he had bought it! The next morning he organized a treasure hunt complete with clues for Lia to find each piece. Then we read the Christmas story from Matthew and arranged it carefully on the piano. This will be a family tradition for many years to come. I can just imagine the treasure hunt getting more and more elaborate every tear.

Also keeping with tradition, I had the opportunity to sing this Christmas season. At our neighbours' church, I sang a couple of my songs which fit very nicely into the 3rd Sunday of advent service (Holy and Sea to Sea). This is a picture of our last-minute band playing a few traditional German carols: Süßer die Glocken nie klingen and Tochter Zion, freue dich. Our neighbours are on accordion and guitar with their little daughter looking on. I also sang O Come, O Come Emmanuel at the church we attend, and was very well received.















I've already written about the Christmas markets and how fun they are. We decided our last visit to a Weihnachtsmarkt would be to Dortmund where they have the world's largest Christmas tree. It was really big (constructed of many smaller trees), but probably more impressive at night, lit up and viewed through a haze of Gluhwein.

Here are a few more fun sights from the Dortmund market - a yummy looking garbage can...and a ketchup cow. Mmm...

Merry Christmas Rose!

So we've been talking about sponsoring a Sudanese orphan who is the same age as our kids, so that they can sort of "grow-up" in parallel. We'd really like our kids to gain an awareness of poverty, and develop a relationship with the poor in some way. (it shouldn't be an "us and them" sort of idea. and we shouldn't simply pity the poor - it's just another way of distancing ourselves. We should participate in lives of people in need (it goes both ways when you have a relationship). Obviously, a sponsorship is a fairly small thing from this side, but it will make a huge difference for the sponsored child (and it seems more real, now that I've seen sponsorship results in person).
Anyway, I contacted Christian Horizons, who organizes orphan sponsorships at St. Bartholomew's orphanage in Kajo Keji, South Sudan. (Lahash International is also involved here). They came back with a little 1-year old who needs sponsorship: Rose!
It turns out that I know her! She is the only little kid whose name I actually learned when I visited St. Bartholomew's! I held her and have tonnes of photos with her - what a great coincidence! It's just an extra feeling of connection that I have to South Sudan now...

Here are some photos...

South Sudan Travel Diary - Day 9

My last post from the trip to Sudan itself. I'm sure I'll have at least one other post with more wrap-up kind of thoughts....

DAY 9

My current latitude is 0.15 degrees (Entebbe/Kampala is very close to the equator). We're landing our MAF plane as I speak (didn't get to ride upfront - this time it's a different pilot named Achim - it's apparently against the rule, and a previous passenger nearly crashed the plane once, when they panicked and grabbed/yanked the yoke, just as Achim was touching down)

Here ends the series - thanks for sticking with me. I figured you'd like the as-it-happens reporting, even if it came with all my personal feelings/commentary. I'm going to try and make some edited blog posts with pictures (dradersindeutschland.blogspot.com)

I had one last muddy "shower" this morning, but I'm already coated in red dust.

I said goodbye to the large cockroaches and lizards in the latrine (and gave away the rest of my toilet paper to Lloyd since I won't need that where I'm going).

We gave away Bruce's rooster (which he received from a pastor who knew him, as a wedding present) to a couple that's getting married next week.

My favourite Sudanese dish that I will miss the most is a fresh peanut butter, tomato and onion salad, served with deep-fried flatbread. No one got sick at all on this visit, praise the Lord.

My main biblical association with Sudan is Nehemiah, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall. We read and discussed that a lot, given Sudan's destruction and the current rebuilding.

Through the night and early this morning, we had many meetings, many speeches, lots of breast-beating, interventions, prayer and complicated discussion that was over our head. Enoka called a bunch of the revival centre leaders from around the area to come to deal with the issues that had surfaced. Overall, unfortunately, David characterized the whole ordeal as a "dialogue of the deaf" (I say ordeal because we were very tired, it was freaking hot/sticky, and everyone's speech was long. And translated). Enoka and the Revival leadership couldn't understand the problems with the type of control they are exerting on the "young" members of the water team (they are all 20-35, with multiple kids each). Enoka and the elders all said that anyone could come to them to make a complaint, and they would fire Enoka if necessary, but unfortunately, they are just off-base. (Ie. The team members know that Enoka will never be fired, and that's not what they want anyway. They just want the ability to run day-to-day operations for the water project as respected, capable individuals, which they are).

Our time ended with many apologies for having to witness their internal problems. Much thanking of the donors for their ideas and advice. Godfrey was quite conciliatory in his speech, saying nice things about the leadership and Enoka. But afterwards, I asked him what changed - and he said, oh nothing has changed. But the situation was becoming worse, so I'm just saying what everyone wants me to say (out of respect for us). In the end, Godfrey is sticking it out a bit more with the team.

We visited the UN (who will discuss buying our water in 2 weeks at a meeting of all the NGOs in the area). We also visited DRC (Danish refugee council) and they are coming by to inspect the bottling first. If bottling water becomes a "pull" instead of a "push", then maybe there's a chance. It felt good to get out of there (our plane decided to come at 2pm, instead of 10am). My negative feelings are tempered by the 24hours of diplomacy/discussions (both formal and informal). It feels like leadership training is desperately needed to help people work together. I spent a bunch of time one-on-one with the various team members, who were speaking to me quite freely now (not really to anyone else though). I've included an email from Josh below which I thought was quite insightful - please read past the end of my email to see it.

Lots of love to all!

Marc

---

From: Josh MacFadyen
To: Marc Drader
Sent: Tue Nov 25 07:30:31 2008
Subject: Re: Day 8 - crisis in leadership

Yum, fresh peanut butter :)

Thanks for writing so carefully about this. It actually helps bring reality and humanity to my own 'out of body' experience, lived vicariously through yours! :) I was as shocked as you when I read this, only it's a lot more personal for you after working so hard there this week.

It's probably a very important side of Sudan to see. Part of the attraction of 'missionary' or relief work for Westerners is that one gets to invest in simple solutions for real problems in an environment where our work will be appreciated more than anywhere else in the world. But what you had to experience today is reminder to me that these folks are just as human and just as complex as anyone else, and likely more complex given the poverty, war, and spiritual oppression they've had to endure all their lives.

Some of us need to (and should) believe that life is somehow simpler there and that a short term missions trip with IT will have guranteed results for the local people. But it seems the ones who really change their lives on those missions trips are the missionaries; the ones who really do the blessing are the local people. And in that way, diverting the year's all-inclusive-resort monies to a missions trip is entirely beneficial.

The other missionaries (and I include you guys here) should be very aware that even a lifetime of service or the relief efforts of an entire church/NGO can only change or help a community so much. Sometimes these monumental efforts are partially or even completely reversed during their lives or shortly after they end. It's not surprising. Imagine trying to do something as simple as convincing/teaching your neighbourhood to compost, or encouraging a congregation to pray, and then compare that to convincing/teaching an impoverished, polluted, war-torn community to actually do something difficult (like leadership) with their limited resources. Seeing as though we are quite human; it should be considered a miracle when it works. Only God can change our hearts. We plant, someone else waters, but he does the growing.

Every minute you spent in Sudan will have temporal and eternal benefit. God will bring the increase, and will not let his Word return to him void. I hope this is encouraging and doesn't sound moralizing; you know way more about this than I do. I'm just coming to terms with my own sense of mission and relief, again, vicariously though you.

Safely home now,

Josh

P.S. Cameron says "Maaaarc! I got trains for Christmas."

South Sudan Travel Diary - Day 8

Things went kind of sideways on day 8 of my Sudan trip. I've edited out some of the specifics, but left a lot of details still. Keep in mind that there are many sides to every story, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm an outsider with very little cultural knowledge...

DAY 8
Today, we had a final planning session with the team. We set out a progression of priorities for increasing their salary, based on whatever money is generated by the water bottling, and internet cafe. We also bought 80% of a biosand filters for each of the 7 members of the team. They'll each need to pay the remaining 12,000 shillings ($8) to get the water filter for their family. Everything seemed well and good, but then it got a bit dramatic:
Godfrey (the project manager) has been quite stressed and made some tearful accusations about the lack of transparency by revival movement leadership, unfair demands on him and his team, and he voiced fears that everything would fall apart once we leave. We haven't heard anyone speak from the heart like this. Mostly we get pretty formal speeches from people.

Unfortunately, Godfrey is the most educated, most gifted leader we've met here. He really gets it. (He's trained a medical tech, so the bottling, testing, filters, etc is right up his alley). He says his friends make fun of him because he makes so little at this job (he has been offered higher salaries by several organizations). He is considering leaving the project (he said he cried last night while falling asleep). It really sucks because this is the guy I like the most and respect the most here, and I'm sad to hear all this.

I got separated from our traveling in the afternoon and got a chance to speak with Godfrey alone (I also spoke with some of the workers in some depth - although the main leader took them aside and told them not to talk to us). I sent some detailed notes to IT, because there's some pretty serious issues here.


Godfrey has told us that he cannot stay with the water project. And all 6 of the workers will leave when he goes. They are just staying as long as Godfrey is shielding them from the Revival leaders' control. Two things are holding him back from leaving:
-relationship with Bruce
-involvement in the Episcopal Church

Godfrey's closest friend is pastor Kaya (head of a 300 person baptist NGO that sponsors evangelism, education). Kaya feels sorry for his best friend Godfrey. He offered him 3x more money/month to test and work with borehole wells (water harvest international). Godfrey gave his CV today.

In parallel, the hospital asked him to work fulltime as a lab tech. Currently working part-time as a tech trainer (4hrs/week and he makes more than with his 30hrs/week at the water project). A few months ago, a Japanese NGO selected him for 3 month course in Japan and job to bring plumbing to this area. He is waiting to see if they come back (delayed due to Japanese elections).

Godfrey feels like instead of developing his life, he is losing out due to the abuse he takes while working with Revival. After another big discussion, Godfrey seemed like he might stick around for another couple months if something changes rapidly. So now we're in a meeting the revival leadership to convince them to turn over more day to day control to Godfrey (like the keys to the truck, or the ability to buy supplies without asking). Bruce will recommend to IT that someone come here for a couple of months to manage the situation as it is quite fragile. Bruce stated to Godfrey that the allegations of fraud will be dealt with by IT, and to have patience with that. (We're not tackling that one so far. What a mess!)

Wow. Tough day. I don't know if my crazy notes made any sense, but it felt as if everything was crashing down around us. IT has a big mess on their hands here, and I'm still reeling from some of my conversations today. (I was the only one that these guys talked to, since I got away from the main group of "visitors"). It's the age-old issue of young leaders chafing under the older leaders' control. But it's also allegations of fraud, and our work seems to be in jeopardy. Personally, I am reconsidering everything I've thought about everything here. It's definitely more gray and complicated.

It doesn't make me like this part of Sudan any less, but makes me lose a bit of hope for the Revival Movement and the water bottling that we've implemented this week. Even the internet access is at risk - the team believes that they will lose access as soon as we leave... :( :(

Is this my "welcome to the real world" moment, at the end of a pretty amazing out-of-body-experience week? I'm checked in for my KLM flights home. Pray for us tomorrow. More meetings and then a lot of travel.
Love, Marc

PS. Turns out that we've had a team of 5 women cooking for us this whole week. We're very high maintenance. (Consider the amazing eggplant and peanut butter dish we had: just making the peanut butter takes hours to roast the peanuts, shell them and grind them with a rock. And we have fresh peanuts and peanut butter every day!). They also have to kill chickens or whatever meat and prepare them for us (remember there is no refridgeration anywhere, so the only way to have meat is fresh).

PPS. Yesterday, I burned my other thumb and hand (!) when the lid came off a thermos that they were using to pour tea for me. The burn was not as bad this time. But it makes me very nervous when I see those thermoses.