Sudan – to go or to stay home, my fears

 

In a few hours from now, I’ll be airborne, headed back to Yei via Nairobi – Kenya and Kampala – Uganda. Thanks to Brother Scott Davis for sacrificing much to set me on my way once again.

Someone asked me recently, “What do you fear the most about your mission in Sudan?” Without thinking very deeply, I replied “Nothing.” I was wrong. I have since noted some things I truly dread about going to Sudan, and a lot more on the consequences of my choosing to stay home and mind other duties.

To start with, I don’t like long rides, even on the best of roads. The video clip and the photos speak silently on the condition of our roads in Sudan. It’s roughly 80km from Aura in Northern Uganda (where you leave paved roads and enter dirt roads) to our base In Yei, South Sudan. As short as the distance is, that road trip takes many hours to accomplish on any given day. One is certainly guaranteed five hours of a dust bath in the dry seasons, which I think is tolerable; considering the hours and sometimes days spent riding on mud during the rainy seasons. The fear of getting stuck in the mud lingers in every traveler’s mind per mile. Sometimes you don’t know what’s causing a particular holdup and an attempt to find out the problem could mean an hour’s trek to and fro the source.

Though some parts are now being leveled out, thanks to the efforts of the UN, whose presence in South Sudan has been a great blessing but there’s so much damage to contend with. I wonder when we’ll be delivered from these perilous roads. We once did 50km/h on one stretch and I celebrated it. I wish to see more development when I arrive.

I marvel at how haulers and other road users who ply these roads frequently manage the grueling situations caused by break downs in the center of the narrow road and heavy duty trucks caught in mud ditches. These are regular occurrences on those roads from season to season. It takes me a full day and sometimes even more, to recover from the long ride from Kampala to Yei.
 
We have flights into Yei from Nairobi and Entebbe very regularly. The dirt airstrip in Yei can handle two 19-seater aircrafts at once but with all the heavy load of supplies one travels with, the cost per seat is high. 

What would happen if I chose to stay home? My fears are encapsulated in this one question. It’s not really in the bad roads or the dangers that could prevent me from ever returning home each time I go.

Someone said, “The true cost of missions is not what happens to us when we go but what happens to them when we choose to stay back. It’s not what happens to us when we fast and pray for them but what happens to them when we feast and play. It is not what happens to us when we give (our money, time or training) but what happens to them when we hold back.
 
The high cost of missions lies in our DISOBEDIENCE, not in our OBEDIENCE.”

Or what do you think?

Author: Uche Izuora

I'm inspired by God’s passion for His name in every generation, which provokes global worship through Jesus Christ. Becoming an emotionally healthy and transformative disciple, I aim to mobilize the Church to engage in cross-cultural missions and raise other like-minded disciples who discover themselves in Christ and seek to present and represent Him as Savior and Lord among the nations northward of Uganda.

6 thoughts on “Sudan – to go or to stay home, my fears” 

  1.             i'm with you on this, Uche. those roads look like a nightmare! all i can say is, thank you for going in my stead. there's a price to pay, but the fruit is worth it.

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  3.             "fast and pray vs. feast and play"... that phrase stuck out to me and really hit home for how we are trying to learn how to be obedient to God in a culture that is all about feasting and playing! And who knows where our fasting and praying will lead us- I pray that we can be obedient to whatever our call may be as you are, Uche.  Prayers for your journey and family left behind.  Thank you for your example.

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  4. Courageous Uche do not stumble
    Though the path be dark as night
    There is a Star to guide you Uche
    Trust in God and do the right.

    Though the road be rough and dreary
    Inward sight and inward mind
    There is a Star to guide you Uche
    Trust in God and do the right.

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  5.             Bro Uche,

    By His grace and devine enablement, you set out on the journey to south sudan in the first place.The good LORD who knows the roads and their conditions promised never
    to leave you nor forsake you.Please continue to count on the abiding presence of the governor of the Kingdom-the HOLY SPIRIT.

    God will raise us more help on the state of infrastructures
    development in the region.This notwithstanding my brother,where and when required,by the devine influence of the kingdom of heaven and the Holy Ghost power,you are God’s candediate for supernatural trnsportation in the region!you will testify!God will get the glory!

    God is enabling His own to recapture “first love” intensity in our relationship with Christ,we shall not be found nor remain “feasting and playing” instead of “fasting and praying” “giving,lending,sharing and caring” -doing our “first works” with unalloyed obedience
    excelling in living the culture and lifestyles of heavenly kingdom of the most high GOD in JESUS NAME!AMEN!
    Bro niyi ade-ajayi

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