A Day in the Life

I realized that I have not written anything about what a typical weekday looks like for me here, so I thought I would walk you all through one.

The alarm rings promptly at 6:20, but there is no need to ever use the snooze button because if I don’t get up then, the church bell rings at 6:30 for at least a solid minute. I hope that no one in Wau likes to sleep in because there is no chance of sleeping through that bell. In typical Catherine fashion, I’m ready to go approximately 3 minutes after getting out of bed. I greet our dog, Grigio as Taylor and I leave the compound. We make the 2-minute walk to our local parish, St. Joseph’s as we marvel at the always-beautiful sunrise in the distance. We take our usual spot in the church in the 8^th pew on the left. Mass is celebrated by our Salesian priest neighbors.

After mass, I have my breakfast of two pieces of bread with butter or jam and hot tea or instant coffee. Taylor, Marta and Ania all have to be at their respective schools earlier than I need to be at the clinic, so I enjoy some alone time with Jesus before I have to go to work. I arrive at the clinic by 8:30 and make sure the notebooks are set up to keep records for the day. I then help Nura sign people in. She writes their information on their ticket while I write it in our record book. After helping her for about 30-45 minutes, depending how busy we are, I go into my own consultation room and start seeing patients. I get assigned a nursing student each week to be my translator. The patients come in and I ask about their symptoms and do a quick assessment when necessary and then send them to the lab for whichever test I think that they need. As they get their lab results back, they bring them to me and I diagnose them and write their prescriptions from what we have in our pharmacy and write it all down in my charts. (Yes, nursing friends, paper charting is sometimes still a real thing.) It all happens very quickly because I usually see between 30 and 60 patients each day. If there is ever time without patients because they are waiting for their lab results, I usually get a quick Arabic lesson from the nursing student. I’m talking elementary stuff here, numbers, days of the week, simple greetings etc. Whenever I have seen all of my patients, I help with some record keeping and preparing things for the following day. My co-worker’s 4-year-old daughter normally comes to the clinic after school so we have some bonding time while I finish my work. I usually help her practice writing her English numbers and letters. She is very smart!

After work, my time is filled by different things- practicing ukulele or guitar, reading, attempting to practice Arabic, working out in my room, playing with Grigio, or doing any work that the sisters need me to do. At 6:00 the bell rings for prayer. We join the sisters for rosary and evening prayer and on Wednesdays we have Adoration. After prayer, is dinnertime! We eat together as volunteers in our community room, except on Wednesdays when we eat with the sisters. The night after dinner always slips away accompanied by good talks, jam sessions, and preparations for the next day.

At approximately 10 PM I turn the lights out, tuck myself into my mosquito net and drift off to sleep to the sounds of unnamed African critters.

Looking back at this post, it’s not the most entertaining, so here is a precious story to liven things up a bit:

Last Thursday, I gave the “Goodmorning” talk at St. Joseph’s school morning assembly. This is Salesian speak for a short talk to give the kids something nice to think about during the day. The next day a girl from the fifth grade class came up to Ania (who works at St. Joseph’s) and asked her if she knew me. After Ania said yes, the girl said, “wow, well she really is beautiful. Can you tell her that she is really beautiful?” It made my day and I thought it was very complimentary to what I was saying in my last blog post!

I have been keeping everyone back home in my prayers and I ask that you do the same for me. I also ask for prayers for peace and growth in South Sudan as this country tries to build itself up. If anyone ever has specific prayer intentions, please message me, so I can pray for them!

True Beauty

I have been reflecting a lot recently on beauty. Where does one find beauty? What does it mean to be beautiful? How is beauty defined? Why is beauty so sought after?

I have been surrounded by beauty for the past month. I see beauty in the green of the garden, in the rust orange of the mud after the rain hits, in the magenta of the flowers and in the yellow of the butterflies. I see beauty in the way the sun engulfs the sky with its color every morning at the sunrise and in the way it quietly slips behind the buildings leaving a pink trail at the sunset. I see beauty in a full church, in a front row full of attentive toddlers, and in a group of preteen boys attending mass daily. I see beauty in my acceptance into the community, in praying with the sisters, in sharing meals and laughs with the other volunteers and in the greetings of our dog, Grigio. I see beauty in the sheepish smiles of small children, in their enthusiastic participation in dancing and in their voices raised to recite the prayers of the rosary in Arabic.  I see beauty in a mothers embrace of her sick child, in a nurse who takes the time to educate her patients, in a child comforted from crying through the simple rotations of the blades on a ceiling fan, and in a clinic that helps hundreds of poor daily.  I see beauty in having water flow at the turn of a knob, in having a full plate of food, in seeing the two bars of wifi that mean my email will send, and in the feeling of my keys in my pocket meaning that I have a comfortable place to rest my head every night. I find beauty in the transformation of simple bread and wine into the body and blood of my Lord and in the daily gift of receiving Jesus into my very own body.

Yes, I have been surrounded by beauty for the past month and the word has begun to take on new meaning. It’s a word that, back home, is so often associated with things of vanity. In order to find beauty, I must wear the latest fashion, I must have my hair and makeup done, and my body must look a certain way. It’s a beauty that seeks its definition through the approval of others. It’s so limited. We have but one small mirror here, a small circle enclosed in pink plastic hanging above the sink in our bathroom. I catch glimpses of myself as a wash my hands or brush my teeth and am surprised by the beauty I see. Every article of clothing I have here can fit on one shelf. I have not worn makeup since I left the states. My hair is most often in a low ponytail or a haphazardly thrown together bun. My blue eyes hide behind my glasses every day. I’ll look down to see the outfit that I’m wearing for the 6^th time in a month that isn’t quite clean enough from my untrained hands washing it, my body perpetually covered in sweat and mosquito bites, and my nails stained from dirt and work. How do I feel beautiful?

I was perplexed and pleased by the beauty I saw and felt. This is not the idea of beauty that society had instilled in me my whole life. I prayed on this for a while and everything seemed so obvious. My whole life, I was the one trying to define what made me or others or the world around me beautiful. In reality, only the creator of this world can define what true beauty is. God made this world to be beautiful so when things are how he intended them to be, there is beauty. God designed the day and the night and it was good.  The beauty in the sunrise and the sunset is apparent because that is how God created days to pass. There is beauty in the joy of children because they most accurately portray our Christian faith. There is beauty in the love of a family because they are following their vocation. I am finding beauty in the simplicities of life because I am thankful to God for blessing me with them.

 I realized that I am seeing beauty in myself because I am being exactly who God created me to be.  Through all of the confusions of life in Africa, spending hours in the clinic having no idea what anyone is saying around me, being continents away from my family and friends, trying to learn my responsibilities in a new environment, living in a community of diverse cultures, and having practically no control over anything around me, there is no doubt. I have no doubt that God created me with the intention of sending me to Wau, South Sudan this year. I was created to love and serve my Lord with every action, every word, and every thought. I would be lying to you if I told you I was doing that perfectly here, but I am striving for it in ways that I never have before.

I look back at all of the times I tried on half of my closet trying to find something I felt beautiful in. The times that I angrily tore my eyes away from the mirror upset that the makeup I put on didn’t change the way I felt about myself. The hours I spent in dressing rooms h

oping that I would find the perfect dress for an event. The years of subconsciously seeking the approval of those around me. I look back and realize that I was seeking beauty through things of the world instead of wholeheartedly seeking Jesus. The Lord took all of these worldly things away from me to show me the deepest beauty I will ever see, to give me the gift of seeing beauty in the world as He sees it, and to feel as beautiful as he created me to be.

“How beautiful you are, how pleasing, my love, my delight.”

-Song of Songs 7: 7

My First Weekend in Wau

This weekend was absolutely amazing. It was full of so much joy and excitement. On Saturday, we got to go to the market with Sister Maria Antoinette. Taylor and I stayed with her and went along to all of the places she had to go to buy food for the house. It was quite an experience. There was actually a lot more than I thought there would be. There was obviously a lot of food, but there was plenty of other stuff too- cell phones, random electronics, dishes, clothes, shoes, etc. I didn’t buy anything this time because I haven’t exchanged any of my money yet, but I saw peanut butter so that will definitely be purchased next time I go! It was so fun watching sister Maria Antoinette barter with the people there. She is small, but mighty.

Even though Saturdays are our official day off, I think that Sundays are going to be my favorite. Sunday mass at the parish was beautiful, long, but beautiful. Luckily, the first service is in English so I’m able to fully participate. On Sundays, we have all of our meals with the sisters. They have such joyous hearts so it’s great being able to spend so much time with them. Also, I don’t believe that I have talked about the food here yet, but it’s actually pretty good! There is more variety than I expected. We eat rice, beans, lots of vegetables (egg plant, tomatoes, green beans, and many that I don’t know the names of), meat, pasta, watermelon and a variety of homemade sauces. We have even had some pretty good desserts and yesterday we had boiled peanuts!

After breakfast on Sunday, we went over to the Salesian priests and brother’s compound that is next door. There are two polish guys volunteering with them from the same organization that Marta and Ania are in and they invited us all over for tea!  The 6 of us hung out and talked for a couple of hours. It was great to hear about the work that they are doing here with the street boys and at the vocational training school. We’re hoping that this can become a weekly tradition and I promised them that I would bring over my ukulele next time, which should be fun.

Every Sunday afternoon, we go to oratory with the children. For those of you who don’t know, oratory is something that St. Don Bosco (founder of the Salesians) had for his boys as the foundation of his ministry. It was a place where children could go to find a home, school, church and playground. There were around 170 kids at oratory. It was apparent that most of them came from extremely poor homes, but they were so joyful. We sang and danced to many songs and played games. I am assigned to help with ages 1-5, along with a couple of local volunteers from the school. After we broke out into our age groups, the other volunteers were running out of things to do with the kids so I attempted to teach them Duck, Duck, Goose. I don’t think any of them actually knew what was going on and I had to help every round, but they eventually at least knew that they needed to chase the other person when they heard the word goose. They had a lot of fun, which is really all that matters. At the end of oratory, we all come together and pray the rosary together (in Arabic!). I was very impressed by how quiet and controlled a group of 170 children could be. They were so respectful and prayerful during the rosary. It was a perfect evening, topped off with a beautiful rainbow on the way home.

And now, a super special surprise! It took a lot of patience, but pictures actually uploaded this time! Enjoy:

This is at the market in Cairo. These two guys sang us some great songs.

Giza pyramids: featuring a some camels. 

We couldn't go to the pyramids without getting some nice jumping pictures. 

I told you that our tour guide knew all the best places to take pictures. Here is one of me and my true love. 

This is our dog in the compound, Grigio. It turns out that I get the best wifi on the porch right by where he is tied up during the day. No one knows if I come over here to check my email or just to hang out with him. It's usually a combination of both. 

These are some of the children at oratory. 

This was on the way home from oratory. If you look closely on the bottom left, you can see the rainbow! 

The Journey and the Arrival

It feels so surreal that I am actually in South Sudan as I type this. After all of the time of preparation, and almost 5 days of travel, I am here. I made it safely and I am very grateful.

Traveling here was an adventure in and of itself. I had a flight out of Jacksonville on Saturday morning, so my parents and I drove there on Friday. When we got to the airport Saturday morning to check in, we found out that my flight to New York had been canceled. There was one a little later out of Savannah that would get me to New York around the same time, so they rebooked me for that one. Luckily, we made it to Savannah with plenty of time and I met Taylor in New York when I got there. The flight from New York to Egypt was extremely long (11 hours in the air, plus a 6 hour time change to Cairo). I was not able to sleep much, but the flight went smoothly.

Next, we had our lovely one-day Cairo adventure! Our tour guide, Laila, picked us up from the airport and took us to our hotel to check in and drop our stuff off. Then we were off to see the Giza pyramids. Laila was great and gave us a ton of information about Cairo on the way. She was telling us about the lack of tourism in Egypt since the revolutions, because many people still do not think that the country is safe to visit. This has been hard on the economy there because it relies so heavily on tourism. When we got to the pyramids, it was evident that tourism was slow because there was not that many people there. That worked out kind of nicely for us though, because it was easy to walk around, explore and take pictures.  Laila knew all of the best places to take pictures so we got a lot of good ones!

After viewing the pyramids we explored an old market place in Cairo. We walked around, went to a Mosque and got serenaded by some local boys. The last thing on the agenda was a dinner cruise down the Nile River. It was so fun! We ate a lot of good food and then they had some entertainment afterwards.

After a brief nights sleep in the hotel, we had our flight from Cairo to Juba. The airport in Juba was very very different than an airport in the US. It was not too hard to navigate though and we got through customs and got our luggage with the help of some friendly locals. After waiting for a couple of hours at the airport (and starting to worry that no one was coming to get us), Sister Bebiana got there to pick us up. We had dinner and stayed the night with the community of Salesian sisters in Juba. Our flight to Wau was the next day and we found out that we could only bring one of our suitcases with us on that plane. After some rearranging, I was able to get everything I would need for now in one suitcase and one of the sisters will bring my other bag the next time she is traveling from Juba to Wau.

When we got to the Juba airport Tuesday morning, we found out that, even though we had tickets, our names were not on the list. Luckily, a sister was flying with us so she helped sort everything out. After a lot of waiting, we ended up getting to go in business class! In business class, they offered us a fine meal of chicken, fish and pasta. Unfortunately it was also 9:30 in the morning so my stomach was not quite ready for all of that! It was a nice flight, though. The airport in Wau was smaller and a lot less hectic than the one in Juba. Sister Marie Antoinette, one of the sisters from my community in Wau, met us at the airport and helped get Taylor and I all squared away with registering in the country. Everything went smoothly and we were on our way to see our new home!

We got the warmest welcome when we arrived at the compound. Our room is absolutely adorable and the sisters made us welcome signs in our rooms as well as their dining room and the Poland volunteers made us welcome signs in our dining room. All of the sisters are amazing and I love them already. It was the perfect day to get here because it was the feast day of the nativity of Mary. We had a birthday celebration for Mary, complete with a cake. We went to mass at the parish (in Arabic!) and then did a procession around town with the Mary statue and prayed the rosary. After the procession, the children performed songs about Mary and it was so precious. There is so much joy in the community.

The sisters gave Taylor and I this week off to rest and get settled and I will start work at the dispensary (the clinic) on Monday. It was nice to have time to set up our room and get more familiar with how things are run. The Poland volunteers, Ania and Marta, have been such a huge help to us. They have answered so many of our questions and showed us a lot about the compound. It’s really great to have the volunteer community of the 4 of us to spend time together and support each other.

Life here is so beautiful-starting every day with mass, participating in such a faithful community, living simply. God is doing big things here and I can’t wait to see what he is able to do in my own heart!

PS They have a dog named Grigio and he is so cute. We are becoming best friends already!

I wanted to post some pictures, but the internet connection just isn't strong enough. Hopefully I can share some later!

Let the Journey Begin!

I can’t believe the day has already arrived for me to depart for my mission. As I sit here at the airport waiting for my first flight, I have such a mix of emotions. Goodbyes are hard and I can’t even explain how much I am going to miss my family and friends back home, but my heart is so full from all of the love that I have received, especially this last week. I have the most incredible, loving and encouraging people in my life and there is no way I could be doing this without their prayers and support. I am so excited to begin this journey.

For those of you who aren’t aware of my travel plans, I am flying into New York today and should arrive there around 2. After that, Taylor and I will fly to Cairo, Egypt where we have a 22 -hour layover. We have booked a tour there to see the pyramids and go on a Nile River dinner cruise which we are extremely excited about! Monday morning we fly into Juba, South Sudan. We will stay the night with the Salesians there and then head to Wau on Tuesday. It’s a long journey, but it’s all part of the adventure. Please continue to keep Taylor and me in your prayers!

No Place I'd Rather Be

I returned about a week ago from my three-week orientation in New York. It was exactly what I needed. It was a time of education, service and prayer. I learned more of what my year would look like. I served as a Salesian alongside Salesians. I let the Lord guide my heart to create a purpose for my mission. God has been very present this past month.

There were a lot of mixed emotions going into orientation. The weekend before I left, I had my going away party and felt so much love from my friends and family. I seriously have the most amazing people in my life.  It was tough to say goodbye as I made my journey to New Rochelle, New York, but I was excited to meet my new Salesian family. I was thankful to have people in Tallahassee that made saying goodbye so hard as I was preparing to say hello to people I would grow to love. I was leaving a community that helped me grow into the person that I am today and was entering into the community that will shape the next year of my life. My heart didn’t quite know what to feel as I entered into my three weeks of preparation. I was full of a lot of unknowns and uncertainties, but I was definitely excited to see what was in store.

I had no idea just how much God had in store for me. The community that awaited me was more than I ever could have hoped for. I finally had my first meeting with my site partner, Taylor, as she picked me up from the airport and it was perfect. I know that she will be a huge blessing to me on mission. Getting to know all of the other SLMs was incredible. It was amazing to hear everyone’s stories throughout the weeks and learn of the unique ways that God led us all to the same place. We got to know each other very well and the encouragement and love I felt from each of them is something that I will truly cherish.

 The first week of orientation consisted of a LOT of information, as well as cross-cultural training. I learned a lot. The cross-cultural training especially gave me a lot to think and pray about. There is really no way to fully know what to expect when entering into a different culture, but I’m thankful for the time that we spent learning how to best prepare ourselves for some of the changes. I know it is going to bring about many challenges, but it’s also exciting knowing that I get to be a part of something so unique and different for a year of my life. I know it’s going to teach me a lot about who I am and who I want to be.

Our second week, was spent doing service in Port Chester, New York. The first two days I worked at a soup kitchen and community center and the last three days I worked at a summer camp. We also centered our days around praying with the Salesian community of Port Chester. We would start our days with morning prayer and mass. After our service, we would go to evening prayer and then have dinner with the SDBs (Salesians of Don Bosco) at their residence. The prayer is what drove our service. We were able to better love the people that we were serving because we were receiving the love of Christ. It was a beautiful week.

The final week of orientation was spent in Stony Point, New York at the Salesian retreat center and Marian Shrine. It was the perfect place to be and the perfect way for us to end out time together.  About 35-40 Salesian brothers and priests were also on retreat that week and it was an absolute pleasure to get to know them. They welcomed all of the Salesian Lay Missioners into their family from the first second that we got there and I felt so at home with them. It was in spending time at the retreat center with the SDBs that I truly realized that this was exactly where I belonged.

I feel so grateful to be called on this mission. It’s so humbling to realize that out of all of the people, God chose 13 to serve in this way and I am one of them. It’s so special. Sometimes it’s hard for me to see the potential that Christ sees when He looks at me, but He has always shown me that I am capable of much more than I can see.

The Lord brought so much peace into my heart about my mission. There are still so many unknowns about what my time in South Sudan will actually look like, but the uncertainties are gone. I know this is where I need to be and there is no place that I’d rather be.