Trip to Imatong Village

The road out to the village was a typical remote country road, with endless potholes, and mild flooding from place to place.  Jordan told us it was one of the nicer roads in South Sudan. Considering there is only 60 miles of paved roads in all of South Sudan, I guess we should not be surprised. The trip took about 2 hours.

When we arrived out in the village, we immediately met Benjamin, a young evangelist trying to reach people for Jesus in his home village.  We visited his compound and then went over to the schools. Benjamin is the headmaster of the school.  He oversees several teachers who teach there in the K thru 8 grades. To attend high school, the children must go into Torit. 

Sitting with Benjamin inside his tukel, or house.

The kids were all sitting in their classrooms when we arrived. We went and greeted each of the classrooms, and then sat under the mango trees with all the young children eating mangoes.  We also walked through the village area and greeted some families.

We

Grinding the Cassava root by hand is hard work!

We saw many young children who were malnourished, indicated by the enlarged abdomen, and some had the characteristic orange hair. When asking about food supply, one of the people told us that they stored up some food, but perhaps some people had “oversold” their ample supply and therefore were likely to experience food shortage.  The rains were due while we were there, and since the community is just now beginning to plant, they would not be able to harvest until June/July. Considering the current famine situation in much of South Sudan, this is concerning.

On the way back from the village, we had the chance to be the good Samaritan! This vehicle did not have the best tires on it, and we pulled it out twice on the way. And the rains were just beginning-- by this time the roads are likely to be very slippery.

I did not have the opportunity to see how the cattle in the village looked, as the people had taken them up into the mountains for better grazing. We did see some goats in the area that actually looked to be in good condition, and with the rains on the way, there should be enough fresh browsing to help them stay in good condition. We enjoyed our visit to Imatong, and hope we were an encouragement to Benjamin as he disciples the believers in the village.