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Profiles of our lay missionaries

Don Lucey

April 2007

Hello from a hot and sticky Sudan.

My name is Don and I am the Construction Engineer for Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Kajo Keji, Southern Sudan. My main job is to implement the construction of six schools and a DRC compound. DRC compiled “Community Development Plans” in 2006. This process asked the community to show how they want to develop their community by prioritizing certain projects. The projects being implemented are water boreholes, primary schools and agriculture schools. DRC work in the parishes where refugees are being repatriated by UNHCR.

For me it is very satisfying to see the school materialise in front of my eyes in such a short space of time. At the moment the community teachers teach under mango trees or in large mud huts. The teachers have received two payments of 100 dollars in the last 12 months. The mud huts are made of mud walls and grass thatch roofs. During the rainy season these structures can crumble like wet putty.

The rain was expected to start in March, but still there has been no real rain here in Kajo Keji and already we are into the Easter season in April. If the hot weather continues, the 1st crop season may not be successful and food may become scarce. The land here is very fertile and people can usually harvest two crops in the same year, but without water the crops will not grow and the seeds will be wasted.

At the moment there is plenty of food, especially juicy mangoes and even some fresh pineapples.

We installed electricity into the compound, so at night we can again watch TV and have a light bulb for reading. We also installed a satellite which allows us to connect to the internet. It has improved communication not only for DRC but also for all the other NGO’s who come to use it too. I usually communicate with friends and family through Skype on my laptop. We still depend on the water borehole. Running water is a luxury that can be afforded by the very rich or the very big NGO’s.

 

Funerals can last for a week here. People come from far and wide to sit, eat, talk, dance and mourn the dead. There is not much else to do in this part of the world

and there is always plenty of time for sitting around.

While I have been in East Africa, I have visited the beautiful Nile in Uganda and Sudan, the amazing Masai Mara, the long rift valley in Kenya and Zanzibar which is off the coast of Tanzania. It has beautiful beaches, fruits and smelly spices!

Since I came to Sudan in 2005, I have been involved in building 20 schools, three dormitories, one laboratory and many school latrines. It is very satisfying but maybe a little too hot!