www.pianoplayingdave.com

Friends and Family,

These past two days in Labone have been very emotional. This is the first place where I have truly felt the impact of the war in Sudan and the poverty on the people. We just spent some time this morning in a small village of people who had returned to Sudan after living in a Uganda refugee camp.

Though everyone we talked to back in Uganda longed to return to Sudan, I found that these people who have returned weren’t any more happy than the people in Uganda…if anything, they seemed less happy.

One man I talked to was attacked by the LRA last March. The LRA ripped his five-week old son out of his arms and threw them against a tree. The child died.

Everyone speaks of not having even the basic necessities they need to live.

Cooking utinsels, blankets, food, medicine. These things are in such short supply, and the people are so sick. So many of the children have bulging stomachs due to malnutrition, and many have constantly runny noses. They don’t even bother to wipe the snot away, because the flow is so constant. I taped one little girl who had a swarm of flies surrounding her. The snot was attracting the flies, and they were walking all over her face. Every minute or so, she would swipe the flies away from her eyes. But most of the time, she just let them stay there. It took more effort than she had to keep them off.

I have been doing a lot of thinking these past few days about a lot of things. The need is so huge to get people back to their homes in Sudan, and I will definitely cover that in the video. But that is not the whole picture of what I want to say.

The Sudanese refugees have a longing in their heart to get back home to Sudan. But the Sudanese Christians know that even Sudan is not their true home. For even more than that, they have a longing for Heaven. As one pastor told me today, Heaven is a place of peace – where there will be no more pain, no more fear, no more tears…all things that he understands so well. I long to see the Sudanese find their true home. They know suffering here on earth more than most of us in America will ever understand. How much sweeter will that eternal peace be for them?

Of course, that all plays a role in what EFCA is hoping to accomplish in Sudan. It is a wholistic approach to relief work. They are meeting people’s phyical needs and helping them to get to their earthly home in Sudan, but also through sharing the love of Christ, and telling them of how He died on the cross for them, they are meeting their spiritual needs and helping them get to their Heavenly home.

Tomorrow I leave Labone. We will fly into Chukudum and then take a 4-5 hour hike up the mountain to reach the mountain village of Nagishot. Please pray for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual endurance as we finish up this journey. Both I and the people I am traveling with are feeling very drained in every respect.

-Dave

Friends and Family,

I greet you now from Labone, Sudan. We flew on a small four-seat plane from Nimule this morning, and arrived in this beautiful mountain village. I understand that my parents sent out an e-mail on my behalf from Nimule, and gave my impressions of the place – very similar to Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings. Aside from the appearance of the place, it was also similar to Minas Tirith in that it was a military stronghold in the prior fight against the north. Well, Labone feels very, very different, and I would describe it more like Rivendell (the elph city). The village is nestled in a mountain valley and feels very, very peaceful. From the very moment I landed, I felt comfortable. The temperature is cooler, and not everyone is carrying a gun.

Nimule reminded me so much of an old western village on the frontier. Hot dusty roads. Vast planes. Civil unrest. We took a car ride up to a village on Monday that has had very few refugees return to it so far. I taped a market in the process of being built. Many people are not yet ready to move back, because things like markets, water holes, clinics, and schools are not yet in place. Plus the LRA is still active and makes periodic attacks.

I unfortunately am not able to read the e-mails you send me at this time, but please do send responses. I am currently beaming an e-mail to my roommate via satellite, and he is then forwarding on the e-mail to my e-mail list for me. So yes, I cannot read your responses right now, however I will be able to read them in just a week, so please do send them. I appreciate hearing from all of you so much.

Well, I will try to send out one more e-mail from Labone before I leave for Nagishot on Friday.

-Dave

Saturday, July 23 – Apparently there is a 20’x20’ area on one corner in the border town of Nimule, Sudan where there is cellular service. Walk out of the area and you lose service. David was able to make cell contact with his parents Saturday morning (CST) to relay information which is contained in this email. Any errors in the following update (written by his parents) will be corrected when he returns.

UPDATE 6

Yesterday we traveled by boat down the Nile into Sudan. It was incredible – like being in an “Indiana Jones” movie and the movie didn’t end when we arrived. We entered Nimule, Sudan and found it to be much like the movie set of an “old west” town. Replace the horses with motorcycles, teepees with stick & mud huts (tokal’s) and you have the picture. The tokal’s are scattered on a hillside overlooking a vast plain bisected by the Nile River with the mountains of Uganda in the distance – for you “Lord of the Rings” fans, picture the view from the city of Minus Tirith overlooking the plains with the mountains of Mordor in the background and you see roughly what I am seeing.

Nimule is a 15,000 person transit town. In the coming months thousands of Sudanese refugees will come to Nimule where they will gather before traveling back to their villages they fled years ago. In this town and five others the EFCA will be assisting Sudanese in the transition back home. Many of the Sudanese pastors I have interviewed do not grasp yet the assistance they will be receiving – their only concern at this point seems to be their own resettlement. Perhaps that is part of how it will work – resettle the pastors first and then they will be able to assist others in this arduous process.

On the Nile River trip I met and filmed a pastor going through just this process. It was an answer to prayer. It looks like I will travel with him on Monday 25 miles beyond Nimule to his village, thus enabling me to capture an actual repatriation journey. I will even have the opportunity to see him preaching. The story I have been seeking is developing!

I am one of the only “mozenga” (white person) in the town. When kids see me and my camera they drop everything and come running. Having had the same reaction in China and SE Asia it seems that kids are the same everywhere.

Answers to Prayer:
The pastor and another individual I met in crossing into Sudan. Their stories will become “the story”.
The amazing 20’x20’ cell phone zone on this one corner in Nimule allows me to communicate back home so you can pray more knowledgably.
Accommodations are decent with power at night. I am able to charge my camera batteries. But like the “old west” scenario, we still use outhouses.

Prayer Items:
Now that I have found my story, pray that I would be able to capture it visually so that it touches the viewer’s heart, not just mine.
Pray for our safety during the road trip outside of Nimule on Monday. Risk is involved but we believe we have taken the appropriate precautions.
Continue to pray for our health, our spirits, our communication, and our stamina.

Until next time,
-Dave

Friends and Family,

This will probably be my last update until my trip is over. When I traveled up to this resettlement camp in northern Uganda, I thought that the internet would not be available, but I was wrong. However, tomorrow we actually leave for Sudan. We board a ferry on the Nile (how cool is that?), sail for an hour and we will be there. I am told that all places we go from now on will not have internet access. And in fact, most of them will not have electricity either. We are about to traverse our way through a part of the world that I think is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before…a part of the world that is just coming out of 40 years of civil war, and thus, it is a part of the world where there is no infrastructure at all. We have spent time visiting clinics, schools, etc. here. And I have been able to charge my video camera batteries at night, but up in Sudan, there will be none of this. Everything has been destroyed in the war.

I do appreciate your prayers more than you can imagine. As I have mentioned before, I am a big time perfectionist, and because of this, when I am in the middle of a project, and I don’t feel like I am getting the footage that I need, it stresses me out a ton. I am at that point right now. The main thing that is stressing me out is that I am just having a very, very difficult time interviewing the Sudanese people. They have a different way of phrasing things and communicating than westerners do – that’s not to say that westerners are better communicators or anything, it’s just that it’s different. When I ask a question during an interview, I don’t usually get a direct answer from the Sudanese, but more of a roundabout answer, or an offshoot comment that is only kind of related to what I asked, and so I often leave interviews feeling like I was unable to tape anything that I will be able to use. This frustrates me. And it doesn’t help that right now I kind of feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. The need here is so great, and I feel like so much pressure rides on my shoulders to portray this need with clarity and excellence. Because if I don’t portray the need, than how will people in the US know it?

Of course, I know the advice that many of you would offer me is, “Trust God. He will guide and direct this video, and He will use it how He wants. He brought you there, so trust Him as you make it.” And of course I know this is true…but I guess it’s more head knowledge at this point than gut knowledge. You know what I mean? I know it in my head, but I don’t feel it in my gut. So pray for that deep-abiding trust on my part that He will use this video, and direct me as I film it.

Well, today was a heart-wrenching day. Though I have seen pictures of starving people before, I had never seen one in person. We visited a clinic, and I walked into a room, where a little boy was laying on a bed under covers. At first, I just thought that this boy was merely sick, but suddenly after about 10 seconds, I realized that his arms and legs were both less than an inch thick. He was literally just a skeleton with a layer of skin. He could have just as easily been living as dead as far as I could tell. I could not believe my eyes. I don’t even know what to say in response to this.

The more that I travel the world, the more I realize that American abundance is without question the exception and not the rule in the world. I live in a two-bedroom apartment, and it is 10-12 times bigger than any single house for an entire family I have seen in the past week. What do we as Americans do in response to this? Do we give up every possession we have, stop buying things for ourselves, and give every dollar we own away to the dying boy in the African hospital? Do we simply ignore the problem? Would giving everything we own away actually do anything to solve the problem? Or would it just cause more problems, because suddenly industries would collapse if no one was spending money?

These are all issues that I find myself wrestling with as I view all of this poverty in the light of what I own. A statistic that I often hear is that American’s give on average 1-2% of their income away. This is not enough.

I will give you my schedule for the next week and a half.

Friday, July 22 – Tuesday, July 26 – Nimule, Sudan
Tuesday, July 26 – Friday, July 29 – Labone, Sudan
Friday, July 29 – Sunday/Monday – Nagishot, Sudan
Monday, August 2 – Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya (hopefully)

Please be in prayer as we head to all these places in Sudan. Pray that I would find the story to tell. That as I compare what we have seen in this resettlement camp in Uganda, that the contrast to what is in Sudan will stand out to me, and speak powerfully on the video. Pray that I would let go of my perfectionism, and just let the images impact me, and in part impact others.

-Dave

Friends and Family,

Greetings from Adjumani, Uganda.

Who would’ve thought. I’m sitting in a Sudanese resettlement camp (like a refugee camp, only slightly more permanent), and I have better cell phone reception than I do in my apartment in Minneapolis. I was not expecting to have phone or internet access here at all, but the world is definitely changing.

Things are going well. These people want so desperately to get back home. It is amazing. Whenever I interview them…as soon as I ask about why they want to go home, they don’t say, “Because the situation is rough in the refugee camp,” but they just emphatically say, “I want to go home, because it’s home. This is not home.” The land calls to them, and being stuck in another country against their will is so hard on them. The best way I could describe it is that they are like fish out of water. Everything in their being yearns and needs to return.

The situation is rough in the refugee camps, and one thing that has blown me away is that even though people have lived in refugee camps for 20+ years, they have not even been able to live in the same ones. Militant groups like the LRA often raid the camps, and force the people to pick up and move yet again. First they get kicked out of their country, then they get kicked out of their camp, then they get kicked out of the next camp, etc. And each time they get kicked out, they have to start over again from scratch. Build a hut again….everything. They leave with nothing, and start over again and again and again. I cannot imagine what it would be like to go through this.

I just want to be an advocate for these people, you know? I’ve heard it described that the situation in Sudan is the silent tsunami. The situation is worse (millions and millions killed and diplaced, versus hundreds of thousands killed and displaced with the tsunami), and yet while the world jumped to the aid of the tsunami victims, the Sudanese have been – by comparison – largely ignored. I really hope that EFCA can reach that $3 million goal. EFCA doesn’t have the resources to completely rebuild the south of Sudan, but we can make a difference in six villages if churches get on board to help, and I hope and pray that they do.

Working on this video so far has been very, very, very different from the tsunami project. In the case of the tsunami project, the big challenge was to tie three completely different stories from three countries together into one overall story. The challenge here is that the Sudanese situation is one complete story, but I won’t discover the entire story until I have visited many different villages in the weeks to come, for the story is so multifaceted. Basically, the goal of EFCA’s work in Sudan is to build up the Free Church of Sudan, and help them to help others along the journey. This is complicated to communicate. Please pray for this. All for now. I must go.

-Dave

Friends and Family,

I head up into Sudan tomorrow. Unfortunately I have to make this really brief.

1. Please pray for logistics issues for us. There are three of us traveling, and it is really important that all three of us stick together from village to village on this trip, but an issue just came up today where one of the flights where we thought we had 3 people booked…well, we only have two people booked now, and someone may need to be left behind for a few days. Please pray that this will work out.

2. Also please pray for an opportunity to travel a little ways with a family (tape them traveling home from a refugee camp to Sudan). This would add immensely to the video, but it’s not looking like it will happen. Please pray that an opportunity will arise, or that we will be able to find some other compelling things to film that will help convey the plight of these people. (for those who have seen the tsunami film, I am praying for opportunities like the boat building/boat ride to arise. This kind of compelling visual imagery is crucial for the success of a video like this.)

3. Again, please pray for safety. Do a quick google search on LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) to see a little bit of some of the dangers faced in this part of Uganda/Southern Sudan. Rest assured that we will be taking every safety precaution that we can, but please pray for divine protection. (If you are extremley worried for me about this, please don’t waste energy on worrying, but channel it into prayer.)

4. Please pray that I can find the story to tell in Sudan. That’s always the challenge in every video I make, and sometimes it’s harder to find that story than other times. The story in Sudan is much more complex than any I’ve dealt with before, and will require much more intentionality while filming than the tsunami film did, so please pray for wisdom and insight to see that story and tell it with excellence.

Thanks, I hope to write again, but likely won’t have e-mail access for another 2 1/2 weeks.

-Dave

Friends and Family,

Greetings from Amsterdam. I am currently at the end of a 12 hour layover, and will be heading out to Nairobi, Kenya in a couple hours.

My last e-mail was rather rushed, as I had to quickly send it off,and then finish packing, but I want to take a little more time now to just lay out the situation for all of you.

Civil War in Sudan:
As many of you know, and probably many do not know too, for the past couple decades, there was an ongoing civil war between northern Sudan and Southern Sudan. The cultures of these two parts of the country were and are very different from each other. Northern Sudan is much nearer to the Arab world, and its people are predominantly Islamic. The people of Southern Sudan are mainly of either annimistic or Christian faiths, and this caused major conflict a couple decades ago when the North wanted to instate Islamic law as the law of the land. I’m not clear on all the details (though I’m sure I will be by the end of this trip), but when this happened, it instigated rebellion from the South, genocides by the north, civil war, etc., etc. This went on for years and years, and many people in the South had to leave Sudan as refugees as a result.

Some of them – like the Lost Boys of Sudan – came to the United States. But I believe the vast, vast majority are simply living in refugee camps just outside the Sudan border. I really can’t imagine what this must be like. On my tsunami trip, I met people who had been in refugee camps for a few months, but many of the people I will meet on this trip will have lived in refugee camps for 20+ years. Some their entire life.

These refugee/resettlement camps are not designed to feel permanent. People in them are not able to own land, grow their own food, etc. For if they were, then the camps would start to feel like home. But the goal of the camps is for them to be temporary, and so many of the things we take for granted every day – the simple ability to own land, and provide for yourself, rather than just getting food hand-outs – are not given to these people.

Of course, the civil war went on for two decades though, and so these “temporary” camps became much more long-lasting than anyone would have wanted, and people have been living in them for decades.

Peace in the South:
Many of you have heard of the genocides in the Darfur region of Sudan right now. However, don’t assume by this that civil war is still happening in the South. For Darfur is in northwest Sudan. Last December, the civil war between North and South ended, and recently a political leader from the south was actually appointed second in command of the country.

Because the war between north and south has ended at long last, many of the people living in refugee camps in the countries surrounding Sudan will finally be able to move home. However, it is right now rainy season in this part of the world, and so people will not be able to move en mass until November/December of this year.

EFCA Compassion Ministries will be partnering with the Evangelical Free Church of Sudan to help repopulate 6 differnt Sudanese villages later this year: Nimule, Labone, Nagishot, and three others that escape my memory right now.

Just to give you an idea of why the help is neccessary, picture this.

1. You do not have good health.
2. You own nothing.
3. You go on a 500 mile hike from a refugee camp back to your home in Sudan.
4. You return to nothing.
5. You don’t have many skills neccessary for self-sufficient living, as for your entire life you have received food hand-outs, rather than providing food for yourself.
6. And in case this didn’t sink in. You start out with poor health, then go on a 500 mile hike. And that doesn’t help with the health.

I think you get the picture. This is not just an issue of packing up the moving van and heading across the state. The resettlement is going to be absolutely brutal on these people. They are going to need medical help, temporary food, training on how to provide food for themselves, etc., etc.

My Film:
EFCA Compassion Ministries is aiming to raise $3 million to assist in the resettlement of these six villages – $500,000 per village. And I will be making a film that we can send out to churches and individuals encouraging and challenging them to participate. Since the resettlement hasn’t really begun yet, my aim for the film is to highlight two main points: 1. The harshness of the journey back to Sudan. 2. The fact that these people are returning to nothing. Other themes of the video will fall into place too, but my main aim is to highlight these two key facts, because this will show the overwhelming need for financial support by people in the states.

Other points that I hope to hit on in the video are the fact that we are partnering with the Free Church of Sudan, helping empower Christians in the area, and helping to replant churches in Sudan. (Obviously a church that existed in a refugee camp will no longer exist when everyone in the refugee camp splits off their separate ways across Sudan. Thus the need for the churches to replant.)

My journey:
In order to hit on all these aspects in the video, I will be making a journey through Sudan with two other people. We will start out in a Uganda refugee camp on Tuesday, then take small charter flights to three different Sudan villages that Compassion Ministries will be helping repopulate, and then will end in a refugee camp in Kenya. I hope to also have the chance to hike with a family for a day or two, to capture the harshness of the journey, but it’s hard to know whether this will happen or not.

So anyways, that’s a frame work for you guys to all understand this project from here on out. Again, I hope to send out a few more updates throughout my journey, but am not sure how much internet access I will have.

Until then…

-Dave

Friends and Family,

It’s been a long time since I wrote you all an e-mail – since March, when I gave you my last tsunami update from the Singapore airport. I know that many of you saw the final Tsunami DVD “Rebuilding Lives,” and for those who haven’t, hopefully I’ll get the chance to show it to you some time soon. I am very pleased and excited with how it turned out. It’s my favorite film I’ve created yet.

I know that’s a pretty brief summary of my tsunami trip, but I need to quickly get to the meat of this e-mail. Later today, I head to Sudan on another filming trip. I will be there until August 4 filming EFCA’s work repatriating refugees from camps in Kenya and Uganda, back to their homes in Southern Sudan.

Please pray for health – I feel a cold coming on. Please pray for safety – the civil war in Southern Sudan is over, but there are still significant dangers there. Please pray for excellence of technique, and passion as I film. I am not yet as personally invested in this film as I was going into the tsunami trip, and so pray that Sudan would capture my heart just as powerfully once I get there. And as always, pray that I would let go of perfectionism, and just let the images flow through my camera, and out to people to impact them. Pray that I would be sensitive to what impacts me, and that I would have the wisdom and expertise to communicate that to others.

My e-mail access will probably be quite a bit more limited than it was back in March, but hopefully I will get the chance to send off a few e-mails along the way. At the very least, I will send you an e-mail during my 12-hour layover in Amsterdam. But right now I need to return to packing, as I need to head to the airport in about an hour.

-Dave