A letter from Debbie Blane, mission worker in Sudan
October, 2011
Dear Friends
Greetings from Malakal!
This has been a busy month for me and for the Nile Theological College (NTC).
I became ill the day after our College Days at the end of August and am just now regaining my strength. God has been faithful to me in this time of need. I was able to attend an African Women’s Conference, Tumekutana 2011, in Kigali, Rwanda. There were African women from about 18 African countries as well as a number of American women attending to represent partner churches in the United States, particularly the PC(USA).
The conference was wonderful. We had good speakers and I learned a great deal about the issues that today’s African women are facing. I had begun to feel better before I left for the conference but when I got to Rwanda the change in weather threw me backwards and I developed a bad cough. I regained the weight I had lost while sick in Malakal and was able to eat the good food that was prepared for us each day at the conference as well as enjoy a veggie burger and naan pizza on restaurant outings. Rwanda is a beautiful country, lush and green. It is still healing from the genocide of 1984 and continues to need prayers for that healing.
I returned last Sunday to Malakal. There had been no rain for a week and the roads were drying out well. When I arrived in my home I only beat a torrential downpour by about five minutes. The roads are still recovering. I was not able to make the walk to the college on Monday because the mud was very bad. Tuesday I did go and I want to share with you the help that the Lord sent to me as I made my way to teach Theology I.
I walked part of the way; Jesus kept showing me the path. And when it became slippery and I was scared, lo and behold! a truck came by and asked where I was headed and drove me quite a way. Then the older man in the truck walked me down the road to the road he felt was safest going toward the college. Then a young girl came and held my hand a way in the journey. And then, lo and behold! three students came and took me the long way around to avoid the mud!
It is the things like this that happen that help me know God is constantly at hand with me.
The college will be at mid-term next week. I have been blessed with the gift of a solar generator for my use at home during the days because I have no electric light in the daylight hours. I still need to find someone to help me set it up. I have begun to pray that we can as a church community find funding for a solar generator for the college also. The college has no power; thus there are no lights, no computers, no printers. The students have only natural light when they use the library. The principal has talked to the governor of the Upper Nile State (in which NTC is located) about the generator issue. Thus far nothing has been done about the situation.
I ask for prayers for my housing situation. My lease on the cement two-bedroom home here on a compound is up in February and we don’t know if it will be renewed. Finding housing in Malakal is very difficult. The area where I live is the only area in which there is electricity at all in the town, so if I leave this area I will also leave the electricity behind. Because transportation is a difficult issue it is possible that I will see if there is a place I could live on the NTC campus. I would appreciate prayers of discernment for this possibility and an openness to what God’s plans for me are already.
Thank you for your continued support, both in prayer and financially. Please find the link to support God’s ministry through me at NTC below if you feel moved to do so.
Blessings,
Debbie
Rev. Debbie Blane
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 54
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 94
Visit Debbie’s blog: Debbie's Journey Continues
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