A letter from Sue Ellen Hall in Sudan
June 2003
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Salaam alaikum from Khartoum! The summer exodus has taken many of the foreign community away for a break from the heat, but some of us remain. Being here in Sudan, where the air is often filled with dust from one of the haboobs (dust storms), where the Sahara desert is creeping southward, where street sweepers are kept constantly busy and where piles of dirt, sand, mud, and gravel appear in new spots almost daily, made me recall a remark made many years ago by one of my co-counselors (a soil conservationist) at a camp in Arkansas. “Dirt is simply displaced soil.” I began to think about soil and displacement and turned to the dictionary, primary resource for an English teacher!
soil (noun): 1. the portion of the earth’s surface consisting of disintegrated rock and humus. 2. the ground or earth: tilling the soil. 3. a particular kind of earth: sandy soil. 4. a country, land, or region. 5. any environment nurturing growth or development.
Brickworks by the Nile.
The last meaning (5) caught my eye. The dust and the desert aren’t particularly “nurturing” to growth or development, but the piles of “displaced” soil seem to have a purpose. The mud comes from the sewers that are being cleaned out in anticipation of the short rainy season, in hopes that flooding will be minimized.
The dirt, sand, and gravel are often used in the construction of new buildings and the paving of roads, signs of development, at least here in Khartoum. Walking along the Nile I’ve watched bricks being made from the river silt, the same silt that turns tap water brown in the summer. So is this displacement of soil a bane or a blessing? A nuisance or a nurturing? What of our personal displacement?
Aida Nasser, first Sudanese woman lecturer at NTC.
In human terms, perhaps displacement is really being not where we think we ought to be but where God wants us to be. Whenever frustrations or doubts arise about why I’m here and what I’m doing, the words from Ephesians seem to surface: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine…” (3:20). Grow where you are planted, even if it isn’t in the soil you might have chosen. God is with us and is working through us wherever we are. Our presence is a blessing. After all, we aren’t misplaced (lost), but moved, perhaps in order to see things from a new perspective or to allow new growth to happen. For example, in Sudan one of the reasons the church has grown in the north is because of the displacement caused by the ongoing war and tribal conflicts. Looking at the faces of the children gathered for vacation church school at the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church one sees a beautiful rainbow representing both African and Arabic Sudanese, and hope for a future free of tribalism.
Give praises
- for the many blessings of last year when I was on home assignment in the United States. While I spent the first and last months with family in Texarkana, Arkansas, from July to November I was constantly being displaced. Driving over 14,000 miles, “from sea to shining sea” (literally!), I slept in 58 different beds, ate countless (delicious) meals, visited and shared at many churches and conferences. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of family, friends, and strangers who became friends. One of the great beauties of our connectional church is meeting sisters and brothers everywhere I go, truly the body of Christ and Christ’s love made visible. I also rejoiced at the diversity and gifts within our congregations and the variety of worship experiences. Some were new churches, some old, some big, some small, some ecumenical. Thanks to all I met and to all who continue to pray for me.
- for the visit to Sudan in January of the Reverend Fahed Abu-Akel, then moderator of the PC(USA) and a person displaced from his original home in Palestine. With what joy he was received by the Presbyterians here as he shared with them in worship and fellowship!
- for the Nile Theological College Easter retreat, held not where planned, but right next to the market where the sound of hymns could be heard over the shouts of hawkers. On Good Friday a prayer walk took us to the Coptic Orthodox Church and then to the banks of the Nile where we prayed in the midst of families picnicking by the river as the sun set and the dust from departing cars settled on us.
- for the introduction of Arabic Sunday School materials provided by classmates of mine from language school in Jordan who now run a Christian bookstore in Jerusalem.
- for the chance to teach a short conversational English course to a small group of women (Christian, Muslim, Sudanese, Yemeni, Ethiopian) at a newly opened teahouse for women only.
Please pray
- for the ongoing peace process in Sudan.
- for the churches of Sudan and for the training of teachers, pastors and all church workers.
- for NTC and the new term beginning in July. I will also be co-teaching a class in teaching methods with Aida Nasser, the first Sudanese woman to teach full-time at NTC. With the addition of the Arabic track and the departure of faculty for graduate work or new positions, the teaching loads for our Sudanese colleagues have increased.
Your sister in Christ
Sue Ellen
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 37
