Field Report
September 27 2007
Yabus, Sudan
I recently delivered a plane load of supplies to 2 missionary families in Yabus Sudan near the Ethiopian border. Located on the Yabus River east of the Sobat River (you might find the Sobat on a map of Sudan) it drains into the Blue Nile in eastern Sudan. After heavy rains the Yabus River was very high, and the roads were so bad that the missionaries could not drive their truck at all. All the cargo had to be moved by hand from the airplane over 2 kilometers to the mission compound. It took us 1 ½ hours to walk there. We had to crosss the first river by jumping from rock to rock, and the second, by a little "Huck Finn" raft on a cable built by the missionaries. It was quite an adventure.
The missionaries in Yabus are comprised of three, young families, all serving there with SIM. They are teaching adult primary education and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the process. Yabus is a tough place to live - Very remote even by Sudan standards. There's no way in or out during the rainy season except by air. I delivered a load of textbooks a few months ago and have flown these missionaries out before, but had never spent the night or seen their work.
The planeload of cargo looked like a combination of stuff from Home Depot, WALMART, the supermarket, and everything in between. It included a propane powered freezer. There is no convenience store in Yabus - in fact, I don’t think there are any stores at all. The people live by subsistence farming. They have been robbed of educational opportunities for the past 20 years because of the civil war. So, the adult education program is an attempt to “catch them up” and give a better quality of life to a generation bypassed by civilization as they simply “survived” until the war was over. Literacy is a key to people being able to read and understand God’s word and the young missionaries in Yabus are giving the best years of their lives to help that happen.
It sure is a blessing to be able to serve these folks and to see first hand their commitment to serving God and their fellow man.
Linnie Weeks
AIM AIR Pilot
I recently delivered a plane load of supplies to 2 missionary families in Yabus Sudan near the Ethiopian border. Located on the Yabus River east of the Sobat River (you might find the Sobat on a map of Sudan) it drains into the Blue Nile in eastern Sudan. After heavy rains the Yabus River was very high, and the roads were so bad that the missionaries could not drive their truck at all. All the cargo had to be moved by hand from the airplane over 2 kilometers to the mission compound. It took us 1 ½ hours to walk there. We had to crosss the first river by jumping from rock to rock, and the second, by a little "Huck Finn" raft on a cable built by the missionaries. It was quite an adventure.
The missionaries in Yabus are comprised of three, young families, all serving there with SIM. They are teaching adult primary education and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the process. Yabus is a tough place to live - Very remote even by Sudan standards. There's no way in or out during the rainy season except by air. I delivered a load of textbooks a few months ago and have flown these missionaries out before, but had never spent the night or seen their work.
The planeload of cargo looked like a combination of stuff from Home Depot, WALMART, the supermarket, and everything in between. It included a propane powered freezer. There is no convenience store in Yabus - in fact, I don’t think there are any stores at all. The people live by subsistence farming. They have been robbed of educational opportunities for the past 20 years because of the civil war. So, the adult education program is an attempt to “catch them up” and give a better quality of life to a generation bypassed by civilization as they simply “survived” until the war was over. Literacy is a key to people being able to read and understand God’s word and the young missionaries in Yabus are giving the best years of their lives to help that happen.
It sure is a blessing to be able to serve these folks and to see first hand their commitment to serving God and their fellow man.
Linnie Weeks
AIM AIR Pilot