Some things you never forget

Some images stick in your mind for a long time. This is one of them. When I was walking through the hospital at Mapuordit--one of the best hospitals in S.Sudan, by the way--this patient stared at me. Desperately thin and malnourished, motionless, with unblinking eyes that seemed to cover half her face, she stared at me.  I did not speak her language. I could not offer any cure. I did not know her life story. I could not imagine the depth of her suffering. I could only hold her hand for a while and murmur a prayer and resolve to work harder for Mercy Beyond Borders in raising scholarship funds to enable young Sudanese women to become nurses in this struggling new country.

The Joy of Cooking

Never mind what Julia Child said: in my life "cooking" and "joy" don't honestly go in the same sentence. Many a day I come home a bit tired after work and wish I didn’t have to cook dinner. Of course, dinner at my place usually consists of about 10 minutes of micro-waving, chopping up a few raw veggies, and throwing together a salad from  mixings already chilling in the fridge. 

Preparing a meal in South Sudan takes considerably more work.  Haul the water. Find Firewood. Build a fire (dust off those Boy Scout skills!). Boil the water. Grind the grain. Stir. The process takes hours. Looking at this photo of the cook at St Bakhita Girls' School preparing the one daily meal for 400 girls, I resolve once again never to complain about my paltry domestic chores….

What's my name?

OK, all you budding ornithologists out there: what kind of bird is this? Julie Lynch, MBB volunteer, snapped its picture in Narus, South Sudan. 

I’d call it a ravishingly attractive, delicately long-tailed, strikingly colorful, gracefully balanced, azure-blue-breasted, white-cheeked, dusty-orange-backed, blue-necked, short-beaked, black-eyed beauty…. What would you call it?

A Study in Orange and Blue

If I were an artist, I’d call this photo “A study in orange and blue.”  Look at how beautifully the women’s body wraps, headbands and jewelry match the colorful clinic wall behind them in Kuron, South Sudan.  Look at the composition, the lines, the balance. Look at the beauty of these two patient patients! Where is Gauguin when we need him?