Ralie

While we were in the States, I would periodically call friends from Mundri to check in and see how they were doing. Most of the time that we were in the States, our Mundri friends were in the bush and therefore, had limited access to charge their phones. After a while, I started to lose touch with friends because their phones were off. When we were no long able to get through on the phone with friends, we tried to not think the worst. Instead, we would hope that it meant their phone lost battery or they made it to safety in another country where their number no longer worked.

Ralie and her daughter, Rebecca
about a year ago in Mundri

One of my closest friends in Mundri was Ralie. I would visit Ralie and her family once a week and we would cook together, laugh and practice Moru. Ralie became a close friend quickly because she speaks very good English and we were able to communicate without many language barriers (something that I wasn't able to do with many people in Mundri). During our time in the US, Ralie is one of the people I couldn't reach on the phone anymore. About 5 months went by and I wasn't able to talk to her. I started to ask everyone that knew Ralie if they had heard from her. No one could give me any answers other than, "We don't think she is dead because we would have heard if she had died".

In January, I received a Facebook message from a mutual friend of ours who lives in Kampala. She told me that Ralie had called her and was safely in a refugee camp in Uganda! She told me that Ralie asked her to pass her number to me and that she wanted me to call her. You can imagine how happy this made my heart!! She was alive, she was safe, and of all places, she was in Uganda (where I was heading in just a couple weeks from that point).

I called her right away and was thrilled to hear her voice. She told me about their journey to the camp from Mundri. She and her family had walked from Mundri to Karika, South Sudan. From Karika, they got a car to Yei. From Yei, a UN vehicle took them to the border. At the border, another UN vehicle took them to the refugee camp. The journey sounded excruciating. They did this travel after weeks of being in the bush with little to no food or supplies and fearing for their lives. She then went on to tell me about the conditions in the camp. She said they have food rations for about one small meal a day and they run out of water each day. The camp she is in is new, and therefore, the schools inside have not been built. So, none of the children in the camp are currently attending school.

I found myself wanting to say, "But I'm so happy that you're safe!" over and over again while she was communicating these horrible things about the journey to Uganda and the conditions of the camp. I quickly realized that this was my way of wanting to negate the struggle. It would be easier to not hear about it. Once I hear details about it, I have to admit what is really happening in South Sudan and face the depravity of the situation. Instead of hurrying her through the gory details, I slowed myself down and listened. Listening to the struggle showed me how much of a miracle it truly was that she and her family (all of them!) were alive and had made it to safety. Hearing the details also gave me a better understanding of what she has been through emotionally and physically.

A few weeks after this phone conversation, we were back in Uganda. We planned to visit Ralie at the refugee camp, but knew it would take several weeks to arrange this. So, I called her to tell her know we were in Arua, and we would let her knew when we could visit. Just this past Tuesday, Ralie called me to tell me that was in Arua! She came into town to visit a friend from school. I told her to come to our house to visit. She came by with her brother and daughter. What an amazing reunion!! After almost a year of not seeing each other and several months of no communication, it was truly amazing to catch up with her. She looked very thin and I knew that were emotional scars that couldn't be seen, but it was amazing to see my friend again. We sipped juice and ate muffins together and I heard more stories about the refugee camp and the horrible conditions in Mundri. The conversations were heavy, but the company was sweet.

Hearing stories about Mundri from Ralie showed us just how bad things are there right now. There is constantly new fighting and new threats of fighting. People are still without much food or any medicine. We feel at a loss for how to pray other than, "God, you have to intervene! Please help!". Talking to Ralie also reminded me just how resilient South Sudanese people are. They have endured things I don't even like to allow myself to think about and yet, they come out of it saying things like, "God is greater" and "God will intervene!" I'm so grateful for their faith and trust in God's ability. I am also extremely grateful for this opportunity to see Railie, her brother and her daughter again. What a gift from the Lord!