Allison and I always joke about a Saturday Night Live sketch that has a couple visiting another couple who live a very odd lifestye and either come from a different planet or strange country. Invariably, there is always a moment when they exchange names. It must be the same when we are learning new languages….

I haven’t taken any photos specifically to ’showcase’ scarification in Sudan, but I found a few good examples that I thought I’d show you.

Click any image to see a large version.

The first is an old Nuer man. He used to be the village chief. This was taken in a small village on the Sobat river South of Nasir. This is very common and only done on men. It should be done with elders and young women in attendance.

I am not sure what tribe this woman comes from. This photo was taken in Nasir, a town of mostly Nuer Sudanese. I have only seen this kind of scaring on women. Sometimes a woman’s entire body can have this spotted scaring.

Sorry for the blurry photo. This was originally a MUCH wider photo that I cropped. But this man’s scaring is VERY prominent. I believe this photo was taken in Malakal and he is likely Dinka. The Dinka and Nuer lined scares on the forehead are very similar and I have not learned to distinguish it yet.

This Nuer is actually a friend of ours. He is a Baptist pastor and also works with a Christian NGO started in Africa by Africans. His scars are hard to see. He is also quite educated and it is rare to find educated men with scars as they typically were in a boarding school at a young age and did not grow up in the village. The Sudan political leadership are often referred to as boys as they were never scared into manhood and can be denied tribal rights as they are not considered adults.

This woman is from the Shuluk tribe. The photo was taken in Atar which is mainly Dinka. I am not sure if she was just visiting the area or actually lived there. Malakal, where we live, is historically considered a Shuluk town (but Dinka also claim it). Both men and women have the protruding scars just above their eye brows.

A tree begins to blossom, but the brilliant red is muted by the sand in the air. A girl in a flowing pink dress (attending church) fills a bottle of water from the church’s tap.

Kids crowd around to get in front of the lens.

Obama makes an appearance at church.

Photo opp with the camera man!

Kids’ favorite past time, tether ball. Except these kids use water bottles with sand and rock in them and retie a string ever hour as it breaks.

Girls pose at a tether pole (actually our power pole).

It’s great fun to chase kids around. We all laugh it off. This time I decided to grab a pic of him. I may make this a series, but I need them to look back.

The ubiquitous problem. Trash, and usually plastic bottles. Sunday’s congregation in the background.

We didn’t experience so much a storm as a dump of sand on us. Sunday we didn’t even see the sun it was so thick and flights were canceled from Juba. Click on the two images below for two different image galleries. One more commercial in nature and one more personal. Enjoy…

A fellow SIMer took us to visit some of her friends this week. Click HERE to see some of the better photos. Click HERE to view photos of Avery, group photos and our other new friends.

The migration of Darfuri Sudanese continues to grow. Most of you are likely aware of the conflict that has been on going in Darfur (West Sudan), ever since peace was made in the South of Sudan.

The Dallas Morning News posted an article recently about a small but growing number of official Darfuri refugees in Dallas. While their numbers are no where near that of the ‘Lost Boys’ (mostly from the Dinka tribe) their stories are nearly identical.

If you are interesting in getting involved in some way, no matter how little or how much, you can contact my good friend Kyle Jenkins (a graduate of Lake Highlands and married a childhood friend of mine, Melissa Johnson) who has been working with the refugees in Dallas for many years. He has also gotten involved in the underground sex trafficking that goes on in Dallas. You can reach him at Skylejenkins@aol.com or call him >>>>>>>>>>>>>. He maintains an office in the Vickery Meadows area (mentioned in the article) which is roughly the Northeast corner of Central/75 and NorthWest hwy and comprises around 30 different apartment complexes.

Check out the DallasNews.com story by clicking HERE.

This picture was taken by Austin Mann when I was in Aweil, just South of Darfur in April.

Wow, I have been waiting for this for so long. While the guts of the online giving system haven’t really changed, a huge change has happened in terms of usability for YOU, the giver.

It’s much more straight forward and easy to understand. It’s also much more appealing to the eyes. If you’ve been holding off doing your giving online because it was just to cumbersome, have a try with this new format. And PLEASE let me know how it goes for you. I’ve tried it myself already and I’m very pleased with the results. You’ll get an email after filling things out confirming your donation/gift.

Oh, and it’s also completely secure, so you don’t have to worry about people finding your financial information online.

Click the image below to view the new giving page.