My Visit with John Bul Dau day 2

Today John woke me up early, because "there is something that you might want to see". It turned out to be the sunrise. We sat in front of his house and watched the sun rise over the trees. Here is what it looked like:

Today he said that we were going to see the medical clinic that he had started in his home village. He showed me around the clinic. While I was at the clinic I met Dr. Reed. He was very friendly and welcoming. John said that the clinic had just been started up recently. He told me about how he raised money for the clinic. He also told about how before the civil war, life was good and everything was okay. But then the civil war came, and the country never really came back from that war. John said that he thought clinics to help keep people healthy was the only way to get the country back on track for recovery from the war. After we had visited the clinic, we just walked around town, and I took it all in. When we saw things that were new to me, John explained. We came upon one woman who appeared to be cooking milk. I asked John why she was doing that, and he told me that she was making Pluumata. He said that it is a food -- a spicy mix of herbs, pickled vegetables and milk (usually goat's milk). That night John made me Herisa for dinner. It is another type of vegetable stew. John put some sweet spices on his, but I didn't like the smell of them so I didn't.

My visit with John Bul Dau day 1

This is the first day of my visit with John Bul Dau. I got here early this morning from an overnight flight. I was quite tired so we didn't do very much this first day. I stayed at John's house, and he told me stories about his long walk, the refugee camp he lived in, and his stay in America. He told me that in America he was very lonely living in an apartment. He wondered how Americans could live that way, all alone. He also said that he didn't really like work, because it took up so much of his time, and with having a different work schedule and working at different companies than his friends it could be more than a week between the times he got to see the person that he was sharing an apartment with. Later on he also told me that he enjoyed being in the movie about the lost boys. He said that it helped him to spread the message about the problems in Sudan in order  to try to get help from the rest of the world to restore peace.

Later on we went out and watched some farmers tending to their herds of cattle. 

My visit with John Bul Dau

I have decided to visit Southern Sudan with John Bul Dau. His home village is Duk Payuel. Here is a map of where he lives:
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Ghana- Emmanuel's home

Here is Emmanuel's home country, Ghana:
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My house

Here is my house:



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Emmanuel's Visit Day 5 (Final day)

Today was the last day of Emmanuel's visit. We had to get up early in the morning so that he could get on his flight back to Ghana. I had a great time with him while he was here and sent him home with a seashell that he could hear the ocean waves crashing in. He said that he had a memorable visit and would come back again when he could. He also liked the new airport. He commented on how there were no stucco walls and red tile roofs in Ghana.

Here is the airport:

Emmanuel's visit day 4

Today Emmanuel and I drove up into the Santa Ynez Mountains. We drove up Old San Marcos Road, and stopped at a view point near the top. Here is the view that greeted us:

Then we went back into town to go biking along the bike path next to State Street and along the ocean past the pier. Emmanuel thought that it was funny how there was a road just for the bikers, because in Ghana they didn't have bike paths like that. He also thought it was fun watching people play on the beach with their dogs.

Emmanuel's Visit day 3

Today I took Emmanuel to the harbor to look at the boats. While we were there, we saw a man playing in a whirlpool. The whirlpool was formed by the tide, and he was in a kayak. Emmanuel commented on how the water in his town didn't spin like that. After we looked at the harbor, we went to Rudy's Mexican for lunch. He didn't like the burritos because they tasted like cheese.