I remember the first time I met Zechariah back in
February. He was riding his bicycle and
I was walking to the market. We greeted
one another and I thanked him for helping us find an Arabic language helper.
Zechariah is one of the GTC students who live off campus. He grew up in the town of Melut and he’s the pastor of the Anglican church and a teacher at the elementary school in town. Fortunately, while he works on his degree, his church and school have given him a sabbatical. Back in July, Zechariah invited David to speak at his church and after the service we were invited to his home. Unfortunately we had made another afternoon commitment so we asked him if we could come over another time. A few days ago during the “Semester 2 Reading Week” Zechariah invited us to his home again. We gladly accepted the invitation and the visit was definitely one of my top 3 memories here in Melut.
Since we didn’t know where Zechariah’s house was in town, he had arranged for another student to walk with us over to his house. After walking for about 15 minutes, we were led to one of the many bamboo fenced gated compounds. It was a large property, and I was lovingly embraced by Zechariah’s wife, Mary. I had met Mary for the first time when she knocked on my door once in June, and then subsequently at the Sunday afternoon coffee time with the ladies. She struck me as a beautiful woman, strong, fun, friendly and genuinely interested in a conversation. She also has the best hairdos I have ever seen in Melut! I had also met her at her church, but that was the last time I saw her until we visited their house. They invited us to their beautiful sitting area of their tukul. We just sat and enjoyed the beauty of the sitting room, with real cushioned couches, and beautiful hand stitched pillows and bed sheets (all of which were done by Mary herself!).
After seating us, Zechariah and Mary both left and returned with an aluminium basin, jug and towel. David thought Zechariah was getting ready to pour water so that David could wash his hands (a custom we were familiar with). But when Zechariah said that he was going to wash David’s feet we both sat dumbfounded, unable to move as Zechariah started removing David’s sandals. Rachel, already a tad shy with her new surroundings, panicked at this point as she couldn’t figure out what was happening. I teared as Zechariah removed my sandals, washed my feet and his wife finished up by drying my feet and putting my sandals back on. We asked if this was a tribal custom but they just smiled and said “This is what Christian brothers and sisters do for each other.”
As we continued visiting Mary brought out 3 bottles of cold water they had purchased in the market for us. We were again overwhelmed when Mary brought 2 large bowls of rice and 2 plates full of fried beef. Our Sudanese friends typically eat around 7pm, and since we had arrived at 4pm we didn’t have any expectation that we would be served dinner. Mary also brought us 2 bottles of Coca-Cola and a special pineapple/coconut flavoured juice for Rachel. To say that we were completely honoured and humbled is an understatement. We all took a spoon (Rachel and their two children included) and we enjoyed the delicious food.
Zechariah is one of the GTC students who live off campus. He grew up in the town of Melut and he’s the pastor of the Anglican church and a teacher at the elementary school in town. Fortunately, while he works on his degree, his church and school have given him a sabbatical. Back in July, Zechariah invited David to speak at his church and after the service we were invited to his home. Unfortunately we had made another afternoon commitment so we asked him if we could come over another time. A few days ago during the “Semester 2 Reading Week” Zechariah invited us to his home again. We gladly accepted the invitation and the visit was definitely one of my top 3 memories here in Melut.
Since we didn’t know where Zechariah’s house was in town, he had arranged for another student to walk with us over to his house. After walking for about 15 minutes, we were led to one of the many bamboo fenced gated compounds. It was a large property, and I was lovingly embraced by Zechariah’s wife, Mary. I had met Mary for the first time when she knocked on my door once in June, and then subsequently at the Sunday afternoon coffee time with the ladies. She struck me as a beautiful woman, strong, fun, friendly and genuinely interested in a conversation. She also has the best hairdos I have ever seen in Melut! I had also met her at her church, but that was the last time I saw her until we visited their house. They invited us to their beautiful sitting area of their tukul. We just sat and enjoyed the beauty of the sitting room, with real cushioned couches, and beautiful hand stitched pillows and bed sheets (all of which were done by Mary herself!).
After seating us, Zechariah and Mary both left and returned with an aluminium basin, jug and towel. David thought Zechariah was getting ready to pour water so that David could wash his hands (a custom we were familiar with). But when Zechariah said that he was going to wash David’s feet we both sat dumbfounded, unable to move as Zechariah started removing David’s sandals. Rachel, already a tad shy with her new surroundings, panicked at this point as she couldn’t figure out what was happening. I teared as Zechariah removed my sandals, washed my feet and his wife finished up by drying my feet and putting my sandals back on. We asked if this was a tribal custom but they just smiled and said “This is what Christian brothers and sisters do for each other.”
As we continued visiting Mary brought out 3 bottles of cold water they had purchased in the market for us. We were again overwhelmed when Mary brought 2 large bowls of rice and 2 plates full of fried beef. Our Sudanese friends typically eat around 7pm, and since we had arrived at 4pm we didn’t have any expectation that we would be served dinner. Mary also brought us 2 bottles of Coca-Cola and a special pineapple/coconut flavoured juice for Rachel. To say that we were completely honoured and humbled is an understatement. We all took a spoon (Rachel and their two children included) and we enjoyed the delicious food.
When we finished eating 2 other friends from GTC (Matta
and Abook) joined us as we enjoyed Sudanese coffee together. We found out that Zechariah and Matta had
studied in Khartoum together about 5 years ago. Throughout this entire time Rachel was playing outside with
Zechariah and Mary’s children. Their son
is 6 months younger than Rachel and she loved playing in the sand with him and
running after the goats and chickens. Before we left we asked Zechariah and Mary if we could take
a picture of them and their 2 children (some of their neighbours wanted to come
in the picture too).
We had a wonderful
time getting to know them more!
this is such a beautiful entry, didi!
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