Meet Abook

I want you to meet my friend Abook. You may have already heard of her in the "Day in the Life of Karen" blog post.

The day she gave me the Dinka name Akoul

I first met Abook when we were introduced to the student body in February. She came up to me and told me that she was going to come see me everyday. I just smiled at her, not knowing what to say, not even sure if I believed her.

Enjoying each others company at a local tea shop

 

She came, every day. She was true to her word. I was very skeptical of the relationship at first, but I had no idea what a need she would meet. A need I didn’t realize I had, until later on in my time here. At first our conversations were very superficial, but her consistency of presence, and persistence in wanting to know about me and my family actually laid the foundation for trust. She started sharing her past with me and I slowly started sharing mine with her. Then we started reading the Bible together and praying together.

Reading through her favourite book of the Bible

I slowly started to cherish our times together and looked forward to it. As my husband was taking on a lot of responsibilities for the college, it was difficult for me to enjoy the gatherings that the women had almost every day. Abook coming to me was a huge blessing as I could still fulfill my priorities at home but enjoy a friendship at the same time.

Abook helped me prepare the food and serve some of these students one rainy day

I’ll never forget a day in March, when I was handwashing diapers. It was 4pm and Rachel had run out of cloth diapers and I was very behind in washing them. I was quite anxious and I knew that dinner had to be made. I actually teared and prayed “God, how am I going to do it all.” Then Abook came and I got even more anxious. But I wasn’t prepared for what she did. She squatted on the floor beside me and took hold of my daughters' urine filled diaper and started washing it. I was so shocked and tried to stop her, but she held my hand and said “I am your sister and this is what sisters do for each other”. While I was still behind in dinner, we had a great time washing diapers together. It's amazing how God provided for me at that moment.

Rachel has only been sick once in South Sudan, when she had a very high fever for 3 days and she was the only person who came to see how she was doing. I’ll never forget the 2^nd day of the fever, where the fever kept climbing, I was in touch with several doctors, and very exhausted and David was out all day at work. She came to my door, came inside, and gave me a long hug and told me that she was praying. Then and there she quickly said a prayer in Arabic for Rachel and then encouraged me to rest.

This wasn’t a one off though. Abook has been consistent and persistent in showing up and demonstrating unconditional love. She really has “done” a lot more for me than I have for her. But that didn’t stop her and she still kept showing love.

Making custard for me

July was one of the most stressful months of my time here. I had a tough day one Sunday, and I walked to Abook's house as I hadn’t seen her all weekend. She was in her house, reading her Bible, and her first question was “How was your day” and I teared telling her about my it. I felt quite stupid complaining to a Southern Sudanese about no running water and electricity all weekend, but I knew she loved me and was available just to listen. She held my hand as I ranted and cried with me. She then told me about something that was weighing heavily on her heart and we both just sat in silence crying together, both feeling very different stressors but understanding each other.

On a fun note, she showed up one day when I was staring at eggplant, wondering what to do with it for dinner. She asked me if I had certain ingredients which I did, and then I sat back as she made our dinner! She has come over many times and helped me with dinner, whether that be chopping onions, or keeping an eye on the okra while I focused on chapatti.

Another fun thing we did together was Skype with my mother and sister one Saturday afternoon. It was such a surreal moment when my two worlds collided for a little while and Abook kept talking about it the whole week on how much she enjoyed "meeting" my family. 

Our dinner courtesy of Abook

Abook was also the first person on GTC campus to know about our pregnancy. She showed up everyday and helped with housework. She even helped me with dishes every single weekend till I reached the 16 week mark to help me during the first trimester hump. Though my favourite times were when she'd lie down on our bed (I was exhausted all the time and couldn't stand for long periods) and just chatted with me and conversation ranged from what we'd be reading in the Bible to lingerie!

Helping me with dishes in my first trimester daze

I have learned so much from my friend. She showed up one morning at 8:30am (I hadn't brushed my teeth yet) and we sat and talked about the history of Sudan and South Sudan.  If there is a word I would use to describe her it's "driven". She loves to learn new things and keeps herself busy. I always admired how involved she was in the Melut community. Random women would come up to me in town and ask if I was the Indian woman who is Abook's friend. She helped me and taught me not to generalize all of South Sudan based on what I saw and experienced in Melut. I knew our friendship reached a new level during the last two weeks of my time in Melut as she started only conversing with me in Arabic.

I don't know if I'll ever see her again, but she will always be my number one highlight during my time here in South Sudan. My heart will always hold a little piece of her for many years to come.

Our last picture together on graduation day