Help!

Since being in South Sudan, I feel as if my life has changed; like I walked through an invisible door into a different world. Being a home-school mum is a whole new experience for me. It is bizarre not needing to go out anywhere, not dropping my older children off at school, or going to meet other mums at the school gate. No more being spoilt with morning coffee dates with friends, or involvement in any ladies groups or Swahili (or Arabic!) lessons or Bible Study groups. Suddenly, I have 2 jobs which are both contained within the 4 walls of our house!

 If I am honest. this new season is a challenge that can feel like a struggle. The task can feel overwhelming. Now I am the only one responsible for the education of  2 of our children, as well as our family-life: the meals, the clean washing and ensuring that our home is almost decent and not a complete mess of toys, muddy boots, wet clothes, biscuit crumbs and anything else which having small children ultimately brings to a home!

As time goes by, we are starting to get into more of a pattern. The enormity of the task at hand diminishes as I get more used to the school curriculum and more used to what family life looks like for us in Juba. The sense of drowning in this huge responsibility is starting to wear off. This feeling of relief is due in part to some HELP which has come my way- for which I am very grateful! :-)

First, there is Grace, seen here with Esther and Ben during one of Esther's Science experiments:

 

Grace is a South Sudanese lady who is coming 2 or 3 mornings a week to help me with washing up, hanging out the washing, ironing clothes, cleaning the bathroom, dusting the Juba dust off the furniture and mopping the floors. What a massive help that is to me! I honestly don't know how I'd be coping here if Grace was not able to come and work for us.

  Then there is Ronnie, a Ugandan man who sells fresh produce at the large market in Juba and delivers fresh fruit and vegetables to our compound, for a small fee. I can text him a shopping list in the morning and he will bring the produce later that afternoon:

 With the market being on the other side of town and with me not having easy access to transport, getting to the market would be a time-consuming and arduous task. Having someone willing to bring these healthy goods right to our door is another big help which saves me alot of time and effort!

I am also incredibly grateful for our new bread-maker- a gift from the Tanzanian MAF team when we left Dodoma. I had never used a bread-maker before and I have to say, it has won me over! I just pop in the ingredients and a couple of hours later, we have fresh bread!

 It is such a brilliant machine! The bread is delicious. There is one thing I would change though; I would love to have a bread-maker as efficient as Jane, the lady who baked our bread in Dodoma, making 4 loaves AND a tray of bread rolls in the same morning! However, in the sad absence of Jane, a bread-maker is a big bonus for us in Juba!

And finally, it is the little things which can make a difference, like these packet-mix sauces from England which came either in my suitcase or via parcels from my Mum. They make meal preparation that little bit easier when most of the meals must be prepared from scratch, but time is short. I am glad I discovered what a help they can be, given how easy it is to pack them into a suitcase and transport them across the world! 

Help comes in different guises, but it all makes a positive difference. As I look to the tasks ahead, it makes them seem smaller and less intimidating. It makes settling in to South Sudan much easier all round.