Sunday 26th October

The taxi that Bernard caught was one of the best ones we had been in since our arrival. The driver spoke only a few words of English when we got in, but was almost fluent by the time we got out in Haj Yousif, about forty minutes later. Bernard found this suspicious! We had a short walk to Bernard's house, where we were immediately given cool water to drink and fed a meal of porridge followed by a meat stew, with bread.

Phil spent the night at a nearby orphanage, while Fiona and Stan stayed at Bernard's house. Due to the heat, we all slept outside. Our mosquito nets were virtually transparent, so we could watch the stars move overhead in a darkness that is rare in England. It was not exactly a peaceful night. The local dogs spend the day in a stupor in whatever shade they can find, but come alive after dark. Their barks and howls were punctuated by the occasional mournful donkey braying. We fell asleep during this chorus and were woken at about 3 a.m. by the sound of drums and shouting. It was the first day of Ramadan. During Ramadan Muslims wake early to pray before preparing and eating a large meal to sustain them through the hours of daylight. Cooking without convenience foods is a slow process, so teams of young lads move through the neighbourhood to waken everyone up several hours before sunrise. Then several mosques in succession broadcast the call to prayer from their speakers; some of them also broadcast the congregational prayers as well. All in all, we were kept awake for an hour or two, before sinking back into sleep in the cool of the early morning. Phil missed out on the extra nap, because the children at the orphanage had discovered the strange "khawaja" (white person) who had arrived overnight.

At seven we were up and about (the hour does not change here, unlike England) and tried to shower - no water - so a quick wash from a basin and then breakfast was served. This was an omelet like mixture, porridge, bread and tea. We then set off for our first church service of the day at St Matthew's church. This was a English service, based on the Anglican liturgy for morning prayer. The congregation are some fourteen students from southern tribes who asked to have an English language service. They make a considerable effort to worship in this way, even meeting on Friday evenings to learn the hymns they will sing on Sunday.

Things would be easier for them if they had more books. One pastor had BCP while the other used ASB and the congregation had nothing. They seemed relieved to hear that we also found the BCP English hard to speak and understand. The church has two hymn books shared by the whole congregation, one an African book called Shukuru Yesu (Thank you Jesus) and the other was Golden Bells. Each person copies the songs out longhand when they practice them in their Friday meeting.

We were treated as honoured visitors and given seats right at the front of the church, while the rest of the congregation sat on pews made of brick and mud. We were each asked to introduce ourselves, and gave greetings from St Mary's church and all in the Bradford Diocese. We also told them that prayers were said for Sudan, and especially for the Diocese of Khartoum somewhere in the diocese every Sunday. This news obviously meant a lot to the people there.

We went back to Bernard's house for a rest before going to the Grace Community Church service at the orphanage. Twenty children aged between 5 and 13 live here. They are cared for by Florence, a psychologist/social worker with the help of other women who cook for the children. Bernard is their pastor cum fund raiser and he would dearly love to start a small business in order to make the project self-funding.

The children have all lost parents in the civil war. The extended families who would normally care for the children have been broken down by the unrest, so the children were left on the streets. They are well fed and cared for at the orphanage and only the most recent arrivals have the coppery-coloured hair that signifies malnutrition.

About 30 other members of the church arrived for the service at the orphanage, making a congregation of about 50 - most of them under 18. The music was from a Yamaha keyboard, played by a music student, and amplified through an 80 Watt mixer/amplifier and large speakers. There were also two microphones for the speakers and singers. Here there were no music books - someone from the choir would sing a snatch of song to the keyboard player, and he would set a beat going in the background, start playing the tune and then everyone else joined in. The service and most of the singing was in Arabic, but choruses of "Alleluia", "Jesus" are easy to pick up.

Fiona was asked if she would like to preach, but not having prepared anything, she offered to tell a story. Again we were asked to introduce ourselves, so we told them a bit about England and our church, and again brought greetings from St Mary's and Bradford Diocese. Later in the service, Fiona told the story of St Kevin and the blackbird, adapting it as necessary to so that it could be translated into Arabic. Once the service was over, we again handed out balloons to all the children, which were eagerly received.

Afterwards we went back to Bernard's house, where we spent some time with the youth of the church answering their questions about England. We were then fed lunch, before setting off back into the city to meet up with Elizabeth and Leoma again. We had a little water with us, but it was awkward to drink it on a bus full of people who were going to have to remain thirsty for another 2 to 3 hours. It was wonderful to get into Leoma's car and drink the cold water she and Elizabeth had brought for us.

By now we were feeling very dirty and dusty, but there was no time to go back to the house to shower and change. We went straight to the Cathedral for ASB Evening Prayer. This was Evensong Sudanese style, no chanting, no anthems, and some great African rhythms for hymns such as "Amazing Grace". We enjoyed it, and again we were asked to introduce ourselves. We hope our dirty appearance was not too offputting for the congregation.

Finally we got back to Elizabeth and Leoma's house and spent ages in the shower, washing off the dirt and dust of the previous 24 hours. Sudan certainly reminds you about the important things in life: water is a most precious resource.