Solidarity with Southern Sudan - Malakal: 51. Job's Apprentice

51. Job’s Apprentice

I have always thought that the story of Job being tested by various afflictions is one of the most dramatic descriptions in the Bible. It has certainly not been on my wish list to be similarly tested. I don’t pretend to have the incredible integrity or patience of Job as he suffered his serious of afflictions but just lately I seem to be confronted by a series of problems that leaving me feeling a bit like Job’s apprentice. Unlike Job, however, my health continues to be excellent. So maybe I am just succumbing to the original ‘Murphy’s Law’, ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong’.

On the plus side, Brother Jorge from our General Council from Rome has visited and brought me a fine new computer which I am now using. Even with an ‘Italian keyboard’ where not all the symbols on the keys match the underlying Australian set-up of keyboard functions, it is a good computer. Some of the software has instructions in Italian but I am coping and improving my limited Italian at the same time! Brother Jorge has taken my older computer to Rome where I think the installation of a new battery will restore to me the much wider range of software on that computer, not to mention some recent data I had not backed up.

I have been fortunate to be in Juba this past week where the computer works well. In Malakal the situation I described last week worsened. My SSS partners have had to cope with town power surges that not only burned out the power adaptors of their computers but also most of the light bulbs in our house. I heard only today that the situation has been rectified in Malakal but I am still trying to find and buy a suitable replacement recharger for my mobile phone which is now inoperable with a totally flat battery.

Unfortunately for me, I have now lost, without a trace, possibly dropped when returning from an outing, a small bag that contained my passport, camera, Sudan driving licence and a small amount of cash. So I spent a morning at the police station going from office to office, with the invaluable assistance of the Arabic-speaking logistician from the archdiocesan offices, and now have documents attesting to my losses. I refrained for a couple of days from reporting my lost passport, still hoping and praying to find it, because once reported, it becomes an invalid travel document. But I have now been on-line to report the loss and filled out an application for a new passport. My major difficulty is that there is no Australian embassy in Sudan. The nearest haven is the Australian High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya. Replacing the passport requires an interview but travelling to another country requires a travel document! I shall ring the High Commission for advice when I get my phone working again - or use a borrowed phone! (The Commission does not list an email number and we don’t have a fax.)

The passport application requires someone with an Australian passport to attest to who I am. The only possibility is Brother Denis and he is in Wau. They do allow the alternative of someone who has known me for than twelve months and qualifies to be on a list of occupations that I have not seen. Fortunately, I have known Father Joseph for just over 12 months and hope his attestation and status will be sufficient. The application also tells me that I shall need to show a driver’s licence as proof of identity. I do have a valid Australian licence but it is in Malakal. On the plus side, I have a photocopy of my old passport and an electronically scanned copy on my back-up hard drive, with attached colour photos.

So I shall be in Juba longer than planned but this will allow me to participate in a couple of education gatherings and I have agreed to teach some theology at the Catholic University while I am here. I’m not totally useless and I haven’t had malaria - yet!

- Br Bill