Letter from Gabe Hurrish, Maryknoll Lay Missionary, Kuron Peace VIllage, South Sudan

Merry Christmas to all my good friends in Solidarity. I hope you have a memorable Christmas amidst the trials of this world.
This Christmas I will be spending quietly in Kuron Peace Village with the few staff who have remained.  Most are off to scattered parts around Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan to spend the holidays with their families.  Two of us are left to more or less keep an eye on small on-going projects.  Workers are building a church on the hill next to the Peace Village and the Health Centre some 5 miles away never rests. 

Bishop Paride Taban is in Nairobi Hospital and our resident priest resigned early December so we have no priest to celebrate mass this year.  Simple Singing and Liturgy of the Word.  Probably much like the first Christian communities.   We will have simple meals too as no lorries have passed to Kapoeta for some time.   I did get some candy for the kiddies so I hope to see a few smiles as a Christmas gift.

I have purchased a pangolin and released it back into the wild.   They would eat it otherwise.  It was a female too.   ( looked it up on line)  Cost me a bit of cash but I thought it worthwhile since pangolins are on the world endangered species list.  I also obtained and released a leopard tortoise.  I called him King Tut.   And I have planted about 25 trees so far in an effort to do a small thing to make the world a better place.  Little amusements to keep me busy.

Our temperatures were in the 100s for the longest time but this week after two rains it is a cool 85 degrees.  Can’t believe I use the word cool.    I have to walk with an umbrella now as the sun is so intense and I ran out of sunscreen.    I can now go for walks along the river bed as the water is low.   I was on the river in ankle deep water one day and then it rained and the river was chest deep the next day!  Glad I timed that right.    

Despite all the troubles, so many of these South Sudanese persist and nurture hope.  Good individuals somehow surviving amongst all the troubles.  Women are especially noteworthy for their dedication to family even as their lives are so tenuous.  It is for these, I stay.    In fact, my Christmas becomes more meaningful for all of this.  Jesus, too, was born in a country racked with troubles and violence.  His family was simple and poor.   He too had to leave as a refugee to escape persecution like so many of these South Sudanese have been forced to do. 

I keep you in prayers and miss you all………    May God grant you Peace and Joy this Holy Christmas Season.   Let us hope for a Blessed New Year free of anxiety and fear. …With prayers…Gabe