Jim Mixon's (EDEN) Trip Report - Feb. 2025

February 28 Update 

Luopads I carried seven Luopad kits to Pochalla. We were running low at home and that was all we had. As I was talking with the county commissioner, I shared with him about the pads. He had heard of them, but they are not in wide use there. He shared that as part of his strategic plan for the county; he wanted to make Luopads available to 5,000 women in the county. I asked if he had a plan for accomplishing this goal. He looked at me and said, “You are my plan! God has sent you here with these pads!” Talk about God expanding your vision! 

There is a tailor there with a shop and he runs about 4 – 5 treadle sewing machines. We stopped by his shop, and he looked over the pads and said he would have no problem putting them together. The hard part is the logistics of getting the materials there. It will probably have to come from the Ethiopian side. And there are times during the rainy season when Pochalla can’t be reached – even by air as the airstrip is too muddy. They will need flannel, used towels, and snap machines and supplies. I will dig in to see if this can be accomplished. 

Dry Conditions

On Saturday the 22^nd, a couple of us flew to Mundri. Robert Cely stayed in Juba and then flew home on Sunday. An official in Juba with a rural development institute also flew over to Mundri with us. We had sorghum seed and some irrigation supplies. It was a pretty full plane! We spent a busy four days in Lui. I’ve never seen it so dry there. Everything was looking for water: crows, frogs, and cows! 

Hospitality

We were well fed again by the ladies of the Fraser Cathedral in Lui. We stayed in the guest houses of the Lui Hospital. Most afternoons we ended up under the huge mango tree in front of the cathedral. It was much cooler under the tree. And a good breeze helped as well. It reached over 100 degrees all four days we were there. Thankfully, we had fans in our rooms to help cool things a little more so we could sleep.

Sorghum Seed, Cassava, Crowder Peas and Gnuts!

On Monday, we went to Mundri. We delivered 100 kg of the new sorghum seed to a bishop for Mundri. The bishop will handle distributing the seed to his people. We were met by the bishop’s wife as he was traveling. She served us a powdered mango drink mix that was tasty!

Cassava is an important crop for this area. It is very drought hardy. Flour is made from its roots. There is cyanide in the root, and they must be processed to remove it. There is a new technique to accomplish this. The traditional method requires the roots to be pounded in a large bowl with a pestle (like a club). The ladies are the ones that do this hard work. The resulting flour is soaked with clean water and set out in the sun for several days. The cyanide is mobilized in the water, which is then poured out, leaving usable flour. 

The new method cuts the root into chips. The chips are more transportable and store better. Weevils do not get into it as easily. It is also less labor intensive. They are seeing good results with the new method.  I was able to see some of the seed from the Mississippi Silver Hull Crowder peas I took last year. They love to eat the leaves as they are growing, and then they dry the peas to cook and enjoy later. They really like the flavor of the peas.

I was able to see the PICS bags used to store grain and seed. We’ve introduced these air-tight bags in numerous areas with great success.  They can be reused from year to year as long as they don’t have any holes in them.

I also got to sample some of their’ gnuts, which is short for ground nuts – which are peanuts! These peanuts are tiny but have a good flavor. I’m not sure if it is a varietal issue or a lack of calcium that causes them to be small. I may try to take some of our seeds and see how our varieties fare.

Lui Water Project

Later that day, we went to see the Lui water project. In previous visits, the vegetation has been too dense for me to get an overview of the whole project. It started operating in 2013 and only worked about three years before it was damaged in the conflicts of 2016. When water is such a precious commodity, it breaks my heart to see this infrastructure gone to waste. We will continue to investigate the potential to restart the system, even if it is at a reduced capacity. When you see the long lines of jerry cans at the boreholes all day long, you really understand the need.

Rural Development Institute

Tuesday was a big day. First, we stopped and met with the county commissioner of Mundri East (which includes Lui). She was very excited to hear we were going to the Amadi Rural Development Institute. She was very supportive of taking the first steps to help bring the institute back to life. There are three counties that the institute served and hers is one of them.

The administrator from Juba had set up a meeting with community leaders at the Rural Development Institute for us. We met in the auditorium of the institute. And while not in pristine shape, it served our purposes very well. I counted nearly 100 people in attendance, with some standing outside listening through the open windows. I shared our vision of restarting the water system for the institute. I stressed that we could not move forward without the help and support of the community. Everyone wants to see the water return and the Rural Development Institute spring back to life. It could be a place of vocational and agricultural training that could impact the 150,000 inhabitants of Mundri East, Mundri West, and Mvolo counties. The water project alone will benefit the 5,000 residents of the payam (village) of Amadi in Mundri West County. 

We must first remove the old pump from the well. We will install a new submersible pump and a solar installation to power it. A security fence will be put in around the well and tank. Once operational, we can start testing the existing pipe system in the institute. We will add a water kiosk to supply water to the community and possibly pipe water to a nearby medical clinic. Greg Force from Boma was able to get a list of well drillers in Juba on Thursday after I left. Hopefully we can find someone who will work with us in getting the system back in operation. 

This is a big undertaking. But by using the infrastructure already there, the overall costs will not be as high as starting from scratch. It will be the largest project that EDEN has undertaken. Please pray for God’s direction, for funding, for favor with officials, for finding the right well repair company. Right now, people in the community are using manual boreholes for water, some of which dry up during the dry season. They also source water from the river, which is not clean and can have crocodiles. This water project will be a great benefit for the people of Amadi. And it will be a great testament of God’s love to the surrounding community. And it is the first step in getting a larger portion of the institute operational once more. Stay tuned for more details! 

Greg and I made it back to the air conditioning on Wednesday. Juba was still extremely hot and did not have the nice breeze that Lui did. I started my homeward trek on Thursday and Greg started on Friday. We both reached home safely. We appreciate your prayers as we were in the field.