Arrival in Lohutok!

Lohutok, Sudan

I am here at last! There is too much to write in one day. We flew north-northwest out of Nairobi on one of AIM Air's small propeller planes. I sat in the seat next to the pilot. Samuel and Christine were in the back. The pilot let me run the controls for a short time. It was harder than I expected to keep the wings and nose level and the plane pointed in the correct direction. We flew over Kenya, the corner of Uganda and then to Juba. I noticed an artillery or anti-aircraft gun near the edge of the airport. Immigration closely inspected other people's 35 mm SLR cameras, but did not notice my small Kodak instamatic. After a short stop in Juba, we took off again. As we left Juba, I could see the Nile River with a bridge across it. The Nile seemed smaller than I expected. As we flew east, I was impressed by the vast savannah with short mountain ranges jutting up here and there. I could see few signs of human presence on the savannah.  The villages and crop fields were mostly near the base of the mountains.

Below: view from the airplane.

Below: Village at the base of a mountain.

We landed on a grass airstrip at Lohutok. We were met by many local people and the AIM missionaries. Martha is American. Hans and Maryanne are from the Netherlands. Of course I already knew Samuel, who is from Ireland, and Christine, his English wife.

Below: Unloading the plane.

I talked with Josiah, Michael and other Lotuho men. I asked many things about the farming. Dura (sorghum) and millet are the main crops. I also saw a bundle of some greens which was cooked as a vegetable to eat with dura. Cattle are raised for meat and milk. Goats and chickens are also used. Around the mission buildings, white ants (termites) are a big problem, I was told. On the mountain, in the valley and other parts of the plain, they are not such a problem. The people have spears, bows and arrows for hunting. They can walk to Torit in about nine hours where they can buy such things as spear heads, etc. The land here looks quite flat except for the mountains which abruptly rise from the plains.

Hans has been trying to raise tomatoes, peppers, peanuts. carrots, okra, squash, etc. He said insects eat the tomatoes. The peanuts look good, but I wonder if the soil is too hard for pod set. Some corn he planted (seed from Nairobi) was trying to flower at less than a foot in height. Maybe it is a photoperiod problem. Josiah is going to experiment with some improved sorghum. I believe he got it from Norwegian Church Aid's project near Torit.