Change of Pace with a Pinch of Action

 

 

SHORT IN HEIGHT, TALL IN COURAGE

Chapter 15

Change of Pace With a Pinch of Action

 

     In the open area of our compound, 20 men sat facing inward in a circle as one man walked around the outside saying "Duck" and tapping each man on the shoulder. That is until he tapped one of the men saying, "Goose." The tapper then runs away around the circle while the man tapped as "Goose" takes off after him. I'm sure most of you know Duck, Duck, Goose rules. Why The Team was playing this child's game was due to the insistence of Samuel. According to him, this would relax our minds and bodies after the Nigerian Mission. Believe it or not, the men loved this game. We laughed till we cried at grown men acting like children again for over two hours. With the appearance at the main door of Mrs. Akech, shouting, "Come and get it," it was time to call it quits. Together with Mrs. Akech, the wives and children of Diemba and Hosseini had welcomed us home by preparing a feast for all of us. The Team never required arm-twisting to get them to the table for a meal.

     After that enormous meal, nobody was in the mood to play Duck, Duck, Goose. We simply rolled outside to our new patio furniture complements of WCPN. The old wood bench, my favorite, had been thrown away in our absence. Mrs. Akech denied involvement, but she was responsible for many derogatory remarks before its disappearance. I suppose life will go on.

     As we sat with labored thinking and fighting off a nap, I announced the next Mission was to the western area of South Sudan. We would be escorting a group from Doctors International to set up medical checks in select villages. Everyone agreed that it was a noble project as the snoring volume elevated.

     Three days later, we were flying, if you can fly over these horrific roads, toward our first small village on the Doctors International tour. Our seven vehicles escorted four large vans securely positioned in the middle. Dirt rose skyward, engulfing our caravan. On the Nigerian Mission, we had become spoiled to the Drones constantly overhead to examine our way and give us essential visuals.

     Our heading was southwest toward Yambio, the capital of Western Equatoria State, South Sudan. Our final destination was east of there at a tiny village. We would provide security while the doctors performed examinations and medical treatments. One of the large vans contained an x-ray machine and an MRI Unit. A lab for testing all manner of things was installed in another van. The other two vans were designated for the doctor's and nurses' living quarters. These wonders of modern medicine are much needed in the backwaters. It was a welcome change escorting these medical teams. This type of Mission allowed us to show the peaceful and serving side of The Team.

     Samuel, Deng, and Shermake gave well-crafted Sermons at the end of each day of exams. Baptisms were performed anytime and anyplace. On long journeys such as this, the men let their beards grow. Samuel, Deng, and Shermake standing in the rivers fit my image of John the Baptist doing his Baptisms. If Jesus had walked up to be Baptized, I would not have been surprised.

     We traveled from village to village till they all looked alike. One day, as we were being shaken severely on our way to another hinterland village, my phone went off, scaring me out of my half-dream state. Samuel asked if we could stop the caravan momentarily to herd some goats. Why I said yes, I will never understand.

     Samuel, Garang, and Chol jumped out of their vehicles, chasing and laughing at the goats. Eventually, we all exited the vehicles to join in on the corralling of the goats. Mabior enlightened me about the purpose of chasing goats. "Chief, Samuel spied some men running around like they were lost a ways back. When he saw the Goats, he came to the conclusion that the men had been searching for their lost goats."

     After an hour of chasing and Garang and Chol trying to ride the beasts, the men in question arrived on the scene, telling us that those goats were not their property. Also, they informed us that these animals are not lost but on the man's land that owns them. I looked at Samuel with what the men referred to as my mean one-eyed squint. An awkward smile spread over his face as he gave me the shoulder-shrug signifying "sorry." I couldn't be angry with Little Brother.

     The group we escorted was asked to cross the border north of here into Chad to help a village of Muslims. Evidently, they were experiencing a severe outbreak of Cholera. This comes about all too often in these underdeveloped countries by not having access to clean drinking water and poor sanitation practices. We were the only mobile medical unit operating in the area, so we agreed to escort them. As you are aware, Chad is always a dangerous proposition.

     I assigned Samuel and Alek the point position a half-mile ahead of the main convoy for security and scouting. With them rode Dut and Marial. I knew that Alek had somehow acquired an old but powerful BAR, Browning Automatic Rifle light machine gun, firing a 30.-06 round. Its drawback is the small 20 round mag it uses to cut down on overheating. As you are aware, Alek is Mr. Weapons, and the BAR is a Mr. Weapons weapon. Due to its weight, 16 pounds, the rifle handles the recoil very well. Though the mag is small, in its introduction, WWI, the standard rifles only held five rounds. Designed in 1918 by American John Browning, the walking machine gun was an instant hit.

     A couple of the doctors were gun enthusiasts. So, while pulled over at a rest stop, Alek took the opportunity to show off his new toy. The doctors were impressed, as were the other team members. We fired off 32 mags. When I asked Alek where he came up with this massive cargo of ammo, he replied matter-of-factly, "General Iverson has his personal sources." That was all I needed to hear. Secretly, I loved the BAR, too.

     As Alek placed the BAR back into the SUV, I glanced over to see a Thompson submachine gun, also known as the Tommy Gun or Chicago Typewriter. I walked over, asking where it came from? He mumbled, "It was in the same crate as the BAR."

     I shook my head, "The General."

     Alek turned to pull an army blanket off a Bazooka. He said, "Same Crate from the General, " without my asking."

     I just had to let out a big laugh as I quipped, "Alek, I'm glad you're on my Team. Heaven help the bad guys that really anger you."

     We were helping Muslims; therefore, permission to enter Chad was easy to come by. Conveniently, I forgot to mention The Team's presence with the convoy. We were still wanted in Chad after the airport incident. The guards at the border were given some American Greenbacks that seemed to blind them to the doctor's escorts. After the palm greasing, they insisted on getting their pictures taken with The Team. What a world we live in.

     After midnight, we pulled slowly into the village hidden in the back scrub of nowhere. The conditions were appalling. Med teams quickly assessed the situation then went to work. The Team took on the organization of basic sanitation. We all wore hazmat suits. 

     While all that was going on, I got on the phone to WCPN, asking them to contact Water4 in Oklahoma City to see if we could fly a team here immediately to work on access to clean water. Created in 2008, Water4 has helped the people of sub-Saharan Africa bring safe water to millions. They are a Christian non-profit. The salt of the earth. Their name is respected among Muslims as well as Christians.

     Our convoy spent three days at that location, helping medically treat and clean up the surrounding area as best we could.

      It really affected us that human beings were forced to live in such conditions today, but this wasn't our first introduction to this. Lack of education on the basics and governments stealing the country's natural wealth for their own pockets. Autocratic governments are breeding grounds for these types of situations. It is difficult to demand and receive honest and capable governments in the top tier of wealthy countries, much less in these underdeveloped and ignorant countries. As Christians, we attempt to educate the people we have dealings with on the basics of cleanliness and education. But the tribal affiliations maintain a stranglehold on many by shackling them to ancient practices that assure the preservation of that tribal power.

     On the journey home, the monotonous changed to exhilarating when we spotted a group of suspected Al Qaeda making their way along in the distance. Samuel and Alek, on-point a half-mile ahead and scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary, spotted them. I directed Alek and Samuel to pull off the road at a point where they couldn't be seen by the suspect group. Ordering the convoy to stop, we waited for scouting reports from Alek and Samuel on foot patrol. As an added precaution, I sent Ali and Kuol, the twins, to approach AQ from the opposite direction. Over time, we had learned that the twins are proficient in tracking and ambush as scouts. They were maturing before our eyes. As you have surely figured out by now, these men are more like my children than soldiers.

     A closer look at the suspected AQ party was essential to discovering their true identities and confronting them. Any meeting with Al Qaeda was likely to be quite lively.

     Mabior wasn't good at waiting. His exasperation spilled out, "I can't stand this waiting. I need to be out there."

     "Mabior, I was the same way when I first formed The Team, but, with time, you'll adjust to letting someone else be out front."

     We didn't know that Samuel and Alek had gotten to within fifty feet of the group. Wearing their Arab thawbs and keffiyehs per usual on point, they were about to purposely walk headlong into the group.

     The suspect AQ group of seven men, likewise in Arab thawbs and keffiyehs, were startled upon meeting Alek and Samuel at a bend in the trail coming directly at them. The two groups stopped and stared at one another for a moment, then the lead Arab said, "Who are you?"

     Samuel stared back at them while answering their question with a question, "Who are you? We live near here, but we do not recognize you, men. Is it not polite to enter another man's land and ask him who you are and what are you about?"

     The Arab leader seemed to relax at those words. Samuel noticed upon meeting the group that they had immediately placed their right hand on the right side of their thawb. Most likely a concealed weapon underneath. The Arabs told an outright lie about their identities and their purpose for being there. Samuel relaxed and gave them a smile and a goodbye as the men passed around them.

     After watching the men disappear into the bush down the trail, Ali and Kuol exited from the surrounding bush with weapons at the ready. Alek spoke to them, "You two are a good sight to these eyes. There was no doubt that those men were up to no good."

     Kuol acknowledged Alek's observation with a head nod. Samuel interrupted the conversation, "Here's what we're going to do. See that rock outcropping down the way there? We'll use the same shortcut Alek and I used to intercept them. Come on. I'll explain the rest while we walk. We have little time to waste."

     We sat at the roadside, with no word from the scouts but not calling for fear of giving them away. Thon quipped, "This is like a father waiting for his child to be born."

     Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Samuel and Alek climbed and made their way along the top of the outcropping while the Al Qaeda group followed the path underneath the pair. Hidden in the tall brush, Ali and Kuol let the suspects pass to get in behind them. After their passing, the twins stalked them at a safe distance.

     Arriving at the top of the exit from the outcropping on the trail, Samuel and Alek set up an ambush. Samuel pulled a rubber rattlesnake from his pocket. Alek asked where he had come up with that? Samuel, busy tying a black string to the snake, answered, "One of my cousins sent it to me from Oklahoma to remind me of home. Looks real, doesn't it?"

     As the suspect group came oblivious and cursing to the end of the overhang, Samuel let the rubber snake down slowly, appearing as if it were slithering down the rocks. Alek told me that the lead man screamed like a little girl at the sight of the rubber snake.

     That's when Alek, with his BAR, and Samuel jumped down in front of the AQ squad. This startling sight caused the AQ boys to fall all over one another as they attempted to backtrack toward the other end. In less than a minute, they encountered Ali and Kuol with their scars leveled at them. Dropping their weapons and raising their arms, Alek and Samuel kept their weapons pointed at them while the twins zip-tied their arms. Samuel questioned the lead man with no result. His impression was that they were most likely Al Qaeda. They displayed the tattoos, weapons, and distinct Arab accents associated with the group. His concern was their non-local accents. In our business, you ask yourself, "Are they recruiters, a piece of a larger group nearby, or maybe killing and stealing their way back home?"

     At last, a call from Samuel, "Chief, situation under control. We're returning with seven suspects of unknown origin and non-talkers. Be there in half-hour."

     The doctors came to me to offer their services for any wounded. I thanked them and told them that Samuel was in charge, and there would most likely be no casualties. The group gave me a puzzled look, so I explained, "Samuel is one of God's special spiritual people. He does things that are rarely explainable in worldly terms."

     Dr. Randall interjected with, "I have read stories about Samuel and have been observing him on this Mission. He is such a sensitive gentleman. He feels at a much deeper level than any other human I have known. Truly, I believe that he is close to what the world saw when our Lord walked upon this earth."

     My reply was, "You are not the first person to make such an observation, Doctor."

     Thon shouted from the top of the hill beside us, "Here they come. Got seven hot ones with them. Nobody is limping or crying. They must be okay."

     These seven prisoners would soon be transformed into rubbish when turned over to the South Sudanese military authorities. We had two choices, Turn them over to South Sudan or none. That is until Samuel filled my ear with another option.

     When Samuel turned the prisoners over to the waiting Team members, he turned toward me with that we-gotta-talk look of his. Before he ever reached me, his attack began, "Chief, we all know the fate of these prisoners if we turn them over to the military."

     With my questioning squint-eyed look, I said, "If? That implies there is another option."

     "Chief, you are so intuitive. Yes, we have another option, and that option is to question them separately to judge their attitudes. If they seem to have cracks in their faulty belief system, we release them. Of course, minus weapons and after group prayers for discernment."

     "Samuel Nathanael Winston, do you honestly think letting these men go is a wise option?"

     Samuel moved his face close into mine and hit me with his verbal baseball bat, "Chief, what I think doesn't matter. It's what God thinks that matters. He thinks we should be living, loving examples of Jesus Christ. Then and only then can we begin to bring change to this world."

     His words can wipe me out at times. "Samuel, we must stay true to our Lord. Issue the orders for an overnight stay here. I think the Doctors International group will offer no objections."

     That man keeps us affixed to the narrow path. I know he is a sinner, but I've never seen the evidence. I covet what he has. I hope that's a good covet because he looks so much like the Lord that I crave.