Look what I missed!

Cornerstone is on the foot slopes of a range of mountains called the Imatong Mountains.  They form a border with Uganda with the River Nile winding through them on its way north.  When I consulted my Sudan guidebook before I came here, it informed me that these mountains are still largely unmapped.  However, the part nearest to Nimule is a designated national park with a large herd of elephants who migrate to and fro between the park and Uganda, crossing the Nile on their way.  There is also a very dramatic series of waterfalls called the Fulaa Falls.  ‘Fulaa’ means Living Water.  It is also the name of the charity that supports Cornerstone.

View of the Imatong Mountains (Google image)

Given the state of the country, Nimule National Park is not yet on the international tourist map.  Although things are peaceful here, there are still land mines from the civil war.  There are also bandits.  So any trip there must be made with great caution.

I searched the internet to find decent information, but there is very little.  Here is someone else's blog description. 

Pastor Abdullah told me one day that he was planning to take the children on a trip to the national park and to see the falls.  To do this he wheedled free entry from the rangers.  He booked the use of a truck to transport all the children.  He also asked for a military escort in case of trouble.  To my great disappointment I was unable to go because I was still too weak following malaria.  The children promised to tell me all about it.

This was a major event as it is extremely rare for the children go on an outing.  They had a wonderful day out.  They took a goat with them and cooked roast goat as a picnic beside the falls.  One little girl told me that they saw monkeys and a white family with twins!  Both equally amazing.  The falls impressed them all very much too.

The icing on the cake for the staff was that the truck was pursued from Nimule by a car containing a very important government figure from Juba.  When they arrived at the park, he hurried over to ask if the children came from Cornerstone Children’s Home.  When told that they did, he said that he had seen a film about the home last year on TV and had wanted to find them.  He then produced a large amount of money and handed it over as a donation.