A prayer for the Sudan II: "God is great!"

... The explosives went off, and bridges that led to Friendship Hall were closed down, even as the president was making his way to speak to the nation about the way of peace. Some bombs had been intentionally planted and detonated in the city in prior weeks, so security forces and the population at large understandably assumed some sort of attack was underway.

Leftover munitions. Heat, friction, bumps in the road. Running on fumes, uncertainty, explosions. Fear, reactions, paralysis. Bridges shutting down. Empty seats.

They all go together.

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A prayer for the Sudan I: "moros y cristianos"

... I forced myself to turn and look into the sea of eyes, many looking intently, curiously, skeptically at us, at me. ... The space between us was defined by so much more than the deceptively low banister over which we studied each other. A millennium of wall-building is not reversed in a weekend visit, no matter how sincere. I breathed out a prayer for the God-sized task facing us all.

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