Atem series... Part 1

Atem- My Atem

On this episode, I tell a story of how my friend met the love of her life while on a mission to help refugees. (As written and narrated by Paris Jacoby)

I once joined a team that had a mission for the Turkana people. We religiously went three times a year that is April, August, and December. It had people from different cultures, professions, and all works of life. I would say it was very balanced. We had a medical team and would always set up a temporary medical camp and offer health services which were always packed right from the opening to the last day. usually 7-14 days depending on the resources.  The Gospel was preached, door-to-door, counseling, kids’ ministry name it.

Every trip we tried to go to a different location and if we were close to our previous location then we would try and get a small team to do a follow-up. Well, one time a door opened to Kakuma refugee camp. Kakuma refugee camp is home to over 160,000 refugees from South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, and other nationalities (there could be changes). Most of these people have been displaced from their homes by persecution, conflict, environmental disasters, and economic strain.

One man from Sudan decided I was the best thing that ever happened to him. Love can be crazy. The guy did not mince his words. Let's call him Atem-Ahaach. He Made it clear he loved this girl and offered 1M for the bride price. We would go to different sections of the camp each day. They are mostly into sections by country. He would try and track us. He offered 3M when we were about to end our assignment which we declined. I later found out some of these people are very rich/influential just a threat to the government of their respective countries. We left peacefully. Never left any tracking information behind.

We did another mission trip this time to the people of Turkana but very close to the Camp.It was in Kakuma. We decide to send a small team to the camp each day to follow up while the rest would concentrate on the ground. On day one I was hoping not to be amongst the team going to the camp as it is I stayed behind and assisted in the medical camp. On day two I was assigned the kitchen ministry. On day three I was doing door-to-door.

Some very close friends were among the team heading to the camp and I confided in them to see if the guy was around. I kind of feared but also wondered if he was still there. You know these things now. No one saw him. He was dark, tall, and very friendly. On day four I felt relieved and voluntarily joined the team that was doing a follow-up at the refugee camp. It was going good no sign of him and I didn’t bother asking his people. We had one place where we all converged just to make sure everyone was accounted for then we would head home for the day. We walked in teams of 2-3. We finished early with my teammate and we walked to the meeting place. We both kind of decided to text others to start winding up.

While busy on my phone suddenly someone from behind placed their hands over my eyes. I knew sure it was one of the team members. I was 100% sure no stranger would do that. Turned around and it was Atem-Ahaach. My heart almost left my chest the audacity! Then he held my hands tight. Looking at his face it was more like letting you go the last time was a mistake and that isn’t happening again. In some battles, you have to be creative and I didn’t want to create a scene. I quickly had a plan whispered in my teammate’s ear the strategy.

I took a deep breath relaxed my shoulders looked him in the eye and smiled at him. He relaxed his grip smiled back and I inched closer and gave him a hug of reassurance. There was a bench close by so I motioned with my eye and we sat on the bench. We talked about nothing and everything. Lets just say hakuna mkate ngumu mbele ya chai.If you find yourself with a tough bread just find some tea.Premium tears when I read some stories here about how a new bride is treated in this region of the world. Anyway, I digress.

Back to the camping ground, I got really scared. My team kept saying I am overthinking.

When I was finally home I worked with my team to reward the ladies from Turkana. We raised enough money and invited them to visit us. Paid their fare. It was a big team and we split them for the sake of accommodation. Every day we gathered all of them at the church ground and did a tour. At the end of their visit the ones accommodated I gave them maize, beans, rice, and omena and we got everyone on a private bus to Kitale and checked them on a bus to Lodwar

Never forgot how kind these ladies treated me. We cried as they boarded the bus bound for Lodwar.

During the follow up trip, Atem was missing. Actually he had an interview at the embassy and also had to go through medical examination to fly out of the camp to a western country. This is why he was missing several days apart when the team did a follow up at the camp. Atem never mentioned any of that learnt that later .

So I flew to Australia on a completely different mission some years later little did I know Atem had gone ahead of me to this very country. Only mountains do not meet and you can only run so far. Hakuna mkate ngumu mbele ya chai. I had a lot of speaking engagements in Australia.

A friend of mine married to a Sudanese had just bought a house and were having a house warming party to qhich I was invited. Turns out Atem and the host are very close buddies. We arrived earlier to assist the wife with a few things. I was flying to Sydney the following morning so I painfully had to leave the party early. Nevertheless, I had so much fun and left at 10pm.

I helped take pics and we did a few group photos because I had to leave. It turns out the camera 🎥 I was using was Atem’s. He worked at a very high end company that deals with high end goods so he had a very good camera. He was supposed to be here early to take pics but got held at work. Top positions come with a price so he sent his camera ahead. Naturally, I would have scrolled through the pics but for some reason it got really busy and here I was running around with Atems camera 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

I left at 10pm Atem arrived at 11pm and took over the photography ministry since he was extremely good at that. This is what I was told- that he was going through the pics and almost dropped the camera. He put it down gently and turned to his Sudanese friend who was the host and shook him really hard saying, "how could you do this, I thought we were friends, why did you let her go, why? This is the one time you could have stepped in and saved a brother."

It took a minute before they realized he was actually crying 😢. Luckily, the party was just picking up, music was loud and everything was starting to fall in place. So his friend, took him to a different room and the wife followed. Atem scrolled through the camera zoomed one of the pics that had me and he said Paris the girl I have been telling you about! When he mentioned my name they were shocked. He continued amidst tears said this is the girl I met in Kenya at a refugee camp. The fact that he knew my name convinced them that this situation was real and that he was not crazy .

So when he was calm they let him know I left early because I had flight to catch to Sydney as I was to attend a conference. He was abit relieved when he heard I was flying back to the same state.