Seeking Truth

You don't learn about this at Vacation Bible School

2011-11-26T23:37:00.008-05:00

Exodus 4:24-26 (NIV)

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶ So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

For some reason, the writers of The Prince of Egypt "forgot" to put this part of Moses' story in the movie. Maybe they were afraid of the R rating that including that snippet would surely bring? Idk.

In all seriousness, I have never ever heard of that part of Moses' story. I'd heard about God's appearance in a burning bush, God's command that Moses go up to Egypt to bring the Israelites out of bondage, and Moses' journey up to Egypt, but I've definitely never heard of the events of Exodus 4:24-26 happening on Moses' journey to deliver the Israelites.

Does that passage make you feel uncomfortable? Honestly, I tried really hard to just pass right over it. Why? Because what it reveals about God does not coincide with what people want to hear about God. We want a God who is so "loving" that He is okay with our disobedience. Because of this, we have manufactured a god who obeys our personal rules of morality and then we have had the audacity to call Him Yahweh.

Yes, my God is loving. But even more than that, He is a God who honors His covenants. The whole reason God was concerned with delivering the Israelites from the afflictions in Egypt was because "God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob" (Exodus 2: 24). God promised Abraham that " for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions"(Genesis 15:13-14).

Why would God, because his son wasn't circumcised, seek to kill Moses? This goes back to another covenant God made with Abraham. "¹This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you"(Genesis 17:10-11).

When it comes to God's covenants, He definitely doesn't play any games. How awesome is that? Even though we are surrounded by people who are constantly breaking promises and letting us down, God never will.

Lust, Brainerd High, and Hair Dye

2011-11-12T23:20:00.000-05:00

How often I lust after the things of this world. If I were to be honest with you, over half of my thoughts start off with “I want” and many of my prayers begin with “God, please give me” and end with one of many worldly delights. In a society where we are taught to live the American dream, I can guarantee you that I am not exempt of this desire.

Moses “regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt” (Heb 11:26). Would you have regarded disgrace as greater value than earthly treasures? DO you regard disgrace for the sake of Christ as more valuable than the treasures of the world? 2 Timothy 3:12 says that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. For every single one of us who are a part of the body of Christ, we will face persecution. To some degree, we will all face disgrace for the sake of Christ. Are you willing and ready? In Hebrews 10:34, the Jewish brethren accepted joyfully the seizure of their property, knowing that they had a better and lasting possession. Is that how you would have responded?

Those are just a few of the questions I’m currently pondering while studying through the passages I am going to be leading the Brainerd High girls through on Monday. Please pray for me on Mondays, I begin classes at 8 am that day and don’t get home from Student Venture until around 9 pm that night. Last week, the exhaustion about caused me to bless one of the students with a Holy Ghost beat down because she decided she wanted to compare who had a busier day when I mentioned that I was super exhausted from all the events that day. Okay, maybe I wasn’t about to bless her with a beat down, but I really did have to bite my tongue from saying something I was going to regret.

I dyed my hair to a lighter shade of blonde about a month and a half ago and already need to color the roots. Why can’t they make hair dyes that don’t require touch-ups?

I am raising more support and the Lord is providing in phenomenal ways. He who promised is faithful.

Would you pray with me for more male and female volunteers for Student Venture? Starting in January, I will be the only active staff member on campus. We desperately need guys & girls with a heart for urban youth to come alongside of me through evangelism, leading bible studies, and doing discipleship.

Changes!

2011-07-29T00:12:00.003-04:00

I haven’t updated since February. Wow, things have changed. If you had asked me then what my plans were for the next year, I would have told you very confidently, “I will be joining full time staff with Student Venture after I graduate college in May 2012.”

This summer the Lord has rocked my world.

My plans to join staff with SV after college are gone, and I have (after about a year of fighting with God) finally submitted to the will of the Lord. I changed my plans to attend Campus Crusade’s Staff Conference to instead take General Chemistry II at UTC and have spent some time job shadowing doctors. After a lot of prayer and consideration, the Lord has definitely shown me His will is for me to pursue the pre-med route. This at first was a really, really scary and burdening thought because, well honestly, my personal desire has never been to become a doctor. Also, I’m gonna have to be honest in saying that I’m a math girl, but never have had a love for science (and pre-med classes are mostly science!). I asked the Lord to put a desire in my heart to learn sciences if that’s what His desire is for me, and I know this is going to make me sound like a huge geek, but I am honestly excited every day about going to Chemistry class and get really giddy when I’m about to do lab experiments. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

This fall, instead of taking my senior math classes, I will be taking Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biology, (all 3 with labs) and Numerical Analysis. Please, please, please pray for me as I prepare myself emotionally and spiritually to take on such a heavy school load this next semester. I am clinging to the verse, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”(Matt 6:34) The Lord has been challenging me lately to live life day by day rather than looking ahead into the great unknown. I must hold onto this truth as I go into the next semester because if I don’t, I will end up VERY overwhelmed!

Also, please be praying for me as I take on 15 hours a week working with Student Venture on Brainerd High School’s campus this fall. I am so excited to be spending my free time loving on the girls at Brainerd and showing them the truth of who God is!

I am currently trudging through the book of Job, and am going to leave you with this verse of encouragement:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me! –Job 19:25-27

celebrating my 21st birthday with my american friends, this was the first birthday celebrated in the states in 3 years!

my 19th birthday with my african papa. i miss him so much

Yahweh Jireh

2011-02-25T22:47:00.004-05:00

I have always wanted brothers.

I remember nights growing up when I would pray and pray that God would provide one (or two or three) for me.

Well, ten years after those prayers were lifted up, He has answered.

No, my mom's not pregnant.

These brothers have not been adopted the traditional way, being raised by my parents and living with my family. Some of them I see once a week at our weekly Student Venture meetings, others I see on campus at Howard and Brainerd High School more often, and still others do life with me on a more regular basis.

Based on appearance, we don't look related. We didn't grow up in the same neighborhoods, we haven't experienced the same struggles, and some people would argue we have no ways to relate with one another.

But, we do relate.

See, my brothers and I, we are in desperate need of the same thing. We both desperately need Jesus. And that's where my brothers and I differ. Some of them, like me, realize this need. Others are searching....looking into gangs, sex, drugs, success, money, and love to fulfill them.

My God is Yahweh Jireh. HE will provide.

It is so awesome to see how the Lord has answered my prayers with the provision of so many little brothers that I am able to encourage and pour into during this season of my life.

Please be praying for my little brothers, that the ones who do not have a relationship with the Lord will realize that HE is the way, the truth, and the life.

Please be in specific prayer for D (For privacy reasons, I will not be using their full names). D is in middle school and while, thank the Lord, he has asked the Lord into his life, he is really struggling with allowing the Lord to take over his whole life.

Also, please be praying for K. K looks to things other than the Lord for his satisfaction. (Don't we all sometimes!) His life has been a struggle, to say the least. His father died when K was 5, and since then his mother has had a tough time raising his brothers and sisters.

And lastly, please be praying for me, that the Lord will give me discernment and guidance when dealing with my brothers.

Thank you Lord, for being my Provider.

Anticipation

2010-07-11T07:36:00.003-04:00

This is what the bulk of the children's medical records look like when it comes to weight. The top line is the line for healthy weight for age. The second line is underweight for age. The bottome line is extreme underweight for age.
Some of the children around Kikambwe.
Clinic day at Rapha! My Favorite Day of the Week.
Who needs Walmart when you have shops like this?
Nambossa (i'm pretty sure that's her uganda name) and I. she's one of my nursery class kids!

While having a small quiet time yesterday, I came across such a beautiful story of the Lord's faithfulness. Abraham decided it was time for Isaac to be married, so he sent one of his servants out to find Isaac a wife. The servant prayed to God that whenever he meets the right girl for Isaac, he will know it because she will offer to draw water for him and his cattle as well. Before the prayer was even finished, Rebekah came along and fulfilled exactly what the servant prayed she would. In such thankfulness to the Lord, right then “the man (servant) bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying 'Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.'” (Genesis 24:26-27)

This servant bowed down and worshiped the Lord AS SOON AS He proved himself faithful. The man wasn't discreet about it, and instead even BOWED down in utter reverence for the Lord.

As I write this, tears stream down my face as I realize how faithful the Lord is. HE has provided the funds for me to come to Africa all 3 times. HE has provided every cent for the Shalom Nutritional Project proposal to be written. HE is the whole reason I am able to stay here for three months and not feel the homesickness I felt last trip. HE is who brought me to Rapha Medical Centre to begin with. Even in the US, HE is the One who guides me and holds my hand as I go week by week working with Student Venture. See, it's not me at all. It is all HIM. It has taken me till now to realize how faithful HE is, and how if it weren't for HIM I wouldn't be here today. And even though I wasn't as quick or as intentional as the servant was to thank HIM, I write this today telling you all that all Praise goes to the Lord for all HE has done. HE is so good.

If I were to be completely honest, the bulk of this past week has been spent anticipating (and often times worrying) what all awaits me when I get back to the States. I've applied for a part-time internship with the Student Venture I've been volunteering with, so if I get accepted I will need to work on raising my support for that. There's the Nutritional Project, which will require much attention as we fundraise and work to start it up in January. And then on top of all that, there's school which requires a lot of attention. I've been kind of down thinking about how IMPOSSIBLE it will be for me to do all 3 of those tasks well when I get back. But just realizing (once again) how faithful God is has been such encouragement. Yes, it will be impossible for ME to do those three things, but wow HE can do the impossible. So, for now I'm just clinging to the promise that He is my Ultimate Provider and praying/believing in a miracle.

I spent Tuesday evening-Friday morning at Rapha. After 10 very long days, we FINALLY got running water back at Rapha on Tuesday. When I heard one of the taps start running, I about cried out of excitement. I even flushed the toilet a time or two for the heck of it ha. We haven't been so lucky in getting water back at home in Kampala. Apparently, when the construction workers were widening the road, they damaged the pipe that carries water to all of the houses around us. To top it off, the water company didn't realize that was the problem until AFTER the construction workers finished working on our part of the road. So for now we're waiting on the construction workers to dig back up the road so the water company can fix the pipes.

On the taxi ride back to Rapha, I saw the aftermath of a REALLY bad accident. A huge Greyhound bus hit a small truck head on, killing everyone in the small truck. The taxi passed by right as they were pulling one of the bodies out of the truck. Seeing that was definitely a first for me, and drew to my attention how fleeting life really is, and how thankful I am to be given another day to live.

On Wednesday I worked at the school helping out the teacher in the nursery class. I have no idea how that lady manages 25ish kids age 3-5, but I Praise the Lord that she somehow does. Her name is Teacher Candie if yall would like to send up a special prayer for this hard-working woman. There was one little boy with what appeared to be syphilis sores growing on and around his right ear. I'm praying that he will be healed of that disease because it must be a very painful thing for him to handle.

Thursday at Rapha I was blessed to meet a little 3 year old girl named Sophie who is suffering from an enlarged heart because of the malfunctioning of one of her heart valves. She was first discovered in a community outreach conducted by an English doctor who comes yearly to Rapha specifically to reach out to the community. One of the nurses told me that when they first saw her, she could significantly see her heart beating from outside of her chest. They took her to the hospital in Kampala to run some tests, and learned she will have to get surgery abroad. Sophie was put on a waiting list allowing her to come to the US (I think) and receive that surgery and also transportation and accommodation for free, however the organization who funds it can only afford to take 10 people a year abroad for their respective surgeries (and there must be a million people on that waiting list I'm sure). When the nurse introduced me to Sophie and pulled up her little shirt so I could see for myself, sure enough I could see her little heart pumping, and when I touched it I could feel that it was pumping abnormally. I'm definitely going to be on my knees for that little girl and also for the others who are on that list to receive surgeries, that the Lord will deliver each of them in His own perfect way from whatever sickness each of them is experiencing.

On Friday, I came back to Kampala to meet with our project proposal team. It was so encouraging to hear from Joshua (the man in charge of the budgeting) and Dr. Betty (a doctor well educated in malnutrition) that they see huge potential in the plans we are making for the project. Joshua even challenged everyone writing out the proposal that we all need to take ownership for this project and that even in Uganda, the proposal writers should be meeting with individuals and companies to raise funds for Shalom.

Saturday, I spent the day walking through Kampala with David searching out travel agencies to find out how much they charge for safaris to Murchison Falls National Park so I'll have that information back in the states for individuals/groups to know if they're visiting Uganda and this is what I came out knowing: Travel Agencies make A LOT of money. David and I concluded that my best bet may be to try and cost out a safari trip that does not include the use of a travel agency. As we were walking along one of the main roads, a little girl came up to me with her hand open wide begging for money. At first I thought she would stop after I walked about 5 steps away, but then she continued walking with me for quite a distance, and much to my surprise her MOTHER came right behind her giving her advice on how to beg better. Extortion of children by their mothers to raise money really frustrates me, especially since there are SO many ministries here in Uganda whose prime purpose is to help families who beg find legitimate jobs, but I guess the money that momma is making from extorting her children must prove to be more lucrative.

Before I finish this blog post, I just want to thank each and every one of you who have been praying alongside of me the last few months. It has been quite a ride, and I am so thankful to have yall's support during this trip. Please, please, please don't stop praying!

Only one month to go...

2010-07-05T08:55:00.001-04:00

It's absolutely insane to think that I've already spent two months in beautiful Uganda, and only have one month left. My mind has been running like a crazy lady thinking about what all needs to be accomplished in my remaining time here :) We had a meeting for the Shalom Nutritional Project project proposal on Sunday and I must say I am quite impressed at the work going on to get it ready. Dr. Betty, the doctor helping draft this proposal, is SUCH a bank of knowledge on this subject and I am so thankful to have her working with us as we figure out what exactly we're wanting to accomplish with this project. I'm not gonna lie, though, I about have a heart attack thinking about the fact that I am committing myself to something for at least 5 years (that's the extent of foresight we're giving the project right now), considering I can barely commit to a major in college haha.

By the way, if anyone has any SPARE JARS or cans I can have to distribute for change donations for the project, please let me know! These “A Penny and a Prayer” Jars will help to publicize the project in the homes they're in while also raising money. Also, if anyone is interested in donating their time or heading up their own fundraiser for this project, let me know as well. I have a cousin who is raising money to help support two children he sponsors at a school here in Uganda by baking pre-ordered cakes. (Did I mention he is like 9 years old?) Tanner loves cooking, so what better way to raise money than doing what he ABSOLUTELY loves? We can use the things YOU enjoy in life to help make a difference in the lives of these children suffering from malnutrition.

Now for an update on life as of late: Last Sunday ( a week ago) at church as I was leaving to take a bus back to Rapha, a young teenage girl gave me a card. I didn't read it right then (Praise the Lord), but as I was walking to the bus stop, I opened it up and took a look inside. This girl (her name's Maureen) wrote me a note in the card asking me to adopt her. I was in utter shock as I read what she had written in the card, and also in a separate letter as well. I had never seen Maureen before, so I didn't know anything of what her home life was like, except for the fact that she'd stated in the card that she lives with her brothers and sisters because she was orphaned by both parents. After the initial shock was over, I called her older brother to find out more about their home life situation. Turns out, both parents had died from AIDS because the father had contracted it from one of his other wives (polygamy is rampant here) and had given it to Maureen's mother. Right now, the family is surviving solely on the money being made by the two older brothers who Praise the Lord were able to finish a college education and get a degree. Maureen is the youngest in the family, and there are 3 other sisters in between her and the older brother I was conversing with on the phone. The brother was completely in shock and so apologetic when he found out about the letter, and he promised to talk with her about the issue. Apparently, when he approached her about it, she tried to cover up the truth by telling him all she wanted was a pen pal. I was semi-freaking out about what I should do about the situation, because I couldn't imagine the pain she was going through missing her parents but after much prayer I knew that my job wasn't to adopt her in any way. I was planning on speaking to her at church yesterday about maybe developing a friendship with her instead, but she was nowhere to be seen. Please continue to keep her and her family in your prayers. I really can't imagine what that situation must be like for them, but I believe that even in that heartache and pain that Christ is there.

The last week at Rapha has been quite uneventful. Monday was my birthday (i'm 20 now...so old ha!) and it was spent going to a community outreach in Lugaaga. We were there from like 10-2 PM because there were around 70 children who came to be immunized in that village. The rest of my birthday was spent relaxing and reflecting.

By the way, this whole past week we were out of both water and electricity at Rapha, so as one can expect I was seriously excited to come back to Kampala for the weekend to enjoy those luxuries only to learn we have no water here at my Kampala home either ugghhh. Instead, we're surviving on water brought to us in jerricans. It's such a disappointment when you turn on the faucet only to have no water come out of it haha, but this situation will definitely make me thankful and not take for granted those luxuries that I EXPECT to always have in America.

On Tuesday I was attacked by a red ant the size of me (okay well maybe I exaggerated a little bit). As I was walking to the school to help out in the nursery class, I walked through a huge trail of ants and one of them decided to take a bite out of my middle toe. Although it was quite painful, I was impressed at how much strength that ant had as it was hooked on to my toe for dear life and I was trying to pull it off. Praise God, it did draw blood but only a little bit. I did learn a lesson though, and that's to watch where I step because I may be greeted by more of those man-eating ants! Haha.

On Wednesday I woke up with a slight fever and slept the ENTIRE day. The hospital staff was worried I may have had malaria, so I had to get a blood test to check and see and it came up negative. I think by sleeping it off, I was able to fight whatever I was getting and by Thursday I felt completely fine. In the morning on Thursday I helped out with the clinic for the pregnant mothers in the morning and then headed to Kampala for the weekend.

Allrighty, well that's mostly all I have for now. Sorry I don't have any pictures this time; I completely failed at taking any this week :( Peace!

Destitution

2010-06-23T10:50:00.002-04:00

one of the children reading a book sent by LIA
all of the children with their books from LIA!
Fridah with the mother of Shakila in her lap. Lydia the nurse is to the right in the blue dress.
The burial
The burial meeting place
Lydia, Fridah, and I

As I was taking an evening walk last week after a long day at Rapha, one of the villagers approached me. “My back is hurting and I need some medication for free,” he said to me. Taken aback at the fact he had just asked for free meds, I replied, “No, you can go to Rapha just like everyone else to be checked out by the doctor and then YOU can pay for the meds you need.” His response was, “No, you are American so I EXPECT you to give me them for free.”

We in America can often times (wrongly) view Africans as destitute. After all, the only things we really learn about them in school and in the media are they are super poor, often times without shoes and without decent (at least in our view) clothes, and living in grass-thatched huts with large families and big bellied children. We think the answer is to pour billions of dollars of relief into these people's lives because these people are in our eyes destitute. We think the answer is providing FREE medical outreaches, school fees for children who have healthy, capable parents, and FREE food in areas where people are able to farm. Just because these people don't have the ipods, the computers, the nice houses, the cars, and other modern conveniences doesn't make them destitute. Many families living in villages have other types of material possessions: LAND on which to farm, cows, goats, sheep, and chickens. It's all just a matter of where they choose to spend their income. Many families around Rapha do not see the importance of education, so they choose not to spend their money on schooling for their children. Many families around Rapha practice polygamy, so men can have as many as 30 children. 30 children can be VERY difficult to nutritiously feed and clothe, but families refuse family planning because of some untrue myths circulating through the village. Many families around Rapha can afford to take their children to the hospital when they're sick, they just choose to seek help from a local witchdoctor until the child becomes deathly sick, then they come to the hospital when it's too late. Many families around Rapha have men who refuse to work and spend the income generated by the wife (through farming) gambling and drinking.

See, the answer to all of these problems is not relief, it is education. The answer is not providing free handouts to everyone because all it does is create expectations (ex. The man quoted above) and a reliance on relief organizations. Imagine what life would be like if you relied on the US government for your livelihood...how would you feel? While it would be kinda nice having everything provided for me, at the same time I know it would NOT motivate me to study and work hard at whatever I was doing, because they'll be putting the food on the table regardless at the end of the day.

All of these thoughts have been whirling through my head as we begin drawing up a project proposal for the Shalom Nutritional Project (yes that's the name!). Our main goal with this project is to understand exactly WHY these children are becoming malnourished(and the answer is normally not because of lack of food) and then based on what we've learned about the roots of malnourishment in the area, educate the families on the realities of malnourishment and proper feeding while also rehabilitating those who are moderately to severely malnourished. We are not looking at this project as a way to help those who are destitute, but instead as a way to collaborate with the completely capable, surrounding communities to stamp out malnourishment. We expect the community to come together and provide land for demonstration gardens and also to maintain them, so when the project does outreaches there, all we have to bring are the nurses to teach and examine the patients. We want the communities to feel ownership over this project and to provide inputs on how we can improve it. We want this project to work WITH the communities to educate, and improve the overall livelihood and success of the communities.

Okay, enough about Shalom and misconceptions about Africa and onto what I've been doing the last week. Last Sunday when I arrived back to Rapha after a weekend in Kampala, I found out that one of the patients on the ward, a young lady named Shakila, had finally died after a horrible battle with HIV. She had had HIV for about 5 years, but refused to tell ANYONE about her condition because of the negative stigma against it. She gave birth to a child about a year ago, but after just a few months the baby died. This caused much stress to her, and combined with the battle with HIV, caused her to go into a coma. That's when her family brought her to Rapha. She was only at the hospital for about 4 days before she died. So, on Monday afternoon, I along with 4 Rapha staff went to the burial in a village about a 45 minutes motorcycle ride from the hospital. When we arrived at the house everyone was meeting at, I was amazed at the amount of people gathered. With the amount of people in attendance, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire village had come for her burial. Because her father is a Muslim, it was a traditional Muslim burial in which the women were not allowed to go and actually bury her, so when the body was carried to the burial place, we had to stay behind. The ceremony involved the men doing their prayers about 3 times, and then a short Islamic service, and lastly burying the body. Most of my time was spent with the nurses consoling the mother. Her heart was absolutely broken because of the loss of her daughter. She would grab my hand and moan and cry uncontrollably, to the point I thought she was going to pass out.

When it was time to leave, I heard one of the nurse's telling Shakila's boyfriend(he didn't have HIV) to make sure and go back to Kampala that very night and to not delay staying at the family's house any longer. Hearing that conversation, I was intrigued as to why she was telling him that so I asked her when we got back to Rapha. Turns out, because the boyfriend was very good looking and rich, the family had already offered him another one of their daughters to marry and the nurse feared that if he stayed overnight at their house, they may try and give him some witchdoctor concoction that would make him fall in love with another of the daughters. It still amazes me how real and commonly accepted witchcraft is here...

On Wednesday, I took the books to school that Ladies in Aiding sent all the way from America! It was so exciting to see them being opened by the P2 and P3 classes and read. Each student stood up and read a sentence out of the book they were given, and then both teachers in the class read a book each as well. After they each read a book, I got up and read a book to them about Christmas, American style. It was hilarious trying to explain gingerbread houses, Santa Claus, snow, Stockings, and Presents to children who know nothing about those traditions. Christmas for the few Christian students in the room was simply going to church on Christmas day and eating a big feast afterward. After we finished reading the books, I went through each book individually and sorted them based on difficulty, stamped them, and left them for the headmaster to put in the library. Thank you so much LIA for those books! They are going to be such an awesome teaching aid! (I'm even using some of the books myself to help one of the staff at Rapha's sons learn how to read!) THANKS!

On Thursday evening, I traveled back to Kampala. When I arrived back, there was no water in the taps and apparently there had been none for the past week but PRAISE THE LORD the water came back on just an hour after I arrived back. The electricity hasn't been so friendly lately, though. Because the electricity company is replacing electricity poles, the past couple of days they've been turning the current off at around 8 AM and not turning it back on until about 8 PM.

On Friday, I visited a couple of banks to compare costs for getting a US dollar account, went to church to visit with everyone, and then unknowingly decided it was time to pick a fight with gravity. As I was crossing a street, I tripped over a short brick wall that separated the road and the sidewalk, and fell face forward on my hands and knees, tearing a ligament in my left ankle and badly spraining my right foot. My right hand is a little scuffed up as well, and both knees are left with scrapes as well. Because of these injuries, the doctor suggested that I stay around Kampala for a week to give my various wounds time to heal and also so I won't use my feet as much as I would if I were at Rapha. So, since Friday I've just mostly been resting at home. On Monday I went to the local mall to possibly see a movie because electricity was off at home, but watching a movie there cost $8, a price I sure as heck wasn't going to pay! The guys at home have been begging me to make some American food for them, so this morning I made french toast and tomorrow I'll probably make pancakes. I'm also going to try my luck at making smoothies. Even though I really hate having to spend so much time at home just chilling, I'm thankful because this is God's way of MAKING me rest my ankles so they'll heal. I've also slept in till about noon the past two mornings which is pretty much unheard of here!

Allrighty, that's all for now! On a side note, four Chattanooga Student Venture students got saved during Getaway praise the Lord! I've been told that two of them are from Howard and Brainerd (the schools I work with) and I'm super excited about hearing that awesome news! It's crazy to think that in just 5 weeks I'll be back in America. So much to do, so little time!

Overlooked Heroes

2010-06-13T16:52:00.005-04:00

the frog i found in the bathroom tonight! isn't it a weird color?
Me with the box of books sent by Ladies in Aiding! Thanks!
At Bulo, buying the green oranges...(those oranges are ripe)
Bulo from a distance
Scenery!
Working on english vocabulary with the nursery class!
Teacher Diana with the Baby Nursery Class!

“Wherever you are, be all there.” -Elizabeth Elliot (I think)

When I first felt the calling to missions in Africa my senior year of high school, I was ALL about it. After taking my first trip there volunteering at orphanages and loving on people, I came back changed. I was changed in the sense that Africa became everything to me, it was always in my thoughts and always on my lips. I would hear people saying (quite misconcieved)“Hannah, you're such a good person for going to Africa and helping orphans. You are so dedicated to doing the Lord's work.” Because I spent THREE WEEKS in Africa working in some orphanages somehow meant that I became dedicated to the Lord's work, when I had spent SEVENTEEN YEARS prior and the year afterward ignoring His great commission while in America.

I say all of that to tell you this: The most overlooked heroes are the Americans passionately dedicated to the Lord's work IN America. I know that I'm so quick to make people who do foreign mission work my heroes, but often times I forget the ones at home doing the same thing. If you were to have an informational session on a mission trip to Uganda and then an informational session on going door to door in your hometown building relationships and preaching the gospel, I dare to say there would be more people at the Uganda informational meeting. Why is that? Why are we more likely to spend $3500 to speak about the Lord in a foreign country for a couple of weeks when we could do it in the US for FREE?

After my second trip to Uganda, the Lord really convicted me of that sin in my life. He said to me,”Hannah, you go halfway across the world to do my work and yet when you come back to the US it's like I don't exist.” I knew at that point my heart had to change. I could no longer view the little I did in Africa as “enough”. I had to realize that I was saved by GRACE and not by my WORKS, and that regardless of where I was, I needed to be ALL there.

That's when I met two overlooked heroes.

Student Venture, the high school version of Campus Crusade for Christ, has a major hub in Chattanooga. There are about 8-10 high schools in our city with some sort of Student Venture (SV) presence, whether it be volunteers or staff. My bestie Ruth and I got involved with “Urban aka Inner City Student Venture” at Howard and Brainerd High School. And that's how we got introduced to the two overlooked heroes.

Jack Noonan, the SV staff member at Brainerd, and Aubrey Fritz, the SV staff member at Howard, may have two of the most bejeweled crowns in Heaven waiting for them. They, along with their families, are committed to full time ministry with the Urban SV ministry. They have committed to following Christ even if it means working with students who can sometimes be very difficult to work with. They are following Christ into the schools and the neighborhoods known for shootings, gang violence, and drugs and are trusting Him the whole way. They are awesome. And they are two true heroes to me because of their dedication to Christ's work even though it is TOUGH. Christ is making disciples through them in areas of Chatt. most people wouldn't dare step foot in. All Praise be to God for these two souls.

Pray for those doing the Lord's work everywhere. Whether it be down the street or halfway across the world, these people are sacrificing themselves for the sake of the Gospel. Pray as Student Venture has its summer Getaway conference this week, that all of the students attending will come to grow in their faith or for some commit their lives to Christ. Pray for Jack and Aubrey and all of the other Chattanooga SV staff and volunteers, that they will be ready in season and out of season for these students and any questions they may have.

Allrighty, now to completely change the subject and start talking about what's been going on with me the past week. I met with the two people helping with the project proposal for the Nutritional Rehabilitation Center last Sunday and we will be meeting again this weekend to talk in more details of the plans for it. The doctor who is helping write it is pouring so many awesome ideas into this Center that I had never thought of. She is going to be such an awesome asset, especially when it comes to planning out specifics on how to help with prevention of malnutrition in these areas.

Last weekend my Afr. Cousin David and I started watching the first season of Heroes and it has become my guilty pleasure. I have spent WAY too much time watching that series! Haha.

Coming back from Kampala last weekend, the car bringing us back to Rapha hit a dog. Today on the way home, we almost hit 3 goats. These animals must have suicidal issues or something stepping in front of fast cars like they do!

Nothing really interesting happened the past week at the hospital or the school. I've started working with the nursery class students at school and they are so precious. Because these children's mother tongue is luganda and they NEVER speak English at home, they are really struggling when it comes to learning English but they are trying so hard so they can talk to me. It's really precious!

Oh yea...my african parents went to the US for a wedding on Tuesday. It's so weird that I'm here in Africa and they're in the US haha. Be praying for them, that they will have a safe and relaxing trip! My mom should be coming back in about two weeks, but my dad may be there until August or so!

On Wednesday, Jalia and I walked to Bulo about 3 kilometers from Rapha for market day there, and I bought a pineapple and some oranges! Oranges here aren't even orange, though, it kind of has me confused!

I went back to Kampala on Friday to pick up the books Ladies In Aiding sent for the school! Thank you all so much for all the books you sent, they will be such a blessing for these kids!!! I will be posting a pic of the students with them whenever I take them to the school!

On Saturday, I ate sausage that was not thoroughly cooked which caused some serious upset stomach issues as David and I were walking from home to Kampala. I don't think yall wanna know any more details, but let me just tell yall that bathrooms are hard to come by especially when you really need one, but Praise the Lord we found one haha.

That's seriously all the news I have. I'll try to come up with more interesting stuff for the next blog!

A little bit of life (blog post)

2010-06-05T03:52:00.001-04:00

Ok, so my sister said that all she can see on my new post are new pictures and an old blogpost so I'm going to try reposting the blog again. My new pics are in the blog below.

When I arrived back at Rapha Sunday from a weekend trip to Kampala, Jalia (I talked about her in the last blog) informed me of some very bad news. Over the weekend she had walked to Kikambwe to buy a couple things and on the way there, she saw Salaam's father. She asked him how his little daughter was holding up since she had been discharged from the hospital about a week ago, and that's when he told her that she had died just two days after being discharged. She had been admitted into the hospital because of stomach ulcers that caused her to quit eating and had left her hungry and quite malnourished. In the ward, she had caught my attention because of her extreme malnourishment and also because of the fact that she was the only child there without a mother taking care of her (apparently her mother had abandoned the family and had gotten remarried). That little girl had become quite an important part of my life during her hospitalization (you can read about her in my other posts), and it breaks my heart to hear that she is no longer here on Earth with us. I think, well what if I had taken her in for a little while until she had regained full strength or what if I had gone to check on her everyday, but it is too late for what if's. What if's do not change the past. However, the way I react now can change the future.

For about two and a half weeks now I have been praying through something that the Lord has laid on my heart:starting a Malnutrition Rehabilitation Center here at Rapha. I could not look into these precious little malnourished babies eyes and then ignore their present suffering. Currently, the nearest place for these children to be treated for malnutrition is two hours away in Kampala, a trip quite expensive and unrealistic for people here. Most parents in the villages, because they fear traveling all the way to Kampala for treatment, instead watch their children waste away slowly.

Not only will this be an awesome opportunity to be a part in saving children's lives, it is a crazy awesome place to share the Gospel. Rapha is located in an area with about 50%+ Muslim population, so this Center will be a great avenue in which to introduce them to Christ's love for them (that is most important, after all).

The main reason I went to Kampala the past weekend was to discuss the vision for a Nutritional Rehabilitation Center with my African parents. Since they are the directors of Rapha, it was very important for them to agree to this idea (they did, Praise God!). I am in Kampala again this weekend to meet with them again along with the various doctors and health care workers in the church to get their advice on the best way to start this project and also to lay our vision out so the person who will be writing the Project Proposal will know exactly what the vision for the Center is.

Since we are still in the very preliminary stages of starting this project, I do not have very many details about it to tell yall. My vision and dream is to purchase a plot of land very close to the hospital to build the Center with enough land to garden for most of the foods we will need to feed the children. This vision, though, is one that is quite expensive and until enough money is raised for purchasing of land and also construction, right now we are looking for temporary means by which to house the center. We may purchase a small trailer to house the ward or I may be spending some serious time cleaning out one of the empty rooms at the hospital! (While purchasing the trailer would be easier, doing some serious cleaning and sprucing up of one of the empty rooms here is a whole heck of a lot cheaper!) Some of the other expenses incurred will be purchasing the beds for the children to sleep in, hiring a couple of additional nurses to help with this ward (we are predicting it may end up being the busiest ward in the hospital), purchasing the cooking appliances needed, and getting some toys for these babies to play with while staying here (the least amount of time needed for a child to stay at the Center to be monitored and correctly fed is 3 weeks!). My ultimate goal is for the Center (when it is up and running) to be self-sustaining, but as we are purchasing all of the initial items needed, there is no income to offset the costs.

This is where I need your help...While I wish that my savings account were enough to pay for all of these beginning supplies needed along with paying for the project proposal to be written and the various governmental offices to accept it, the reality is that I need your help. Whether it be having a garage sale, car wash, bake sale, or any other fundraising event, I would be so blessed as to have some people coming alongside of me to help fundraise while I am still here in Uganda. Every single penny donated will make a significant impact in starting this Center. I had not started a Nonprofit Organization in the US prior because I was very unsure of what the specific mission was to be, but now that I have a much clearer vision, I plan on starting the paperwork for one as soon as I get back to the States (beginning of August).

All right enough news about the Rehabilitation Center, now on to what I have been doing the past week.

This past week has been A LOT of fun, considering that I have had plenty of firsts. I traveled for the first time to Kampala from the hospital and back all by myself via taxi (those are the local buses used). While it is kind of uncomfortable being in a bus with people who for the most part are speaking a language I don't much understand, it is always an adventure and motivates me to study Luganda more rigorously. On the way to Kampala, the people on the bus knew (somehow) that I understood and could communicate some Luganda, so the whole bus greeted me when I got on haha. As one lady was getting off the bus, she even called me by name which was weird because as far as I know, I've never met that lady before. I guess when you're the only white person around for miles, people are bound to talk about ya. On the taxi ride back to the hospital from Kampala, I sat beside a young Muslim girl named Sarah. As I began talking with her about her religious beliefs, she confided to me that she wanted to become a Christian because it was “easier” than being a Muslim. That opened up a door for me to share the truth of the Gospel with her and to also talk with her about her (very interesting) belief that Christianity was somehow easier. She never came to accept Christ on the way home, but I believe that one day it will happen. Please be in prayer for Sarah, that someone else will come into her life to speak more truth about Christ into her life.

On Tuesday, I WATCHED someone slaughter a chicken. I would consider this to be the first step in my ultimate goal of killing one myself haha:)

At the hospital this week, I got my first glimpse of what is in your uterus when you are pregnant. The women around in the villages know we don't give abortions at Rapha, so they opt to have them done locally in the villages by either eating certain raw foods or other means, but when there are complications afterward they always come to the hospital for help. Sometimes, the women end up bleeding uncontrollably after the abortion and it's either we help them or they die. So, the lady I was around to see was 2 months pregnant and claimed to have had a miscarriage while using the bathroom, but everything didn't come out so the doctor had to remove the rest of the bloody mess right in front of me. To say that I wanted to throw up after seeing that was an understatement ha....

As for my time at the school, it has been filled with many firsts as well. I ate my first meal traditional african style (with my hands) on Tuesday. Trying to eat posho (millet flour poured into boiled water with the consistency of grits kept out too long) and beans with your hands is quite the challenge, but it's been really fun eating like all of the other teachers and students(they used to give only me a fork).

It has been a joy getting to know some of the students there as well while working in the classroom and also teaching PE. I have caught the nursery class students peeking through windows at me on multiple occasions, in awe of my foreign, white skin. On Tuesday, I was in charge of teaching the Primary 4 class English and Math. After taking so many upper-level math classes, it has proven to be quite the challenge teaching elementary mathematics. I tried teaching long division to the P4 class, and while some students caught on, I hate to admit that I probably left some kids more confused about it than they were before haha.

The trip back to Kampala from the hospital yesterday was quite the adventure as well. I traveled with 3 employees of the hospital, and on two separate occasions the taxi drivers tried to drop us off before the mutually agreed upon time. For about ten minutes Stella, the administrator of the hospital, argued with the taximen in Luganda. The entire time I was laughing so hard because Stella and the other employees were having such a heated argument, and I didn't even know what the heck they were saying. I just had to put in my two cents as well, but I'm pretty sure those taxi drivers couldn't understand what I was saying ha. After all of the arguing was over and the taximen finally agreed to take us where we needed to go, it started pouring rain, so when it was time for me to be dropped off by the taxi to the gas station near my home, I got to spend some quality time under the overhang there for about 20 minutes. There was a little kid about 3 years old under the overhang with his mother, and I guess that kid had been staring at me for a while but when I made eye contact with that poor child he started SCREAMING and grabbed his mother's leg to hide his face. I have NEVER seen a child so scared for his life. Everyone around me thought the situation was hilarious, and while I did too, I felt some sympathy for that little boy as well.

Well, that is all for now. Please be in prayer for all that I wrote about above and also that the Lord will reveal to me which children desperately need help in paying their school fees so I can match up the 4 new sponsors with a student. Please pray for Sarah, Salaam's family as they are mourning, and Rapha.

A little bit of life

2010-06-04T04:55:00.003-04:00

Celebration after a team won at the games in PE. This is the p3 class.
The kids playing one of the PE games.
The P3 class at Grace Community School and I.
Uncle Paul's family and I. From left to right is Tendu, Jireh, Faith, Aunt Rebecca, Nissi, Uncle Paul, and I
Last weekend at Uncle Paul's house for a get-together. My poor dad fell asleep! (Nissi is in my lap)

When I arrived back at Rapha Sunday from a weekend trip to Kampala, Jalia (I talked about her in the last blog) informed me of some very bad news. Over the weekend she had walked to Kikambwe to buy a couple things and on the way there, she saw Salaam's father. She asked him how his little daughter was holding up since she had been discharged from the hospital about a week ago, and that's when he told her that she had died just two days after being discharged. She had been admitted into the hospital because of stomach ulcers that caused her to quit eating and had left her hungry and quite malnourished. In the ward, she had caught my attention because of her extreme malnourishment and also because of the fact that she was the only child there without a mother taking care of her (apparently her mother had abandoned the family and had gotten remarried). That little girl had become quite an important part of my life during her hospitalization (you can read about her in my other posts), and it breaks my heart to hear that she is no longer here on Earth with us. I think, well what if I had taken her in for a little while until she had regained full strength or what if I had gone to check on her everyday, but it is too late for what if's. What if's do not change the past. However, the way I react now can change the future.

For about two and a half weeks now I have been praying through something that the Lord has laid on my heart:starting a Malnutrition Rehabilitation Center here at Rapha. I could not look into these precious little malnourished babies eyes and then ignore their present suffering. Currently, the nearest place for these children to be treated for malnutrition is two hours away in Kampala, a trip quite expensive and unrealistic for people here. Most parents in the villages, because they fear traveling all the way to Kampala for treatment, instead watch their children waste away slowly.

Not only will this be an awesome opportunity to be a part in saving children's lives, it is a crazy awesome place to share the Gospel. Rapha is located in an area with about 50%+ Muslim population, so this Center will be a great avenue in which to introduce them to Christ's love for them (that is most important, after all).

The main reason I went to Kampala the past weekend was to discuss the vision for a Nutritional Rehabilitation Center with my African parents. Since they are the directors of Rapha, it was very important for them to agree to this idea (they did, Praise God!). I am in Kampala again this weekend to meet with them again along with the various doctors and health care workers in the church to get their advice on the best way to start this project and also to lay our vision out so the person who will be writing the Project Proposal will know exactly what the vision for the Center is.

Since we are still in the very preliminary stages of starting this project, I do not have very many details about it to tell yall. My vision and dream is to purchase a plot of land very close to the hospital to build the Center with enough land to garden for most of the foods we will need to feed the children. This vision, though, is one that is quite expensive and until enough money is raised for purchasing of land and also construction, right now we are looking for temporary means by which to house the center. We may purchase a small trailer to house the ward or I may be spending some serious time cleaning out one of the empty rooms at the hospital! (While purchasing the trailer would be easier, doing some serious cleaning and sprucing up of one of the empty rooms here is a whole heck of a lot cheaper!) Some of the other expenses incurred will be purchasing the beds for the children to sleep in, hiring a couple of additional nurses to help with this ward (we are predicting it may end up being the busiest ward in the hospital), purchasing the cooking appliances needed, and getting some toys for these babies to play with while staying here (the least amount of time needed for a child to stay at the Center to be monitored and correctly fed is 3 weeks!). My ultimate goal is for the Center (when it is up and running) to be self-sustaining, but as we are purchasing all of the initial items needed, there is no income to offset the costs.

This is where I need your help...While I wish that my savings account were enough to pay for all of these beginning supplies needed along with paying for the project proposal to be written and the various governmental offices to accept it, the reality is that I need your help. Whether it be having a garage sale, car wash, bake sale, or any other fundraising event, I would be so blessed as to have some people coming alongside of me to help fundraise while I am still here in Uganda. Every single penny donated will make a significant impact in starting this Center. I had not started a Nonprofit Organization in the US prior because I was very unsure of what the specific mission was to be, but now that I have a much clearer vision, I plan on starting the paperwork for one as soon as I get back to the States (beginning of August).

All right enough news about the Rehabilitation Center, now on to what I have been doing the past week.

This past week has been A LOT of fun, considering that I have had plenty of firsts. I traveled for the first time to Kampala from the hospital and back all by myself via taxi (those are the local buses used). While it is kind of uncomfortable being in a bus with people who for the most part are speaking a language I don't much understand, it is always an adventure and motivates me to study Luganda more rigorously. On the way to Kampala, the people on the bus knew (somehow) that I understood and could communicate some Luganda, so the whole bus greeted me when I got on haha. As one lady was getting off the bus, she even called me by name which was weird because as far as I know, I've never met that lady before. I guess when you're the only white person around for miles, people are bound to talk about ya. On the taxi ride back to the hospital from Kampala, I sat beside a young Muslim girl named Sarah. As I began talking with her about her religious beliefs, she confided to me that she wanted to become a Christian because it was “easier” than being a Muslim. That opened up a door for me to share the truth of the Gospel with her and to also talk with her about her (very interesting) belief that Christianity was somehow easier. She never came to accept Christ on the way home, but I believe that one day it will happen. Please be in prayer for Sarah, that someone else will come into her life to speak more truth about Christ into her life.

On Tuesday, I WATCHED someone slaughter a chicken. I would consider this to be the first step in my ultimate goal of killing one myself haha:)

At the hospital this week, I got my first glimpse of what is in your uterus when you are pregnant. The women around in the villages know we don't give abortions at Rapha, so they opt to have them done locally in the villages by either eating certain raw foods or other means, but when there are complications afterward they always come to the hospital for help. Sometimes, the women end up bleeding uncontrollably after the abortion and it's either we help them or they die. So, the lady I was around to see was 2 months pregnant and claimed to have had a miscarriage while using the bathroom, but everything didn't come out so the doctor had to remove the rest of the bloody mess right in front of me. To say that I wanted to throw up after seeing that was an understatement ha....

As for my time at the school, it has been filled with many firsts as well. I ate my first meal traditional african style (with my hands) on Tuesday. Trying to eat posho (millet flour poured into boiled water with the consistency of grits kept out too long) and beans with your hands is quite the challenge, but it's been really fun eating like all of the other teachers and students(they used to give only me a fork).

It has been a joy getting to know some of the students there as well while working in the classroom and also teaching PE. I have caught the nursery class students peeking through windows at me on multiple occasions, in awe of my foreign, white skin. On Tuesday, I was in charge of teaching the Primary 4 class English and Math. After taking so many upper-level math classes, it has proven to be quite the challenge teaching elementary mathematics. I tried teaching long division to the P4 class, and while some students caught on, I hate to admit that I probably left some kids more confused about it than they were before haha.

The trip back to Kampala from the hospital yesterday was quite the adventure as well. I traveled with 3 employees of the hospital, and on two separate occasions the taxi drivers tried to drop us off before the mutually agreed upon time. For about ten minutes Stella, the administrator of the hospital, argued with the taximen in Luganda. The entire time I was laughing so hard because Stella and the other employees were having such a heated argument, and I didn't even know what the heck they were saying. I just had to put in my two cents as well, but I'm pretty sure those taxi drivers couldn't understand what I was saying ha. After all of the arguing was over and the taximen finally agreed to take us where we needed to go, it started pouring rain, so when it was time for me to be dropped off by the taxi to the gas station near my home, I got to spend some quality time under the overhang there for about 20 minutes. There was a little kid about 3 years old under the overhang with his mother, and I guess that kid had been staring at me for a while but when I made eye contact with that poor child he started SCREAMING and grabbed his mother's leg to hide his face. I have NEVER seen a child so scared for his life. Everyone around me thought the situation was hilarious, and while I did too, I felt some sympathy for that little boy as well.

Well, that is all for now. Please be in prayer for all that I wrote about above and also that the Lord will reveal to me which children desperately need help in paying their school fees so I can match up the 4 new sponsors with a student. Please pray for Sarah, Salaam's family as they are mourning, and Rapha.

Bathtime, Community outreach, and the life of a (wannabe) teacher

2010-05-26T15:11:00.004-04:00

Grace Community School (the school I'm volunteering at)
The nursery class...these children are between age 3-6ish
Primary 3 Class. This is the class I ATTEMPTED to teach math ha.
The view from the school...beautiful.
Kikambwe, the town center. This is where I go to purchase most food.
At the Community outreach in Lugaaga this past Monday. Auntie Sarah is the nurse with the sunglasses on her head and the two people facing away from the camera are Lydia (a nurse), and Yusef (the ambulance driver)
Robinah checking a pregnant lady's belly at the community outreach.
Robinah and I counting drugs at the community outreach.
Jalia and I! (the girl who helps me cook and also a new friend)
the house I am staying in with the two doctors.
the view from the house i am staying to the rapha medical centre gate.
rapha medical centre.
the first meal i completely cooked myself. cabbage, rice, and tomatoes.
me giving Salaam a bath last Thursday.

Last Thursday was the last day I saw baby Salaam. Her father left her in my care that day while he was searching for money to pay the balance of the hospital bill. When I visited her in the ward, I was blown away by the way she smelled. That child smelled as if she had been soaking in urine for the past two weeks. To be completely honest, at first I was trying to care for her from a distance because her stench was SO BAD that I would gag whenever I would come near her. As I was thinking about that poor child and her disgusting smell and how bad I wanted to stay away from her, Christ came to mind. Even though we were once disgusting sinners who God couldn't be around directly because of our filth, Christ came down and washed us clean with his blood. I'm sure that our sinful nature smelled fifty times worse than Salaam's stench, and yet Christ still came to Earth to save us and cleanse us. How awesome is that? After realizing that, I knew that I had to bathe that child. She cried the entire time I bathed her but at the end she smelled SO much better. Right after I bathed her, a sister to the brother came to pick her up and pay the balance at the hospital so I have not seen that girl again. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Over the weekend, I experienced something that is quite uncommon in the US. I lived a full day without running water AND electricity at the same time. The electricity is very unreliable (right now, for example, there is none); however, the administrator at Rapha assured me that there is ALWAYS running water here. Well, for the first time EVER, we had no running water for about 48 hours. It wasn't as bad as I expected, though, and it taught me how to ration water because I did not want to have to carry many jerrycans of water back and forth from the water reserves to the house.

School started back from the holidays on Monday, so I started helping out at Grace Community School on Tuesday. Grace Community is strictly a primary school with about 260 children and 8 teachers. It is a Christian school started by my African parents around the same time they started Rapha. I found out when I arrived for duty on Tuesday that I was to be the PE teacher on days I'm there and that I had a class to teach in an hour. So, I taught the kids how to play Duck Duck Goose and Red Rover (Red Rover has always been one of my favorite games ha). After teaching, it was time for breakfast (they have porridge around 10:30 AM) and then some more lessons. The headmaster, Mr. Samuel Linga, took me into the P-3 class and asked me to teach very basic algebra to them based on a lesson from the book. I had no problem trying to teach them, however they had a REALLY hard time catching my accent. I would ask a question that would require a legitimate answer, and most of the time all the children would respond with was a simple "Yes". Today, I spent most of my time working in the nursery class. All of those children are soooo precious, and I got to sharpen the children's red colored pencils while they shaded in tomatoes.

The students at the school are SO very reserved around me. Since we are so deep into a village, there are very few whites who have ever come around these parts. I would predict that I am the only white within a ten mile radius of Rapha right now. Because of the lack of foreigners around here, the children are very unsure of how to interact with me. Many of the children who speak very good english refuse to talk with me because they are afraid they may mess up their english while talking with me. Instead of coming up and touching me like the children in Kampala do, these children choose to stare from a safe distance. I'm hoping they start warming up to me sooner rather than later because I'm so ready to interact and have fun with them.

It is crazy to admit, but so far I have yet to feel an ounce of homesickness. I think because I am so busy with working at the school, hospital, and going to Kampala some weekends I really don't have time to. There are also so many people who work at both Rapha and Grace Community whom I can honestly call a friend. One of those people is Jalia. Jalia (her picture is above) cooks for the canteen at the hospital and at nights helps me cook supper. (Oh and by the way, here in Uganda there is a difference in the word dinner and supper. Supper is eating actual food and dinner is just taking tea and bread.) During the two weeks that she has been cooking for me, we have developed a really neat friendship. We have spent much time sitting around talking about our lives, walking to either Kikambwe or Bulo (another village) to purchase food, and trying to learn Luganda (she's the main person trying to teach me). This girl is seriously one of the HARDEST working people that I know. She gets up at sunrise to prepare breakfast for everyone in the wards, then begins to prepare lunch while also manning the canteen, and then doing the same for dinner. I was quite amazed at our ability to communicate with each other, especially since most people who are hired as cooks don't know much English because of their lack of education, but she was able to talk very well. Come to find out, she went all the way through primary and secondary school, then went to college for a year only to have to drop out because her family did not have enough money (about $550 a semester) to get her through her remaining time there. So, for now she is working long, hard hours at the canteen just trying to survive. I have really been encouraging her to save save save her money so she can go back to school, and I PRAY that she will have the opportunity to one day go back and get her degree (she was studying Child Development).

I am getting ready to fall asleep on the keyboard, so I guess it's time for me to wrap this blog post up. I will be heading to Kampala tomorrow morning for the weekend and would like you all's prayers for what is going to happen while there. I'm going to wait until the weekend is over to blog about what's going on, but I'm praying everything will turn out well. Good night world!

Rapha Medical Centre

2010-05-19T14:47:00.002-04:00

salaam in her hospital bed
salaam and i sitting outside the pediatric ward
on the way to the hospital
at the community outreach i went to on monday with the nurses. they give immunizations and basic meds to children and pregnant women

Before I give an update, I must apologize because I've forgotten to take pictures of the hospital so there's no visual YET of where I currently am.

I arrived at the hospital last Wednesday evening and since then I have experienced things most people will never experience in their lives. I have watched as a young child was carried out of the hospital lifeless because of severe anemia. I have been there when a man about the age of my dad was officially diagnosed with HIV. I have seen the hopelessness of a woman with Stage 4 (the worst stage) HIV when she couldn't even sit up straight in her chair while she was talking with the doctor. I have noticed a malnourished child in the pediatric ward, only to come back from a short trip to Kampala to the news that the precious child has gone to be with the Lord. I have experienced sadness on a level I never imagined I would.

Rapha Medical Centre has so far been filled with many happy and joyful moments as well. The staff here are so young and so full of life which is refreshing. In the short week I have been here, I have grown to become friends with all of the staff. They have taught me many useful things, like how to take blood pressure, read prescriptions and fill them (of course with supervision), and are still attempting to teach me the basics of Luganda. The people of the surrounding villages are very friendly as well. Just yesterday as I was taking an evening jog through the villages, 8 children started running with me giggling and chatting away in Luganda. Because many of these children have seen very few whites if any at all, most of them are very reserved and even scared when they see me. The children who started running with me even kept a safe distance between themselves and me.

Because Rapha is in a very rural area about two hours away from Kampala, the luxuries of the city are not here. Electricity goes off about once a day for two hours or so; last night it happened right after I took a bath and got dressed. Moral of that story: Carry a flashlight wherever I go. The shower at the house I'm staying isn't working properly so I bathe in a basin. I've tried to endure the VERY cold water we bathe in, but eventually gave in and started boiling some water to mix in with the freezing water. There are mosquitoes,other bugs (some man-eating big ones), and lizards cohabiting the house with the doctors and I. I am still getting used to sleeping under a mosquito net. I got too spoiled living at my African parents' house because I didn't have to sleep under one there.

I have a prayer request for everyone to please pray with me for. When I arrived back from a weekend trip to Kampala to attempt (unsuccessfully) to get my internet to work, I walked through the pediatric ward and there was a little girl completely naked lying in one of the beds. From the moment I saw her, she stole my heart. Immediately, I asked the nurse what was wrong with the little girl. She had painful ulcers in her mouth and throat that caused her to quit eating and therefore become starved. Her father is the only parent around because her mother ran away when she was only one month old. Her name is Salaam and she is almost two years old. Because she is so weak from starvation, she is unable to stand on her own and she is barely able to sit up straight. When I first saw her, she was unconscious and there was question as to whether that little girl would live. Praise God, she is now conscious and stays awake for pretty long periods of time. She is going to be discharged from the hospital tomorrow even though she is still very weak. My prayer for her is that her father and anyone else who is taking care of her will feed her well and work with her to become strong again. I have offered to take her in for a couple of weeks until she is strong again, but the father assures me that she will be in good hands with him.

Update!

2010-05-10T17:27:00.001-04:00

In one the Katanga Slums
My attempt to wash my rag haha
One of my mom's friends, mommy Christine, and I waiting for the march to start

Walking along the road yesterday, I saw a sight that could only scream “I can't believe this is NOT illegal.” There, on the side of the street was a young boy covered in mud, shoveling the mud and slinging it into a larger pile. Appalled at the situation and even more appalled that no one else walking on the street was upset as well, I tried to talk with this boy both in Luganda and English, but he couldn't understand either coming from me. So, I marched back home and brought David to translate for me. This boy's name was Carl. He was SEVEN years old. He had been shoveling mud since 10:30 AM (it was now 6 PM) to eventually make bricks that his family sells (which they sell for about 10 cents each). He does go to school, but is more than likely in a government-run school (which is free) with very low standards. He was not acting as a child would act, but rather as a grown man. And what topped it off was that David was not even upset at all. In fact, I think he found it kind of weird that I was so angry. To him, this was a very normal occurrence and it is what a child sometimes HAS to do to help his family survive.

I tell you the above story to tell you this: Do not think that the poverty I see here is caused by laziness. The people here work so so so hard just to keep clothes on their back, shoes on their feet, food in their mouth, and a roof over their head. The people here work day in and day out (and I mean HARD work) and some of them still are suffering to do the essentials like feed themselves and their children. How is this fair?

Other than meeting Carl, nothing else really interesting has happened to me as of yet. Last Friday was the 50^th anniversary of the Pentecostal movement in Uganda, so I attended a march with Mommy Christine in honor of that. Today, David and I walked all the way from Wandegeya (where church is) to our home in Kanyanya because there were no buses headed to Kanyanya when we were looking plus it's always a good thing to get that exercise, especially with all of the carb-filled foods we eat here. We walked through two different slums and humbling would be the best word to describe what I saw there. The small houses(if you would even call them that) were extremely close together, leaving a small path for us to pass through. Some areas smelled like sewers and trash was littered all over the place.

In other news, I am trying to learn how to handwash clothes because the washing machine at home is broke and I don't want to rely on anyone else to wash them for me. So far, I have successfully cleaned my WHITE wash rag to the point that it's not dark brown anymore from all of the dirt, but rather a light tan color haha. Tomorrow is going to be the real test, though, because I'm going to be washing all of my dirty clothes. Also, the new plan is that I will be going to Rapha Medical Centre on Wednesday, so keep me in your prayers as I prepare for that adventure coming up!

Home away from Home

2010-05-06T15:04:00.002-04:00

The past couple of weeks, thoughts about poverty have been milling around in my mind. “God, why have you forsaken the impoverished?” is a question that I had been waiting for Him to answer. Poverty is always in my face, whether it be walking on campus at UTC and seeing the same homeless man with the same coat and the same single bag of possessions hobbling along, or hearing one of my Student Venture girls tell me I was bragging at a sleepover when I brushed my teeth at night because her family has to ration their toothpaste, or here in Africa when a child no older than 3 is standing right beside my vehicle at a traffic light begging for money. I have always thought (wrongly) that poverty was the absence of God, and material prosperity was evidence of the presence of God. Asking God the question above, though, has rendered the simple response of “Open up the Word.” Time and time again in scripture, God promises to take care of the poor. He is the “refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, and a shade from the heat”(Isaiah 25:4). Wow, how wrong I have been. While he does command us as believers to “seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow”(Isaiah 1:17), even if we ignore this command He will still be with them as a refuge, shelter, and shade. WE are NOT their savior, HE is. It is so easy when helping the needy to feel like I am the one doing the saving, but in reality He can do it all without us.

I finished reading When Helping Hurts by Brian Frikkert and let me just tell you that it completely shook my world on how we are to alleviate poverty. It is so easy to think that pouring money into an impoverished area is the answer to all the problems, when in all actuality we are just (in most cases) fixing one of the symptoms of the true problem. By pouring money into situations, all we're doing is creating a reliance on aid instead of partnering with the people to help them achieve the ultimate goal of being self-sustaining from the fruits of their work. I'm not sure how I will be using this knowledge during my work in Uganda this summer, but it is something pretty substantial for me to chew on while here and even back in the US.

My trip to Uganda was fairly uneventful, except my baggage was not in Uganda to greet me :(. Because of a delay in taking off from Atlanta, I barely made my connecting flight in Amsterdam, which is probably where my luggage got left behind.

Things with my African family are just how I left them. David (my Afr. Cousin) drives me just as crazy as he did last summer, Chizito (the gatekeeper) still doesn't understand most of my English, Morris (my Afr. Dad) and I laugh at each other just as much, and Christine (my Afr. Mom) still serves as an awesome second mother to me.

The only productive things I have done as of yet is to visit Eden Revival Church (Daddy Morris' church) to say hello to all of my friends at church, buy a hair dryer because if I bring one from America it ALWAYS mess up, and get some shampoo because my lack of baggage means I have a lack of shampoo and let's just say I started rocking that greasy, grungy look real nice. Yesterday, on David and my walk back home from buying the above items, we were crossing the street and this middle-aged man on a bicycle grinned at me harder than ANY African I have ever met. David even noticed it and started laughing so hard because both of us had no idea why he smiled so big. It was strange but hilarious. Today, I picked up my luggage from Entebbe (praise God!). The baggage claim workers were going to bring them to the KLM office in Kampala for me to pick up, but since I didn't leave my keys to the locks on my luggage with them (like I would ever do that), they couldn't run the bags through customs so I had to go all the way to Entebbe to fetch them. Turns out when I arrived to pick them up, I didn't have to go through customs anyway! Only in Africa....

I will be heading to Rapha Medical Centre in Mpigi, Uganda probably next Monday to begin volunteering there, while also helping out at the nearby school, and building relationships with the people there. I am so ready to get out of Kampala because of all the traffic, pollution, and the city feel.

That's all for now :) More soon I promise!

I'm leavin in 28 days!

2010-04-05T22:47:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe that in less than a month I'm going to be IN UGANDA! There is a considerable amount of joy building up in my soul as I prepare for this trip. Yes, I am nervous and scared, but even more than that I have become quite excited and joyful about the adventure I'm preparing to embark on.

Just to let everyone know, I've purchased my ticket. I will be leaving on May 3rd and will be arriving back in the States on August 4th. It's crazy to think I'm going to be gone for exactly 3 months. Everyone please be praying for peace on my trip even during the times of loneliness.

I've been talking with my African parents about spending the bulk of my summer working at the hospital they have started in a very poverty stricken area about an hour west of Kampala. God willing, I will be helping out at the hospital, going out and evangelizing in the nearby villages, and also working at the nearby primary school. For those of you who know anything about me most likely know that little children steal my hearts, so any chances of working with them are the most attractive options to me. I will also most likely be living ALONE which is going to be interesting to say the least. Living alone will require me to be a strong woman, and in doing so I plan on killing and cooking a chicken by myself. I have spent countless hours thinking about this, and the reality is that I probably need to learn how because they don't sell pre-killed and plucked chickens in villages. And if they do, the prices of those chickens are jacked up sky high. (That snippet about the chickens was semi-off topic. Sorry!)

Here in America, the Lord has already begun preparing me for life there. He has been gently teaching me that I cannot rely on others, but on Him alone. All of the important things in my life have started falling apart. The relationships I have relied on, the material possessions I think I need, and my own selfish desires have been refined by the Lord's fire. That is not something easy to endure, and it still isn't something I can cope with well, but I continue to go day by day trusting in Him and his awesome plan.

Please continue to pray as I prepare to leave for Uganda. Pray for strength and that my eyes will stay fixed on Christ through all heartache (here in the US and in Uganda). Please pray for the ministry I work with while in the US called Student Venture (high school version of Campus Crusade) and just pray that the Lord will rock those students' worlds. Pray for my African parents and my African cousin David. Pray for Uganda.

Honesty

2010-02-28T22:20:00.005-05:00

The last thing I want to do this summer is go to Uganda.

I would much rather hang out with my best friend before she goes off to college in August.

I would much rather go on the annual Getaway trip with my Student Venture girls.

I would much rather work all summer and make loads of money.

I would much rather be in complete control of my life.

But HE tells me to let it go. He tells me the only way I can preserve my life is to lose it (Luke 17:33). He tells me that HE has a plan that is not meant to harm me, but rather to provide hope and a future in Him (Jeremiah 29:11).

So, I must go. This summer I will be spending 3 months in Uganda. Don't know what I will be doing or where I will be, all I know is I need to GO. Please pray for guidance and safety as I prepare to travel. I should be leaving around May 3rd.

(Some of the precious children at the school I visited last summer. I love all of the smiles and funny faces!)

**Okay so maybe going to Uganda isn't the very last thing i would want to do this summer. Sorry for sounding so emo. hah

Suddenly I See

2010-02-20T22:52:00.002-05:00

I have fallen back into American culture quite beautifully and I hate it. I am back to wasting money on unneeded things and spending my time doing anything and everything unproductive.

My time back home since my last trip to Uganda has been quite the adventure, though. All the poverty, brokenness, and yet complete resilience I saw while in Gulu did not really sink into my soul until about October. I guess because my African parents had told me that I had to remain strong the entire time I was up there, I wasn't given the time to effectively process my experience and boy did that come back to haunt me mid-semester. When I really began to process what happened while sitting in my dorm room, driving around, or even subconsciously in every day life, it always ended with me weeping uncontrollably. What made me cry the hardest, though, was how not a single person I met up there told me that life was unfair. They never once complained about their situation or the fact they were having to rebuild their lives from scratch. They never once blamed God for the mutilation and brutal murders of family members and kidnappings of countless children. Instead, their faith blossomed.

Time and time again, I hear people praise God when their lives are going well and blame God when they are going bad. When God called us to be his children, did he ever promise for us to have lives filled with ease? Yes, He does say that we will find rest for our souls if we rely in Him (Matt. 11:29), but that does not mean that he's gonna hook us up with a life that lacks pain and sin because that, after all, is the world we have been born into. And without pain, there is no need for perseverance. And without the ability to persevere, we are all doomed to fail.

This is just a little of what the Lord has taught me during my time back here in the States...more to come soon about other things the Lord has taught me through Africa and also in my daily life. Be praying for me as I pray my way through what this coming summer is going to look like. thanks!

Gulu

2009-07-21T20:29:00.007-04:00

The supplies I was able to buy for the churches with the money raised in the US. These are the pastors of the churches and also my african parents on the left.

This is how Ugandans carry their children around. Because this little child didn't have a diaper on when she was attached to my back, she peed on my back. lol.

One of the churches!

My chicken!

The church where I recieved my chicken!

At the displacement camp. These kids are sooo precious!

Eating some cassava on the way back to kampala from Gulu! Even though it tastes like a bunch of nothingness, its okay if it's roasted!

Beautiful african scenery

This is the church where the pastor asked for us to pray for his wife who had just given birth (explanation in my blog)

Because there are no sinks out in the villages to wash hands, this is how people wash their hands!

2 men who were captured by the LRA and forced to be child soldiers. I met them at the displacement camp.

At one of the churches listening to the pastor speak but having no idea what he's saying since they're speaking in Luo.

My trip to Gulu has probably been the most emotional and life changing experience I have had in my life. It is in Northern Uganda, and is the main location that the Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) has terrorized for about twenty years. The people of Gulu are just now experiencing freedom and peace for the first time in most of their lives because the LRA has moved into the Congo. The purpose of my family's trip to Gulu was to give the 6 churches that are under my african father's church farming supplies that I was able to buy using the money that I raised. In all, each church got 7 hoes, 7 forks, 21 machetes, and some corn, cabbage, and tomato seeds and tarps for the churches who do not have a sturdy enough roof. All in all, those supplies cost around $800. The churches were then supposed to take those new supplies and farm together and the money made through the produce would be used to fund the churches,provide food for the needy, and also to help pay for any necessities that the church members need.

My African parents and I headed to Gulu on Friday the 3rd of July. Thank the Lord the roads to Gulu are not as full of potholes as most of the roads in Uganda are, so the trip was fairly smooth and relaxing. On our way, we passed through Murchison National Park and I saw baboons for the first time in my life. There were also some little monkeys on the side of the road too. When we arrived at Gulu, we rode around Gulu and it was amazing the amount of Non-governmental organizations that are working there. I saw offices for Invisible Children, Worldvision, UNICEF, UN World Food Programme, Feed the Children, Save the Children, and so many others that I can’t even remember now. My family and I had lunch with Pastor Charles, the head pastor of my African dad’s churches in Guluand discussed our itinerary for our trip and then we just rested for the rest of the day.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed to Pastor Charles’ church. When we pulled up to the church, some church members came out of their huts and started making a high pitched noise that shows their excitement at us coming. Pastor Charles’ church is like a traditional hut but larger. Since there is no electricity in the villages, the inside of the church was really really dark. After visiting Pastor Charles’ church, it was time to visit 4 other churches that Pastor Charles started.

One of the churches was right beside one of the displacement camps in Gulu. A displacement camp is where people who were trying to stay safe from the LRA would stay. Because those affected by the war were forced to stay in the displacement camps in an attempt to stay safe, they had to leave their homes and also their main source of income (their farms). So, in the displacement camps, organizations like the United Nations provided food for them, although from what I hear the rations they were given were not enough to satisfy everyone’s stomach. Walking through the displacement and seeing the few families who were still staying there (most families had already returned back to their native homes) broke my heart. We in America do not realize how blessed we are to have the freedom to move around town and around the United States while also feeling safe. We have never had to worry about our family being slaughtered and our children forced to become child soldiers, which was a very real worry in Gulu before the LRA moved into the Congo.

When we visited one of the churches, the Pastor told my family and I how in Acholi Culture, you’re not supposed to have visitors without providing them with some food. Now, this is very polite and I nice gesture, BUT with us visiting five churches in one day, it proved to be quite a problem. At every church that we visited, they at least provided a soda for us to drink or tea and bread. Some churches even fixed us a whole meal. At the end of the day, let’s just say that I could not look at food anymore because I had stuffed my face to the max. If I or my family were to have refused any food or drink we were offered, the church members would be extremely offended. On Sunday when we were delivering all of the new farming supplies to the churches, at the first church we visited we stayed too long and when we were getting ready to leave, the pastor said that they had made tea for us. My dad had to tell them that we didn’t have time to take any tea because we had five other churches to visit. So, as me and my family were getting in the car, one of the elders of the church came up to the car and started chewing us in the native language for not accepting their gift to us. So, we had to get out of the car and sit for about thirty minutes and take tea and bread. It was quite the experience.

At one of the churches on Saturday, I received a chicken as a gift! It was so hilarious how the lady who gave me the chicken just handed it to me like I held a chicken on a daily basis. I’m pretty sure I have never even held a full grown chicken before so holding one was interesting. I was so overcome with emotion when I received the chicken, though, because in Uganda, especially in Northern Uganda, they are a very important part of daily life and a sign of wealth. It was such a blessing to receive such an amazing gift from that church and it is definitely something I will never forget.

When my family and I stopped by one of the churches, my dad asked me to speak to the members but after only saying my name and where I was from, I began sobbing because of all of the things I had seen that day and all of the people I had talked to who had told me about their experiences with the war. Because I was sobbing, I was unfortunately unable to speak at that church anymore but then the next day my dad told me that I had to speak at the main church that Pastor Charles pastored. Right before it was time for me to stand up and speak, I went to the car and sat out there and let all of my tears fall so I wouldn’t cry while I was speaking. As I was crying in the car, about twenty kids crowded around the car and just watched me cry and of course that made me start laughing because of how awkward it is to watch people watch you cry. When I felt like I was okay to speak, I went back into the church and spoke for a couple of minutes about my experiences in Uganda and about how much the people in Gulu had changed my life. While I did start crying while speaking, I was able to still say everything that I wanted to.

At the very last church that I visited on Sunday night, the pastor’s wife had just given birth to her 7th child. The pastor asked for my dad to NAME THE CHILD! Can you believe it? And the pastor wanted the child to be named after my dad, so the kid’s new name is Bukenya Harry just like my African dad. After my dad dedicated the child to the Lord, the pastor asked my family and I to pray for his wife because while she gave birth to the child 3 weeks before, she was still feeling a lot of pain from the child birth, especially with her heart. When my mom told him that childbirth can cause women to get worn out so easily and asked him how many children he wanted his wife to have, his response was “God knows”. I have never heard anyone respond that way, and for him to say that even when his wife is now having health problems from birthing so many children was just pure ignorance. I have realized that people living in the really rural areas of Uganda need to become more educated on health risks associated with giving birth to so many children and proper means of birth control. If the pastor’s wife were to keep having children, eventually it is going to wear her down so much to the point where she is going to die at a young age and will leave all of her children to the father’s care. That would be a really really bad situation for the father to be in, trying to farm while also raising children.

If you don’t understand why my experience at Gulu was such an emotional one, I will leave you with one story that I was told about what the LRA did to the people of Gulu. Sometimes, the Lord’s Resistance Army would invade a random village and line up the villagers. While in a line, the soldiers would pick people at random and begin to dismember them and once they were dead, they would cook them on a bonfire. Then, they would force the other villagers to eat the dismembered bodies. What kind of sick people would make other human beings do this?

i love africa!

2009-06-26T08:04:00.003-04:00

i got to write in some cement that is going to be at dad's church. it says "hannah green was here". how original. lol

a group of kids at sanyu babies home having snack while in class.

me and courtney, another volunteer from texas, with some children at sanyu

here is francis.. he can't hold his head up by himself.

making pancakes for my family!

So, my trip to gulu has been postponed until next weekend because my family had some
engagements pop up for this weekend. we should be leaving next friday really early and come
back home on monday the 6th. my ugandan family has told me that gulu is a completely
different culture than here in kampala so i am eagerly anticipating experiencing a new
place.
i can't believe that i only have one and a half weeks left. while the trip has been amazing,
i am ready to come back home and see all of you again! mom and i went the other day to a
craft shop to purchase some bracelets, rings, and keychains for me to sell to anyone who is
interested. the proceeds of these purchases will go toward buying fire extinguishers for
the dormitories at the school. unlike in america, there is no requirement for dorms to have
fire extinguishers but now after a lot of dorms have been burning down the government is
requiring all dorms to have them by the end of the year. they need 4 of them and they cost
about $150 each. this is $600 that the school does not have, so God willing, these items
will help finance the purchases.
My past week has been fairly uneventful. When i arrived back home from the schools, i
became sick for the third time, so for a couple of days i was confined to home to
recuperate. i can't believe that i have been sick so much this trip especially considering
that i barely ever get sick back home. my immune system better be super super strong now!
On saturday i visited FOCUS and sat in on a primary class. the man teaching was talking
about the different forms of child abuse and what to do if you are a victim of child abuse.
i have noticed that here in uganda they talk about these issues to children so much more
than they do in the united states. it was so sad to look at all of those children and to
think that some of them were probably victims of child abuse themselves. one issue that you
hear about so often here in uganda that you rarely hear as an issue in america is child
sacrifice. i was tallking to the physiotherapist at sanyu babies home the other day and he
told me that his father actually sold him to a witch doctor as a child sacrifice. while he
had no idea at the time that he was actually sold to be killed, when the witch doctor made
him strip down and then left the room for a minute to get a knife, the boy ran away as fast
as he could and reported it to the police, who took him back to his father's house out of
all places.
on sunday which was FATHERS DAY, i got my ugandan father a photo frame with some pictures of
the ugandan family and i. i think he really enjoyed the pictures, especially since some of
them were pics of cathy (their daughter who is my age who is now in college in connecticut).
i can tell that they really miss their little girl!
on monday and tuesday i worked at sanyu babies home. i also talked to the program
admnistrator about francis, the boy with cerebral palsy. she told me that he not only has
cerebral palsy, but also epilepsy, and problems with his sight. she told me that they
would take him to an orphanage for children with special needs, but none of the orphanages
will accept him because the orphanages which are considered special needs specialize in
children who are lame. when i asked her what orphanage francis will be sent to once he
grows too old for the babies home, she said that no other orphanage will accept him and so
she's praying that a family will adopt him. apparently the orphanage used to have a child
with a more severe case of CP than francis and an american family ended up adopting her. i
am just so worried about that child and the quality of care he is recieving at the
orphanage. one of the volunteers who is adopting told me that every night before bed, the
caretakers give the babies bottles to drink and that one time one of the caretakers asked
who had not recieved a bottle because there was one full one left. when someone said that
francis had not gotten his bottle, the caretaker took all of the empty bottles and francis's
full bottle to the kitchen to be cleaned and washed out. she was not going to give francis
his bottle! the volunteer told me that as the caretaker was walking away, she snatched
francis's bottle and fed him herself. isn't that completely horrible?!
so for my birthday which is on sunday by the way, my american mother gave me some money to
buy a new african dress because she says that the one that i bought last time was ugly.
lol. on wednesday, i went with my african mom to purchase some material and to get sized
for a new african dress. i am really excited about how it is going to look and will post
pictures once it's finished being made next wednesday!
yesterday, i went to the babies home again for an afternoon visit. rather than using the
public transportation system to get home, i decided that i should walk so i can familiarize
myself better with kampala and just because i love walking. so, after two and a half hours
of walking i arrived home. im not gonna lie, i am still sore this morning from walking so
far. changing the subject, it is amazing how some ugandans will just start talking to you
in the strangest of situations. as i was walking home, a girl who is apparently in her
fourth year of secondary school named jane came up to me and introduced herself. right
after she asked me what my name was(which i gave her a fake one) and what country i was
from, she straight up asked if i would pay for her school fees. i honestly do not
understand why so many people here in uganda are so blunt about wanting money from white
people. i have had some people walking on the street say to me "Hi, give me money."
Seriously, it really upsets me and sometimes it makes me want to start lecturing them about
how just because i am white does not mean that i have all of the money in the world.
today i am just chilling at home and resting! i made my family some american pancakes with
a new recipe i got online and oh my goodness they were delicious! right now, i am craving
some cake like the kind we have in america. here in uganda, the people in general do not
eat very sweet cakes, so although the cakes look very rich and sweet, when you bite into it
you are disappointed. well thats all for now! see everyone soon!

time for school!!!!

2009-06-17T07:40:00.007-04:00

me and most of the girls in the dorm!

the sign for the school

the girl's dormitories

me and the first year of secondary school students that i taught english to.

a group of secondary students in class.

despite the fact that this is an extremely unattractive picture of me, this is me trying to do the kiganda dance. notice how the students are finding this quite entertaining

how i took a bath for 4 days!

grace (eva's maid), me, and eva outside her living quarters.

pumping water from a boarhole for the first time in my life!

part of the primary school

aa bunch of students watching a movie on sunday. lol!

the secondary school. isn't the school beautiful?

this is posho and beans, the meal that the students eat everyday

the girls loved playing with my hair

roy and i with cassava chips (or fries). that was the first time i had tasted them.

on sunday singing with the students in the choir!

one of the families who has had a very hard time providing the funds to send their children to school. imagine a family that large living in a house that small.

a grandmother, grandchild, and i in front of their house. the grandmother has a hard time paying for her grandson's school fees as well.

officially handing two of the balls i had bought for the children to the primary school headmaster and another teacher.

me and some of the adorable primary students being extra silly

The four days spent at Mt. carmel (a private, christian school that my african parents started) has probably been the highlight of my trip thus far. The school is in a very rural area about an hour and a half north of Kampala. It is both a primary and secondary school, although i spent most of my time with the secondary school students. Because the school is in such a rural area, most of the incomes of the parents of the students are made through agriculture, which is a very unreliable source of income considering that weather conditions define the amount of crop they are able to harvest. Many students have either been disowned or orphaned by their parents and are left in the care of a grandmother or a set of grandparents, who have a very difficult time feeding all of the students, much less pay for their school fees.

I arrived at the school with my family on Friday morning. Using some of the money I raised for charity, i purchased 4 soccer balls, 2 handballs, and 2 net balls for the students. As we were pumping up the balls, we realized that two of the balls had holes in them and hence would not hold air. David and I also realized that the store clerk at the store we bought the balls from did not give us a receipt for the transaction, so the likelihood he will exchange them is very slim. I think David and I are going to the store either tomorrow or Friday to try to exchange them, though. Everyone please pray that the clerk will be honest and exchange them for better balls.
After pumping up the balls, a teacher took my family and i on a tour of the school. Since the school is in such a rural area, the students do not see very many white people, so the younger kids would wave to me and yell "bye mzungu" literally until they could not see me anymore. it was so precious. yesterday as pastor bryan and i were waiting on a bus to take us back to kampala, some little kids said "bye mzungu" continuously for about 15 minutes. no, that is not an exaggeration at all.
Even though I stayed in the girls dorm, i ate most of my meals at Eva's house. Eva is one of my parents' daughters and now she is married with a beautiful 8 month old daughter named divine. She teaches agriculture at school and is also the bursar for the secondary school. The school provides housing for all of the staff, so she lived in the staff quarters. Her living space consisted of a living room and a bedroom. All of the cooking was done outside on the front porch area. It was so neat how since all of the staff lived so close together and spent so much time together it felt like one big family. kids of other teachers would just walk from house to house, visiting all of the teachers and their families.

At the school, dorms, and staff quarters, there is no running water, so whenever you want water you have to walk with your yellow jerrycan to the boarhole and pump the water. Because there was no running water, I had my first experience bathing out of a basin and using a small jerrycan to pour water on my hair. Surprisingly, I kind of enjoyed bathing that way because you do not waste any water and because the water is naturally warmed by the sun before the bath. As for the toilets, they were holes in a cement floor and you have to squat to do your business.

On Friday night when I finally got to sit down and talk to the girls, they were so surprised that i was only 18, especially since i am so tall. once they realized that i was right around their age or even younger than some of them, they really began to open up to me because they knew that I could relate. My hostess in the dorm was named Ruth, and in some ways she really reminded me of my best friend from the US Ruth. Ruth is the daughter of one of the pastors at daddy's church. While I tried to talk to all of the girls, there were about twelve girls who I really formed relationships with and who made an effort to get to know me better.

The dorms at most if not all secondary schools in Uganda are not at all like dorms in America. Rather than having two or three girls living in one room together, all of the girls in secondary school who are boarders live in one very large room. There were about 35 girls in the dorm I was staying in. Because dormitories often mysteriously burn down in uganda and because some of the girls were afraid of the dark, they left the lights on ALL night. And, the girls often wake up at about 3 AM or 4 AM to study and prepare for the day!!! Most of the girls did not even stop talking until around 11-12 pm so in all those girls got VERY LITTLE sleep at night.

The students in secondary school have school on Monday-Saturday from 7 AM to 4 or 5 PM at night, then have a two hour break for dinner, and have to go back to school to do some independent studying from 7 pm to 9 PM. Can you imagine having to go to school for that length of time every day but sunday?? i know that if americans were forced to go to school that long that there would be some type of rebellion or something. These students were all so dedicated to their education.
In uganda, there are 7 years of primary school and 6 years of secondary school. unlike in america where you can drop out of school, get your GED and then go to college, in uganda you must go through all 13 years of school before going to the university. Also, after your fourth year of secondary school you are forced to either choose to focus on arts or sciences. On friday night i decided to go to the 6th year secondary school class where the students whose focus was on the sciences was doing math. I thought that I would for sure be some help to those students, but when i walked into their classroom and saw the problems they were working, i was amazed that they were harder problems than i have ever worked in my life. i thought they would be doing some simple calculus 1 stuff, but they were doing work that is equivalent to what i will be doing next semester in linear algebra and one other math class. i could not believe that they were working such advanced problems and they weren't even at the university yet!!!!!! to say that i was impressed is an understatement for sure.

on saturday the headmaster of the primary school and two teachers took me around to some of the homes of the students so i could see how much in need these families really are. we visited ten homes of students who are in desperate need of assistance in paying their school fees. Most of the houses that we visited were little huts like we would imagine african houses to look like. The need here really is legitimate. There was one home with only a grandmother caring for about 6 or 7 grandchildren. this grandmother does all that she can to support the family, but she is unable to pay for her precious grandchildren to get a quality education. How much does Mt. carmel cost to attend per year? About $105, thats all... many families have to pay the cost of the tuition in installments. I was in the bursars office one day when a grandmother came in to pay part of her grandchild's tuition and she pulled out a little bag of coins, about 20 of them worth less that 25 cents each.
one of the saddest things i saw the whole time i was at the school was during the school day break at about 10;45 am at the primary school. those children whose parents have paid for the school term (there are 3 terms in a year) were given porridge to fill their tummies, but the children whose parents have not paid were left with nothing but water to drink. most if not all of those children come to school everyday with no breakfast, and to have to leave school in the afternoon with no food in their stomachs still must be so hard.

On the students off day on Sunday, they have a church service at 730 in the morning. The service was so amazing because it was completely student run. The students preached, the students sang, and the students danced. I was even an honorary member of the choir and sang two songs with them. After the service and after lunch, every sunday the students get to watch a movie. Please let me tell you how these 50 or more students watch the movie. they set a computer screen up in a classroom and they all crowd around so they can see. We in America take way too many things for granted, especially things like televisions and nice computers and laptops. at mt carmel, if they need something typed up and printed they must either go to an internet cafe about three miles away or they must do it with a TYPEWRITER! can you imagine? they have no printers at school at all, so although they do have very old computers, they have no way to print their work. there were no copy machines at the school, so rather than the students getting worksheets with information on it, a student stands up at the front of the room and reads the worksheet while the students write it in their notebooks. i sat in one class where they were taking an enormous amount of notes about the netherlands, and i even wrote the notes while the student in the front was dictating them to the class. i got restless after writing notes for one class period, so i have no idea how they do it in all of their classes.

while at the school, i taught two different english classes. I taught the students in their third year of secondary school how to write a composition and the students in their first year of secondary school how to have a conversation and how to write it on paper. in the class that i taught how to write a composition, after teaching them i gave them an assignment to write about a day in their life they would never forget. When the students decided their topic, they were required to stand up and say what it was to the whole class. Out of about 40 students, about 5 or 6 of them said they were going to write about the day that a parent of theirs died. Standing in front of that class, i was almost brought to tears as i realized that having a parent die during their child's childhood is so common. that is another thing that we as americans take for granted. while one of my best friends from home does have a deceased father, that is not very common at all. we expect our parents to be alive at least until our children are grown and they get to experience the joys of being a grandparent or even a great-grandparent, but here that is more of a dream rather than a reality. how sad...

Because the school really tries to make the cost of schooling as cheap as possible, the boarding students eat porridge everyday for breakfast, and for lunch and dinner they have posho (it's made out of flour) and beans. the only day that they get something different is every other sunday they get meat and matooke for lunch and an egg for breakfast. i get tired of eating the same thing two days in a row, i can't imagine if i had to eat the same thing every single day. i remember at roanoke college some of my friends and i would complain if we ate the same meal within two weeks of each other.

In government schools, students are allowed to go to primary school for free and secondary school for a lower rate than private schools. The quality of education in the government schools are very poor, though. The student-teacher ratio is very high, sometimes with about 100 students per teacher. Because of the poor standards in the government schools, parents really try to save money for their students to go to private institutions such as mt. carmel. for these children to not end up in the same financial situation as their guardians are in, it is important that they recieve a high quality education. after meeting the teachers and the students at mt. carmel and have witnessing the need and the drive to learn found there, i can't just stand around and not do anything about it. so, when i come back to the US i am going to start a program that helps pay for students school fees at mt. carmel. the amount of money it costs to send just one child to school is one that most americans could afford if rather than eating at a restaurant three times with their family, they eat at home. if anyone reading this blog is interested in sponsoring a child to go to school at mt. carmel, please email me at Hannah-Green@utc.edu and i will be more than happy to provide you with more detailed information.

On a different note, one night i woke up at about 3 am and had to go to the bathroom so i told ruth that i needed to go so she could wake up the matron of the dorm and have her unlock the door so i could walk to the latrines. well after telling ruth that "i need to go to the bathroom," she started leading me to where the girls take their baths!! lol. im sure she was wondering why i wanted to go take a bath at 3 in the morning. it's so funny howw we can be speaking the same language but have different definitions for the same words just based on where we are from.

on the last night of my stay at the dorms, the girls wanted to see me do some american dances and since i really do not know of any traditional american dances, i showed them how to crank that soulja boy and i also did the hoedown throwdown from the hannah montana movie. LOL. Afterward, a girl showed me how to do a traditional bugandan dance called kiganda. the girls tie something around your waste so it will shake as you shake your hips. they were just about in tears from laughing so hard as the girl, joyce, showed me how to do that dance and as i failed miserably at trying. but it was completely worth it to give them a good laugh and some entertainment.

the day that i left, i gave all of the girls my mailing address for the states and told them that i would love for them to write me. a muslim girl i became particularly close to named mariam wrote me the most beautiful goodbye song. that brought a couple of tears in my eyes because although i had known the girls for only a couple of days, we had bonded and become so close. every night we would talk for a couple of hours about life in uganda, life in the united states, school, God, and pretty much everything you can imagine. when they found out that i was leaving on july 7th to go back to the US, they did not understand why i didn't just stay for another week or so.

Apparently when whites come and visit the school, they really distance themselves from the students. Although they may help in the classrooms or the communities, they do not spend time outside of school with the students. The girls in the dorm had never had a white person stay in the dorm with them before. The one time that I ate lunch with the students, most of them just stared at me in amazement that i was eating the exact food that they were eating and that i appeared to be enjoying it. i think that's what really helped me form a bond with the girls is because i lived pretty much like they did for five days. when the whites who come to visit distance themselves from the students, they make the students feel like the whites think they are better than the students and should not have to live in the same conditions as them. i really hope that any other teams of whites who come visit the school will spend more time getting to know the students because the students love it.

next week, i am going to GULU with my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The one place that i have really wanted to visit this trip has been gulu and i am so excited that i will be able to. this will be the first time i ever really get to see a place with people who have been affected by a recent war, with some people still living in displacement camps. all right well that is all for now but God bless and everyone please pray for the students at mt. carmel and at all the schools around uganda who really struggle to pay for their school fees that they will find a way to do so.

walking walking everywhere!

2009-06-11T08:29:00.003-04:00

1st and second pic--the dinner that i made for my family
3rd pic-all of the stuff i delivered to the babies home!
4th pic-me and the workers and some of the babies at the home
5th pic-me and oh so cute daniel at sanyu
6th pic-angela, me and elizabeth at sanyu

Walking around kampala and its surrounding area has become a new favorite pastime of mine. If kampala was more of a walker friendly area, i swear i would walk everywhere and not even take a bus. On monday i walked aimlessly to kalerwe, an area somewhat near to my home, walked through the market there, and then took a side road just to see where it would lead. then, i turned around and headed back for home. it's times like my walks where i wish that i were invisible because if i were invisible then people would let me be at peace on my little walks. instead, about 50 different boda boda drivers pulled over and asked if i wanted a ride and all of the store owners that i passed begged for me to just walk into their shop for a second so i could take a look around. when i told them that i had no money with me (which was not a lie) they still insisted i looked around. sometimes i want to scream "just because im white does not mean i am made of money!!!!!!!!!" Man, people can be frustrating.

After my walk to kalerwe on monday, my african dad and i delivered all of the supplies i bought for the babies home to the babies home. as we were unloading them and sitting them outside, the workers at the orphanage came out and hugged me and were just so happy about all of the new supplies they were blessed with. since most of them do not speak english, they were not able to say much in english to convey their feelings about the gifts, but the amount of hugs i got and what dad said they were saying in luganda proved that they genuinely felt the gifts were a miracle. dad said that with the way they were acting, they had not recieved a gift that size in a long time. A true miracle that came out of it, though, was that the other day the program administrator had gone to the market to buy a type of baby formula that the newborns need. well, when she went they were all sold out of it, so she couldn't get any. the type that she needed was the exact type that i had bought. God works in mysterious ways... anyway thank you to everyone who either donated their time and/or money so i could buy the supplies. you have helped these children more than you will ever know and i knnow that each of you will be blessed for blessing these kids.

On tuesday, i went to the babies home for about two hours and then had a taxi come pick me up and take me to garden city, a shopping mall, for some rest and relaxation. while i was there, i bought some maple syrup so i could make some american pancakes for my family. i also went to see "i love you, man" at the cinemas. after the movie, i walked from garden city to wandegeya to catch a taxi home. on my walk to wandegeya, i heard some really weird sirens so i turned around to see what the commotion was and sure enough, there was a motorcade with the president of uganda inside. i was in shock and didn't have enough time to get my camera out to take a picture. i am a little upset, though, that he didnt make his driver pull over to pick me up.

when i got home on tuesday, i made my family some pancakes. in uganda, they do not eat american pancakes at all, so seeing david and chizito try their very first pancake was amazing. david put some maple syrup on it and then preceded to pick it up and try to eat it like a taco. i couldn't help but laugh out loud when he did that. one thing that i have noticed about ugandans is that other than fruit, they do not like very sweet things. so, rather than being like americans and smothering their pancakes with syrup, they barely put a little dollop of it on their plate and would dip it in there just a little bit before each bite. david completely quit using syrup all together.

yesterday, i woke up and got ready for the day. as i was getting ready to leave, i realized that i had lost my house key. so i searched high and low in my room for it but it wasn't there. i was already trying to figure out how i was going to break it to my parents that i llost their house key, but THANK the lORD somehow it got downstairs and when i walked downstairs it was in the key hole. i have no idea how it got there, but i am very thankful that it was there.

once i found the key, i traveled to the babies home and worked there a couple of hours. there is a little boy there named francis. he is almost 2 years old i think and he has cerebral palsy. it is rreally sad to see how the workers mostly ignore him and he spends most of his day everyday in his crib lying on his back just lying there. he can barely move his head even a little bit. one of the other volunteers at sanyu has really grown a liking for francis and so her family back home had a dinner at her house to raise money to buy physiotherapy supplies for him. she raised about 500 euros. i pray that those supplies will be used and will help his overall quality of life. i try to sit with him in my lap as much as possible because i know that he really needs attention. when i touch him and he's not expecting it, he flinches so hard and tenses up. if i do not hold his head up while i am trying to feed him his bottle, he will not be able to swallow and if i don't hold his head up while he's in your lap, his head will just hang there like a puppet. please everyone pray for this little boy and his well-being. i am worried that one day he may just die.

after working at the babies home yesterday, i decided that i was going to cook breakfast for dinner for my family. so i stopped by a market to buy eggs and sausage. can i please tell you that rather than having cartons to put the eggs in, they gave me a bag with 24 eggs in it that i had to carry with me all the way from sanyu to home. i don't think i have EVER handled an inanimate object with that much care in my entire life. climbing on and off busses and walking through the bus park was quite a challenge to say the least. for dinner, i cooked eggs, sausage, pancakes, and a fruit salad that everyone enjoyed. it was quite delicious, im not gonna lie.

today i am preparing to leave for mount carmel, a school that my african father has started about an hour away from kampala. i will be staying there for about four nights with the kids who attend the school and stay in the dorms with the girls. i am going to be helping them with their schoolwork and also just ministering to them. please pray for me as i go to this school and fellowship with these teenagers. please pray that as i form relationships with them, that they will be able to see Christ in me and will be able to talk honestly with me about their issues if they so choose to. Thanks everyone!

this past week...

2009-06-06T12:24:00.003-04:00

1st pic--all of the kids at focus and i playing duck duck goose

2nd pic--looking at one of the children's drawing

3rd pic--davids birthday dinner

4th pic--some boxes of diapers balanced on a man's head

5th pic--all of the supplies i have bought for the babies home

I have bought all of the supplies for the Sanyu Babies Home and will deliver it monday!!!! I am amazed at how many supplies can be bought with $1400. Exactly how many, you ask? 5,028 diapers, 192 cloth diapers, 84 plastic pants (they go over the cloth diapers), 15 packs of 200 count wipes, 24 tubs of butter, 18 bottles of Jik (cleaner), and 24 tins of baby formula. It has taken three trips into town to buy these supplies, and let me tell you that they are very interesting excursions. See, if I were to go to a large grocery store and buy all of the supplies, I would have only been able to purchase about half as much as I did. So instead of doing that, I shopped the Ugandan way.

For three days this past week, David and I took a bus into town and hired a taxi to take us to Kikuubo, an area in Kampala with small wholesale shops. These shops sold everything in bulk, but they each specialize in having different materials so for each item that we needed we had to go to a different shop and bargain with different workers. After going from shop to shop asking about prices and bargaining with people, once we found the best prices we bought.

The first two days that we bought stuff, nothing interesting happened. But yesterday, the day that we bought 11 boxes of diapers, I had some experiences worth mentioning. While David and I were waiting for the taxi man to come pick us and the boxes up (which ended up being over an hour by the way) i decided to sit down on the side of the street while guarding the boxes. well as i was sitting there, a woman comes and sits directly beside me and eats her lunch. it was so funny because she had many different places she could sit and she decided that the spot right beside me was the best. so, she sat there and ate. she didn't talk to me or touch me or anything, she just sat there and then after she ate she got up and left. when we got home david told me that she had actually been sitting on the opposite side of the street and when she saw that she could sit by me, she got up and moved. i hope she got the thrill she wanted sitting beside a white person for a bit. while sitting and waiting for the taxi, i realized that white people really do not shop at the wholesale shops and instead use the grocery stores for their supplies. so for them, seeing a white person buying stuff was quite weird. the first two days, we had to carry the boxes that we purchased quite a distance, so we hired some men to carry them for us. i am absolutely amazed at the amount of stuff they can balance on their head. not only can they balance it on their head, they are able to walk so so fast in the process. i was barely able to keep up with them as they were maneuvering through the crowd.

on a different note, this whole past week i have been sick again so i was unable to visit the babies home any. i have had a really bad sore throat and cough all week, but i am better now thank the Lord. One day I felt so bad that I just stayed at home all day and watched a television show called The Unit that my african dad has on dvd. after watching the whole first season, i am officially addicted and need to ask him where he has hidden the second season dvd so i can get to watching that one.

on thursday was david's birthday, so the family and i went to eat at javas, a restaurant that has alot of american food. i had quesadillas and a brownie for dessert. one of the main foods i really miss when i come to uganda are cakes and cookies and brownies because although they do have somewhat of an equivalent here, they are not nearly as sweet as they are in the united states. that brownie at javas, though, was amazing!!!! im going to have to go again just to buy another one.

today i went to Focus again and i am already looking forward to going again next saturday. i worked in the youngest kids class yet again and while they do not understand much english at all, i am learning how to communicate much better using body language and hand gestures. today, nelson put me "in charge" of teaching one of the lessons, of course with some translation help from him. first, i gave them paper and crayons and they drew their favorite fruit and also whatever else they wanted to. as we were all drawing, nelson was drawing masterpieces and i was drawing pictures that looked even worse than what the kids were drawing. i have really always hated drawing. anyway, after that nelson had to go clean off a kid's cut that he got while running around or something so i was left with the kids alone. they pretty much mirror exactly what i do so i started doing some jumping jacks and some stretches and then some silly things i made up along the way. i really love being able to be silly with kids that age because they just laugh and go along with it. we then went outside and i taught them how to play duck, duck, goose. that might have been a mistake on my part because now everytime i go im pretty sure they are going to make me play that with them the whole time. i think we seriously played that for an hour today and they didn't get bored of it at all. i was really really really tired afterward, though, because all of the kids thought it was fun when i was the goose.

well that is all for now. i love how we are getting the food prepared to eat dinner while most of you in america are just waking up! ta ta for now!

another update...

2009-05-31T20:08:00.005-04:00

Camilla and i at sanyu babies home.

me and some of the children at focus. most of these kids were in the class above the one i worked with.

me and beautiful irene at the babies home.

emily felt no need to eat the food when she could spread it on her face instead!

the children at the babies home enjoy taking a quick swim after class.

On Friday, I witnessed the first set of kids from the babies home being adopted out. Apparently, right before all of the kids leave to go to their home, the parents who are adopting put on a little party for everyone. The two families who got to take their new children home brought cake, juice, and apples for all of the babies to munch on. I can't imagine what the older children think when one of the kids goes home. Do they realize what is happening? Do they wonder why they weren't the child chosen? Some of those answers I will never know. While working there, i have become very educated on what parents look for when adopting. In most situations, children who are HIV-positive or have sickle cell anemia or are even carriers for sickle cell (meaning they actually do not have it themselves) can kiss their chances of being adopted goodbye. The younger and more physically attractive the child, the more likely they are going to be adopted.

One of the little babies that i have grown to love is named Irene (shes 8 months old). Just two days after being dropped off at the orphanage, a single woman from alabama came to adopt her. I am so excited that she will have a good family and will get a chance to live it out in the south. the lady adopting her says that they are going to call her willa rae. what a typical southern name...lol.

On saturday, i went to something called FOCUS. It is a christian organization that pays for very poor children to go to school and in return the children go every saturday to the FOCUS compound and the staff gives them some supplemental instruction and also feeds them. I spent my time in the little kid's class, they were between the ages of about 6-10. The kids in this group are mostly fluent only in luganda because they are just starting to learn english in school. Their knowledge about the bible amazed me, though. One of the questions that the teacher, Nelson, asked them was who bought joseph as a slave when his brothers sold him off? the answer was potipher but i had absolutely no idea! Nelson tries to teach them alot through competitions because it encourages them to know the answer. So, most of the time spent learning in class was a two way competition between the students on their knowledge of bible and if they know the english words of pictures shown to the class. Right before the kid's break where they were fed breakfast, Nelson was praying for the food and the children and he said something along the lines of i know these kids are hungry because most of them have not had a real meal for a whole day so bless this food as it goes in their stomach. When he said that, I was shocked. I started looking around the room and began to wonder what kind of background these children had and how they really must know what hunger feels like. once the prayer was over with, i went and talked to nelson about him saying that and he said that most of those children only have one meal a day. he also said that soome of the kids are orphans or living with extended family.

As I was talking to some of the older children who knew a little more english during the break, i came upon one boy named paul who when i asked, said he had no brothers or sisters. in ugandan culture, that is EXTREMELY odd. Im not sure what the circumstances are around that, but i told him that i would be his sister. so now, i have a new little ugandan brother named paul. i think he found it really humorous that his new sibling was a white american.

after the break once everyone's stomachs were full, i got back together with the younger kids and nelson led them in some games. i have noticed that ugandan children games are heavily based on strength and not so much on running, which dominates american games. at one point, nelson told me he had to go somewhere for a minute so he left me in chaarge of the game. so there i was trying to organize 40 kids to play a game using only motions and tone of voice to get my point across bc most of them sure as heck didn't know what i was saying otherwise. i successfully accomplished what i was trying to do, though, so i was pretty proud of myself. next saturday, nelson told me that i am going to teach the children an english lesson. that should be interesting... by the way, while i was at FOCUS i saw these 3 middle aged white men there. when i heard them talking, i knew they had to have been from the south. so i asked them where they were from and out of all the places they could be from, they were from KNOXVILLE! they had come to donate some supplies to focus and also to sponsor some of the children. they had brought some tennis shoes for the children who did not have an appropriate pair of shoes.

when david and i got home from focus, we had every intention of getting ready and going to a wedding reception of a church member, but the weather told us otherwise. a storm came that was so bad that it tore down some power lines and so we were left without power from about 4 oclock saturday to 3 oclock today. so instead, chizito david and i just lounged around. i've been reading a lot of the books that i brought from america so i've been able to keep myself occupied.

today, i went to church at around 11 and returned at about 2 and then ate and went for a walk around the area that i live and just lounged around again. i have began to read the testament by john grisham and so far it has proved to be quite interesting. when i go for walks or jogs, ive gotten to the point that i wish that i would just look ugandan so peopple would not always be trying to talk to me. it's cute when little kids run up and say something to you, but when grown men do it, it's not cute at all. i have learned to just ignore most of what is said to me and keep walking. i can't believe i have already been in uganda for two weeks and have only five more weeks to go! timee has flown so fast but it has been so amazing thus far!

eat eat eat!

2009-05-27T15:14:00.002-04:00

Eating in Uganda is a very central and important part of life. While there are unfortunately so many ugandans who because of drought or other reasons are unable to eat even two meals a day, i instead feel some days like all i do is eat. for example, on Sunday after church my family and I went and ate at this really nice kind of american restaurant and i was STUFFED! afterward, we visited a family from church's house and the grandmother made us some chapote (it is somewhat like tortillas but thicker). We were all so full, but had to eat some of the chapote bc if we didn't it would be very disrespectful. so there i sat, forcing myself to chew on that chapote and force it into my alreaady full stomach. the husband in the family that we visited name is Jeff and he is a professional basketball player in uganda which i found to be very interesting. in uganda, though, basketball is not nearly as popular as in america. let me tell you that one of the funniest things to watch is some ugandans watching a basketball highlights video. they were so amazed at some of the basketball moves of american bball stars.

on monday and tuesday i have worked at the sanyu babies home. i have noticed that there has been some improvement since i visited last. there are so many volunteers there and the place just seems overall like a happier place. in the morning, i play around with the kids around age 6 months - 2 years and in the afternoons i spend time loving on the newborn babies.

on tuesday, i rode the taxi (they call busses taxis) all by myself to the taxi park!! i am really working hard on conquering the kampala taxi routes. those taxis are so confusing and often times the drivers do not speak much english, which makes it alot more intimidating. as david and i were sitting in a taxi at the taxi park waiting for the taxi to feel up with people, these two guys came to the window trying to sell some stuff. now, this is a common occurence especially when they see a white person around. but, these two guys who were maybe 16 years old, just walked up and tried to sell me something but when i said no they didn't go away. they just stood there for i swear ten minutes staring at me. it got to the point that it was getting really awkward and i just had to turn away and laugh. i think situations like that are God's way of getting a good laugh since i find myself staring at people without realizing it and now here in Uganda it is coming back at me 100 fold.

the past two days i have been jogging up to the bahai temple and back. it is a very beautiful building, and is the largest one in africa. today, after jogging up to the temple i decided to do some exploring and just walked around the surrounding area for a little bit. the scenery here is so beautiful with the dirt roads, palm trees, and little houses scattered all over the place. if i could, i would just walk around for hours but then i know that i would end up lost and that would not be good at all!

i tried my first mango yesterday and have already decided that i do not like the taste of mangos but do love the taste of mango juice. weird huh?

hey, obama's sister!

2009-05-23T04:46:00.004-04:00

1st pic-amanda (i talk ab her in this blog), daddy morris, mommy christine, david and i

2nd pic-beautiful ugandan scenery. since i am staying in the capital city i don't get to see this beauty very often

3rd pic--This is what happens when you are a litter bug in uganda. no one is there to pick up after you.

4th pic--me and some kids at the mulago slums which is right beside the mulago hospital

The title of my post is one of the many names i have been called so far this trip. I am still amazed at what an obsession people here have with Obama. It's so much more than in America.

What i love about different cultures is that they view events and happenings in their lives so much more different than we as americans do. one of the pastors at eden revival church, the church that my african daddy pastors over, has just had his fourth child. he told me on tuesday about how he would pray so diligently to have twins but how he never got them. here in uganda, having twins increases the status of a family. a family is considered to be quite blessed to have twins. i found this to be really interesting mostly because i am reading poisonwood bible right now, and it is based in the congo, and if you have twins there you sit them out in the forest to die because it is a curse to have twins. i have never really met any americans who pray to have twins either.

On wednesday, i took my first trip to the sanyu babies home. the little girl named diana who i had absolutely fallen in love with my last trip has been adopted and so while that is a blessing that she has a family now, i was really sad that she wasn't there anymore. i bet she has grown so much. the home is currently at its top capacity with 50 babies, 3 of them newborns. i talked to the program administrator about items that they really need, and she said that diapers are definitely the most needed, and also margarine, disinfectant, and a couple of other things. at lunch time, i was given a plate with some food on it, a spoon, and eight little babies staring at me to feed. they kind of reminded me of little baby birds waiting to be fed. after lunch and their naptimes, i was in the 0-3 month old room with 7 little babies to watch over. at one time, 3 of them started crying at the same time!! so, i had to sit down and had one in each arm and one laying on my legs. finally, some other people came to help thank the lord because i wouldn't have known what to do with myself if all 7 of the babies started crying. they workers told me that there has been an increase of babies being orphaned and they have been having to turn some babies away to go to other orphanages.

On thursday i went with mummy and daddy and david and a woman from seattle named amanda to the raphae medical centre about an hour and a half from kampala. before we traveled there, though, we had to go pick up an oxygen concentrator that amanda raised money for while in america. it took THREE HOURS for them to process the order so david and i were left sitting in the car for that long. i think that might be the record for the longest i have ever been patient. i saw my first ugandan rain though. and when it rains here, it pours. it reminded me of hurricane rains. it was so funny because 3o minutes into the rain we saw these 2 white mormons who were dressed up in their suits running so fast trying to find something to stand under during the rain. i wonder if they ever found anything haha. when we finally got the oxygen concentrator we headed to the medical centre. while there, i got a tour of the hospital and i also tried traditional ugandan tea. they use milk rather than water to steep the tea bag in. it was pretty delicious. the area that the hospital is in is very very rural. the scenery was so beautiful because there were just miles and miles of grasslands all around.

the roads here have not improved since my last trip. there are still potholes in all of the roads. the dirt roads are so horrible i am very glad i don't get car sick easily because i would be having to carry a barf bag with me everywhere i go. and garbage is still all over the place. kids go and fill up water jugs with the same water that other people dump their trash in. it's no wonder that it is not safe to drink the water here.

on friday, i was supposed to rest but instead i woke up soooo sick. i had really bad chills, my left ear hurt, i had a headache, and i was so weak i just wanted to lay in bed all day. i went to the doctor and he said that i have the flu and for me to lay in bed all day so i did just that. mummy made me drink lots of water and juice. this morning, i feel so much better though. i still feel kind of weak and also my ear hurts a little bit but other than that i am back to normal thank the Lord. Today we don't have any plans because also mummy and daddy are sick and so we're just going to lazy around all day. I may go running later tonight! I hope everyone has a good day!

UGANDA, here i am!

2009-05-18T15:31:00.002-04:00

1st pic-some kids and i in the village david and i walked around in before the graduationnn party

2nd pic-i gave this little girl my sunglasses during the church service and she started prancing around with them on. it was hilarious. and i couldn't tell her to stop bc she didn't speak english

Hey everybody I hope that your day is going well. So far, my trip has been amazing. The flight to Uganda was very peaceful and my prayers paid off about having good seatmates or no seatmates at all because I only had a seatmate one time and from DC to Ethiopia there was a seat between me and a junior who attends Libterty University named Alex who was traveling to Uganda as well. she was going to visit her boyfriend who was interning with the International Missions Board in northern Uganda. It was quite ironic that she went to Liberty considering that it is so close to Roanoke and since I visited there this semester and went ice skating. But, just for future reference, Ethiopian Airlines might be the worst airline to fly on. EVERY flight I went on with them was very late and unorganized. The food left much to be desired and they rarely offered refreshments. The last meal that they served on the flight I could not even eat because the smell of it made me sick. On one of the flights I also met a Dinka woman from southern Sudan. It is so neat to actually meet a person from a tribe of people that I learned about in Anthropology. I would highly suggest everyone to take that class, some people may even want to take it twice(haha ruth!)

When i got off the plane at 1:30 PM in Uganda, I was greeted by a couple of nurses who made me fill out information about the past countries I have visited and if I had a sore throat or runny nose in an attempt to try to make sure the swine flu doesn't make it to Uganda. After picking up my luggage, I found mummy and pastor and we went to eat at a Ugandan restaurant where i filled up on all sorts of native goodness and then we drove home. I wasn't really tired at the time so I agreed to go to a wedding reception after showering and freshening up, but oh my goodness one thing i have learned about ugandan receptions or parties in general is that they are filled with LONG speeches, often spoken in luganda. so there i sat at the reception, my eyelids forcing themselves closed because i was so tired, with no idea of what was being said. we got home at around 930 pm and from there i went straight to bed.

on sunday morning i woke up an hour before i thought i was supposed to because david, my ugandan family's nephew, misinformed me about what time it was so when i woke up at what i thought was 9 am to get ready for church, it was actually 8 am. it was good to see the church family again! after church we ate at nando's, a fast food restaurant in kampala, and then we went to a graduation party for a pastor at church who just graduated from bible school. i had my first squat and pee experience of the trip that day. when i told mummy i had to go to the bathroom she had a little boy direct me to the latrines behind the house. when i first looked at them i thought, man i can wait till i get home, but then i realized that i really had to go so i was a big girl and went. it is really interesting how here most people do not have seat toilets like we have back home. it is normal to squat. mummy and pastor left early and so david and i stayed there by ourselves. one thing to learn about ugandans is that they always start everything later then they say they will so david and i walked around the surrounding village before the party started. apparently some of the children were calling me an albino!!! lol. i've never heard myself called that before but i can imagine that i might be one of the lightest ppl they have ever seen before. once the kids found out that i was from the US they asked me if i knew obama. these kids were like 7-9 years old and they were asking me about obama!!! i found that to be quite funny. oh and there is a butcher shop here called obama's butchery. there's a big picture of him beside the name of the store. i asked david why everyone loves him here and he said that it's because he has kenyan roots and is black. we left before the ceremony was over with and walked back to our house. when we got home, i just spent some time talking to david and chizito, the gatekeeper here. they are so much fun to talk to and i am very blessed to have them to entertain me.

today i woke up and fixed chizito and i some scrambled eggs. speaking of breakfast food, i am hoping that i will be able to make the family pancakes one day since chizito and david have not ever had them. i hope they like them! anyway, after breakfast david took me to exchange my money to ugandan shillings. the exchange rate is so much better than last trip! for every dollar, i am given 2268 shillings i think. It was SOOoO hot outside today!!! even though i did put on alot of sunscreen i really felt like i was going to end up as red as a lobster after the day was over! thank goodness that didn't come true. we also went and compared prices for baby cloth diapers called nappys. i feel like they are trying to quote a higher price when i am around because my skin is white, so tomorrow david is going to go into a store alone and ask them how much they cost. after we compared prices, we rode a bus back home and the plan was to go running but we were both so tired that it didn't happen.

tomorrow i am planning to go to the us embassy to register and then go compare nappy prices again. i will wake up early and first go to church with pastor and wait for david to come pick me up, though. on wednesday i plan to go to the sanyu babies 'home.'i have found that more children and even adults are more interested in me giving them money as a "mzungu"(white person) than ever before. on sunday when david and i were walking around a village and talking to some of the kids, a woman told me in lugandan to go buy all of the kids some popcorn. i really really do not find that humorous at all and it almost made me want to stop being around that woman since obviously all she was interested was my monetary donations. some other young children, probably around 3 years old, told me to give them some money too. it's really sad.

anyway that is enough for today! it is time for me to head to bed!! good night!

Q&A b4 my trip :)

2009-05-13T00:19:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody! In about 52 hours I will be boarding the first plane of 3 to take me to Uganda! I will be traveling from Atlanta to Washington DC, from DC to Rome, from Rome to Ethiopia and then to UgAnDa! I am so so so excited but I do not feel prepared for this trip at all. The first time I traveled to Uganda I know my suitcase was packed a couple of days beforehand but now procrastination has gotten the best of me so only one of my suitcases is packed :(

Before I leave, I figured I'd answer a couple of popular questions asked to me about my trip for any of you who might be wondering urself.

Q--What's ur purpose in going to Uganda?
A-- I go to work in the Sanyu Babies Home and also to visit my african family. After college, moving permanently to Uganda is a very big possibility. I hope to start my own orphanage.

Q--What are you most excited about?
A--Seeing my ugandan mom and dad for sure and also spending time with the babies at the orphanage. I can't wait to see how my favorite little girl Diana has grown. Also, the food is AMAZING!

Q--What are you least excited about?
A--It would definitely have to be the flight there and back. I hate hate hate sitting for long periods of time. Also, I really don't feel comfortable with how the police over there walks around with AK-47 guns. That is scary for real!

Q--Whats the funniest thing anyone has told u about your trip?
A--One of my relatives very seriously told me not to marry an african while im over there because they all have more than one wife.

Allrighty well it's time for me to hit the hay but I will talk to yall soon!