I just wanted to drop you all this note to bid you farewell before I head off into the countryside for a week. I'll be staying with a family in the rural of Uganda in order to get a picture of what that lifestyle is like since right now I live more in what is considered the city. I'm sure there will be many stories following it so be looking for that to be posted soon after. Kurty is pumped because she feels like she' going home and she's done such a good job converting me from the suburban individual I once was into one who can't wait to embrace country living at every opportunity that I'm super pumped as well. I feel like my 10 years of living at a summer camp has tainted any city-ness I may have and allows me to say that I'm not completely through and through one of those "city folk." Well, either way I'm excited!
The other day I received a package from my dad and opened it to find the best surprise in the whole wide world for me at this point. He had put to DVD a Vikings game so I could watch my favorite sport that I miss so very much! I almost started crying when I started playing it and heard the music! Oh how glorious it was! Dad, that was the best surprise ever! I haven't yet finished it, but it's like a little treat every day :) Now if only someone could send me sweatpants and fall weather in a package! And while there at it stick my family in there too! :)
I am so appreciative of all your prayers and I would appreciate them for this coming week as well. So this is me signing off until November!!! Enjoy Halloween for me!!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Monday, 20 October 2008
What is your best food?
There are many things that I miss from home. Family and friends of course, sweatpants!, football, fall weather, ice in my milk, basketball, Hope church, and machine washed clean underwear! I am excited to have these things once again when I return, but I’ve also realized that I will miss some of my favorite things from here when I am home. So in the words of the wonderful Maria again, “ these are a few of my favorite things.” The title of this blog is how Africans ask what your favorite thing is. Best means favorite.
"I'm gonna get grape or cherry. They're both favorites. Grape's a little more favorite, but if they don't have grape then that's fine because cherry's a favorite anyway. It's like another favorite, but not as much. Not as much favorite, but they're both good. They're both good."
-Brian Regan
FAVORITES
Food- Irish potatoes with curry and vegetables. Oh my lanta, I go to bed looking super pregnant on the nights we have this because I eat so much and stretch my stomach way out.
Fruit- pineapple, it is so much sweeter here then at home. I hate pineapple in America.
Drink- instant coffee (reminds me of camp) or cold Mirinda pineapple pop (scrumptious!)
Snack- bread and Blue Band butter, or shortbread cookies and peanut butter. Kurty and I go through a loaf of bread in about 3-4 days!
Class- This is a tough one because I have such a hard time with the classes so I’d probably say the informal class Kurty and I hold after class where we discuss everything we talked about in class. I learn so much more then.
Day of the Week- Thursday!! I only have class until noon and then I go home with Kurty to her house to hang out with Stella and anyone else who is home and have lunch! It’s so relaxing and I love her family! Plus it’s nice to get away from school.
Skirt- My white skirt with pink/purple flowerish designs on it that just hits my knees…I know that that description sucks, but I’m not a huge fan of skirts so when I get home I probably will only wear this one from the trip so you’ll have a chance to see it.
Squatty Story- There are so many so I will pick a few. One was the skinny hole in the ground, with no door, and someone’s math homework in a basket to wipe with. I can just hear the student saying, “stupid math” as they rip out a page! The other was probably in Rwanda when we had to take turns being the door because the entire village was running up to see us.
View- Watching a distant lightning storm above the Rwenzori mountains at the safari or the overlook of Mount Elgon with a rainbow in front of it.
Speaker- Probably Chris Page who talked to us about his businesses and his stories of incredible Christ followers. His quote about God not calling the qualified, but qualifying those he calls will probably stick with me the rest of my life.
Activity/Hobby- Rook and blogging! Being a dominant force is therapeutic I think and it’s so satisfying when one of the people we beat consistently is super competititve (Justin Lane).
Ugandan- Excluding anyone under the age of 10 it would have to be my brother/uncle Elisha and Kurty’s sister/cousin Stella. They are so much fun to be around and we’ve gotten to the point where we can play jokes on each other.
Luganda Word- Chamuka! (go crazy) and Kwebaka (sleep!) I am in either one of these two states in my life at any given moment. There often doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of middle ground ☺
Quote- “If you believe something, passionately, people will follow you.” Donald Miller. There are so many, but this is just one that was handy while I was writing this ☺
American Moment- Drinking a chocolate, peanut butter milkshake at one of our American professor’s homes!
“These are a few of my favorite things. When the mosquito bites, when the latrine stinks, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad.” ☺
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2
"I'm gonna get grape or cherry. They're both favorites. Grape's a little more favorite, but if they don't have grape then that's fine because cherry's a favorite anyway. It's like another favorite, but not as much. Not as much favorite, but they're both good. They're both good."
-Brian Regan
FAVORITES
Food- Irish potatoes with curry and vegetables. Oh my lanta, I go to bed looking super pregnant on the nights we have this because I eat so much and stretch my stomach way out.
Fruit- pineapple, it is so much sweeter here then at home. I hate pineapple in America.
Drink- instant coffee (reminds me of camp) or cold Mirinda pineapple pop (scrumptious!)
Snack- bread and Blue Band butter, or shortbread cookies and peanut butter. Kurty and I go through a loaf of bread in about 3-4 days!
Class- This is a tough one because I have such a hard time with the classes so I’d probably say the informal class Kurty and I hold after class where we discuss everything we talked about in class. I learn so much more then.
Day of the Week- Thursday!! I only have class until noon and then I go home with Kurty to her house to hang out with Stella and anyone else who is home and have lunch! It’s so relaxing and I love her family! Plus it’s nice to get away from school.
Skirt- My white skirt with pink/purple flowerish designs on it that just hits my knees…I know that that description sucks, but I’m not a huge fan of skirts so when I get home I probably will only wear this one from the trip so you’ll have a chance to see it.
Squatty Story- There are so many so I will pick a few. One was the skinny hole in the ground, with no door, and someone’s math homework in a basket to wipe with. I can just hear the student saying, “stupid math” as they rip out a page! The other was probably in Rwanda when we had to take turns being the door because the entire village was running up to see us.
View- Watching a distant lightning storm above the Rwenzori mountains at the safari or the overlook of Mount Elgon with a rainbow in front of it.
Speaker- Probably Chris Page who talked to us about his businesses and his stories of incredible Christ followers. His quote about God not calling the qualified, but qualifying those he calls will probably stick with me the rest of my life.
Activity/Hobby- Rook and blogging! Being a dominant force is therapeutic I think and it’s so satisfying when one of the people we beat consistently is super competititve (Justin Lane).
Ugandan- Excluding anyone under the age of 10 it would have to be my brother/uncle Elisha and Kurty’s sister/cousin Stella. They are so much fun to be around and we’ve gotten to the point where we can play jokes on each other.
Luganda Word- Chamuka! (go crazy) and Kwebaka (sleep!) I am in either one of these two states in my life at any given moment. There often doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of middle ground ☺
Quote- “If you believe something, passionately, people will follow you.” Donald Miller. There are so many, but this is just one that was handy while I was writing this ☺
American Moment- Drinking a chocolate, peanut butter milkshake at one of our American professor’s homes!
“These are a few of my favorite things. When the mosquito bites, when the latrine stinks, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad.” ☺
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Peter 1:2
Sunday, 19 October 2008
The Circumcised One - An African Musical
Well, I went on a class field trip this past weekend...I don't know how to start or how to follow that or how to wrap it up...but in the words of one of my all time favorite woman, "Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start!" Oh Maria, you are a woman after my own heart! All your climbing of trees, scraping of knees, making clothing from curtains, and singing so as to make your life into a musical just inspires me. *Sigh Well, that is besides the point, except that I am going to attempt to relate to you all my weekend in musical format just because I think it will be fun!
The scene opens with me toiling up the mountainous hills to get to school with a quiet and beautiful instrumental. I of course have my beautiful skirt and blouse on and I stop occasionally to fuzz a child’s head or gracefully stoop to pick a flower (ok, so I know some of this is contrary to my nature, I probably tripped or sprained an ankle crossing a ditch, but this is my musical so go with it!).
I arrive at school and sing a few stanzas of the Newsies “Arise and Sieze the Day,” while Kurty backs me up and we break into wild dance attempting to spur our fellow students to do the same. It breaks off when, as I’m attempting to open our can of jam to eat the all-important meal of the day, at the climax of the song I slice my thumb trying to rip off the top! All stops as I yell at the top of my lungs (which is actually close to the truth). As I’m lamenting that I’ve lost my thumb and it will have to be amputated Kurty sings soothingly and bandages my hand…oh wait, that’s way not realistic. She actually probably, tells me to “suck it up drama queen” with a smile (don’t worry I’m not offended because as the star of this musical I have a gentle and loving heart). Side note: The cut wasn’t that bad and is healing pretty well and Kurty did a fantastic job being my nurse.
Ok, while this is fun to write in this way it’s kind of hard and I’m not sure how to dramatically put to song my victory in cribbage against Justin Lane and Kurty in cribbage on the way up to our class field trip. Plus there just isn’t a whole lot of drama when all that is said for a while is 15 for 2 and a pair makes 4… I’m sure someone could do it, but I’m just not up for the task. But I did have a dramatic come from behind victory in cribbage that left Justin in the stink hole and Kurty two away from it. If this makes no sense to you just know that it was epic!
Our class field trip for African Traditional Religions took us to Mbale to watch a ceremony we’ve been learning some about in class. The Bagisu tribe practices a little something called circumcision as a means to travel into manhood. :s
To start off Saturday we had a Reverend who was from this tribe come and explain the entire process and ceremony to us. I was grateful for it all because when we actually were there witnessing it we understood what was going on for the most part. It is super community oriented and really emphasizes the males upcoming responsibilities. When we met the group in the village it was extremely evident that the whole community was out to be present for the couple of boys who were to be eventually circumcised. They were around the ages of 18-20. If a member of the tribe does not get circumcised they are considered to be a boy even if they are 40 years old. The actual ceremony was surreal. Most of the village turned out for it, which was a blessing because even though they tried to give us the best seats in the clearing (yikes!) there were so many people smooshing in to see it made it quite difficult to get a clear view of anything. Many of the kids climbed trees and I was scared they were going to fall when the wind started blowing! As I was standing there I could see the boys face during the process and it was amazing to me how still and calm he seemed during it all. I was blown away by how important this ceremony was for this tribe. There was so much esteem and emphasis put on this boy not showing any emotion. It was hard for me to even understand the why.
At one point, and I’m not sure why it was in that moment in particular, but I had the realization that I was watching a pagan ceremony. They were appeasing the spirit of circumcision and I wondered where Christ should fit in all of this. I wondered how the church handles this or how it should be handled. The act isn’t bad, but it’s not necessary and the appeasement of the spirit is also misplaced. How do you integrate Christ into all that knowing all that? This is a ceremony that has been central to this tribe for decades and probably longer. If I believe that Christ is already present wherever I go how would I engage that. Our speaker even said that as a Christian in this tribe there is so much pressure to do this. Many have it done, but forego any of the ceremonial elements and many choose not to have it done and then are shunned.
It was a very poignant example of what we had been talking about in many of our classes. Especially missions. I gained a whole lot more respect for the early missionary’s that encountered dilemmas with polygamy and other such things that might contradict their faith.
I felt exhausted after our time there because of the weight of everything that was going on. As we drove back we were given an incredible view of Mt Elgon and a rainbow and I tried to soak up this incredible view because I felt stifled while being down in the crowd watching this ceremony that I don’t feel like was honoring God at all. My spirit was heavy.
Good thing God blessed me with Kurty, a resilient heart, and being in a group of 30 other Christians because it made it easy to reflect and discuss and move ahead. Another round of Rook dominance helped as well ☺ Kurty and I are now 12 and 1.
To finish off my weekend I went home and discovered that Enoch had learned that when he needs to pee he goes outside, pulls down his pants and pees off the step! Hallelujah, God does work miracles! What progress even if he does still let it dribble some all on his pants! Later at night, when Steph and I were brushing our teeth outside, Enich came running out naked and peed off the step, but then stayed out and laughed and ran around with us for about 20 minutes as Steph sang “brush your teeth, brush your teeth, do it every day!” Lots of jumping, dancing, and twirling was involved and Enoch was dieing with laughter and loved the random dance party! It was funny to see this little black body running around laughing in the dark so all I could really make out were his white teeth and his blue flops. It was so fun and it’s great to watch him grow up.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. John 15:13
The scene opens with me toiling up the mountainous hills to get to school with a quiet and beautiful instrumental. I of course have my beautiful skirt and blouse on and I stop occasionally to fuzz a child’s head or gracefully stoop to pick a flower (ok, so I know some of this is contrary to my nature, I probably tripped or sprained an ankle crossing a ditch, but this is my musical so go with it!).
I arrive at school and sing a few stanzas of the Newsies “Arise and Sieze the Day,” while Kurty backs me up and we break into wild dance attempting to spur our fellow students to do the same. It breaks off when, as I’m attempting to open our can of jam to eat the all-important meal of the day, at the climax of the song I slice my thumb trying to rip off the top! All stops as I yell at the top of my lungs (which is actually close to the truth). As I’m lamenting that I’ve lost my thumb and it will have to be amputated Kurty sings soothingly and bandages my hand…oh wait, that’s way not realistic. She actually probably, tells me to “suck it up drama queen” with a smile (don’t worry I’m not offended because as the star of this musical I have a gentle and loving heart). Side note: The cut wasn’t that bad and is healing pretty well and Kurty did a fantastic job being my nurse.
Ok, while this is fun to write in this way it’s kind of hard and I’m not sure how to dramatically put to song my victory in cribbage against Justin Lane and Kurty in cribbage on the way up to our class field trip. Plus there just isn’t a whole lot of drama when all that is said for a while is 15 for 2 and a pair makes 4… I’m sure someone could do it, but I’m just not up for the task. But I did have a dramatic come from behind victory in cribbage that left Justin in the stink hole and Kurty two away from it. If this makes no sense to you just know that it was epic!
Our class field trip for African Traditional Religions took us to Mbale to watch a ceremony we’ve been learning some about in class. The Bagisu tribe practices a little something called circumcision as a means to travel into manhood. :s
To start off Saturday we had a Reverend who was from this tribe come and explain the entire process and ceremony to us. I was grateful for it all because when we actually were there witnessing it we understood what was going on for the most part. It is super community oriented and really emphasizes the males upcoming responsibilities. When we met the group in the village it was extremely evident that the whole community was out to be present for the couple of boys who were to be eventually circumcised. They were around the ages of 18-20. If a member of the tribe does not get circumcised they are considered to be a boy even if they are 40 years old. The actual ceremony was surreal. Most of the village turned out for it, which was a blessing because even though they tried to give us the best seats in the clearing (yikes!) there were so many people smooshing in to see it made it quite difficult to get a clear view of anything. Many of the kids climbed trees and I was scared they were going to fall when the wind started blowing! As I was standing there I could see the boys face during the process and it was amazing to me how still and calm he seemed during it all. I was blown away by how important this ceremony was for this tribe. There was so much esteem and emphasis put on this boy not showing any emotion. It was hard for me to even understand the why.
At one point, and I’m not sure why it was in that moment in particular, but I had the realization that I was watching a pagan ceremony. They were appeasing the spirit of circumcision and I wondered where Christ should fit in all of this. I wondered how the church handles this or how it should be handled. The act isn’t bad, but it’s not necessary and the appeasement of the spirit is also misplaced. How do you integrate Christ into all that knowing all that? This is a ceremony that has been central to this tribe for decades and probably longer. If I believe that Christ is already present wherever I go how would I engage that. Our speaker even said that as a Christian in this tribe there is so much pressure to do this. Many have it done, but forego any of the ceremonial elements and many choose not to have it done and then are shunned.
It was a very poignant example of what we had been talking about in many of our classes. Especially missions. I gained a whole lot more respect for the early missionary’s that encountered dilemmas with polygamy and other such things that might contradict their faith.
I felt exhausted after our time there because of the weight of everything that was going on. As we drove back we were given an incredible view of Mt Elgon and a rainbow and I tried to soak up this incredible view because I felt stifled while being down in the crowd watching this ceremony that I don’t feel like was honoring God at all. My spirit was heavy.
Good thing God blessed me with Kurty, a resilient heart, and being in a group of 30 other Christians because it made it easy to reflect and discuss and move ahead. Another round of Rook dominance helped as well ☺ Kurty and I are now 12 and 1.
To finish off my weekend I went home and discovered that Enoch had learned that when he needs to pee he goes outside, pulls down his pants and pees off the step! Hallelujah, God does work miracles! What progress even if he does still let it dribble some all on his pants! Later at night, when Steph and I were brushing our teeth outside, Enich came running out naked and peed off the step, but then stayed out and laughed and ran around with us for about 20 minutes as Steph sang “brush your teeth, brush your teeth, do it every day!” Lots of jumping, dancing, and twirling was involved and Enoch was dieing with laughter and loved the random dance party! It was funny to see this little black body running around laughing in the dark so all I could really make out were his white teeth and his blue flops. It was so fun and it’s great to watch him grow up.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. John 15:13
Friday, 17 October 2008
Spicing Up the Daily Living!
Most of my blogs normally come after a weekend when a dramatic adventure occurred, which means that you miss out on all the little adventures that happen in between just in my daily life. They are just as fun and exciting as my weekends, they just come in smaller packages and are intermittent. So let me impart to you a few of those moments of spice in my everyday :)
I realized I never really gave much of an explanation as to my American roommate, Stephanie, that I live with at my home stay. She's a fun girl and the first night we spent there we found out we had matching nightgowns...it was obviously meant to be. I play 'knight in shining armor' for her sometimes when the local creatures pay a visit to our room! She is definitely a morning person and she leaves before me every morning to go run at school. I'm not sure how she does it! This quote pretty much describes her personality, "The top of this pineapple would make a great Barbie tree!" Haha, we laugh about that stuff a lot together and it's nice to have another American around who understands all your sayings and jokes!
There is a tradition here that on your birthday your friends will drench you with water and normally in a surprising manner so you just spend the whole day soaked because if you change they do it again. Elisha had his birthday and after Rita told me about it I told him that I had a birthday surprise for him and when he rounded the corner to see what was up I dumped my nalgene on him! Hahaha, everyone laughed super hard and then Elisha came back in still dripping and looked at me and said, "well, I just can't wait for that special day in November to come now" as he looked at me with a knowing grin :s I'm wearing my raincoat that whole day I think!
I took litte Enoch with me into town one day to go to the supermarket and let me tell you, I didn't think I could get any more inconspicuous than just being white, but apparently if you walk around with a little Ugandan baby you're even more interesting!!! I was asked if he was my baby about 12 times so I had to explain that he was my host brother, which lengthened our outing considerably. I was also asked if he was my pregnancy, if I adopted him, and even if I had stolen him! It was quite entertaining!
I introduced the concept of s'mores to my family and my goodness were they a hit! Henry had to declare a two s'more limit in our household a night so we didn't destroy them that night! It was so fun to show them how to cook them and put them together and then see all the marshmallow stick to their cheeks and fingers. Enoch was a mess :)
Last Thursday I spent the night at Kurty's home and when we got their we found that the small rotary club meeting that was being hosted at her home was pretty much a full out party! Including dancing!! We got to help prepare some of the food and then got to serve to all of the members. I love hanging out with the different family members of Kurty's. On of my favorite moments was dancing with her brother, Simon, and sister, Stella. I am learning some new dance moves so watch out Minnesota!
Well, there are many more small instances I could include...shadow boxing with Elisha, getting locked into the shower room by Enoch, traveling to town for chips and chaps, and other such grand moments :) Maybe they'll show up at a later date!
I love and miss you all a lot this week!! Other weeks I rarely think of you at all! Just kidding, but this week has felt the strongest it's ever been. Don't worry I only almost shed a tear and it'll probably be gone by next week :)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord! Ephesians 5:19
I realized I never really gave much of an explanation as to my American roommate, Stephanie, that I live with at my home stay. She's a fun girl and the first night we spent there we found out we had matching nightgowns...it was obviously meant to be. I play 'knight in shining armor' for her sometimes when the local creatures pay a visit to our room! She is definitely a morning person and she leaves before me every morning to go run at school. I'm not sure how she does it! This quote pretty much describes her personality, "The top of this pineapple would make a great Barbie tree!" Haha, we laugh about that stuff a lot together and it's nice to have another American around who understands all your sayings and jokes!
There is a tradition here that on your birthday your friends will drench you with water and normally in a surprising manner so you just spend the whole day soaked because if you change they do it again. Elisha had his birthday and after Rita told me about it I told him that I had a birthday surprise for him and when he rounded the corner to see what was up I dumped my nalgene on him! Hahaha, everyone laughed super hard and then Elisha came back in still dripping and looked at me and said, "well, I just can't wait for that special day in November to come now" as he looked at me with a knowing grin :s I'm wearing my raincoat that whole day I think!
I took litte Enoch with me into town one day to go to the supermarket and let me tell you, I didn't think I could get any more inconspicuous than just being white, but apparently if you walk around with a little Ugandan baby you're even more interesting!!! I was asked if he was my baby about 12 times so I had to explain that he was my host brother, which lengthened our outing considerably. I was also asked if he was my pregnancy, if I adopted him, and even if I had stolen him! It was quite entertaining!
I introduced the concept of s'mores to my family and my goodness were they a hit! Henry had to declare a two s'more limit in our household a night so we didn't destroy them that night! It was so fun to show them how to cook them and put them together and then see all the marshmallow stick to their cheeks and fingers. Enoch was a mess :)
Last Thursday I spent the night at Kurty's home and when we got their we found that the small rotary club meeting that was being hosted at her home was pretty much a full out party! Including dancing!! We got to help prepare some of the food and then got to serve to all of the members. I love hanging out with the different family members of Kurty's. On of my favorite moments was dancing with her brother, Simon, and sister, Stella. I am learning some new dance moves so watch out Minnesota!
Well, there are many more small instances I could include...shadow boxing with Elisha, getting locked into the shower room by Enoch, traveling to town for chips and chaps, and other such grand moments :) Maybe they'll show up at a later date!
I love and miss you all a lot this week!! Other weeks I rarely think of you at all! Just kidding, but this week has felt the strongest it's ever been. Don't worry I only almost shed a tear and it'll probably be gone by next week :)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord! Ephesians 5:19
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
It's Not all Rosy
Uganda is wonderful and I am loving my time here, but there are some things here that I don’t really like and have had real frustration with. I want you to know that there are some things I don’t like and wish I could change. I will share 4 of them with you.
The Mud- I love the rain. I love how it sounds and how it cools everything off, butI hat walking in the mud it creates!! It is one of my biggest pet peeves when I slide around in mud and get it stuck to the bottom of my shoe or when my foot squelches in the mud. Yuck, it makes me cringe thinking about it. There is about a 4 minute stretch of my walk that produces this type of nastynss when it rains. When I am done walking through it I have about 5 inches of mud stuck to the bottom of my heal and mud all over my feet and calfs. I hate it!
The Lines- I appreciate my kindergarten education so much more after being here because of how much it taught me about sharing and respecting one another. The lack of such a thing as a line is so infuriating. It happens often at lunch when I’m in line to get water and I get cut by 5 guys who budge right past me. I have had to learn to be ruthless when it comes to lines and I’m a totally different person when I enter the scrum; I put my game face on. I don’t really like the way I become about them sometimes, but you gotta do what you gotta do! If I want to stay hydrated or receive any food I have to protect my spot like a child protects its candy after they’ve dropped it in the dirt and the mom tries to take it away.
The Seminar- What is missions? Let’s debate this topic for the next five weeks and throw Bible verses at each other like it’s candy at a Fourth of July Parade! Then let’s discuss all the evils of the colonists and all the problems they caused instead of focusing any where near what could be done to fix them now. Oh, and for icing on a cake let’s dive into the realm of poverty and argue about how much our government should actually spend on the military as if we can waltz up to our nations pocket and divide it out. I hope that didn’t come out too bitterly.
The style of learning that I experience in about half of my classes is the seminar style. This means that we sit in a circle and talk through different issues that we’ve read a couple articles on and our teachers somewhat facilitate the debate. Not a bad idea…but I have a harder time with that style of learning because I don’t process fast enough to keep up with the conversation. The biggest reason I don’t really like it, however, is that I have a hard time with the fact that we spend so much time in the theoretical. I think learning about the theoretical and such has it’s place, but I just get super frustrated when I don’t feel like anything we discuss in class I can apply or will ever use outside of the class. I’m not saying that the discussions we have our pointless becsaue there are some very knowledgable people in our class, but when we don’t move past the theoretical that’s when I get frustrated. It bothers me too that we talk about all these things (like poverty) as if we know everything about it or what it’s like and then also bash our own culture every time. Let me clarify that this may be a bit harsh and it doesn’t happen all the time. It helps to be able to talk with Kurty about it all afterwards and filter through our frustrations and find the practical application in it all.
The Familial Structure- So I love the opportunity to stay with my host family here and I really enjoy each of them when I get to interact with them. The part that has become frustrating is my father’s lack of involvement and the heavy patriarchal lean my family has. When my dad gets home from work he greets quickly and then almost immediately retreats into his room to watch TV until supper and then immediately returns to his room after. It’s frustrating mainly because I don’t feel like he wants to get to know me or engage with me. I feel like a burden to him. I don’t do well when I don’t feel like people like me and I really don’t do well when I feel like I’m a burden to people. It makes me sad, but I’m really thankful that I get along super well with Elisha. He and I have gotten to be really good friends and I love coming home and joking around with him and playing tricks on each other. Also, Rita is fun to be around as well and Enoch always brings me joy. My home stay just feels more like a dorm setting than a family because there seems to be only the teenagers and me and Steph (my roommate).
The other thing that bothers me is how patriarchal my family is. Rita serves Henry at all times of the day. Whenever he calls from the room she has to come running. If Enoch is being too loud and he can’t hear the TV she has to come quiet him. If Henry decides to stay in his room for supper because he’s not up to joining us Rita must serve him there and then when he wants more he clangs his spoon on his bowl indicating that he would like more. Rita is sent on all errands and I’ve only ever seen Henry help cook once because Elisha had to go to the clinic for medicine. My favorite was one night Henry said he was tired and didn’t want to be bothered and went to bed, but when a male visitor showed up he was Mr. Engaged. He introduced me proudly as his daughter and then shouted out to Rita that she needed to hurry and make tea, which is definitely African hospitality, but it just contrasts so sharply with the everyday I was bothered.
Well, if there is one thing that I’ve learned in my life it is to “roll with the punches” and find that ray of sunshine in every situation. Joy abounds everywhere, but it is up to us to search and discover where it lives. What an exciting task! Lucky me that all the farther I have to search is simply between my first and last name ☺
Consider it pure joy my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
The Mud- I love the rain. I love how it sounds and how it cools everything off, butI hat walking in the mud it creates!! It is one of my biggest pet peeves when I slide around in mud and get it stuck to the bottom of my shoe or when my foot squelches in the mud. Yuck, it makes me cringe thinking about it. There is about a 4 minute stretch of my walk that produces this type of nastynss when it rains. When I am done walking through it I have about 5 inches of mud stuck to the bottom of my heal and mud all over my feet and calfs. I hate it!
The Lines- I appreciate my kindergarten education so much more after being here because of how much it taught me about sharing and respecting one another. The lack of such a thing as a line is so infuriating. It happens often at lunch when I’m in line to get water and I get cut by 5 guys who budge right past me. I have had to learn to be ruthless when it comes to lines and I’m a totally different person when I enter the scrum; I put my game face on. I don’t really like the way I become about them sometimes, but you gotta do what you gotta do! If I want to stay hydrated or receive any food I have to protect my spot like a child protects its candy after they’ve dropped it in the dirt and the mom tries to take it away.
The Seminar- What is missions? Let’s debate this topic for the next five weeks and throw Bible verses at each other like it’s candy at a Fourth of July Parade! Then let’s discuss all the evils of the colonists and all the problems they caused instead of focusing any where near what could be done to fix them now. Oh, and for icing on a cake let’s dive into the realm of poverty and argue about how much our government should actually spend on the military as if we can waltz up to our nations pocket and divide it out. I hope that didn’t come out too bitterly.
The style of learning that I experience in about half of my classes is the seminar style. This means that we sit in a circle and talk through different issues that we’ve read a couple articles on and our teachers somewhat facilitate the debate. Not a bad idea…but I have a harder time with that style of learning because I don’t process fast enough to keep up with the conversation. The biggest reason I don’t really like it, however, is that I have a hard time with the fact that we spend so much time in the theoretical. I think learning about the theoretical and such has it’s place, but I just get super frustrated when I don’t feel like anything we discuss in class I can apply or will ever use outside of the class. I’m not saying that the discussions we have our pointless becsaue there are some very knowledgable people in our class, but when we don’t move past the theoretical that’s when I get frustrated. It bothers me too that we talk about all these things (like poverty) as if we know everything about it or what it’s like and then also bash our own culture every time. Let me clarify that this may be a bit harsh and it doesn’t happen all the time. It helps to be able to talk with Kurty about it all afterwards and filter through our frustrations and find the practical application in it all.
The Familial Structure- So I love the opportunity to stay with my host family here and I really enjoy each of them when I get to interact with them. The part that has become frustrating is my father’s lack of involvement and the heavy patriarchal lean my family has. When my dad gets home from work he greets quickly and then almost immediately retreats into his room to watch TV until supper and then immediately returns to his room after. It’s frustrating mainly because I don’t feel like he wants to get to know me or engage with me. I feel like a burden to him. I don’t do well when I don’t feel like people like me and I really don’t do well when I feel like I’m a burden to people. It makes me sad, but I’m really thankful that I get along super well with Elisha. He and I have gotten to be really good friends and I love coming home and joking around with him and playing tricks on each other. Also, Rita is fun to be around as well and Enoch always brings me joy. My home stay just feels more like a dorm setting than a family because there seems to be only the teenagers and me and Steph (my roommate).
The other thing that bothers me is how patriarchal my family is. Rita serves Henry at all times of the day. Whenever he calls from the room she has to come running. If Enoch is being too loud and he can’t hear the TV she has to come quiet him. If Henry decides to stay in his room for supper because he’s not up to joining us Rita must serve him there and then when he wants more he clangs his spoon on his bowl indicating that he would like more. Rita is sent on all errands and I’ve only ever seen Henry help cook once because Elisha had to go to the clinic for medicine. My favorite was one night Henry said he was tired and didn’t want to be bothered and went to bed, but when a male visitor showed up he was Mr. Engaged. He introduced me proudly as his daughter and then shouted out to Rita that she needed to hurry and make tea, which is definitely African hospitality, but it just contrasts so sharply with the everyday I was bothered.
Well, if there is one thing that I’ve learned in my life it is to “roll with the punches” and find that ray of sunshine in every situation. Joy abounds everywhere, but it is up to us to search and discover where it lives. What an exciting task! Lucky me that all the farther I have to search is simply between my first and last name ☺
Consider it pure joy my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
Monday, 13 October 2008
Simba and Nala are Wonderful Hosts
So this past weekend I got to experience the Circle of Life! I went to Queen Elizabeth National Park near the Congolese border. We left early on a Friday morning and arrived in the afternoon. The trip was comfortable and the only excitement to note during our travels was when our can of strawberry jam exploded in our bag of snacks! It was a nasty, sticky red mess! But we hardly noticed because about the same time we noticed we had just entered the park and saw an elephant off in the distance! You would have thought the Vikings had won three consecutive games ☺ (that is if the van would have been full of Minnesotans) by the way everyone cheered and celebrated the sighting.
The park was absolutely gorgeous! It is adjacent to the Rwenzori Mountain range, which was indescribable! The flatness of the plain all of a sudden juts up into the clouds and it’s such a sudden change it surprises your eyes. There were two huge, beautiful lakes (George and Edward) near where we were staying. It was all so stinkin’ picturesque! When we were setting up our camp there were a couple neighboring warthogs hanging out nearby and one of them came over and snatched a girls bag and started dragging it away! After we rescued the bag I was told by our driver Francis to arm myself with a stick (it was about as long as my forearm and I seriously doubted it’s effectiveness against a big Pumba!) and guard the bags. The second neighbor we met that night was a massive hippo that walked about 30 yards away from our tents. We all were so enthralled that we started to walk over to get good pictures until someone reminded us that they are really dangerous and can run faster than us so we backed away and said a silent prayer that we wouldn’t get trampled in our tents :P
Later that night Kurty and I got the opportunity to continue our dominance in Rook. We are pretty much unbeatable so anyone wishing to challenge us when we get back start practicing now ☺ We played against Justin Lane (our fellow Bethel man) and John Riley (from Gordon College) out under the stars. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. We did it two nights in a row. It was incredible to be under the night sky and hear hippos, warthogs, bush buck, and even a lion! Yes, lion. It was farther away, but obviously not that far away because we could hear it. We think it killed something to eat so we felt good about it having a full stomach for the night! The whole time playing cards in that park provided endless moments where you just sat back and said, “Holy Moses, I’m in Africa!” It also helped the mood that Kurty and I went 3 and 0, and sometimes in dramatic fashion!
On Saturday we went on two sessions of safariing, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. We saw a hippo’s backside from far away, many more of Pumba’s relatives, and an antelope with cancer. Haha We also saw elephants up super close, bush buck, water buffalo, and lions! In the afternoon we go to be in the van that had a top that popped up so we could sit on the roof and see everything. This little adjustment made the safari immensely more enjoyable. The view improved greatly and Kurty and Megan and I had a great time taking pictures and joking with each other. I almost fell off a couple times because of how far our van titled on the road, but that just added to the excitement. We saw lions again this time and they had little cubs! We were probably about 40-50 yards away. It was glorious! On the way back to the campsite we had to stop for a crossing of about 5 elephants and when we looked around we saw that there were about 6 more in the bushes. I was in awe at the size of them and also at the realization that if they charged I wouldn’t be able to do much.
In between the safari’s Kurty and I went to the lodge to write a history paper and we walked into a completely new world. It was probably the nicest resort I have ever been too. The lodge was unbelievable. It was gorgeous and I felt super out of place in my shorts and cutoff. We each got a pop, mine was a pineapple Mirinda, which is the best pop I’ve ever had, but it was out of this world cold! It tasted amazing! Later when we lost focus we watched Remember the Titans and had coffee (I had three cups, which is maybe why the second safari was so enjoyable because I was wired!).
At supper that night we ate at a buffet and I left about 12 pounds heavier! There was cooked vegetables, fruit salad (with passion fruit seeds that crunch, mmmmm!), noodles, chicken, and irish potatoes. I even tried a gizzard! It actually tasted fine. Mama, you can start cooking me up some of those at home ☺ We sat with our other driver Vincent and all laughed soo hard. He is a great guy and at one point we were
talking about why he was named his name and we then got on the subject of what he would name each of us. He gave Kurty a name that meant beautiful and me a name that meant one who shows love to everyone. I like Vincent ☺
The ride home was a little less enjoyable. I got pretty sick because of some intense smells that my sensitive nose picked up and made me nauseous. Also, I had a moment of intense homesickness when I was reading for class and stumbled upon a word that reminded me of home. I haven’t experienced that intense emotion here yet so it shocked me a bit. I felt kind of dumb because I’m doing great, but mostly because the word that set it off was “wantonness” and I have no idea why that triggered anything. I have no idea what the significance of that is…I don’t think I’ve ever used it, or heard anyone in my family use it. I’m wondering if the feeling and the word are at all correlated…?? Maybe it was just coincidence. Anyways, despite this small set back I had a wonderful weekend!
How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Psalm 104:24
The park was absolutely gorgeous! It is adjacent to the Rwenzori Mountain range, which was indescribable! The flatness of the plain all of a sudden juts up into the clouds and it’s such a sudden change it surprises your eyes. There were two huge, beautiful lakes (George and Edward) near where we were staying. It was all so stinkin’ picturesque! When we were setting up our camp there were a couple neighboring warthogs hanging out nearby and one of them came over and snatched a girls bag and started dragging it away! After we rescued the bag I was told by our driver Francis to arm myself with a stick (it was about as long as my forearm and I seriously doubted it’s effectiveness against a big Pumba!) and guard the bags. The second neighbor we met that night was a massive hippo that walked about 30 yards away from our tents. We all were so enthralled that we started to walk over to get good pictures until someone reminded us that they are really dangerous and can run faster than us so we backed away and said a silent prayer that we wouldn’t get trampled in our tents :P
Later that night Kurty and I got the opportunity to continue our dominance in Rook. We are pretty much unbeatable so anyone wishing to challenge us when we get back start practicing now ☺ We played against Justin Lane (our fellow Bethel man) and John Riley (from Gordon College) out under the stars. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. We did it two nights in a row. It was incredible to be under the night sky and hear hippos, warthogs, bush buck, and even a lion! Yes, lion. It was farther away, but obviously not that far away because we could hear it. We think it killed something to eat so we felt good about it having a full stomach for the night! The whole time playing cards in that park provided endless moments where you just sat back and said, “Holy Moses, I’m in Africa!” It also helped the mood that Kurty and I went 3 and 0, and sometimes in dramatic fashion!
On Saturday we went on two sessions of safariing, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. We saw a hippo’s backside from far away, many more of Pumba’s relatives, and an antelope with cancer. Haha We also saw elephants up super close, bush buck, water buffalo, and lions! In the afternoon we go to be in the van that had a top that popped up so we could sit on the roof and see everything. This little adjustment made the safari immensely more enjoyable. The view improved greatly and Kurty and Megan and I had a great time taking pictures and joking with each other. I almost fell off a couple times because of how far our van titled on the road, but that just added to the excitement. We saw lions again this time and they had little cubs! We were probably about 40-50 yards away. It was glorious! On the way back to the campsite we had to stop for a crossing of about 5 elephants and when we looked around we saw that there were about 6 more in the bushes. I was in awe at the size of them and also at the realization that if they charged I wouldn’t be able to do much.
In between the safari’s Kurty and I went to the lodge to write a history paper and we walked into a completely new world. It was probably the nicest resort I have ever been too. The lodge was unbelievable. It was gorgeous and I felt super out of place in my shorts and cutoff. We each got a pop, mine was a pineapple Mirinda, which is the best pop I’ve ever had, but it was out of this world cold! It tasted amazing! Later when we lost focus we watched Remember the Titans and had coffee (I had three cups, which is maybe why the second safari was so enjoyable because I was wired!).
At supper that night we ate at a buffet and I left about 12 pounds heavier! There was cooked vegetables, fruit salad (with passion fruit seeds that crunch, mmmmm!), noodles, chicken, and irish potatoes. I even tried a gizzard! It actually tasted fine. Mama, you can start cooking me up some of those at home ☺ We sat with our other driver Vincent and all laughed soo hard. He is a great guy and at one point we were
talking about why he was named his name and we then got on the subject of what he would name each of us. He gave Kurty a name that meant beautiful and me a name that meant one who shows love to everyone. I like Vincent ☺
The ride home was a little less enjoyable. I got pretty sick because of some intense smells that my sensitive nose picked up and made me nauseous. Also, I had a moment of intense homesickness when I was reading for class and stumbled upon a word that reminded me of home. I haven’t experienced that intense emotion here yet so it shocked me a bit. I felt kind of dumb because I’m doing great, but mostly because the word that set it off was “wantonness” and I have no idea why that triggered anything. I have no idea what the significance of that is…I don’t think I’ve ever used it, or heard anyone in my family use it. I’m wondering if the feeling and the word are at all correlated…?? Maybe it was just coincidence. Anyways, despite this small set back I had a wonderful weekend!
How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Psalm 104:24
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Pygmies, Monkeys, and Squatties!
I took a trip to Bwendi this weekend with my IMME group to visit with some people in the town of Buhoma. It is really close to the border of Congo and at one point we were walking up one hill and looked over to the neighboring hill, which was Congo. It was not nearly as far as the trip to Rwanda, but it took almost as long (and longer, but I’ll explain that later) because the roads were so bad for the last part of the journey.
We left on Friday morning at 7am for our 12 hour bus ride. As a side note, for some reason every time we are about to embark on an extensive bus ride it always seems to be that time of month…rough, but I have learned to be a trooper and just “go with the flow” like my little brother Enoch! I really feel like having that attitude on life makes everything more enjoyable and less stressful! It is also a necessary quality to have in cross-cultural experiences!
So we rode and rode and slept and slept and played a little cribbage. Then, and this story is for you Dad, at one stop we went to go use the restrooms, but there was only one and apparently it was for both genders…at one point the girls tried to block off the door so all the girls could quick go, but as it so often goes with Africans in lines the guys just waltzed right on past. You had to walk past the urinals to get to the toilets so I ended up having to cover my eyes to create tunnel vision as I walked past them to get to the toilet. The guys in our group were great, they tried to protect us as best they could and give us more privacy. Oh Uganda. When we finally reached our destination we found out we were staying on the edge of a forest of gorillas and that the resort we were at led gorilla tracking expeditions!! Fun, but there were no actual sightings of any gorillas by our group. We had spaghetti with red sauce and chocolate cake for dinner (those terms are a little misleading, but it was still good) and it was glorious for a moment to break up the monotony of rice and matoke.
On Saturday we went to visit a hospital compound and missions organization started by a man named Scot Kellerman. He wasn’t actually there, but we me with a Ugandan named Richard who worked with him. They told us a quick bit about the place and we fed a few monkeys bananas!!! and then we packed up and headed out to go to a village. On the way our tire got a flat (this is important for later) so we ended up walking to the base of the mountain we had to climb. We climbed for bout 30 minutes and saw a gorgeous view. Our destination was a village of pygmies from the Batwa tribe! We were coming up to help them build a mud hut for one of the villagers. They really are pretty darn short and it was fun to get some pictures standing next to them. They were extremely fun to work with and even though we didn’t know their language we still goofed around with them. A couple started posing for my camera and one saluted me so I called him general and we kept saluting each other the rest of the day. The frame of the house was already up when we got there so we helped tie up cross supporting sticks. It was a quick learn and our group swarmed the house and toasted that work extremely quick. Later after lunch we helped start the mudding process! They made mud right near the home and then formed a fire brigade line and passed up the mud to begin building in between the cross supports we tied. The guys were tossing the mud up the line as fast as they could trying to cause the next one to miss the toss. They were all having such a good time playing with mud! Most of this time I took pictures for people and at one point had five cameras around my neck. Including a couple really nice ones that made me feel like someone on National Geographic and I had to try really hard not to covet! ☺ It was such a cool opportunity and so incredible to watch our progress. It was nice to get a chance to actually do something tangible like that instead of just listening to what is being done within a mission from a speaker. What amazed me the most was that everyone within this village was there to help. The women and younger children included. Even with a baby on their back they were tieing and throwing mud. The project was important to the whole community to get this man a house. I realized that this was a phenomenal example of community! I wanted to be a part of it and not just an outsider. There have only been a few times when I've felt more like a tourist than a student and that was one of them. I looked around and thought that I could do that type of work. I loved the area as well. When we had to leave they did their tribe's dance for us and had us join in, which was super fun! It includes a lot of stomping and stepping and I think it is probably my favorite dance of the three I’ve seen and participated in so far. It was all a phenomenal experience. We got a chance to see what some of the people were still living in hoping to get a house as well. It was a tent like structure built out of leaves and sticks and was supposed to house five people, but I have no idea how they all fit in it. It made me catch my breath because it was so sad and see the importance of that ministry.
On Sunday we went to a church that was about a 45 minute hike up a mountain and I thought at one point I would die. I was sweating so much, enough to sweat through my skirt! On the way up we stopped in a little village to wait for some stragglers and had a spontaneous dance party with the kids who came to stare at us ☺ We would sing some songs and then they would sing some to us. It was so much fun to be a part of their community for a short bit. The parents and older villagers got a kick of all our antics, and I love making people laugh! Dad, this next little tidbit of the story is also for you…when I went in to use a squatty potty at one point I found it had no hole to pee into and I found out you just pee on the rocks! I could write a story about all toilets and squatties I’ve used here! It's always an adventure!
The church was pretty small and pretty liturgical. My favorite part about it was this little boy who was in a suit coat and matching trousers that were about 3 sizes too big, wearing oversized green muck boots that made him a little tipsy :) After church we danced a little bit with the kids again until it started raining and everyone scattered. It was incredible! One drop and the place was cleared out! The other highlight of the night was destroying a couple of our fellow students in rook with Kurty. Thor4, I'm getting better..almost to the point where you might even want to be my partner! That when I was falling asleep I experienced an earthquake!! It shook my bed and then swayed for a little bit afterwards. I wanted to get all excited about it with my roommates, but no one woke up so I silently celebrated. Later in the night I got extremely cold and tried to snuggle in with Kurty, but in her sleep she fought me out of her bed. She kept rolling into the spot and literally pushing we away! Eventually I just gave up and shivered myself to sleep! Funny funny.
We left for home on Monday for our 12 hour ride that ended up taking 18!!!! We stopped at our bus drivers house for lunch and ended up being there for a couple hours, which didn't set us back too bad, but then later we blew our tire that went flat earlier in the weekend and had to stop and put on our spare in the pouring rain, with a jack that was made for a small car, on ground that turned to soupy mud! It took quite a while and then we had to limp into town and get a new one. Vincent's (our driver) family gave us a ton of bananas to take home with us and it was a great provision because we didn't get to stop for supper because we got set back so badly. I think I ate about 12 bananas! I had potassium coming out of my ears!!! I got home about 1:15 am and had a short night so I slept through the next day pretty much and I'm still recovering. Thank goodness for instant coffee!
One of the things that made me really excited was I got a chance to quick talk to Scott Kellerman before we left on Monday and I've been actually wondering about my major and the extra schooling i have to go for after undergrad and I've been wanting to talk to someone about occupational therapy on a missions setting. When I asked him where he saw any of that working he got really excited and said that there is huge need for OT's in the hospitals here. When he said that my stomach felt like was on a roller coaster and just dove down the next dip! I had been praying some about it and I still have questions, but I felt that was just for me. Scott wasn't even supposed to meet us and he was only there for 20 minutes to say hello and I only had time to ask him one question.
Well, I'm sorry if these are a bit boring...sometimes it's hard to spice it up when you are so cramped for time. I miss you all.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2
We left on Friday morning at 7am for our 12 hour bus ride. As a side note, for some reason every time we are about to embark on an extensive bus ride it always seems to be that time of month…rough, but I have learned to be a trooper and just “go with the flow” like my little brother Enoch! I really feel like having that attitude on life makes everything more enjoyable and less stressful! It is also a necessary quality to have in cross-cultural experiences!
So we rode and rode and slept and slept and played a little cribbage. Then, and this story is for you Dad, at one stop we went to go use the restrooms, but there was only one and apparently it was for both genders…at one point the girls tried to block off the door so all the girls could quick go, but as it so often goes with Africans in lines the guys just waltzed right on past. You had to walk past the urinals to get to the toilets so I ended up having to cover my eyes to create tunnel vision as I walked past them to get to the toilet. The guys in our group were great, they tried to protect us as best they could and give us more privacy. Oh Uganda. When we finally reached our destination we found out we were staying on the edge of a forest of gorillas and that the resort we were at led gorilla tracking expeditions!! Fun, but there were no actual sightings of any gorillas by our group. We had spaghetti with red sauce and chocolate cake for dinner (those terms are a little misleading, but it was still good) and it was glorious for a moment to break up the monotony of rice and matoke.
On Saturday we went to visit a hospital compound and missions organization started by a man named Scot Kellerman. He wasn’t actually there, but we me with a Ugandan named Richard who worked with him. They told us a quick bit about the place and we fed a few monkeys bananas!!! and then we packed up and headed out to go to a village. On the way our tire got a flat (this is important for later) so we ended up walking to the base of the mountain we had to climb. We climbed for bout 30 minutes and saw a gorgeous view. Our destination was a village of pygmies from the Batwa tribe! We were coming up to help them build a mud hut for one of the villagers. They really are pretty darn short and it was fun to get some pictures standing next to them. They were extremely fun to work with and even though we didn’t know their language we still goofed around with them. A couple started posing for my camera and one saluted me so I called him general and we kept saluting each other the rest of the day. The frame of the house was already up when we got there so we helped tie up cross supporting sticks. It was a quick learn and our group swarmed the house and toasted that work extremely quick. Later after lunch we helped start the mudding process! They made mud right near the home and then formed a fire brigade line and passed up the mud to begin building in between the cross supports we tied. The guys were tossing the mud up the line as fast as they could trying to cause the next one to miss the toss. They were all having such a good time playing with mud! Most of this time I took pictures for people and at one point had five cameras around my neck. Including a couple really nice ones that made me feel like someone on National Geographic and I had to try really hard not to covet! ☺ It was such a cool opportunity and so incredible to watch our progress. It was nice to get a chance to actually do something tangible like that instead of just listening to what is being done within a mission from a speaker. What amazed me the most was that everyone within this village was there to help. The women and younger children included. Even with a baby on their back they were tieing and throwing mud. The project was important to the whole community to get this man a house. I realized that this was a phenomenal example of community! I wanted to be a part of it and not just an outsider. There have only been a few times when I've felt more like a tourist than a student and that was one of them. I looked around and thought that I could do that type of work. I loved the area as well. When we had to leave they did their tribe's dance for us and had us join in, which was super fun! It includes a lot of stomping and stepping and I think it is probably my favorite dance of the three I’ve seen and participated in so far. It was all a phenomenal experience. We got a chance to see what some of the people were still living in hoping to get a house as well. It was a tent like structure built out of leaves and sticks and was supposed to house five people, but I have no idea how they all fit in it. It made me catch my breath because it was so sad and see the importance of that ministry.
On Sunday we went to a church that was about a 45 minute hike up a mountain and I thought at one point I would die. I was sweating so much, enough to sweat through my skirt! On the way up we stopped in a little village to wait for some stragglers and had a spontaneous dance party with the kids who came to stare at us ☺ We would sing some songs and then they would sing some to us. It was so much fun to be a part of their community for a short bit. The parents and older villagers got a kick of all our antics, and I love making people laugh! Dad, this next little tidbit of the story is also for you…when I went in to use a squatty potty at one point I found it had no hole to pee into and I found out you just pee on the rocks! I could write a story about all toilets and squatties I’ve used here! It's always an adventure!
The church was pretty small and pretty liturgical. My favorite part about it was this little boy who was in a suit coat and matching trousers that were about 3 sizes too big, wearing oversized green muck boots that made him a little tipsy :) After church we danced a little bit with the kids again until it started raining and everyone scattered. It was incredible! One drop and the place was cleared out! The other highlight of the night was destroying a couple of our fellow students in rook with Kurty. Thor4, I'm getting better..almost to the point where you might even want to be my partner! That when I was falling asleep I experienced an earthquake!! It shook my bed and then swayed for a little bit afterwards. I wanted to get all excited about it with my roommates, but no one woke up so I silently celebrated. Later in the night I got extremely cold and tried to snuggle in with Kurty, but in her sleep she fought me out of her bed. She kept rolling into the spot and literally pushing we away! Eventually I just gave up and shivered myself to sleep! Funny funny.
We left for home on Monday for our 12 hour ride that ended up taking 18!!!! We stopped at our bus drivers house for lunch and ended up being there for a couple hours, which didn't set us back too bad, but then later we blew our tire that went flat earlier in the weekend and had to stop and put on our spare in the pouring rain, with a jack that was made for a small car, on ground that turned to soupy mud! It took quite a while and then we had to limp into town and get a new one. Vincent's (our driver) family gave us a ton of bananas to take home with us and it was a great provision because we didn't get to stop for supper because we got set back so badly. I think I ate about 12 bananas! I had potassium coming out of my ears!!! I got home about 1:15 am and had a short night so I slept through the next day pretty much and I'm still recovering. Thank goodness for instant coffee!
One of the things that made me really excited was I got a chance to quick talk to Scott Kellerman before we left on Monday and I've been actually wondering about my major and the extra schooling i have to go for after undergrad and I've been wanting to talk to someone about occupational therapy on a missions setting. When I asked him where he saw any of that working he got really excited and said that there is huge need for OT's in the hospitals here. When he said that my stomach felt like was on a roller coaster and just dove down the next dip! I had been praying some about it and I still have questions, but I felt that was just for me. Scott wasn't even supposed to meet us and he was only there for 20 minutes to say hello and I only had time to ask him one question.
Well, I'm sorry if these are a bit boring...sometimes it's hard to spice it up when you are so cramped for time. I miss you all.
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
And the Friction Bleeds
The other day I watched a documentary called War Dance with the rest of my program. It was a movie about the atrocities going on in Northern Uganda right now with the LRA. It was an incredibly well made movie. I would make all of you watch it if I could because it is an phenomenal documentary. I won’t tell too much about it because I really think you should see it for yourself (make sure you have a couple of boxes of tissues handy), but hearing these kids stories just tore at my heart. I normally don’t cry that much, but at one point I could feel the tears sliding down my cheeks. During the movie I think I felt some of the truest and deepest emotions I’ve felt yet on this trip. I have a passion for those kids who are fatherless or just unloved. While watching the movie it was like the right note was played and my whole body resonated clearly with it. For the next 24 hours I had this anxiety in me because I’m not sure what God wants me to do with this passion and so I wrote a poem about what I was feeling and thinking about and I wanted to share it with you.
So why am I here?
What should I learn?
I want it to be clear
God, for what purpose do I burn?
You meet me there
Where my passions lie.
A constant heart tear
That triggers my cry
You planted it deep
That small prick in my soul
It’ll push ‘til I leap
Because it threatens my whole
I desire to reach out
To find the dark and be the light
And yet I feel such doubt
As to what to do and where to fight
And the friction bleeds
Because I see the gap
Between my thoughts and their needs
I wonder when is the overlap?
You’ve given compassion
Filled up to the top
And empathy’s been fashioned
To each breath I drop
These gifts have been granted
To pair with my hope
So a mission is planted
To struggle up the slope
I’m not sure how to start
Or where this passion will be placed
I want to be a part
Of every lost, orphaned face
But for now I’ll start small
With learning and prayer
Until the day when his call
Gives a next step if I dare
A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5
So why am I here?
What should I learn?
I want it to be clear
God, for what purpose do I burn?
You meet me there
Where my passions lie.
A constant heart tear
That triggers my cry
You planted it deep
That small prick in my soul
It’ll push ‘til I leap
Because it threatens my whole
I desire to reach out
To find the dark and be the light
And yet I feel such doubt
As to what to do and where to fight
And the friction bleeds
Because I see the gap
Between my thoughts and their needs
I wonder when is the overlap?
You’ve given compassion
Filled up to the top
And empathy’s been fashioned
To each breath I drop
These gifts have been granted
To pair with my hope
So a mission is planted
To struggle up the slope
I’m not sure how to start
Or where this passion will be placed
I want to be a part
Of every lost, orphaned face
But for now I’ll start small
With learning and prayer
Until the day when his call
Gives a next step if I dare
A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5
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