One Year Later...

Wow, when I woke up this morning, my mind when instantly to Uganda.  Part of it is because that is where I was a year ago on this day, part of it is because I have connected with people there and I'm excited for the move of the Spirit that I know is happening, and the other part is that there is another Uganda Go Team there ministering right now.

When I got on this blog to write, I realized that I never finished documenting the rest of my trip last year...and that it has been 11 months since I wrote.  That saddens me because there was so much to share and I really don't want to forget some of those things.

As I dressed for church this morning, I wore one of the skirts that I wore in Africa and one of my Ugandan bead necklaces just as a physical connection to that moment in time.  As I reflect on the heart-change that God started in me a year ago, I don't want to live in the past...I want it to spur me on to the future and what His plan has in store for me!

Where I worshipped God on June 12, 2011:

Where I worshipped God on June 10, 2012:

No matter if there is electricity, walls on all sides, comfortable seats, or carpet on the floor, it doesn't matter.  The God that I worship is the SAME no matter what continent I'm on and no matter what "amenities" are surrounding me.  He never changes!

So many times I have heard (and even said) that I was blessed to be born in America.  Yes, there are a lot of 'benefits' and 'extras' that we take for granted in the States that aren't just given to everyone.  In some respects that is a blessing, but in other respects, those things can get in the way of our relationship with Christ.  When we have so many things at our disposal to accomplish and succeed in the things of man, we don't lean on the strength that only God can provide - and we limit the things that God can do and the glory that is rightfully His.  So, yes, I will still say that I am blessed to live here, but that does not make my life any better than anyone else's...I will continue to pray that my heart will be broken by the things that break the heart of God - in my neighborhood, city, state, country, and world.  And with that, that God will be seen in my words and actions...but that I will be broken enough to fully rely on Him to see me through the day to day.

Dinner on June 5, 2011:


My version of rice/beans/chapati -  rice/beans/tortilla from Chipotle and of course, orange Fanta -
June 10, 2012:

Recap - Day 10 - Church

The original plan was for our team to be able to attend two different churches, one each Sunday we were to be in Uganda.  However, due to our 'unfortunate' layover in London, our half of the team was only able to enjoy one weekend in Africa.  We attended the church of the bishop that was helpful in organizing the pastors conference earlier in the week.  Our three pastors were scheduled to preach in the morning service so when you add that in with the expectation of a 3 hour worship service, we knew we were in for a longer church experience than normal!

The best way to avoid a long church service is to be late - at least an hour will do!  And then have the 3 preachers each teach just one point of a three point sermon in a true American 35 minute time limit...and viola! 

Due to the fact that we were about an hour late, when we walked in, it was obvious - made even more so obvious by the fact that we there were 22 mzungus!  But it didn't faze the locals!  The 'choir' of 10 continued singing and dancing on the stage and the rest of the congregation kept singing as they took in the sight of all of us filing in to our seats.  As I put my backpack down on the dirt floor, an older woman came over to me with a piece of cardboard and motioned for me to put it on the ground and put my backpack on top of it.  Such a very sweet gesture from a very sweet lady. 

Some of us mzungus were actively participating in the singing and dancing portion of the service - well, at least singing during the songs that were sung in English...when it came to the songs in Luganda, I just danced!  And by dancing, I mean that I was mirroring the actions of the choir on stage...and yes, I'm a white girl with no rhythm...anything to bring a smile to the faces of people.

As soon as the worship service was over, Pastor Dwight had our team come up on the platform and we paired up and prayed for anyone that wanted prayer.  Many of the adults did not speak much English so we had interpreters that would let us know what specific requests each person had.  Alei and I were paired up together and we prayed for women and children ranging in age from 3 all the way up to the 70s and for requests from doing well on school work, for wisdom (many children requested this), health issues (HIV/malaria), one boy was asking for help in quitting wetting the bed, and then at the end a little girl was brought up because her family believed her to be demon possessed.  WOW - what a range.  It was amazing how bold these people were in asking strangers to pray for them...and how expectant they were for God to answer their prayers. 



When all that had wanted prayer had been prayed over, our team went out in the yard to take pictures with the bishop.  It turned out to be a time to take ALL kinds of pictures!  Courtney bent down to take a photo with a couple of kids and before it was all said and done she was SURROUNDED!  The kids just love being in photos and around mzungus!  

Here are all of the lovely 'girls' on our team - my definition of girls is under 20! :)

Girls, I may get your ages wrong, but I'm trying!  From left to right:

Savannah (15), Emma (17), Taylor (14), Alei ( 17), Lexie (18), Sarah (18), and Brianna (16)

It is very awesome to have such a group of YOUNG people with such a heart for not only the orphan, but for the world as a whole to know the love of God.  They renew my hope in the next generation.

As we were outside, a lady walked up to me and said, "do you mind leaving your phone number or your email address?  Florence would like to keep in contact with you".  I had NO idea which woman Florence was, but I'm not opposed to a pen pal so I gave her my email address. Moments later, Florence came up to me and hugged me...it was the older woman that had earlier brought me a piece of cardboard and had been one that forced her way into the line for me to pray over her after the service was over.  (As I have been looking at other blogs since being home, I have discovered that Mama Florence is actually a midwife in her village and delivers several babies a month in a building behind her home!)

Here is a photo with Lexie and Mama Florence - she's a rock star...well, at least in my opinion she's pretty amazing!

After all of our photo sessions, we went back into the church and ate lunch that the ladies from the village had prepared for us...rice, potatoes, beans, yams, some sort of meat (luckily I didn't get watched while filling my plate so I didn't have to take everything!), and some fruit.  We'll just say that there wasn't just a general prayer over our meals...we each were praying the entire time we ate that we wouldn't get sick from anything...and God heard and answered our prayers that day!

And here ends the story portion of our day - stop reading here if you don't want to be preached at... 

This is a little reality check and portion of the program where I just want to ask a few questions...to you and to me.  Please realize that I have a VERY comfortable life in America, I attend a 'mega' church with lots of bells and whistles, and I have practiced America's version of Christianity with the best of them for a majority of my life. 

WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to go to a church that posts service times that are 3 1/2 hours long and twice on Sunday - and 2 hours each night throughout the week?  Would that cramp your style?

WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to sit on an uneven, wooden bench with no padding for those 3 hours?  Would I go to a church with a dirt/mud floor depending on whether it had rained or not?  Would Jesus show up in a place like that?

WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to go to church in a building that had holes in the walls, wasn't brick, didn't have windows or air conditioning?

WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to give up sides of our homes or market stalls in order to 'finish' the church building? 

WOULD YOU (and I)...go to a church where the sound system is run by a generator every week because there is no electricity?  Where the music is played on a keyboard synthesizer and not a full orchestra?  Where the praise team is not made up of the best singers or the most beautiful members of the congregation?  Where the words aren't projected on a screen...and there were no hymnals?

WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to give up ALL of the comforts we know to live in a country where your civil rights are not guraranteed, where electricity is sometimes available and sometimes not, where death occurs to family members every day, where a majority of the population is fighting a life-threatening illness?

WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to live in a house that is smaller than most of our kitchens, that are less stable than our yard sheds, without carpet, without locks on your doors and windows, without flat screen tvs and DVR?   What if you couldn't even afford that and you slept under a tree in the dirt every night?



WOULD YOU (and I)...be willing to rely on public transportation and not own a car, truck, SUV...much less 2 or 3? 

WOULD YOU (and I)...open our eyes to the world around us - not just in Uganda, Africa - and see how much we are missing the mark? 

Is living a good life in America a sin?  I don't think so.  But if we aren't willing to sacrifice in order that others may have the opportunity to know the HOPE we have in Christ, that is the sin. 

The thing I constantly saw in Uganda were teeth.  Yes, that sounds like a very strange statement, but it's true.  Those people can SMILE with the best of 'em. They don't have "stuff", but they don't care.  They have FAITH that healing will come, they have HOPE that tomorrow will be a better day, and those people LOVE like I've never seen before.  Yes, this is a generalization based on the small number of people that we came into contact with for our 2 week stay.   Is there darkness in Uganda?  Yes.  Is there also the Light of Jesus?  Yes..we just need more messengers to spread the news - what are YOU (and I) willing to do? 



WHAT WILL YOU DO?!?!!



Recap - Day 9 - Ssenge Village - Building, Rain, and VBS!

Ah, Saturday - how I love you so!  I only get to spend one Saturday in Africa.  One stinkin' Saturday so I'm planning to live it up!  We headed back to Ssenge village to work on the school's kitchen and have another session of VBS for the village kids.  Today was the only day that we had our full team with us in Ssenge because the pastors conference was over.  As you can see in this photo, the walls are coming along quite nicely as are the piles of bricks!  You can tell the difference in the piles of bricks stacked by Ugandans and the piles made by mzungus...we understand the importance of neatly stacked and organized, they don't much care!

Because Moreen (have I mentioned that she's the best cook ever?!?) had gotten in trouble for fixing us breakfast for the past 2 days (our 11 am snack) she brought food down to the school for us instead of us coming to her!  One of our options was bread with peanut butter and honey.  Someone in the advertising business is extremely clever!  The brand of this food is "Not tonight honey"...I mean, come on, that's funny!  But the honey really is pretty tasty too!

In the photo below, you can see where the bricks change direction (width wise to length wise) is the foundation switching to the walls.  At this point, the walls are just as tall as the foundation, but not for long!  In the middle of the photo, you can see a worker increasing the height of the corner for the walls.

And then the storm clouds began rolling in...

You can tell the difference in the sky transforming.  The building in the foreground to the right in this photo is the current kitchen at the school.  It is made up of building scaps and has only 2 'rooms'.  It is a 3-sided structure with little room for food storage and no place to put clean bowls and cups for the kids.  The new building is almost 3-4 times the size and will have space for storage.

The view as we left for lunch.  At this point, I possibly made a smart-mouth comment about the fact that it probably wouldn't even rain because we'd been passed over by rain several times in the past week.

As we got to the boys home for lunch, it began to 'sprinkle' heavily...after a few moments of everyone taking off their shoes and getting inside, it began to RAIN...and not just a nice, gentle, spring rain...RAIN coming out of the sky in all different directions and the wind was doing its best to wreak its own havoc!  Sitting in a brick and concrete house with a corrugated metal roof that has sporadic leaks is a bit different than being in my home in the basement during storms!  There were times when the rain hit the roof and it was difficult for us to even talk to each other because it was so loud!  During the storm, Kasim (the 5 year old from a previous post), went to the other room every couple of minutes to check on his "little" 3 year old brother, John, even when John was sleeping.  So precious!

Here is Derrick (with quite the personality, obviously!) using someone's camera to entertain himself and some brothers while we all waited out the storm.

After lunch and when the storm had let up (not stopped, but let up!), we headed back to the school to begin VBS.  We were unsure as to how many kids would show up due to the rain, but kids were there waiting on us when we arrived!  Because of the rain and MUD, the plan was to keep all the kids INDOORS and not out in the courtyard where we were at the day before.  So, we got more desks from other classrooms and filled up one of the big classes with over 250 kids.  It was a tight fit!  But there was not as much space to move around so some of the mzungus went back to work on the building, others sorted supplies, and a few even painted the classroom doors.  Here is April with our friend, Junior. He lost both of his parents to HIV/AIDS as well as his older and younger siblings. He is a true 'orphan', yet he has so much chosen family!  He is in school now to be an accountant and wants to make a difference in the lives of orphans and street boys.  What a legacy he will leave!

Oh, and Junior was always educating us in the English language.  It was FUNNY to hear how others see English  - yes, it's a confusing language, but to hear them explain things was definitely eye opening!

This picture was taken during the rain - it was much more gentle at this time!  As you can see, there are now window openings and a doorway!  The progress was coming along very quickly and they were doing such amazingly good work!

This is what VBS looked like from the outside in...it's a little crowded!  The girls led some singing of "This Little Light of Mine", "Hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah - Praise Ye the Lord" complete with standing and sitting, "Father Abraham" and a few others.  So fun to watch them be excited!  They did crafts, had a story, and got a snack too.  They didn't care that it was raining!

As each of the kids left for the day, they were each given a beanie baby and another prize.  I really wanted to give Michael the monkey beanie baby that I had been carrying around with me for the past week so I pulled him out of line and talked to him.  I told him how much I loved him, and that I was sad that I was leaving, but that I wanted to leave him a present.  He doesn't looked too thrilled in this picture though!  (But I look tan and that matters a WHOLE lot...but I'm guessing it's just red, Ugandan dirt!)

Here is Michael and his monkey beanie baby!  Poor quality of photo, but you can see a little bit of his smile!

Here is one of the precious girls going back home in the rain - trying to stay as dry as possible.

Here is little Kasim - all dressed up in his jeans and sweatshirt to ward off the little chill in the air.  I think this is the only time he wasn't being held by someone all day!

Earlier in the day, one of our taxis had gotten stuck in the mud of the dirt road by the school.  We had to help push the taxi out of the mud which was difficult compounded by the fact that all of the tires here are used and have NO traction on them!  Fishtailing was a mild way to describe how that taxi looked trying to make it up the hill!  Needless to say, after another 2 hours of rain, the taxis weren't coming down to pick us up!  So we walked back up the slippery slope to the village.

This is one of my favorite picutres from my trip.  This is George (on the right) holding Kasim.  George has such a love for all of the boys that have seen some sort of hardship in life.  He will be a wonderful father to his own kids one day, but he is already a wonderful father to so many.  He is changing lives in Uganda.

Recap - Day 8 - Ssenge Village - Kitchen Building and VBS

Friday morning's schedule allowed us to "sleep in" a bit since we were going to all go to the Legacy Leadership pastors conference for a short time.  We went at the beginning of the morning before all of the participants arrived, but this conference had between 700 and 800 attendees.  So many in fact, that on the first day, more tents and chairs had to be brought in during the day to allow space for everyone.  Three of our team members were pastors and were presenting material during the conference to equip pastors and church leaders in Uganda.

Many of those that attended were women and there were a few children also.  They were all dressed in their best, including this little boy that had his pant legs and jacket sleeves rolled several times so they would 'fit'.  Each of us introduced ourselves and told what our jobs or positions in life were.  There was one lady on the front row that was saying "glory hallelujah" as each of us females told about ourselves...and especially so for the two mother-daughters we had serving on our team! 

After we left the conference, we drove back to Ssenge to continue throwing bricks and to lead VBS later in the afternoon.  As our taxis pulled into the village, I saw a teenage boy and girl, and a small child on a bicycle.  I assumed that they were going down to the river to get water and said hello to them.  Avery, the 18 year old girl, smiled and introduced me to her brother, Julius, and her 1 year old son, Syrus.  She couldn't stop smiling as she talked to me.  Avery walked with me down to the work site and told me that they had come to help us build because we were helping their village.  It turned out that Avery was the one that worked (throwing bricks with us without gloves!) and Julius watched Syrus while we worked.  Avery wouldn't pass up a photo opportunity with any of us, sometimes even demanding more!  Such a precious girl and a sweet mother - with no husband.

The progress on the building in just 24 hours.  The footings have all been completed and you can see that there is just a little more work to complete in the foreground of the photo and then the foundation will be done and the walls can go up. 

We only threw bricks for a few hours on Friday because we were going to be doing Vacation Bible School during the last couple of hours of the school day.  Luckily, we didn't have any travel to do since we were working at the school!  So, after lunch, we started VBS by having a dance contest!  The boys in each class danced against each other and the girls in each class danced against one another.  Some of them really got into it and some of them didn't appear to even seem to have ever danced before!  They each got a prize though which they enjoyed!

Because we were doing VBS during the school day, the headmaster and the teachers were all there to help us maintain order (which is very important when dealing with 250 kids between the ages of 4 and 12!  We all stood in a big circle in the courtyard and sang several songs together ("Father Abraham", "Higher Higher" (not sure the real name, but they taught it to us!), and then I was able to get in the middle of the circle and lead my all-time favorite, "Hokey Pokey".  Something about a big, white woman in the middle of a circle dancing around makes kids laugh - go figure!  

The lady in the center of the picture with the black jacket and blue dress is one of the teachers.  She was dancing around in her heels like nobody's business.  She had all kinds of energy and led singing for over half an hour!  If I ever grow up, I want to be like her!  You could tell that the kids loved her and respected her.

After singing was done, the kids all went back to their classrooms and we mzungus divided up into pairs and went to the classrooms to do crafts with the kids - some did finger painting, others were face painting, making bracelets, and in the younger rooms, we colored and used stickers...lots of stickers! :)  The headmaster had come into our room and told the kids to do their best work for us and that we would give them sweeties...but we had no candy! Guess the system of bribing kids in school is universal! HAHAHA

 

Here is an example of some of the face painting - this butterfly is the artwork of my dear friend and roommate on the trip, April.  One thing about face paint, it shows up more brightly on white skin than black.  So when the kids saw that an adult mzungu had face paint, it was hilarious.  They would all laugh, point, and gather their friends around.  Good thing I could handle it!

 As soon as we arrived for VBS, Joshua (one of the boys from the day before) latched onto my hand and would not let go!  He didn't even want me to go to the center of the circle for the "Hokey Pokey" without him and when I got back in the circle in a different place, he came to stand by me.  I didn't see Michael or Isaac all day and I was getting sad that maybe they weren't able to come to school for some reason.  I had thought the day prior that this was THE Michael that was supposed to get the monkey beanie baby, but then I couldn't find him and began to doubt.

After craft time, we had the kids all listen to a Bible story and then gave them all a snack of Safi mango drink and dry donuts.  They devoured them!  As soon as we were done with VBS, the headmaster tried to get all of the students to go home, but it was difficult! :)  Joshua came over to find me as they were leaving and brought with him, Michael!  So exciting!  So we took a few more photos, shared a few more smiles, and then the boys went on their way.

 After we left, we returned to the guest house to shower and change clothers.  We headed to the African Hearts house in Kampala where the older boys live.  They put on a concert for us.  These 19 boys have learned how to play trumpets, trombones, and the tuba by ear.  They play for government events, weddings, and wherever else they get hired to earn money for school fees, rent and food.  They are actually very decent!  They also have 4 acrobats that also perform with them and are quite impressive.  None of them are trained, they just practice and teach themselves what they need to know.  Wonderful young men!

Recap - Day 7 - Ssenge Village - Kitchen Building

Thursday morning arrived with lots of humidity to greet us as we ate breakfast at the hotel.  The morning routine generally included April, Jan, Cristina, and I enjoying breakfast together.  After soggy corn flakes one morning, I decided to stick with 2 pieces of toast (butter and red plum jelly) and occasional egg or omelet...usually ordered, not always delivered!

For the next three days, a group of us went to Ssenge Village (a favorite of many from earlier trips) to throw bricks for their construction of a kitchen at their school.  This school is brand new (finished in January 2011) and is amazing.  They have nearly 200 students that attend there.  School in Uganda is year-round with a couple of 3 week holidays throughout the year.  They attend from 7:30 until at least 4:00...and it's all in English - you should feel sorry for those kids, but they love school!

I will be doing a completely separate post about construction practices in Uganda, but here is a quick synopsis of how to mix concrete.  Dump 2 wheelbarrows full of sand - and full means full, that's how you measure - 4 wheelbarrows full of a different sand/cement mixture, and 1 bag of cement into a pile.  Then, with a shovel, move that pile about 3 feet away.  When you've moved the whole pile, transfer it BACK to the original pile location.  When that is done, it has been thoroughly mixed and is ready for water to be added little by little to make cement/mortar!

This is the kitchen build site on the morning of day 1.  The grid has been laid out and the trenches dug for the foundation footings, but no bricks have been moved or laid.

Even though we began here on a Thursday, we had a growing audience all morning because school was closed due to a national holiday, Heroes Day (similar to our US Memorial Day).  Many of the kids sat on the steps of the school and watched us for awhile.  When we would take water breaks, we came up to see them, give high fives, and take photos!

At this point in the trip, I only knew one phrase in Luganda and it wasn't helpful in trying to get kids situated to take a picture.  I learned how important it was to specify which kids you were saying "come" to or they will ALL move to the one spot you are at!

After a brief breakfast break from throwing bricks, we mzungus returned to find that many of the cornerstones had been laid 6 high and they were working on making those level so that the walls could be started...not bad for a couple hours of work!  Impressive work ethic by the contractors!

After our breakfast break (11 am) and before our lunch break (3 pm), we just worked at throwing bricks (and a few people were making cement/mortar).  We had a smaller group working this day (only 13) because some were sick and others were at the Legacy Leadership Conference for pastors (more on this in Day 8's post).  So we had to work extra hard in order to make up for their absence.  Fortunately or unfortunately, we had a small contingency of kids that came down to where we were working and began to watch everything we were doing.  They were so cute!

In this photo are from left to right, Isaac, Michael, and Joshua.  They played so well together so we knew they were probably about the same age and were good friends. 

At one point, we forced ourselves to take a water break to watch the cuteness unfold.  These boys and another friend of theirs had watched us work and began to make their own human chain and were throwing bits of broken bricks and making their own pile.  It was so cute!  Unfortunately, I yelled at Isaac at the wrong time and he gets a little hurt, but he brushed it off like a man and kept working! 

When it was finally lunch time, we were going to be done working for the day.  We went to the African Hearts boys home in Ssenge village for our meals (which were wonderful, by the way! Moreen is the BEST cook ever!).  When we got there, a small boy was on the porch with a squeege trying to get water off of the porch.  He appeared to be about 2 years old, running around in a onesie with the snaps unsnapped and no pants.  He was the CUTEST thing ever - I asked about his name and was told it was Cosom (rhymes with awesome)...but others are spelling and saying it as Kasim (kaw-seem) but either way, once we heard his story we were amazed.  He is really FIVE years old and has been living in the Kivulu slums his entire life...he and his younger brother, John, were seen there in April by another one of our teams and John was actually trampled by a large group of kids there.  Kasim was allowed to be brought to Ssenge about a week prior and then his younger brother, John (age 3), was able to be brought earlier the first week we were there.  They really do belong together.  Kasim has been watching out for John in the slums and at African Hearts it was no different.  He made sure his brother got food and was taken care of even if John is bigger than he is!  Here they are with Emma - Kasim (age 5) is on the left and John (age 3) is on the right.  We are hoping that Kasim will begin growing now that he will have proper nutrition every day.  Such sweet boys.