Understanding and Figuring Things Out

Hello Everyone! I am back in Kampala, the city and capital of Uganda. I apologize for not posting in such a long time. We did not have the internet like we expected so the time I did get, I used sparingly to get graduate applications completed. So I owe you all a good update on life as it is in Africa.

I will begin with Mbale, the town that I lived in while I was on practicum. Mbale is the third largest town in Uganda, but it is very small compared to Kampala. Although, it is pretty large compared to most of the other towns. Two other students and I lived in the Food for the Hungary (FH) office for a few days under four weeks, pretty much the whole month of October. While we were there we worked in two of the near by villages called Makhia and Bufukhula. FH has different programs, but the one that was active in the Mbale district, where I worked, is the child development program. We got the opportunity to work with a program that helped send children to school, provide uniforms, make sure children were getting a meal at school, helped children at home, and closely interacted with the schools. Most of what I did while there was taking photos of the students for their sponsors and filling out their progress reports. It was a very interesting experience, I learned a lot but not in the way I expected to.

When coming to Africa and especially when preparing to go on practicum, I prepared myself to see a lot of poverty and be faced with the struggle of understanding how to help and how to see God through it. And although we were prepped on not expecting to the change the world and make huge strides, I still secretly expected to make a huge impact. I told myself to serve in anyway possible, even if it wasn't fun and wasn't exactly what I thought my job was. But after I was there I realized that I secretly expected to do certain things and experience specific things. One of the communities we were working in had an established Child development programs for almost 10 years now. FH has had a huge influence on this community and was beginning to phase out of the community. So, we got the opportunity to see the success stories of the CDP program and to see how well the community was doing. Overall, I left practicum sad that I was unable to see sadness and poverty which is weird. I learned once I arrived with the rest of the group how great of an experience I received because I got the opportunity to see how great a program can be when people work together and a program is ran well.

So, I went in to practicum expecting to learn about about poverty and to see sadness and to learn a lot about that, but that isn't what I learned. What affected me most and where I learned the most was through the interaction with the staff and through the books we have to read for our literature class.

1. To start off, if you weren't aware African time is very different than the time we are use to. African time usually means at least 20 mins later than the time you actually say. This can be stressful when you are set on getting work done within a specific amount of time. Many times we didn't get started on actual work till around noon. This was difficult because I didn't feel like I was being utilized as much as I could have been. I realized that time is just something that we make up to get things accomplished. I realized that there is no reason to bring the "American" idea of time to Africa when all of Africa is running on their own time. If everyone is moving at the same time, than it is fine. Plus God's time is not our time, so why would we think that our idea of time in America has to be the time that we go by in Africa?

2. Secondly it really hit me how different cultures are and it really makes a difference on how we think. There were moments when comments were made and my first reaction was to be offended, which would put me in a sour mood. After the first few times of these occurrences it hit me that I was being ridiculous. How could I even begin to put what was happening in Africa in to the context of America. If you think about it a lot makes up how we think, act, react, and interpret. Our heritage, countries history, family's history, personal experience all play into how we interpret and react to life, which means ours is difference than people in Africa. Once I realized this I approached conversations very differently. I was more careful about what I said and how I reacted so to make sure that I did not offend any one, as well as being aware that they are not necessarily try to offend me. Having this mind set made it easier to get to know others and explore this new culture. It also made me very aware of how complex the Lord is. I continue to keep learning that the Lord does not wear an American face nor have an American mind. We are all made in the image of God and therefore all display characteristics of God. To see how different people are just allows us to see more of who God is. This is what is so great about exploring different cultures... you aren't just exploring different cultures but you are exploring different characteristics of God and seeing new, beautiful things that were all created by the same person who created us. Isn't that AMAZING?!!?

3. Lastly, the African literature books that I was reading for my classes started to make me think a lot. I am not going to write too much on this because it could be a book of its own. But overall... all of the books involved tribes that were content and then white man showed up and brought turmoil, and most of the time the white men were missionaries. This made me really think and rethink what I am doing in Africa and what our ancestors did here. These thoughts have formed not only from the books but have also combined with stuff discussed in classes that we had in Rwanda. Skipping through a lot of my thoughts and getting to my conclusion thoughts.... I started to try to apply what was occurring in Africa to the bible. I realized that all through out the bible people turn from God and begin to worship false gods and there is always that person that comes to the people, or tribes, and bring the good news and tells them to turn back to the one creator. So... are we just finishing the story? Are these tribes in Africa just ones that fell from God many years ago and that one person hasn't yet come, or in some circumstances has just come in these last 60 years? Is the bible not over and are we finishing out the story? Are we doing what Moses, Paul, and so many others did when they brought God's word to the people?

So that is where my thoughts have been and a lot of what I have learned over the past month. There is a lot more I could have written, but I don't want to write a novel. Sorry if it is kind of scatter brained. Thanks again for checking in on me, I hope all is well in the states. And if any one wants an Obama belt, watch, bag, t-shirt, or pair of jeans just let me know because they are EVERYWHERE! Love you all so so much!

Just Another Day in the Neighborhood

Adventures of the Day....

1. There is always room for more: Have you ever looked for seat on a bench or in the pew and saw a tiny spot between two people but knew you would never fit. Well I am here to say that you can always fit more! I’m not sure if I have told you guys about the Matutus (the local buses) that we take everywhere. But they are a tiny bit bigger than mini vans and over 20 people can fit in them at times. Today I got on one to go from Makhai back to Mbale and I looked in the very back seat really confused as the lady began to motion me to sit down. There was no way I was going to fit in there. So I attempted to plop my bottom over the location where she thought I should sit and some how I was able to wriggle it right in. The rest of my group (which there was 5 of us in all) proceeded to get into the Matutu, although I was sure there were only 3 spots when I got in. The Matutu then when on its was, but as we continued onto Mbale we made at least two more stops to pick up people before any one got off. I’m not exactly sure how they fit, but I guess there is always room.
2. Kettle of boiling water + a mug = one good shower: I am getting pretty use to not taking a shower for a few days, but when you begin to smell yourself during work I think it is a sign that a shower should be in your near future. So today I made an executive decision to take a “shower”. The lady that stays with us and cooks for us, Vicki, boiled me some hot water in the kettle so that I could have a hot shower. So, I then proceeded to take the kettle to the tub with a mug. The guy, John, I am here with did it this way so I figured I would try it too. It is a very interesting experience when you take shower using a mug and a kettle. But something about living in Africa for an extended of time and learning to improvise makes it some what of an adventure and I feel well accomplished. You would be surprised how refreshed and clean you feel after taking a kettle and mug shower when you haven’t showered for a while.
3. What language do I speak?: All my life have been told that I speak English. So, as I travel and people try to talk to me in different languages I have to look at them stupidly and apologize for only being able to speak English. But today I found out that I have been wrong. As we were returning to Mbale on the Matutu the other people in my group and I were talking about how many people keep getting on the bus and we don’t know where they will sit. Soon after we fell silent the lady next to me turned to me and asked what language I was speaking. I kindly replied, “English”, only to be told that I was indeed not speaking English. The others and I tried to convince her that we were indeed speaking English when we were talking to each other and it was the same English that we were speaking when we were speaking to her. She was not convinced and after many tries at persuading her we decided to move on with our lives. Although, I’m pretty sure she is still convinced that we are with holding information from her and speaking in spy code.
4. Child Sponsorship Programs: Have you ever sponsored a child and received a picture of that child in the mail? Have you ever wondered who took that picture? ... doubt it... but if you did, wonder no longer. I take those pictures! Today we took a collective of around 200 pictures of kids who are sponsored through Food for the Hungary’s Child Development Program. The Program in the Mbale area has around 900 children. There were roughly 200 photos taken before we arrived, then we took pictures all day today (Tuesday), and the rest of the pictures are due with names in Kampala’s Head office by Thursday. This is the exciting life of a professional photographer... or just a practicum student trying to serve any way possible!

Just Another Day in the Neighborhood

The End is the Beginning

(This picture is from the week we spent doing surveys in Rwanda. My camera decided to stop working so my pictures might be limited. Although, many people have been very wonderful and said I can use their camera when ever needed! Just thought I would let you all know)

Our time in Rwanda is over now and we are getting ready to begin a new part of our journey. Yesterday we woke up at 4 a.m. to go to town in Kigali to board a bus and drive to Kampala, Uganda. It was roughly an eleven hour car drive. There isn't too many stories from the ride except at the boarder. When you get to the boarder you have to get off the bus stand in line to check out of the country. Then walk over the boarder stand in another line, check into the country and pay for our new visas. During this time there is a chance that the boarder control will go through all of our luggage, which can be kind of stressful. Now we traveled on a charter bus so we are only a small portion of the people that are riding on the bus. And we have to remember that we are in Africa and the whole concept of time and waiting is very different. Many times in Africa things happen a lot later than planned, that is just African time, but there are those times when the few people like to define their culture and attempt to be in a rush. So what does this mean for our group of mzungus (white people) that are attempting to figure out how to get through customs and need a short call (bathroom break). Well it means there is a lot of yelling and angriness. See there were a few of us that were getting on the bus and had went through customs so we had everyone's passports. And there were a few others that decided to use this time as an opportunity to go to the restroom. Now you need your passport to get back on the bus, and we had others passports, but they were yelling at us to get on the bus. We had many people on the bus telling us to hurry and get our group on the bus. And many others were asked why they were just standing around, when actually they were waiting to go to the restroom. All in all it was a very interesting experience. And to top it all off... after we started getting on the road we realized that they had left some people so we had to stop and wait. Luckily it was not mzungus, so we didn't have to hear them complain about us any more. It was a very interesting boarder experience.... and now I have one to tell when ever I think about going through customs.

So that was the trip on the bus. Today we are just relaxing. We will leave early tomorrow morning to travel to Mbale and we will begin work on Monday. I am very excited about this opportunity, because so far we have spent most of our time in a city. We have not gotten the opportunity to have a rural African experience, so this should be a real big change. I am excited about what I will experience, but at the same time I am a little bit nervous about what I will experience. But I'm sure that it will only add to my experiences and I'm excited to see how God can use me and what he can teach me! I'm not sure how much internet I will have, but I'll keep you updated as much as I can. Again thanks so much for reading!

I love you all a lot and miss you more and more every day! ..... 12 weeks until Christmas!!