The End---Mount Elgon

Here is my last week and a half in Uganda…

Debrief: We stayed in a convent in Entebbe for debrief and spent a lot of time processing the semester and what it is going to be like adjusting back to life in the States. To be honest, I’m kind of nervous to see how the whole ‘reverse culture shock’ is going to effect me, or if it will effect me at all. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think I am more nervous about not experiencing any problems adjusting back. I’d like to think I’ve changed…and if I don’t feel that, I think it makes my semester a little less valid in my mind. I don’t know if that makes sense…but things are already starting to seem like fuzzy memories and that scares me more than anything!

While staying in the convent, I found a 4 in centipede, or millipede, or whatever in my bed…it was HUGE! Then the next night I found a lizard in there too. I’m a little nervous to see what might have crawled in my open suitcase while we were there…I guess we will find out soon! =) The entire city of Entebbe ran out of water for the week. How does that happen? It’s funny how things like that aren’t necessarily surprising anymore…just kind of funny.

Goodbyes were HARD! The last day everyone was here, some of our UCU friends came and visited us. We went to the zoo and beach (someone remind me to take my bilharzia medicine in 5 weeks) and then watched everyone drive away. That was the hardest part. Since I stayed to hike Mount Elgon, I was left behind. I didn’t realize the extent of how precious my community was this semester. Never have I spent 4 entire months with the same group of people day in and day out. I miss them already!

Okay now let me tell you about Mount Elgon. YIKES! Well, we hiked for 4 days in the cold rain and mud. Each night we got maybe two hours of sleep because we would wake up shaking we were so cold!! Each day I thought, “This is definitely the most miserable I’ve ever been in my whole life,” but then the next day would top the level of misery from the previous day. On the third day we reached the summit at 14,000 feet, and on the hike down it started ice raining when we had about 10 miles to go…we made it in like 3 hours! Okay but now you are probably thinking this was the worst experience of my life…it wasn’t! I can honestly say it was probably one of the most physically and emotionally challenging things I have ever done…but it was SO rewarding! To say the scenery was beautiful is an extreme understatement, and the community was really great too! I got so much joy out of sitting around the fire with the porters drinking tea and just hanging out with people. I am so so thankful for the experience, and even though our trails were rivers most of the time, it was definitely worth it. I will say though, I definitely wouldn’t do it during the rainy season again.

On the last day I had to hike down early because I was flying out that night. So Rachel and I hiked down with our guide. That was definitely the most miserable hike. It was a full body workout leaning on my bamboo stick and trying not to slide down the hills. All my toes have blisters the size of eyeballs on them. I’ve never walked more like an old woman in my whole life. Anyway, we reached the bottom by noon, then I jumped in the car with Vincent who drove me 5 hours to Mukono so I could shower for the first time in 5 days, and then I repacked and drove 2 ½ more hours to get to the airport, boarded a plane and flew to Amsterdam…ALL IN ONE DAY!! Boom. I’m pretty sure I’ve slept about 10 hours total in the past 5 days. I think I’m definitely pretty exhausted. While I’m writing this I’m on a plane somewhere between Amsterdam and Washington D.C.. One and a half airplanes down, 2 ½ to go. It’s such a weird feeling going home…or maybe it’s more weird not knowing when I’m going back to Uganda. One of the staff shared a quote with us…I’m not sure exactly how it goes, but it says something like “My heart will never fully be at home again, because home is in so many different places.” I should look up what it actually is…but I can definitely identify with what she was getting at. Have patience with me while I’m adjusting back. There’s a good chance I’ll be an emotional wreck…and a good chance I’ll be just fine. Just bear with me, please!

In conclusion to my semester, here are some bits and pieces of random thoughts and lessons learned…some being my own, and some stolen from other students who are better at articulating their thoughts than I am. This is where I’m at…

1. The past four months are no less real than the first 20 years of my life. To just write it off as a cool experience and memory seems almost disrespectful to the people who poured into me while being there. I need to find a way to integrate that community into my other communities as well.

2. Live IN the moment…emphasis on the IN. It’s about who you are IN it…not just who you are before or after.

3.Discomfort is where you grow. It’s when you’re terrified at the ledge with your hands on the rope swing when it’s make or break. JUMP! There is freedom.

4. Don’t worry about what’s next…live faithfully where you’re at, day to day.

5. Ordinary is okay.

See you all soon!

Week 15--Rwanda

Okay, wrapping up my semester. The past couple weeks have been insane! Goodbyes at UCU were definitely not fun…but we got through them and drove 10 hours to Rwanda. It’s kind of hard to explain all that we did there, and I’m writing this two weeks after we were there, so it might be kind of scattered…but I’ll do my best!

We spent our time in Rwanda learning all about the genocide that happened in 1994. First we went to a mass grave called Nyamata where 56,000 people are buried. The grave is located at the church where 10,000 of those people were killed. What would happen is all the Tutsis would gather in the churches where they thought they would be safe. This was quite convenient for the Hutus who would come and kill tens of thousands of people at a time. We walked into the church, where you could see holes from the grenades and the broken door from when they broke in. Sitting on all the benches were piles and piles of clothes from the 10,000 people killed there. In the back of the church they had the children’s clothes, which might have been one of the hardest parts. Right behind them was a brick wall where they would swing the kids around by their feet and bash their heads again the wall. We thought this was bad, but then they took us into one of the open graves where there were piles of skulls and bones on every side of us. They pointed out the ones that had been cut down by a machete, clubbed to death, or shot. One pregnant woman in particular had been raped over 20 times and then was “crossed” by shoving a stakes from her privates to her neck and then through her stomach. Rough stuff.

Next we visited the Kigali Genocide Museum where over 250,000 people are buried. We walked through the mass graves and read about the history of the genocide. The worst part of the entire thing was a room they had dedicated to children who died. In it, they had giant pictures of various Rwandan children with small facts about them like their favorite food, sports they liked, their favorite toys, and then the way they died. For instance, Name: Emmanuel   Favorite food: Matoke   Liked: Soccer   Last words: “Mommy where should I go?”   Died by: Machete.  It hit me that these kids would have been my age…some of them probably would have been at the university I studied at, but they didn’t get the chance to live because their ancestors were cattle owners (I’ll get to that later). WHAT?! It’s insane. I broke down. Later that day they brought the remains of another body to be buried there and we saw them bring the body in with all the family walking with them—also emotional. It’s crazy to think they are still finding bodies eighteen years later on a regular basis.

On Sunday they divided us into groups of 5 and sent us to churches in rural Rwanda. That was interesting first of all because they sat us up front behind the alter and then we had to lead a couple songs…but the people there were so welcoming and friendly; however, you could still see the pain in their eyes. To get to the church I was at, we had to drive around 3 hours up to the remote village. Near the village we passed a mass grave where 4,000 people were buried. Then we were told that just a few kilometers away was the famous Catholic Church where a priest helped bulldoze the church in, killing 51,000 people seeking protection in it.  The numbers were so overwhelming. But on a side note, the village had the most amazing view. We saw all the way over to Tanzania!

Monday and Tuesday included a memorial where 10 Belgian soldiers were killed and then we went to a fabric place where women have formed a community sewing and sending crafts to the U.S. We also went to another place called Azizi life where women make crafts and sell them for fair prices (check it out online!), and while there they taught us how to weave baskets. We were pretty pathetic, and since it can take days for one basket, I only got a little circle done before I gave up!

Okay, and now for the coolest part of out trip. On our final day in Rwanda we joined up with an organization called CARSA, which works for reconciliation/forgiveness/rehabilitation between the perpetrators and victims of the genocide. They use some pretty creative ways to do this. So in the group I was with, we went and helped build a cow shed for a cow that is owned by a women and the man who killed her family. To do this, we had to carry water, dig some dirt, throw in some cow poop and grass, and then stomp around knee deep in mud to mix it all together. Then we piled in up on a stick frame and had ourselves a cow hut! The cool part was that it included all kinds of people. One man in particular had disfigured face from deep machete cuts. His hand was broken and his nose barely existed, but he was the most joyful one there! The other cool part was that we didn’t even know who the victims and perpetrators were until after when we all shared a big pan of cassava and beans and they told us their stories. It was beautiful. As one victim said in a documentary we watched, “How can we deny forgiveness when we ourselves are forgiven sinners?”

So here is the short version of the complicated build up to the genocide, based on my understanding: Rwanda is unique in that it is a country with one culture. Everyone speaks the same language and has the same traditions. Well, back in the day before colonization, Tutsis were the wealthy cattle owners and the Hutus were the farmers and the ones who worked for them. When the Germans/Belgians/French (I get really confused at this part) came in they emphasized this division, gave them identity cards, and placed the Tutsis in power. But when everyone started itching for freedom from western control, they Germans (I think) put the majority Hutus in control to try and gain back some respect. Things went crazy, and there were several mini genocides and massacres before the big one in 1994. The government and other Hutus used propaganda to dehumanize the Tutsis, calling them cockroaches and claiming they were intruders from another country. Then when the president’s place crashed at the end of the Kigali runway (no one knows if it was the Hutus or Tutsis who brought it down, all hell broke loose. It was announced all over the radio that the time had come to get rid of the Tutsis, and the people of Rwanda, who are known as an obedient people, obeyed the orders. Neighbors who took care of each other’s children murdered each other with machetes that had strategically been distributed. People who worshiped together in choir practice earlier that night turned on each other as well. Tutsis gathered in churches where they were sure they would be safe, but that only made it easier to systematically kill them. They waited and waited for the world to notice and intervene, but the West, particularly the U.S. refused to use the ‘genocide’ word so they wouldn’t have to get involved. Instead they pulled out all their citizens, ignoring the desperate pleas of the Tutsis who would be killed just hours later. White skin was the ticket out…missionaries’ dogs were evacuated rather than their Rwandan colleagues and neighbors. This went on for 100 days, when the Tutsi rebel army finally reached Kigali. The general of that Army is still the president of Rwanda today.

So through this whole trip, we experienced a lot of emotions…and a lot of anger/hatred for the United States. Bill Clinton was quoted saying once, “The U.S. doesn’t have friends, it has interests,” insinuating that Rwanda had nothing to offer us, so why should we put ourselves at risk? I was also angry with the church. How could the body of Christ turn on each other like that…and then still go worship on Sunday?? I wondered if I was capable of killing like what happened in Rwanda. That was answered by a quote from the only American who remained in Rwanda throughout the genocide, “We, as humans, have enormous potential for good...but also enormous potential for evil.” So the answer is yes. He also talked about how in our lives, when a response to a situation is demanded, our choice has already been made. Snap decisions come from our character…from the small choices we’ve made our entire lives. We learned about the insane power of forgiveness. When we refuse to forgive, we are tied to the person who wronged us creating a heavy chain that follows us wherever we go. To forgive is the only way to free yourself. Rwanda is discovering that in the most painful and beautiful of ways.

So that was our trip. Pretty emotional, but I feel so blessed to have gotten to be a part of it. Other details about our time there include a crazy big fire just a short ways down the hill from where we were staying. I guess a mattress factory caught on fire and totally burned down. We could see them trying to get things out of the building and could hear people yelling. There was a rumor that 4 people died, but no one was for sure. For Rwanda Debrief we go an island to ourselves on Lake Bunyonyi…a 6,000-foot deep lake surrounded by hills near Kabale. There was no electricity, and it was freezing cold, but it was incredibly beautiful…and it had a terrifying rope swing! Jumping from the platform was 10 times more scary than bungee jumping was, but so worth it! The water was beautiful. When it was all over, we drove 10 hours to Entebbe where we stayed at a convent and had Semester Debrief. I’ll work on another post about my last two weeks spent in Africa and get it out in a day or two! Thanks for reading…and thanks for caring! =) (Once again, too long to proof read…sorry for typos!)

Week 14--Finishing Up

THIS IS MY LAST DAY!! At UCU anyways. But seriously, I don’t know what to do with myself it’s so weird. I still have a paper to write and have to be done packing by five so this will be a quick post.

Last week we said bye to our Off Tu kids, and it has definitely been the hardest goodbye yet. I really really miss them already, and can only hope that someday I will meet them again. We had a campfire, danced, sang, and played games. It was beautiful!

I also got sick last week. Fever, soar throat, and stomach everything (it finally happened, dang it!) After feeling awful for 3 days, I went to the Surgery (the doctor’s office) and got some meds and am feeling so much better!!

The rest of my week was spent finishing up my papers and working on getting my plane ticket figured out. I am no longer hiking Mount Elgon at the end of the semester, so I will be home a few days early! I’m so excited to be home, but can’t even imagine how much I will miss this place.

Tomorrow we leave UCU for Rwanda to study the genocide by going to different memorials, mass graves, museums, and by talking to various people about it. For those of you who don’t know much about the genocide, watch Hotel Rwanda. It’s about a 100-day genocide that happened between tribes in Rwanda in which 600,000 people were killed. I am really looking forward to learning about it, but I think it will also be a really difficult week emotionally. We will be there during their two-week mourning period, so it will be an incredibly unique experience. While there, we won’t have phones or internet, so there is a chance I won’t be writing again until home, but I will try if I get the chance!

Sorry my post is so short! I just don’t want to be attached to my computer on my last day at UCU! Thanks again for all you love and prayers! I can’t wait to see you all!

Week 13--Snakes and Slums

Well I thought this week was going to slow down a bit since classes are over, but that is not the case! My time is still seems to fill up, and I still struggle getting this blog written! But here it goes:

Last Tuesday for street ministry Hudson and Julius took us to the Katanga Slum in Kampala. It’s the biggest slum in Uganda, and is where a couple of the Off Tu kids are from. We did our usual program with the kids at the school there, and then they took us for a walk to the center of the slum. The homes, or rather the pieces of wood and tin thrown together, were small, close together, and hardly an okay place to live. There was a stream of sewage that ran through it, just feet from the houses, with little planks of wood forming the path to walk over it…and in places little kids had to be lifted over it so they wouldn’t fall in. But the most heartbreaking part was the children. Many had big, swollen bellies, with no shoes and clothes that were barely fit. There was one child in particular who couldn’t have been older than 2 years old who was sitting on the ground with crusties and dirt all over his face, and had flies buzzing around his eyes. He just sat there, expressionless, with no reaction when I tried to play with him. Definitely not okay. But the cool part about it all was that there was still so much life and joy in the people there. The men were out playing soccer, and the kids were running around singing. It was a really great experience, but I wish I would have had more time there.

On Friday I went to Luwero with my class and we attended a service that acted out the different scenes of the crucifixion for Good Friday. We started out at a church, then proceeded to walk through the town in a big procession of a couple hundrend people, following the cross in the cold rain. After 4 hours of wet clothes, umbrellas getting stuck in my hair, and getting my toes stepped on, I was ready to be done. Did I mention it was all in Luganda? It was really cool to see all the denominations together though. There were Catholics, Anglicans, Baptists, and others all participated in Good Friday together, and it was beautiful.

Friday evening I almost stepped on a snake…the first snake I’ve seen in Africa! The guys I was with freaked out and then picked up rocks and literally stoned it to death! My friend, Mulo picked it up after it was dead and kept it, then the next day we went to check it out. We decided it wasn’t poisonous, and took turns holding it by the tail. Then, in honor of Ashton’s birthday, Mulo climbed the mango tree by the path, and threw it at people as they walked by. SO FUNNY! People here are extra scared of snakes because you never know if they’re poisonous or not, so we got some pretty good reactions! Some people thought it was funny, but there were a few who looked pretty angry. Oops!

On Easter I went for church, or for prayers as they say here, and then accidentally spent most the day sleeping instead of writing my paper. Probably the most uneventful Easter of my life, but oh well! That evening we had cake to celebrate Ashton’s birthday with our friends Moshan, Tonny, and Emma.

Yesterday I went to Kampala to go to the craft market one last time. I had a jumbo iced coffee at the mall first, and it had quite the effect of me. I’ve never been so shakey or felt so funny from caffeine before! It must be because I rarely have it here. Then I had my first pepperoni pizza in over 3 months and it was ohh soo good! Then we went downtown to the Old Taxi Park, where it’s super crowded and crazy, and my friend Sarah got her necklace literally ripped off her neck. Then the guy who took it ran into the busy traffic and there was no way to get it back. I’m so thankful none of my things got taken in all my times of being there.

Yesterday evening we went to Off Tu and had a water balloon war. The only person who was dry was Ashton because she had a camera. It was so fun! Then we had some fun with the tattoos I got in my care package…they were so happy. Today is our last day of our internship, and I’m really really sad about it. It will be so sad to leave the kids and all the staff too. We have formed some really good relationships there, and it’s hard to say goodbye. So tonight we are spending the night there, and are planning on playing Twister, having a campfire with smores, and doing crafts. We talk about the termination process in social work a lot, so we’ve been preparing for this for a while now, but it will still be strange to think I could never see them again.

My favorite pair of shoes that I wear every day broke this week. It was almost tragic, until I took them to a shoe repairman sitting on the corner of the street right outside the gate and got them fixed for 1,000 shillings…the equivalent of 40 cents. Why don’t we have shoe repairmen on the streets in the U.S.?! So convenient!

So this is my last full week in Uganda before we got to Rwanda. I hate it!!! I’m trying to remember that there is a time for everything, and even though I won’t see most of my friends here ever again, I am blessed to have met them in the first place. With that, today is the exactly one-month-left–in-Africa mark. However, my flight home got pushed back 24 hours, which means there’s a good chance I won’t make it back for Corrie’s graduation. So I appreciate your prayers as we are trying to find different flights back…it’s something I really really don’t want to miss!

That’s all for this week! I just realized that I had my photo album locked on Facebook so I was the only one who could see it. It’s unlocked now, so feel free to check out all the pictures from my semester! There are a lot of them…so good luck! Thanks for your prayers!

Week Twelve: Safari Adventures

I am finished with classes! Well, sort of. I have about six papers to write by the end of the week, but I am completely with the classroom part of it! So my time now is spent finishing up my work, and finishing up at Off Tu. We leave Mukono in only 2 weeks, and I’m really starting to get that sick feeling in my gut at the thought of it!! I have no idea where all the time went!

My week last week was pretty basic, so I don’t think there is anything too exciting to tell you about there. But this past weekend we went on a safari!! I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I can remember, and I was really really excited! So this is how it went:

A bus came and picked us up on campus, and I got ready for what I thought was a 4 or 5 hour ride to Queen Elizabeth’s park…but then was told by the guide that it was an 11 hour trip! 3 months ago I would definitely have freaked out about that…that’s longer than my drive from Olivet to home!!! But I think Uganda has made me a little more mellow, and we got as comfy as you can on a bus in Uganda and tried to enjoy the ride. We arrived at Queen Elizabeth’s and stayed in a beautiful safari lodge (with hot showers). The lodge was located in the park, at the edge of Lake George on the flat, bare planes below the beautiful western mountains. We were warned not to go near the lake between 7pm and 7am, because that’s when the hippos (which are one of the most dangerous animals in the world) are out grazing. Sure enough, I could hear the hippos snorting around in the grass all night not far from my hut.

The next morning we went on our first game drive in our bus and saw a ton of bush buck, water buck, Ugandan cob, African buffalo, warthogs, and a few elephants. Later on we saw a male lion in the bushes…which is pretty rare. Our guide told us we had a 0 to 20% chance of seeing one, much less a male! We couldn’t see it very well, but our guide threw a rock at it, then jumped back in the bus! It got up and was looking around so we could see it a lot better…it was pretty cool! Then later that day we went on a boat ride in the channel between Lake Edward and George and saw a ton of hippos, elephants, African buffalo, a few crocodiles, and a whole bunch of crazy birds! That was probably the best part of the Safari. It was so interesting to see the villages along the lake, and the children on water near all the animals! They guide said that there was usually at least one death in the park per month because the village children will get attacked by hippos or elephants. One village he showed us had 14 people killed by a lion within a couple months! It’s crazy to think how much different their lives are compared to mine. I walk out my front door at home and see corn. They walk out their front door and see elephants, hippos, buffalo, and an occasional lion. CRAZY!

We went on a couple more game drives that day, and then slept at another hostel within the park. It was fairly nice again, but when we were hanging out that night, I was dive bombed by a bat over and over. If you haven’t found out by now… I HATE BATS! I’ve come to the conclusion that they can sense my fear of them…so Ashton grabbed me and we ran back to our room! That night a couple lions walked through the compound where we were staying, and a bunch of the others said they heard them growling and rawring all night! I slept too hard to hear them, but our guide told us that he saw them pass through right through between all our rooms.

The next morning we left the park, but on our way we saw a few baboons, so we pulled over and someone threw a banana out at them. Then they started coming towards our bus from all different directions. I thought for sure they were going to jump in the window! They were standing right next to the bus waiting for more bananas, and then when we drove off, over 20 of them chased us…even the ones with babies hanging from the bellies! I guess they’re pretty vicious, so I’m glad they didn’t jump in! After that we proceeded on for the 11-hour drive back to campus! It was a long trip, but pretty worth it! I am a little disappointed we didn’t see any giraffes or zebras…but I guess those are mostly in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Maybe next time. =)

So it was a pretty exciting weekend. But somehow, I have been THE MOST forgetful person in the world lately!! I left my Bible, journal, and book at the first lodge we stayed at, and then before we left campus I had lost my dorm room key, water bottle, notebook, and I think I left my Kindle on the bus!! I’m working on finding all of them…especially my Kindle, journal, and Bible…so my week has been a little stressful so far!

I could use your prayers for a good ending for Ashton and I’s time at Off Tu as we only have a couple days left with the kids. Also prayers for the last couple weeks we have on campus would be appreciated! It will be so hard to leave the friends we have made here. And finally, prayers that I will find all my things…it would make life a lot less stressful! Thanks for everything, I’ll be home in just 5 ½ weeks and I am so excited to see you all!! 

Week 11--Ssese Island and Stuff

What a weekend! On Friday, a group of 10 of us decided to go stay on an Ssese Island in Lake Victoria…known for its white sand beaches. So we crammed in a van, drove 2 hours to the ferry, and by the time we got there, there weren’t any more seats for us, so we sat around all the vehicles parked on the main deck for the 3 ½ hour ferry ride. The best part of it: the truck we were leaning against had two giant crates in the back with two ostrich heads poking out. I think it was at that point that I realized this was going to be an interesting weekend! So we got to Ssese and a lady took us to the place we were staying. We were greeted by a giant Great Dane with half of its fur missing because it got burned in a car accident, and by a hippie German couple. The man had a mullet, and the woman was wearing traditional German overall shorts with two braids. All the buildings were wooden with grass roofs and painted with all kinds of crazy artwork, done by the hippie Germans as well! They drank all day and in the evenings they hung around the bar and listened to their 60s and 70s music at night…they were pretty hilarious! The view from the “resort” was great, and there were a family of around 10ish monkeys who hung out with us all day too! Then night hit. We thought the bugs were bad there during the day, well at night we had to cover our mouths and noses when we walked so we wouldn’t inhale mouthfuls. We fit 10 people into our 8-person hut, which had holes all over so it was covered in mosquitoes and gnats, and there was a spider on the ceiling as big as my hand! (Okay maybe it wasn’t that big, but it was huge.) Turns out that was the least of our worries! It was also infested with mice, rats, bats, cockroaches, and who knows what else! I could hear them in our bag of food that we hung from the ceiling, and a mouse dropped on Ashton’s head. Thankfully we all had our mosquito nets tucked around us…they were the only thing keeping me from insanity! I slept a total of 3 hours that night, but laid awake…terrified of the mice scratching around right next to my head, of the bats chirping, and of the monkeys jumping on the roof! The next night was pretty much the same…and I thought having a few mice in my dorm room was bad! I’m just glad I survived =) So there is my dramatic story of the week. Thankfully, the lake was really beautiful and we got some good beach time in, and had campfires every night with some other Germans staying there too...so despite the awful nights, it was pretty fun!

 Other things that happened this week:

--We had a campfire under our director’s huge, ridiculously African tree and it was so perfect!

--I got 3 packages from my church family back home filled with snacks and supplies for the rest of our time at Off Tu!! SO thoughtful! I’m seriously so blessed by them (Thanks to all of you involved in that!)

--I went to the weekly debate this week and the topic was the Kony 2012 video. It got pretty heated. I’d say about half thought the video was a good thing, half were against it because it portrays Africa, specifically Uganda, in a false light, and many people were suspicious of the U.S.’s intentions. Neo-colonialism was a big topic along with that, so it was really interesting hearing everyone’s views on the whole thing. I’m still not sure what I think!

--And finally, the social worker at Off Tu took us to the homes of children at the school for home visits. We talked with them about their children, families, struggles they face, and basically made sure the children were being well cared for. It was really interesting to see where they all came from. Some were living with theirs aunts because their parents died. One had a dad who had two wives, one in Mukono, and one in their village. Other children had an hour and a half walk to and from school each day. We found that out the hard way when we asked them to take us to their home, and they took us for a long, long walk up the mountain! Only one home had electricity, half had their own beds, and in one home, the whole family slept in the same room. So it was really interesting to see their living conditions, and how that might contribute to some of their behaviors.

I’ve been asked on several occasions this week what my passion is. My answer every time: I DON’T KNOW! I’ve been struggling with feeling like I’m not the type of person who can be a social worker: like I don’t have enough compassion, or a vision for what I want to do. I can’t put my finger on anything I can call my passion. The whole “finding my calling” thing has been almost a burden the past couple weeks, but I am finding that it really doesn’t need to be! It’s true, I am not adequate, but by embracing that fact, it makes the grace I have been given all the more valuable! Following Jesus should be my main concern, and everything falls into place from that. No need to worry…I am being cared for by the Creator of the world! That is where I am finding my peace through it all.

So that is my week. I can’t believe time is winding down so quickly! I have three weeks left on campus, then 2 weeks in Rwanda, then one week hiking Mount Elgon…then I’ll be heading home! It’s flying by for sure…but thanks for your prayers and everything else once again!

Week Ten--NGOs and Witchcraft?

It has been a great/social worky week! This could be the longest blog post of your life…so be prepared! So, for organization’s sake, it can be broken down into 6 parts:

1. Ndere

2. Street Kids

3. Witchcraft

4. Invisible Children

5. Amazima

6. Miscellaneous

1. Ndere—Sunday night we went to Ndere Dance Troupe in Kampala and it was SWEET! It’s pretty much a show that includes traditional dances and music from all over Uganda. I am still amazed at how they do it…especially the ridiculously fast butt shaking!

2. Street Kids—On Tuesday a couple of the Social Workers from my internship (Julius and Hudson) took Ashton and I to a place in Kampala to see where a lot of the street kids live. We went to a dirty river that went directly through Kampala, filled with trash and sewage, and found kids washing their clothes in the water. Hudson said that many of them even drink it because they don’t have other options. So we talked to 5 or 6 kids about their lives, why they were living there, issues they face, and so on. Some are living there because their parents either died, or chased them out. Others are there because their mothers lived on the streets, and once they were old enough they were forced to survive on their own. Others are there simply because they liked the idea of freedom, and ran away to Kampala (the New York of Uganda) for a life free from parental oppression. They always have to be on guard for the police, who will unexpectedly round them up and send them to a juvy center for a few months before letting them go. Some of the younger/smaller kids have to watch out for the older/bigger ones, because they will come and beat them up while they are trying to sleep. But one of the biggest issues Hudson told us they face: child sacrifice! What?! That totally shocked us…and is definitely one of the types of human trafficking the textbooks forgot to include! I guess what happens is businessmen will put orders in for a certain type of child, who is then either kidnapped from the streets of from a village, then the business men will sacrifice the child to appease a spirit. I guess that a lot of buildings around here have the heads of children in the foundations, and hands in the pillars…weird! Sometimes children will be taken to be sacrificed, but the spirit they are sacrificing to will sometimes reject the child, so then they will be left on the streets with no way to get home. At first I thought that there was no way this could actually be happening…but after talking to various other people, they told us it was true and widely known. Witchcraft is a much bigger deal here than I thought…but I’ll talk about that more in the next paragraph. Basically, this day was one of the most beneficial social work days I’ve had here. Julius and Hudson answered any questions we had, and I feel like I have a much better understanding of the role of social work in Uganda than ever before.

3. Witchcraft—It’s huge here! Apparently Mukono (where I live) is one of the most famous places in Uganda for its witchcraft…and has been on the news a lot lately for it. People will bewitch other people’s land so it won’t be sold, they will bewitch others into eating grass like cows, and cause others to go crazy. It’s pretty interesting stuff, and really easy to be critical about, but I honestly think it’s a very real thing! A missionary we know got an email this week about a certain hill in Mukono. It said that this hill was known for witchcraft, but now has a Christian school on it. This past week some crazy things have been happening, and it is said that as a boy was walking home one day, a snake stood up and spoke to him saying, “Never come back to this hill, you are not welcome. Bad things will happen if you come back!” Again, it’s easy to be critical of…but over half of the teachers and students have left because of it. It’s easy for us to say, “But we have to power of Christ, why should they be so scared?” But…if I were in that position, I think it would be pretty difficult to go back too! So all of that, on top of the child sacrifice thing, has been on my brain a ton this week, and has been the focus of a lot of my conversations. Spiritual warfare is not something that is ignored here as it is in America. I think that is why there are people on top of Monkey Hill every night, praying against the powers of darkness. They take this stuff seriously!

4. Invisible Children—Friday a bunch of us Social Work students went to the Invisible Children office in Kampala to talk to them about their program. The funny thing is we set up this meeting before the Kony 2012 video came out, so the timing was pretty good! The office in Kampala mostly deals with the scholarships it gives to students affected by the conflict in Northern Uganda. 200 and some kids are sponsored; some in secondary and some in University, and each has a mentor who checks up on them. We talked to one of the mentors, and it was really great to hear about the ministries of Invisible Children, and also his response to Kony 2012. I was pretty critical of it all before we went in, and am a little more supportive now, but still processing a lot of it. Many of the Ugandans are confused as to why we just decided to chase Kony now, when he is no longer in Uganda, and are suspicious of our intentions. They find it interesting that we are just getting involved now, after oil has been discovered. They say, “America rarely gets involved if there is nothing in it for them.” Invisible Children denies this, but who really knows! This isn’t very descriptive of all we talked about it…it’s a really really complex issue…but if you want to know more, let me know! I love to talk about it! We had to sign there guestbook before we left….I signed my name right under CNN News, and ABC News. I felt pretty special! =)

5. Amazima—This is the NGO started by Katie Davis, author of Kisses from Katie. For those of you who haven’t heard about her, look her up and learn her story…it’s worth it. Basically, she’s only 23, left everything she had in the U.S., and is an adoptive mom to 13 girls in Jinja. Anyways, today a few of us visited their weekly program for all the kids in their sponsorship program. It was beautiful! I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the kids were so happy, healthy, fun, and brilliant! Each of these kids also has a mentor who does home visits to check out their living standards, and make sure they are being well taken care of…which I think is definitely a good move. From what I saw, I think it’s a really great ministry, and think they are doing a lot of good in their communities. I also was able to talk to Katie, and all her girls…so it was so cool putting faces with all the names in her book!

6. Miscellaneous—A few of the stranger things that happened to me this week: well first of all, I met Bobi Wine, who is one of the top rappers in Uganda! I guess he used to be a street kid too, and is now one of the richest people in Kampala! He was driving by us in his black, gangster Escalade, and rolled down his window, shook hands with our driver, waved to Ashton and I, and drove off. Pretty cool! Other strange things: within a 3 day period I ate goat, cow intestines/stomach/other mysterious parts of a cow’s insides, and also some of the sketchiest beef I have ever seen. So all those things I studied up close in Anatomy last semester, I got to experience….microvili and all. Wednesday I had to run from an escaped cow (with horns) while playing with some kids…ohhh Africa. And finally, if you haven’t seen my Facebook statuses, there is a little brown mouse living in my room named Ben. I first found him when I was about to go to bed, heard something in the corner, and looked over to see it climbing up the curtain next to my head…lovely. He seems to be making himself at home and appears several times a day, and I’m thinking it’s time to do something about it…I knew I should have bought the sticky mouse trap that someone shoved in my face while driving through Kampala!!

That’s all the excitement in my life! Sorry it’s so long…and if you made it all the way through, thanks for sticking with it through all the details I’ve probably included! And for those wondering about all my grammatical errors…sorry, this is too long to proof read! =) Goodnight, and thanks for all your support and interest!!