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!!

Week Nine

It's been a little over a week since I've written in this, (partly because internet has been touchy...this time we are told a sheep chewed through one of the cables near campus) and I'm struggling to remember the things I wanted to write about! Oops, but I guess I'll start with what I've got.

Last weekend a big group of us went to the craft market in Kampala, and it was so cool, but really overwhelming trying to get all my souvenir shopping in! In another trip to Kampala this week, we stopped at a grocery store called Shoprite, and I couldn't believe it! It's definitely the Hy-Vee or Kroger of America, and I couldn't get over all the options. So although I didn't think it would be too difficult to adjust back to normal life back home, it could be more of a struggle than I thought.

As I was doing laundry today, a monkey sat in the tree next to me and threw things at me. Can't say that happens every day! I also faced the facts that my room is infested with mice this week too. As I was about to go to sleep the other night, I heard some noise near the window, and saw a mouse climbing up the curtain near my pillow! After a minor freak out, I realized there wasn't much I could do...so I slept with my mosquito net tucked around me for the first time in a couple months. Gross. It's funny how things that would be completely disgusting to me in the U.S. are just not that big of a deal here--whether that's food that has dropped in the dirt, rats in my room, rocks in my rice, birds flying around my head, cow intestines sitting out in the sun waiting to be bought (yes they eat them...and the stomachs too), babies peeing on me, or licking my fingers when I can't remember the last time I've had access to soap (gross, I know...but don't judge). I think I was a fairly calm person before...but I'm thinking it will be pretty hard to phase me after I get back. =)

There's lots of hub-bub about Joseph Kony on Facebook lately, and to be honest, I haven't watched the whole video yet, and don't really know all the details about it...but it's so interesting to me how things are just being done now. As far as I can tell, Uganda has moved on, not because they don't care about what happened to their country, but because they choose not to live in the past. I've talked to people who have had siblings taken by Kony, and others who had to leave their homes in Northern Uganda to escape the LRA...but other than that, they don't really dwell on what has happened. So I'm not real sure what to think about the whole thing, and I definitely don't understand what has happened here/what is happening. So I'm no expert on the topic...I just hope we don't do more damage.

The past couple weeks I've been either really looking forward towards going home or dreading the idea of leaving here to go home. It's either one extreme or the other, making it somewhat difficult to be present in every moment. But, my friend Innocent reminded me of the passage in Ezekiel where it says there is a time for everything. When it is time to leave and this chapter closes, I know I will be ready...but until then I need to take in every opportunity I have. And even if I don't get everything done that I want to, I can't help but think that I will be back someday.

So those are all my thoughts I can think of! Ashton and I spent the night at Off Tu last night, and had so much fun! We had a camp fire with stories, songs, and smores...they were their first marshmallows and LOVED them! So cute. I'm loving the kids there more than ever. One of the boys, Charles fell asleep on my shoulder during stories last night, and I almost melted it was so beautiful--one of those moments when I felt unbelievably blessed!

I am continuing to be blessed by all of you at home! Letters, packages, emails, prayers...they are all so encouraging to me, and I thank you so much for all of your interest in my time here! Thanks for being a blessing to me!

Week Eight: ELECTIONS!

Well the Internet has been down this week. Why? Well apparently a ship outside of Kenya dropped anchor in restricted waters, directly on a one of the three main Internet cables that connects East Africa to the rest of the world. I didn’t believe that at first, but it’s been all over the news! Only in Africa…

Sunday night, Ashton and I were talking about how we wish there would be some excitement on campus. Well, the next day, we definitely found our excitement! Campus elections were this week, and I’ve never seen anything like it!! Campus was completely covered with the signs of the candidates, and all the Ugandans, who take great pride in their professional appearance, completely let loose. There would be mobs of people on the street, followed by big trucks with speakers playing Ugandan music, and plastered with their candidates posters, and they would go up and down the streets to all the hostels, dancing, shouting, and blowing whistles! Well, after speaking with all three candidates for Guild President (like Student Council), Ashton and I decided that Emmanuel was definitely the one to vote for. So we joined in the campaign, carrying his posters, yelling, “vote for Emma!” We even joined his campaigners in the streets and danced with them! Then to count the ballots, they had police armed with tear gas escort the boxes to the chapel hall, where everyone was squeezed in to watch them count. The way they do it is they have some one read each ballot out loud, individually, and then they put a tally on a piece of paper with the candidates name. They do that for all one thousand and some votes!! After they say the name, all the people supporting them yell and cheer, and go crazy. They finally announced that Emmanuel had won at 1am, and then all the excitement began!! So now Ashton and I are known as the first mzungus to ever participate in all the election festivities. We even got our picture in the paper, and someone told us they saw us on the news! But now that we joined in all the fun, I think the Ugandans see us as more approachable, and people were very thankful we got involved! I kind of see it as a turning point in our time here, and I am so so glad for it!

 So elections pretty much sum up my week, and that’s about all I have to talk about it. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!!