uganda, I've loved you

I am about 7 hours into my 16 hour flight from Dubai. Due to the British Airways strikes I had to switch airlines and come home today (the 7th) instead of the 9th as originally planned. I said goodbye to Uganda and Caleb (he does not leave until the 9th). I was sick the last day so did not think through leaving after 5 months. So now I am on the airplane and missing Uganda. Flying to Europe and then on to Uganda in January seems like no time ago. And here I am back on the airplane but in between I have experiences, met people, and learned things that I am so grateful for. Jesus has been so faithful. In ways that I could not have put together, his plan has been perfect. Oh what could be in store next?!

With lots and lots of tears we said good bye to the kids at the orphanage on Saturday morning. Gosh, I miss them. How quickly we all fell in love. The best part about leaving though is that hopefully we will be able to do something, that our relationship with these kids is not over. We are going to try and send school fees to Patrick (the director of Raising Up Hope) every term. It is a pretty big commitment and even now as our time there is turning into a memory I know we will have to be so intentional to stay committed. I just don’t want to come home and forget all that I was touched by. The next term starts in August and so for the 22 kids who have been in school this past term (due to a one time gift) it is really important that we at least find the money for them so that they do not have to drop out and repeat the same year again. I wish that some of the kids in America could see these kid’s eagerness and desire to learn, and the gratitude when they get to. But with no families and very little resources the hope for these kids is that they become educated and learn to speak English well. My prayer is that we get to part of empowering them. I just have some of the greatest pictures of these kids and would love to share some of their stories with you (without putting them on the internet). So if I am going to see you this summer or next fall, PLEASE ask me about them. I would love to share with you :)

Thanks for listening about my life :) I have missed you and am glad to be coming home, and with such sweet memories!

cutest kids in the world? we found them!

Caleb and I have been living at Raising Up Hope For Uganda Orphanage for a week and we will be here until this coming Saturday. I am coming home in 10 days but still feel worlds away. I have fallen in love with 40 kids and I want them to have the world. Our mornings start at 8:00 when we walk down to the orphanage from the room we are staying in. 22 of the kids have left to go to school. (Last Saturday Patrick, the director, received a donation of $2,000 just in time and just enough money to pay school fees and register 22 kids to start school for the term which began Monday. The only problem is as of now there was only money to pay for this term). At the orphanage there are 20 kids who spend the day there because there was not enough money for all their fees. Additionally 20 other kids from the village come to the orphanage to spend the day. Their families don’t have money for school fees either, nor do they have enough money to feed their kids. So they come to the orphanage for the day and are fed lunch by the little there that we have. School takes place at the orphanage for those that are left behind. The children are separated by grade into little corners of the building to act like class rooms. No tables, no chairs, they sit on the ground. There are two “black boards” but last week we did not have chalk. Before Caleb and I came it was Patrick who taught at five different grades in one day. But sometimes he is not there either. So the kids sit in their areas reading from the few workbooks that are there trying to practice their English and math. While we have been at the orphanage Caleb and I spend our mornings teaching. But oh boy I am not such a good teacher. There are no things as lesson plans or books to follow or work sheets to hand out to the kids. But so desperately they want to learn. Even at the age of 6 the kids know that in school and education lies their hope. At lunch we have posho (maize flour) and beans. Sometimes we have rice and beans. Now there is enough food but sometimes they run out and wait in faith that God will provide (He always has). The orphanage is essentially a large house with two rooms for girls and one for boys. The rooms are stuffed with every bunk bed they own and kids share a bed with one or two others.

In the evenings when the school kids come home there is always a soccer game in the courtyard, the babies are running around laughing and hitting each other, and the girls are in their room putting on clothes. I guess kids are the same everywhere. But not so long ago their lives were entirely different. Some were living as street kids, born to prostitutes or forced to run away from home. Others lived with a step parent, forced to do all the work, rarely fed, and often beat. Each has a story, lives I can’t imagine looking at their smiles and laughter this evening. Then it is time for devotions. The boys bring out the drums and all the kids start to dance and sing and worship. They all start to pray, prayers of thanksgiving for what God has done and prayers of concern for the other kids still on the street tonight. Patrick shares a bible verse with them and then it is time for homework. Huddle around a candles the kids all bring out their books. Desperate to learn they teach each other and work together. For the kids who did not go to school today they bring me their notebooks saying ‘Auntie, please give me work.’ If only the kids in America who hate doing homework could see them tonight. 8:00 and it is time for another round of posho and beans. By now the babies have fallen asleep on top of us and it is starting to get cold. We finish dinner, say good night and promise we will be back in the morning.

And so we come back the next day. Each day sort of like the day before. Except in 5 days I leave. It was supposed to be two weeks to volunteer, to love some kids, but now I won’t be able to say goodbye and move on. I guess it has become my burden too. The orphanage has no money. Patrick is only 19 and they have only existed for 3 years. With hardly any financial support and no international connections I have to be that person. I told Patrick that I am going to set up an account for him in the US and work on finding sponsors for the kids using the profiles I have written on them. I may be getting myself too deep in, it is hard to emotionally step back from these kids. But I have seen the kids begging on the side of the road, I have seen where they have been. Their lives will never be the same now, they belong, they are loved and fed. I just want it to stay that way.

The beginning of the end

I finished my research, typed my thirty page report, spent a week back on the Sse Sse Islands presenting our projects, the program ended, everyone flew home, caleb and I traveled to the East with two of our friends (complete with getting stuck on a boat in the Nile River and riding in a seven passenger car with 16 people and a chicken), and now my dad and sister have come to Uganda. So that is about the last four weeks.

It was sad to see new friends leave and hard to hear about the excitement of returning to America... cheese, bagels, and efficiency... while Caleb and I are here for another month. But I don't want to leave yet, I don't feel ready and this will be a wonderful month.

Also, it is awesome to have my dad and sister here and to be taken care of a bit :) We (dad, Sarah, Caleb, and I) are going on a Safari to the northern part of Uganda.It feels like a vacation. Sarah and my dad are here for ten days and then Caleb and I are going to live at an orphanage for two weeks before we leave on June 9th.

We visited the orphanage yesterday... The director is 19 years old. An orphan himself he started this orphanage in 2007 and now has 40 kids living with him. There are more girls than boys because they are more often left on the streets. The kids sleep two or three to a bed and eat maize and beans. Sometimes they go without "but God provides". During school terms they take in 20 other children who have families but no food so they join this 'school'. 60 kids and two guys who have no training teach the classes. We were shown a single hallway that was divided in three were the different grades sit. Seemingly desperate but so joyful and hopeful. I can't wait to be there. I get to teach classes, hold babies, and help with book keeping. I want to bless them. It will be challenging I know. There are lots of plans for us (like cultivating land?!) but I know it will be a wonderful way to spend the end of our time in Uganda.

And in less than just a month I will be back in good ol America.

living in kampala

Living in Kampala

About three and a half weeks ago I moved out of my host family and into a hostel right in the city, situated between a slum and the nation’s leading university- Makerere. Our program has split all over the country to work on their projects. I and 8 others (including Caleb) and living here and doing our research in the city.
In interest of the international donor community and my natural love and affinity towards Japan, I have been studying Japan’s role here in Uganda’s development. I was a bit concerned at the beginning and it took awhile to make contact with the people I needed to. But now I have been able to work closely and learn from JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) which essentially serves as project manager for development projects being funded by the Japanese Government. Comparable to America’s USAID. The people at JICA have been so gracious, kind, and accommodating to me. I have gotten to meet with experts from Japan as well as officials in the various Ministry’s belonging to the Ugandan government. Japan takes a unique approach to aid different than many other international donors because the rarely give budgetary assistance. Instead, in an effort for sustainable development, to fight corruption, and to offer technical knowledge they work on the ground, hands on with all their projects. This ensures that the aid they are giving really is relevant.
Recognizing that I am likely much more interested in this than you, I will stop there. It has been a neat way to see my interest in politics and foreign policy combine with my heart for the developing world. Maybe a possible career? …I hope :)
Life is much slower here in Africa as I was warned and have now learned. Evenings are spent reading or playing cards and getting more sleep than I ever have in college. Even during the day when I don’t have meetings set up my days seem so much slower than the pace kept at school. I try and remind myself of the times I would have killed just to be able to sit a read a book. I get to do that now, but sometimes I feel like I am not ‘doing’ anything. I am learning that it is a gift just to ‘be’.
On the weekends we have gotten to do some travel, and this weekend I am going to the Sese Islands in Lake Victoria.... a little break from this not so strenuous life I am living. After this week we have just two weeks left for our research and then one final week in the program. Then it will be over and Caleb and I will have one last month in Uganda where we will spend some time traveling with friends, very enthusiastically host my Dad and Sarah who are coming for 10 days (yay yay!), and then hopefully spend the end of that month working at an orphanage! Oh my how fast the time has gone.

a message from caleb

Caleb has been working with the Anglican Church during his research. He wrote this after one of his days visiting churches in Kampala.

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting two different parishes. The first was St. Stephen’s in Kisugu. Kisugu is a very beautiful area of Kampala. The parish there is large. They have 3 different services, a variety of instruments, multiple beautiful buildings, and a large staff. They are currently building a two story, 3-bedroom house with a beautiful view of the city for their pastor to live in. In Ugandan terms, this house is a mansion. I went with a group of church workers from Kisugu to visit another church in nearby Kalerwe. Both churches are part of the Kampala diocese in the Anglican Church. Both are churches in the global body of Christ. Both serve the same God and have the same call. The church in Kalerwe however looks quite different from Kisugu.
Kalerwe is a slum. It is plagued by theft, prostitution, AIDs, poverty, and twice a year it is plagued by floods. Uganda has two rainy seasons every year. Prior to the most recent highway construction, the rains would come and would flow through Kalerwe and out into rivers and streams. However, just 5 years ago, the World Bank decided to build a highway in Kampala. The people in the slum warned the World Bank that the highway would block the rains from leaving the slum, causing floods. They begged the World Bank to put in a new drainage system to prevent flooding. The cost to build this drainage system was extremely small, and so the World Bank had no problem agreeing to this. However, the World Bank didn’t follow through on its promise: as a result, every 6 months the slum floods. The garbage heaps float around on the water. The water that flows down the hills into the slum can exceed 5 feet. People have to flee their homes. The houses, which are made of mud and some stone, start to fall apart. At the end of the flood season, houses have sunk multiple feet into the ground. These people have nowhere to go, no jobs, and no hope of improved lives.
I met Reverend Frederick, who is the priest at Kalerwe. He was overflowing with joy to the point of tears when I arrived with our group of five from Kisugu. He showed us the church. The church has sunk so that the windows, which may have been brilliant at one point, now function as the doors to the church. Despite the floods, the congregation continues to return to their beloved church. As soon as Rev. Frederick’s initial excitement subsides, he beings to tell us of his and the churches needs. He has tears in his eyes again as he says, “we are exhausted. I’m sorry to say it…but I am poor, needy.” He lists off the things stacked against the church, which fill several lines of my piece of paper. Reverend Frederick is one of the most incredible people I have ever met. He was assigned to the church in Kalerwe, and told that the church would take care of him. He was assigned to be poor. He was assigned to struggle to eat and to struggle to send his kids to school. If all pastors were to be assigned churches to preside over, Kalerwe would be at the bottom of the list. And if the last will really be first someday, Reverend Frederick won’t be far from the top.
As I leave the slum I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated that even in the church such injustices exist. I’m frustrated that Kalerwe’s sister church Kisugu is building a mansion. I’m frustrated by the structure that put Rev. Frederick in direct poverty. I’m frustrated that Willow Creek, Joel Osteen, and I claim to be in the same category as Kalerwe and Reverend Frederick: that all of us claim to be a part of the global church. I don’t deserve to be in any category that he is in. I am reminded that by some divine grace, Kalerwe is my church. Kalerwe is your church. If we really believe that we are a global body in Christ, then we have a responsibility to Reverend Frederick and to God. And if that responsibility is ours, then we have failed.
Solidarity. Everyone loves that word these days. I laugh a bit as I imagine pretending to have solidarity with Rev. Frederick from my comfort in western Michigan. But I want to end this letter with some words of hope, mainly for myself. I want to be able to leave Uganda and Kalerwe with some sort of closure. I want to know that I can return to Michigan and keep living. But that’s just not really an option. I am haunted by Reverend Frederick who puts my faith to shame every single week. And really, I’m haunted by Jesus, the person I claim to be Lord, who says time and again…die to yourself…pick up your cross…give everything away to the poor and follow me…put down your nets and follow me…blessed are the poor…I was hungry and you didn’t feed me…and the list goes on.

life update

tonight is the last night with my host family. the evening will include a concert with my host dad... should be very very interesting :) tomorrow our practicum begins and everyone in the group is moving away. i am staying in kampala and there are about ten of us who will be living in a hostel near makerere university (including caleb who is going to be working with the anglican church here in kampala, learning about development through the church). so for the next six weeks i am going to be researching the relationship of policy between japan and uganda. japan has a really big presence here and a lot of money coming in to fund development. i am interested in the effectiveness of this aid and what the advantages are to direct bilateral aid rather than multilateral (for example the UN or World Bank). i have a meeting with JICA (the organization that heads all the projects) this monday morning. unfortunately this meeting should have taken place awhile ago, it has been difficult to make contact and so i dont have a specific picture of what my research will look like and what the opportunities through JICA are. so please be praying for favor :)
it will be so wonderful to live inside the city and to live on our own. i am feeling some fatigue from the daily commute and the mice and/or rats that i come across at home. the ugandan men also become waring. something about always feeling like a spectacle and constantly being commented on.
the next six weeks will be really fun as all of our friends will be all over then country so we will get to travel to all the amazing party of this country :)
book i am reading: the white man's burden by william easterly about how development does not happen by all the great plans that so many organizations have (millennium development goals) because there is no accountability and the west comes in and gives the poor what the west has decided they need, not what the poor actually need. of course he does not have all the answers on all to solve world poverty either but it certainly is an interesting perspective.
life here is wonderful. we have been here for two months now and are settling into kampala. there are good parts and there are bad parts but it is such a fun adventure.

Eastern Uganda

For four days my friend Erin and I lived in a rural homestay in Eastern Uganda. In a place with no water, no electricity, and no paved roads for miles it was the quietest I have been in a long time. Our time was spent doing research on gender roles in school age children but also a lot of time reading, napping, sitting, and eating very good food. Everyone in the village where we lived were peasants as lived by subsistence farming. Our family had cows, goats, rabbits, pigeons, chickens, and a very cute kitten. The family had eight children which is about average for rural families. The stars were unbelievable. As I sat outside in quiet after a full day of... not much I recognized how different my life was at that moment then it so often is at school. I was not exhausted, wasn't over committed, and was not running from one thing to the next. I was amazed at how different lives people can lead. I felt privileged to get to be part of both.
Here is another thought... the family that I was living with had enough food to feed their family, a primary school for all children to go to school, and a a few bicycles for transportation. And the village seemed to peaceful, content, and most people truly seemed so happy. So maybe all the development we always are talking about and entrepreneurs, electricity, commercial farming, all the things people often push that a simple way of life is what people want. People should not be denied rights of access but maybe it shouldn't be forced upon people either, a standard that we think is best for people. ...Something to ponder
Our week was also spent at Sippi falls where we stayed in these cabins on a mountain and hiked up to the most beautiful. Two mornings we even woke up to pancakes! Sitting on the porch with coffee and my bible I was reminded of the goodness of God, how big he is and how beautiful his creation, and also for how much he cares for me and all that he is doing.
So Blessed :)