where i be

last thoughts

2010-09-07T19:41:00.003-04:00

Well I am home now and getting adjusted to my new life in the states. I say new life because every time I come back from being away, be it a week or 2 months, I pray that the Lord will change me and change my life. I believe that He is doing this. I am immeasurably thankful that the Lord loves me enough to consider it worthy of His time to change me. There are a few thoughts I want to leave before I wrap up this round of blogging til the Lord sends me off on another adventure.
One is a story about a boda ride. I know what you are thinking, I bet she fell off, no not this time. it was one of the last nights in gulu. i was riding a boda home and i saw something, a man was doing something or said something i cant remember exactly, and it made me laugh. and i thought about how i wish i could blog about and take pictures of everything but it just isnt possible and even if i did people wouldnt get it. then i felt the Lord bring to mind that scripture in Luke 2:19 where it says that Mary treasured these things in her heart and pondered them. i felt like the Lord was telling me that some parts of my time away in different places and some things that He shows me are just for me and Him to enjoy, just ways for me to experience His love and the different parts of Him. i was overwhelmed at the idea that the Lord loves me that much that He would bless me so richly not to always share or teach from but just because He loves me. remembering that moment has made me feel less anxious about trying to share everything with everyone and less frustrated when people ask "how was Africa" and expect a one sentence answer.
There are bits and pieces of my time in Uganda that pop up in my head, some funny stories, some sad, and some incredibly random. One of my favorite memories with Catherine was on our way home from our morning workout at Peche stadium. We were walking and I was just a talkin away, as usual, about life and people. I think this time I was talking about Beulah or Evy. I noticed Catherine was walking slowly and was not talking so I look up and she is weeping. I said "o carth you are crying" and she said "you just love them so much" It was so sweet for the Lord to let His love shine through me in that way. It was also affirming that the Lord has put that love in me and I do love those little ones, and their family.
The Lord also allowed me to share tons of scripture with the people I was with. I love to give little notes of encouragement and I feel like this summer the Lord used that to speak truth to people. Especially in hard times like when Nate and Samuel passed away.
By the way the St. Jude orphanage did have the CPR training. 28 teachers, house moms, and older girls were taught first aid and CPR! We are planning to make it an annual training.
I also love living with 20 some people i have never met. It is so fun to meet new people and rediscover things about yourself. It was soo encouraging and affirming to hear people say things about how my faith was evident in the way I lived each day. It is so awesome to hear people recognize the Holy Spirit's presence in you, to point out evidences of grace. I had been thinking about that before I left. Paul talks about that when he talks about perseverance and I think it is such a crucial responsibility of members of the body of Christ.
In the end I know I can not sum up what the Lord has taught me these past two months in a blog post, I recognize I will continue to chew on these things for a while, maybe the rest of my life. But I end the summer completely humbled and increasingly blessed by the experiences I had and people I met. May the Lord continue to use this broken vessel and may the Lord bless all of you who have prayed for and walked this path with me.

Heading Home

2010-08-07T01:38:00.001-04:00

The coaster is here....and the long journey begins.....

A good day 7/29/10

2010-08-02T16:48:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was such a good day. I don’t think it was one big thing that made it a good day but all the little pieces put together make it a good day.

I got up and went to Pece Stadium with Catherine and did our normal morning work out. Then we walked to the store to get some yogurt for a fruit salad for breakfast at the house. We took it easy getting ready and had breakfast in no hurry. We left for the office around 9. I did a few budget things, some accountability with Nancy and sent some emails. We left the office at 12:30 and went home for lunch. Catherine and Karen went to a round table at Sacred Heart and I stayed at the house for a bit more and got my clothes off the line and made my bed with clean sheets. Then I walked to town with my Bible to read some and write a few notes. On my way there was a kid on the side of the road with a bike that had lost the chain. I walked by and then turned around to see if I could help. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad and I was able to help him put the chain back on the bike. He was thankful and his sweet smile made my afternoon. As he peddled away a caught the eye of a man that had been watching us, I waved with my greasy hand and he smiled in a way that made me feel like he was genuinely appreciative of what I had just done. (side note: the bike was way too big for him. It was a man’s bike so he put his leg under the bar and held onto the seat instead of sitting on it. It is a crazy way kids around here make do with such big bikes.)

I sat at Kope Kafe (the restaurant Jolly and Jamie started as a way to fund HEALS) I wrote a few encouraging notes. The great part about writing those sorts of notes is that you get to read all the wonderful promises of the Lord that you want to remind your friends of. I was reminded that the Lord loves me and has a plan for me and will take care of me and draw near to me. Then I headed to St. Mary’s for a roundtable meeting. The meeting went well and they are planning to do an active strategies workshop that I will attend next week.

Sarah and I left St. Mary’s together and headed to St. Jude’s orphanage. I hadn’t been back since the day Samuel died. I had been wanting to go back but hadn’t found the time when I had the emotional energy to be there again. As soon as we got off of our bodas we were greeted by little ones who were ready to play. They grabbed our hands and we were off. We sang and danced around. I sort of made up this game were we would walk and say “low low low low” and crouch down and then say “high high high high” and jump up and down. We would walk the length of the house and when we got to the end we would clap. We did quiet and loud, fast and slow, and shaky and straight. It was so fun and they loved it. Of course they wanted to do that game over and over again but that was ok with me because I was just soaking up time with them. When the older kids got home from school the girls changed and we met with them in the book room. Karen and Raysa had come to teach them some American dances. We did the Macarena (we didn’t have loud enough speakers so Raysa sang) and the electric slide (we just danced around with no music). Then they showed us some of their dances. We each had a teacher or two and then we had a dance off. It was pretty funny. Then the girls sang and danced a few songs for us. Afterwards they broke up in partners, older girl and younger girl, to read together like they have been doing for the past few weeks, a program Jen and Michelle have started. They are very hopeful that the twice a week club will continue.

Karen and I left together and headed to Kope Kafe for movie night. Of course that was a bit of an ordeal. We had to switch computers, boda home to get a different movie, and wait a while for the food we had put in an advanced order for, but by the end of the night everyone had a good time and good food. After the movie Trisha and I looked at old pics from 2 summers ago and remembered some hilarious stories.

Like I wrote, it wasn’t one big awesome thing it was just a great combination of productivity, interaction in the community, encouragement, and fun.

Send off

2010-08-02T16:37:00.002-04:00

Last weekend was the first time I went to Jinja and Kampala and did not leave. I travelled with group 1 and Catherine to Jinja sat. morning. We stopped by the craft market briefly and met with with Emmy Jolly’s husband to get some money and then headed to Jinja. We arrived shortly before dinner and enjoyed a delicious veggie burger on the deck overlooking the Nile.

Then the next morning we all got up had breakfast, some bungeed, and most headed to raft. Lisa and Lindsay and I went on the jet boat. Its like a jetski/boat. It works like a jet ski, sucking up water and spitting it out to propel, but it has 8 seats plus the driver. I thought we were going to go down the river but we just pretty much stayed around adrift doing donuts and skimming inches past rocks at 50 miles an hour! It was pretty insane. We went up a few rapids and went airborne. I think it was much scarier than rafting. It was about an hour and then we headed over to meet Catherine by the pool at the hotel next door. It was absolutely lovely.

We made the trek back to Kampala after the last group of bungee jumpers jumped. The normally 1 ½ hour drive took 4 hours because of all the traffic. There are tons of vehicles in the city now for the African Union and tons of security so traffic was insane. We took a vote and decided to go to Lotus, an amazing Mexican restaurant in Kampala and skip the hotel buffet of beans, rice, and chapatti, thank goodness! So we dropped our things at the hotel and went off to dinner. Dinner was delicious! Cindy, the mango margarita was sooo yummy! Fresh mango from Uganda cant be beat!

The hotel we stayed at seemed kind of like a haunted house mixed with the labyrinth. There are so many stair cases and it is so quiet and empty. I learned later from Jolly that her house is actually not far from there and right next door is a member of parliament that she is good friends with. We didn’t really hang out at all once we got to the hotel. The rooms were spread out and only one or two per room so we just got in, cleaned up, and went to bed.

Catherine and I got up around 4:20 to see group 1 off. They were all trudging down the stairs with tired, happy faces as they started off on the last leg of their journey in Uganda. (read Amber’s email post to know more about that). We waved good-bye to them and headed back to our room to catch a few more hours of sleep. We got up around 8, packed our things, and headed down stairs to meet James the driver for our ride to Nakumat. Nakumat is a shopping center in Kampala right beside Garden City where we always go the first day in Kampala to get money and shop. Nakumat is so much better than Uchumi (the grocery store in Garden City). Also in the same shopping center is a restaurant called Café Javas. O my goodness! I can not explain to you how delicious our cinnamon banana pancake and fruit salad for breakfast was. I actually had an awful headache so I fell asleep for an hour and a half and Catherine sat and drank coffee and made lists. She was so good to me and wanted me to feel better before we went shopping. I know you are all amazed that I could fall asleep in such a loud public place…haha.

We left and did some shopping and walking around and then went back to get lunch/dinner before we headed with Andrew (from IC) and Molly (the new intern that had just arrived) back to Gulu.

I have to share what I got. I ordered a tuna fish salad sandwich and it was AMAZING! On whole wheat toasted bread with these delicious masala fries! It was exactly what I needed to get over my headache and get amped up to start my last 2 weeks in Gulu.
Driving back in an IC truch was SO nice compared to a matatoo or (I can imagine) a bus, so that was a plus. The rest of the week was pretty normal. We have had a ton of rain but that African sun dries it up pretty quickly.

Amber's story

2010-07-27T11:09:00.000-04:00

This story is from Amber of Group 1 about their travel home starting in the Entebbe airport

So... we got to the airport at 5:30. The woman at the first door told us to go to the next the door. The woman at that door told us we could not come in until 6:00 and we had to go through the other door. As we waited in between the doors, a line started to form at one of them. Around 6:10 a women came out and told us the system was down and they would have to check us in manually soon. The people at the front of the line were kind enough to form a blockade to allow all us of to go in front of them.

Once in, they hand wrote our boarding passes and informed us that because they were offline, they could not check our bags through to New York and that the airline would do it in London. On the plane, we were told that we would have to collect our luggage at baggage claim and recheck it. Then we were told not to collect our luggage but to follow the signs to connecting flights. Either way, we only had an hour.

We booked it to the connecting flight check-in where we were informed that not all of us had seats because we had not been checked in from Entebbe and they were working on the luggage situation. The attendant collected all of our passports and baggage claim barcodes and gave us boarding passes and sent us through the layers of check-ins and security. Kristin and I were stopped because we did not have seat assignments. Amanda announced that our gate closed in 15 minutes as the woman was calling someone to see what to do. We waved the others on.

Once we were finally cleared, the woman told us to go up the escalator to gate 15, down the escalator to catch the shuttle to the other side of the airport and so on. Kristin and I began running from one side of the airport to other. We were then stopped in security. The prescription label had come off of her face wash and the officer was asking about it. She said, "We have 9 minutes to catch our flight, keep it."

We arrived at the shuttle where the sign said our gate was 15 minutes away. Luckily, it didn't take that long. We got to the other side, ran up two flights of escalators, and finally saw the rest of our group in line to board. We made it!

All of us were a sweaty mess but we had made the plane and the luggage should have made it on as well. We arrived at JFK with less incident, cleared immigration and waited at baggage claim. And waited some more at baggage claim. When everyone on our flight had cleared the area it became apparent that none of our bags had made it across the Atlantic.

We went on through customs where Pat was hassled in front of me. I stopped waiting to be questioned and the woman looked at me like I had three heads and said, "You can go through." I thanked her and we all went on to baggage claim.

There we learned that five of our bags had been randomly put into Nathan's name somehow. One of my bags had last been seen in Entebbe and was under Nathan's name. The other bag was not listed at all. Amanda shared this situation. It was a hot mess.

injury of the summer

2010-07-27T11:08:00.000-04:00

ok so those of you who know me or have been following my journey know there is always an injury story of the summer. This summer it happened in Kampala. We stopped to use the bathroom and had to cross a really busy street with a median. The median had grass and a wire fence type thing that was about 2 1/2 feet tall or so. The wire was held by a pole that had metal claws coming off of it. the claws were like metal triangles that were bent a bit. I was walking by nathan and i almost said "be careful of these things" when i threw my leg right into one as i was trying to go over it. it ripped my jeans and made me bleed and is a pretty gross gash and bruise at the moment. ridiculous!

just something fun

2010-07-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

How you know you are adjusting to life in Gulu:
1. it only takes you one baby wipe to “shower”
2. you start thinking in broken Brittish English
3. you automatically answer to and give your name in a way that is understandable to Ugandan’s (Daniella, Carthy)
4. you automatically copy emails before you send them in case your internet connection disconnects
5. you wave hi to shouts of “bye!!”
6. sounds of voices from home make you cry
7. you barely notice EVERYONE staring at you constantly or the children laughing at your every move
8. you are used to waving constantly while you walk to town, sort of like a parade every day
9. you are not surprised when you order something and it’s “not there”
10. you have learned to sleep without a pillow because the one you have is like a large boulder

Another Tragedy 7-20-10

2010-07-20T08:20:00.003-04:00

First I want to say that everyone here is safe. However, I am going to share with you the worst experience of my life. I am warning those with little ones this involves a child’s death so if that is too much for you just skip this post.

Most of group 1 and I went to St. Jude's, an orphanage we have been volunteering at for a while, Sunday afternoon. We got out of the vehicle and went to find someone in charge to give us a tour and tell us about what they are doing. As we were talking someone came up and said something to the woman, Vicki, we were talking to and she asked us to wait a minute because a child had fallen down. She walked away behind a building. A few minutes later everyone was screaming and crying and running around. We had no idea what was going on.

From here this is my understanding of what happened. I think we all have slightly different stories because we all had different angles on the event. I walked around and saw John laying on the ground fishing around in a hole. Samuel, 2 1/2, had fallen in what I think is a latreen hole (it didn't have a shed over it like most). Everyone from St. Jude's was crying and screaming. When John got him up they were asking if anyone knew CPR. Min and Colleen ran to help and Trisha and I sat and prayed. Samuel was unresponsive. After a few minutes, once we realized he was not coming to, I started asking if we could take him to the hospital since we had a vehicle right there. I could not get anyone from the orphanage to give me an answer or even show they were listening to me. So some of us ran to the driver and told him our idea and asked if he would just drive around the building to pick up Samuel. He was of course more than willing and jumped in the car. Once they heard the vehicle they finally realized what we wanted to do and a woman rinsed off Samuel and picked him up and ran with him to the vehicle. John, Min, Colleen, the woman from the orphanage, and Samuel left for the hospital. The rest of us stayed at the orphanage and tried to figure out what had happened. We prayed with some of the girls and asked if there was anything else we could do. The woman in charge just said we could come back another time. So we left.

On the way back home I got a call from John that Samuel had not made it. I was so sad and didn’t understand why something like that happened. Why did we need to be there for that if us being there made no difference. I have to trust that the Lord’s plans are higher than mine and my understanding is nothing compared to His wisdom. One of the first things I thought was that Samuel had never been loved as much as he is right now because he is with the Lord.

Some extra information.
When they arrived at the hospital they could not find anyone to help them. They were running around trying to find help and when they finally did it was still chaotic. I do not think Samuel was alive when we got him out of the hole. He was not moving and he did not respond at all to any CPR. John said he didn’t even know it was him when he felt him in the muck. I took Colleen and Min to the clinic to get them some treatment because they were worried about the sewage they had touched and even had in their mouth. They got some antibiotics and we went and got them some really strong antibacterial mouthwash. I sort of just went into mom-mode with them. I felt like it was my job to take care of them so I made sure they were as comfortable as possible, got them whatever they requested, which wasn’t much. They were both pretty shocked for the most part. They stayed the night in gulu and then left for Anaka the next afternoon after we all had lunch together. I put together a list of scripture references for them to use as comfort and have been and will continue to pray for them and check up on them.

So needless to say it has been a heavy time here in Gulu for me. I was not well yesterday and spent most of the day in a haze. I took a long nap and went to bed early. I feel better today, I am still taking it easy, and am so looking forward to this weekend in Jinja. I am going to be laying by the pool while group 1 rafts (:

Good Things 7-17-10

2010-07-20T08:12:00.005-04:00

So I find the need to write about the good things that are happening here. My week has been full of adjusting plans, learning new information about the blasts, mourning, feeling emotionally drained, trying my best to be supportive and informative and calm, plus the normal business of helping take care of plans for 30 teachers at 10 different schools across Northern Uganda. I must say that I am first and foremost so thankful for the opportunity to serve here and second so thankful for Catherine because she is awesome, and third thankful for Karen and all the great teachers we have this year. With that I would like to share some stories of good things here in Northern Uganda, if you want the not good stuff read the news. (of course they will be in list form (: )
- Friday night on the way home from the conference Catherine and I decided to walk. It had been a long day it was overcast so it was nice and cool. We walked about half way home and realized it was going to start raining. We decided we would just walk in it, it was light and it felt so good. As we continued the rain got harder and harder. By the time we were on the final stretch home it was pouring and we were soaked. Of course we were a site because people here do not go out in the rain, plus we are munus. People kept calling to us to come inside but we would tell them we wanted to walk (amitta watta watta) then they would laugh so loud! We passed by a place where some of the teachers were waiting out the rain and they took these pics.

- That same night Jolly invited us (all the teacher exchange peeps) to her house to sit around a fire and talk with her dad, Norman. She lives about 20-30 minutes walking from our house but because it was so muddy from the rain and dark it took us more like 40 minutes but it was a nice adventure. When we finally arrived we all sat, women on the mat and men in chairs, around the fire. Norman talked to us about how this is the Acholi classroom and about some other traditions. He called his wife over and told us about how strong she is and how she is the reason his family is so great. She doesn’t speak English so he translated for her. It was this mystical moment. She was standing in the smoke with the stars as the background and it was breathtaking. Then Norman told us that she makes jewelry. He said she didn’t have many pieces but he wanted us to see them. He had three and we passed them around and then he gave one to Jenny (one of the teachers, he met her in the states), Catherine, and then me! It was such an honor!
- I got to go to Pabbo again! I went and did another round table and got to see all my friends there again. It was so good to see everyone and be so welcomed. We found out that Christine (one of the Pabbo teachers) named her baby after Trisha! So they took a pic together! It has been such an encouragement to go back there and actually be remembered and see that being there did make some kind of difference.
- Jenny knows sign language and the orphanage Catherine’s partner teacher runs has tons of deaf kids so she has been able to go and sign with them a lot. It is so cool because if she hadn’t been brought back from Pabbo to live in Gulu with us she would not have been able to go as many times.
- The teachers at Keyo and Catherine Sasser have started a girls empowerment group! They have met a few times and it sounds like the girls are really liking it. They have secret handshakes and I think they are going to do an activity where they write reasons why they are strong and valuable and then they are going to link them together into a chain. So cool!

Sunday

2010-07-12T09:40:00.004-04:00

Its finally Sunday! The conference was a success. We had a great turn out and things went without a hitch for the most part. The food was good and on time and the presentations were great. I think the teachers got a lot out of it. Saturday the power was not there and we couldn’t get the generator to work so we didn’t get to see one of the power point presentations. Also the printer at the office was not working so we didn’t get to give out certificates, which is a super big deal here, but we will send them to the schools this coming week.

Catherine and Karen and I feel very relieved that the conference is done. Catherine and I have a super long list of things we want to do after the conference. I started mine today with spending the day at the pool with trisha. She and I are the only ones that did not go anywhere this weekend. Right after the conference on sat group 1 and Karen went to the rhino sanctuary and group two and Catherine went to safari. Trisha and I stayed back and watched some tv on dvd and then met up with dolly for dinner. Dolly is a teacher from Pabbo we met in 2008. She is awesome. She was the most vocal about women’s rights at Pabbo, which is a big deal because it is a very conservative area. Now she is finishing her degree in developmental studies and working at Fida, a law firm composed of female lawyers doing pro-bono work for women. They try a lot of “child support” cases, they call it maintenance. She told us about how she will track down men who are not following the court orders the lawyers she works for got them and have the police arrest them. She says she will probably continue to work for the same organization when she finishes school in May. I am so proud of her and blessed to know her. We met her for dinner and had a great time. She is so fun and lively.

Then T and I went home and watched a movie, actually she fell asleep and I watched it, I know who would have thought? Then we went to bed. It was weird being in the house without it being packed with people. We slept in and then headed to acholi inn and are currently sitting in the shade waiting for our lunch, we ordered at 11:30 and are hoping it comes at 1. TIA

Some stories worth mentioning--There is a guy here with group two and his name is Tim. He is in his 50s. One of the first nights group 2 arrived in Gulu I was sitting across the room from him and asked him his story. He told me about how he was a bachelor most of his life and just recently got married. Anyway at some point either that night or another day he told me he has this issue where food will get stuck in his throat and he won’t be able to swallow anything, not even his own saliva. It has gotten so bad before that he has had to go to the emergency room, but usually he just has to wait it out. Well Friday at the conference we realized that he wasn’t around. Then someone came to me and told me he was getting sick around the side of the building. They said he was sick. I went out to see how he was, because he also told me that he had been drinking the water from the jug at the school (which is from the borehole, bad idea), so I thought that might be what his issue was. When I got to him he told me it was the throat thing and that it was ok because he could breathe but that he couldn’t swallow anything. He said he just had to wait it out. I said ok and that I would check on him in a little bit. After a bit I decided to go check on him again and Joe told me that he remembered that Tim told him sometimes carbonation helps. So I grabbed a soda and headed down stairs to Tim. On my way down the stairs I had this very clear feeling that I should pray with Tim. He had expressed his “not disbelief but lack of faith” in God. From what I understand he just doesn’t know what is there but he thinks there is something and maybe it is different for different people. Anyway I didn’t know how he would take me asking to pray for him but it was like I was on auto-pilot. I asked him how he was and offered the soda and then asked if I could pray with him. He said yes. So I took his arm and prayed. I thanked God for keeping him safe thus far and prayed for God to heal his body and for peace and rest in knowing that He had everything under control and whatever His plan was was best and for Him to receive the glory. Then I walked to the
bathroom. In the bathroom I was just reminded of all the miracles Jesus did and was asking God to do another one. I just told God that I knew He could do it it was just if it was in His plan. When I walked back upstairs to the conference there was Tim sitting with his teachers. He told me that the first sip he took went straight down and then he called me a miracle worker. I told him it wasn’t me and that I was so glad he got to experience the Lord working. I was walking on clouds. I have never been so close to such a direct answer to prayer. Don’t get me wrong I have been a witness to miracles but it doesn’t make them any less amazing. I was so excited I ran right up to Catherine and told her and have been telling anyone that will listen.

Trisha and I were sitting on the couch watching Glee and I saw a mouse run by. There were a lot more bugs and critters moving because there were less people in the house, at least that’s what we told ourselves. Anyway I told her I saw it and we were sort of just sitting thinking about what we should do. Then all of the sudden she saw it and it was close to her I guess cause she threw her feet up and her shoes went flying! It scared me so much I jumped up and ran and jumped on top of a chair. We were screaming and laughing and crying all at the same time. We tried to make a trap but we were not patient enough or our bait was not good enough because it never came near the trap. That was in the afternoon. Later that night we saw the same mouse crawl out of the cushioned chair! We were totally grossed out and scared that it would get on the couch we were on so we decided to watch the movie on the plastic chairs. One thing I miss is comfortable seating. We spend most of out time sitting on hard plastic chairs or on not so great couches.

PAAARRRTAAY!

2010-07-12T09:25:00.003-04:00

Saturday night we had our annual 4th of July party. We started the day with a meeting about the reciprocal exchange (Ugandan teachers coming to the US). It was a good meeting, short, but it got a lot of people talking and thinking ahead for the exchange. Then we continued our talk on Pedagogy of Liberation. This time we tried to focus on more practical real-life things we can do in our practice to be more liberatory. It was a great conversation.

After lunch was party prep time. We had the dancers from Awere SS come and dance their traditional dances, and of course we joined in. When they were done we treated them to dinner at the Ethiopian place right down from our house. We had teams of volunteers to hang out with the kids, set up the food, set up the chairs and the DJ. Things went really smoothly. I mean you always have your bumps like when I got the key stuck in the back door, or broke the glass in the back door, or when the water ran out and we had to wash dishes in the back yard, but all in all smooth (:

The party was a huge success though. The snack team was awesome! They made guacamole, probably the best I have ever had, pineapple salsa, I found out Andy is a great cook! And we made some very strong jungle juice. The best part for me was of course the dancing. We danced all night long. By the end of the night we were all sweaty, dirty, and exhausted! And happy! Joe and Jennifer and I stayed up to do some dishes so that we could have some clean for breakfast and then, when everyone was asleep I took a nice shower and then went to bed.

Sunday I got up and got some coffee and sat with my Bible and read some. Then a few people came out and we read together and discussed together. Then I got ready and Trisha and I went to Watoto church (the one that sponsors the cell group I went to) It was one of the best worship experiences I have had in Uganda. The pastor said (talking about the two women who had just played the guitar “culturally we reserve some positions for men, but God transforms culture. And all the Luo men said?” “Amen!” He spoke about prayer, the importance of it in your relationship with God and the importance of praying as afamily. It was so great. I believe this church is doing a lot of great things. I am hoping to go to a new cell group tonight, the one the pastor attends.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal. There are a lot of sick peeps in the house so I have been trying to check in on them and take care of them as best I can. I felt bad because we had two not feeling well with slight fevers and the power was not there so I could not put the fan on them and we didn’t really have cold water. But they have been troopers. Hopefully the meds they take will help them feel better. Please pray for Amanda, Angela, Julie, Mandy, and Lisa.

Funny story--A bunch of people went to St. Jude (an orphanage a lot of people volunteer at). Nathan was there and they were about to leave so he was trying to take his bag from the kids, one little boy did not like that so much so he pulled down his pants and peed right on Nathan’s foot!

I am safe

2010-07-12T03:35:00.002-04:00

I want to first assure everyone that I am safe, the teachers exchange teacher's and I are all safe here in gulu.
Sunday night there were two terrorist attacks in Kampala. From the information we have they are from Somalia and bombed a rugby field and an ethiopian restaurant. There are conflicting numbers so far but we are sure that a roadie (volunteer who travels around the states talking about IC) was killed. He came 2 weeks earlier than the group to visit some people in Kampala. We are all very sad here to have lost one of our family. I will keep you updated on any travel changes or more news but for now please just pray for all those that have been affected by this tragedy.

This is the information the embassy sent out:
On 11 July 2010 at approximately 2310 local time, a bomb exploded at The Ethiopian Village restaurant, which was filled with spectators watching the World Cup finals match. Approximately 10 minutes later, a second explosion occurred at the Rugby Club, also crowded with customers watching the soccer match. Initial reports indicate that at least 13 people were killed at the Ethiopian restaurant. At least 40 were reported by the police as killed at the rugby club site. Many others were reported injured at both locations. At least one American was reported killed in the blasts.

Funny stories

2010-07-05T11:31:00.000-04:00

So a while back I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I found Jenni and Mandy standing in the hall. They were a little shaken up and Mandy walked away, I don’t think she saw me. I asked Jenni what was up and she said there was a huge rat in the toilet and Mandy went to go get Nathan. So Mandy goes to Nathans bed and just says “Nathan I need you” Sweet Nathan without hesitation gets out of bed and follows her to the bathroom. He takes one look in the toilet and goes to get some cups. He comes back and tries to scoop it out but it moves and he loses it. He turns around and still somewhat sleepily says “I just spill pee
water on myself” Jenni, Mandy, and I were hysterical! Then he went back in and got it. He came out with the rat in one cup and the other on top of it but its tail was sticking out! We lost it! He is now the superhero of the house!

Cell Group

2010-07-05T11:24:00.001-04:00

Wed. night I went to a cell group (like a small group) with a friend from the office, Doreen. She is the head of the logistics dept. and such a hard working woman. I think she is around my age and is from western Uganda. She is not Acholi. She had mentioned the group in passing one day and I asked her if I could join and she was super excited about the idea. We ended up going to the group another IC staffer, Patrick, goes to so I knew one other person there and I had met his wife too. We walked to the market which is in the middle of town. Right across from the market there are little shops, we walked between two through a little alley that opened up to a sort of courtyard, kind of like where we stayed in Pabbo. There was a small group of people standing around. We all introduced ourselves and then we started the time with songs. I did not know the words but they were
kind of repetitive so I caught on. Then I just found myself thanking the Lord for the opportunity to worship Him in such truth. There were no gimmics or pretenses. Just people gathered together because they saw worth in spending time worshipping and reading the Word together.

So after the singing, the host/leader of the group welcomed everyone and we all signed the guest book, so Ugandan. We went through a little more indepth introductions and then we got to the Bible study part. As usual I was very skeptical because I have had a few experiences here where things were very scripted and they did not feel natural or authentic. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The leader did have a sheet that he followed but it was just what verses to read and some application questions and the questions did not have answers. It was really great to hear the Ugandan’s perspectives. We read out of 1
Corinthians when Paul says that we are to be ambassadors of Christ. We talked about what that meant. We also talked about how we could practically carry that out. One woman said that we were to minister to the poor, poor materially and poor in spirit. I was so thrilled about the whole thing. Regardless of what you believe there were people getting together and critically analyzing things and applying what they were learning, that is huge for places like Gulu. Of course I wasn’t super surprised since Doreen and Patrick are two very intelligent people that the conversation was intellectually mature but the spiritual aspect of the conversation was what really got me excited!

After reading and discussing we sang some more and then left. I came home on cloud 9! I was so excited to have been a part of that time. I am hoping to go back again. I visited the church, Watoto Church, that sponsors the cells. They say they are a cell based church, meaning that a lot of their ministry is based on people meeting throughout the week at different parts of the city to worship and study together. They had a men of valor night on Friday that sounded pretty great. There are 2 women who play guitar on the praise band and the pastor said, you know our culture reserves certain things like playing the guitar for men but God transforms culture, and all the Luo men said. Amen! I was so amazed to hear that. What a bold statement he was making. In his message on prayer he talked about the importance of praying to maintain your relationship with God and also to pray with your wife and kids! It was beautiful to witness the transformation of the family through reading and applying the Word! And the best part is I get to see the real affects of this church in Doreen and Patrick.

June 30th

2010-06-30T07:33:00.003-04:00

Its Wednesday and group two arrived last night. It was a little crazy for a little while, especially when the power went out, but things calmed down and people got settled for the most part. There is not a lot of room in the rooms and they are all to capacity so it’s a tight fit but I think its going to be fine. It is fun, at least for me, to be living in such a close community, if you know me you know I love being around people so this is great for me. There is always someone to talk to and hang out with.

So while Catherine was gone it was hard. I feel like we work really well together and are great supporters for eachother, so when she wasn’t here I felt a little alone. However, I did not feel unsupported or alone in terms of being with group 1. Them being so inclusive and loving to me has been such an answer to prayer. They are such great people and I know that there are some friendships developing that will continue regardless of the miles between us back home (:

Speaking of miles and back home, I had this crazy dream that it was time to leave and go home. I remember in my dream I was super excited to be back with my people at home, but also I was so sad that there were still things I wanted to do here that I didn’t get a chance to do, people I wanted to visit with and see and such. I woke up missing home very badly but also happy that I still have time here. Its funny how honest your dreams can be.

So Monday is a bit of a blur because I woke up with a splitting head ache and nausea. I was also constipated which didn’t help matters. I went to our weekly Monday morning meeting with Jennifer and the whole time I had my head on the desk and my eyes closed. She was very understanding and we finished the meeting and she told me to go home and rest. So that’s what I did. I took a 3 and ½ hour nap! I felt better afterwards but no where close to 100%. I took it easy the rest of the day. I went back to the office in the afternoon for just a few hours to finish up a few things and then just hung out at the house.

Tuesday was a little busier. I went to the office and then I had 2 round table discussions. The first was at Gulu High School (GHS) and then at Sir Samuel Baker (SSB). The ride to SSB is pretty long and it was a bit of an adventure because the boda I got on at GHS didn’t know where he was going, but it was muddy and he was the only one around so I got on hoping he would ask someone for directions. He ended up taking me to the IC office. It was weird because I didn’t even tell him I was from IC. So I got on a different boda and made sure he knew where he was going. It was a long ride 5,000 shillings! I talked him into waiting for free because I am pretty sure that is a little high. He took me the back way which is through some pasture land and this small forest like area with tall skinny trees. It was beautiful but the path was very small and I was riding side saddle so there were many times I thought my knees were going to catch on something and I would spin off, but I never did. When I got home I had just enough time to take a shower and then group 2 was close to getting in. A couple of the teachers made a welcome sign which was so nice. When they arrived we all started clapping and singing and it was kind of hilarious. Then we all had our first dinner together and a brief meeting with group 2.

Today Catherine and Karen and I had breakfast together to sort of catch each other up on the time Catherine had been gone. Then we headed to the office. Its funny because at the beginning we did everything together but now that we are getting more comfortable, the three of us are doing things separately and just keeping tabs on each other throughout the day. Now group 2 is in orientation meetings and we will all go to lunch together at Diana Garden, an acholi buffet. Then they will have time to do mill around time and figure things out. As for me after lunch I have a few errands to do. We are having the dancers from Awere SS (a school IC is working with, they were displaced in Gulu town and have recently moved back to their original site. Its so good for them but it makes it more difficult to work with them because they are so far out). There will be 35 kids so we are going to treat them to dinner at the Ethiopian Place (its right down the road from us). So I am going there to arrange for their dinner. I also am getting a list of teacher names for our conference invites. Then…and this is the best part…at 6 I am going to a Bible study with a friend from the office, Doreen. She works in logistics and we have hung out a few times. She mentioned it the other day and today I asked if maybe one day I could go with her. She was super excited and said “O today is Wednesday! Can you come today?” I was so happy she was excited about me coming. So she is going to meet me at the house around 6 tonight! I will definitely let you know how that goes. This weekend is super busy, please be in prayer that all the plans go smoothly and everyone has a good time. Also please pray that my stomach starts working a little better (:

back from rhinos

2010-06-27T09:30:00.001-04:00

Before I talk about the rhino trip I want to talk about Friday. I got to go pick up the teachers from Pabbo and see a lot of my old friends from there. I chatted with Walter the head teacher and my co-teacher Geoffry who is not the deputy head teacher, he also sat in on our round table. I saw Dennis, I don’t remember if I ever mentioned him in my blogs but he is a wonderful man who loves the Lord. We would talk about the Bible and one day we had this amazing discussion about joy in suffering. I still remember it so vividly today. To talk to someone living in an IDP camp about joy in suffering was one of the most humbling and perspective altering moments of my life. Then at the end of our stay he gave all of us bananas from him and his family whom we never got to meet. That was one of the most precious times. I remember being super tired and emotionally exhausted then but afterward looking back it was really a beautiful time.
I left gulu along with lisa, another teacher, around 10 and arrived at Pabbo to meet up with Jenni and Pablo and their co-teachers. We had a great round table discussion and then picked up their things and headed back to gulu. I had forgotten how bumpy that ride is, it kind of made my stomach turn. Once we got back I did a few things and then we had a group meeting and dinner and just hung out because it was raining super hard.
Now for the rhino trip. We successfully made it through the first trip I coordinated on my own. It’s actually not as amazing a feat as it may sound. All I had to do was collect money from everyone and pay out our bill at the sanctuary. The rhino sanctuary is one of the most relaxed places I have been to. We left gulu around 11 and drove for about 2 hours. We arrived, set our stuff down in our rooms and headed out to “trek” to the rhinos. We had a guide and drove out into the bush for a bit. Then we got out of the matatoos and walked for about 10 minutes or so to where 3 rhinos were. There was the dominant male, a mother, and a baby. It was fun but it was super sunny and hot. We took some pictures and then headed back to the sanctuary where I had a hot shower! That was so nice. Then we sat around and chatted til dinner. After dinner we played some cards and some people went to watch the world cup game down the road. Everyone else pretty much went to bed. I woke up kind of early and packed my things and had some coffee and read my Bible outside alone and it was super nice. Then Lisa and Lindsay and the Sassers joined me which was wonderful because they are great. Slowly everyone came out and we had a yummy breakfast and then loaded up to drive back. Now we are all back and everyone is doing their own thing, getting food, shopping, hanging out, etc. I am going to go to town with Lisa Lindsay and the Sassers (Katherine and Patrick) to the market and then to get some dinner. Catherine is in Kampala waiting for group two to arrive tomorrow morning. I am excited to meet them and super excited to see Trisha.
Funny stories
- We were playing cards and something, a huge lizard or mouse or something crawled up my leg and I yelled and ran. The funniest part is that the waiter was about to ask me a question and he was totally freaked out. Everyone was cracking up.
Please pray for group 2’s arrival and settling in time. There is a lot of extra work this week and next week is the conference so we can use all the prayers for smooth transitions and such we can get (: Also my digestion is not doing so hot so please pray for that as well.

2010-06-25T11:30:00.003-04:00

So the longer I am here the more find myself talking and even thinking in the broken brittish English we use. Its funny. We actually had an interesting conversation about language, what is “correct” and who gets to decide. It is interesting that Uganda and many other colonized countries end up adopting the language of their colonizer, or at least a broken version of it. So I always thought that it was sort of this lingering oppression. But after our roundtable at gulu high my thoughts have sort of shifted a bit. The ugandan teachers commented that the country needed a unified language and that no tribe wanted to take another tribe’s language so English worked for everyone. They all noted that it is important for different tribes to keep their original languages but that using English was important too. it was an interesting conversation in light of colonization and globalization. We all agreed that no matter what the language the important part was communicating your thoughts and feelings, that also becomes complicated when you are teaching. You want your students to write “correctly” but again who decides that and why do they get to decide.

so my round table at Gulu high went well. i got to see some friends from that school that i havent seen in a long time and it was so nice that we remembered each other. since then i have been doing a lot of office work, getting things ready for group 2 to arrive and getting the extra trips squared away. also i have had a great time hanging out with group 1 teachers. seriously it is awesome how so many people from all over can come together and get along so well. I have really felt a part of the group which is so good for me. thanks for the prayers on that one.

this weekend we are going to the rhino sanctuary so i dont think i will have access to the internet. but you can email me and i will read it when i get back (: hint hint (:

also you can text me at that number as well.

My Phone # in Uganda

2010-06-24T09:52:00.001-04:00

011256774603283

The Latest

2010-06-23T16:21:00.002-04:00

Ok so I have sort of lost track of what I have posted about. It’s funny because it is not hard to get online anymore in Gulu. There are actually internet cafés with wireless! Nuts! And today Richard did something to my computer so now I think I can get wireless at the office, but days seem so long that I forget what happened instead it is sort of just a stream of events in my head. Sort of like the stream of items on the ever growing to-do list I carry around. It’s funny to see how different people organize things differently. Catherine carries around a numbered list of things and just keeps adding to it. She numbers it and just keeps adding to it. I on the other hand cross it off throughout the day and add to it and then at the end of the day rewrite the things I still need to do and start over the next day with a clearer list.

Hmm Sunday was interesting. I didn’t get to go to worship but I read a little by myself in the morning and started the day a little slower than the others. Then Catherine and I went to the internet café where we got coffee and did work online for like 3 hours. Then Catherine went to st. jude’s (orphanage) and I went with Karen to the market to buy things for the camp.

So its hard to be in the market and know that you are getting the munu price. Its hard on lots of levels because one you don’t want your presence to negatively affect the price of things and make it harder for others to get things, also you don’t want to haggle someone out of their profits. I think for me Sunday the biggest thing was I just wanted to communicate that I was there serving. I just wanted us all to be human for a minute together, not American and Acholi or first world and third world or developed and under developed just human. That’s the hard part, its hard and rare to get to the place here with locals that you are both just human. Honestly I think its hard to get there with anyone. We all look at eachother and look at ourselves with certain lenses. I was praying that I could see with the Lord’s eyes and experience with His attitude and heart. Thoughts?

Sunday night we met up with the high schoolers at the Ethiopian place right down the road from our house for dinner. It was delicious food and good times. Catherine and I ended up sitting outside with two IC staff who were chaperoning the kids. One of them was actually a roadie who stayed at the volunteer house with us the first year in Gulu. It was fun that our paths crossed again.

Today was the teachers’ first day at their schools. They all, the ones who were actually at school, had interesting stories. I am especially excited for the teachers at Keyo SS. The school is far away but it sounds like the staff at that school is great and the American teachers (lisa, Lindsay, and Amanda) are great as well. I spent most of the day at the office doing budget stuff, emails, meetings, and trying to get money from finance. We sent the teachers out to Pabbo and Catherine went with them to get them all squared away.

Tomorrow I lead my first round table and finish up some emails and such. I get to go back to my old school Gulu High (:

weekend

2010-06-20T04:20:00.002-04:00

So it’s the weekend. That really doesn’t mean much for me in terms of work except that the IC office is closed. Last night (Friday) we had the meet the teacher dinner. It was really beautiful. We had it at Churchill Courts, it’s a new place and seriously it is amazing. The food was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy meeting their teachers. I am so excited about the support that the teachers exchange seems to have in Schools for Schools. 2 staff members, Patrick and Jennifer came and gave speeches about the program. It is fun to see how the program has grown, the Ugandan teachers have a better understanding of what is expect and what the program is about and the reciprocal exchange was such a huge success.
Geoffry my teacher from Pabbo actually participated in the reciprocal exchange. It has really had an impact on him. He saw me the other day and we spoke and yesterday I learned that he is the deputy head teacher and has applied for a supervisor of education for macindi district (I think that is correct). Anyway he said “we both have to grow” because he sees my new position as a promotion (: he was very kind and asked me to pray about his new job. I also heard that he started a scholarship program at his school and got money for the 4 top performing students (one from each level) and when they figured out who they were it was 4 boys and he said "no we have to find a girl child" and he is working on getting 8 scholarships so that 4 will be for boys and 4 for girls! that is like seriously amazing! that has been one thing that i have been thinking through (mainly on my 30 minute boda ride out to keyo ( one of the schools i will be working in once a week). thinking through women's roles according to scripture and how that has been messed up in the states and here just in different ways. and thinking about how to work for change and not be ok with the status quo without going to the other extreme. i think at the end it boils down the Jesus and the Holy Spirit. People have to know the love that He has given and be transformed by the Spirit to be a vessel of that love for others and then women can be free to be submissive because it will be submitting to a man who would lay his life down for her and put the Lord first and then her. thoughts?
I have been super busy running around trying to be sure to get all the paper work done and everything ready for the teachers to start school Monday and especially the teachers in Pabbo to be sure they have everything they need before they go. That is what we will be focusing on this weekend. Also tonight we get to go meet the high schoolers that got an opportunity to come to Gulu through different competitions and see some Acholi dancing. Tomorrow we will get to spend more time with the high schoolers at the ethopian place (that’s the name of it ) for dinner.
I have not gotten into a schedule yet and I have not spent a lot of time in the Word, but the encouraging cards filled with scripture have been such food for my soul, thanks so much to everyone who contributed to those. i told catherine that they are literally a life line for me. being here and so busy with so much to think about and do and see i can sort of feel a little lost and not grounded, then i read a note from my people and remember what is important, what i am here for, who i am in Christ, and who He is making me into. its so good for my heart!
Last night I rode a boda (dirt bike taxi) who had one bad eye and he was so fast and drove so close to things I thought I was going to fall off a few times! I had to tell him that I was not in a hurry and he did not have to go so quickly.
by the way i am just bruised from the bed (:

back in gulu!

2010-06-18T06:20:00.000-04:00

Back in gulu and feelin fine! Our trip to gulu went well. The road has improved a lot. My time here has been so so busy. I never realized how much work happened behind the scenes til I was the one doing that work. I still feel a bit detached from the group but I am finding my nitch. It is humbling to be serving constantly and having to work within a system that does not always make sense to you, but it is good. God is continuing to use me and stretch me and I can’t ask for anything more.
Since arriving in gulu on Tuesday I have spent a lot of time in the office learning about the procedures to get money and items we need to live here. I am so grateful to have amy and Catherine and Karen to work with and be able to all put our heads together to think a few steps ahead.
I have been so thankful for all the items that were purchased for me to use here. Seriously, every time I use a babywipe or hand sanitizer or my clip board I am reminded that I am not here alone and that I am loved back home! Even more I am reminded that the Lord will provide and I am a part of an amazing body of believers.
It is Thursday night and we just got back from BJ’s (used to be Bomma), it’s a restaurant/bar that plays music some nights and on Thursdays when there is not the world cup they have trivia. So we went and danced for a bit tonight.
Tomorrow the teachers meet their partner teachers and the exchange begins! I am super excited for them.
Please pray for continued health (I think the colace and probiotics are really working well) and that I would be able to do all this job and do it well.
People
Catherine of course is back here in gulu with me. She is the teacher exchange coordinator this year. I am so happy to be back here with her. We have great prayer time together and just seem to work well together.
Lisa is from my state and was here last summer. She has a great sense of humor and ability to be brutally honest with people.
Pablo is going to Pabbo, I know funny huh? He is from California and hilarious. He entertained us with hilarious facts he learned from the san diego zoo’s feburary 14th love night on the way to gulu. He is always ready with some hilarious comment.
Funny stories
-For some reason the bottom part of the bunk beds were not put together so well. So wed. night everyone was going to bed and I heard some girls laughing and I went back to see that one of their beds had fallen apart. Well one of the parts of my job is to manage the house so I went back to check the rest of the beds, especially the top bunks. I somehow totally forgot that the bed had fallen apart and went to sit on it and completely fell to the floor. I laughed so hard along with everyone else in the room!

same but different

2010-06-15T10:58:00.000-04:00

so first i am here in kampala (central uganda) safe and sound. i left charlotte at 1 pm on sat. and just so happened that i was sitting right across the aisle from lisa, one of the teachers. so we got off together and met up with lindsay, another teacher, they knew eachother from last summer, and had dinner and checked in. the flight to london was not too bad but there was a lot of turbulance, i thought of amy, she would not have enjoyed that (: but i was able to sleep. then we landed in london on sunday morning and catherine, amy, and karen (staff intern for the summer) had lunch and our first staff meeting. i am super excited about my new roles this summer. then we boarded the plane for uganda. unfortunately the flight was really rough and i did not sleep so i was super tired today when we landed (monday) we had a full day of shopping, school visit and dinner, but luckily we found time to squeeze in a much needed nap. after dinner (which was the first of my duties, to get the reservations and money situated) we headed back to the hostel, where i am now.
its been a different kind of transition than i was anticipating. i mean i knew i would miss my people but there is also learning what it means to be in this different role with the teachers as well. i am looking forward to being able to serve them and show them love, but that takes a constant dependance on God and a laying down of self. i was praying earlier praising God for the opportunit to die to self and work here solely for Him and His glory, to be a vessel of love and grace and generousity because of how He fills me (:
also!! i have had tons of opportunities to talk about the Lord! there is a sweet married couple (only one year, she is 25 and i think he is around that same age) that love the Lord and she and i got to talk along with nathan about what we believe about mission work, i got to pray with allison who's luggage is still in transit, and talk with karen about what she believes about truth.
stories
- i am already falling and hurting myself (surprise)! everyone has picked up on it already and they arent suprised when it happens
-we went to a little cafe in london that didnt have half of the items on the menu. we laughed and said "are we in london or gulu?"
-lindsay is HILARIOUS! she can make me laugh like ben from chicago! i love being around her!
updates
-my official title is legistics officer (i think (: )
-my ankle is hurting but it is ok
-i have gone poo twice (praise God!)

leavin on jet plane (:

2010-06-11T10:17:00.002-04:00

i think i have had a post titled this before. it is a song, i dont know who sings it, but i remember my dad singing it when i was young.
anyway, i am about to leave on a jet plane, a big one (: i have been talking with catherine and packing and getting ready to go and i am getting super excited. it is funny because in a way i feel like i am going home and leaving home at the same time. i am blessed to have family to travel with, new family to meet, and family to miss.
God is so good and His love is poured lavishly on this undeserving and broken girl.
we had an awesome time of prayer and fellowship last night. moments like that i like to take a minute to think about the amazing people in my life. God's character is so apparent in their lives and they are all different. i just want to sit and sing the praises of the God who allows me to be a part of His body the church!
so today after a delicious roomy breakfast there will be packing packing packing, last minute purchases (thanks heather (: ), music at the ice cream shop, and cary ann hearst in charlotte.
tomorrow will be yoga with diana and off to the airport where i start my jouney to Africa. I am not sure how often i will be able to post til i get there but we have a 12 hour lay over in london where amy and catherine and i plan to gallivant around together and chat about plans for the summer. i cant wait!

update on me

2010-05-03T14:28:00.001-04:00

so here is the short of it. i could give you a long list about why i should go to peru in august, and i could give you just as long of a list about why i should wait. in the end i have to trust that the Holy Spirit will lead me down the path that most glorifies the Lord and that is my desire. i have decided to wait to go. i will be leaving for uganda on june 12th and get back august 10th and will teach another year in the states. who knows what the Lord has in store for that time or for next summer. my prayer is that i will continue to walk faithfully on the path that He directs and be open to every opportunity He gives me to serve and love and minister wherever i am for His glory! He is good and His plan is best and i am thankful that He loves me!
thanks for all the prayer and support. (:

counting down

2010-04-28T13:18:00.002-04:00

i am so excited about going back to uganda and trying to get things together so that i will be ready in 45 days! as you know my travel (minus the flight to and from nyc), room, and board (minus lunches and a few dinners) is being paid for by invisible children which is awesome. however, i know what an awesome thing and blessing it is to have people partner with you and help support you while you are away. so i have been working on a list of items that i will need (meds, protein bars, etc). if you are interested in helping out please contact michelle. if you dont know who that is post a comment and i will contact you and get you the info (:
otherwise i ask that you pray that the preparation and such for this summer goes smoothly and that the Lord uses the time to be glorified (:

LA

2010-04-08T14:04:00.002-04:00

so i know LA is not another country, but lets face it its no rock hill (:
the trip over here was really nice. after sunday lunch at the namo's cindy and jeremy dropped me off at the airport and i slept most of the way.
the LA airport was huge and i saw people who had drivers pick them up and open their doors and this one very able-bodied man who had another guy get his luggage and follow him around like a puppy, in my mind they were very famous for reasons unknown to me, but they may have just been rich.
anyway my aunt and cousins and i went to hearst castle http://www.hearstcastle.com/content/hearst-castle-tours
which was awesome and beautiful. we spent a night on the beach.
then wed evening allie came and picked me up and i spent the night with her and then this morning we went to the beach and did the barefoot walk with toms.
http://www.toms.com
this company is pretty sweet and i cant wait to do more things with them. hopefully we can do a style your sole party (:
and while i was at the walk, i saw an old friend who i actually met in uganda but had done a mission trip with in new orleans! (there were lie 300 of us so we didnt meet there) small world! (i love that kind of stuff)
jimmy you met norman! thats awesome. such an interesting man.

bits and pieces

2010-03-11T13:30:00.003-05:00

so i wont go into extreme detail (the only person who would be interested in that would be Leah and maybe Rolla, and i already spoke with them (: ) but here are some highlights:
-travelling with amy was full of laughter (: and i loved it!
-when we arrived at the airport in lima and no one was there to pick us up amy and i stood in front of about 100 people or maybe more and waited for our names to be called out and she said "i prepared myself for this, this is the worst case scenerio, if no one is here by 3am i am busting out my guitar and you are going to preach and we are going to have a revival right here."
-when we were learning about God's love and reef (4 year old) learned that God loves you even when you lie, he was shocked and it was awesome (:
-anytime a baby fell asleep in your arms or a little one wanted a hug (:
-anytime a parent thanked me for being there
-the way the kids LOVED the crafts and remembered the lessons
-hiking up a desert mountain
-trying ceveche and cow heart for the first time
-realizing that i am a fan of committment, i often believe the lie that i dont committ or i shy away from committment, thats not true, the opposite is true. i am kind of like "hi my name is danielle, want to be best friends forever?" and then i stick to it. i was sad to leave those families and still miss them. i am thankful for a heart like that.
-read Psalm 16:5-6 and Psalm 119:111 i was overwhelmed by the fact that i have a new inheritance in the Lord and that my earthly inheritance is beautiful because it is what the Lord has used to bring me to Himself.
thanks for reading (:
my next trip is to LA and then back to uganda (:

peru peru

2010-03-01T08:52:00.003-05:00

so thus far we have totally been on vacation. amy and i arrived in the airport around 12am sunday morning. we went through immigration and customs very smoothly. we walked through security for the last time and waited for someone to call out our name. and we waited, and waited, and waited. we watched people reunited with their loved ones, people meet taxi drivers, people look a little shell shocked and find taxis. and we waited and waited. finally at 1 we called the guest house and found out that the listro´s flight was late and that they would be landing in about 30 minutes and we were going to hook up with them and get a ride to our hotel. so we waited some more.
we hooked up with the listro gang (mom dad and 5 kids). we completely loaded down a van and rode the 15 or so minutes to the guest house where we dropped off everyone but christian (dad) and then rode the 3 minutes to our hotel.
it was pretty hilarious to see amy´s reaction to the room. it was really nice, in peruvian standards.
we are currently waiting for the bus to come get everyone and take us to the hotel where the conference will be.
more to come!

packing

2010-02-26T20:57:00.002-05:00

ugh packing...a necessary evil. getting ready to leave tomorrow! cross another continent off my list (:

gearing up

2010-02-16T13:24:00.003-05:00

wow it seems like a million years since i have posted anything! God is so good and has already begun to fill 2010 with new adventures.
i am currently preparing to leave feb. 27th to volunteer at the South America Mission Conference in peru. my pastor, skip macmillan, was asked to teach at the 5 day conference and he asked me and a team of people to come help with worship and childcare, obviously i am helping with childcare (: we are putting together a vbs-ish program for the kids.
i used skip's notes and made lessons that correlate with what he is teaching
day 1 the 4 kinds of love (greek words)
day 2 receiving God's love
day 3 loving God
day 4 loving others
we also need to come up with crafts if anyone has any ideas.

this is for michelle (:

2009-04-13T10:29:00.002-04:00

so i am not in another county, although it sometimes feels like it, i am in the big apple (: it has been a great visit so far. catherine came and picked me me from the airport (a little gulu speak for you) and we rode the bus to her beautiful and spacious place in the city where we were soon greeted by amy collins and trisha (both from uganda) and another of catherines friends and we all had delicious chicken tacos together and caught up. then easter sunday we got up and had a glorious breakfast and went to her church to celebrate the resurrection. it was great. the service was much more traditional with readings and such than eternal but it was beautiful and the people were so lovely and welcoming. then we just walked around all day and toured the city, went through the park, and chatted. one of our favorite things to do is to speak gulu speak to eachother. every now and again i will throw a "thank you please" or she will say "even for me" and it is great cause we both bust out laughing. we also have a million inside jokes that keep us laughing all day.
last night after dinner we went to a hip hop club where they have an open mic night every sunday night called E O Dub (End of the Week) it was pretty cool to be seeing the underground hip hop scene first hand. we went to hear dujeous which was sort of a featured guest for the night. it was a lot of fun. i was surprised at how many different kinds of people were there. that is one thing i love about this city, there are all kinds of different people.
today we plan to go to Fire Island and see the beach and have a yummy lunch somewhere and then head back to the city for sushi and a movie.
tomorrow i get to see margot!! (:
one thing that has been really neat for me is just remembering that God is everywhere and no matter if i am on a plane to another country or just another state He is with me and He is the same. Catherine and I have been talking a lot about trust and the freedom in trust and what it means to really trust. And as usual whenever we share about our lives i am constantly reminded of the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING community of people i am surrounded by daily at home and cant help but sing out in praise to my Father for blessing me that way.

recent thought

2008-09-02T15:47:00.002-04:00

i was emailing trisha my pabo sister and would love to hear feedback from this idea (especially you teacher exchange kids)
i do get sad when i think about the lack of community in some parts of my life but i just take it as a challenge to foster it where i can. the more i am away the more i realize what amazing people God has surrounded me with and it makes me want to take advantage of all the time i can to be around them and to learn from them and to serve and love them.

traveling home

2008-08-11T17:02:00.002-04:00

so my journey home started with a 4 am wake up at the hotel. we finished up packing and left by 5. we got to the ferry a little early, around 630 and it left at 730. as you sat down in the ferry they handed out cavaras (little plastic bags) to ralph in because the 2 hour ride was pretty heinous. i just kept thanking God that i didnt have to do this often. luckily i met a nice canadian girl and she shared her fresh ginger with me. that and a piece of gum helped me not have to use my baggie. she shared my taxi and we found a bank for her to get money at and then sat at the airport for hours. my flight left at 530. i flew to dubai and had just a two hour layover and headed to the states. the flight was ok, i got to see a couple movies which was nice and i slept a good bit. i had a pretty long layover in jfk but i met some girls who had been in sudan. it was fun to talk to them and share stories. it was also great to talk about the work we had been doing and sort of problematize things together. the flight to charlotte was super short and i was greeted by some of my favorite people in the whole world.
it was much different coming home this time. i was ready to be with people. i think i felt a little too ready and didnt rest enough because i got pretty sick tues - fri but i luckily felt better by sat and had a great welcome home / house warming party where i got to see more of my favorite people.
something i am still chewing on and would love feedback about:
so i must say that i miss africa but i am ridiculously blessed by my family here in the states. you ladies are amazing and my eternal family rocks my face off. i am just swimming in love and blessings these days. the thing that hit me this year in africa was not only accepting but embracing the fact that God gives us just enough for today. that manifests itself in so many ways. we can be free to love and serve and give our whole selves because we know that He will replenish us, we dont have to worry about tomorrow or hold on to yesterday and can live in the present, it necessitates a dependence on Him that i know i would not otherwise do naturally, it makes it impossible for us to take the glory and honor for the blessings in our lives and protects us from taking too much of the burden of the trials and hardships in our lives, and so many other things...

zanzi-beautiful!

2008-08-11T16:55:00.002-04:00

holy shmoly zanzibar is paradise. i have never been so relaxed and amazed by beauty. the beaches were white the water was clear blue and the food was out of this world yummy. catherine and i filled our days with snorkeling, beach volleyball, fresh coconut and yummy drinks, amazing dinners, and soaking up as much sun as possible. caramel and white mocha they called us (:
if you are ever in east africa you have to go to kendwa rocks! i had my first taste of lobster dinner. the last night we got a massage with papaya and honey mixed with cloves and cardamon and my skin smelled soo yummy.
it was a great time and i couldnt have had a better travel mate!

o the end of journeys are so much like beginnings

2008-08-11T14:42:00.002-04:00

so so sorry that i havent posted in a while. all the goodbyes and such of the end of the journey can be overwhelming and then the constant moving makes it tough to wrap your head around your thoughts..and then when i was in the paradise known as kendwa beach in zanzibar i was not about to spend my time in front of a computer.
so the last week in pabo was really great. geoffry and i really started to dialogue about the things we had worked on and what was sustainable and what things he could adapt and the changes that he was going to make when i was gone. i was really encouraged that he discussed new classroom management techniques with his collegues. that was one thing we had focused on and he really made some great changes. i hope that i can make those same steps in my classroom.
the best injury happened the last week. i say best as in has the best story attached to it. it was the most painful as well. to save you from the all the details here is the shortened version (do you really believe it will be shortened?)
boy bike, skirt with liner that hinders leg movement, lifted seat, seat tilted back, climbed on a hill beside the road to avoid crazy out of control bus from smashing me, middle of the day hot, bookbag full of stuff, stopped because path ran out, teetered for a second as my life flashed before my eyes, praise God no vehicles were coming, fell into road and jammed knee pretty bad, covered in red claymud and hobbled back to school to rinse off in the borehole...thats life (:
so we said our goodbyes and did the safari (i did the boat safari and saw crocs and hippos and a family of elephants), rafting (i laid out by a pool), and kampala shopping. we went to a turkish place the last night and it was super delicious. i tried a shisha (sp) interesting.
then we said goodbye to the group and headed to zanzibar

highlights

2008-07-21T12:05:00.002-04:00

In my journal I was writing about the thoughts that some of my friends from home are having about maybe moving away and this is what I wrote "whatever happens we are family and distance doesn't change that. I think about being here although it is a short time, I am so far away yet I still feel so close to those that I love back home"

Another thing that God has been showing me is the beauty and blessing in not only accepting but embracing the fact that He gives you just enough for today. It necessitates your dependence on Him and therefore you can not twist your circumstances and try to control them and therefore take the glory. At the same time it saves you from taking too much responsibility for things that happen that you really have no control over. I am seeing that there is an amazing balance in that, like so many things.

Seeing a pic of jude and I that I didn't even know existed! I love that carroll family!

My mom and michelle called! It was so so great to hear from them.

We got to see jovanna take a few steps (jovanna is harriet our cooks little girl she is around 10 months old)

Hilarious that out of the 23 people who pulled over to take a short call on the way to the rhino sanctuary and out of the yards and yards of area we had to go through I was the one that found the hidden barbed wire…oye! Don't worry it wasn't bad just ironic or ridiculously predictable.

This week so so quickly

2008-07-21T12:05:00.001-04:00

So I leave for pabo in some few minutes so this update will have to be short and sweet. This week in pabo was the best yet. I feel like that is how it is on this trip. Around this time I feel like your expectations become more realistic and you start to see some small changes from the work you are doing. It is a good place to be.

In class this week I focused on some classroom management things with Geoffry. We talked about how giving problem students a lot of attention was not really working out so we brainstormed ideas for how best to handle them in different ways. The conversation was a little awkward because he felt like I was reprimanding him but it ended up contributing to such great changes that I it was worth it. The other great thing is that he and I can have conversations and disagree and work through things and be ok at the end of it. I got to see changes that he is trying to make in the classroom and the students respond to them in positive ways. we also did a review activity that had the students present on material together. The students did a great job and loved it and I think they did pretty great on the assessment that followed the review.

So Monday after school I broke out the crayons and coloring books. At first I was just sitting there trying to get kids to come over. Finally some adults came over and asked what I had and what I was doing. I showed them and in no time there were 50 kids and 15 adults sitting around talking and coloring. It was awesome. Robert said we were having Sunday school. I plan to do it again this Monday and use the rest of the stuff.

Tuesday we finally got the volleyball net up in town. It was really fun to play. Roberts nephew or cousin played with us and he was a bit too much for trish and I.

Wednesday we stayed pretty late at school so by the time we got home it was just about dinner time. Trish and I were a bit tired so we just stayed in and played cards and hung out.

Thursday I went and played volleyball again. It is odd because when I play I am not only the only munu (white person) I am also the only female over the age of 6 around because all of the women in the village are doing serious work. Trish and I were really struck by that so we decided to try to get a girls game organized. We got Christine, the girl that lives in our same place, to organize a team from the girls she knows from town and the other secondary school and we enlisted dolly (an awesome teacher at pabo) to help us get the word out to some of the girls at our school that might be interested. Dolly made an announcement at the morning assembly on Friday and the girls lit up! They seemed really excited. I hope they make it out!

Friday we got back to pabo in the afternoon and went over to where some of the other teachers are staying to have a book talk. Then some of us went out to bamboo (a restaurant in gulu town) to aci nancy's going away party. Phil from last year, got boise state to scholarship and Ugandan student for 4 years! She will be staying with phil for a while (undefined length). It was fun with a bit of dancing and seeing tons of people.

Sat Catherine and I got up early and went to get a cup of coffee together and discuss life. Then we left for the rhino sanctuary. On the way there we stopped in a little town and got some snacks from the roadside vendors. My favorite (you southerners will appreciate this) were the boiled g-nuts(like small peanuts). Once we got there we had lunch and then it rained really hard so we sat around a bit and then drove out and hiked out to where the rhinos were. It was incredible to see them and be so close to them. We saw 5 out of the 6. We did not see the dominant male. One was pregnant. 4 of the rhinos were from Kenya and 2 from the us (Disney land) so they knew English and Swahili…funny. It was a pretty chill place. We just played cards and hung out and took nice showers.

Correction

2008-07-15T21:32:00.002-04:00

Hey, guys, this is Michelle. I tried for days to call Danielle, and after talking to at least 10 customer service people found out the number is wrong. So, if you want to call her, go buy an international calling card and call her at around 2:00 PM our time. She is 7 hrs. ahead of us, so that will be 9:00 PM her time. At that time she is finished with dinner and at camp in the dark with not much to do, so she'd LOVE to hear from you! The correct # is 011 256 715 280 475. She loves and welcomes your comments, calls and letters. And, of course she covets your prayers.

Love and God bless,
Michelle

This week

2008-07-15T15:54:00.002-04:00

On normal days I get up around 6. I get ready. We heat up water with
our little stove and have oatmeal for breakfast. Trish and I usually
go together to the latrine because it is used by everyone in the White
House and we don't like to shut the door so one stands outside and
watches for people. (and holds the toilet paper) Then the 3 of us hop
on our bikes and head to school. It is about a 20 minute bike ride
usually. If it rains it takes a little longer because you have to
dodge puddles and such.
At school we all have different schedules but when we are not teaching
we are in the staff room. It is a lot different than the states
because the teachers just hang out in there even if they don't have
class because there really isn't anything to do in the camp. A lot of
the teachers just have a room in Pabo and go home on the weekends.
Even if they have a permanent place in the camp they still go to Gulu
for the weekend.
After school we go back to our place and sometimes go for walks and
such and then have dinner. Once it is dark we stay in.
So camp life is sort of not super eventful so I thought I would just
make one post with the highlights.
This past weekend was the first time I felt that family feeling with
this group. We were just sitting outside the house talking about Jesus
and it was so great. It was just a great reminder of what I am doing
here. One guy Matt said "thanks for the words" and it was really so
great to hear.
One night Ben was telling us about how he woke up in the middle of the
night and thought that he was blind because it was so dark. Just the
way that he told the story and how he went to the bathroom and tried
to turn on the light but there wasn't any power and he said click
click click. He said he thought I know I need to act fast. I almost
wet my pants.
I was hit with the blessing that God gives you just enough to get
through. I feel like I have been reminded that He is my strength and
my constant and I am not alone wherever I am. I am happy to rely on
Him and glad he makes it so that I need to.
John let us borrow a set of battery powered speakers. It has changed
camp life to have good music playing in the evening.
Monday was market day so the streets (mainly just the main one but the
back street was pretty crowded too) were filled with people from all
over selling all sorts of things. The down side to the whole thing was
that since there were so many people in town the local disco, which
happens to be right behind our place, played music all night (til 630
am). It sounded like the music was right in my room. Heinous!
I got to talk with harriet our cook about her life and about her
little girl jovanna. I got to hold her too. Harriet got pregnant while
she was in school and the father didn't want anything to do with the
baby since it was a girl. Harriet said that was fine because she was
going to take care of jovanna herself and she would do a great job.
She plans to go back to school too. She just has such a caring and
strong spirit. I hope to get to learn more about her the next two
weeks.
I met the head teacher from a school down the road. He told me that
his son (could be his nephew) married a British woman and lives in
England with her. Then he looked at me and said "why don't you marry
an acholi man?" Both Charles and I just busted out laughing.
Trisha and I have started somewhat of a tradition; we wash our hair on
Wednesday. It is really a process. We get a chair and a wash basin and
the tea kettle and take turns washing the other ones hair. It is kind
of an enjoyable experience to look up at the stars and have someone
wash your hair. Robert came out at one point and was laughing at us.
He said it was the White House salon.
Wednesday morning my coteacher Geoffry came by to try oatmeal. He
asked me what we do for breakfast and I told him we have oatmeal which
is like porridge. I told him he should come over and try it so he did.
When I handed it to him I told him he didn't have to finish it all if
he didn't like it but that I was happy that he tried it. He definitely
didn't like it. He said it was fine but he only ate like 2 bites and
then just sat there with it. After a little while I took it from him
and threw it away. It was kind of funny. He had to bring his own spoon
because we only have 3. He is somehow handicapped in one of his legs
so he rides a bike very interestingly. On the way to school he said my
tire was flat so we had to stop to get it filled and he paid for it
which was really nice. Then he said he needed to stop and by a few
things (breakfast) so I went ahead without him.
We have had a lot of rain and when it rains hard it gets into our
rooms. When we got home Thursday night matt found out that his camera
didn't work and that all his clothes were wet from the rain getting in
his room. Then he got soot on his pants. He had a rough week. Trish
bought him a warm beer (:
I have been opening my letters from home and they always make my
morning. The pictures are awesome and the notes almost make me cry.
Every time I am away I realize what amazing people I am constantly
surrounded by and I am so thankful. Then when I got to the IC house
in Gulu I had a letter from michelle. I cant tell you how much those
things mean to me. I cant believe that such amazing people are
thinking about and praying for me while I am gone.

Conference and such

2008-07-15T15:54:00.001-04:00

So our first week in Pabo was very short because we left Thursday
night so that we could make it to the conference on time Friday
morning. The conference was focused on participatory strategies in the
classroom. It was pretty informative and it was great to have
something like that before we started teaching. Walter Knox is the
head teacher at Pabo and he was super excited and supportive of the
ideas in the conference. I am really excited to be at his school and
to talk to him more about the teaching exchange and his ideas about
the program in general.
Sunday we got to go to St. Jude. It is an orphanage. It was so great
to just play with kids and hold babies (: it made me think of all my
babies at home and I miss them. Some people got some great pics.
Around 4 we left for Pabo. The 3 of us shared a whole matatoo. It was
a very strange feeling to pass a matatoo filled, no busting with
people and here are 3 munus riding in one. Not cool.

7-4-08 happy 4th of july

2008-07-09T23:53:00.002-04:00

Apparently we are going to celebrate 4th of july next Sunday.
Today I just got up and got ready for the conference. Unfortunately
there was no water so I didn't get to bath but whatever I am over it
(:
The conference was pretty good. We had a pretty good talk afterwards
about an article we all read. We talked about the tensions between
helping enact change and supporting the movement back to indigenous
education, between modernization but not westernization. It is pretty
interesting.
Anyway then I went to the market and got some fruit..yay. then we just
hung out for a while. Tomorrow group 1 leaves and Catherine and amy
are going to go safari and rafting with them and be back wed.
I am going to start working on blog entries throughout the week (as
much as I can til my laptop dies) so that they aren't so boring.
Hopefully.

7-3-08 back to gulu

2008-07-09T23:53:00.001-04:00

When we woke up there was a huge rain storm. It was nice to cool
everything off and get rid of some of the dust, but we were worried
about navigating the mud on the way to school. I say the mud and not
the rain because no one moves in the rain. Matt was all worried about
getting to school on time and trish and I were telling him not to
worry. We ended up leaving just a little later than normal and we were
one of the first ones to school. On the way not too far from the house
some guys yelled to us to get over to them and park fast. I didn't
know what was up so I just did what they said. Then a huge bus came
flying around the bend and splashed so much mud and water everywhere.
I was so glad that they were so nice. they were cracking up but at
least we weren't drenched in mud.
Since the teaching and learning conference is Friday at 9 we had to
leave pabo Thursday afternoon. Trisha came down with something so we
left school a bit early so she could lay down before we had to ride.
(we think she might have eaten some raw cassava which is not good but
not as bad as a parasite or something) she puked but felt ok for the
ride.
It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get to gulu because it rained so
hard and the rain makes the roads worse.
It was nice to be back in gulu but I have found that all these
constant transitions are starting to get to me. I feel like I have to
keep leaving places. Gulu still feels more like home than pabo but
hopefully that will change soon.

7-2-08 Wed.

2008-07-09T23:52:00.001-04:00

School went well.
When we got home Christine wanted to take us to the market. We walked
around the very small market. By the time we got there most of the
venders had gone home for the day. Unfortunately there is not fruit in
pabo but the first Monday of every month is market day. Apparently a
ton of people from all over come and the market stays up for super
long. I am hoping that people come with fruit.
Anyway we walked around with Christine and met Robert in the market.
We stopped at the police station (small office-ish room with a desk
and a bench). Robert and matt went to the local bar that had a pool
table (outside). Trish and I decided to go back to our place and
attempt to wash our hair. We have a jerry can of water to wash with so
we decided since we both have long hair it would be best to wash
eachothers. By the time we got everything together it was dark but we
did think to use the tea kettle so it wasn't too back. We put her iPod
on the all the way and could sort of hear music and looked at the
stars while the other washed your hair. It was almost enjoyable. Matt
came in and he and Robert were laughing.
Poor matt. He is with two girls. We have (sort of me) instituted
personal question of the night. It has been fun learning about
eachother and giving eachother crap for things.

7-1-08 Tuesday

2008-07-09T23:51:00.001-04:00

We all got up and tried to make something for breakfast. I actually
found all bran in kampala so I had some of that. Then we got on our
bikes (side note: Robert took my bike to get the tires filled and it
also needed a tire alignment and brake work apparently, sounds like
when I take my car to the shop in the states) Matt's bike lasted about
45 seconds and something broke. He walked it to the bike shop and took
a boda to school.
My first day was pretty great. I showed Geoffry a foldable to help
students organize their notes. I taught the first class and he taught
the second one. He also really liked my idea about ways to introduce
operations with integers. So we will probably just start right off
working together. We have very different approaches but I feel like I
will learn a lot from him because of that.
There isn't much to do in the camp so teachers just hang out in the
staff room all day. There are soo many stupid house flies..what is the
purpose of those things??
Before we left walter our head teacher said he wanted to take us
around the camp. We got home and hung out outside our shop to wait for
him. He came and took us to the hospital that is about a 10 minute
walk into the camp. It was a pretty nice place. We went to the back
were the doctor and nurses live. We met a nurse and sat in his place.
He had a color tv! He was watching a dvd, celione dion's I'm your
lady, on repeat…oye. I thought about the time I rode with Courtney
blakely and jessice white kline to fca camp. Anyway he was really nice
and we have his number in case we ever need it.
When we got home from school trish and I went to the latreen. (we go
together because we never want to shut the door so the other is a look
out) when we opened the door a HUGE rat ran out…o camp life (:
When we got back harriet had our meal ready so we sat down to eat.
Once we sat down we met another woman that is living behind the shop
too. Her name is Christine. She is working with another ngo in the
camp. She seems really nice. she ended up eating with us because, as
usual, there was way too much food. I love that we can all eat
together.

6-30-08 monday Pabo Pabo Pabo!

2008-07-09T23:50:00.000-04:00

Today we rode to pabo for the first time. We left mid morning and got
there around 11. I think it took about an hour. It was a very bumpy
ride. You take the great northern road from gulu. This road goes from
south Africa to Egypt! I think it would take a lifetime to travel the
whole thing cause it is so bad with pot holes and the such. Our camp
is like 5 hours south of sudan so a bunch of huge trucks pass by all
the time coming and going from there, more on that later.
So when we got to our place we met Robert and Charles. Robert runs the
shop and manages the rooms and Charles is the accountant. They both
seem pretty great but Robert is much more social with us. He also
lives in one of the rooms. Our place is right behind the shop. You
walk into a courtyard and there is two rows of rooms and latrenes in
the back. It is pretty nice.
We got three rooms but two of them were not clean yet so we put all
our stuff in one while we went to school and Robert was going to clean
them up. Trish noticed that we didn't have nets so we had to ask
Robert about that. He said that he would get them so we didn't worry
too much. He also took our bikes to get the tires filled and such.
We left "our place" to go to school for the first time. The school is
about a 45 minute walk or a 15 20 minute bike ride. It would not take
so long on a bike if the roads were not so bad and there weren't so
many huge trucks coming by.
By the time we got to school geoffry (my coteacher) did not have any
more classes so we just sat and talked about what he was teaching and
even started planning for the next day. He seems really open to trying
things and really nice.
After school we took bodas home. Once we were home walter, the head
teacher, came by. We were obviously trying to get settled in so he
said he would come back tomorrow to show us around. He seems really
nice and very happy to host us. (he is actually the acholi that they
consult about what to bring to the camps in the Sunday video (michelle
I will get that back to you))
Harriet our cook is 23 and she has a 9 month old jovanna. Jovanna
fears the munus but for me I think she will let me hold her by the end
(: harriet cooked our beans and chapti, I think for me there will be a
lot of beans in my life for the next month. She made so much that we
asked Robert to eat with us. He didn't sit with us but he did eat our
food which we were very happy about.
We all turned in pretty early because we were pretty tired from
travelling and it was very dark because there is no electricity ever.

Thoughts

2008-06-30T08:51:00.000-04:00

I have found it hard to really organize my thoughts since I have been
here. In some ways I feel like my experience here has not yet started
because I haven't really gotten to my final destination. I hope that
when I get to the camp finally and unpack that I will be able to feel
more here.

6-25-08

2008-06-30T08:50:00.000-04:00

Patrick never made it to the house yesterday. We were suppose to meet
at 12 and I waited til 1 but he never came.
Instead I went and met up with matt and trisha at aweri (a displaced
school near the house). Trish was going to meet up with her teacher
from last year and he was going to take the two of them to town to get
bikes. We figured he could get a better price. It was very helpful to
have him because he inspected the bikes and had the shop owners fix a
few things before the decided on a price.
While they were working on that I went to a shop and bought a little
stove. We will heat up water and such with it. We will get a jerry can
each of water a day to bath in and we can use it to eat with if we
boil it really well.
This morning we got up and went to Gulu high for church. The students
put on a service there. It is the best service I have ever been to in
Gulu. It is infused with acholi culture and it seems to be really
heart felt. Today was sort of a special day because they were doing
the handover ceremony. I guess the have student leaders and the
positions were being changed today. We didn't get to stay for the
whole thing because we needed to get back to have a discussion about
Confessions of an Economic Hitman. The conversations were really
good. I would love to have a book club read it and discuss it when I
get home.
Today after lunch we went and visited st. jude orphanage. Orphan is
not really an acholi concept. Mostly children who lose their parents
are just absorbed by other family members. The families of the
children at st. jude cant afford to take them on at this point. There
were quite a few kids there of all ages. We just played and then the
kids sang.
We got back and made dinner as Sunday tradition. Then a lot of us went
to kope café to watch a movie. We watched Charlie Wilson's War. Then
we took bodas home. Some people went to watch a soccer game.
I leave Monday at 9 to head to pabo. We will stop by our house, the
white house (:, and then go to school to meet our teachers. I have no
idea what my schedule will be but I know that trish and matt and I
will be teaching the same students so that is nice. Then we are coming
back Thursday evening so we can go to the teaching and learning
conference friday and sat.

6-24-08

2008-06-30T08:49:00.000-04:00

We met our teachers last night. Mine seems to be really nice. He has
been teaching in pabo camp since last year. He lives behind a shop and
goes to gulu to his family every weekend. It is pretty expensive to do
that much traveling but hopefully he can ride with us sometimes. We
all met (21 north American teachers and 19 Ugandan teachers) for
dinner Friday night at kope café.
Kope café is a new place in gulu town. It was started by jolee and
Jamie. Jolee is the woman in the rough cut that shows the film makers
what is happening in Uganda. She is an amazing woman and she has not
only been instrumental in IC's work she has also started her own
organization to help the acholi children. It is a sort of after school
program that has traditional dances and school help and assistance for
child mothers and such. It is a great organization and all the profits
from the café go towards HEALS. The café serves western style food so
not many locals like it but it is usually pretty packed with NGO
workers.
After all of the Ugandan teachers left we had a little dance party. We
hooked up someones iPod to the speakers and danced for a little over
an hour. Then we took bodas home. It was funny because I remembered my
first boda ride at night. It is fun to see people experience things
for the first time and remember yours.
This morning I got up and went for a walk with a girl here jen. She is
really nice. We just chatted. Then the 3 pabo teachers went to kope
café to meet our teachers for breakfast at 9. Trish's and my teacher
were on time but matt's was about 45 min late (TIA) by the time we got
our orders taken and the food came it was 11. I had to leave to meet
up with Patrick (my teacher from last year) so we just decided what
trish would pick up from the store (to take to the camp for breakfast
and such) and I headed back.

one more thing

2008-06-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

i mentioned being homesick and i thought about it today. it is a great feeling. one of the greatest things i learned last year is that i really do love my people at home and when i got home i realized that i really do love my ugandan family (ugandans and group members). i am so blessed to be surrounded by such people and because of Jesus i have the capacity to love them...really love them. so while homesickness can be not a great thing it is also the best thing (:

reunited and it feels so good!

2008-06-27T14:25:00.000-04:00

it is so great to be back in gulu again. we arrived wed around 645. i was greated by a huge hug from margot and then i went inside to see doreen and she was so excited! she hugged me and told me she was so happy that i was back. we settled in and had dinner and i cut up some pineapple like old times.
the next morning during breakfast agness came in (the woman who helps doreen and cleans) everyone said their usual good mornings then i got up to greet her and she realized who i was and yelled and hugged me and pulled back to look at my face and brushed my hair back and said "it is so good to welcome you again!" it was music to my ears.
it was funny traveling to gulu. you dont realize how much a part of you a place becomes til you come back. it just felt good to come back.
today we went out to lunch and did a few conference type things. we had a language lesson. the funny part about that is that it was different information than last year. we have concluded that luo words have many different meanings and depending on who you talk to can be taken different ways. one of the funniest parts is we found out that a common greeting and thank you apwoyo when spoken with a flection at the end means rabbits! so he said most munus (whites) walk around yelling rabbits all day. hilarious. o well they know we are not acholi.
i am going to pabo camp monday morning. we will usually go on sundays but for our first day we will go on monday morning. i am excited to see where we will be staying. i am staying with trisha (she came last year with group 2) and matt (he is new this year from chicago) they are both pretty great and we have decided to buy bikes to ride to and from school with. i am stoked about that.
there are many differences this trip that i will blog about later.
i hope everyone is well!

time in kampala

2008-06-24T15:33:00.003-04:00

we did pretty much the same things we did last year going to exchange money and lunch but we got to go to the embassy and talk to some people who worked there about education in uganda and specifically in the south. then instead of staying at backpackers for dinner (the hostel we stay at) we went to a great indian place we went on our last night last year. it was really good. this group is really laid back and a lot of them have done a lot of travel so they are not too intimidated.
we leave for gulu tomorrow. i cant wait to see doreen and margot and patrick and jamie!
one neat thing last night ben the guy who came up with the bracelet campaign was in kampala and came and hung out for a bit. i met him in atlanta at displace me so it was neat to see him again. talk is that katie bradel and maybe one of the film makers are coming to gulu soon.
the teacher conference is really soon too because the first group will be leaving soon. that will be interesting because we wont really know our teachers very well yet.
it is odd to me that i am more homesick this time than last. i think it is because i am not as overwhelmed by everything and i had an instant family last year.
God is so good in that a ton of the teachers are believers and we have already had some great conversation. trisha, who will be at pabo with me is a believer and i know we are going to have some great conversations. she reminds me a lot of huli and that makes me happy.
if you want to call (remember the time change) get an international calling card and call 011 256 0715 280 457
the address is Plot 101 PO Box 1123 Gulu Uganda
keep praying
(ps in case you are wondering...i went 3 times today!!)

first leg and such

2008-06-22T23:29:00.002-04:00

we made it to dubai! we are waiting to board so i successfully co-lead the group through travelling from jfk (:
we stopped at the emmerites mall in dubai again. (that meant getting taxis which i helped with) and a few people actually snow skied.
i mention my success mainly because when i said that i was sort of incharge of travel bryan laughed out loud...i am not so great with direction, but i think france prepared me pretty well.
it is weird to be traveling without my gulu family. i didnt have anyone to lean on in the plane. i realized how special the bond we had was now. we were instant family and took such great care of eachother. i am so excited to see margot and catherine and amy in uganda and already miss bryan and phil and seth.
one of the best parts about being away from home is the realization of how much you love the people you left there. i have already thought about how blessed i am by the people at home.
my roommate in dubai was casey. she seems really great. she teaches math and coaches volleyball. we had a great conversation and i am going to borrow her copy of the shack (a book that was recommended to me to read)
thanks for reading my random train of thought, later posts will hopefully be more organized, and thanks for praying (:

by request

2008-06-20T22:47:00.002-04:00

by request. my goals for this trip are much like my goals last year with a little twist. i pray that God will continue to wow me in Africa. I pray that He does whatever He needs to do in my heart to make me more like the person He has designed me and desires me to be. I pray that i can be an encouragement and help to those that i come in contact with. I pray that He helps me to use every moment while i am away to glorify Him and really see where He is working and join Him in that. I pray that He gives me opportunities to share His love with others. i pray that people back home are encouraged by the what He does in Uganda while i am there.
i am all packed up and ready to go. just have to wait 12 more hours til i leave charlotte and 24 hours til i leave jfk...
i love the questions jimmy! (hint to everyone else (: )

couting down

2008-06-09T17:10:00.002-04:00

I know some of you have been checking this and are tired of not seeing anything new. I will be posting much more when I am in Uganda. I will be leaving the states June 21st. Right now I am just trying to finish settling into my new house and packing things up and tying up lose ends before i leave.
thanks so much for all your support and love and help with all the moving around and such i do. i am so blessed!
looking forward to going (:

Random thoughts

2008-04-16T19:59:00.002-04:00

French McDonald's – sell beer, sell chocolate mousse, are expensive
I keep seeing people who look like my people back home, maybe its because I miss them.
I see a lot more men around then women?

Funny moments

2008-04-16T19:59:00.001-04:00

My grandmother asked Richard if he wanted an umbrella (apparently he didn't realize we were all getting ready to go for a walk in the rain) and he said no. After a few minutes of walking the rain got a little harder so he said "gee it would be nice to have an umbrella" and my grandmother started yelling that she asked him if he wanted one and he said "well I didn't want one when we were inside" Hilarious!
After walking all day my mom and I were playing cards and when she plays she jumps all around and I said "well that's good for your metabolism" and she "I am done with that metabolism stuff"
I sat with my great aunt Josiane and she was reading my how to survive france French book and every now and then she would say something in English. She always says English words in a deeper voice. It is super cute/funny. At dinner my mom was talking about the fromage (cheese) and she looked at Josiane and said "fromage" to ask if there was going to be any and Josiane looked at her and said "Please" in her deeper English voice.
Because my grandmother is the translator there are often 2 conversations going on at once. My mom was asking about the sausage we had for lunch and Josiane was talking about mayred (not nice word for poo) and Josiane said crotte de bique (poo of a female goat) My mom's face dropped because she thought Josiane was saying that was what the sausage was!
Richard wears hearing aids. At dinner my grandmother was telling my mom to be quiet, a normal thing, and my mom said "O I am not being loud Richard probably doesn't even have his ears on" She looked at him and said "can you hear me?" and he said "If I were downtown I could hear you" point Richard!

Wednseday

2008-04-16T19:58:00.001-04:00

We all got up and got ready and my mom and I went walking around. We finally found the real center of town and got to see some neat shops. Everything is super expensive but it was fun to see. We met up with my grandparents at Josiane's and got our things packed up. Josiane's son John Micheal (michelle) and his wife came over and transported out luggage to our hotel room and took us to their house/masion. They renovated an old barn and it was super nice. It was a mix of Ikea catalog and old French decore. They had hanging lantern lights…can you believe it? That whole side of the family is pretty musically inclined but he had a whole recording studio. They are trying to sell the place, I told them I would live there forever! My mom and I went and got some dinner and headed in for the night.

Tuesday

2008-04-16T19:57:00.002-04:00

We walked around all day. My mom and I went together and Richard and my grandmother went together. He wanted to find somewhere with wifi. My mom and I went to a neat little café for lunch and had delicious food. We just got the entrée and plat dejur (salad and plate of the day) The salad was good but the plat not so much. It was some sort of sausage. The desert was good of course. We walked around a while longer and then headed back to Josiane's.
Josiane showed me some photos of her family and was telling me about them. She showed me a bunch of pictures of Yann playing in different bands and apparently Dani's niece, Yann's cousin married Michael Flatley Lord of the Dance!
Everyone was resting and Josiane and I were sitting together in her kitchen. I cant understand everything she says but we usually get the gist of what the other is trying to get across. Sometimes we just look at each other and start laughing because we have no idea what the other is talking about. She asked me if I wanted to go to the supermarket to get some raisins and pan (grapes and bread). I said sure so we went and got back and got everyone up.
We all had dinner and then got ready for bed. It is a simple life around here but it is nice.

Monday

2008-04-16T19:57:00.001-04:00

We got up early and took the train to the island. I had a really bad headache and the hour winding bus ride did not help. We walked through this neat little outdoor market and I thought "o good I can get some gifts after lunch" We went and had lunch and by the time we got out the market was completely gone and everything was closed. Apparently until the tourists come the town shuts down around 2. So we walked to the beach and looked around a bit and then walked in and out of little shops to wait for the bus. Then we sat at a little bar and ate a bagette and waited for the train. The train ride home was really fun. I really saw how similar my mom and grandmother are when my grandmother was laughing really loud. All three of us were playing cards and laughing. It was great.

Sunday

2008-04-16T19:56:00.000-04:00

It was a rainy day. We got up and felt pretty bad about Josiane waiting for us in the rain and wanted to give her some time alone at her house to rest and such so we decided to go out regardless of the rain and get some lunch. It was super cold and we had no idea where we were. Luckily a really nice man gave us a ride to a McDonald's where we had a $50 lunch.
While we were there my grandmother asked a guy if he could give us directions to the road Josiane lives on. When he realized we were going to walk he said he would give us a ride! That was a life saver! He was with his teenage daughter so she waited at McD's and he took us back. He told us that he has a friend in Canada who just told him that she was lost and someone helped her out by giving her a ride so he felt like he should help us. Amazing.
Later when the rain lessened Josiane walked with us to the train station and we got tickets to go to Ile de Ray, the island my grandmother grew up on for monday. We just dethawed (that's for you cindy) the rest of the day and had dinner with Josiane.

Saturday

2008-04-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

We got up and got ready to go to the train station to take the train from Toulon to Paris where we would have about an hour to get from one train station to the other. We thought we would take a taxi but they are super expensive and since my mother and I are overpackers we would have to pay extra for luggage and maybe even take two. Plus we would have to find one, which proved to be harder than we thought before. While we waited for our train Richard and I walked to McDonald's to use the internet. Apparently McD's has been providing free wi-fi for a while. We went in and got connected right away. We did some "business" as my grandmother calls it and walked back to the station. On the way to Paris we decided we would brave the metro with all our bags since it would save us more than $100. So I was the official navigator and leader through the metro. I know what you are thinking…if she was the leader they must have been in a big mess! But we did it! We got through all the changes (just 2) and made it to the station with plenty of time. I even had time to pick up dinner. Just imagine the 4 of us with our big suitcases in the metro in the middle of Paris! Oye
Once on the train to Niort we thought our craziness would be over for the night…wrong. When we got to Niort we quickly realized there isn't a lot of nightlife. The train station was deserted besides us and a family waiting for their daughter to pick them up. We assumed we would get a taxi, you know what happens when you assume. We stood around for a bit and I remembered back when I was coming home from Africa and I thought I was going to have to sleep in the airport in Atlanta because I thought we were going to be sleeping in the train station. Then my grandmother noticed a bar open across the road so we walked to it to see if we could find a number for a taxi. The people in Niort are 100 times nicer than in Paris. There was a police officer at the bar and he called a taxi driver who was home and he came to get us. The bartender said that if we couldn't find a ride she would take us. So nice. When we finally arrived at Josiane's it had been raining all night and was pretty cold and she had been waiting for us outside. She is also a tiny little French lady. She had food for us to eat and then we went to bed.

Random thoughts

2008-04-12T12:58:00.000-04:00

Lauren would love France because it is tons of bread and NO spicy anything.
Cindy would love France because they eat everything one food at a time and there are tons of round abouts.
Every time I enter an airport I am overwhelmed with memories of traveling with my Gulu family. I hope that never changes because those memories are some of my all time favorites!
It has been really neat to meet people I am related to.
The commercials in France are super sketch.
Darby - all the cars here are super small...your truck would be so huge here...and gas is like $9.00 a gallon!
My grandmother records everything in a black book...the time we do things..what they eat...how much stuff costs. i guess its a good thing (:

Friday

2008-04-12T12:57:00.000-04:00

We got up and went to the beach. It was amazingly beautiful! The water was blue and the sun was shining. We had lunch and had a really funny waiter. We had muscles and fries. Apparently that is Brazilian. It was good. Christian went as well and I rode with her. It was fun to try to talk to her. It reminded me of Amy trying to talk to our taxi driver in Dubai. We drove around for a while and then headed back to the house. My grandparents took a nap and my mom and I went to the town to walk around. We went in a few shops and then had a coffee and some pastry called pinaud, I think it is a liquor. The waiter said it was their specialty. It was pretty good. Then we headed back and my mom took a nap and I went on another run, great for the stress and the stomach (: ahh traveling (: When I got back we had dinner and just hung out.

Thursday

2008-04-12T12:55:00.001-04:00

We got up pretty early and went to the train station to ride to Cannes and Nice. It was overcast the whole day so it was a good day to travel. We walked around, Cannes is much nicer than Nice. We had coffee in Cannes and lunch and crepes in Nice. The value of a dollar is very low so things are pretty expensive. I decided to go on another run before dinner and got a little lost. I know what you are thinking "you got lost?" I got a little big for my britches because I had successfully navigated the two cities we visited and thought I would venture a little farther from the house than I had the day before. I had been running about and hour when I realized I was not where I thought I would end up. I talked to a lady who gave me directions that ended up taking me away from the train station instead of towards it. (if someone is lost it is better to not give them directions than to give them bad directions) I asked another lady who gave me pretty good directions and I had them validated by a police officer. I was praying so hard that I would find my way back and then I saw a young girl and asked her directions. She didn't know English very well so she decided she would walk me to the station. Praise the Lord for Marianne! She ended up being 14 and was more than happy to help me. We chatted a little and when I could see the station I thanked her and ran the rest of the way home because I knew my mom would be worried. She was but it was ok. Christian, Nicole's friend, had dinner with us and we did some puzzles.

Wed

2008-04-12T12:53:00.000-04:00

We left the hotel at 5am and arrived in Toulon around 10am. It was a fun ride with great scenery. Nicole, my grandmother's sister picked us up. It took two trips from the station because her car is small and we have a lot of luggage. She lives on the corner of a little street not far from the station. She had a great lunch prepared for us of roasted duck and ratatouille (veggies). It was great. We sat around and chatted (Nan translated). I can understand about 50% of what Nicole says so it is interesting to try to communicate. She is a very small spunky French lady just like my grandmother. When ever I don't know what to say to her I just say voila, it makes her laugh. We went to the train station after dinner and bought train tickets to go to Cannes and Nice the next day. I went for a little run and got to see a lot of the town.

Tuesday

2008-04-12T12:52:00.001-04:00

We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Croissants and coffee, there is a lot of that around here. It was good and we were off to walk around Paris and then meet up with Dani and Yonn (my grandma's sister's daughter and her son). They are from Ireland, Dublin to be exact. She is a French teacher and he is a musician. He plays at a bar regularly where celebs come a lot. he has played while bono had a beer! They were GREAT they took us to this great little pancake place and treated us to lunch (the big meal in Europe) and cideria (apple cider sangria). Cindy it was delicious! We have to try to make it. Then they took us on a boat tour of Paris and we got to see a lot of the famous sites. Then we made our way back to the hotel and my mom and I had a little dinner and went to bed because we had to get up very early to catch the train to Toulon.

I'm in France!

2008-04-12T12:51:00.001-04:00

So Europe is not Africa but it is definitely not America. We arrived Monday morning and right away I realized that it was going to be more difficult to pick up French than I thought. Luckily my grandmother is fluent and does not mind translating. Apparently our hotel was not booked until my mom and grandparents were on their way to my house Sunday morning so I was not surprised when we had no idea how we were going to get from the airport to the hotel. We took a bus and a taxi and checked in sometime in the afternoon. I thought the hotel was nice but my mom thought differently. The people were really nice so that made it better. The concierge was very helpful and gave us a coupon for a little restaurant around the corner. It was great. We got dinner and desert and went back to the hotel. I slept a lot and got myself pretty well acclimated to the time change.

remembering the past and looking forward to the future

2008-04-04T22:37:00.002-04:00

So the countdown to Gulu is underway. I read a few of my blog entries from last summer and was overwhelmed again with the whole experience. I cant wait to see what God has in store for this summer. I am going to try to blog more regularly when I get back from France. So please keep checking in with me.

Success!

2008-03-22T22:13:00.003-04:00

The show was a amazing success! thanks so much to everyone who donated, help set up, came, entertained, spent money, helped clean up, and tried to do any of the above (:
check out a few pics greg took http://gallery.mac.com/dodsong/100192

the date is set

2008-02-22T15:00:00.002-05:00

the benefit dinner and silent auction will be March 15th! it will be at the BCM building on Oakland Ave. across from the wintrhop campus. there will be live music! more info about tickets and such to come.
if you have any ideas for donations please let me know! hope you can make it!

time to pray and hurry up and wait

2008-02-15T19:30:00.002-05:00

so i am in the process of finding a place to have the silent auction. there are a few options and i am just waiting for God to put it together. thanks to all that have already done so much! keep the ideas coming!

checking things out

2008-02-11T20:04:00.000-05:00

we are going tomorrow to look at a place for the benefit dinner / silent auction and I have already been overwhelmed by the tremendous support and love people are pouring out to me and this project. I already have a few donations and i know that is just the start. chann is going to probably play with some of his friends and he is going to set up itickets so we can sell tickets online. genius!
God is good!

plans plans plans

2008-02-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

my heart swells when i think about the excitement that is right around the corner. it was absolutely amazing to experience God's provision and love for me as i planned and fundraised last year. this year, i am confident, will be no less amazing. i am calling today to get more details about a possible location for the benefit dinner and silent auction. i am in need of donated items to auction off so if anyone has any ideas let me know. they can be as simple as gift cards or gift baskets you purchase yourself or donated items or services from local businesses. so far i have a few gift baskets, some jewelry and maybe some photographs and art work.
there is still some talk of a show so stay tuned for more info on that.
in a side note, this morning i really missed my gulu family. the people i met there will forever be a huge part of my heart and this morning missing them hit me hard. i am so thankful for what God has done to me and in my heart through serving in gulu. as i continually work through all the He is trying to teach me i am overwhelmed by His love and His compassion for us and His goodness that we get to experience love and compassion FROM His people because of Him. does that make any sense to anyone? the inner-workings of a not-so-great writer, i would love some comments (:

o the heart

2008-01-25T10:24:00.001-05:00

if you have been reading this you know that in one of my posts i said that going to africa was bittersweet because now i will always be away from people and places that i love. well here is another tug stateside, my new nephew sawyer. he is so precious and i love him so much. he is laurin's (my college roommate)!

the next adventure

2008-01-09T12:21:00.000-05:00

Ok kids its official I am on my way back to Uganda with invisible children this summer. The exact times are still up in the air and there is a possibility I will do some work with harvesters in Kenya after the teaching exchange. As things stand now I am going to be the "point" person at my school and the "point" person for the math teachers at all the schools along with John (another returnee from a different group). I am excited about this role change and look forward to the challenges and the such. I am in the beginning stages of putting together a benefit dinner/silent auction around the end of feb. there has also been a little talk of another show from chann so stay tuned for further updates.
Like before we had to submit a bio and pic so i thought i would share this years.

Danielle Davies' heart is Jesus. her church and friends are her family. Her passions are loving, serving, encouraging, and teaching. She graduated from Winthrop University and has been teaching seventh grade math for three years. She believes God put her in middle school because that is when kids decide what kind of person they will become. And math because, if she can show a middle schooler they can do math, they can do anything. She feels called to teach students who need a little extra love, support, and sass. She stresses taking chances, respect, and working to your potential in her class. They sing, dance, create, and work hard. She spent 5 weeks in Uganda last summer. She learned so much about herself, teaching, life, and love and left a huge part of herself there so she is excited to be on her way back. She believes in this program and Invisible Children and is so blessed to be able to use what God has gifted her with to support them.

home but not for long

2007-07-20T19:14:00.000-04:00

i am home by myself for the first night but i am leaving tomorrow for guatemala. i guess i should be packing but my brain keeps processing things. i think its the first time i have really allowed myself some time to think about things. here are some prayer requests i have before i go.
one is that i will be able to handle and embrace the new tensions in my heart. allie said it well when she said that there will always be a tension in my heart now, i will always be far away from people and places that i love.
another is that i will be a good steward of the experiences i have had. i am not and do not wish to be seen as an expert. i know that i have been blessed to be able to have the experiences that i have and that with that blessing comes responsibility. i want to use what God has done in my heart to get people thinking. they might not come to the same conclusions with the Lord that i have and that is ok. i am learning more and more about how to express myself in ways that allows and invites others to be themselves and express themselves too. i am excited that God has changed my heart and i desire so much for Him to do that for others what ever that looks like for them.
and that my group and i experience God in a new way in guatemala, that we see His face in the faces that we go to help and that we serve Him with our whole hearts while we are gone and that we come back changed.
and lastly pray for the people and the kids that i met in uganda. there are too many to list but God knows. pray especially for my little borehole family. it makes me cry to think of them. i dont know what kind of tears you would call them. i cry for their situation and for the hard life that they live, i cry for the beautiful picture of family they are, i cry that they are in gulu where a big piece of my heart will always be, and i just cry because i dont get to see them, and mostly i cry because i dont know what else to do.
thank you those of you that have been reading and posting and praying and supporting me, it means more than you know.

Butts' wedding!

2007-07-20T10:28:00.000-04:00

weddings are multiple day celebrations. we had the bridesmaids brunch and the rehearsal friday and then the wedding sat. it was such a beautiful time. the ceremony was absolutely perfect. the reception was so much fun and there was just a wonderful sense of rightness about the whole thing. i am so happy for my good friends lauren and jimmy. i know they will be happy for the rest of their lives together and i am so blessed to have been part of the day that they became one!
this is from the brunch

this is my pastor skip and his wife courtney dancing at the rehearsal. we are not sure but this may be the first time they have danced together. if not it has been a really long time!

rehearsal

wedding

long journey home

2007-07-20T10:19:00.001-04:00

when i say long i mean 50 hours! we took the 5 or so hour flight from entebee to dubai and then the 13 hour flight to jfk. thats when the trouble started. we got in the airport around 8 and my flight was suppose to leave at 1:15. margo said goodbye and left with her friends. phil, bryan, and i had some lunch and then we said bye to bryan. phil and i played cards and waited for our flights together because we were both flying delta. well he went to the restroom and came back and said, let me buy you something chocolatey from starbucks. i said ok sure and then he said "to drown your sorrows in your flight is delayed"
that wasnt the only time my flight got delayed. i didnt board til 6. i had a connection in atlanta that i had missed but i had hope to maybe catch a different one. we were in a long line to take off and i fell asleep. later when i woke up to crackers and drinks in the air i heard someone said it was 10. i was very confused. apparently we didnt leave the ground til 8:15.
we landed around 10:30. i was a little disoriented and confused and tired. i asked about connecting flights and they told me i was confrirmed for the 7 am flight the next morning. i was a little sad but i thought i could handle it.
i called allie and i could tell she was already at home so i told her not to worry about me. i thought i would just get some food and be fine. then i called darby to tell everyone what was happening with me and i lost it. i was just exhausted and could not handle the idea of sleeping over my booksack in the airport alone. darby just said "hang up and call allie" so i did. luckily allie said she was just about to call me back and tell me she was on her way.
it was really great that i got to spend some time with allie before i went home. she was great in helping me sort of talk through some things i was feeling and she is just someone that i love and trust and was gentle with me and i needed that. plus she has a really soft bed (:
so i finally made it to charlotte at 8:15 thursday morning. my mom and chrl met me at the airport and we spent the day together. i got my hair cut and saw a lot of people that i love and it was a good day.

7-10-07 leaving Africa

2007-07-20T10:12:00.000-04:00

and then there were 5. we got up and packed up and had our last breakfast in Africa together.
Phil had the great idea of riding to the equator before we got on the plane. we were so close and couldnt not go. so we paid a little extra and had the matatoo take us to the equator and then to the airport. it was a really neat little place. the water actually does spin in different directions on different sides of the line and on the line the water goes straight down! i have it on video on my camera but i cant put video on here...at least i dont know how. so you can just enjoy these pics instead and take my word for the water thing.
in the airport catherine got on a different plane because she was staying in Nairobi for another 10 days.
then there were 4 (:

7-9-07 us in the Nile

2007-07-18T10:45:00.000-04:00

the next morning we got up early and caught a bus to adrift, the rafting site on the nile. it was not a bad ride. we went pretty fast because the roads were pretty good and the bus was nice. on our way we stopped at a roadside market to get some fruit for lunch and a little after that we got pulled over. we were all very confused because there was no way that there were driving laws because everyone drove so crazy. it was funny when our driver came back in with a ticket and pulled down this handle to open up to a little drawer full of tickets and he shoved the new one in and went on his way.
we rafted for 1/2 a day and then stopped on lunch island for lunch. it was so delicious becuase we hadnt had real bread in over a month and they had real brown bread and fresh veggies and lunch meat (i didnt have any of that) and fruit. YUM!
on our way back there was free beer and soda on the bus.
we got off of the bus and it was time to do the paperwork for bungy jumping. thats right folks i bungy jumped over the nile. 150 ft! it was awesome! me, bryan, and seth did. seth was the only one that touched the nile but we all wanted to. there were 2 guys going after me and they went naked for free beer! hilarious!
then we rode in a matatoo back to backpackers. i was a little jealous that he got to ride a boda in kampala. we were advised not to because they are pretty crazy and a lot of injuries and deaths happen because they are so nuts. i am totally riding on one when (notice i said when) i go back.
we got stuck in traffic and realized that seth wouldnt make it back in time so he and amy jumped on bodas and rode to the hostel. we decided to go ahead to the market since it was getting late. we had our driver turn around and go to the market. he tried to give us a hard time because we didnt go to backpackers but we werent having it and we finally got out and headed to the market.
we got back to backpackers and just freshened up for dinner. we were going to take showers and such but we ran out of time and we were meeting kevin and emmay. we went to this really nice indian place. apparently indian food in east africa is really good. it was good but nothing i would write home about.
that night we hung out a bit and then went to bed. we all knew we had a long day the next day and were all pretty exhausted.

exciting event

2007-07-18T10:43:00.000-04:00

i dont know why i forgot to mention this but it was one of the highlights of the safari.
when we watching the lion he started moving a little more quickly and the guide looked at me across the top of the matatoo (i was sitting outside the window on the lion side) and he said "you get in" i slip myself as quickly as possible under that bar and inside the matatoo. it was a little scary but so cool!

7-8-07

2007-07-16T09:14:00.000-04:00

we got up at 4:30 so we could leave at 5. the matatoo was pretty on time but he didnt get fuel the night before so we had to ride around and search for a gas station that was open and had fuel. once we were on the road we opened up our breakfast of pineapple and hardboiled eggs. we got to the park gate and had to wait for them to open it. they finally opened it around 7. we rode a little while longer and got to this really nice hotel inside the park. we stopped to get the story on the ferry and make sure the arrangements for the second group were all right. we found out that the ferry wasnt going at 9 so we had an extra hour so we decided to chill and have a cup of coffee. it was soo good that we did that.
when we crossed the river on the ferry we heard that the roads were very muddy. some of the matatoos were turning around. our guide said we would make it. the roads were really bad and we saw some people stuck and such. at one point we were all out of the matatoo pushing. the mud was like cement. then when we got it moving we had to run to catch up to it because it couldnt stop or it would get stuck again. once we passed the first two big hills the roads were fine, well fine for africa. my legs were covered in bruises from the bumps and such. it didnt help that i spent most of the time hanging out of the window

or on the top.

we thought we were going to have to rush so that we could leave on time but we decided not to rush and just ride to kampala in the dark. it probably wasnt the safest decision but we just couldnt rush through this experience. especially when our guide got a call that they found a lion resting under a tree.

we saw tons of antelope.

one lone elephant

buffalo

giraffe

boars

and a dung beetle...seriously these things roll these huge pieces of dung to their hole in the ground home

bamboons

we didnt leave the safari til 5 or so and the 6 hour ride to kampala was ahead of us. we finally got to backpackers in kampala at 1130. our matatoo driver was pretty exhausted. you never hear them say they are tired and ours said he was very tired. he had driven all day long! even though amy called 100 times they gave our beds away so for the 9 of us they had 6 beds, all top bunks, not bedding, and no mosquito nets! emmay and kevin decided, since they werent getting up to go rafting with us, that they would go somewhere else so only catherine and margo shared. we found some bedding, enough for everyone to have sheets and just bundled up to keep the mosquitos off. it worked out fine, no one got bitten up and we were all so tired we all slept all night.

7-7-07 leaving gulu

2007-07-13T23:24:00.004-04:00

So this morning I was suppose to go on a motorcycle ride to the lake but it didn’t happen because there was something wrong with the motorcycle.
We took our polaroids to put on the wall of visitors. We got packed up and set out for the conference.
It was good to see our teachers one last time. I will miss them and this place.
After the conference we went back to the house to load up the matatoo and headed out. It was really sad to leave. I cant really process it yet I think.
We got to Macindi that evening and had dinner at the court view hotel where we stayed the night. It was really nice. Each room is a private little hut with its own bathroom and shower. The 3 girls shared a room but none of us took advantage of the shower because it was so late and we had all taken a shower recently. Being dirty here has become a non-issue.

7-5-07

2007-07-13T23:24:00.003-04:00

This morning terry and I ran and I took some fiber stuff that Lindsay and Hadley gave me so I finally went to the bathroom! I cant wait for fresh broccoli and cereal with fiber again! O and yummy apples!
On the way to school margo and I walked with some little kids going to nursery school and they held my hands! What a sweet moment!
So today was sort of crazy. It is our last day in the classroom because tomorrow is the district wide athletic competition at Peche stadium. All of the schools compete and no one has school. I have heard that it is sort of crazy in that some of the kids are totally there to hook up and such high schoolish stuff. Anyway we heard that there was something special going on so even though I didn’t have class til 12:10 I was at school by 9:30. Unfortunately, I found out that the special thing was a special lunch, so I just sat around for a while. Patrick and I taught our last lesson and I said goodbye to the students.
We usually have lunch at 1:30 but apparently because of the rain and that it was a special meal it was “delayed” til 3:45ish. We were famished. It was a really nice banquet though. There was tons of great food, lime fanta!, dancing, singing, and tons of speeches.
That night Catherine did her last presentation/workshop and I invited Patrick over to have dinner and attend the workshop. He came along with peter phil’s coteacher and we all had a great time. We did a drama based on scientific ethics. I was dr. kavorkian…hilarious!

7-4-07 happy 4th of july!

2007-07-13T23:24:00.001-04:00

It has been raining for days! It only sort of stops for a little bit and then starts up again. The road to school is super slick. So today I had early class so I left the house around 7. After class I had a lot of time so I wanted to come back to the house. It was bound to happen and it did…I fell in the mud! Flat on my butt! I wasn’t hurt but I was muddy. The worst part was walking by the old women at the bore hole getting water and them laughing at me and then people on the road saying “you fell” not asking me but reminding me. I would say yes it is ok and they would say “ so sorry”
The cookies were a hit at the round table.
We had dinner as normal but the staff were having a party at the other house. After they were done eating we went over there to hang out and dance. It was so fun! I made popcorn to take…so yummy! We danced for a long time and had a blast!

7-3-07 my cup runneth over!

2007-07-13T23:23:00.001-04:00

Today was an incredible day. It started with saying goodbye to the HEALS volunteers, not so incredible. Then I went to the IC office to meet a mentor, Evelyn, to shadow for a bit. IC’s scholarship program is really great and each student not only has to go through an application process and maintain strict requirements but they once accepted they get school fees and financial aid and a mentor. This mentor keeps track of the student and his or her progress and makes sure everything in life is going ok. I got to walk around with Evelyn to three houses to talk with the guardians of the students. Evelyn, like most mentors, has about 30 students she is responsible for. She visits the homes at least once a month and meets with the students at least once a month. It is a lot of work but really great! The first house we visited was a woman who had 8 children but only 3 were actually her biological children, she said she takes care of “desperate children” These kids aren’t even related to her! She just finds out about them through different situations and takes them in. She was really an incredible lady. It is amazing how giving some people are even when they have nothing. She spoke about the Lord and how she just knew that is what He wanted her to do. I told her she had a beautiful heart and she smiled. The next was Florence. We spent the most time here. She is a mother of 5 or 6 and her husband recently died. She was a stay at home wife/mother but has recently had to take up farming to support her family. She was extremely hard working and proud. You could tell that she missed her husband and that things were not easy but there was just something about her that told me she would be ok. She is strong and a fighter and I know that she will make it. Every day around 10:10 we get tea at school and Florence insisted that we stay for tea and mandazi (a fried dough thing that is soo good in the super sweet African tea). So we did. I asked Evelyn if a lot of the guardians gave her stuff when she came because it is such a cultural thing. She said that some did but she tried to get them not to and they usually didn’t after the first few visits. Then we went to the last house. It was pretty far into the little area we were in. We came upon a blind man that was apparently the uncle of the student. When we walked up Evelyn told him that I was there and he was very happy to have me there. He went back to his hut and brought out chairs for everyone. Apparently he wasn’t always blind but became blind from some sickness.
As we walked from house to house I talked with Evelyn about her work with IC and her life in Gulu. She told me about how she came to work at IC and that she missed her family who lived in another part of Uganda but she seemed hopeful that they would be able to move to Gulu soon.
I left the office to go teach my one class for the day at Gulu high. Then Patrick and I went to lunch together. Here comes the good stuff. Here is what I actually wrote in my journal when I go home from lunch:
It’s 3:45 and I am sitting in the living room exploding on the inside! I had the most amazing exchange with Patrick today. We had class (I introduced foldables) and then we went to lunch. Until now, Patrick and I haven’t interacted much on a personal or emotional level. We walked together to lunch and talked a little just about how the program was ending and such. At Bora-Bora we missed the people we were going to meet so it was just us. We walked about the time we have shared and what we have learned. He shared that it wasn’t him learning new things but being reminded of what he already knew and ho to implement it. I told him that I have learned so much about how he can work with so many and with so little and the responsibility of the teacher in the lives of my students. We also shared a lot about our personal lives. He shared about his family and how he misses then and I told him I would pray for them to be able to come here (his wife and children still live in the town he came from because he was just transferred and she might be able to get a job in Gulu). He asked me about my life and I shared a little of my story. One of the best parts is when we shared our memories and we both laughed about when I fell the first day!
It was such a great conversation! It really showed that this program can be successful and that there was good that came from it and was just awesome!
I went home and amy and I made no bake chocolate-oatmeal cookies for our last round table at Gulu high. We had some good discussion about me coming back and what that would look like and how to do it to best benefit the program and the teachers involved…hmm

7-2-07

2007-07-13T23:22:00.002-04:00

This morning I had some apple in my oatmeal which was a treat! The apples are not even close to as good as the states but it was nice just the same. I gave half of it to Catherine because she is my fiber buddy (: it’s the small things you know.
It was Amy’s birthday so we took her to town to shop and such and then Catherine and amy and I went to Boma to get massages and hot showers. It was glorious and so cheap. Margo came and met us after her class and we just had some girlie time.
We met 2 guys in the airport on our way here that were taking high schoolers to the southern part of Uganda to build schools. They called amy and said that they wanted to come to Gulu to see what invisible children is all about and such. So Catherine and I went to meet them and show them around a bit. It was fun to meet new munus in Gulu. We shared a hilarious 12 year old moment at hotel roma where we met them. Catherine and I had sort of built up the whole thing in our minds and by the time we were entering the place we had decided that we were about to meet prince charming, just being dumb. So as we were sitting there one of the guys was talking about seminary and she sort of kicked me under the table just to be funny. Well I just grinned a bit to let her know I “heard” her but she couldn’t handle it and just started laughing. I tried to keep it in but couldn’t. It was a horrible time to start laughing because the other guy was telling us about himself. It was just so funny…
We hung out a bit and then went back to the house for dinner. We had special cake for amy’s birthday and made sangria with not so great wine but really really great fruit. Jamie, Catherine, margo, seth, and I made a birthday song to the tune of “I blessed the rains down in Africa” it was so fun. The song turned into a small dance party on the front lawn. The dance party turned into mud sliding (for which I excused myself). The four of them got totally coated in mud. We heard them yelling and such so I thought it would be hilarious to shut off the water and act like we had no water. It was late by this time so they would have to walk to the bore hole in the pitch black night and pump water to wash with. They came around the house and when they found out it was priceless. Poor Jamie had checked to make sure we had water before he jumped in the mud and he felt so bad that he had led in the mud dancing and gotten everyone into it. He grabbed his head and said “this feels like a bad dream” it was so cute. He wasn’t distraught but he was a little upset. We had them going for a while. It was genious!

7-1-07

2007-07-13T23:22:00.001-04:00

Today was a great day in Gulu. Catherine and I went to church at Gulu High. The students organize the service. It was awesome, just what Church in Africa was like in my mind. There was singing and dancing and it was great. It really felt genuine. The service is sort of a mix of Catholic and Protestant. The priest didn’t even show up but they still did the service for the most part. It was awesome! I have some great video if you are interested to hear some old gospel hymns Gulu style.
Then Margo and I went to the market to pick up some fruit to take to Grace’s. Grace is the dance teacher at Gulu High. We have been going to dance a lot since we have been here so she wanted to have us over for dinner. Margo, Jamie, and Seth went earlier in the day and killed 2 chickens that she will prepare for hours and then we will all feast!
Grace lives near Irene, another teacher, so her daughter took us to Grace’s because they couldn’t remember how to get there.
We spent a while there with Grace and her family.
Then we all went to HEALS to see the kids dance and the mural the girls (megan and chrstine did). It was a fun time.
Then amy and I went to the market to get stuff for Sunday dinner! I love that tradition because it gives Doreen the day off and it gives us a chance to bond (: plus I love to cook for people. Bryan and Josh and I tried to watch a movie but it was blood diamond and I told kylie that I wouldn’t watch it til I got home and I just couldn’t watch it yet.
I went to bed pretty early but after I had sort of fallen asleep amy came in and gave me a letter from michelle! It was so stinkin great! I loved it. It totally touched my heart. It was great to hear from home and to feel a little closer. Thanks so much michelle!

6-31-07

2007-07-04T08:19:00.000-04:00

Catherine and I went to Gulu High for church. It is a sort of blend of catholic and protestant service but it was super great. It is organized and led by the students! There was singing and dancing and clapping and it felt like an African service. The priest didn't even show up and the students still did the reading and singing and such. It was soo great. I am so glad that I went. I got to see some of my students and really worship in Africa!

We came back and I went and got fruit to take to Grace's (the dance teacher). She had Catherine, Seth, Margo, Jamie, and me over for lunch because we had helped with dance. Seth, Margo, and Jamie went earlier and killed 2 chickens! It was really an experience! She let me help with the rice and pour the water to wash everyone's hands. Her husband told us stories. It is really hard to listen to acholi stories in a hot cramped house after a meal in the middle of the day. I was struggling to stay awake but it was still such a cool time.

Then we went to HEALS to see the kids dance and the mural that the girls painted. It is really a neat place. It is an organization that Jolee started for kids and moms and such.

Then we went shopping for dinner and made Mexican. I really love the Sunday dinner tradition. I love that it gives Doreen the day off and that we spend time together preparing food.

I was pretty tired early so I just went to bed early. Amy came in after I had sort of fallen asleep and gave me a letter! Michelle wrote me a letter! It was so great to get! It was just a short sweet note but I definitely cried. Some of you know that I cant take things when I first wake up and it really just touched me and was so great to feel so close to the people I love again. It was so exactly what I needed right then. It had actually come Friday but Amy forgot to give it to me.

6-30-07

2007-07-04T08:16:00.000-04:00

Today was our first teaching and learning conference. One highlight was the cat walk. Amy (film intern) had the camera set up in the middle of the back of the room and the chairs were in two groups so there was a middle aisle. She was having us do catwalks and I sat with Patrick and tried to get him to do one. He said "if you do it again I will do it" I totally jumped on that. So I did it again and he did it! It was awesome! He is so great!

Our family picture.

The conference was really successful I think. The teachers were really into it and I think there was a lot of great discussion. Some of the presentations were hard to listen to but overall I would say it was very successful and most of us are looking forward to next sat. All 3 schools will present on different topics so that should be interesting.

One funny thing is that Bryan and I went to pick up some of the guests who were from Lubiri, the school we visited in Kampala. When we left everyone said that a few of the guys had a crush on me and apparently they had come with the headmaster. They had gone out the night before and Catherine and Margo met up with them and they had asked about me. It wasn't too bad though. One funny thing is that one of the guys asked me for my nametag and he said he was going to hang it in his house. Funny!

After the conference Margo and I went to town with Helen (Catherine's teacher) and Grace ( a teacher from Sir Samuel Baker). We picked up some minutes for our phone and got some fruit. After dinner Catherine, Margo, Angie, Beth, Amy, and I went to Boma for a drink and hung out for a bit. Our curfew has been moved to 9 so we only stayed for an hour.

6-29-07

2007-07-04T08:14:00.000-04:00

Today was sort of an off day. I ran but it didn't do the trick. I hope I don't get constipated again. Catherine and I walked to town together and went to the internet café and then she met up with Helen her teacher and they hung out. I did some errands in the market and went home to do some grading. I was supposed to meet up with Patrick but he had to go to the bank so I just finished grading. I was a little tired and the disorganization of the dance really got to me. Sadly it made me a little short with the kids but luckily my sisters (Catherine and Margo) called me on it later and it made me think about some things and hopefully learn from it. Being a teacher is a big responsibility and your impact is huge and you have to be aware of that at all times.

6-28-07

2007-07-04T08:10:00.000-04:00

I was supposed to meet Bryan at Boma for breakfast but he ended up having to stay at school so I just had breakfast by myself. It was nice. Boma is sort of a big porch place so you can sit and look outside. It is sort of outside the city of Gulu so it is not busy or loud. I had some yummy African coffee (they make it with milk) and a fruit bowl. Then I went to town to do some errands and then went to school and dance.

6-27-07

2007-07-04T08:09:00.000-04:00

I felt much better today. I had 3 classes and planned some and we had our round table after school. Lessons at school have been going really well. Patrick and I are working really well together.

6-26-07

2007-07-04T08:08:00.000-04:00

Amy got Catherine and I worm pills and they added to my already not ok tummy made me super sick today. I got up and went to the internet after a night of 4 latrine visits, not the best idea. It was really hot and I thought I was going to pass out. I got some water but it didn't help much. I took a boda back and it was the scariest ride yet. He was going so fast that I actually left the seat when we hit a bump. That on top of not feeling well made me tell him "you slow down" pretty harshly. O well they drive crazy and need to be told. I laid on the couch and missed my 12:10 class. I called Patrick and told him I wasn't coming and just slept on the couch. I was able to make my 2:20 class and just took it easy the rest of the night.

6-25-07 Monday

2007-07-04T08:05:00.000-04:00

I think that weekend downtime gives us all a lot of time to reflect and think critically about why we are here and our impact. We have all been struggling with these issues: are we doing more harm than good, are we here for just us? Bryan and I had a really good discussion and I kind of came to the conclusion that we have to rely on God and the fact that He brought us here and He will take care of us and use us in whatever He has planned and whatever that is will work out to our good and the good of those here. I know that some of you have been worried for me and I hope that is an encouragement to you because it sure was to me!

Catherine and I went to Holy Rosary, a Catholic church here in Gulu. Then we had a discussion about how we felt that religion felt like a product of colonialism. The service did not feel African at all. It felt totally out of place and fake. It is scary to say but it is the way we both felt. I saw some people who really seemed into it but I just don't know. It is sad to know that a lot of people who identify themselves as Christians will go to the witch doctors and such if something really bad happens. Sometimes it just feels like the people are mimicking the white man- which is straight from colonialism and oppression.

My tummy hurts and Catherine and I think we might have worms…yikes!

6-24-07

2007-07-04T07:59:00.000-04:00

Sat night Catherine and I met Rachel for a drink at the corner café, which is a little bar-ish place. We thought we were going to go dance but it didn't happen. My mom called as we walked and it was great to talk to her. Getting phone calls is the bomb! We had some really interesting conversation about colonialism and oppression here and racism in the states. It was really great to have such different perspectives come together to discuss things. Talking about culture I mentioned that I felt like I didn't have a culture. It is interesting because some things have been so "normalized" that we don't see them as cultural but they are. It is also interesting to think about culture in America because people are so different and there are so many different cultures. After that discussion I felt like I wanted to really analyze my life and find out my culture.

More processing. Not intentionally analyzing things but just sitting with down time and my brain keeps working. Who am I and what of worth to I have to offer and if anything how do I "give" it to these people, this area? I know that there is a part of being here that is for me and that is something that is hard to swallow. At the same time I know that God is teaching me and molding me using this experience and that I am going to be able to share so much and learn so much. Finding my part here in the culture is still important though. I guess my part is in the classroom. I have realized that I am here to get more critical thought into practice, methodology, and technique. It is odd that I am in that role because it seems to be a very mature role and I am still such a novice, but I am here doing what I can. I do think that there will be progress and that this program will be beneficial but I don't know if I will actually see it and it may be very slow in coming. One of the biggest obstacles in the math classroom is the syllabus and the focus on the national tests. It seems very rigid and strict. However, Patrick has made some changes and really seems to be open to trying things and doing his own thing to a certain extent. Another obstacle that seems to be across the board is that Ugandan teachers know what to do and can tell you all about it but implementation is just not there. They can spout of test answers to method and technique questions but they do not implement the theories in their practice. The absence of critical thinking is definitely a result of colonialism and it is so difficult to show someone that they are not critically thinking when they think they are and they really have no reference point as to what real critical thought is. Lastly, the absence of formative assessment means it is hard to track progress and effectiveness of lessons.

I think it is good that I am here but if I am going to do this again I would love to plan workshops and things like that along with teaching because I think that would be very beneficial.

Bryan, Catherine, Phil, and I discussed our time in the camp. I think we felt our presence was not really taken well and sort of invasive. It is tough because it is good to experience because it just isn't real on tv but it is not good because of the impact your presence can make and such. The "disguise" of doing a job felt very contrived and fake. How to make that a reality and still maintain integrity and dignity of the people in the camp is a question we wrestled with.

Later that night I was just sitting around. Being in a crowded house but feeling alone is a strange thing. Its funny because I feel like we are really close but there is still a part of me that feels far away and unknown to people here. I have really realized that learning to let people in at home and the relationships that I have there really make a difference in my life. I am so blessed to have such close friends that are my family.

We cooked Sunday dinner again and it was super fun. I love to cook!

6-24-07

2007-06-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

More processing of the last days events and my time here has brought me to a little bit different place. I think that my place here is in the classroom. God has gifted me with the passion and ability to teach and I am using what He has given me to help His children in a destitute land. I feel most connected and engaged in the classroom lately and have to cling to that to get me through the other emotions. Also being aware of my disconnect and my displacement here and the impacts I can and do make is very important and I am glad that I can critically think about it. I feel like my purpose here is 2 fold. 1 to offer ideas and methods in the classroom and 2 to empower the teacher I am working with to know that he is worthwhile and what he does is important and that he has expertise and should make his voice heard to make changes (if that is what he wants). The idea of getting an acholi to think critically is a very huge endeavor. A byproduct of oppression is no critical thinking and we are seeing that every day in multiple ways. In the discussion with the ambassadors wife a student asked if the way African Americans dressed was bad. We were a little confused by the question but he wanted us to tell him if it was good or bad. We said what do you think, and he just sort of stared. He didn't want to know what he thought he wanted us to tell him what to think. That happens a lot in the classroom. Students are not taught to question or investigate but are just spoon fed information to memorize for tests. A student asked me to redo a problem once and I said no. I told him he had to show me what he didn't understand because if I just redid it the same way nothing would change. He was so confused.

We went to Holy Rosary church. It was packed out. It was odd because the priest was white and I think from Verona. We sat in the back and side in a sea of kids. It took them a while to get used to our presence but they eventually did. Jamie, an intern that lives with us, did a reading and he is volunteering and singing in the choir so that was neat. Catherine and I discussed that the Christian religion here is sort of an affect of colonialism and therefore oppression. It is hard to take because they think they know but I don't think they do. A lot of people who identify themselves as Christians will, when something really bad happens, go straight to the witch doctor.

Sunday's Doreen is off so we cook dinner together. We made spaghetti and bruschetta. It was yummy and fun to cook. It is an adventure cooking for so many people when there is no running water and you have to boil all the water you use.

Then I tried to watch arrested development on dvd. Not my kind of show.

6-23-07

2007-06-26T14:54:00.000-04:00

Today we went to the internet in the morning. It is such a blessing to get posts and emails from friends that are praying for me and thinking of me and supporting me. It means so much to me.

At 11ish we got in a matatoo (van) and headed to Awer (away) IDP camp. The history here is that the UPDF told the people of northern Uganda that they had X amount of days (maybe 2) to move into these camps a few years ago so that they could protect them from the LRA easier. Unfortunately, they were not able to protect them completely and there were many raids on the camps. Now that the conflict is over (at least for now) the people are still in these camps because they really don't have anything to go home to. For most of them their gardens, fields, and live stock are gone and even their homes are not in livable condition. As for the kids, the schools are not there. Most have been displaced closer to the camps. Invisible Children is really trying to implement programs and repairs to help these people get out of this situation. One way is the bracelet campaign. The bracelets are made in the camps by the people there to help them make some money. There are small financial assistance opportunities and initiatives to try to foster economic independence and growth.

On the way there I felt very strange. I have learned a term, conflict tourism, and I felt that I was doing that. I wanted to see the braclet makers and meet them and such but the fact that we had to go to this camp made me feel uneasy.

That is a constant tension here. What am I doing and what are my motivations? I do not want to become the oppressor and it is so hard because you are viewed that way because of your skin. Automatically you are right and an expert or here to display your power or dominance or spend all this money that you have in your pocket. It is a tension that I am aware of and try to be conscious of when making decisions and in interactions. It doesn't seem to be such an issue in the classroom because I think that my teacher really understands that I am here learning and to give ideas and to exchange but not to change or teach or implement but it was an issue in the camp. We went with our group of 6 teachers, megan and Christine (HEALS volunteers) and Valerie and her friend who works in Rwanda.

When we arrived we drove right up to the hut where the bracelet makers were. We sat with them for a few minutes and heard walter, the leader of the makers, speak about what they do and how they are chosen and also the extra programs he has implemented like the micro-loans and vision for the future. It is good to know that he is thinking ahead because he even said that the bracelet making will not be forever and hopefully they will not be in the camp too much longer. The bracelet makers are chosen. Many are widows or widowers, returnees, disabled, and child mothers. Even in that I think that there is tension. Obviously we did not witness it but I am sure that there is hostility towards the people who are chosen.

Then we were given "jobs" to do. It felt very contrived and sort of like a cover to come see the camp.

Phil and bryan pumped water and filled jerry cans and carried them to the huts. It seemed great but the act of carrying a woman's jerry can is not looked upon favorably. They are given a hard time for not carrying it themselves and especially if it is a man carrying it and a munu at that. They said that some people got upset when their jerry can wasn't getting filled. Amy informed us that sometimes there is a pecking order and not really about first come first served. She wasn't there with us. And the thing is is that walter gave us our jobs and set us there with directions that seem maybe to have been not what the people there want. It makes me think of that oppressor mentality that sometimes the oppressed take on the job and nature of their oppressors even to their own people.

Megan and seth sold items in the little market area. Pretty much they just sat there and talked with the people. But it seemed very strange because they just sat by these people who really didn't have any interest in sitting with them.

Catherine, margo, and I cleaned out this old room at the clinic and moved boxes of supplies into it. I mean I guess that was work that needed to be done but I definitely felt strange thinking about these people sitting there waiting all day to be seen by the few nurses and doctors while I come in in my name brand sneakers and capris and move some boxes like I am actually doing something. Its that tension of the desire to help and the idea that you may be doing more harm than good.

Much of the feelings these people have about whites comes from colonialism and oppression.

It is kind of odd writing this now because it is actually Monday the 25th. So I have had more time to process things and I am assuming my feelings will even change more as I am here longer. So this issue will come up again and different perspectives of it will arise.

So after we got back we just sort of hung out at the house for the afternoon, played scrabble and sort of regained our breath.

I took a shower, which is always an event, and just sat around thinking. I wasn't reflecting intentionally it was just one of those times that your brain keeps thinking and you really have no control over it.

One thing that came to my mind that is really hard to swallow is that there is a little part of this experience that is just for me. Its not about serving or giving or anything it is about me and what the Lord wants to teach me here. Being in an IDP camp seeing these things made me feel so selfish. Like I was there just to have the experience. Wrestling with that has been challenging.

6-22-07

2007-06-26T14:47:00.000-04:00

Today was a good and busy day. Catherine and I had our Friday morning walk and it was a little rainy again. It is nice. It rains a good bit here, on average once a day or every other day. When the rain skips days, or 3 like earlier this week, it gets soo dry and dusty.

After we went to the internet we met the new teachers at Bora Bora for lunch. I love the sweet potatoes there. It is different than our sweet potatoes, these are white. One of the new teachers knows some people who are pushing to get orange sweet potatoes in this region because they are high in vitamin A and there are a lot of people in developing and 3 rd world countries who have diseases because they are vitamin A deficient. Interesting.

After lunch we took a few of the teachers around some of the outside market and to the internet café. It was strange because I am not an expert of the area by any means and I know that I wanted to know where some things were at first but the best way to learn the area is just to explore. I feel like it is totally safe during the day to walk around and explore. I like to go by myself or with one other person. I don't really like walking through town in a big group of munus because its either like a Disney parade or you can also encounter some hostility. Nothing major just looks and maybe a comment or two.

After that I walked around a bit and then met Patrick to plan. I am going to teach Mondays lesson pretty much alone and then the next lesson we are both doing investigative activities and we are going to compare them. That is the lesson that will be videoed so that should be interesting.

After that seth and I went to dance. It was fun. We did all the dances we have been doing plus the ax one. I cant remember the name but it is the mating dance and there is a part where the boy puts his arm on your shoulder and pulls you around. It was funny to watch the kids realize that they are going to have to do this with a munu. They were squirming and laughing, but they did it and it was fun.

As we were walking out we met up with Jamie, Catherine, and margo. The 5 of us went to this hill Jamie had found to watch the sunset. It was so nice. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see the sunset but it was a good time none-the-less. The highlights were:

the fact that we had a bottle of wine we all drank out of and sprite and bagged vodka cocktails. That's right the vodka comes in bags.

I fell a little down the hill and busted up my knee pretty well.

We met a ton of the people that live around there and they seemed pretty nice.

We ran and danced and sang our way home in the dusk and then dark. It was amazing fun!

I don't know if I have written that I have instituted hugs here at the volunteer house. It is funny how physical touch is something that we all need. Things like that and just being here have made me realize what an amazing family I have at home. I am so blessed with brothers and sisters through my friends. My heart overflows when I start thinking about how well my Lord loves me through His children. I got an email about a prayer time that happened at my apartment. What!? The idea that people even think of me when I am not in the room makes my heart burst and then to plan to get together to pray for me while I am away, I don't have words to describe what that does to me. Thank you so much those of you that have prayed and posted and thought of me. Your love and support mean more to me than I can express.

6-21-07

2007-06-23T21:21:00.000-04:00

The second group has arrived. They seem to be pretty cool people. Laid back and diverse. Angie and I ran this morning. We called it an adventure run because we were lost half the time. It was nice though. And I went to the bathroom again. That is 3 days in a row! Thanks so much for the prayers!

I had to go to the acholi inn for a shower because we still don't have water and we were meeting the u.s. ambassador to Uganda. We all got dolled up and went to the bank of Uganda where his wife was facilitating a book talk with some of the IC scholarship students. IC has developed this scholarship/mentor program that is really great. It pays students school fees and provides mentors to them. Jolee was there as well. After the talk the ambassadors wife opened it up to general questions. The questions ranged from laws on pornography to racism in the u.s. the kids where really knowledgeable about world affairs. We missed the ambassadors speech where he apparently asked us to stand. We met him outside before he left and shook his hand and spoke to him briefly. He invited us to the 4 th of july celebration at the embassy in kampala. We will still be in Gulu but it was neat to get an invite. I am pretty sure any American in Uganda is invited. Jolee spoke after the discussion about how great it is to get the students talking and asking questions and encouraged them to keep doing that and keep working hard. She is really an amazing woman. I went up to her and let her know what a presence she had.

Jolly & Brenda