Lacy's account of the medical outreach

*Lacy is a visitor from MI who is living with us for 5 short weeks. We have really enjoyed having her stay with us and I was really glad she was willing to join us in Karamoja (not that I gave her much choice!) even though she had only been in Uganda two days before we headed out there. Here is her account of some of our adventures....

            Karamoja was definitely one of the greatest adventures I have ever been on.  I felt like I had been dropped into a cover of National Geographic, with the mud huts and village women in their pleaded skirts and beads.  It was amazing, the land and mountains are beautiful.  Out there, there can be no doubt in your mind that God exists and that He is an awesome creator.  The day we left was a long day and definitely gave me a taste for how the rest of the two weeks were going to go and how I was really going to have to practice patience and flexibility.

              My first night was spent in a mud hut with Jennifer and then every night after that was in our tent where a lot of debriefing occurred.  The things you would think would be difficult I got used to pretty quickly like using pit latrine, showering with a cup, and 2nd degree sun burns.  What wasn't as easy to get used to was the staring by every member of the village, eating posho and beans two times a day and waking up at 5:30am to clap and sing in a circle. 

Our latrine

Our shower- there are 3 stalls  in this amazing piece of construction

Making posho for 70 people- yum!!

            The first day we walked into the middle of town every eye was on Jennifer and I. Then a crowd formed around us and people were pulling at us and were asking for food.  We quickly left and went back up to our camp.  I loved our tent camp.  In the mornings while the medical team taught the VHTs I would stay up at the camp and sit and talk with the CLIDE staff.  They are some of the most amazing men and women I have ever met.  They truly love God and love serving people.  They are always joking around and having fun with one another.  I usually talked with  James, who was nicknamed the padlock because he was in charge of everything being stored,  Matthew , who was the key since he was always getting the food out of the store because he was in charge of cooking all of our meals. Richard, who was a driver hired for the trip, Julius who did most of the technical work, and  Anne who helped with the planning and evangelism. My mornings spent with them were some of my favorite times up there. 

            Then in the afternoons I would help with clinic.  I helped with the pharmacy which was definitely a learning experience....very frustrating at times...but rewarding as well.  One CLIDE member that helped me a lot was Moses a CLIDE staff member who is Karamojung himself and therefore knew the language and was my interpreter for many of the clinics.  He is quiet, but I can tell He has a big heart for the people and the Lord.  It was his calmness that helped me get through many of the clinics. 

Richard and Moses at the pharmacy tables keeping things under control. 

         There was one clinic where it started to pour and everyone was trying to fit under a few tarps we had up.  It was an awesome moment where we all had to just stop and wait and watch the rain pour down around us and the ground became thick and muddy under us.  You would think things would become chaotic in this situation, but everyone remained calm and children played in the rain and we waited.  Everything comes to a stand still when it rains.  It is almost like God's way of telling us to stop and relax and take a break from the day and prepare for whats next. 

            You could definitely feel the Holy Spirit's presence in Nakayot.  Every morning we would begin the day with singing and praying and asking the Lord to help us with the day ahead.  Though it was difficult for me to get up so early when it was still dark to clap and sing, it was still so important that we gave the day into God's hands.  So many amazing things happened throughout the two weeks I was there and it wasn't because of us, it was ALL God.  It is hard to believe that there are still people who have not heard about Jesus before like the people of Nakayot.  It is awesome that there is now over 500  new believers and thousands more who now know the story of Jesus.

            CLIDE showed the Jesus story the first couple nights in the middle of the village by way of projector and sheet.  Then there was a request by the people to see it again the last night.  So they played the whole movie for three hours and it was estimated that 3000 people from the village and surrounding villages came to watch.  I went down for the last hour of the movie and it was something I'm sure I will never see again.   Hundreds of people sitting in front of a sheet many of them watching a moving picture for the first time.  There were many people crying during the crucifixion of Christ and then when He arose again everyone cheered.  It was pretty awesome.  The whole trip was amazing and I really hope I can return someday and see the continual growth of the village and the new church of Nakayot.                     

Crowd waiting for the start of the movie.

Setting up the projector midst a mass of people.