For such a time as this....

Savings and Loan

2012-02-01T19:26:00.000+03:00

I was talking with several individuals from Soroti that I regularly interact with. Several times today topics came up that made me think about saving. Now, before I go any further I want to ask you to quickly picture the thing you are saving for. What is that big thing that one day you’ll break open the piggy bank for? (Figuratively speaking.) Got it pictured? O.K- I’ll continue.

As I was driving out to Katine village, Angelina (my translator and consultant on all issues cultural) was telling me about her saving group that was going to meet later in the day. She told me that one woman was saving to purchase a large bag of charcoal to resell bit by bit (the principle to start a business. Price tag: around $25.) Another in her group was saving to purchase tires and tubes for her wheelchair. (Price tag: about $10.) Yet another was saving to put a few tin sheets on the roof of her house. (Price tag: maybe $50.) When asking how long most in her group will be saving Angelina told me most likely more than one year. They put in 2,000 shillings a week- that will purchase several meals, but is less than $1. The car got quiet as I pondered this. When we reached the village I couldn’t help but ask Lazaro’s mother if she was saving for something. Yes was the answer. Sandals and a new dress. (Roughly $3.50. As much as $6 if it is a really nice dress.) I asked how much she had already saved. None. She then told me how school fees are due right now and she has 9 kids. I know that only 4 of them are going to school and I’m paying the fees for one but still, 3 kids in school means she will be saving for that dress and sandals for a few more years yet. I was walking along the road in town and I met Tabatha. A woman who is employed (and paid well I may add!) by one of my team mates. The conversation came around somehow to how she was saving for a bike. I know this is something that very many Ugandans are saving for. A bike really makes travel and life easier. It makes carrying firewood, water, well, practically anything, easier. Many are saving for one but a limited number have one. Having been thinking about it all morning I couldn’t help but ask Tabatha how much she had saved already for her bike. I got a very long discourse about money being spent for Christmas, for medicine for one of the girls, about a funeral in the village…. The short of the answer? None. The best woman’s bicycle that you can purchase in Soroti is 150,000 shillings. $53. She could save that much if she really set her mind to it and said no every time others asked for money from her. But many know that she has a good job and it is just considered wrong to turn away a family member of friend when they ask for help. Even though you know you will most likely never be repaid. I just went outside and asked Uruis (the night watchman of the place I’m staying) if he is saving for anything. He got quite animated and told me all about a piece of land that he is going to buy. When I asked him how much he saved already he became much quieter and told me that, actually he was too far in debt. You see he had just bought a bull. After a few more questions I learned that he had received a very large advance from a “wealthy” foreigner (someone like me) and was going to be paying it off for quite a while. I know that his employer is not Ugandan but if he had been, the odds of that large of an advance were slim to none and he may never have gotten a bull. After a few more questions, I finally got out of him that the bull is actually step one in getting the land. Eventually, the bull will be resold. (So, reading between the lines- he invested in the bull so that now when family asks to “borrow” money he can show them the bull and explain that he has no money to give them. Everyone knows how expensive a bull is so they understand when he says he has no money.) One last anecdote from the day about saving. On the way home from the village I asked Angelina what she was saving for. She gave me this wonderful explanation of how blind children would benefit so much from a nursery school (like a pre-school) so they can begin at a very young age to take care of themselves instead of being locked away until they are 8 or 9 years old then struggling in the blind school. She told me she knows of several children who could start right now and how she would add a room onto her house and keep them right there with her and how they can easily learn to use a cane and learn to do chores and the freedom it would bring for them. She talked our whole way back about it and she has it well planned out. It cannot be said about her that she doesn’t dream big. I asked her how much she had saved already? Actually none. I should add here that Angelina herself is blind and has no income to speak of.

By the way, I’m not telling you all of this so that you will contribute. I know our American mindset is that we can just fix these things. I have the money that most of these guys need for the thing that they are dreaming for. But well… it just isn’t the answer. I’m not sure what the point of my mental wandering tonight is. The thing I clearly saw is that without a savings group or a wealthy, benevolent “friend” who is in a position to save their money for them (in the form of an advance on wages) very few Ugandans manage to save anything or get ahead. Why? What is the root of this problem and how can I address that instead of just handing money out?

Amecet

2012-01-31T13:20:00.002+03:00

One more thing today: I write often about Amecet. Will you join me in praying for their ministry? They are a baby shelter run by Ugandans and folks from the Netherlands under the direction of Youth With a Mission. They are going through some serious struggles and spiritual battles. We need to hold up these fellow missionaries. Also, back in September I wrote about Immaculate from Amecet. She ended her battle with AIDS a while back and is now free of the endless suffering she experienced in this life.

A few pictures from the trip north...

2012-01-31T07:41:00.000+03:00

Too long between posts again but I've been in the village so what can you do? Anyway, around the 20th I'd heard rumor that CLIDE was headed out to Nakyot again so I went over to the office and asked if I could go too. Mam nache, they said. No problem. So I got ready to go know knowing they wanted to send the "advance team" early and that was my best bet for a ride. They didn't tell me several things, which in hindsight was good because I would have retracted my request but now that it's done I'm glad I didn't jump ship. I quickly saw that their planning was more disjointed than ever before so even though they had planned to head up on the 22nd and we finally got there on the 24th. Also, they hadn't mentioned until the 23rd that the reason for the trip was that 18 Americans were coming. Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I like Americans, but 18 short term workers for a week in Nakoyot isn't a walk in the park. But by that point I'd cleared my schedule and had 40 pounds of medical supplies packed so was committed.

After a few morning hours of packing we are almost ready to go.

They were a great group willing to work hard and live rough and do what needed to be done. I'm really glad I had a chance to work with them. They fall under the umbrella of I AM SECOND and their purpose was to jump start the church in Nakyot.

Three days we hiked the roughly 8 km (round trip) to Alakas where many wanted to hear about Jesus.

We had to take a military escort with us from Nakayot out to Alakas and I didn't envy this guy's load.

This is Dina. She is one of the women who translates for me. Those are pumpkin drying in the sun to be food as the dry season continues and no plants will be able to produce anything eatable in the not so distant future.

Some village women who were asking for medicine and immunizations for their kids and HIV tests for themselves.

Young men in the village wiling away the heat of the day with a game in the shade.

After long, hot, full days these guys were willing to help me treat some of the medical cases in the village. Lots of infected leg wounds, and bug infestations of the feet. I was quite happy to delegate those cases. On top of that they counted hundreds of pills, tested for malaria and did all sorts of other things. THANKS GUYS!!!

No major medical issues this time, a 3 week old with pneumonia had us scrambling for a bit to figure out what antibiotic we could use and how to dose it. But after consultation with the vet on the team and the pediatrics nurse doing the med calculations the baby will do fine I think. A few ear infections and some abscesses, arthritis and parasites. Mostly I was free to spend the day with the team doing discipleship. Overall it was a good trip and I think I'll be headed back the end of next week. Thanks to those of you who were praying!

Meggan- this one is for you!

2012-01-19T14:52:00.000+03:00

Let's see.. time to blog again but what about? I call this blog my mental wandering and this post may cover a mile or so.
I'm really content right now. Staying in Kaiser's house is nice. (They may have to evict me when they get back.) Nice big kitchen, quiet neighborhood. I've discovered they often don't have water at their kitchen sink (because it isn't connected to their storage tank but instead directly to the city water and clearly the water is only on a few hours a day) but I don't like doing dishes anyway so that is no big deal. Power is still off about every other day so several nights a week I lay sweltering under my mosquito net trying to decide if I'd rather die of heat stroke or run the risk of dying of malaria if I take the net down. At least the nights the power is on a fan makes a huge difference and I don't have to worry about either.

I'm officially training for the Uganda Triathalon. Once again trying to plan out a training program while wondering what the heck I'm thinking. But as much as I complain I like the challenge. I'll still have to try to do it with practically no swim workouts but I've got plenty of space to run and lots of opportunity to ride.

I've got all of “our” kids ready to go back to school next week. They have their books and pencils, uniforms are being sewn, and registration fees are paid. I went to Betty's home to visit her elderly grandmother (and primary caregiver) and twice she talked about how it was time for her to die. I can't help but wonder where that will leave Betty, Manuel and Joyce.

I hung out at Amecet for a few hours. They have a little guy 1.4 kg at 3 weeks old (3 pounds) and a two day old who is still too weak to suck so they are still feeding him via tube but everyone is healthy. Amazing!

And God is talking to me about TRUTH. John 8:32. As I walk past the Mu5lim mosque or talk with Betty about fearing death I think of it. Really while interacting with so many different people. Several times a day I find myself praying against the lies that Satan uses to bind people in that keep them trapped in fear or sin or depression when what God wants is to set them free with peace and joy and contentment.

And I guess that is enough wandering for today.

Catching up

2012-01-14T15:08:00.002+03:00

Finally internet! But power is out again so this will have to be a quick post so that I can get the rest of them up. I'm settling back into routine. Almost sleeping all the way through the night. 8 pm your time is 4am here. It is usually around then that I wake up with my brain trying to convince the rest of me that it is time to get out of bed. Soroti is HOT and DRY. They tell me it hasn't rained in weeks and it is apparent. When you step out of the shade (which you try not to do!) it feels like a blast furnace. By the end of the day every square inch of my body is gritty and sweaty. But that makes me really enjoy the cold showers....

Anyway, I'm missing all of you! Enjoy the snow for me!

Moving from Komolo Road

2012-01-13T20:00:00.000+03:00

Quick update as I hope to have internet successfullylater today so but I’ll just keep journaling and maybe eventually I’ll get to post it all. I’m sitting in the Kaisers’ house (who are back in Chicago on furlough) withthe majority of my earthly positions sitting in piles around me. These piles seemsboth small and huge. As Betty and Abella were helping me pack it up I couldn’thelp but be embarrassed by this amount of “junk” I “need” to survive. Yet, thispile is tiny compared to when I owned a house and lived in Michigan. I knowthat God is reminding me that I don’t need this stuff. He has blessed mewith it but it is nothing more than worthless worldly accumulations. It ispossibly even holding me back from what He may be calling me to out inKaramoja. Whoa, side tracked… anyway. I’ll be living here in this house for a fewmore weeks until the servant’s quarters of Tiesenga’s house is finished. Yep,that’s right. I’ll be living in servantsquarters. But as Tiesenga’s don’t have servants I think it will be nice. Pictures of my new place will follow soon.

Trying to not get frustrated...

2012-01-12T17:35:00.000+03:00

The past few days have been full of reminders that I'm back in Africa and how much my thinking has reverted back to western expectations. For example, as we packed the vans to begin the 8+ hour trek back to Soroti from Entebee we received aphone call that there were riots in Kampala so somehow we should avoid thecapital. But first was the phone call that the car Beckie and I used to sharewasn’t ready yet and she wouldn’t be able to get it until after midday,whatever time that was. (The mechanic has had it for a week and knew when sheneeded it finished by.) That meant that we had to go into the capital to getour car but after hearing about the riots it wasn’t safe to wait around forwhenever the mechanic decided he would get it back to us. And the road that weusually take to Sorori has gotten so bad that we now go about 100 km more viaLira instead (see map). We really need to be off the roads by dark. So the madscramble to get the supplies we need, to avoid potential bad places in Kampala,to get Beckie’s car and to get on the road with enough time to get home beforedark. We nearly made it. Back to Soroti by 9:00pm.

Another reminder today. The kids arrived to welcome us back and tell us thattoday is the last day of registration for school. I’d been seriouslyconsidering getting two of Betty’s siblings to join her at the slightlybetter school but I knew I was going to have to be the one to get themregistered and pay the fees if that was going to happen as their grandmotherwas not going to take the initiative. So I’m struggling to move out and back inbut took a few hours out of the day to take Manuel and Joyce down to the schooland have them “tested” to figure out what class they belong in. The testing wasa joke as the headmaster (principle) gave them a few questions from last year’stests but read and explained the questions to them. Manuel should be going intoPrimary 5 (5^th grade) but I knew he couldn’t have read the testquestions himself. And for Joyce, he explained to her what the words meant andI know her English isn’t good enough to have understood the test on her own.But I also know they both have to do these tests independently because theirteachers won’t help them and next time they will fail. Anyway, they areregistered, both in classes the same as last year. I really want them to succeedso please join me in praying for them. Manuel really needs to learn to read andJoyce has such potential but has just never had a teacher who will invest inher. And something to look forward to: Next week Monday we go school shopping. Myfavorite.

Joyce is the one in pink with Vicky in red and Janet in yellow.
They are posing in their new skirts and shirts I brought back for them.

Relaxing at the lake

2012-01-09T17:35:00.000+03:00

Sitting contentedly on the beach at lake Victoria today. Travel from the States was pretty straight forward. The Ugandan customs guy decided to throw hisweight around and check one of my bags. He saw all the meds I had and figuredhe should have some for himself. He picked three of my huge Acetaminophenbottles and told me because I hadn't declared all this medical stuff he had toconfiscate it. All he took was that and as I was tired decided not to fight it.I closed the container back up and figured there was no point in trying tologically point out that you don’t have to declare anything coming into Uganda,that I had cases of meds and he was just taking 3 bottles, that he clearly justwanted some for himself or that most likely he didn't know what he took anyway.But I just went with it. It could have been much worse and that was really my only traveling issue.
I was met at theairport at 11pm by wonderfulteammates who helped me load up and get to the place we were staying thatnight. Now, I’ve had a few very nice days to get over the time change and re-acclimate.The whole Team Beyond team is here in Entebee for a few days to pray andworship and figure out our long term strategy. Tomorrow we’ll head back home.

Back

2012-01-08T17:35:00.000+03:00

Back to Uganda. Back to internet that is much less accessible forso many reasons (hence the lack of communication for a while). Back to millionsof bugs in the sink and showering by lantern light. (Which was the case myfirst night here in Uganda). Back to sunburn and mosquito bites instead ofwindburn and frost bite. It feels right to be back. Not easy. But right.

Trying to get ready to go again....

2012-01-01T18:04:00.000+03:00

On the road marked with suffering, though there is pain in the offering, blessed be your name.

The tears come far more easily than I'd like as tomorrow I say goodbye to Benj, Christina and Izaac. Tonight, goodbye to Chip and Susan. Its harder to go this time than before. Possibly because I've been reminded of the creature comforts that I'd rather not give up again. Or because I know the struggles I'm headed back to more intimately. Or maybe because now I know how far away it really feels.Whatever the reasons I don't feel ready... but it's time.
Again, God is stripping away the parts of me that want to cling to the stuff of this world. He is reminding me that He cries with me as I say goodbye and that being willing to surrender to Him is of far more value that trying to live for myself.
My pride says I'm tough. I can do this. But I'd like my pride to speak a little less so I'm asking you to pray. I'm struggling a bit. But the good news? His strength is made perfect in my weakness. And He WILL DO more than I can even ask or imagine.

In the Desert

2011-12-04T21:30:00.000+03:00

I'm struggling a bit, feeling disconnected and disjointed... possibly as evidenced by my lack of writing. Or caused by it- correlation or causation? Anyway, I have four short weeks left in Michigan, though I'm in Indiana as I write tonight. Yesterday I was in California (all of this moving around may have something to do with my feelings of detachment) and had some time in the desert. It snowed, which seems strange as I was just outside of Los Angles but kind of appears fitting as I can't seem to get away from the cold.

I've loved being withso many friends and family and supporters but I'm afraid I've become more of an introvert than before I headed to Uganda (is that possible?!?) and I feel like I need to recharge and decompress or retreat and process but I just don't want to miss out on any time with people. I don't know how to strike a balance. Please just keep praying.

* Addendum- turns out I was in Illinois. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Singing in church

2011-11-20T13:00:00.000+03:00

I miss worshiping in church in Uganda!! In Soroti, when we sing "I will clap Hosanna"- we actually clap. When the song contains the words shout- you shout! When the leader begins waving- well, you get the idea. They have a song that is roughly translated "I'm going to the promised land". I have seen the women get up, tie on their babies, pick up the mat they were sitting on, put their bibles on their heads and dance their way out of the church because they are ready to go to the promised land! The first time I heard it, it had not yet been translated and I thought church was over and we were all headed home.
This week in church we sang and no one clapped or even twitched. I even had to look around to see if others were singing. We weren't standing and some were just sitting without even moving their lips. Did anyone mean what they were listening to?!? We were in God's house but one wouldn't necessarily know it by looking at us. So, the good news is that I don't really care (as much) what others are thinking of me. I worship corporately to honor my Lord. I'm going to sing and put my hands up and clap and possibly even dance. For those of you that also attend Remembrance I considered apologizing to you. But I'm not really sorry. I want my Savior to be honored by what I'm singing on Sunday morning.

Catching up

2011-11-19T20:09:00.001+03:00

Time to blog again…. it still strikes me as strange how many ofyou say you read my mental wanderings…. it makes me recommit to keeping thiscurrent and at least attempting to keep it relevant.

I have really enjoyed seeing so many ofyou guys over the last week. I love catching up with you but I find it makes mesad too because I realize how much I’m missing- friends having weddings and kidsand struggles and major changes and just generally experiencing life and I don’tget to enjoy it with you. I find there have been many of you that we’ve met andhugged and caught up then we say "see you again in a few years". I know most ofus have relationships like this and the only reason that these are differentfor me is that they are more…pronounced, maybe. We all have friends that weonly cross paths ever few years and catch up then part ways again.

OK- I don’t know where I was going withthat thought besides that I’m enjoying seeing all of you again. Thanks for taking time out of your busy days to make me feel like I’m still…. well, still here. That I’m still part of yourlives.

Driving in on the right side of the road

2011-11-13T12:36:00.002+03:00

Yikes! I drove within a day of being back in the states so one might think I would be used to street lights again by now and wouldn’t be constantly scanning for livestock on the sides of the roads. I never need to swerve painfully to avoid things and don’t have to drive for miles on the shoulder because it is better than the road. I haven't been pulled over by traffic cops looking for bribes and I never have the need to take my half of the road out of the center. And I've only been on the wrong side a few times. But driving here is proving to be tough. I don't even know what to do!! There are no giant potholes. There is no livestock in the road. There are no potholes containing livestock. (I'm serious- there is a pothole near our house in Soroti that the pigs love to wallow in so it is something we need to watch for) There are practically no pedestrians here (and when there are they are strangly on a sidewalk far from the road) and practically no bikes (and when there are they have a huge wide shoulder.) If I'm not trying not to hit someone or not fall off the road or not run over a cow, what is there to do while driving?!

Missionary Medical Intensive

2011-11-09T19:32:00.000+03:00

*oops! this was supposed to be posted 11/4
I'm mentally overflowing with all of the lecture topics from the past two weeks.... I feel I could reasonably attempt a burn skin graft, extract abscessed teeth, replace a dislocated shoulder or recognize cholera before it became an epidemic, all in remote Karamoja with minimal medical supplies. (Of course I'm still praying that I don't need to do any of this stuff on anyone but at least I'm slightly more ready if the need arises.)

Some practice splinting. A skill I already enjoy using but more practice is always fun.

Round table discussions?

I knew how to do several of these IM, SQ and ID meds so got be be on the receiving end ...

Izaac

2011-11-09T01:20:00.002+03:00

This is my super cutenephew who knows me as “Aunt Jenny came on an airplane?” which he asks meoften. He is the only 22 month old I know who speaks in complete sentences andI know I’m not biased at all when I say he is the smartest and cutest kid I’ve evermet. This is the hardest part of working on the mission field. I spent thelast few days staying with my brother and sister on the way home from themedical training and my favorite part was hanging out with this nearly two year old. I’m going to be able to spend more time with them around theholidays but I still find myself already grieving and abhorring the thought of leaving again.

Common sense vs. Faith

2011-11-02T06:20:00.000+03:00

Our chaplain here, Barry, has more than 40 years of experience on themission field and he has been telling us stories. One really jumped out at me yesterday and I want to retell it. In the early 1970’s he was in North Vietnam with hiswife working at an orphanage. For those, like me, who don’t know their worldhistory as well as we should, there was a war going on in North Vietnam at thetime. This man and his wife were in an isolated place that was most easilyreached by a 20 minute boat ride and they had to wait often for transport.Their mission director was there to visit when the Viet Cong came threateninglynear. Their director returned back to the states and soon after sent $2,000 forthem to purchase their own boat. Barry looked at the doctor and asked him whathe knew about boats. “Nothing.” Me neither. So they prayed that God would showthem which boat He wanted them to have. Then when it came time for Barry’s wifeto give birth to their first child they headed into the city. Barry and thedoctor took that opportunity to look for the boat they were going to buy sotook a translator with them and headed down to the wharf. The first boat theycame to was for sale! Barry sat down in the bow and the doctor sat down on the stern. Barry knew right away that this was the boatthey were supposed to purchase. The doctor expressed the same. Their translatorinterrupted them and reminded them that they didn’t need to purchase the firstboat they saw. They should look around more. He told them there was a biggerboat down the dock a little that as also for sale. They went to see it anddiscussed that bigger would allow them to carry more supplies and people. Theyfound out that it had a nice new motor. It was a really nice looking boat. Andit was only $1,100 and they had two thousand to spend. Perfect! So they boughtthe boat. Barry went up to the hospital to collect his wife and newborn andhappily told them they would be going back in their new boat. I’m going to cutout some of the story for the sake of length but picture Barry, his wife andnewborn, the doctor and months’ worth of supplies headed out to sea having noidea what they were doing. Prayer finally brought them back to their home beachbut a typhoon was coming. They calledthe children from the orphanage down to the beach and all tried and tried toget the boat up above the tide line. After long struggles and to the point thatthe storm was so bad they had to get the children inside they still had notbeen successful. They only owned the boat one day before it was destroyed. Thenext time they went into the city the first boat they had seen was still for sale.It was $900 so with their remaining money they bought it. They saw that it wasthe biggest boat they could still successfully pull up the beach during stormseason. Their common sense said bigger is better. But God said I told you whichone you should have!

I need something?

2011-10-31T21:22:00.000+03:00

Medicine on the ground being sold at the Arapi market.

I was sitting with some fellow missionary nurses over lunch commiseratingabout some of the struggles we face. Iwas just sharing with them that it isn’t uncommon for a mother to bring me achild asking for medicine but after I assess the child it is pretty clear thatthey don’t need meds. They have a viral respiratory infection or colic and justneed fluids, rest and time. But Ugandan mothers HATE to hear this. They wantmedicine for their child. They believe they HAVE TO HAVE medicine. The one instance that I was thinking of inparticular the grandmother came to me for advice. I rode my bike to their homeand assessed the baby. She was 3 months old and had a little cough but nothingelse. No fever, eating fine, lungs clear, etc. I reassured them that the babywas healthy and tried to explain that she was too little for cough medicine sothey just needed to give it time and it would clear up. I learned that a few hours later they took thebaby to a local midwife who sold them medicine for malaria. I wanted to scream “Youdon’t need that crap!” (For so many reasons this kind of thing drives me nuts. Thisbaby didn’t need any medicine and really didn’t need malaria medicine. It istoo hard on her little kidneys, and just generates resistance.) I was talking to the other nurses and they were saying they see the same things in places they work- Egypt, Haiti, Ethopia. People have this idea that they NEEDmedicine for something. Then one of the nursessaid “don’t we all?”. She was speakingmore metaphorically than medicine and she is right. I know there are times thatI’ve gone to God and told Him I’m tired or worn out or frustrated and He tellsme to just rest in His presence. That I need to rehydrate and take time. Andinstead I try to heal the struggle with food (chocolate!! ) or entertainment (I’lljust toss in a movie) or something else. And God is saying “What did I just tell you?! You don’tneed that crap!” I am developing resistance to God’s voice and it is hard on mysoul to seek to satisfy outside of what God provides for me. He tells meto come rest in Him but I choose other “medicines.”I’m sorry Lord when I don’t listen to youand try to heal the hurts in my life with things outside of what you say. Iknow you are the great healer and have only the best in mind for me. Teach meto just take time and rest in your presence. To hydrate in the springs of lifeand to really understand that I don’t NEED those other things. Amen.

North Carolina

2011-10-30T16:46:00.001+03:00

I’m here in lovely North Carolina learning more than I havesince first semester of nursing school. We start class at 8:30am and generally leave the classroom between 9:30 and10 at night. (Longer if you want extra time with the teachers on a topic.) But I’mnot complaining because I’m learning a ton and I’m sure this is going to helpas soon as I head back to Uganda. No, I have a much different thing to complainabout. I am not ready for winter!!

It sure is beautiful.

But I haven't been this cold in a long time!!

Rats and traveling

2011-10-20T06:32:00.000+03:00

*Several have asked for a bit of clarifying about the rats that were referred to on FB. Here is the gist of the story....
Uganda has rats. It is just part of life in Soroti and we get used to them. Bec and I own a cat who does a lot to keep us from experiencing them but occasionally, like when they are bigger than her or when she makes a gift of their carcass, then we are reminded of their presence. The day before I left was one of those days. Like most cats, ours loves to play in suitcases and I have had several out while packing. Friday morning I noticed her playing in one but didn't think more of it. I should have. This was only a few hours after I'd seen her hunting and killing a small rat outside the house. Come to find out she didn't eat it but carried it in, played with it then left it in my suitcase. Saturday night I smelled something dead and looked and looked for why my bedroom would be smelling so bad. Finally I remembered seeing her playing in the suitcase and the pieces came together. I really only had to search the bag for a second or two to find it. It stunk! Tossed the rat into the garden, washed out the bag and the clothes but it still stunk. So I turned the fan on to air out the room. Then called it a night as I had to drive more than 7 hours the following day.

There is the little guy. Thank you so much cat for packing that for me.

I was awake several times in the night, each time thinking how much the room still stunk. I even got up once and adjusted the fan. Woke up in the morning actually nauseated from the smell but it was 5:00 am and I had a ton to do and was too sleepy to really process. As the morning got underway I didn't notice it as much. Then I was taking my sheets off my bed before leaving for 3 months and found a much bigger dead rat in the bed. Wrapped up in the sheets and the mosquito net. Sick!! I yelled the cat's name in absolute disgust. She came running, jumped up on the bed, dragged the rat out then looked at me like "Oh, yeah. Forgot to tell you I left you a little going away present. Here is a dead rat."

Not a great picture but you get the idea.

So then when a UK border control working dog sniffed out my bag in Heathrow airport in London I had to decide if I was going to explain this or not. I don't know why the dog selected my bag but it seems likely that it had something to do with it smelling rural Uganda. My bag got completely unpacked and I got thoroughly searched. They didn't find anything and eventually let me go on my way. Maybe it had nothing to do with the rats but I think it may have.

It was all a reminder of how security is a little different in the developed world. As I cleared airport customs in Uganda I didn't have to take my computer out of its case or even walk through a working metal detector. I figure I passed 9 security/customs checks and they became increasingly difficult. Chicago's were by far the hardest and the meanest and I'm an american citizen! I can't even imagine what it is like for foreigners.

2011-10-20T05:01:00.000+03:00

Well, I've made it. It was several long days of travel (some funny stories there but I'll come back to that) and I'm having trouble turning my internal clock around but I'm really happy to be here. Ben and Cree brought their son up from PA so along with my parents, all my siblings made it to the airport. Even Levi and Shannon and their new son. It was a really nice surprise. The whole family had dinner together- I had told myself that my family is busy, living in different states now, I would be content to wait until Christmas to have us all together. But then we were the whole group again plus two babies. It was so nice to be welcomed back. My nephew Izaac wasn't so sure about me but quickly warmed up. It was hard to send Ben and Christina back to their home last night but I'll get to spend some more time with them in PA in a few weeks.

I think I'm having a bit of reverse culture shock. I keep telling myself that I was away for less than two years but it still feels surreal to be here and strange thoughts pop into my head. I need to process yet but I'm sure you will get to read more about it in the coming days.

In two days I'll pack back up and head to a medical training in NC but then I'll be back and am looking forward to spending time with many of you!

Last night in Soroti

2011-10-15T16:31:00.000+03:00

There I was, my last night in Soroti for a few weeks. I thought I'd be feeling sentimental or something. Instead I just felt mental and I found myself counting down the minutes. Power was out all day so when it came on that evening I was pleasantly surprised. I was making myself a milk shake for dinner after a very full day of getting a huge list of stuff done and feeling pretty pleased with the world. Then the power cut out again. I found the lantern in the dark and discovered that it didn't have any kerosene in it. So filled it and trimmed it and got it lit. Back to the blender to find that now all I had was some rapidly warming milk in a puddle of coco and sugar. Yuck. But that wasn't enough to wreck my evening. Heck, what was I thinking any way?! Milkshake in Soroti? Not likely. I could just wait until I got back to the states. It was then that the cat took off after the lizard that jumped out of the compost bucket that I was pouring my milk soup out into. The dog freaked out thinking that the cat was getting some food and she wanted her fair share so she jumped up on the chair to see what had the cat so excited. Well, the cat took off, knocking the bottle of kerosine off the table and all over the dog. While I tried to simultaneously blow out the candles, turn off the lantern and get the blasted dog off the chair the bottle of paraffin rolled across the floor spilling the remainder of its contents from one end of the room to the other. In the now very dark room I managed to get the rather worked up, stupid dog outside but not before she made three laps around the room tracking kerosine everywhere. Both the lizard and the cat had disappeared before I managed to find my one working flashlight. A few minutes later found me unsuccessfully mopping the floor. I tried adding omo (laundry soap) to the mop water but still felt like I was just smearing the paraffin around and it just made the mop harder to wring out. Besides I was getting a monster headache from the fumes and trying to hold the flashlight between my shoulder and cheek (have you ever tried to mop by flashlight?!) I eventually gave up and retreated from the overwhelming mess, outside to the gazebo with my book to let the house air out. The mosquitoes were eating me alive but I didn't want to try to find my bug spray in the dark so I decided to suck it up. I'd only been reading a few minutes when the flashlight batteries quit. So I just sat in the dark calculating how many minutes until I fly and wondering what I'd do with all that extra sanity I was going to have.

2011-10-13T06:29:00.000+03:00

My last few posts havebeen pretty crumby and on top of that, as long as things go well, this may bemy last post for a bit. I’m feeling overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that Iwant to do in the next few days. On top of that we are a big team again. I loveit but that means we have things like team meetings that take a bit more time.And I want to spend time with these guys before I don’t see them again foranother 3 months. So Friday and Saturday will be all the things that fallhighest on my priority list, packing the car and getting ready to be gone forthree months. Then Sunday I’ll drive to Jinga to pick up Beckie and thencontinue the rest of the way to Entebee. Then Monday morning I’ll board aplane! I have 14 hours layover in London then a few more hours in Chicago buteventually I’ll reach Grand Rapids. Honestly, I’m spending a really short timethere before turning around and attending a medical training in NC. But I’ll bestaying in Grand Rapids for most of November and December. I’m really lookingforward to catching up with family and friends! See you guys soon!

Quite a bit to do...

2011-10-12T06:09:00.000+03:00

Ithink it has finally hit me that I only have about 4 days left in Soroti beforeI head back to the states for the next few months. I have so much left to do. Besides the two half packed containers of stuff that people have given meto bring and a carry on that I've throw some things at as I remember odds andends I want to bring back to MI, I have a mountain of stuff in my room that needs tobe put back in its place. I should finish August and Septembers ministry expense reports and I have several people I want to visit, most ofthem kids that I want to check on one last time and a that meeting with Dr. Moses of CLIDE. There are a few presentations I needto work on, travel reservations to make, Christmas presents to wrap for Bettyand Abella, last minute shopping to do…it all seems strange. I’ll be getting ona plane in just a few days.

(Side note: Beckie and I had no problems getting our visas yesterday and we also got to spend an hour at the pool in Mbale. Thank you Lord!!)

Visas again...

2011-10-10T09:12:00.003+03:00

Just sent out the newsletter.... I wish I knew how to put the PDF document here. But I don't. Sorry. E-mail me if you wanted to receive it and didn't. (kragtjen@yahoo.com)

One quick prayer request too. Beckie and I are minutes away from heading somewhere, Lira, Mbale, Mulaba, wherever, to renew our passports. I only need 10 days but Bec need quite a bit more time. Please pray that my chocolate chip cookies (that are NOT a bribe!) will show the appropriate appreciation and we can get the stamps that we need.

You can eat that?

2011-10-08T05:57:00.000+03:00

I love it when the kids bring me something new to try.....

Rice

2011-10-04T20:07:00.000+03:00

Harvesting rice is fricking hard work! I found myself learning this lesson in a swamp just outside of Soroti around 7:15 this morning. For starters rice grows in mud. Deep mud. Mud that tries to swallow your legs like a stoned high school kid to a bag of Doritos. This is a completely unrelated analogy but I blame it on the heat stroke I may currently be suffering from. The heat stroke is because rice stalks are a little like skinny green razors that have the ability to hone in on any exposed skin. You have to wear boots, pants and a long sleeved shirt to protect yourself from the sharp stalks. But you are standing in sun that is beating down on you like... sorry, no more random analogies. And if you are in Uganda, which we are, you really should add a wrap over your pants to be more like a skirt, which is more ladylike. Though being calf deep in mud could be called a little unlady like in some parts of the world- but not here. That wrap makes the whole thing you are wearing up hotter. And if you are a weak white girl you have to add leather gloves too in order to protect your hands. Then you also should wrap your head. Not because you are with a bunch of muslim women, but because you have to pick up your full bucket of rice out of the mud and carry it on your head when it gets full and needs to be emptied and who wants all of that mud in their hair?!

That is a lot of rice.

This is what ripe rice looks like.

Beckie and Nuru harvesting rice.

This is the foot and a half of muck that you stand in while harvesting.

But, it was a nice day and the sun actually wasn't as relentless as it could have been and I didn't see any water snakes. And being reminded once again of how hard these women work for just a little income is always good. One more note on the day: one of the women that we were working with was nine months pregnant with her due date 6 days away. She cut at least double what I did and carried her rice on her head. One of the other ladies brought along her 2 month old daughter and did some of her work with the baby tied on. As if this work wasn't hard and hot enough as it is.

God moment

2011-10-02T17:43:00.000+03:00

Maybe some of you heard my25 seconds at Remembrance Church this morning via skype. I was asked to share a Godmoment and I have to just give credit to God for how He works. Here is a little background.It seems like no matter how often I tell village churches that I’m not apastor, that I don’t preach, that I am not prepared, that they still ask me to share a message every week. They wait until about an hour in (during the first third of the service) thencall the “mazungo” (white foreigner) up front and ask for a sermon. They say “Youjust bring us a word.” And it seems like every week God has to remind me againhow no matter inadequate and unprepared I am that He is able. All I have to dois be available. Then He amazes me with whatHe speaks through me. This morning was the same. I had told Pastor Emedoyesterday that I wasn’t preparing to speak and wasn’t going to. But then thismorning, just moments before the sermon is to start, he introduces a guestspeaker. I looked around trying to figure out who it was. “Oh, it’s me.” I evengot a little angry and from my seat in the congregation said “no.” But he said,“You come. They need to hear a word.” So instead of arguing more and making ascene I just got up. And then God gave me everything. Tell them how I am their bridegroom. Tell them how much I love them.Tell them that it doesn’t matter that they have prostituted themselves withother things. Tell them that I will redeem them. I shared from Hosea and talked about howredemption saves us from the punishement that we deserve. Then we had a time ofconfession that was Holy Spirit driven. It was all completely a God thing. Ihad gone with a bad attitude and was unprepared, but God somehow used the little that I had to offer. After the service, two different women told me of how they had never heard of God as their bridegroom before. Even the pastor asked me to show him those verses. And I need to thank God that even though I've had no bible training, that 27 years of growing up in a faithful, God focused church has given me more quality education than the majority of pastors here. I'll try harder to be a more willing servant in the future. Thank you Lord for using me.

Bike ride

2011-10-01T20:22:00.000+03:00

The Ride for Refuge 2011 Soroti Edition was a tremendous success!

The whole crew that rode at our half way point.

The Team Beyond team!

Bikes are a commodity so many shared one.

Necessary repairs at the roundabout in Kamuda.

Resting in the shade after the ride.

The day was really fun and made more impactful by riding half of it with these youth who are really considered vulnerable. These are the ones that we are riding for! Tim, Steve, Beckie, Jim and I started early from Soroti and rode about 16 kilometers into Kamuda where we were joined by the rest of our team and 20+ youth from the area who are impacted IT's ministry. Then we did another 16 kilometers with them to the lake and back. Then the last 16 kilometers home. It was hot in the sun the last two legs of the trip and my two legs are about shot tonight but it was great. Thanks to all of you who participated in Grand Rapids or another of the 30 locations!!! Your ride was worth it!

Back in Soroti

2011-09-27T20:57:00.000+03:00

The day started at 6 am.... lots of loading of 50+ totes onto and into 3 different vans. Then lots of travel. Then unloading a couple thousand pounds of stuff. I'm pretty sure there isn't enough motrin in this hemisphere to address how my back is feeling after all that. But just as I was ready to call it a night I find myself splinting the clearly broken arm of 4 year old Salumay. She fell (out of a tree?!) yesterday and they hadn't done anything yet but they found me walking home and asked if I could wrap it. This request was coming from her 6 year old sister. She was super tough and only flinched a couple of times as I put a splint on it. It made me feel like my griping about a little pain in my back was just whining. Now at least I know what I'm going to be doing first thing- trying to get some plaster for her little arm.....

That's a lot of stuff.

2011-09-25T15:25:00.000+03:00

Just picked up 2 familes of 5 people and for a few hours our team numbered 20. We have some shopping around Kampala to do tomorrow and will begin the trek to Soroti tuesday with the Tiesengsa and Sliedrechts!

In the parking lot of the airport.

Loading their totes in the vans.

Unloading. That is a lot of stuff.

Loading or unloading....

Little taste of Cheese!

2011-09-24T20:53:00.000+03:00

We areon our way to Kampala to pick up Tim, Angie, Steve, Tanya and company. To breakthe drive a bit we stayed at a dairy farm run by a Dutch Hollander and hisfamily who make fresh cheese and yogurt. Maybe not so many others find this asinteresting as I do but I really liked it. Good cheese is really hard to get here and in the near future I’m going to trying my hand at making it myself. It doesn't seem SO complicated.

I which I try to hoe and eat too much food out in Obule

2011-09-23T19:33:00.000+03:00

A good dayto glimpse life in the village. No pictures though because the sun is gettinghotter and unnecessary weight as I ride my bike is kept to a minimum. Margaret (wife of one of the church leadersout in Obule) has been sick and thought she had malaria so I offered to comeout and test her. As I arrived at their huts I found Charles milking their cow.Margaret said she was feeling much better and started making tea. Withinminutes I found myself with a hot cup of chi (made with very fresh milk,of course.) They asked to use my bike to get their water for the day so Iwaited then we walked together over to the church. It was a work day meaningthe women get together and work in the field that the church owns. There wereabout 10 women hoeing seriously while the sun beat down mercilessly on them. Theirkids (maybe 12 of them under the age of 3) were sitting in the dirt on the edgeof the field. I spotted the pastorsitting amidst all those kids. This is both normal and abnormal culturally.Normal that the women are the ones doing the hard manual labor but abnormalthat a man was helping out with the kids. I’ve been weeding my own garden thisway and I know I’m not nearly as tough as them but I asked if I could help alittle bit. When this was translated they laughed and laughed but got seriousquickly when I picked up a hoe. There was no way they were going to let me! Iinsisted and clearly against all of their better judgment they let me. Margaretstarted working next to me and Charles when to join pastor Emmanuel in theshade. In about 30 seconds I had to wipe the sweat out of my eyes and Margaretasked me if I wanted to stop. I laughed and told her I was fine. Two minuteslater I stopped to tie my hair back and again she asked me hopefully if I wasfinished. Needless to say I stopped after only about 10 minutes of work becauseI was worried that the others were going to stroke out if I kept going. Wecontinued on to a neighbor’s house where they served more tea. I love tea soeven though it was nearing 100 degrees I enjoyed my cup. Then I learned that wewere having tea to give the women time to cook. I insisted they did not need tofeed me (I hate it when I go out there to just visit and they cook this hugefeast for me who does not need all that extra food when they themselves do needit but they want so much to share with me) but they insisted that I worked so Ihave to eat. I tried to explain that the 2x2 foot square of dirt that I hoeddidn’t count was working but they weren’t having any of it. So I sat as thekids chased a chicken and then beheaded it. I talked in the shade with theladies. As is becoming a regular custom they started asking me health questionsand I willingly answer anything to the best of my ability. We’ve talked about avariety of things and today was no acceptation. Malaria testing and treatment, fever in kids, what causes vomiting, painduring sex, what is best for newborns and the list goes on and on. I finallyfound a time after we’d eaten that it seemed like I could excuse myself andhead home. It was about a 45 minute ride and I was more than ready to get outof the sun by the time I had reached my house. But it was a great day and I’mglad I went out there.

Candid pictures

2011-09-22T09:34:00.000+03:00

I've spent a few days out at Elda’s place. She is the mother ofthe twins. It is harvesting season and she has a big field of g- nuts(peanuts). Because of the twins she is having a hard time getting her harvestin. The plants have been pulled up because if they are left in the ground toolong they will germinate and be no good. So she went through and pulled themall up. But they are laying on the ground still attached to the plant so theyare now being eaten by bugs and animals and will begin to rot if not picked anddried soon. Her kids are 5, 3 and the twins are 9 months. Because she has theadded work of “making milk” (she isn’table to produce milk so she has to pasteurize cow’s milk, boil water to washtheir bottles and gather lots of extra fire wood for all of this heating ofthings) she is having a very hard time keeping the harvest from spoiling. Ithought I could help a little. Even if I’m a slow picker, I can feed and bathethe twins and do their laundry, allowing their mother to harvest. Neighbor boys who aren't in school were sent over to help (and watch the strange white girl) and they found my camera. I showed them how to use it and consequently discovered when I got home that I have some pretty funny shots.

Maybe I should have been supervising more carefully.

Clearly we have a future photographer on our hands as he so succinctly captures the moment.

I don't know how they got her to make this face but it cracked me up! This is Achen Mary, one of the twins.

The twins content while we pluck peanuts.

More peanuts.

These little boys kept bringing more and more from the field. Just when I thought we were nearing the end....

And then there is this guy. If you can't say anything nice.....
This is the father of the twins. He knew how hard his wife was working (since sunrise!) and around 3 pm he came home staggeringly drunk. I wouldn't have taken his picture but he made the kids do it. So not only does he not do any work but be spends the little money on alcohol. I have to stop now before I say anything not nice.

Art prize

2011-09-22T08:12:00.000+03:00

Hey anyone around Grand Rapids who is going to Art Prize check out friend and fellow Soroti missionary's exhibit. It is called Orphans No More and it is at the big Lutheran Church on Michigan near the hospital.

http://sliedrechts.wordpress.com/

"Orphans No More," by Timothy Sliedrecht at Immanuel Lutheran Church is a piece of "cross-world contributors' hand and foot prints illustrating the impact the transformation and testimony of Ugandan youth who were child-soldiers."

Welcome back!!

2011-09-20T21:06:00.000+03:00

Teammates, you are soon coming back! In celebration of your immanent arrival there are several improvements in Soroti. The the rolling power outs aren't quite as regular so we have power about 2 out of 3 days and nights and to add to the adventure we don't really know when they are going to be. The rainy season seems to be over today as the high had to be around 100 degrees and it is still 85 degrees at 9pm. The ban on beef and goat has been lifted so we can get meat again. And they now sell chocolate chip cookies and spam at OM!! But as to assure you that you are still in Africa and that you don't get too comfortable right away we have been without city water for 4 days. Good news- your supply tanks should still be almost full and will last for a bit if you don't shower or flush the toilets. In what better way can the city of Soroti say welcome?!

I read something today that prompted this post. It said "When birds fly in the right formation they only have to exert half the effort". I can't wait for you to come back so we have increased teamwork and I only have to work half as hard! See you in a few days!

2011-09-20T06:53:00.000+03:00

*Not posted the day it was written

Rightthen- this one is going to be a pointless rant full of medical jargon and misdirected anger so feelfree to just skip on to the next thing you want to do online right now. ButI’ve got to journal about this so if you are still reading hang on. Yesterday,after spending the morning with Lazaro, I had a few other things I needed to doso planned to spend a few hours in town, checking some things off my list. Notto be. I got a cryptic phone call from the mother of little Adebo. The baby wasreally sick and they were at the clinic in town could I please come? So, I dropped what I was doing and headedover to the clinic. I found them there and discovered that they have alreadyseen the Medical Officer (MO) and were waiting for a malaria smear to comeback. I joined them on the backless bench and tried to get a handle on thebackground. For more than the past week Adebo has had fever and is refusing toeat. She just cries and cries. They went to the clinic in the village wherethey put her on quinine drip. No malaria test, just straight to drip. I can’tstand that!! That crap is poison and no matter what the complaints or symptomsare that is what they use here. Anyway, Adebo got 3 doses over 2 days (I can’tfigure that out either considering the correct way to administer it as acontinuous drip so how did she have 3 doses?)

As Itake screaming Adebo from her mother I can feel her fever through her clothes.She is inconsolable. Her tiny body feels like it’s going to break she is so fragileand weak. She is nearly 11 months old now but I’m guessing she doesn’t tip thescale at 15 pounds. She isn’t hitting a single developmental milestone. (Noresponse to her name, not sitting up independently, no sounds that resemblewords, unable to eat anything besides breast milk…) I knew when I first met her that she wasgoing to be mentally handicapped but I had hopes that she would not be sodevelopmentally behind. Add to that it is becoming apparent she is completely blind.

Anyway,I looked at the paper she had been given and it was all incomprehensiblegibberish. I asked one of the nurses if she would read it for me and she lookedat me like I’d grown a second head. “I can’t read that!” So I tracked down theMO asked what he had written and what his plan of care was. Waiting on thelabs. And in the mean time? A few minutes later he was back in his office andcalled them back in. An abrupt conversation took place in Ateso and then he yelled somecomments out the door to a nurse. She guided us back to a room with some beds and told me the baby wasbeing admitted and would get some medications while we waited. Good. Then I sawher drawing up, what’s that?, Valium?! Excuse me?! For the crying. Right. Notover my dead body. I was thinking a little acetaminophen. The nurse just walkedout. I hadn’t even gotten an attitude yet! With the baby on the bed I did my own assessment. Rales and crackles inall lung fields. Fever of 40.3 C (104.6 F). Unable to be consoled at the breastof her mother. Vomiting. Screaming and arching her back. Dehydrated. One more time I went totrack down the MO. I asked him what he thought of pneumonia? How about bowelobstruction? Can we rule out meningitis? His response: Maybe I wanted to have the babysee the doctor? Yeah. I think that wouldbe great. Discovered that the doctor was out to lunch. Wonderful. So knowing that itwas only 1pm and lunch break can easily last until 2:30 I tried to take a deep breath and remind myself that getting pissed doesn't help and waiting is a way of life. Amecet is next to the Dr's office so I walked over there to get the other nurse's opinion while we waited for the Dr. to come back. She didn't have much consolation for me but helped me put an IV in and start some fluids and give some stuff to bring the fever down. At least by the time the doctor got back from lunch Adebo had fallen into an exhausted sleep so he could wake her up and make her cry again. He confirmed with me that is probably wasn't malaria (though in the meantime we'd gotten a positive test back from the lab- ridiculousness.) He wanted to treat it as pneumonia and see what happened. It doesn't make me feel better when they say things that remind me that they have almost no quality education. An no resources at their disposal.

Anyway, enough ranting. I guess I just ran out of steam.

*It has been a few days and I've gone out to see Adebo. She is eating again but still feverish. I've put her on Septra (Bactrim) for the rest of her life and we'll see what happens.

The gears just aren't meshing.

2011-09-19T12:28:00.000+03:00

One of those days where life is just so much more frustrating here than, well, than a lot of other places. I'd planned to go out to Obule but in the first 10 minutes the chain on my bike wrenched off three times. At that rate it was going to take me hours to get there so I called them then turned back toward home.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume this might have something to do with it. (I'm pretty sure the gear teeth are supposed to go in the chain, not next to it.) So I took the bike to the mechanic who said no problem, he could fix it. He then proceeded to hit the gears with a hammer to get the teeth to line up again. Right then, not what I was thinking. So after asking about replacing gears instead of just pounding on them and hearing that it was going to take more than 150,000 USH in parts I decided to wait and see if a better idea comes to me. The issue is that fixed gear bikes are the norm here. There are bikes around that have cogsets and derailleurs but they are pretty uncommon and most often they don't work well, probably because parts cost an arm and a leg and they try to fix them by hitting them with a hammer. So I went from there over to the electrician who is "working" on my inverter. (With the power coming and going all the time it would be really nice to be able to charge things off our car battery again.) He has been "working" on it for more than a week now so I go everyday to see how it is coming along and I've never actually seen him working. Last week he was going to go to Kampala to get the parts. Today he was back in the shop but told me he couldn't work on it as he was too tired after traveling to Kampala and back and that I could come back again to check tomorrow.
So from there over to the bank- ATM isn't working. Then to the book store- no English bibles in stock. At this point I realized I was accomplishing nothing so I was just going to head back home. That's life here. One would think it wouldn't surprise or frustrate me anymore. But it still does. I just want one thing to take LESS time than I thought it would.

Hiking!!

2011-09-18T20:44:00.000+03:00

Went for a walk this evening with team mates and had dinner and worship on the top of the rock outside Soroti. It is always a bit of a challenge to get to the top but well worth it. Once up there we started a fire, grilled up some meat and veggies and had a great picnic dinner.

Show me a restaurant with that kind of view!

TV?

2011-09-17T20:39:00.002+03:00

These pictures were taken around my house today. Some days feels it feels a little like I’m living in asubscription of HGTV.

I weeded around my pineapples and banana and orange tree. Then I madefresh squeezed juice.

Though more often than not it is actually more like Animal Planet around here.

These guys are perched on the grill, does that make it more likeThe Food Network?

Actually, Comedy Central might be the most accurate.

These are all the girls in their undergarments doing their wash. Joyce has only boxers on, Janet is only wearing a slip and Vicky has men's boxers and my t-shirt because she seemed a little old to be shirtless. But they don't have enough clothes to wash and wear at the same time.

The funnest part of all of this is that I haven’t seen any Food Network or Animal Planet or Comedy Central or HGTV in nearly nineteen months. But who needs them when I live it day after day?!

Ride for Refuge 2011!

2011-09-16T21:19:00.001+03:00

It's that time again! That time when I write a bunch of times about some bike ride that takes place somewhere that raises money for something and I know, I know. I lose a lot of you about this time.
BUT WAIT!

This is an awesome way to really get involved in what I do here without a $2,000 plane tickets and a bunch of shots to travel!
At least consider it ok?

What are you doing October 1st? I know, we are all busy but can't you make a few free hours?

Do you own a bike? Can you borrow one?

Thats it! Come and ride!

More info here! At least click the link and see the fun pictures.

Blood

2011-09-14T15:06:00.001+03:00

I like being a nurse! I had the opportunity to remember that today. I was planning on heading out to the village this morning but just couldn't drum up the energy. So when I got a phone call from the dutch nurse at Amecet I was free. She said she had a couple of sick kids, and she needed to go with the one at the hospital so could I come over for the other? I got report- my patient today was Immaculate. She is a 12 year old girl who weighs about 21 kg from extreme neglect and TB. She is HIV positive and her CD4 count is 1. Today our concern was based on her symptomatic hbg of 4. When I arrived she was sitting in the bed is the treatment room crying. Her IV just would not flush for me. So we dc'd that one and got her set up with a new one. Then we got a unit of packed RBC's running. (This seems strange- Amecet is a baby shelter. Not a clinic or medical facility. I was running blood. No IV pump, just mentally calculated drip rates. No charting. No recorded vitals, just observation. My nursing really has changed a lot in two years.) Anyway, got her comfortable in the bed, set up with some music and some chocolate that I had in my bag. She fell asleep and was still sleeping a few hours later when I reported off.

*Thanks to Ella, a volunteer at Amecet, for these pictures.

Well, that was fun!

2011-09-14T14:27:00.000+03:00

It was going to be so simple.....

I had mentioned a week ago to a church leader in one of thevillage churches that I’d like a little video time of their kids worshiping.But as I didn’t want to be a distraction during church I asked if the followingweek we could just have the kids sing a little more after the service wasfinished. They happily agreed and I waslooking forward to it as the kids in this church dance, sing and generally havea great time when they are worshiping. I also mentioned it to Jim (a team mate)and he said he had a friend who donated this great recording equipment that wecould use. Thinking it would give me a better sound quality than the littlehandheld camcorder, I said sure. We arrived to church on Sunday and discovered theyhad put together a 150+ child choir, 6 adults on instruments and another 20 orso adults directing and singing. They had rehearsed and there was choreography.Needless to say it wasn’t exactly what I was thinking. But as I’m gettingbetter at rolling with the punches we just went with it. I video recordedoutside then we went inside the church and had them do their program again soJim could capture the sound. It is something alright and you can all look forward to seeing it when I comeback to the states.

Only a little change

2011-09-14T08:15:00.000+03:00

October 2009

Sept 2011

Two years, a few hundred miles and we all have better tans.....

"Stick a folk in me, I'm done"

2011-09-12T20:08:00.001+03:00

or alternately titled "I'm out like the deaf kid playing musical chairs."

It's been a really long day. I'm exceptionally tired tonight. But I feel funny going to bed as there is a muslim on our frontporch slaughtering a chicken, John the guard is telling me his “pockets aredry” (but I've already advanced him his wages for the 15^th and wehaven't even reached the middle of the month so I'm in the house hoping he'll just go away) and my dinner is ready in the oven and I'd like to eat. It is just a sandwich as I was too tired to actually make something. But I'm hungry and I'd really like to be consuming it none the less. However, I feel funny eating it with all thesepeople around and I have nothing to offer them. So it is hiding in the oven. And the power just went out. Great.Some days I'm just ready to be done. Tonight is one of them.

Starfish

2011-09-07T12:27:00.000+03:00

I went out to visit Lazaro again today. He is doing as well as can be expected considering he is a 4 year old who will never walk and possibly never talk or even feed himself. He is as healthy as he ever is and was cleaned and fed when we arrived. His mother informed me that his father left, married a new woman and is refusing to come back so she is alone caring for 12 children, three of whom are physically and mentally handicapped. She says there is no food and none of the kids can go to school. When I look at this family in the midst of the whole picture of struggling families in Uganda, all those hungry kids, all the physically and mentally handicapped, all the fathers that have abandoned women with the children they have sired....
I pray and try to remind myself why I'm here. I'm here to spread the love of God and the hope I have in Him. I like remembering this story that I heard years ago.

A gentleman was strolling along the beach just at the waters edge.
After he had walked for sometime he came upon several starfish that had been washed up on shore and then left behind by the tide. The man stopped and looked at the starfish a moment and then shook his head when he thought of the fate of the starfish, for they would all surely die if left out of the water for long. He then continued his stroll along the waters edge. After he had walked a bit further he came upon a young boy. The boy was furiously picking up starfish that had been left by the tide and throwing them back into the sea. The man watched the boy for several moments, then spoke to him. "You can’t possibly save them all. So why bother ? It won’t matter."
The boy paused, a starfish in hand, and thought about the man’s words. He looked out at the sea and then down at the starfish in his grasp. He looked up at the man and replied "Well, it matters to this one." and he threw the starfish back into the sea.

Maybe you too are feeling overwhelmed. What can you do today that will matter to one?

Happy Labor day from Uganda!

2011-09-05T11:00:00.000+03:00

I just thought I'd post at the end of the day today because I made myself laugh. To "celebrate" I made us a nice fish and chips dinner. It was a great ~~American~~ British meal. Then to be patriotic we watched Entrapment. Oh wait. Sean Connery is British isn't he? (or Scottish- google wasn't sure). And the movie isn't set in the states either. So here it is the end of the day and I feel the need to somehow celebrate the economic or social contributions of workers in the United States. So I'm posting about how much I appreciate the prosperity and well-being of my country of nationality.

Behold the power of the written word

2011-09-03T08:00:00.000+03:00

Growing up in a society where practically everyone is literate and every thing we do involves reading or writing I had no idea how much I'd taken written materials for granted. 3 instances over the past couple of weeks have driven home for me just how powerful the written word is.
At the workshop on the narrative of the bible we were not allowed to write or read. Yikes! I had no idea how hard that would be. Memorizing and trying to quickly learn as I'm taught orally. I will approach how teach the VHTs (only two are functionally literate) with a different structure and more importantly a different attitude in the coming weeks.
Abella was sitting in our house reading quietly the other day. It was a chapter book that she was so excited about! Her school doesn't have text books for every student (often not even for the teacher) and the concept of reading just for enjoyment is very foreign. I'd like to think Abella learned to read for fun from me and Beckie's example and I'm really glad she is enjoying it. I love to read and couldn't imagine my life without that hobby. Now comes the challenge of finding reading material to keep up with her....
A little bit ago I gave away my copy of the book Where Their Is No Doctor" to the VHTs. They poured over that thing for almost an hour. Without my prompting they used it several times when they didn't know the answers to my questions. It is written fairly simply and a few of them can use the majority of the book. I know they will have questions and won't understand some it it (for example reading charts and graphs, anatomical names and most diagnoses) but I can't wait to go back up there and address their questions. I feel like a book really opened some doors for them.

2011-09-01T20:29:00.000+03:00

Whoa- I’m really backloggedagain. I have at least 6 partial posts stewing in the depths of my bloggerdashboard but am having a hard time processing. That generally means I’m notrunning enough. I blame it on my broken toe though that really isn’t an excuseanymore. Which by the way is feeling much better. I’m just feeling really drained right now.Not sure where to pour my time and energy, who I should be spending time with andthe seemingly constant demands for money is so wearying.

Back to School!!

2011-09-01T15:06:00.001+03:00

I took a few of the kids "back to school shopping" yesterday and others again today. This is blog worthy because never before have I considered soap, petticoats and smearing oil necessary school items. But they are. We got a mattress for Abella who boards at school. You have to bring your own mattress with you and up to this point she has been sharing a bed with a skinny friend. We picked up pencils, pens and books of course but also socks, black shoe polish and underwear. Kids can be "sent" from school for almost any reason it seems. Parents can't afford shoes? Child gets sent home. No papers to write on? Sent home.
Schools here are supposed to be free. But the poor can't attend because they can't get the necessary supplies. Also there are PTA fees, which, can you have PTA fees if you don't have a PTA?! And they have to pay to take exams. Then pay again to have those exams "marked" (graded). They have to purchase a school uniform which includes shoes. Can't attend if they don't have the uniform. I just poled the kids who are here. 9 kids. Only two of them have more than one uniform. And Joyce is still wearing last year's uniform which is more than a little too short for her.
Sorry.
This wasn't going to turn into a tirade. The system needs some work.
But school starts next week and that can't really come soon enough. Joyce, Opio, Manuel, Kenneth, Janet, Vicky, Ivan, Betty and Abella are all set.

Statistics?

2011-08-30T19:33:00.001+03:00

I learned something today. Adults that are buried in their village are buried outside of the clan compounds. Children and babies however are buried "within the home" meaning inside the circle of homes that makes up the family compound.

To go with that, here is a statistic I also learned today- 15% of children born in Uganda never reach their 5th birthday. Just meaningless numbers? Try this picture.

7 little graves in this family's yard. Some are a few years old and the family couldn't afford cement. In 2007 they added the first cement one and today they added two more.

Statistics and graphs here- World Health Org International

Inverter

2011-08-30T17:09:00.003+03:00

Trying to get my dad to walk me through how to fix our inverter so I can again charge my computer from my car battery.

Chocolate Cake?!?

2011-08-29T06:57:00.001+03:00

~~I don't like to brag.~~ O.K., I like to brag once in a while. And I'm sure you wont find this nearly as exciting as I do. But I'm going to post it anyway. I made this chocolate cake. It is awesome. I had to substitute several ingredients and fudge a few others but it still turned out. And it is the best cake I've ever made. I REALLY needed some chocolate this week. You can't get good chocolate here. No chocolate chips or chocolate sauce, or chocolate candies- you know: melt in your mouth not in your hand. So I don't satisfy my craving nearly often enough. But for about then next 2.5 days I'm all set. If I can make it last that long....

Oh well, I tried.

Best parts

2011-08-28T07:32:00.001+03:00

This is all that is left of a chicken that I cooked. Literally. All that is left. A few years ago I would have cooked a whole chicken but then thrown away the skin, organs, tendons, you know, all those bits we just don't eat. Even a year ago I cooked the whole bird but then fed everything I didn't deem to be "meat" to the cats and dog. But this time I was picking the meat off the carcass while listening to the kids running in the yard. So I tossed everything that I didn't want- heart, feet, liver, bones, connective tissue etc... back into the pot and boiled it with an onion and a bullion cube. Then the next time the kids came over I gave them the "soup" and they ate it all over rice. All of it. These bones are even cracked open so they could suck the marrow out. Kidneys, neck, everything. Gone. And then they thanked me for saving the best parts for them. No problem kids. I'm glad you enjoyed.

Lois

2011-08-26T20:06:00.002+03:00

There is a really sick little one at Amecet tonight. The Dutch nurse and I had our heads together for a while this evening and we just have no idea. The child is nearly 18 months and weights about 6 kg. (13.2 lbs) She has had a high fever (up wards of 39.7 C or 103.4 F) for more than 6 days. When she first spiked the temp they tested her for malaria and it was negative. The doctor treated her for it anyway. 3 days into treatment still no change. So they stopped the malaria meds and tested her urine- UTI (though that dx is dicey because they ALWAYS find stuff in urine here.) So she was put on amox. No change. So they changed her to IV ceftriaxone- a huge dose for a kid her size, after another negative malaria test. She has been on those IV antibiotics for 2 days. I saw her for the first time tonight. Her fever is still continuous, she is lethargic. No vomiting or diarrhea but her abdomen terribly distended. However, this is normal in these kids that come in so malnourished so I don't that that is significant. Now her breathing is pretty rapid and tonight lungs sound pretty crackly but no cough and the ceftriaxone should still be addressing that right? Am I missing something? No rash so I don't think it is measles or dengue fever. I can't find any enlarged nodes so I don't think it is mumps. Nothing indicates meningitis and we both think we can rule out typhoid. I think the next step will be try to get a chest x-ray. Anybody want to jump into this discussion?

Lois
She has a sock on her hand to keep her from pulling her IV out.

I'm happy to report her fever is down to 37.7 C (99.8 F) this morning. Still lethargic but continues to drink so we will continue to just watch her and wait.
Oh, by the way, I'm not in Karamoja. Transport was an issue so I'm still in Soroti.

2011-08-25T06:55:00.000+03:00

Nearly 75% of the bible can be labeled narrative. I had the chance to join a workshop on telling the stories of the bible for the past few days. The focus was telling this majority of the bible to oral (illiterate) people so they can study it the same way we do when reading.

God's timing is cool because last week and (hopefully!) again this weekend we are spending time with young church leaders in Karamoja who are learning these stories for themselves with the intent of sharing with others. I hope to be able to apply what I've learned to what we are doing with the new believers up north.

On that note I'd like to ask for prayer again. It has been a really full week with visitors living with us for that workshop. I had not yet unpacked from before and now I'm packing stuff again to head back up. I'm planning on leaving in a few hours and I'm not sure when I'll be back.

Why don't I go more often to prayer?

2011-08-24T06:17:00.001+03:00

An old one but a good one:

What a friend I have in Jesus
All my sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
What peace I often forfeit!
What needless pain I often bear?
All because I do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have I trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
I should never be discouraged,
If I take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can I find a friend so faithful?
Who will all my sorrows share?
Jesus knows my every weakness.
Why don't I more often go to prayer?

Tim is sick

2011-08-22T07:42:00.000+03:00

Many of you followed my blog when teammate Tim was so sick with septic arthritis and ostemylitis. (A few of those posts here and here ). Right now he and his family are in the states on home assignment. He has been in the emergency room since Saturday with infection in the opposite knee and they have been told it is spreading. He been on IV abx and isn’t improving so is now getting admitted and will be seen by an infectious disease doc.

Selfishly, I can't even tell you how happy I am that this is happening while they are there. The thought of treating a teammate for sepsis again here is enough to make me want to pack my bags. But on the other side I feel really bad that they are going through all of this again. Please pray. They have already been in the states longer than they wanted to be and want to be ready to come back here soon. Please pray for their kids who are feeling unsettled. Please pray for Tim who is an otherwise healthy active guy and being stuck in a hospital bed isn't fun for anyone. Please pray for Angie too. Answers and a fast (complete!!) recovery would be wonderful.

2011-08-22T07:25:00.002+03:00

Right then, one last post about this last trip north before I move on to new topics. A random assortment of things I want to talk about:

A picture of the kitchen so as not put any wrong ideas in your head.

A few interesting critters joined us this time. A little black snake was found slithering around our “kitchen” at breakfast time the first morning. I’m proud to say I was part of the killing of the snake. (If being a spectator counts as being part. At least I didn’t run out like a few of the others.) It was determined postmortem that it was a venomous type and beaten a few more times for good measure. There was also found a venomous (with fangs possibly!) centipede in our sleeping quarters. It was not successfully killed so we are still on the lookout for it. This cat was trapped just a few days ago not too far from Nakayot.

I just like this picture of Lowoke sitting with these kids in our camp. He is one of the CLIDE guys. He is maintenance man, translator, driver and anything else that needs doing. Like loading and unloading hundreds of pounds of stuff and people into and out of vehicles, getting us unstuck on really muddy roads. Speaking of roads here are just a few pictures to give you just a little glimpse of trying to drive out to the villages during the rainy season.

I think this is Val stuck in the mud. I'm not sure because I don't really believe my eyes. I'm still not convinced it is possible.

We are headed into that?!

Want to write a minute about the hospital in Matany too. It is an Italian Catholic run hospital. It is easily the best in Karamoja (in most of Uganda I think) but it is out in the middle of nowhere- which is the middle of where the people who need it most are, I guess. At 5 in the morning we headed straight to pediatrics and were directed to a big room situated right between the two large wards. The room had a long table running the length of the room with 3 nurses working with about 10 babies (and their mothers) at the table. We added our baby to the table where the nurses put in her line and drew blood. As we tied up two nurses for several minutes the number of mothers and babies waiting kept increasing. I suspect it was morning meds and all of these babies were getting IV meds. There were maybe 40 multidose vials on the tables and the 3^rd nurse keep drawing from various ones, mixing and diluting as she tried to keep up with all those who kept handing her their charts. While we were waiting for the doctor to arrive I took a quick walk through the wards. One was clearly new. There were 20 stainless steel metal cribs (all but one was occupied) and 14 beds (all full). Mothers and grandmothers were sleeping on the floor on mats. The room was very clean but all cement. The cribs and beds were broken up into sections divided by chest high walls. So you could look across the whole big ward and see everything but if you were laying down there was a little privacy. The older ward was almost exactly the same but more kids per bed. Many had two children in each bed and most had blood or fluids hanging. Two beds had big old oxygen concentrators next to them. I counted about 6 nurses (or medical staff of some sort) and more than 70 pediatric patients in the two wards. But it was clean. The staff was quick and took us seriously. The doctor arrived shortly after the nurses called him. I really think his diagnosis is crap (oh yeah, the reason I was at Matany is here) but he didn’t know what was wrong with the child and needed to save face with us and his staff. But I pray as labs come back and as time passes the real cause will become clear or not and she'll recover without any known cause.

We stopped at a road side accident on the way back to Soroti somewhere between Iriri and Katakwi. I think everyone was speaking Ateso so we most likely were on this side of the border. I’d considered stopping at accidents several times in the past, however I usually had a good reason not to. But this time I offered to help as I had lots of folks in the car that could assist and I knew right where my medical bag was. A woman was kneeling on the side of the road blood running off her head and face and dripping on the ground. She still had her crying baby tied on and was looking dazed and mumbling incoherently. While the other CLIDE members joined the large crowd forming, trying to figure out what had happened, I started to clear away the blood to figure out that I was looking at. We took the baby off (who seemed fine thankfully!) and decided she just had a couple of superficial scalp lacs and some facial abrasions that we all bleeding quite a bit. However, she was as drunk as a skunk. Made it hard to rule out head injury but did make me feel much better about the altered mental status. I guess an oncoming car had forced the bike off the road. The woman was sitting on the back. The car was long gone and the driver of the bike was almost as drunk as the woman but only had minor abrasions on his hands. We helped the woman clean up her head and face, scrubbing dirt out and cutting off some hair but there was nothing so deep that it needed suturing and with a little pressure the bleeding stopped. I considered encouraging them to head to a clinic but to what ends? There would be no one there who could do anything about a potential head injury, no more complete assessment that what I could do and certainly no radiology. I chuckled a little to myself as the thought of a c-collar then passed out some Motrin and prayed for the best.

I have to see how my week is going to pan out but there is a slim chance I’ll head back up to Karamoja this coming weekend. I’d love to go but I feel like I have a few things on my plate and I don’t want to neglect other responsibilities. Speaking of neglecting other responsibilities, that was far more writing than I was going to do today. Signing off….

Disciples

2011-08-21T08:04:00.001+03:00

So the purpose of the trip to Karamoja this time was to follow up with all of those new believers from the outreach. But as there are more than 500 of them and our desire is to form an indigenous church (not just followers of a bunch of mazungos/foreigners) it was planned to start a bunch of local discipleship groups. The village selected a few to take leadership. We had those few pick a partner and they were trained in leading a group through old testament stories. They themselves don't really know the stories so have been equipped with small solar powered speakers that have them recorded.

These girls are learning how to use their players.

They were also each given a fabric sheet with one picture from all the stories on it and taught the old testament progression up to the life then death of Jesus.A few can read so they were also given a little book that goes along with the stories they are listening to with a few questions to encourage some discussion in their listening groups.
So under the shade of a tree they learned the old testament stories, talked about being a disciple of Jesus and were encouraged to keep learning and fellowshiping and to bring their neighbors along with them on their journey.

Futbol

2011-08-20T09:09:00.000+03:00

The Nakayot United Warriors played their debut soccer (called futbol here) game yesterday against Lorangachora. United Warriors is a great name for them as these young men would be warriors if they were not living in the peace village. And they are united as they are from two tribes that 5 years ago would have been killing each other. Pretty cool. Our guys were a little lacking in the skills department but they made up for it in heart.

It's uniforms vs. none. The home team is wearing any jersey in what ever color they could get. Our team is just glad they have shorts and shirts. That is the ref in white and khaki.

Everyone in bare feet.

I love this. We needed to pause midway into the first half to re inflate the ball. At least the guys from each team are working together!!

Frustrating?

2011-08-19T22:25:00.002+03:00

This blog post has been stuck in my craw since around 3 am so even though I need to be going to bed so badly that it is almost painful I’m sitting here writing….

Put yourself in these shoes for a minute… you wake up to a funny sound around 2 am. Your 2 year old is fussing. Strange, she doesn’t usually do that. You can see her moving in her bed. You scoop her up and take her outside where there is a little light from the moon. She really doesn’t look right. Gasping for breath, stiff in your arms, eyes rolled back in her head. You holler for your husband to wake up. As he starts to stir up the fire for light you are trying to think. What are you doing to do?!? Phone! You don’t have a phone. Neither do 500 of your nearest neighbors. Your baby isn’t responding at all. You are calling her name but she isn’t even opening her eyes. The village health workers? They never have any medicine and besides they don’t even know what to do for joint aches. Car? There is no transport for miles around! Besides it is the middle of the night. These roads aren’t good in the light, dangerous in the dark. Your baby girl is going to die! She isn’t breathing at all. You have no idea what is wrong. She was fine before supper. Didn’t want to eat much and fell asleep earlier than usual but you didn’t think twice about it. Your neighbors have heard you yelling and came over. One grabs the baby and starts to rub her hard. The other is holding her mouth open. You just can’t even think, she is going to die and there is nothing you can do….

Unfortunately, this is life for those that live in the villages of Karamoja. This is also where I entered the story. One of the neighbors remembers that Dr. Val is sleeping in the village tonight. The woman rubbing the baby carries her and they come up to the hut where we are asleep. They are yelling her name and several are talking at once. We pull on skirts and step out of our hut to see a bit of a crowd. Val yells for one of the guys to come translate for us. A man is still holding the baby’s mouth open while another is rubbing her belly and chest hard. I’m still trying to clear the sleep from my brain and figure out what is going on when I see this this kid who pretty clearly isn’t moving any air on her own. Pulse? Nothing in the extremities, skin’s cold, I can find a heart rate in the neck but its thready, irregular and crap. It is apparent quickly that this person rubbing the baby is generating some type of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. In my head I’m yelling for a crash cart and calling a code. In real life I’m still squatting on the ground with my flash light in my hand listening to a mother cry in a language I don’t understand over the obvious, pending death of her little girl. Can someone put in an airway and start bagging? Put in a line and leave it wide open, be sure to get a rainbow of tubes for lab. Lets draw some ABG’s and get radiology to do some stat chest films. Crap! I’m still kneeling on the ground with only a flashlight in my hands. Then she seizes. Grand mal, rigid, seems to last forever. Val has her driver warming up the truck. We are translating to the family that we will leave for the hospital right now. Pt’s father was here but now is gone and pt’s mother cries, that she can’t leave, she has a younger baby at home that is still breast feeding. The father comes running back pretty quickly carrying the younger baby and we all pile into the truck. We pause so that Pastor John can pray for the child and the journey and then we are off. The mud is more than a foot thick in places, standing water in other places, long grass, wet, really dark and pretty treacherous, especially at 60 kilometers per hour.

(Here is a picture of the road several hours later after the sun has dried things out a little.)

We finally reach the hospital. 2 hours and 15 minutes later. Miraculously the child is still alive when we arrive. She has had at least 6 more seizures in the car (though I suspect that she was status epilepticus almost our entire ride- is that even possible?!?) and she still looks like she is barely staving off death but we headed straight into the pediatric ward and got immediate attention. (Walking into this ward needs to be experienced to be believed but I’ll attempt to address it in a coming post.) The nurses put in a line, drew blood and checked her sugar. It was the best response I’ve seen in any situation yet in this country.

Unfortunately this is where this story ends. I wish this story has a happy ending but we have to keep praying. We left the baby and her parents there at the hospital. The seizures seems to have stopped but the child was unresponsive to pain and deep stimulation. She still had a pulse but it wasn’t good. She was breathing on her own which was a plus as this hospital doesn’t have the means to intubate. She has a crap diagnosis of cerebral malaria (Which it is not!!!) and they are running in quinine (Poison!!!) but at least she is in the best place in all of Karamoja and we managed to communicate to the family that we cared and were willing to try. From start to finish I found the whole thing frustrating. I guess that is why I’m still awake nearly 20 hours after the fact processing. Frustrated with the crummy situation the Karamojung find themselves in. Frustrated that the nearest reasonable hospital is more than 2 hours away. Frustrated with myself for not being more equipped and able to help. Frustrated with the hospital for not being able to offer better treatment. Maybe frustrated most of all with this: My teaching today for the training of the village health workers was on the limitations of medicine and medication and how we have to rely on God. Yet I still want to rely on what I’ve been taught, my skills, medicines and that prayer is a pause I take before jumping in the truck with a sick baby. How do I balance medicine and good care as God given gifts yet turn first to the One that I know gives life and healing?

I'm just tired. I need to call it a night before I fall off this chair. But I'm back in Soroti. More posts to follow soon.

Prayer request

2011-08-16T06:01:00.001+03:00

This is the time of day when I roll out of bed, make myself a hot caffeinated drink, wander around feeding all of the various animals then settle down with my computer to journal. But not today. About 18 hours ago the CLIDE folks decided they were going to head up to Karamoja today so I'm dropping everything and joining them. I feel ~~a little~~ unprepared (again!) and I really need to pack and write a few notes on some topics I want to talk with the VHTS about and gather some medications and refill/repack my medical bag and find my tent and make some food to bring along and....
And I need to pause and spend some time with God because that is the most important.
I'll be back in a few days!

Power

2011-08-15T09:13:00.002+03:00

I need to complain just for a second- I AM SICK OF THIS LOAD SHEDDING AND THESE ROLLING BLACK OUTS!!!! For more than 6 weeks now every other night the power goes out around sunset and every other day the power goes off an hour or two after sunrise. You can see why it might be a little frustrating. We have to constantly be aware when it is on to be charging everything we'll need (phones, computers, batteries, etc) and doing the things we need to with power on. Our poor fridge/freezer isn't holding up well and I've had a lot of stuff spoil in the last few weeks. (I even served us green meat one night because I couldn't bring myself to throw out a beautiful Kampala steak-but no one got sick and it only tasted a little funny.) The news is reporting that this won't change until at least November, if at all.

O.K., I'm done complaining. I'm happy we have power when we have it and that I don't have to run a generator or make do without ALL the time. I'm happy that practically every day is sunny and I don't have things like a TV, curling iron, washing machine, air conditioner, blow dryer or blender to use anyway. I'm happy that I can predict (mostly) when there isn't going to be power so I can be a little prepared.
On that note I need to get off the computer to conserve the little battery I have left just in case it doesn't come back on tomorrow morning.

2011-08-14T06:05:00.000+03:00

School holiday is in full swing. That means at time 20+ kids in our yard, wandering around bored, looking for things to do. Yesterday a bunch of the girls were here asking for my "saucepans". This means any empty containers, spoons and dishes I'm willing to let them pretend with. They play house often and recently they have added playing restaurant. Yesterday they were playing quietly but then asked if I had any thing to "cut-cut". This means things that need preparing. Often we use their help to cut vegetables, clean pineapple, grate carrots, juice passion fruit, etc. Well, I had sweet potatoes to peel, egg plant and tomato to dice and onion to chop. So I set them to work. Then they asked if they could start a fire to cook it. Their game of pretend quickly turned into the real thing as the boys soon showed up hungry. (During school time the kids often get a meal at school. Just because they are home doesn't mean their parents are any more able to provide that second meal of the day so most of them just eat once a day when school is on break.) I couldn't help but wonder if the parents of 3rd graders in the states are letting them build fires and cook lunch for their siblings in the front yard in the summer.....

Now, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have been supervising them more. But this is life for these kids. There were no knife injuries, no burns and they were all quite happy to eat what they had prepared. There was no wasted food (no leftovers!) and they even happily did their dishes under the tap outside.

2011-08-13T14:30:00.000+03:00

I’ve heard some complaints that I haven’t posted in over a week. I hadn’t even realized that much time had passed. It has been a very full couple of days. Lacy’s last days here have been busy with last things that we wanted to show her and have her experience. Then seeing a little bit of Uganda as we traveled and yesterday morning dropping her off at the airport. We drove ALL DAY yesterday to get back to Soroti and I (hopefully!) will have time to catch up on the blog soon.

Well, in a strange turn of events I guess I'll be blogging today. I slipped and managed to break a toe. I've been hobbling around most of the morning but it feels better elevated with frozen hot dogs on it so I guess I'll write for a while...

Betty and Abella's trip

2011-08-13T14:25:00.001+03:00

Breakfast in Entebee

Betty and Abella are the two 12 year old girls that seem to be found at our house most days of the week. They have just started school holiday and we invited them to come along with us on our most recent trip to Kampala. These two have only traveled outside of Soroti one other time (to the swimming pool in Mbale with Shaardas) and haven't had opportunity to travel like this before. We left Soroti on Wednesday morning and drove a few hours then stopped for a picnic lunch and an hour of swimming at the pool in Mbale. This was their second time ever swimming.

With 0% body fat if they tread water frantically they could keep their heads above water long enough for me to take this picture.

Then we packed back in the car and headed on to Siysi Falls, a water fall where we camped for the night. They had never seen anything as lush and beautiful before. Betty told me "I didn't know Uganda looked like this!"

We slept at the bottom and hiked to the top.

Trying to get to get up.

Amazing view once you get there.

The following morning we trekked up to the top of the waterfall- a very wet, slippery climb this time! We then came back down, enjoyed breakfast and packed back into the car and headed to Jinja and lake Victoria. We briefly showed the girls Owen Falls Dam, the country's Hydroelectric power station, which provides all of this country with electricity near the source of the Nile. We quickly moved on as we wanted to reach Entebee before dark. We had rented a banda at the zoo for the night and still needed to have supper.

We got up early to take Lacy to the airport where we wanted to show the girls the planes coming and going but there were no big flights there yet (the one Lacy was to leave on had not yet arrived). So we looked at the empty runway for a few minutes then headed out to find breakfast. We went back to the zoo to pack up and spend a few hours. It was really nice as it wasn't actually open yet. The animals were up and around because it was early and the girls seemed really impressed. We stopped beside Lake Victoria to let the girls put their feet in then began the long drive back to Soroti. After stopping in Kampala for some much needed groceries of course. Even groceries stores seemed to impress the girls. (One is like a small Walmart and was far more than they had ever experienced before.) We even had to hit the mall for a few adapters. We may have overwhelmed them a little. I would love to hear what they are going to tell their siblings when they recount everything they have seen and experienced.

Standing in Lake Victoria.

Family Planning- Take 2

2011-08-13T13:22:00.000+03:00

I traveled last week with Charles and Martin (a couple of pastors we have worked with in the past) out to Serere (Pingire) to teach on family planning again. Overall, there were few hitches. Lunch at 4pm was a little lame and right off the bat Charles promised them that I would answer all of their questions, even the hard ones (I can’t make this stuff up! I hate answering questions because I have to keep a straight face and some of them I don’t even know where to begin and a few seem so far in left field and I’m pretty sure that Josh told Charles to say that before he left) but overall it went really well.

Charles and Martin were cracking me up. Martin put on the “pregnant backpack” between every person and he made every guy there wear it and then carry a full jerry can of water, sweep, pick weeds, wash clothes, gather and carry firewood, etc… One guy tried to refuse and Martin asked him if he had a wife. “Has she been afflicted with pregnancy? You put this on then and think about her!” He lectured them on loving their wives and to not mistreat them when they are pregnant. He even made several of the secondary school (high school) girls put it on for a few minutes. The women were rolling on the floor laughing.

My part was much improved because I had a better idea of what women needed to learn about and how to communicate it in an easier to understand way and was more educated about NFP.

We talked about what abortion is and how family planning is not abortion. We spent quite a bit of time in prayer and confession for those that had taken part in abortion. Then we talked about what the bible says about planning our families. There were pastors from 4 other area churches and all were very interested. We were speaking to at least 11 married men, 2 single guys, 13 married women and 20 or more teenaged girls. All were very engaged with the topics discussed. It was pretty late by the time I reached back to Soroti but it felt like a day well spent.

Good news!!

2011-08-06T05:44:00.000+03:00

I'm so happy to report that I found Immaculate and she is doing really well!! Tabatha spent a few hours with me yesterday locating them. We started at her former home and found a neighbor who thought she knew where she was living now. We all got back in the car and headed to a different village and then wandered around asking for her. It didn't take too long to get to the correct hut. Immaculate and her baby were taken in by an older woman who needed help around her house. I asked if the woman was related and I'm pretty sure she isn't but all three seem very happy together. They said there isn't much food to go around but the place looked well cared for and felt much more peaceful than the home Immaculate was kicked out of. I'm going to go so far as to say that this place is a much better situation.

Look at this precious baby!!

On a completely unrelated note several of them practically laughed themselves off their chairs when I carried this bag of cassava from the car to their hut on my head. They begged me to let them take a picture. I don't see what is so funny.

Lacy's account of the medical outreach

2011-08-05T07:38:00.000+03:00

*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.

Playing in the sandbox

2011-08-04T08:25:00.000+03:00

These pictures were taken a few weeks back. The neighbor kids (of both nationalities) were making a city in my "sand box". Having all these kids around all the time can be a tremendous challenge but I don't think I'd give it up if offered the opportunity.
The Shaardas are in the states on furlough right now. I'm thinking of you guys and praying for you today!

Walking with the suffering

2011-08-02T08:00:00.029+03:00

These past few days have, for Beckie, Lacy and I, been all about spending time with those who are suffering. On Saturday it was attending the burial of a 4 year old girl. We also got reports that Dorcus (the child’s sister and a young woman were trying to help) had stolen a large amount of money, took off to somewhere else in the country and can’t be reached. Sunday found us sitting with hurting friends- a young mother who is burying her second baby, lost to a late pregnancy miscarriage and another who is trying to hold her marriage together after her husband cheated on her and isn’t accepting any responsibility. I was reminded again on Sunday how none of the kids that come to play in our yard have fathers. The kids were with us for several hours without telling their caregivers where they were and no one missed them. Monday we were at Amecet, holding the most neglected and abandoned babies. Moses is a great little guy with huge dimples who was left in a pig stall wrapped in a plastic bag with the placenta still attached. He is still at Amecet because no one is willing to accept responsibility for him. Today I wanted to check up on Immaculate (13 year old handicapped kid raped by her "father") and learned that her mother sent her away. She and her baby were kicked out of the house because the new boyfriend didn't want them around. Now no one seems to know where they are living or how they are surviving. It will be tomorrow's project to find her.
I've got to be honest. I'm sick of all of this suffering. I know that this is what I'm here for. To share the hope that I have. But some weeks it is harder than others.

2011-08-01T06:21:00.001+03:00

While we were in Karamoja water issues were a big part of our daily struggles. We constantly heard from the people how the bore hole didn’t supply enough for them so how they had to go into the mountains to springs that were often fouled up by baboons or other animals. We ourselves often wondered if we would be able to transport enough for the day. We spent lots of time filtering to make it clean enough to drink. We occasionally went without washing up because there was only enough left for cooking and drinking. Then there were the challenges of water in the form of rain. We were all staying in old tents that were far from rain proof. Constantly there were sleeping bags and sleeping mats piled outside waiting for the sun to come out and dry them. The rain made the roads tricky and travel interesting. So with thoughts of water still in the back of my mind I was asked to preach this Sunday here in Soroti. I often decline but God brought some verses to mind and it all suddenly came together in my head during worship.

Jeremiah 2:13 "My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

The K-jongs are often forced to choose between dirty water and no water. But this past trip we brought living water! And we offered it free. And still some chose to get it from their dirty cisterns. They would rather have witchcraft and alcoholism and anger and fear because that is the way it has always been. And the same is true of us. We choose dirty water over what God is offering. We look to things like entertainment or money or relationships or possessions to satisfy our thirst. But Jesus is saying don’t drink that crap! I’m offering LIVING WATER!

I’m feeling challenged to evaluate what I’m consuming to satisfy my thirst. Am I forsaking the things of God and trying to build my own cistern? Are you?

2011-07-30T16:59:00.000+03:00

Another burial of a child. If any of my Ugandan friends are reading this will you please invite me to some other social gatherings!? I've been to 9 burials already and I need some other things like a wedding or two to balance it out!

Dorothy and the first post about her

This was a discouraging funeral. I thought Dorothy was doing so well and I hadn't heard anything in a while. But she was taken out to the village and it turns out she was really sick. She was only started on ARV's two weeks ago and by then it was far too late. The little body I saw today was horribly malnourished and neglected and just made me want to cry. I feel like I really let her down and the whole situation makes me sick and I guess I can't even write about this yet....

Medical/Evangelism outreach to Karamoja

2011-07-27T06:56:00.004+03:00

The next few posts are about the medical/ evangelism outreach to Karamoja. I’m taking them from my journal a day at a time and adding pictures and I anticipate it will take a few days to get it all put up. The posts in order are going to be here:

Rosemary is one of the VHT's from Nakayot village

Tuesday and Wednesday

Friday

2011-07-26T07:20:00.000+03:00

Once again sitting at my computer thinking “What an adventure!” We all arrived back from Karamoja late last night (technically this morning, I think) and it has been an amazing two weeks up there. God moved in powerful ways. Once again the CLIDE staff did a wonderful job being faithful with what God has called them to do. Other Ugandan’s joined us from a variety of places and ministries and of course there were the American nurses and doctors. It was an adventure as always and I don’t even know where to begin. As much as I’d love to sit here and type for a few hours I have a few other responsibilities I have to handle first. But don’t you worry. Many pictures and stories are soon to follow. And hopefully a few guest posts from Lacy about her first impressions of Africa (though I may have to edit out what she thought of me dragging her out to the “deep bush” within hours practically of her arrival in the country.)

Monday

2011-07-26T07:06:00.000+03:00

Well, last day in Nakoyot. Took down tents first thing in the morning then we did the last few hours of medical clinic while the CLIDE crew packed up the rest of camp. Around noon we loaded up our 4 vehicles and set off to see how muddy and treacherous the road out was. Good news: the road was not too impassable. Bad news: the land rover quit working about 10 kilometers from camp. We proceeded to tow it the remaining 150 kilometers. It took more than 11 hours for several reasons. No one had a tow strap so we used rope which broke over and over again. We stopped in a few places thinking there would be parts or someone who could try their hand at repairing but no luck. Finally, after dark and stopping for the millionth time we purchased a piece of power line to tow the land rover with. It worked pretty well (only broke or came unattached 4 times) and we reached Soroti around 11pm. All the vehicles stayed together so there was camaraderie and lots of laug

The driver of the land rover hypothesizing why it quits every time he puts it in gear.

hing. By the time we unloaded and had a quick bite to eat it was Tuesday morning and an interesting ending to an amazing adventure.

The rest waiting in the shade

Open position: church secretary

2011-07-24T21:24:00.005+03:00

Nayayot has a growing church!! Two weeks ago there were less than 20 believers in a village of 9,000+ people. As of this morning the church now consists of 500+ ! But what do you do with a church that doesn’t have a pastor and more than 90% of its members are new believers?! Will you pray for a way to disciple these folks? Witch craft is still present, alchoholism still has a strong pull, and Satan won't give them up easily but the Holy Spirit is working. Please pray for supernatural understanding of the step they have just taken. These new believers really don’t have any idea what new life in Christ means. They saw the blind receive sight and heard of Jesus’ free gift but they don’t know of daily decisions. They haven’t lived with Christians before.

Please pray! I'd love to be here more and part of discipleship but I can't travel here alone and don't have a vehicle that can handle the roads. We need God to raise up a team for discipleship to continue the work!

Saturday

2011-07-23T21:38:00.000+03:00

7/23

What an amazing day!!! We made out clinic mobile by packing all of our drugs and supplies in backpacks, then loaded people up and set off for Alakas.

Through the valley with the sun beating down

About to start climbing up...

Up near the top of the mountain and coming back down

Thursday

2011-07-21T08:17:00.008+03:00

7/21
Feeling pretty drained this morning. It has been a full couple of days with a few more full ones ahead. As of yesterday evening we estimated we’ve seen 300+ patients. We thought we were going to have 3 physicians but only the one from the states is here. The Ugandan docs never joined us. That means I’ve needed to step in and see patients to keep up with the demand. I don’t like acting as a doctor. I really miss doing the nursing things but it is the way it has to be. Mostly I send him the complicated stuff and stick to the malaria, otitis media, parasites, UTI, ringworm, PID, pneumonia, gastritis…. Patient after patient. I would much rather spend more time with one sick one…. Ahhhh. Alright, enough complaining. I know that I’m just too tired. Last night I stayed up lat running through my talk on differential diagnosis on fever for today’s lecture. I’m really enjoying the morning teaching time. One of yesterday's topics was HIV and I did a “drama” to demonstrate the immune system which they seemed to really understand well and then a demo on transmission of HIV which made them laugh but I know they will remember it. But as much as I like teaching it makes me tired and then we head right into clinic all afternoon. There is so much going on to be excited about but tired….

Teaching how to read a thermometer

Dr. Will going through a head to toe assessment

Monday

2011-07-18T21:29:00.000+03:00

7/18

This week’s (potential probable) schedule

5:30 Up

6:00 Worship and prayer for the day

7:00 Breakfast

8:00 Prep for the day

9:00 Teaching VHTs by medical team, outreach teams head out to visit homes

1:00 Break for lunch

2:00 Medical team begins clinic, children’s team with multitude of kids, health teaching for those that are waiting.

5:00 Music in village, worship and prayer on "stage" in the center by outreach team

6:00 Wrap up in clinic

7:00 Wash up and prep for next clinic

8:00 Movie starts after dark in village

9:00 Dinner

10:00 Pack up movie and sound equipment from village

TIA (This Is Africa) so we’ll practically never follow this schedule but today it is what we set and kind of followed.

Sunday

2011-07-17T20:45:00.000+03:00

Hanging speakers in the tree for sunday morning worship

Bible story lesson

So many kids in sunday school

Saturday

2011-07-16T20:50:00.001+03:00

7/16

This just isn't going to be enough water.

The American team will arrive sometime today, for now finishing up the preparation and learning a little k-jong! I love the fact that I am finally beginning to understand a (tiny!) little bit of the language.

One of our big challenges that we are tackeling as the advance team is water. This village currently has only one working bore hole and the ground reservoir that it draws from is really slow to fill. As it is, it doesn’t meet the needs of the villagers and they go without. We are about to add a huge group of people who are used to using much more water just for bathing than the locals use to meet all of their needs. So we’ve got this tank but the valve isn’t holding and it is filthy inside.

Solution? Put a small child inside to clean it.

Got to get the valve to at least stay closed...

We will send a pickup truck every day (sometimes twice a day) with 3, 100 liter barrels 27 kilometers to get enough water to cook, drink, clean and wash.

Safe

2011-07-16T14:21:00.000+03:00

We are still in Karamoja and I know many of you are praying for us. I also know that many of you pray for safety often, not just when I'm upcountry.

Safety is not the absence of danger, it's the presence of the Lord.

Bring on the danger that we may see the presence of the Lord!

Thursday and Friday

2011-07-15T21:04:00.001+03:00

7/14

Got a phone call at 10 am “Could we be ready to leave in an hour?” Considering I’d been packed for nearly two weeks and Lacy was practically still packed we said “Sure.” Headed over to the CLIDE office at 11 am and finally left Soroti at 4pm. Everything seems to be a challenge here. Anyway, we arrived to the peace village without too much problem on the way even though we had to travel in the dark. The road is pretty dry and passable. Lacy and I are currently laying in the dark in the hut. There are a few of the CLIDE guys sleeping outside and in the other hut but we are the only ladies so we have this one to ourselves. We had roasted cassava for supper tonight and will be sleeping by 10 pm.

Lacy holding our cassava supper in our hut after we arrived in the evening.

7/15

Its 9pm and we are trying to stay awake while waiting for the trucks to arrive from Soroti. It was our first full day in the peace village. As the “advance team” we are a small group setting up camp, tents, arranging for water and latrines and all the things that 70+ people will need to live here for a week. We are sunburned and unfortunately discovered all of the things that we thought were packed in the vehicle but will actually be coming with the next trip. (Like milk, bread, spoons, basins….) But “dry tea” (black tea without milk) and some mango leather that I packed at the last minute went a long way and it was fun to be working today. We were up at 6:30 because the guys needed stuff from the hut we were sleeping in so we jumped right into the day. Midafternoon Lacy and I walked down the hill into the village and it was interesting to see it through “beginners” eyes again. (I’m sure Lacy will write about it!) We drew a crowd within seconds and had two women grabbing us and demanding food ( at least I think they wanted food) so we didn’t stay long. We had rice and beans around 8pm, had a nice cup shower in the bathing shelter by the light of the full moon and I spent some time jotting some notes on what I may be teaching the village health workers (VHTs) next week and now we'd like to call it a night but are still waiting. The trucks were supposed to be loaded this morning and driven up here this afternoon but they must have left late. There is no cell phone reception way out here so we wait and pray they are not broken down on the way or stuck in the mud somewhere. We’ll unload the second advance group's trucks when they get here then call it a night.

The start of our camp in the background and the village in the more distant background.

Village VHT

2011-07-14T14:39:00.011+03:00

*Hopefully I'm in Karamoja right now. I wrote this post a few days ago but timed it to come up as we head north. Please be praying for us!!

I’d like to introduce you to a woman named Dengel Betty. She lives in a remote village in Karamoja named Alakas. She is a Village Health worker and is a woman I’ll be working with in the coming months. Her village is made up of about 59 families. I've heard it is accessible by road but I've yet to see this road. We arrived by a foot path that crosses some low mountains to reach the valley they live in. All of the people there get their water from a dirty mountain spring. There is no school, no medical care, nothing besides their homes and fields. The village meeting place is under a tree and life is hard.

Betty is the one on my immediate left. As a Village Heath worker she has a small box of medicines (the one her daughter is sitting on in the picture) and she does what she can for the people in her village. She has about a second grade education and walks more than a hour to get the precious limited meds that are given out every few months for her to use. She'll be at our training the next few weeks to learn more about assessment and vitals, fever in children, what to do in emergencies and most of all about how much God loves her and desires His best for her village.

A few more pictures

2011-07-09T18:27:00.002+03:00

It is all fun and games until someone loses a tentacle.

Zebra fish

That's my team! I'm so proud to be a part of this group.

We leave Mombassa tomorrow morning. I'm ready to go. Feel rested and ready for the next adventure. We fly back to Kampala, pick up Lacy (a college student who will live with Beckie and I for the next month) and then trek back to Soroti. I'll be home for a quick two days then grab a bus to Karamoja and head out to the peace village for the next two weeks.

Its a war out there.

2011-07-09T18:27:00.000+03:00

I'm about to be deployed, headed to the front lines next week. I used to get irritated by war analogies that Christians use. That is, until the battle became real for me. There are two sides and we really are fighting over people. There are casualties, ambushes, and counterattacks. So I've embraced this description. Jesus used it. The apostle Paul used it. And it is true. We are at war. Whether we like it or not. And if you are really a Christian you are enlisted or drafted but either way we need to fight. Eph 6: 10 tells us we will all be taking a stand against the enemy and we had better be ready. These analogies are in my mind this week because I’m about to be deployed and I’m trying to get ready. Next week we are headed out to set up an outpost in Karamoja. They enemy won’t like it because he thinks Karamoja is his territory. But he is misinformed and we’re out to take it back. We acknowledge that we will have to battle for it and engage evil.
God desires the people of Karamoja to know Him with a fierce and fiery passion that no one and nothing had better get in the way of. They are in bondage that He is going to set them free from. He hates the way they are slaves to sin that He has already defeated. So He is sending us to tell them. That makes us soldiers. And we know that we will be conquers. More than conquerors as a matter of fact. (Romans 8:37). God is setting us up for success. He has already promised. So I want to be prepared.

Thats it. Seems like a strange place to end. These thoughts have been running through my mind for the past several days, they find their way into my prayer even though I don't really know exactly how to pray. I'm still processing and will be for a few more years I think. This is one of those posts that maybe I shouldn't put out quite yet but I'm going to anyway.

Guzzaldos

2011-07-08T09:52:00.000+03:00

Some new team mates arrived about 4 weeks ago and I've been meaning to write about them for a little but but haven't taken the time. Well, yesterday I got some GREAT pictures of them so I'm taking this as the perfect opportunity.

This is Jim, Margaret and Elliot (asleep on Margaret's lap)

Elliot enjoying his ice cream possibly more than any of the rest of us.

They are just settling in and planning on being in Soroti for the long haul. It has been great getting to know them better this past week at this conference. This is their blog and as they take great pictures it is worth checking often to see what they are up to! To Uganda with bread and song

International Teams East Africa Conferance

2011-07-06T22:23:00.002+03:00

50+ missionaries from Canada, UK, America, Ukraine, Kenya, South Africa and Costa Rica working in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and Congo. We are talking about lots of things but the emerging African mission movement is a big part of our discussions. How is it that 100+ years since Christianity came to Africa, African missionaries are so few? How is it that churches that were planted by missionaries are not mission minded churches? Why are they not now sending out their own missionaries? AIM (African Inland Mission) began working in Kenya in 1895. It has planted more than 100 African Inland Churches. It boasts 100,000 members. And it has now sent out less than 40 missionaries. That is .04% of its members have become missionaries on a continent that still desperately needs them! We are also talking about some of the most marginalized (unreached) and it has been pointed out that often times pastors and church leaders fall into this category. (I’ve seen it over and over around Soroti- ask a pastor what is the good news? He can’t tell you.) How is it that a continent boasting of over 40% evangelical Christians has so many atrocities (like child sacrifice, bloody civil wars, massive genocides, and so many other things)? Could it be that we as missionaries are doing thing wrong and our priorities have been over-focused on numbers instead of heart change?

Of course, it isn't all hard work and hard questions. We are having a little fun too.

Grace and Lydia on the beach.

Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the nine-nine will read the Christian.

2011-07-01T18:21:00.001+03:00

“Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” I Cor 11:1

A pretty direct command from the Apostle Paul.

It’s easy to think “That’s great. He was one of the greatest missionaries to walk this planet. He could tell people to follow his example. His was a good example to follow as his life was above reproach”. But can you say it about yourself? Could you tell a young believer- “follow me as I follow Christ”? These are pretty bold words. But as followers of Christ we should be able to.

Mostly I’m posing these questions to you because I’m posing them to myself. I’m called to live as Christ. My decisions, my words, my actions should all point to my Lord and Savior. So shouldn't I be able to point to my own life as a way to follow because it should all be pointing to Jesus? I don’t think asking this is being self-righteous or being too confident in myself. Because I know I don’t have it all together. But I’m called to be confident in what God is doing in my life. Maybe it is sanctimonious. But I think that used to mean holy or sacred before it meant hypocritical.

Is your life worthy of imitation?

Dwight Moody is quoted as saying “Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the nine-nine will read the Christian.”

All for the sake of a nice mexican dinner.

2011-06-27T20:03:00.001+03:00

Occasionally I feel guilty over having house help and a gardener/guard. But not today. I would get NOTHING else done if they didn’t do their jobs. Here is a glimpse of the day:

I had invited teammates over for dinner, this meant meal prep for 10 people.

*Funny side note- Teammates gave us a rooster (named Jose) a few months ago and he has served his purpose and has three hens sitting on eggs (and we are sick of his crowing at 5:30am) so today’s dinner was chicken enchiladas which seemed most fitting as the main dishes’ name was Jose.

Anyway, starting at 8am I pointed out the hen and roster that were destined for dinner to our gardener. When I arrived back home around noon I boiled some water and we plucked them and gutted them. They then went into the stock pot from 1 to 2. Meanwhile our house help Helen made 40 tortillas and cleaned and sorted the rocks and sand from of a pot of beans. Then she started them soaking and eventually boiling (un-canned beans are lots of work to make them digestible). She also cleaned the stones from a kilo of rice. Those little stones are torment in your teeth. Around 3 pm Helen went home but first she mopped the floor and did the dishes. Later in the afternoon I cut 2 kg of tomatoes, green peppers and onions to make salsa. I’d planted cilantro a while back so went out to the garden and cut and cleaned a few handfuls. The beans were finally soft enough to toss in the blender for bean dip. The chickens needed to have all of the meat picked off the bones and a white sauce made from scratch. I also wanted to do peanut butter cookies for dessert. (Our peanut butter was grown, harvested then ground by hand between two rocks by Helen.) The enchiladas needed to be assembled, the salsa cooked, the rice boiled and the cookies mixed up and baked. This part finally felt like dinner prep. But between the three of us we’d already spent nearly 10 hours getting this one meal ready! Next time you grab a can of salsa or bean dip, a package of tortillas or peanut butter cookies, a bag of frozen chicken breasts or better yet a ready to cook pan of chicken enchiladas feel free to think of me.

R.I.P.

2011-06-25T16:53:00.000+03:00

I know that some will think less of me for this post (mostly my brother Nick who thinks cats are best with a little BBQ sauce) but I'm going to post anyway.

Cats seem to have a short life span here in Uganda. Beckie and I have had 4 cats over the past year, now we have only one. A few weeks ago Cow Pea disappeared and I've been holding out hope that he would show up again. His antics, more than the other three, were a source of amusement for me but it's time to let go.

Rest In Peace
Cow Pea

Late night hunting with me.

Sleeping in the hen house. The chickens loved that.

Taking care of a few babies.

Always social.

Pally

2011-06-25T16:51:00.026+03:00

On that sad note, here is a more positive one. We have added another animal to our collection. I hope this one lasts longer than the others. (Overall, I think we have had more than 30 animals of 6 species, now only one has reached it's first birthday here. Not great odds.)

His name is Palindrome, Pal for short though the neighbor kids call him Pally.

He isn't much of a watchdog yet but we are working on it. He still weights less than 6 pounds so we've got to get a little meat on him to make him a little more fierce!

Family Planning

2011-06-25T07:50:00.029+03:00

*June 20th*

I'm a bit behind on the blogging and Mandy wrote about Family Planning day in Obule already so I'm going to openly steal her work. Here is her account:

Monday Josh and Jennifer taught all day in Obule. The topic – family planning. Josh likes to say I roped him into it, which I guess I did. Last month when Jennifer and I were out there teaching the ladies how to make mango fruit roll ups they asked if we could teach them about family planning – a hot topic here because the church has wrong information about it and most of these ladies have seven children and are tired! So we thought that was a great idea and began brain storming. But we needed Josh’s help to teach the men and to bring in the Biblical teaching on the subject. The good thing is Josh usually thanks me later for my good idea and for encouraging him to teach something needed– which he did this time too.

We arrived at about 10:30 and we were happy to see people were already gathered, but we couldn’t start before they gave us tea and roasted peanuts. (Obule is hospitable almost to a fault. They cannot let guests come without feeding them – everytime! When will we not be guests anymore? I know they love us and are so thankful, but it takes so much time.) After tea we began with singing and then a little fun. Jennifer and I decided that the husbands needed know what it felt like to be pregnant so we brought a backpack with 25 pounds of flour in it for the men to wear on their bellies. What a hoot! The guys really acted pregnant with the backpack on and the women loved it. The first guy I had lay on a mat to feel what it was like for his wife to sleep at night. It was quite fun watching him struggle to roll over and get up again. The next guy had to take off his shoes and put them back on again. He couldn’t tie them with the “baby” on so his wife had mercy and helped him. The next man had to go some sweeping bending over with the “baby” on board. The women laughed and laughed watching the men struggle to do their task while “pregnant”. All of the men also had to wear it during a session while sitting on a bench. All of them complained of back, knee, and leg pains from carrying the extra weight. I think they got the point. They were really good sports. Even Josh got a turn, reluctantly. Hey, his wife was pregnant three times too.

I think Charles now has more sympathy for his wife!

Josh did a great job teaching about what God has to say about life, children, and families. It is not an easy topic to teach on. He started out talking about when life begins, then how family planning is not abortion, and onto what is our responsibility as parents. I love how he opens God’s Word and asks the right questions for the people to figure out the answer according to what God says. There was a very special time where we looked at abortion and how it is murder and a stronghold the devil has here. We took time to pray, confess, and allow God to heal. We prayed this from ourselves if we have had any involvement, our forefathers, for our nation, and the church. I know the Spirit was there. I could see it in the room around me. People where lifting their hands, lying out before the Lord, crying… I had goose bumps. I prayed for our nation and church. Abortions are happening everyday – in the church too. Birth control we take that aborts pregnancy, left over babies from invetro fertilization destroyed… God forgive us! I know we did spiritual battle in those moments and God gave us the victory – freedom from that stronghold. We ended the prayer time worshiping.

Jennifer taught on the medical side of family planning and the option that are available here. There were lots of questions and the women seemed to really want to know about themselves and what they could do.

Of course child care was provided. It was a school day so those not old enough to go to school took care of the babies.

Lots of irons in the fire....

2011-06-23T21:08:00.000+03:00

Whoa! Who said life in Africa was slower than life in the states?! My desk is piled high and my list of things to do just keeps growing. I’m still here and have several posts bouncing around in my head. I need a few good runs to sort them out and get them written. Last week I was teaching pastors on HIV in Katakwi. Then this week Monday, I had a chance to do an afternoon with Josh and Mandy on family planning in Obule. (That one has some great pictures!) Then I tossed some clothes in a bag and headed for Karamoja with Dr. Val for a few days. The roads between Kangoli, Moroto, Iriri and Nakyote were muddy, dusty, rutted and pretty interesting in more than a few places making travel an adventure as usual. But it was good to be planning and preparing for a big medical outreach next month.

All these stories and more on the way soon! Oh, and we have a new addition to the menagerie here in Soroti. On top of the usual life stuff, the team has a group of high school students from Grand Rapids here for a very few, but very full days, lots more planning and preparation for the medical outreach in Karamoja, and other irons in the fire so my journaling time is suffering. Also I still feel like I need more rest than usual and find myself a little short tempered so I know I need to slow down a bit. Thank you all for your continued prayers!

Happy Father's Day!!

2011-06-19T07:32:00.000+03:00

Dad- I thought of you a few times this week. I successfully put a crib back together and also fixed my car. Both times I was so appreciative of the skills that you taught me. But I'm thankful for so many more things from you than just carpentry and mechanical skills. Thank you for your godly example of a servant's heart. For your ceaseless patience. For your quiet communication that you will always be there for me.
I LOVE YOU!!

Happy Father's Day Dad!!

Renewing the Visa again!

2011-06-17T19:31:00.001+03:00

Today deserves a post for sure. Highlights:

7am this morning we discovered the car wasn’t working. We need to make the trek somewhere to renew our passports again and we opted for Lira. It is more remote and we don’t really know the place but we have had so much trouble with immigration in Mbale and the road is terrible. Anyway, we needed to go a few hundred kilometers. Car: clearly not working. We opened the hood and laughed because what are we going to do but stare at the engine? But amazing!! A few minutes later, with two pliers, a hammer and a rag we managed to start the car! (Dad, you would be so proud of us. We’ve learned a few things about repairing things here- start with something you can strike things with.)

Beckie had spoken with the Immigration Officer in Lira a few days ago and she told us to come at 8. She arrived in her office at 10 am. But she stamped both of us for two months without hesitation. So at least we don’t have to worry about that for a while again.

We had heard of several pools and soft serve ice cream in Lira so needless to say we figured if we were driving all the way we may as well make it enjoyable. Well….. not a single one of the pools were open for various reasons. And we hunted and hunted for the restaurant with the ice cream. Nearly 20 km later and turning around twice we finally found it! But they didn’t have any power so no ice cream.

We came home sometime after 4 so all the school kids who regularly come over were waiting at our gate. After riding in the car all day some activity seemed nice so Beckie and I brought out a ball and a pretty rocking game of handball commenced. We were all soaked in sweat by the time we called it a tie. Some of these kids get lunch at school but some don’t so I brought out a plate of muffins- somehow they managed to eat 3 dozen in a matter of minutes.

Immaculate

2011-06-11T07:51:00.002+03:00

I have this great up-beat, positive blog post half written about spending several hours yesterday morning planning with the CLIDE staff for their annual medical outreach in the peace village. I was writing about how excited I am to think and plan about what we’ll be doing out there in just a few short weeks. About how we’ll be staying in tents in very rural Uganda while serving the poorest of the poor with a big team, all people who are passionate about making an eternal difference in the lives of hurting people. It was going to be a nice post.

But then in the afternoon Mandy called about a 13 year old girl in the jail with a newborn baby she had just heard about. We headed out to find her and see if there was anything we could do. So now I have to blog about this poor kid who was raped by her father and is pretty sick with a postpartum infection. Immaculate, the 13 year old mother, now has a newborn and no support. Her own mother seems to be an alcoholic with no job or source of income and the baby’s father is on his way to prison. When we went to her home we found several other malnourished children who should be attending school but aren’t. The whole situation is ugly and feels so hopeless. We got Immaculate and Christine (the newborn) medical care and things to meet their immediate needs. But it feels like we barely scratched the surface. Father God, we are not able to restore hope and bring something good out of this despair. But you are. We plead with you to touch this young girl and her newborn. Wrap your arms of love around them and show your power in a supernatural way. Amen

Mandy did a great job and posted a bunch more details and pictures than I did. Her blog is here. And follow up that she did a few days later in the middle of this post.

For such a time as this....

Savings and Loan

Amecet

A few pictures from the trip north...

Catching up

Moving from Komolo Road

Trying to not get frustrated...

Relaxing at the lake

Back

Trying to get ready to go again....

Other stories

In the Desert

Singing in church

Catching up

Driving in on the right side of the road

Missionary Medical Intensive

Izaac

Common sense vs. Faith

I need something?

North Carolina

Rats and traveling

Last night in Soroti

Quite a bit to do...

Visas again...

You can eat that?

Rice

God moment

Bike ride

Back in Soroti

That's a lot of stuff.

Little taste of Cheese!

I which I try to hoe and eat too much food out in Obule

Candid pictures

Art prize

Welcome back!!

The gears just aren't meshing.

Hiking!!

TV?

Ride for Refuge 2011!

Blood

Well, that was fun!

Only a little change

"Stick a folk in me, I'm done"

Starfish

Happy Labor day from Uganda!

Behold the power of the written word

Back to School!!

Statistics?

Inverter

Chocolate Cake?!?

Best parts

Lois

Why don't I go more often to prayer?

Tim is sick

Disciples

Futbol

Frustrating?

Prayer request

Power

Betty and Abella's trip

Family Planning- Take 2

Good news!!

Lacy's account of the medical outreach

Playing in the sandbox

Walking with the suffering

Medical/Evangelism outreach to Karamoja

Monday

Open position: church secretary

Saturday

Thursday

Monday

Sunday

Saturday

Safe

Thursday and Friday

Village VHT

A few more pictures

Its a war out there.

Guzzaldos

International Teams East Africa Conferance