Afflicted

Read a great post over on Life Overseas. Click here.  Or I just copied and pasted below:

Over the years we have tried with patchy success to create a habit of frequently asking ourselves whether the things we are doing make sense and if it seems like ‘God is in it?‘

 We hope to avoid getting trapped into routines or habits without truly examining what we’re doing. We desire to be purposeful about the choices we make. It is helpful to examine ourselves to assure that our motivations and attitudes are pure.

 It is important to step back and look at what stress or fatigue is causing in us and in our reactions to things. If we are driving around and going about our days with an undercurrent of anger or an attitude of superiority toward people we’re here to love and work with then we don’t really belong here. Those of us living here can think of a few crotchety old missionaries that are mean and negative and angry toward this country and all of us can easily become that crotchety old missionary if we’re not careful.

 In the last several months we’ve had an epiphany of sorts. We’ve discovered that most of us that are here working with “the poor” can and do unwittingly find ourselves in a bit of a distressing position of superiority. It is not a position we knowingly choose nor is it what we want. It just kind of happens when we stop paying attention to our heart attitudes.

 We don’t know very much, but we do know that Jesus calls us to become incarnate. In order to live that way we need to see ourselves as we really are.

We are the poor and needy. We are the afflicted.

 When I see myself in the women Heartline is serving, when I see my own manipulation and excuses, my own poverty, my own pride  – I am suddenly able to serve and work together with the women with an attitude of humility and grace rather than superiority and judgment. It is the difference between serving from a position of eminence and authority in a top-down sort of way, to serving like Jesus served with a meek ‘power under’ approach.

 The only way to remain genuinely humble when doing this work is to be perpetually aware that we too are the afflicted ones. There is vulnerability in that, but it is a necessary thing.We are every bit as miserable; our passports and perceived wealth simply mean our misery is better disguised

 God is not made known in our ability to fix or heal “the poor people”. We are all weak and wounded,after-all.

 Jesus calls us to stop trusting in our own capacity to do good or make change. If we trust in His ability rather than our own we’ll avoid acting superior. God is made manifest in our ability to recognize that we have nothing to offer apart from Him and that we are every bit as much in need of love, healing, and restoration as the people with whom we work.

 …Pray for all of us to entirely give up believing in ourselves and our own abilities. Pray for healing, freedom, and restoration for every. single. afflicted. inhabitant of our little island and this big world.

 Tara Livesay – works in Maternal Healthcare in Port au Prince, Haiti

Seems strange, I think I'm headed into two weeks of vacation. Sort of. I've had a few busy weeks and as I look back at my November schedule I think I spent a total of 8 days sleeping in my own bed.  A night in the back of my truck, a few in a tent, several in a hut... but now I'm in a nice guest house in Kampala because I have to pick up my dad and brother, Benj, in Entebbe on Thursday! So excited!! I had to come upcountry a day early because my truck needs some serious maintenance (four new brake pads, three new wheel bearings, two new CV joints and a partridge in a pear tree.) Turns out the Karamoja roads are hard on it.

Playing in the mud last week.

 But for the next two weeks I'm hanging out with Dad and Benj as they work on electrical wiring and a bunch of other handiman tasks for team mates.  We are also going to spent two days at the possible sites for the discipleship camp and retreat center.   Benj and his wife, Christina, are prayerfully considering being a part of that center so will you join me in praying that they will move to Uganda that they will be obedient to God's will.

I need to add an addendum: Woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a truck. Body aches, chills, fever.  Also I was called by the mechanic and turns out I also need a new drive shaft. He isn't sure he can get a new one and get it installed before I need to head to the airport. Ugh. So I'm laying low today, praying I feel better fast and praying that the mechanic is super efficient. Can you pray with me?

Peace Celebration

I had the opportunity to help Dr. Val last weekend with their 5 year celebration of peace in the first peace village, Nabwal. As I wrote that last sentence this sounds normal and like something I could easily describe but I don’t even know how.

Picture me, with several ladies from around Karamoja, standing in a big open field in the midst of 5 giant cooking fires with huge sauce pans on them. Then add to that picture roughly 1,000 karamojung in their traditional wear singing and dancing around us while they wait for the food to be ready to eat. Two bulls have been slaughtered in the not so distant background and we are mixing food with huge sticks and carrying the meat for boiling in large basins. Can you picture it?  Don’t worry, I don’t think I could have either if I hadn't been there.

Some days....

We had lots of rain while in Nabwal and the day after the big celebration it was still raining but we were trying to get back to Kangole. I had both axles buried in mud and had three Karamojung men yelling in the windows at me to go three different directions. (Literally. Go forward, go back, turn hard right) But if you've ever been in 3 feet of mud you know that you are really not going anywhere.  You trying to picture it?  I’m in a skirt (because that is what women wear out here) with my favorite gum boots on. My land cruiser has mud coating it from the roof all the way down. There is so much mud tossed up on the back window that I can’t see through it at all. It is hot and humid and I would rather just be sitting with a book and a cup of tea on this rainy morning and instead I’m trying to ignore all of the people yelling at me while rocking the vehicle enough to get an inch or two of traction. I have it in 4wd low and finally manage to grab a bit of solid ground under the mud and am able to accelerate out (as much as you can call 2^nd gear accelerating). Everyone splashed back over to me and climbed back in, congratulating for getting unstuck again (it was my 4^th time that morning). 

Yet somehow this is becoming normal...

I was driving between the peace village and my home and had to stop on the side of the road because just a few feet from me was an adult pair of ostriches. The male at nearly 8 feet tall with his flame red neck and coal black feathers shook his giant wings at me while the slightly smaller (at only 7 feet tall) dusty gray female moved back away from the road into the bushes. 

Well Update

So, things like this move really slowly in Uganda.  We are trying tp help the village of Loromoruchabi seek permission from the Uganda Wildlife Association to finish drilling their well so that they can have clean water in their village. We had to stop back in September because the drillers were threatened and accused of drilling in wildlife protected land. We have a map that says they were not and the village really needs water but we still had to stop and work this out before the well could be completed.

So, the local chairperson of the lower level had to seek permission from the district government then they had to seek permission higher up and we have just recently heard that it has actually reached the desk of the president of Uganda.

Please pray for him this week.  Pray of course of Lormoruchabi’s well but please also pray for all of the other issues President Musiveni (spelled wrong intentionally) has to deal with. He has been president of Uganda for 22 years and he has brought about good development of his country in that time. But he is still a dictator and another election year in coming in 2016.   

Random updates...

Hey faithful blog followers, once again I need to confess that I've not at all stayed on top of what it going on here. It isn't because I don't want to, it is mostly that I have not had a working computer for almost a month.  On top of that my camera was stolen out of my truck in Karamoja a few weeks back while I was stuck in the mud and I'm finding that without pictures I have even less motivation to post when I do borrow a teammates' computer for a few hours.So now that I finally am on the computer with some internet, what is there to tell you?  I've had nearly more animal patients than human ones lately. In Karamoja I was helping with an animal vaccination project where we spent 4 days in 6 villages immunizing and treating livestock. Back in Soroti, I delivered a litter of puppies and have been giving IV fluids to a sick cat.  I think I like animal patients better than human ones. The well drilling situation in Karamoja is still at a standstill while the local government figures out how to motivate the "federal" government to allow the drilling to continue. I visited the village last week and they were so excited when they saw my truck driving up but when they saw that the well drillers were not with me they were very letdown. They, obviously, really want the work to continue so that they can have water but they have so little power over getting the right documents to continue. But, we are praying that God uses this delay to get the village's attention. I'm spending a lot of time with an end-stage AIDS patient who is near to death. Her family's lack of care for her is sickening and they had pretty much abandoned her but at our  (not so gentle) encouragement they seem to be taking better care of her now. I'm trying to spend time just sitting with her and encouraging her family. Also, my Ugandan team is gearing up for their big "retreat" when they bring all of the students that they are sponsoring in Karamoja down to Soroti for a week of camp (nearly 150 kids). We will spend time playing games, telling stories, and doing crafts.  I'm going to be teaching a bit on health and hygiene and also purity. I intend to spend the next few days writing my lessons and trying to make them highly interactive in order to hold the attention of so many students. 

The solar eclipse through a welding helmet. 

Lets see, what else?  There was a solar eclipse this week which was really interesting. And, last but not least, my dad and brother Benj are coming to visit in two weeks!! They will be helping to install the solar power system to a teammate's house. I can't wait to see them!!






* I am getting so sick of technology issues here!  Why does this post change font midway though?! And why have all the formatting changes I made in the blog template reverted back to this?! 

Giving, generosity and causing more harm than good.

Last time I was in Lormoruchabi a group of ladies asked repeatedly for skirts and clothes. I know these women by their shirts because they each only really own one thing to wear. Their clothes are tattered rags but they are all they’ve got. They live a hot, tough, 9 hour round trip walk to the nearest place to purchase clothes and even if they went, the need for medicine, food and soap is greater than the need for a new, used skirt. But I live in Soroti where I can get clothes easily and I am enormously wealthy (compared to these ladies).  So I understand why they ask me to bring them things. I could get a bunch of skirts and shirts ( I estimate I could get 20 “outfits” for about 30,000/=, or $15). But there are probably 60 women in the village. All would like new clothes. Honestly most NEED new clothes. On top of that there are roughly 200 kids who also need clothes. I’ve gotten to know Joseph. He is a 9 year old kid who owns an old, tattered, filthy red coat. That is all he has. No pants, no underwear, no shirt. He spends all day in the coat, then at night he zips it up and pulls his legs up in it because he doesn’t have a blanket either. (Or a sheet or a mattress but that isn’t any different from any other kid in this village.)

But back to the ladies. They had given me a nice necklace that they had made, clearly in hopes that I’d bring them some clothes. And I really want to be generous. I’d love to come in like some silly female Santa Claus and give everyone a gift from my giant bag. But I don’t really think that would be right. There is often in the back of my mind, the principles of “When Helping Hurts”. That we are only increasing dependency and in the long run we are harming people when we think we are helping. Over and over in Karamoja I’ve seen the damage done by well intentioned NGOs giving away free stuff. It was described to me this way: Great harm can come from the best of intentions when done without wisdom and discernment. It seems like a paradox but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. The following parable, though obvious and over simplified helped me understand the problem the k-jung are having.

“Say a person hurts their leg. You bring them food while they heal. After time they still don’t wish to get up because it hurts at first. So you continue to be kind and bring them food. Over time their injured leg develops contractures from lack of use and it is even more painful to get up so you continue to bring them food. In the end they are permanently bedridden, unable to walk again because of your kindness.  Goodness brought significant harm. 

The k-jung have become so dependent on others for food, goods and seeds, help, everything, yet their lack only fuels their anger at the outside world. Generosity and very good intentions have encouraged laziness and a feeling of lack of personal worth creating a whole tribe’s indolence. The more help they receive, the more help they expect and think they need, the more they hate. As long as the kindness is so open ended they don’t gain discipline, dignity or self-reliance. Our kindness actually impoverishes their humanity!!

Ugh, all of this struggle over 60 ladies who would like some second hand skirts….

What do it do?

I’m headed to Karamoja in an hour. I expect to be back at the end of the week.

HIV support groups

In the last few months I've been placed over some groups of HIV positive people. They are groups that were created before I joined CLIDE but have been neglected due to lack of staff. The people have been requesting us to come back and still support them. So, that has fallen to me lately. So, I'm trying to figure out what it looks like to run HIV support groups here.

Acham

This is a group of about 35 people who are quite educated about their disease. About half are believers. Their biggest struggle is with discordant couples who still want to have children but obviously don't want to infect their partners or have positive children.

Awoja

This is a group of about 75, 10 of whom are believers. This group is in an area where there is a lot more discrimination. Their kids get kicked out of school because their mom is positive. They have a hard time getting jobs (more than the average rural Ugandan). They are overall much sicker and more impoverished. Their bigger concerns were with end of life care and how to feed and care for their children.

I had two “trainings” last week with these groups to encourage them. Both times I tried to stress that this was NOT God's punishment for their sin (which is a strongly held belief that drives many away from the church after they get a positive diagnosis). We played games, laughed together and tried to discuss practical solutions to their problems.

The groups reported that it was helpful and overall I felt very positive about our time. There were some hard things though. The Awoja group has an expectation of receiving money from CLIDE. I can't meet this expectation and I know it isn't a long term solution to anything either. Also, while in Awoja a few of the older ladies did a drama to illustrate the importance of end of life care. Only, it wasn't so much a drama as real life. The lady who needed care was very sick. She has wounds all over her body and is so wasted away her bones jut out. She has such bad abdominal pain all the time she can't stand up straight. It was pretty hard to watch the ladies in her group “act” out their skit knowing that no one was acting. She has no pain meds and still has to try to work in order to eat and care for her children. She has only a few more months to live. She doesn't need a support group, she needs hospice.

OK, I seem to have the blog moderately functional again without weird ghost pictures and strange formatting problems. I have a bunch of stories and stuff to write about but I've taught all day and even though I expected life to slow down I'm still waiting for that to happen....

Maintance

Having lots of blog problems. I've been told it may be related to unconfessed sin, not sure. But meanwhile the blog is undergoing some work. Hopefully soon I'll have some new posts and a nice new look. But I need to go to town to purchase loads of supplies for the next trip to Karamoja right now so once again the computer work will have to wait.....

In the meantime my friend Rachel blogged about the training last week that I participated in. You can check out her blog at http://danielandrachel.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/training-dayer-week/

CLIDE team

There are definite challenges to being part of two very different ministry teams but I appreciate what both of them contribute to my life!

This is my CLIDE team (the one I work with mostly in Karamoja but more and more also in Soroti.) We are from the US, UK and all parts of Uganda. I do believe that when we are together 7 languages are spoken fluently and all desire to serve Jesus.

Water well update

3 of the well drillers in the middle surrounded by community

Just back from Karamoja again.  Unfortunately, the purpose of this trip was to pack the guys up and get them out of there. The UWA (Uganda Wildlife Association) has accused the village of living in protected wildlife land so supposedly they are not allowed to put in boreholes there.  We have maps that show this isn't true but they have to go through the correct governmental channels and in this country that means a lot of time. Meanwhile, the guys have been threatened so we had to pack up. Late at night, in Soroti, as I was doing last minute packing I was really nervous about how the community would take it. They've been waiting and waiting for water. They've lived there a while now with promises that water was coming and over and over they've been disappointed. Now again a big setback. But the day was overall positive. There were negatives expressed (all in a language I don't speak but anger and frustration is pretty easy to interpret) but the village leaders gathered as we were leaving and we prayed together and promised we were coming back as we discussed what they needed to do for the land dispute.  Please keep praying!!



Rachel praying before we go.

Tom (well guy) and Kodet (CLIDE guy) explaining to the community the land dispute.

 

On the upside the ladies gave me another necklace. :-)

 

Amecet

My fellow missionaries over at Amecet are grieving the loss of a baby that they had really worked hard to save. Little baby William was born Aug 12th and went to be with Jesus only two short months later on October 2nd. He arrived at Amecet after his mother died and the Dutch nurses there worked very hard to give him a good chance at life but it wasn't to be. Will you be praying for them and their hearts as they continue to care for the remaining children?
William's first post here

Heartbreaking

Well drilling update....

Just got home from Lormoruchabi (where we are trying to put a well Karamoja).  We just had a really nice day of worship and rest and let me tell you, these 6 guys have earned a rest. They have given up on the drilling technology and have taken to hand digging.  I honestly don't know how long they will keep trying. It is hard, hot, dirty work. (Possibly dangerous too. Don't tell OSHA.)
I had to got the privilege of preaching this morning and a few adults of the village came along with 110 children.



Scorpion....not sure how this picture got posted...

My little blue tent in the middle of the village. Also not sure how this picture was in the batch.

I have some more pictures but I'm just to tired to figure out why I keep getting random ones I haven't selected or why most keep posting sideways no matter how many times I rotate.

The essence of this post  is keep praying. I personally have another full week ahead of me and as long as these guys are still attempting their craziness when next weekend rolls around I'll head back up with more food and supplies for them.

 

Oh, and pictures of Friday or Saturday's teaching in Kabermido. 

Well drilling

So much good stuff going on! I'm so busy I really don't have time for a good update but here are a few pictures to tide you over while I catch up.

We are digging wells in Karamoja!! The village where this crew is working (Lormoruchabi) is in desperate need of clean water so we can't wait for it to be functional. Please pray! They are doing it all by hand and it is HARD work. They are far from any access to their supplies, transportation, parts, equipment, etc...

 

 

Cold rainy mornings!

 



My next few days are very full teaching days (in Teso not Karamoja) and if I finish with enough hours of daylight left I can go back up tomorrow afternoon to bring them more supplies and see how the progress is going. Please pray for teaching today and tomorrow, that the community will be open and receptive. It is an area I don't have many relationships yet and a new language group (Kabermido) but they invited me and I am excited to see what God has in store.

Walked with the kids to get water from their current source.

The long walk home.

New drilling site. Hit an impenetrable rock layer in the first and second one.

 I also need lots of prayer at the moment. When I get so busy traveling, preparing lessons, packing and working I neglect my source. But it is when I'm so busy I need time with Him more.  Pray that I don't miss important interactions with people in my busyness and that I would be attuned to the Holy Spirit speaking to me.
Thanks for your support everyone!!

International Teams

Was in the spotlight last week....

Lots of teaching lately...

This was a busy week with lots of teaching and I'm tired tonight but I have to give God glory as overall I think they were very productive days. I know that in the past few years I've really improved as a teacher (all credit going to the best teacher!) and I think can really make a lesson more relevant and applicable here than when I first started. Wednesday was a youth conference with kids aged 9 to about 19. I talked about making choices that honored God.  There were about 100 kids packed into the church and it was 100 degrees  But God helped me hold their attention (after a highly active game with lots of water and laughter) and the visual demonstration that really seemed to bring it home for the kids was an idea I got a midnight the night before.  They were still talking about it on Sunday so I hope it helps them as they mature into adults.

 

Then this weekend was a "conference" on family planning. Honestly, this one is the one I like to teach the least as I have absolutely no personal experience to pull from but it is the one that is requested the most. Also, I find it the hardest as I know the good biblical reasons and good biological reasons for child spacing and waiting to get pregnant until they are a little older (19 instead of 17) but I absolutely don't know how to help these ladies actually do it. Very few of the normal prevention methods seem effective here and for most of them, their husbands are not cooperative. 

Short skit

Anyway, I'm committed to continue to teach the biblical foundation of quality care of families and let God work out the rest. I added a drama this time to the teaching to help them discuss abortion.  It was a pretty serious drama and the actors did great but the audience laughed through the whole thing. I'm still trying to figure out culture here. 

Also the questions I get still never cease to amaze me like "Sometimes I feel like a male goat. Does that mean my wife is in heat?" And "At what age should the children stop sharing the parents house?" One of the things I teach is how there are specific times a month that a woman can get pregnant and they are shocked. They all say it is the first time they've learned that.

Butch

Just an amazing little not so little thing I'd like to share with you:
We are in the midst of the rainy season which means that mosquitos have become little heat seeking missiles that have the power to ruin a perfectly good nights sleep, even if you have a mosquito net.  If at any point in the night you come in contact with the net they will bite you through it. (I currently have 16 bites on the side of my arm)   I'm also not sure how they do it but a least a few make it into the net and hide until you are sound asleep. Then they will wake you up again and again and again with either the buzzing or bitting.  It was driving me crazy. I was trying to keep all windows and doors closed in the evening but was suffocating without the evening breeze. So I was dousing in repellant but it always wore off by morning. Then I tried to re-treat my net by am unable to get permethrin here in Soroti. Even sitting at my desk in the evening was enough to drive me nuts. (That is actually my excuse for the lack of post lately)
So God provided this praying mantis for me. His name is Butch. He has been living in my bedroom for about 4 days now. He sleeps all day and eats bugs all night. The first night I actually heard him chewing. I've slept soundly every night since. Wikipedia reports one this size will eat around 800 bugs in his short life. I'm good with that.