I had planned to write some sort of touching "this is my final night in Uganda, allow me to reflect on my experiences" type of post on, well, my final night in Uganda, but that did not come to pass. Firstly, I spent the majority of my last day taking packed out public taxis down country roads, tromping through some nice, thick bush, and talking about bean farming. It was tiring. Then, that evening we went out for a last meal after which I had to actually finish packing. Then I almost missed my flight out of Uganda and then my flight out of London. Remind me to tell you how a Turkana Fighting Stick almost ruined my life (that's a hyperbole, by the way).
I am back in Canada. Right now I am in Vancouver with my friends Matt and Rames. Rames is at work during the day but Matt is home, on his reading break from grad school, and we chat about things like theistic evolution and the usefulness of higher Christian education as he tries to study and I try not to distract him too greatly. I really love visiting them.
So far coming home has been a very positive experience. Had I written my sentimental Uganda farewell post I probably would have talked about how nervous I was about returning to Canada. I've come home before after being absent for some time, and I've found that no one really saves your place in line, if you know what I mean. But, this time, I am rediscovering my place and its lovely.
I have much to write and stories to tell because God has been teaching me so much these days. Right now I am going to go eat Mexican food, but I will be back soon, possibly with pictures!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Decisions, decisions...
I keep laying awake at night
For hours
Thinking and praying about what to do next
I say, "God, where are You?"
He says, "Right inside you."
I say, "But how do I know that I'm listening to You in me and not to me in me?"
Thankfully God is patient with me when I ask these kinds of questions
More patient than I am in waiting for the answers
Usually around 1am I stumble upon a genius plan and fall asleep totally confident in my decision
But then I wake up
And my 1am plan looks rather shabby by the light of day
*Sigh*
Any thoughts?
For hours
Thinking and praying about what to do next
I say, "God, where are You?"
He says, "Right inside you."
I say, "But how do I know that I'm listening to You in me and not to me in me?"
Thankfully God is patient with me when I ask these kinds of questions
More patient than I am in waiting for the answers
Usually around 1am I stumble upon a genius plan and fall asleep totally confident in my decision
But then I wake up
And my 1am plan looks rather shabby by the light of day
*Sigh*
Any thoughts?
Friday, January 9, 2009
Technical difficulties...
If anyone can tell me how to move the script from the top of my header to the bottom I would be greatly indebted to you. I just...I have no idea.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
For the record...
I do try and update this thing more often. Sadly, fickle Internet connections continue to be my undoing. That being said, please bear with me as I attempt to catch up by offering another, somewhat longish post composed primarily of pictures of me on vacation.
Advent
The Christmas Preamble
Prior to the Christmas break I spent a lot of quality time with Microsoft Excel. Here I am losing my will to collate data and clearly looking for something to distract myself with.
Our last order of business in Kamwenge was planning the staff Christmas party. Here is a peek into the most intensely competitive game of Musical Chairs I have ever witnessed.The Intern and the Stuka's Do Nairobi
Loved it, loved it, loved it.
This is one of my oldest and dearest friends. She and her husband Clayton are volunteering in Kenya for a few months and I took the bus to visit them for a few days prior to Christmas. Here we are at a market in Nairobi. She has some seriously impressive bartering skills. She was more or less my personal shopper.
Clayton, Esther and I decided to check out the restaurant Carnivore. Here we are surrendering our flag after eating our body weight in meat. We just couldn't handle any more!
Esther and I with a giraffe who posed so nicely for a picture.
He was so nice about the whole thing I let him give me a kiss.
Esther and I made a deal when we were in high school that when we were 50 we would travel to Africa together. Here we are celebrating that we kept our agreement 24 years ahead of schedule.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Here is Esther and I waiting for the bus to carry me away to Uganda.Christmas Day!
Our homemade tree, stockings (imported from Canada by yours truly) and presents all handily tucked away in our room at the SP guesthouse in Kampala. Zanzibar!
Our week long jaunt to the Spice Island
Shaquil, our faithful skipper who took us on his tiny boat to a little island for snorkeling, feeding giant tortoises, and laying on the beach. You can see a bit of the Stone Town ocean front in the background.
An old church in Stone Town. The town itself is a World Heritage Site. I loved meandering down all the little alleyways and streets and stumbling upon all sorts of charming things.
Snorkeling! This is a story in and of itself. One of many blog topics for another time. Let's just say our snorkeling destination turned out to be a little further from dry land that I had imagined (not evidenced by this photo, this is back on the beach. I can handle being in water up to my knees)
Midway through the first of my many sunburns. 
Watching the sun go down at an outdoor cafe.
Stone Town's outdoor fish market. Every kind of fish your could imagine in kabob form. I don't even like seafood, but I thought this place was fantastic.
I really enjoy collecting shells. I find it so relaxing. I was always confused as a child as to how my mom could spend so much time patiently hunting for pebbles on the beach. I think I get it now, mom.
The view from the door of our cottage.
Our hotel's private beach. Gorgeous! My schedule for the day was totally dependent on the tides. Low tide...collect shells. Medium time...wander aimlessly in the water. High tide...frolic in the waves.
Maxin' and relaxin' in Zanzibar.
Home again. Tanned (er...burned to a crisp), bushy-haired (just realized I haven't been using conditioner for weeks. I should start reading the bottles) and apparently skeptical about life (except that I'm not skeptical, just curious).
We only have two weeks left in Uganda. Shocking. I feel like I have gained a lot from this internship and I am so glad that the Lord allowed me to have this experience. However, I am also so excited to see what is coming next. I would be glad to accept a more permanent position in East Africa but so far nothing is set in stone. It's so comforting to know that God has ordained my days and my seasons.
Right now I am in the process of finishing up our last few projects and figuring out how to say goodbye to our life and our friends here. I am also SO excited...to come back to winter! I never thought I would type those words, but it's true! I guess I am Canadian after all. I also can't wait to see all you dear ones. I am scheduled to arrive in Calgary the evening of Jan. 24 and will come home for a few days before I start my debriefing in Calgary with SP. Hope to see a lot of you...soon.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Poor, neglected blog...
Well, it's hard to know where begin after going through several rather eventful weeks without visiting my little blog site. Best to just dive right in...
After my terrifying trip down the Nile and before my birthday Melissa and I had the chance to head up to northern Uganda to the SP office in Lira. If the words Lord's Resistance Army, "night commuters", or Invisible Children ring a bell then you have heard about the situation up north. Over the last two decades the LRA has internally displaced massive amounts of Ugandans and gained a reputation for its routine practices of child abduction (often to be given as wives or trained as soldiers) and many other attrocities. SP began working in northern Uganda several years ago in partnership with the World Food Program in order to give food to people living in refugee camps. Around Lira the camps have pretty much diappeared as a measure of stability has allowed people to return to their homes. SP now works in resettlement and rebuilding activities. We visited a women's vocational program. I loved it. I love programs like that. I have more I could say about this, but maybe I'll save that for another time.
While in northen Uganda we joined forces with the American SP interns (a married couple about my age) and we headed to a game park for the weekend. We saw a LOT of giraffes and camped at the top of one of the world's most powerful waterfalls. There were a number of hippos about and I was afraid one of them would step on my tent while I was sleeping and I would become the owner of a very embarrasing eulogy. My fears were unfounded.
Then it was back to the capital and then back to the village. Our country director asked Melissa and I to do a survey of homes who received water filters in 2006/2007. This turned into a task that more or less consumed our lives for the past three weeks and involved a lot of trekking down little paths and plunging my arms in filters full of murky water in dark corners of mud hut homes. All in all, it was great. Wonderful to be working hands on with the filter again after doing office work for the past while, and great to see that the water project has been successful. Now all the data is in and the report is (almost...oh, so close!) done.
The water project is also wrapping up their current cycle and looking ahead to the next few years. Staff has been busy collecting survey data in possible operation areas and Melissa and I have been keeping the home fires burning. This has entailed drinking a lot of chai and entering thousands of surveys into spreadsheets. We are now in the process of writing a proposal for funding for the next several years. This, (together with the 2006/2007 survey and planning the staff Christmas party- pictures to come, I'm sure), has kept us rather busy for the last month. This is great. We have learned so much and we have loved it, but we are VERY excited for our upcoming Christmas holiday.
Oh! In the midst of all the data entry, etc, our lovely boss came all the way from Canada for a visit! It was lovely, and provided us with a great excuse to go back to our favorite national park. We miss you, Raiji!
We also had another Children's Hygiene Fair. It was great. Sorry to overuse the term "great" in this post, but, it's been a _____ month!
(As a note, only 10% of the thousands of homes we surveyed had an improved water source. This is awful and makes me feel sick at heart. The water project out here is so needed and it is a priviledge to be a part of it for this short time. When I was doing the 2006/2007 survey I was amazed to hear people talk about the difference the filter has made in their lives. One lady even did a little dance. It really does provide clean, safe drinking water in a user friendly and environmentally friendly way. It's wonderful technology and I think God for it. If you have thought about becoming a part of the Samaritan's Purse Turn On The Tap campaign to raise money for filter projects around the world, I would highly recommend that you get involved. Water is life, as we like to say around here.)
This week Melissa and I are headed to the capital city and won't be back out in the village until January. On Friday I am going solo all the way to Nairobi to see my dear, dear, dear to the point that I should capitalize "dear" friends, Clayton and Esther who are volunteering in Kenya for a few months. I am so excited to see them for a few days, and then it's back to Uganda in time for Christmas Day. Then...December 26, 2008. A day Melissa and I have been dreaming of for months...the day we fly to Zanzibar! We are going for a week's vacation to what we hear is a lovely island with white beaches and yummy seafood. We are so excited. Then, we are back to Uganda for our last 2 1/2 weeks! Can it be? Where did the time go?
I'm not thinking too much about leavning Uganda because it makes me quite sad. Instead, I am thinking about seeing so many dear people in Canada...and having a belated Thanksgiving dinner (mom, I am serious about that. I need, not want, need cranberry sauce).
Monica is doing so well. She has adapted beautifully to having only one hand- it is really remarkable. After talking with a surgeon here in Uganda and a physician in Canada who has a wealth of experience working in Nigeria, we have decided not to pursue a prosthetic for Monica. There are a lot of reasons, and it was a hard decision, but in the end I have a lot of peace about it. I talked things over with Monica's family the other day and I think we are all on the same page. Please pray for her grandfather, if you think of it. He has congestive heart failure and when I saw him last week he had really gone down hill. In addition to the heart, I suspect that something serious is going on with his liver and his lungs are full of fluid. I am thinking that we might try to get him to our local hospital this next week; he is so miserable right now and there is nothing that can be done for him out in his village. Hard stuff.
To close, here is a photo of two highlights of the last month:
After my terrifying trip down the Nile and before my birthday Melissa and I had the chance to head up to northern Uganda to the SP office in Lira. If the words Lord's Resistance Army, "night commuters", or Invisible Children ring a bell then you have heard about the situation up north. Over the last two decades the LRA has internally displaced massive amounts of Ugandans and gained a reputation for its routine practices of child abduction (often to be given as wives or trained as soldiers) and many other attrocities. SP began working in northern Uganda several years ago in partnership with the World Food Program in order to give food to people living in refugee camps. Around Lira the camps have pretty much diappeared as a measure of stability has allowed people to return to their homes. SP now works in resettlement and rebuilding activities. We visited a women's vocational program. I loved it. I love programs like that. I have more I could say about this, but maybe I'll save that for another time.
While in northen Uganda we joined forces with the American SP interns (a married couple about my age) and we headed to a game park for the weekend. We saw a LOT of giraffes and camped at the top of one of the world's most powerful waterfalls. There were a number of hippos about and I was afraid one of them would step on my tent while I was sleeping and I would become the owner of a very embarrasing eulogy. My fears were unfounded.
Then it was back to the capital and then back to the village. Our country director asked Melissa and I to do a survey of homes who received water filters in 2006/2007. This turned into a task that more or less consumed our lives for the past three weeks and involved a lot of trekking down little paths and plunging my arms in filters full of murky water in dark corners of mud hut homes. All in all, it was great. Wonderful to be working hands on with the filter again after doing office work for the past while, and great to see that the water project has been successful. Now all the data is in and the report is (almost...oh, so close!) done.
The water project is also wrapping up their current cycle and looking ahead to the next few years. Staff has been busy collecting survey data in possible operation areas and Melissa and I have been keeping the home fires burning. This has entailed drinking a lot of chai and entering thousands of surveys into spreadsheets. We are now in the process of writing a proposal for funding for the next several years. This, (together with the 2006/2007 survey and planning the staff Christmas party- pictures to come, I'm sure), has kept us rather busy for the last month. This is great. We have learned so much and we have loved it, but we are VERY excited for our upcoming Christmas holiday.
Oh! In the midst of all the data entry, etc, our lovely boss came all the way from Canada for a visit! It was lovely, and provided us with a great excuse to go back to our favorite national park. We miss you, Raiji!
We also had another Children's Hygiene Fair. It was great. Sorry to overuse the term "great" in this post, but, it's been a _____ month!
(As a note, only 10% of the thousands of homes we surveyed had an improved water source. This is awful and makes me feel sick at heart. The water project out here is so needed and it is a priviledge to be a part of it for this short time. When I was doing the 2006/2007 survey I was amazed to hear people talk about the difference the filter has made in their lives. One lady even did a little dance. It really does provide clean, safe drinking water in a user friendly and environmentally friendly way. It's wonderful technology and I think God for it. If you have thought about becoming a part of the Samaritan's Purse Turn On The Tap campaign to raise money for filter projects around the world, I would highly recommend that you get involved. Water is life, as we like to say around here.)
This week Melissa and I are headed to the capital city and won't be back out in the village until January. On Friday I am going solo all the way to Nairobi to see my dear, dear, dear to the point that I should capitalize "dear" friends, Clayton and Esther who are volunteering in Kenya for a few months. I am so excited to see them for a few days, and then it's back to Uganda in time for Christmas Day. Then...December 26, 2008. A day Melissa and I have been dreaming of for months...the day we fly to Zanzibar! We are going for a week's vacation to what we hear is a lovely island with white beaches and yummy seafood. We are so excited. Then, we are back to Uganda for our last 2 1/2 weeks! Can it be? Where did the time go?
I'm not thinking too much about leavning Uganda because it makes me quite sad. Instead, I am thinking about seeing so many dear people in Canada...and having a belated Thanksgiving dinner (mom, I am serious about that. I need, not want, need cranberry sauce).
Monica is doing so well. She has adapted beautifully to having only one hand- it is really remarkable. After talking with a surgeon here in Uganda and a physician in Canada who has a wealth of experience working in Nigeria, we have decided not to pursue a prosthetic for Monica. There are a lot of reasons, and it was a hard decision, but in the end I have a lot of peace about it. I talked things over with Monica's family the other day and I think we are all on the same page. Please pray for her grandfather, if you think of it. He has congestive heart failure and when I saw him last week he had really gone down hill. In addition to the heart, I suspect that something serious is going on with his liver and his lungs are full of fluid. I am thinking that we might try to get him to our local hospital this next week; he is so miserable right now and there is nothing that can be done for him out in his village. Hard stuff.
To close, here is a photo of two highlights of the last month:
My friend braided my hair, and we got a cat (not in that order).
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Happy 26th...
My mom sent me a birthday e-mail today containing an exerpt from a book she has been reading. I thought I would post it here. It is one of my wishes as I blow out my proverbial candles today:
Let me (my mom) share some thoughts from a book I’ve just read called Wild Goose Chase. The Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit the Wild Goose:
The promptings of the Holy Spirit can sometimes seem pretty pointless, but rest assured, God is working his plan. And if you chase the Wild Goose, he will take you places you never could have imagined going by paths you never knew existed…A part of us feels that something is spiritually wrong with us when we experience circumstantial uncertainty. But that’s precisely what Jesus promised us when we start following him. Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. That is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: adventure.
When God puts a passion in your heart, whether it be relieving starvation in Africa or educating children in the inner city or making movies with redemptive messages, that God ordained passion becomes your responsibility.
So what makes you cry? What makes you pound your fist on the table? What makes you smile? If you want to discover your God-ordained passions, then you need to identify what makes you sad, mad or glad…God-ordained passions sometimes break our hearts. And they can seem like an overwhelming burden to bear. But pursuing our passions is the key to living a fruitful and fulfilling life. It is the thing that wakes us up early in the morning and keeps us up late at night. It is the thing that turns a career into a calling. It is the thing that gives us goose bumps—Wild Goose bumps. And nothing will bring you greater joy.
Frederick Buechner once wrote: “The voice we should listen to most as we choose a vocation is the voice that we might think we should listen to least, and that is the voice of our own gladness. What can we do that makes us the gladdest? I believe that if it is a thing that makes us truly glad, then it is a good think and it is our thing.”
I can't wait...I just love it.
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