Going Home (to my new one)

Well this will be my final post. Sad day…

Wait. No it won’t. I’M GOING BACK!!!!!!!

I’m so excited I think about Uganda all day, every day. The date of my return has not been set but it will definitely be before Christmas. I can’t wait. I’ve been seeking God’s will for my life since I graduated from high school and I finally feel like the Lord wants me to be where I am. I won’t be able to finish my nursing degree, but Amazima asked me to stay and work with them long-term. They are confident that I have a skill-set that will be beneficial to their organization and I am confident in their work for the Kingdom and God’s guidance that led me to Jinja.

Anyway, I’ll say more about that later. This is a photo of Parent's Night we had prior to my leaving. We hosted a dinner for all the local chairmen (they are kind of like mayors of the villages) and the parents of the boys (the few that actually had some). Many organizations have things like this, but the focus often seems to be on what the white volunteers have done for the community. We wanted it to be clear that we were the ones that received the blessing. And that all the work had been done by the boys of these small villages. They built this playground. They pounded every nail, cut every board, and mixed every ounce of cement. The parents and community leaders needed to know that we couldn’t have done any of this without them. It was their boys that will forever be able to come back and say “I built that.” They will also be the ones that will have to explain what it is they built. HAH!

The rest of the photos are of the work that we had completed when I left. We didn’t have enough time to cover the entire allotted area for the playground, but I think I left them at a point that they could easily finish with little trouble. I’m super excited to see the final product because the finishing touches will change its appearance drastically…hopefully for the better. To be honest I spent most of my time running into town to buy materials. I really didn’t carry my weight when it came to actual construction. With that said…Congratulations to Sam, Francis, Joseph, Alex, Julius, Joseph, Alex, Isaac, and Samuel! You have probably just constructed one of the top five playgrounds in all of Uganda. I have no idea if that is actually true but I’m ok with that.

Back in the States

Well, I’m back in the states and my work in Uganda is finished for now. The key word in that sentence is “my” because the playground is technically not finished. I decided to write two final posts about the last week I was in Uganda. These pictures are a bit random and need some explanation.

This is picture of Katie’s girls. All 14 of them were able to squeeze into the back two seats in Katie’s van. You might ask “why the heck would they do that?” Well there are two possible answers. The first would be that they are kids and they are just having fun piling on top of each other. The second, which happens to be the case this time, is that they did it because Katie needed to squeeze in a one day old infant, the infant’s mother and grandmother, a woman severely sick with malaria and her two friends, a drunk Jaja (grandmother) who had a brick fall on her head, her co-leader of the women’s circle, and a volunteer (myself). There is never a dull moment with Katie Davis. She works as an ambulance to the clinic in town. If I remember correctly she made two more trips that day. Both times the van was packed to the brim. I added up the people in her van on the first trip into town and it was only 24. I’m sure we could get 30 if necessary.

The next picture is the crew I worked with to build the playground. This was last Thursday--the day I left. The guy in the hat is Sam, my foreman. The younger ones are the 8 boys and the man on the left is some random guy that came that day to help us sand. I hired a couple of guys to help sand and varnish because it is pretty tedious and not much learning occurs. He got in the picture and I wasn’t certain who he was. I thought at first he was one of the boys’ dads or something so I let it slide, but later realized he was just the guy who came that day to help do some sanding. Funny stuff.

This is Patrick. He is the man that works for Katie and lives on the land where the Saturday program occurs and where the playground was built. He is an awesome guy and I will miss him dearly. He works his tail off and has the kindest heart. He actually was the one that fixed the boats. Lucky for me he was a carpenter when he was younger and knew how to repair boats. Who would have known?

This final picture is of some boda boda drivers. The nearest one is Fred. Fred rocks! He is a man that somehow got connected with Katie and now has basically become Amazina’s personal driver. Technically he doesn’t work for Amazima, but he gets all their business and is trusted immensely. I found out how useful he was when I was trying to find various businesses in town. I would call up a welder or carpenter and they would try and tell me where their shop was (side note: most carpenters and welders don’t speak amazing English). I didn’t know my way around Jinja very well so I would just go to where Fred hangs out and give him the phone and tell him to lead me to where the guy on the phone was. It was sooooo useful.

Medical Post

I will start with an update about the twins that Renee was taking care of. My dad has been asking how that turned out and I don’t have very good answers because I have been so busy I have not been able to get back over there. I do know that they are both still here with us. And, although visually they don’t look a whole lot better, it is obvious that neither one is fighting off death with every breath. It will take many months for them to recover from the state they were in. But hope grows with every day that passes.

Next are some pictures of Alepear and Napongo. They are Karamajong sisters from Messese. They don’t speak any English and only Alepear (the older one) speaks a bit of Lugandan. Well, Napongo was terribly sick and her stomach is extremely distended. Their mother followed Karamajong tradition by making incisions on Napongo’s stomach and rubbing salt in them in hopes of making the swelling going down. Katie talked to her and told her that this technique wouldn’t work. Katie offered to care for Napongo for a bit and return her to her mom in good health.

Most often stomach distention is due to malnutrition and worms. Katie got Napongo on a de-worming pill and started feeding her nutritious meals. Napongo also had some bumps on her torso that were filled with a white thick substance. All the medical professionals that Katie talked to told her that it was a fungal issue. After a week or so with no improvement on either the stomach distension or the bumps she was a bit discouraged. I told her that I would email one of my nursing professors and see if she had any ideas.

I contacted Teree Rittenbach--who I admire a lot. I was confident that if anybody would be able to help it would be her. Although she obviously doesn’t have a ton of experience with African parasites and diseases, she was able to come up with a possible cause. It is called Bilharzia and it is a worm-like parasite that is found in dirty water. The Karamajong use water from Lake Victoria which almost certainly carries the parasite. I also observed that Naponga had other symptoms of Bilharzia, specifically liver/spleen enlargement and her skin condition. Katie put her on the appropriate medication and she has been pooping out Bilharzia worms ever since. Praise God!

I have to include a fun story about the worms in the poop. I was curious as to how Katie discovered that there were worms in it. I asked if she was checking the stools before Napongo flushed. She told me that it was unneccessary because Napongo doesn’t use the toilet. Instead she finds a random corner in the house. Fantastic!

So we are hoping that the situation will continue to improve and I ask that you would join us in prayer for Napongo. Pray that we have diagnosed her condition correctly and that we have identified all of her current medical problems. Pray that she can become a healthy, happy, and active child.

Napongo’s sister Alepear joined her at Katie’s house bring the total number of children up to a whopping sixteen! She joined us because she is the one in charge of taking care of Napongo. Many of the children in the villages surrounding Jinja suffer from another parasite that they call “jiggers”. They are in the dirt on the ground and if you walk around barefoot all the time and seldom wash your feet you are likely to get them. Normally they are not a big deal. While they are somewhat painful and pretty gross they aren’t a huge inconvenience. What happens is that the jigger lays an egg sac in your foot and the eggs eat the flesh of your foot as they grow. If left untreated they get bigger and spread. If you notice you have one you need to get the sac and all the eggs removed. Basically you dig a hole around the egg sac and try and remove it all in one piece. They are about the size of a pea. If the sac is punctured it can be a problem because then the eggs are free and can relocate into your foot. The solution for that is using kerosene (I am told).

After removing several from Napongo’s feet Katie took a look at Alepear’s. She almost couldn’t believe how many she had. As you can see in the photo her feet are in poor shape and it was hard to tell what were live jiggers, dead jiggers, and dead skin. Katie began digging away. The first night she removed six egg sacs before it got dark outside. The power was out so that was it for the night. The next night Alepear had fifteen more removed! It was the worst case any of the locals had ever seen. Imagine twenty pea-sized bloody holes dug out of the bottom of your two small feet with a safety pin. Alepear sat very still as they worked and only a few tears streamed down her 10-year-old cheeks. I held her hand and Katie spoke the few Karamajong words of comfort she knew, “I am sorry” and “Jesus loves you.”

The Playground

We took a field trip into town to the lumber yards last week. I think all the boys had been into Jinja at least once, but most had not spent much time outside of their home villages. I showed them the table saws, planners, jointers, and lathes. I’m pretty sure it was all new to them. The guys working there actually let the boys try out a few of the machines. It was both funny and scary watching the lumber yard guys work because they are incredibly unsafe. There are no guards on anything and any of them could easily get seriously injured at any time. But that’s how it goes I guess.

At the beginning of last week I was in poor shape. I sprained both my ankles and the index finger on my right hand was swollen and “paining me” (this is how Ugandans say that it hurt). All my boys and several other Ugandans offered to help me treat my injuries by putting hot salt water on them and pulling on them or rubbing them. I declined for two reasons. First, my injuries already “pained me very much” so I didn’t want anybody touching them. Second, pulling and rubbing and salt water wouldn’t help. Anyway, I could hardly function. I was struggling to walk and couldn’t really grip anything with my right hand. As you can imagine this made it very difficult to do construction. With only 1 month remaining Uganda I knew that the show must go on. I don’t know how Satan works, but it sure seems like he was beating me down. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” I kept telling myself. I limped around for a few days and then decided I needed to get an X-ray on my finger because it was only getting worse. The good news is that X-rays here only cost 10 bucks. Thankfully there were no broken bones. This means it is probably a bacterial infection. I was put on an antibiotic (costing only two dollars—awesome!) and didn’t have to worry about injuring it further by continuing to work. Since then the swelling has been going down and function is coming back. Praise God.

Last week we had visitors from the States that came out and worked with us a couple days. They were great with the boys and it was nice to have more English speakers around. Anyway, they were talking to me one night after work and told me how much the boys looked up to me and how they thought that several of them see me as a father figure. Holy buckets! I don’t know why it surprised me so much, but I hadn’t even thought about that. I’m pretty inadequate. Yesterday I thought about it more and talked to Katie about being the mother of 14 at the age of 21. We discussed how it is such a huge responsibility to raise children. Not only is their health and well-being in your hands as a parent, but also their spiritual future. Your interactions and decisions are either leading them towards or away from Christ. Obviously, I’m not a father, but I may have a similar impact on these boys. I am so blessed to have and know my earthly father and my Heavenly Father. Only by their examples will I ever be adequate. My earthly father, James Raymond Lang, is the man I hope to be one day. This is because he daily strives to be more like our Heavenly Father. Praise be to God for loving me unconditionally and sending Christ to be an example for my father, myself, and my someday perhaps my children.

This photo is of the boys posing for a photo with their sodas. We took off work early after our field trip and drank sodas on the shore of Lake Victoria. Thanks Dad.

The playground is coming along. We are getting structures built and it is starting to look like something. As for what that something is… we will see when it is complete. It is kind of crazy that something from my imagination is what will be used by hundreds or thousands of Ugandan children for years to come. The first photos are of the boats we purchased. One day I was thinking about what would be fun to play on and remembered the fantastic wooden fishing boats all around Lake Victoria. So I looked into getting one or two that are no longer sea-worthy to mount as part of the playground. It turns out that I was able to pick up two of them for around $250 dollars. The boats are fairly large and I’m pretty excited about them.

Here is what I envision for the playground. I’m trying to avoid metal structures for a couple reasons. First, the boys wouldn’t be able to learn much from it since we would have to hire other people to do the welding for us. Second, a lot of playgrounds around here are mostly metal and are very unsafe.

They have tons of jagged edges and poor welds. I also thought it would be a good idea to avoid too many moving parts (e.g. merry-go-rounds). Since there is no Parks and Recreation department here I worry about upkeep. Again I have seen several playgrounds here that were just built then forgotten about. Without regular maintenance there can be lots of problems. Right now I’m thinking we will have ten to fifteen swing sets along with a bunch of fort-like structures to climb around on. I also hope to have monkey bars and a couple slides. I need to get in contact with a welder this week to make sure those can be completed before my time here is up. Katie also likes the “natural look” to the playground so all the wood will be varnished rather than painted and the gazebo will have a grass roof. Also, for all the railing I am going to use a 2x4 frame and then cover it with bamboo. In my head it looks fantastic.

Concrete Day

I just got a Harley Sportster back in the States and was super excited to have some time this summer to ride it. Unfortunately, I ended up in Uganda and am missing out on the very short period of nice weather in North Dakota. And by “unfortunately” I mean “Praise God that I am here!” because I am enjoying myself immensely and wouldn’t trade it for anything. The good news is I was able to achieve a goal I had for the summer. I was able to drive a motorcycle. I think any young man that ever owns a bike dreams that their first passenger will be some blond vixen or some sultry brunette. I’ve learned that a random Ugandan boda boda driver is nearly as good. On my way home one day the driver asked if I wanted to drive. My answer was “Um, heck yeah I do!” Luckily his English was good enough that he was able to understand my questions and explain the differences between Ugandan bikes and American bikes. The only major difference was the gears. Here all the gears are down, while in the States first gear is down and second, third, fourth and fifth are up. It was a fun ride for sure.

We also had our glorious concrete day. After four trips to build houses in Mexico I was fully aware how much fun it is to pour concrete in less developed countries. Even in the States pouring concrete is a beastly amount of work. But when you don’t have cement trucks available the work more than doubles. In Uganda we are also blessed to not have a water source easily available. So, on Friday we started mixing and laying the 20 foot by 28 foot (4 inch deep) slab at 8 am. Throughout the day we made eight trips to the local well to replenish our water supply. The well is about three quarters of a mile away and we take sixteen 20 liter “jerry cans” (plastic jugs similar to fertilizer jugs in the States) there to be filled each trip. The “well” is actually a stream that is diverted through a filter and out a pipe. It also happens to be at the bottom of a nasty hill (probably close to 5 flights of stairs high).

The fact that I am the only one that knows how to drive allows me the opportunity to go on each trip with two other boys. While one boy fills the jugs, I and the other start lugging the 5.3 gallon (converted from liters so you understand the size and weight) jugs up the hill to the truck. Needless to say making 4 trips up the hill with two 5 gallon buckets full of water really makes your muscles burn. By the end of the day there were a couple times where my legs nearly gave out. We were pushing hard to try and get the slab done in one pour because it makes it stronger by not having seams in it. The boys were ragged by 6 pm, but I convinced them to press on until dark around 7:45 by offering one dollar bonus pay. Unfortunately we still didn’t finish. It was a beast of a day. I loved every minute of it. I don’t know if it is genetic or just how I was raised, but I really appreciate a hard day of manual labor. I think it may have something to do with the Lang in me. (My brother Brian may disagree.)

This is a picture is of the boys digging holes. I wondered for several weeks what the heck they used here to do this. You can see in the picture why these tools are called “spears” by the locals. Basically it is just a pointed piece of metal on a stick that they break up the dirt with and then scoop it out by hand. It works surprisingly well.

As I promised earlier, I’m going to talk about Scott again. Scott is Katie’s father. He was here for just over a week. I think he would admit he isn’t well-suited for Uganda. Not that he can’t hack it, it is just that he prefers things the way they are back in the States. Either way it was really interesting meeting the man who had to deal with his teenage daughter wanting to drop out of college and move to the other side of the world. From the way they talk about it I think it was hard for him. But he is on board now and seems to be a great foundation for Katie to rely on. While he was here he came to the site nearly every day which was really nice. Most of the time the boys and Sam talk to each other in Lugandan. So I stand and listen to gibberish almost all the time since my Lugandan isn’t spectacular. Scott has a great sense of humor and we got along really well. He also brought the boys soda one day which they really enjoyed. They virtually never get soda so it was a real treat. Every once in a while I will leave a swallow in one of my cans and the boys are quick to ask if they can finish off my (by then) warm soda.

The foundation for the gazebo and the poles that we will construct the roof on.

This final picture is me holding one of the newest additions to Renee’s house. I mentioned Renee in a previous blog. She is the woman that takes in malnourished kids and rehabilitates them. Renee was at one of the local hospitals (this one happens to be one of the incredibly crappy ones) and came upon this little guy and his twin brother. They were both horribly malnourished and dehydrated. The doctors informed Renee that this little guy didn’t need his IV anymore, but wouldn’t tell her why. Basically they had decided that they were just gonna wait for him to die. He was borderline during the week and since they are short-staffed on weekends they had decided just to give up. I’m not exactly sure how the whole story worked out, but they ended up at her place. Last night and the next couple nights are going to be really crucial. He and his brother are still very, very, very ill and this morning it was pretty touch and go with him. Prayers are needed for this little guy and for Renee as well because she has to give him fluids every ten minutes (around the clock). This is because they were unable to get an IV back in his tiny veins and he is still fighting dehydration.

Renee's House

I hung out at Renee’s last night with these two boys and the handful of other kids she already had staying with her. Talking with her and hearing her stories really made me understand how nice it will be to have a nursing degree. Both Renee and Katie act as doctors to hundreds if not thousands of people. Neither have any “official” medical training, but both have been willing to let God use them and have learned as they go. Katie hasn’t talked to me much about what she does, but Renee’s skill-set is pretty impressive.

If somebody asked me what I did this weekend I would have a pretty entertaining response. “I went over to a friend’s house and fed some malnourished children. After that I got an HIV test done on me. All in all it was a pretty fun night.” Don’t worry, I don’t have HIV. I was just interested in seeing how to do the test.

Driving in Uganda

Since coming to Uganda I’ve had to relearn how to drive. Not only do you drive on the other side of the road, but the steering wheel is on the other side of the car. (About 30% of the time when I go to get in the car I head to the wrong side). It is interesting how much your position in the car changes your perspective. Also, the vehicle that I get to drive is a stick so I have to shift with my left hand. Thankfully the pedals are the same or I might be in some real trouble. Anyway, it is going well and I picked it up fairly quickly although it was a bit stressful at first.

The other great thing about driving here in Uganda is that it takes all of your concentration. There arean infinite number of potholes and lots of Ugandans walk everywhere so the shoulders of the road are always swarming with people. Also, most of the drivers have no clue how to drive safely. Finally there are virtually no mobile police officers (some officers stand at the ends of the bridge and pull people over, but they are stationary and ever present so people know to follow the rules near them). I can’t really imagine what the police would do even if there were some because as far as I can tell there aren’t any traffic laws. The one exception to this is the aforementioned bridge over the Nile. The bridge is the one place that the 20 kmph speed limit is strictly enforced and no passing occurs. Everywhere else you drive as fast as you want and pass whenever you want. The way this all works out is that the biggest guy has the right of way. For example, let’s say I’m driving on what is basically a two lane road and coming towards me are two semi trucks. The one in the back decides to pass the one in the front. This fills up both lanes. This means that I have to swerve off the road onto the shoulder or even into grass or ditch to avoid getting destroyed by the oncoming semi. Obviously, you courage/stupidity/stubbornness comes into play as well. If you are nuts enough you can just bully others around by not moving, but this plan has at least one obvious flaw. Luckily, I’m a pretty confident driver and fairly aggressive so I get the job done fairly well. I can’t imagine how a timid driver would function here. (Seth, you are lucky you don’t have to ride with me here. You would have to keep your eyes closed at all times. My roommate Seth doesn’t like how aggressive I am—especially in bad weather. He told me after one of our trips to Fargo that he had his eyes closed most of the trip. Hah.)

Beauty in Simplicity

Well we have finally started building stuff. It has been going great. I got most of the materials ordered and we are starting by building a gazebo. It will be a great place for parents to hang out while their kids play. It also serves as a good location to store all the timber (a.k.a. wood or lumber) as we build. I have felt kinda worthless though so far because most of what we have done I have little to no experience with. For the footings we actually used bricks and built up a level platform that we will then poor the concrete slab on. I have no masonry experience so I learning as much as the boys are. Praise God that Sam (the foreman we hired) has lots of experience and is a pretty decent teacher. Here almost every building is made from bricks so it was great for the boys to learn the process since most of the rest of the playground won’t involve any brick work.

And finally a short discussion on manual labor. Sit down and think of 10 things that you do at your job or that you have witnessed being done that take some sort of large machine. I promise that if you have enough Ugandans and enough time they can accomplish the same thing. Katie’s father is here this week (by the way he is a really great guy and I’ll probably mention him again in my next post). He was at the site and we were discussing different construction processes. Everything we talked about seemed to end with the statement “well back in the States you use a big machine to do that.” The boys, Sam, and myself were filling in an area that is 20’ x 24’ and needed about 12-24 inches of dirt. Back home you get a big loader tractor or skidsteer and in about twenty minutes you have it filled. Here you have 3 guys with hoes breaking up the soil, 4 guys with shovels scooping the soil into wheelbarrows, 2 guys pushing the wheelbarrows, and 1 guy spreading the soil as it is dumped. The other issue with moving dirt like this is that if you are going to pour a concrete slab on top the earth has to be compacted somehow. Back home they have vibrating machines that tamp the dirt to make is solid. Here we dumped about 150 gallons of water on it over the course of the afternoon and had 10 of us on our hands and knees pounding the ground with bricks in our hands. I’m grateful that I grew up in a place that has all the machines and heavy equipment and was able to learn how to use all of it, but it has been awesome learning that none of that stuff is vital. It is another example of how many things in our lives that we consider essential are not. The obvious ones are entertainment type stuff like T.V. or internet, but here I have learned that even work-related things fit into the category of nonessentials. There is beauty in simplicity.

African Cousins

I’ve already forgotten exactly when it was that I met up with Eddie and Emilie. But it was a blessing and kind of weird all at once. We met at a Chinese restaurant in Uganda. Praise God for the journey they have just begun. I’m excited to hear how the Lord uses them. When we spoke they were still pretty fresh here and I assume by now they are getting the hang of things. Maybe I will end up longer term here some day and we can have some Lang family get-togethers in Uganda. (For those of you who don’t know Eddie and Emilie, they are my cousins who are here starting their own adventure.)

This last week has been crazy. On Tuesday night Tyler and I went to Kampala to do some shopping and to visit the African Children’s Choir on Wednesday morning. I was also treated to Mexican comida (food). The food was not so hot, mostly because not enough time has passed since I have eaten great Mexican food (i.e. the new Mexican restaurant in Jamestown, ND). While we were shopping we picked up a bunch of random stuff for Tyler and, most importantly, we got a power miter saw and circular saw for me. This will speed up construction immensely.

Speaking of construction we have been working on building three dog houses this last week. It turns out that most wood here isn’t dried. This means that after you put a structure together with flush seams the boards shrink from 5.5 inches to 5 inches making some monster gaps. This is a good lesson to learn prior to building the playground. We also hired a foreman this last week to help me with pricing and local practices that I may not be aware of. His name is Sam and so far he is great. He is the resource that has been missing. I’m planning to finish up all the design this week and get some materials ordered and hopefully start work the second half of the week.

One difficulty I’ve been dealing with is productivity. Tyler said he has the same issue and Katie told him not to worry because everyone deals with it. It seems as though you can’t accomplish 1/4 of what you would in any given day in the States. It is super frustrating. Things just go slow. Here is an example. I went to print off some worksheets for the boys and forgot my flash stick at the printer place. I went back and told them I had forgotten it and so they sent somebody into the back to get it. 15 minutes pass and nothing happens. So another person goes into the back to find out what is going on. 15 minutes pass and they come back out and tell me that the office of the man who had it doesn’t have a lock. So they put it in another man’s office that does. But he is at lunch so they couldn’t get in. They have called him and he will be back in less than two minutes. 15 minutes later he still hasn’t arrived. I tell them I can’t wait around anymore and that I will come back for it, but the man says just one more second and runs across the street. Five minutes later he jogs back with my flash stick and proceeds to take it to a computer for some reason. The other lady standing there grabs it out of his hand and gives it to me and informs me that there are some pictures on there that he was going to remove, but that I can just erase them when I get home. It seems as though the man was using it to store some pictures of himself and his family and friends. Although it took me over an hour to get it back I came out ahead 24 photos of random Ugandans. So I guess it was worth it.

In other news, Tyler leaves to come back to the States for a month this coming weekend. What this means for me is that I will have a house to myself, a Land Rover to drive, and a bunch of extra responsibilities. Tyler has taken over a lot of the day-to-day management of Amazima (although all the final decisions are made by Katie and the board.) This allows Katie to be a mother to her 14 girls. I will be picking up many of Tyler’s responsibilities while he is away. I’m pretty pumped about it. It is nice knowing that over the past five weeks I have proven to them that I am capable and trustworthy enough to handle this. Or maybe they are just foolish enough to have fallen for my ploy and now I am going to embezzle thousands of shillings (i.e. a few dollars). Just kidding.

That is it for now. Please pray for my planning and material ordering. I’m not exactly trained in design or estimating, but hopefully my natural brilliance will make up for it.

Mzungu bye.

The Lord's Calling

Being here in Uganda has made me think about my life. What was I born for? What have I done that matters? Who will I have an influence on? What goals should I have? Who in my life should I look to for examples? Will I do anything that will be remembered? And if so, who, what, when, where, and how am I going to do so? I hope you know me well enough to know that I don’t care for money, power, or recognition, but I do care that I am not just another living, breathing, sinning, human-being. Through scripture and prayer I have begun to understand what God’s goals for my life are and am blessed to have many around me that are following the Lord. They are a great inspiration for me.

“Thankfully my best is not all I have to offer. Inside me shines something more, something I can offer my children that will never disappoint, the light and power of Christ. My children will not remember a saint when they recall their mother. Instead, they will remember a woman who bit her upper lip and then dropped to her knees and begged Jesus for strength. They will remember a woman who often said, ‘I don’t know, but I’ll pray about it.’” “I am nothing in the eyes of the world, but I am special because God chose me. He loves me. He has made a home with me. He is transforming and purifying me in preparation for an eternity with Him. He does this not because of any righteous act of mine, but because of His mercy.” (http://mothersbible.typepad.com/blog/2010/06/i--wish-my-kids-couldnt-articulate-with-alacrity-the-exact-location-of-my-upper--lip-when-i-am-upset-i-wish-that.html)

These words remind me that I don’t need to be in Africa to follow the Lord’s calling. Radical faith can be experienced no matter the circumstance! I cannot express the thankfulness I have for my family. All things constructed begin with a solid foundation. My parents have not only been that solid foundation, but much more. They have been the origin of wisdom, humble examples, and sources of unwavering love. Beyond my parents my fortune doesn’t diminish. My brother, sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and all of their children impact me in ways that I can’t describe, Most of you know Brian and Rebecca and can understand how these two brilliant children of God could make an eternal impact on my life, but I want you to know that God has chosen for both of them counterparts that exceed all expectations. I hate to say it, but I have pride in my in-laws. Donnie Berry and Lisa Lang intimately love me and pray for me in all I do. I know that I couldn’t ever ask for anybody better for my brother and sister. To me they are not just in-laws, but rather brothers and sisters in Christ. They were born into my family! Praise God! I apologize that this post has nothing to do with Africa, but it does have to do with our Lord which, if we think about it, matters more than anything else. :-)

Woman's Circle

I’ve really been hammering the boys on their math skills. We are working on their mental math and multiplication tables. It is pretty standard here to use a calculator for just about everything. I always remember my teachers hounding me to “show your work.” It is kind of fun being the teacher. I’m having the boys do lots of addition and multiplication in their head. They are not allowed to write anything down except their final answer. We are also working on our measuring skills. I came up with an activity where I lay a bunch of boards and stumps all over the ground and then give them graph paper and have them draw it all out to scale. Things are still going well with them, but I’m ready to get started building.

This leads me to my next topic. Katie is back in Uganda. She got back midweek and I have had a bit of interaction with her, but not a bunch. She is a sweetheart and I look forward to getting to know her better. She is also very animated and Tyler has described her as a “firecracker.” I think we will get along real well.

I was also able to go to the food program and women’s circle in Messese. Messese is a village on the outskirts of Jinja and is known as one of the poorest areas. Amazima provides food for about 900 or so kids there. The pictures above are of the pots and stove that they use to make a huge amount of beens and posho. It makes American school lunches look like gourmet dinners. These kids are so thankful and excited to eat despite the fact that it is the same meal every single day of the year.

The women’s circle was awesome to see. It is a group of 20 women that meet together, pray, encourage each other, and make necklaces. (In the pictures there is also a pretty redhead. Her name is Shana and she is a friend of Katie that comes here and stays with Katie’s girls while Katie is back in the States.) They have set up a great program to teach these women some financial planning and give them a sustainable income. They make bead necklaces from old magazines. The necklaces are absolutely amazingly beautiful. If you are interested here is the website to order one http://147millionorphans.com/uganda-necklaces. Most of them come from very tragic circumstances and it is great to see the Lord renew their hope. Katie does a much better job explaining this great program so I encourage you all to go to her blog at http://amazima.org/blog.html. Specifically, look at the April 20th, 2010 post. The people of these villages can easily be disregarded and forgotten, but we know that our Lord will never forget any of his children.

Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Luke 12:22-29
And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing? Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying.

It is amazing to see the relationship that these women have developed as sisters in Christ. They love each other dearly and have a bond made strong by the union they have in Him. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and they shared a song with us that one of the women had made up. It was about making necklaces and the lyrics in English, to be honest, were kind of corny, but when sung in Karamajong it was beautiful.

Yesterday I was also blessed to be able to help push start the “Yucky Truck.” My nephew Elisha affectionately calls garbage trucks “Yucky Trucks.” Here they are more like small dump trucks. I was walking down the road in front of my place and as I walked by, the garbage men said something to me that I didn’t quite catch. By their gestures and the situation at hand it seemed as though they wanted me to help push the truck. This was surprising because generally speaking here in Uganda the blacks tend to treat whites as if they are superior. It was pretty bold of them to ask a white guy to help push this giant filth covered truck. I obviously don’t mind getting my hands dirty so I jumped right in and we had that thing rolling right along in no time. Once they had it started they all quickly piled in and laughed about me helping until they were out of sight. It seems as though they were equally surprised by my willingness to help as I was by their boldness in asking. Interestingly enough this was actually the forth vehicle I’ve helped push start since arriving here. In one way or another we all could use a bit of a push to get going :)

African Children's Choir

I am a super lucky individual. I came to find out that Tyler has a friend in high places. His friend in Kampala has had a very successful business career (previously very high up in a Fortune 500 company.) More recently he moved to Uganda and is working to spread the Good News by working as a business manager of the African Children’s Choir. It is surreal. I have watched many online videos (and yes some tears have probably been present) of this amazing group of children and now I have a direct connection to them. Anyway, it seems as though I am going to get a backstage pass to one of their rehearsals. They don’t have any performances while I am here, but the guy said that it might be cooler to get in on one of their private practices. Needless to say I’m super pumped. If you have not seen or heard the African’s Children’s Choir I strongly advise you to look into them.

As for everything else going on here, it is going very well and I think things are going to start to pick up real soon on the building because Katie has just gotten back from the States. I’m excited!!!

Field Trip

Tyler's House where I will be staying

The deal I had worked out to get the really awesome place to live in didn’t end up working out. So goes it in Africa. There are no real estate rules or regulations here. Basically people charge whatever they want and do business however they want. For me this ended up causing problems because it seems the lady I gave 3 months rent to also rented it to another person. I’m not exactly sure what she was thinking, but at least I got my money back. No harm, no foul, right?

It ended up that Tyler was just moving into a new place the first of this month. Having me move in with him works out great for both of us. It helps him because he is leaving for a month this summer and I will be able to contribute half the rent for the entire summer. And he gets the pleasure of my company which obviously means that he is coming out way ahead. As you can see in the first photo the place is real nice.

Yesterday I took a few power tools to class for the boys to see. They really enjoyed messing around with them. None of them had ever used a power tool before which lead to much laughter for us all.

Today we went on a field trip. We traveled around Jinja and looked at different playgrounds. This was very beneficial because I don’t think they really understood what a playground was. I’m pretty sure most of them thought that a “football pitch” (soccer field) was a playground. I had them think about the positive and negative aspects of each playground and what they liked and didn’t like. They also were required to brainstorm about the different safety issues of each one. It went really well and we ended the day at a restaurant / resort for lunch. It was a really cool day due to some unusual cloud cover. The boys kept commenting on how nice a day it was. I think they really enjoyed eating a delicious dinner at a lake front resort on such a beautiful day. It was a great bonding experience and I can see progress in them every day.

There is also a picture of a group of kids. These are some village kids that I was able to chat with and give them some small trinkets (plastic rings and whistles). They were beaming with delight. Thanks Brian and Lisa for the gifts for the children. With the stuff you sent I promise that you are brightening hundreds of kids’ lives.

And lastly I acquired one of my top five storm stories. I don’t know about you all, but I have a list of five or so storm experiences that I remember so vividly that no matter how much time passes it seems like it was just yesterday and every detail is etched into my mind. I was at Katie’s place and it looked like rain. I knew that if I didn’t get home quick I wouldn’t be able to find a boda boda to give me a ride. It was just drizzling as I sprinted the 1/4 to 1/2 mile to the main road. By the time I got there is started coming down fairly hard. Somehow there was a boda boda just going by that willingly picked me up. It is probably 5 or so miles back to my new home. So, I’m on the back of this dude’s motorcycle and it honestly rains as hard as I can imagine. I actually put my hand out to try and catch the drops to see if it was hail because it was hitting my skin so hard that it felt like solid pebbles. I still have no idea how this man was able to navigate the distance that we drove. Every couple seconds I had to close my eyes to recover from getting hit by a rain bullet. I spent about 50% of the ride in prayer and the other 50% in laughter. Normally on this trip you would see one to two hundred other boda bodas. This time I saw not a one. We were honestly the only one on the road. Fantastic memory!! Upon arriving home Tyler said he thinks it was the hardest rain he had ever seen in Uganda which is not surprising to me since it rivaled any I had ever seen especially since I experienced it on the back of some random Ugandan’s motorcycle. Praise the Lord for life and all the joys that it brings.