Murchison Falls

Between many excursions out to the villages, we scheduled time to give Andrew a Safari experience. So, Andrew, Jessica (my Nairobi Adventure Friend) and I went on a road trip. A popular destination spot in Uganda is Murchison Falls. It is a narrow place, that the entire Nile River is forced through, creating a violent display of water that is awesome to be near. Giving a spectacle that looks similar to a firework display show, but just with water. While the falls are the highlight, it is also a National Park, full of giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, and my favorite the elephant. We took a boat trip up the Nile to the base of the falls and along the way we saw hundreds of hippos , with probably another hundred more below the water, since they can hold their breath for…. Also, of interest that most people aren’t aware of is that the Hippopotamus is the number one killer of humans by an animal. So if caught between a hippo and a lion, choose the lion! We also saw plenty of crocodile’s, with their mouths open, strangely enough. But, it turns out , that is how they cool themselves on a hot day, when they are guarding on their eggs and can’t get into the water. We camped out in tents in the middle of the park. In the morning we would wake up to a Wart Hog lying right next to our tent. We had been warned to make sure that we left no food in our tent or they might come right in. Now, this entire Safari Adventure would have been more fun if I hadn't been hiking around on crutches the whole time... but I was still. If a lion gave chase then my friends wouldn’t need to run that fast, all one had to do was run faster than the girl on crutches.

Back on Crutches

Yes. It’s true.

God intended most men to walk on two legs. Obviously, God intended me to walk on four legs. For those that know me, you know I’m right because you’ve seen me on crutches in my life more often than years I’ve been alive. This is the fourth time in less than two years I’ve found myself on crutches. And for those that don’t know me well…. Well, let me warn you,….I break easy. Which surprising for a girl as active as I like to be, but nevertheless, pinch me, I will bruise, push me and will fall and more than likely if you do neither, I will still manage to break or tear something just walking down the street on my own.

My foot is currently bright with pretty colors of blue, purple and yellow. I have torn the tendons that run across the top of my left foot… again. But, to be honest, finding myself on crutches in Africa is the most inconvenient crutch experience I have ever had. Take away my car (parked within 20 feet of my front door), remove drive-thru banks, drive-thru food, and then remove paved roads and sidewalks and then add the Uganda rainy season (this isn’t like the daily drizzle in Portland, picture in your mind instead hurricane and you’ll have a better idea) and now you have a perfect scenario of a potential prison with no walls. Regardless, I’m not one to sit around - it’s a recipe for “crazy” for me (picture big hair, frantic eyes, and conversations with no one in particular). So now when I go around Kampala, I’m not just watched because I’m a Muzungu (white), but because I’m a “cripple”. One day, when I was exhausted of “crutching” around through crowds of Africans on uneven, unpaved roads, I took a seat on a ledge on a busy street and someone tossed me a coin – as if I had joined the ranks of beggars!

(Ok, that didn’t really happen.) But, I get so much attention and so many people say “sorry” when I walk past, that I’m scared if I were to stop for a rest, I would find a pile of coins next to me! I guess, I’m trying to find the humor in every situation. And, well, you never know it could be a God-given way to raise money for Hope Village!

Invisible Children

This weekend we went up for a visit to Gulu. Gulu is located in Northern Uganda and is infamous for being in the middle of a war-torn region. Gulu isn’t a tourist destination. In fact, our East Africa Tour Book, gives one paragraph description that states, in no uncertain terms, that there is no reason for a visit or even a friendly drive-thru. The town is teeming with NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) that are there to provide basic services to millions of people that live in IDP Camps (Internally Displaced Person Camps). These camps are basically shanty’s smaller than your personal bedroom at home, but they house entire families. People arrive to these IDP Camps, hoping to escape the violence and find safety in numbers, but, new problems arise. Millions who once relied on the land to provide for their families have been relocated to IDP camps where they must depend on insufficient rations from international aid. There is no infrastructure, no systems or processes, no leaderships, no laws. So how do you educate all those kids? How do feed all those people, who have left their crops behind? Water and Sanitation become big issues, as disease spreads quickly among people living in such close quarters. Therefore, access to clean water, economic opportunities, health centers, and education are a pressing concern in these people’s daily life. So, we went to Gulu, in order to see first hand what these different NGO’s were doing to meet these many pressing needs within the IDP Camps.

We specifically visited the offices of Invisible Children to learn about their different initiatives. In 2005, to help provide economic opportunities for these individuals, Invisible Children began The Bracelet Campaign. This is an initiative that simultaneously provides jobs in the displaced community, while raising awareness around the world. Each bracelet represents a reach child’s journey through this war and represents a particular need that they to bring awareness to the West. The profit from the sell of these Bracelets funds all their education initiatives. Therefore, enough people (primarily Americans) by purchasing a simple bracelet for $20 have helped to employ 180 people in the camps and send 662 number of people to Secondary school. We met plenty of other great people (mostly young Americans like myself) who are working to provide education and to thousands of people. We also drove by the United Nations World Food Program, which is basically a score of large rectangle buildings that warehouse enough food to help feed the hundreds of thousands of people currently still living in the IDP Camps in Northern Uganda.

History of the War

The war in northern Uganda has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 21 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government have been waging a war that has forced nearly two million innocent civilians from their villages and homes and into these IDP Camps. The war has seen over 38,000 children abducted and forced to fight as child soldiers. A war has not only lead to the murder, torment, and rape of thousands, but also the devastation of an entire community.

The LRA rebel movement can be traced back to a woman named Alice Lakwena. In the 1980s, Lakwena believed the Holy Spirit spoke to her and ordered her to overthrow the Ugandan government for their injustices. Lakwena and her followers, known as the Holy Spirit Movement, gained momentum as resentment toward the government increased. When Lakwena was exiled, Joseph Kony, took control and transformed Lakwena’s rebel army into the LRA. Kony’s LRA did not receive the same support as the Holy Spirit Movement because of their extreme tactics. With dwindling support for their cause and heightened government offensives, the rebels resorted to abducting children and indoctrinating them into their ranks. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops are children. In 1996, as a response to the LRA attacks in the villages, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted thousands from their homes and relocated them into overcrowded camps in hopes of providing protection.

In recent years more and more international attention has been focused on this crisis. In 2001, the US Patriot Act officially declared the LRA to be a terrorist organization, a huge step in drawing attention to the conflict and the atrocities committed by the LRA. In 2004, Congress passed the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, the first piece of American legislation to address this disaster. And in 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and four of his top commanders. A temporary truce between the Ugandan government and the LRA has held for more than a year, and as peace continues to progress, many nations, including the US, have appointed special envoys to oversee this process. This current cessation of hostilities marks the longest period of peace in the North for more than 20 years, and the talks have made significant strides in reducing the conflict. A declaration for lasting peace is scheduled to be signed on April 3^rd!

Nevertheless, in Gulu and the surrounding districts, issues concerning the nature of justice for victims and perpetrators for war crimes are presently being debated. And, the majority of northern Uganda’s population lives in IDP camps, and while the desire is for them to return home, the issues surrounding their return are complex. Some have been displaced for more than a decade, and their former ways of life are all but gone.

African Advertising

The average home in Uganda does NOT have a television. Most People can not afford magazines. All forms of public transport are always blaring the multiple radio stations, but the quality is so poor, I often wonder who can understand. Now, newspapers are quite prevalent, but it doesn’t arrive to your home. You must buy it from the many vendors that work the traffic lines in downtown Kampala, therefore many Ugandans never see a paper. Therefore industries and businesses that are looking to market their product or service to the average African must find creative ways to get their message out to the consumer. In Uganda, they paint Buildings. For example, this picture is of a storefront is painted with the colors and logo of Uganda Telecom (UTL), which is my personal cell phone provider here in Uganda. However, this is not an actual UTL store, nor does it even sell UTL products or airtime. It is in fact, simply put, a building being used as a permanent billboard. These “building billboards” include advertisements of different cell phone services, as well as products ranging from Coca Cola to Feminine Products (no ladies, I’m not joking – these building often include visuals). These painted buildings are more common than gas stations and McDonald’s put together in the States. If a building is painted in Uganda, it is an advertisement; not many can afford to paint a building otherwise. These buildings are worth noting because this marketing scheme is now permanent make up of the visual fabric - that is Uganda. But, it can be frustrating when you first arrive because one may keep pulling over to these painted building marked all over with a certain company’s logo and not find the product or service you are looking for! In fact, often the actual businesses are so poorly marked that you can drive right by for a month and not realize it was there!

Muslim Evangelizes for Christ?

One of the projects I’ve been working with the church on here in Kampala, is starting a network of Cell Groups. These are small groups that meet in home all around the city on a couple designated nights each month to pray and care for individual needs. There are several more challenges to launching such a project here than in the United States. For example, both transportation and communication are much more expensive and complicated here. Most people do not have a car and therefore must take public transport to a meeting. Because most roads are not paved outside of downtown and there are no traffic lights, traffic congestion is usually awful, therefore, it takes a long time to get places. Furthermore, while everyone has a cell phone, the system here is not by monthly contract, but by prepaid airtime that you load on your phone. And, many of our cell leaders can not afford to call the members of their own Cell groups to check in on them or remind them of the next meeting.

Despite, these challenges, Cell Groups have gotten off to a great start! The Church has 15 Groups that meet in different neighborhoods, and every week we are hearing different testimonies of how groups are growing and people are getting saved. But, here is one particularly astonishing story.

In Uganda, it is very common for every household to have help with cooking or cleaning, no matter how poor. I view it as the way they help distribute the wealth. Anyway, the “help” for one particular Host Home is Muslim. While she does not participate in the Cell Group, she is always present to help serve tea. So one night, the Muslim Helper invites a friend to visit the Cell Group. Her friend ends up receiving prayer and accepting Christ into her life! What a stunning conversion story - to be invited to a Christian Cell Group by a Muslim friend and then end of following Christ! It’s a good reminder that God does not see the same social barriers that we do.

Standing on the Equator

Living in Kampala, Uganda, I find myself only one hours drive away from the Equator. Not having a car here, it wasn’t terribly convenient to get to for me. However, it just doesn’t sound that cool to say, “I’ve been an hour away from the Equator.” So we took a drive to the Equator. There isn’t too much to see there, other than the line drawn across the street, that shows which is the North side and which is the South Side of the world along with several African Craft Vendors that have set up shop for the tourists that pass through. So here is my picture, proving, I have visited the Equator. I have had a foot in each hemisphere simultaneously. See how much cooler that sounds, than saying I was an hour away. In fact, in all actuality, I have STRADDLED the Equator..….. Need I go on? Now, I can also say, I have been to the middle of world…..Well, I guess you get my point.

God's Thoughts Towards Me

When I am downcast, how often has God give me a specific encouragement from His Word? How many times through the years has God given me a promise for my life? These are messages that shouldn’t be forgotten, not only because they are from God, but, because they are eternal words; words suitable not just for the present, but also for a lifetime. And I have failed to be a good steward of God’s messages for my life. I’m reading a book right now that urges that you keep an ongoing list of God’s promises to you. So here is the beginning of my own list…..

o Prov 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (NKJV)

o Isa 40:31 - But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (NKJV)

o Phil 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ

o Isa 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (NIV)

o Est 4:14 -For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (NIV)

o Dan 6:4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

o Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

o Mal 3:11-12 - "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts; And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land," (NKJV)o Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, present your requests to God.

o II Tim 4:21 If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Mr. and Mrs. Gecko - The 2nd Chapter

Many of you will remember my very first blog I ever wrote was about my friend Mr. Gecko. To recap, Mr. Gecko was the original tenant of my room in Uganda on the missionary field. When I moved in, we became roommates. I was indebted to Mr. Gecko for keeping our room clear of spiders and other creeping, crawly things, and therefore forgave him for failing to pick up his ”droppings” that he left scattered around the room. (Boys just don’t have the same sense of propriety as girls do!) And I figured that every roommate has their failings, it’s just a matter of choosing which ones you can live with! Nevertheless, I felt a certain amount of sadness, that he was unable to roam free with other geckos and a little concerned that maybe a measly spider here and there wasn’t enough food for the little guy. So one day, he was resting close to the door, so I help point him in the right direction; in other words, I shooed him out. I was sad to see him go, but felt all noble in doing the right thing. About an hour later, still reveling in my good work for the day, I saw another Gecko crossing the wall. I was horrified! This whole time I thought I was only living with Mr. Gecko, but the fact was that I was living with Mr. AND Mrs. Gecko! I had single-handedly split up a marriage. To makes matters worse, I began noticing a gecko on the outside of my screened windows. I imagined it was Mr. Gecko staring longingly in for his lost mate. As I am feeling guilty about the family I separated, I determined to help Mr. Gecko and Mrs. Gecko reunite. Then just last week I saw something that released me of this heavy burden. I watched as a gecko slid through a crack between the window pane, that from my angle didn’t look big enough for even a penny to slide through. However, this crack was big enough for Mr. and Mrs. Gecko to come and go as they please! Unbelievable! Here I had discovered Mr. and Mrs. Gecko’s personal front door entrance to our abode. Not only did I not split up Mr. and Mrs Gecko…… by the increase of “droppings” left around, I think they may be actually hosting parties in my room!

Ugandan Wedding

The Ugandan wedding is one of a lifetime experiences……HOPEFULLY. Though a great experience to add to Sarah’s Life Bank, it is seven hours that I don’t know that I would necessarily choose to live again.

Nevertheless, it did give me a cause to put on a Busuti is the traditional Uganda wear for women; differentiated from other traditional wear of African countries, by the material that rises in a dagger-like form from the shoulders. Furthermore, before putting the garment on though, these woman wrap themselves in several layers of clothe in order to add bulk to their bodies. I had to remove some of the layers or I was sure to faint in the heat or fall over from the weight of it all! While I felt a little like a girl in a bad Halloween costume, I received very many impressive compliments, primarily “You look soooo smart!” (Uganda English for, “Girl, you sure look hot!”)

In the wedding everyone who brought a gift (or money) for the Bride and Groom, present it personally to them in a format similar to our US wedding custom to get in line to greet the new Husband and Wife. Another distinction is instead of just serving cake to each other, the Bride and Groom also present cake to their in-laws, as a sign of thanks for the time and care they invested into their new spouse. Also, worth mentioning is, it is still common practice in Uganda and most African countries to present a dowry to the Bride’s parents. Depending on the wealth of the gentleman, or the value placed on a daughter by her parents, the dowry could range from a Bible to several cows or goats!

Health Update

Thank you everyone for your prayers!! Here is the update from doctors here in South Africa. First, the results of the Cat Scans, of my head and abdomen, came back negative for tumors!

However, I have been diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Metabolic Syndrome. This Syndrome is characterized by an under-active thyroid and insulin resistance. These problems not only cause high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure in the present, but diabetes and heart problems in the future. The most frustrating thing about all of this is that after seeing a dietitian, they said I'm already making all the right health decisions with diet choices and exercise! Nevertheless, diet and exercise continue to be key factors in stopping the progression of this disease. They think the reason it took so long to identify the problems is because my level of exercise in the States kept many symptoms at bay.

I am currently on four medications. The primary one is to help stop the progression of diabetes by helping my insulin process sugar. And another one is to bring my cholesterol levels down. I will come back to the United States in April for three weeks. There I will do a second round of tests to judge how my body is responding to the medication, as well as get a second opinion. I will return to Uganda to finish my planned time until July.

Continued Prayer Support for….

• My hormone and insulin levels respond positively to medication
• International Insurance reimburses me for my medical attention in South Africa
• That the necessary diet restrictions will be easy to adapt to
• That the progression of problems will reverse itself

One final thought; Right now, God willing, my plan is to return to Uganda in 2009 after working for six months in the States and saving money. There is great work to be done in Uganda! However, without access to regular exercise and appropriate diet, as well as a positive response to regular medication, this will not be possible.