I did a bit of journaling in Africa, but I didn't get it done everyday. It is overwhelming each day to journal all that we did and my impressions of it all. I learned that writing got me no where, but I needed to type in order to get my thoughts completely out. I hope that the memories I did type are great ones. Here are our first few days - Tuesday, August 2 to Sunday, August 7.
Our plane ride was SO long. . . . SO long!! We had three different flights, 2 hours, 13 hours, 2 hours! The travel went well, but I realized that this wasn’t just a joy ride as I watched the time tick down on our 13 hours flight. We are a LONG way from home. This fact alone has helped me to understand the Ugandan culture more and more. They are a long way from America, and therefore the American influence is very little here because we are so far away. Yes, we have seen Americanized buildings, logos, clothing styles, etc. but for the most part it is the Ugandan way here.
The first thing we realized when we got on the bus to head from the airport to the AMG home office – Uganda, was the traffic. CHAOS!! PURE CHAOS!! There are no stop signs, stop lights, street signs, speed limit signs. There are round-a-bouts everywhere, which keeps the traffic moving in its chaotic. They drive on the opposite side of the street and their steering wheels are on the opposite side, as well. Not only are there cars on the road, but these taxi-like vans and many many many motorcycles! These motorcycles are taxis called boda bodas. These boda bodas are the fast taxis because they weave in and out of the cars and vans to get their passengers to their destination. Not only do the motorcycles carry people, but also goods. I have pictures of motorcyclists and bicyclists carrying chair frames, 50+ pineapples, long boards for building with, a huge bag of charcoal, jugs of water, bed mattresses, and more on their small vehicles! Not many people in Uganda own a car, therefore in order to get goods they must use what they have to get goods to their homes or to sell the goods they have. I don’t want to forget the people that simply are walking everywhere because there are MANY of those people too, carry water jugs, bags, and children. Some of the loads are being balanced on their heads and others hold them in their hands. It is amazing, and it is simply life in Uganda. It is absolutely amazing to see how a society that has hardly anything still has a people who want to make it and live. I know that when I feel like I have nothing I just want to give up.
All along the sides of the road are merchants of any kind, from people selling shoes laid out on a sheet on the ground, to hair and nail salons, to mechanics, to iron works. These merchants are not in nice buildings with glass doors and windows, rather they have a little shop that might be a tin shack with enough room to walk in and turn and walk out. They work with what they have and try to make it. They want to keep their area looking nice, so they will sweep the dirt that is outside of their small business shack. They are trying to have pride in what they do and find worth in this poor poor place. Watching out the window of the bus was one of my FAVORITE parts of the trip. We spent many hours on the bus and I enjoyed watching God's work in Uganda - the people, the vegetation, the culture.
We are staying at a very nice, clean, and safe hotel. Outside of the gate of our hotel is another story as you have already read. I do feel like I am locked up because we are not given the freedom to just go walking on the streets of Kampala. I understand that it is not safe and do not want to even have the possibility of being hurt or even kidnapped, but I miss the exercise and freedom of America.
Our first two days we spent time on the AMG property named, Upendo. At Upendo AMG has a primary school, grades 1-7, as well as an orphanage that houses both girls and boys. These property is owned by AMG and the buildings here were just recently built and are still being finished. Children in the AMG program come to school at Upendo, but do not always stay at Upendo. It was a bit confusing when we first got there and tried to wrap our hands around how things operate. Many of the children that stay at Upendo have home lives that are unbareable. These children may be too sickly to be at home because their family will not care for them or they do not have anyone to care for them. The children that come to the school that are AMG children will often walk from far distances to go to the school – 60+ minutes is not uncommon. School is not a given in Uganda, it is an opportunity, therefore if a child’s family can pay to go to school, they go because they can have a future.
While at Upendo we did a bit of painting, and when I say a bit, I mean maybe 20-30 minutes, which seemed like NOTHING. The children just follow us and want to know who we are. So we started out with just our team painting and it ended up that many of the children were painting at the end with us. The first thing we always ask the children is their name. The children answer quietly and will often times give us their Lugandan name, which we have no clue how to pronounce. Then they give us their Christian name, or more American name, which is what we call them. Some of the names I remember: Timothy, Denis, Brian, Eva, Gloria, Caroline, Justine, Rachel . . . . and the list goes on. There are children EVERYWHERE in Uganda. We spent time throwing the football with the children, teaching them the hokey pokey and head, shoulders, knees and toes, bouncing tennis balls, playing Connect 4, attempting a game of baseball, but spent most of our time just talking. I merged toward the older children because I could understand them better.
I talked with Simon, a student in secondary school, who shared with me information about students at Upendo and a bit of his story. His passion is for the younger children to feel safe and loved and to know Christ. He said that 12 students from Upendo walk to his secondary school about 30-40 minutes away. He shared with me his desire to pray every day during his lunch hour. He also shared with me that he has had many muslim friends convert to Christianity. He recognized that he cannot separate himself from muslims, but must be a part of their lives to win them to Christ. This story inspired me to stand strong for the Lord and keep fighting the fight against Islam. Simon has been trained in the way of the Lord because someone chose to pay $28 a month for his school fees.
Our group split on Saturday to visit two different AMG child development centers in the Kampala area. Everyone from our Princeton group went to the Namagoga Child Development Center. While traveling to Namagoga it was raining; this made the roads very muddy and slowed up our travel. The rain also caused problems in the arena of parking our bus, therefore our bus driver drove around for about 1 hour before the road was hard enough to park on.
When we first arrived at the center, Christopher, the center director, showed us his office and welcomed us. I was very surprised at the appearance of the center. I thought that the center would be a good sized building where the children could gather. Rather, this “center” was just 3 rented rooms in an apartment building. These rooms were not decent sized rooms, but were very small (maybe 10x10). Christopher shared with us AMG recently purchased land across the road where they will be building a Namagoga center when the funds are available. Therefore, they will no longer have to rent. AMG has a GREAT vision for the future, just as I visualized at Upendo the week before. They want to support more children, and make leaders for the next generation of Ugandans who know the Lord and the purpose of His Word.
We were late in our arrival to the Namagoga center, so we missed the Bible teaching and discussion groups. Christopher brought the children into the small field, where we were able to introduce ourselves and answer a few questions the children had about America. There were at least 120 children at the center, and most of them were in primary school (ages 6-12 or so). This question and answer time was the first opportunity our group members had to talk and share a word of encouragement. I enjoyed watching my two high school girls (Nicole and Kenzey) step up and be bold as they spoke. Though they did not say a lot, they still spoke!! There was not great communication between the AMG national workers and us about what they wanted us to share or when. They would often times ask us to give a word of encouragement or testimony. Whenever we think of a testimony, we think of the time when we accepted Christ as our Savior, but what the Ugandans meant was they wanted us to testify to what God was doing in our lives at the moment. For example, we could say that we praised God for the safe travel He gave us to Uganda. It was that simple and that easy. The Ugandan Christians were so very very thankful for all that the Lord had done for them, and praised Him for every single need meant. Though I feel grateful, I do not outwardly express my thankfulness to God everyday like they do in the Ugandan culture.
During the game time at Namogaga our group split into different activities – futbol (soccer for the boys), netball (for the girls), singing and group games, and more! Our group did a great joy of jumping right in getting to know the kids! Kenzey and I played netball for at least one hour. We thought that we were going to be playing soccer with the girls, but instead we learned that the girls do not play soccer in Uganda, but they play netball. Kenz and I jumped right in and started to play even though we did not understand the rules. We quickly picked up on the game and it was very comparable to keep away. We played for close to one hour, which was a long time to be running around. We both really enjoyed our time, especially the opportunity to get some exercise!! In this field, where we were playing netball, Curtis was also leading a soccer game with the boys. The boys did not wear shoes as they played. Curtis organized a little tournament so that all of the boys could play.
We also played some group games with the kids like Duck, Duck, Goose and Red Rover. The children taught us some of their Ugandan group games. We had a lot of fun trying to figure out what the games meant and what the children were saying as they sang and ran or danced. One of my favorites was one about a police chase. The child ran around the outside of the circle and then was let into the circle to do a dance and get away from the police. It was one of the only games they sang in English. The others were usually in their native languages. We also taught the children Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, as well as the Hokey Pokey! We tried to have the children sing these songs in their native language, but the rhyming did not work as well. These were great times of interacdtion with the children, and allowed us to see their personalities and part of their culture. They loved playing with us.
Cade wanted to buy jump ropes for the children, so I took two of the jump ropes on this Saturday. Many of the girls knew jump roping rhymes, and they were so good at sharing the rope time with others.
We visited a very American-like church on Sunday, Agape Baptist Church in Kampala. I was able to worship because I knew the songs and was able to understand the speakers. It has hit me that the God that I pray to in America is the same God that these Ugandans pray to here in Africa. He is the God in Africa and in America. He is God and He is KING no matter where on this Earth I am.
We ate at a very nice restaurant on Sunday after church. It was the first nice restaurant we ate at since our arrival in Uganda. I felt very strange sitting at a golf course eating American-type food and just the day before we saw children without shoes on their feet, eating their only meal of the day. What I realized as the days went on was that in order for our team to stay healthy (at least somewhat) by eating, we needed to go to these restaurants with more American-type food. The food at our restaurant wasn't bad, but is just got old because we had it everyday. The Ugandans cooked with a lot of grease, which I noticed made a difference in my diet. Curtis got sick for a couple days and found himself on the toilet on many occassions those days. I had a few episodes of toilet sitting, as well. Overall, our team did very well without sickness.
After lunch on Sunday we went to the African market. This was our opportunity to get souveniors. But it wasn't as simple as picking out what you liked and then buying it. You had to barter with the shop owner. Many of the shops had the same items and their prices were usually in the same ballpark. We picked out items for the boys, as well as our parents. We got a statue of a family for our home. It was a fun experience, but so many of the items were made so cheaply I didn't want to buy too much. And we realized that bartering was a lot harder than we thought. The shop keepers didn't want to budge.
A man delivering milk on his bicycle.
A boda boda waiting for a passenger who needs a ride.
Painting the girls dorm at Upendo.
Playing with the Upendo AMG sponsored children and Upendo Christian School children.
An apartment building on our way home from Upendo.
The sponsored children of Namogoga for the Saturday program.
Jumping rope with the girls at Namogoga.
The children's lunch at Namogoga. Potatoes and Beans. They eat with their fingers only.
The boys who LOVED Curtis.
