Catching Up :)

It's been a couple of days since my last post...

Tuesday was a very long bus ride back from Gulu to Kampala. We stopped many times for various reasons...one of which was because a cattle truck hit us...majorly scary moment to be in a wreck in Uganda. The picture below shows the cattle truck in the background which had 15 people sitting on top of it when it hit us...it swerved at the last moment to miss us and ran into the bush and I thought it was going to tip over...very scary! The second picture shows the damage to our car....then everyone was yelling in Lugandan which to me is just as scary.

Then our driver decides it not to be a good idea to fill up while in a city...instead prefers to run out of gas in the middle of no where Africa....so we have to buy gas from a man on the side of a road in a jerry can. Picture below....

Yikes! Needless to say our ride was very long in a van where all the seats were tilted down at a 45 degree angle....BUT I did get to see monkeys and baboons...I mean really...quote from Jen Gash in the car.."In America...we call these squirrels.." hahaha

Pretty cool if I do say....Tuesday night was definitely a cool down and talk it out night with Jen and Gary. We had seen so much heartbreak in Gulu that it was nice to have them to talk to about it all. The children and people have just gone through so much, and in America there is just simply nothing to compare the type of warfare the LRA subjected their innocence to. To let everyone know, Ivan the last I heard was doing better in the hospital. He had survived the surgery and was continuing to heal. His little brother was actually admitted for malaria so I am glad that he was with the family. I will try to find out more on him.
   On Tuesday before we left, I was able to tag along with Jen, Gary, and Josephine as they met with several partners. World Vision and ARC are two companies they partner with here in Gulu, Uganda. These companies are amazing in what they do. They are determined to reach out to all the EVI (extremely vulnerable people) and help get them back on their feet. I do not even know where to begin with how these people heal from what they experienced. ARC works in getting people the things they need to rebuild their lives such as mud huts, latrines, nonfood items and a choice of an animal or seeds. They are trying to enable and empower these people to get back to where they came from. As I discussed later Tuesday night with Jen and Gary, these people have no outside communication with the world...all they have known is fear and warfare...how do you convince them it's okay again and to trust you? When so many just feared going to sleep at night...
   It is such a powerful thing to think about...and yet I will never understand how they feel. I have never felt scared to sleep at night for fear that soldiers would raid my home and execute my family....and worse yet kidnap the children. I know this information is graphic and I feel as though I am even dulling to down for print...but to look in the eyes of these people of Gulu and see the emptiness just breaks my heart. What Sweet Sleep and Jen Gash does is amazing; this organization restores some of the hope and innocence that was robbed from the people here. Sweet Sleep not only provides bedding and nets for the children but also Bibles. I feel as even I would be guilty of not realizing the importance of a Bible when these people have so many physical needs (food, water, sanitation, clothing, bedding, and much more) but this story we heard from the people at World Vision (works with the victims of the LRA warfare) gave me a whole new perspective on the importance of a Bible...
   One of the woman working for World Vision shared this story from a child they had encountered in the bush in Gulu....I do not know the age or if it was a boy or girl...but all the same it will touch your heart. World Vision was out in the bush providing various things for the people. One of the workers noticed a small child holding onto a Bible as the child laid down. The worker bent down to talk to the child and asked the child if he/she could read the Bible? The child without hesitation replied "No I cannot read it, but when I lay down to sleep and it is beside me, I know that I will be safe throughout the night." It broke my heart, but at the same time was such a great story to hear. Jen shared that night at dinner that it was always the hardest to raise money for each Bible Sweet Sleep gives out as opposed to beds...myself included I guess sometimes we concentrate on the physical "life sustaining" needs of these people...but these people need hope...they need God and they are hungry for Him. I hope that if you read this blog and feel any attachment to it...you will visit Sweet Sleeps website and look at the work they are doing not only in Uganda but also Haiti and Moldova...maybe you'll even want to support some of their work! No pressure on that but def check it out :)
http://www.sweetsleep.org/

     Well moving on to Wednesday, it was my day off so rest for the morning was nice. That afternoon I took my camera to be fixed...several hours and 80,000 shillings later...still broken. Not so great...so this morning Josephine and I went back and took the camera....four hours later and 15,0000 more shillings...it will take pictures...but I can no longer zoom or have a flash. I guess that is better than nothing right?

   On a very fun note, a few of my teammates (Mike, Tyler, and Alexis) had grown very close to a boy named William at Blessed Hope Orphanage. He is an amazing soccer or "football" player, but he does not have the opportunities to truly grow. They asked if I would use some of the money they left behind to pick him up some soccer gear! How fun! Here he is before modeling it for me....he was so grateful and could not stop hugging me...he is a VERY shy teenage boy so this was huge for him! I just wish that Mike, Tyler, and Alexis could have been here to give it to him :)

And some of my boys I love....

Left to right
Ben, Joseph, Andrew, and William

    On my way home from Blessed Hope...it literally took Josephine and I 4 1/2 hours...the taxi system here is MIZ! They are vans...and they don't always stop everywhere...and they only travel when they are completely packed aka like 16 people....so it took almost 2 hours to get a van...then they only go so far...so I was able to experience today (in the morning and at night...like dark time) my very first Boda Boda rides...um...i LOVE them. Boda bodas are the motorcycle taxis....I don't have a picture of me on one yet..but that is my next goal!
Here is a picture of one of them though...

   Well I'm going to go recoop for the night...but..tomorrow I go back to Blessed Hope in the morning and I am actually going to be helping to teach math to Primary 5, 6, and 7 (which are the older kids who do know some English!) eek! I have learned how to say a few things in Lugandan now....none of which are particularly helpful but..."Oli otya?" means how are you...and Ova ludda wa? meaning where are you from...and I tell people I am staying in Muyenga before the hills..haha in case I get lost!

  Pray for my teaching skills and Lugandan/English skills tomorrow! Haha....miss everyone!