Day 100!
Happy Belated Thanksgiving Friends!
These past couple weeks have been full of chaos and madness but it has been so good! Two Fridays ago, (the 19th) we went up north to Lira. Lira is part of the northern region that was ravaged by the Lord’s Rebellion Army (LRA). While there we visited an orphanage, a café, and a woman’s shelter. The orphanage and café were western run and the shelter was run by a Ugandan woman who used to be on the police force here. I guess I shall start with the café. The café is not run for any specific evangelical purpose, but the owners started it up simply to create jobs and educate Ugandans on the art of customer service. While I was not overly impressed by their business plan and the fact that long term they always saw the need to have a westerner on staff, they had great milkshakes. Or perhaps I am just ice cream deprived. Either way, it was interesting to see an organization that is just here. Not to bring the light or nurture it, but to provide jobs. The following day, Saturday, we went to an orphanage/water project/school/vocational training center/church/etc. run by a retired couple. It was a huge drastic change from any school or such place we have visited. The orphanage reeked of wealth. The entire campus was on a generator and all of the huts that house the orphans had electricity all the time. Let me quantify this. I do not have electricity every night. Is running a generator a necessary expense for an orphanage? Not to mention an orphanage that is completely donor sponsored? That was another aspect of Otino Waa that I did not believe made them very sustainable. They are almost 100% donor funded. The small café run by their vocational students is self sustaining, but other then that donors. Another factor is that the donors are not even churches, but most are individual people. The couple is almost 70 and planning on retiring in the next two years, but they also feel the need to always have a westerner on staff. What happens if no one wants to take over after them? What happens if the donors for the children stop giving? It takes three donors to fund each child. And most of the donors have personal connection with the couple working there currently. What happens to the children if the orphanage fails to maintain the current standard? The next place we went was the woman’s shelter. Hellen was a member of the Ugandan Police force and while serving in Northern Uganda in the IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) camps she saw the need for someone to help the women who had been abused. Its was certainly been interesting to compare the Ugandan run organizations with the western run and funded ones. We spend so lavishly even as far as aid is concerned.
Next highlight. Thanksgiving. Corn. Turkey. Fantastic. We started the day baking cinnamon rolls or Wesley, Lacey and I did. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls. They were pretty great. That adventure was followed by football. Also very fun. Then dinner and a cornhole/baggo/bean bag toss tournament. Prolly one of the most memorable thanksgivings I have ever had. It was really cool for us all to come together and be like family to each other. Thank the Lord for family and my family back home.
Then safari. Last weekend was crazy fun! I cannot remember the last time I had so much excitement in one weekend. I spent an entire Saturday morning doing a game drive hanging off the roof of a van. Mommy, don’t worry it was semi-safe. We saw elephants, water buffalo, antelope, giraffe, bush monkeys, and hippos and lots of fun birds. Then in the afternoon we went on a water safari and saw more hippos, elephants, birds, and even some crocodiles. The game park we were at was the Murchison falls national wildlife preserve. We also got to see the namesake falls. They were pretty spectacular.
Which brings us to this week. Its been so crazy how fast this week has gone. Monday was a full day of classes and the last history class, Praise the Lord! Yesterday I went into Kampala with Wesley and Angelina for a project that Angelina needed to finished. We got rained on, lost, hit on, rode like five taxis, and finally after three hours arrived at the malaria consortium. It was a crazy long day but we got some icecream which clearly made it all better. Tonight we are headed to a cultural dance in Kampala. It is supposed to be really good. I am pretty excited about it.
15 days from now I will be back in the states. I am not sure that I am ready for it. Please pray that I invest greatly in the last two weeks that I have left here.
Happy Wednesday to all!
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