All I Need to Know: Part 1

As promised, I want to introduce you to a wonderful young Ugandan woman from here in Kampala named Harriet.  Now, I know I've talked about Harriet before, but I wanted to give her more of a proper introduction here.

She will probably kill me if she finds out I've written about her, but I just think she's way cool.  She is university-educated, bright, energetic, fun and tireless in the ways that she reaches out to others.  

Having studied business in university, Harriet is keenly interested in corporate social responsibility and has dreams of starting her own business that funnels funds to a parallel non-profit organization addressing women's issues.  

She is a leader in her church, particularly with the youth, and she has just finished an annual conference that she initiated three years ago named Treasures that seeks to improve girls' self-esteem and help them see themselves as "women of rare beauty" in God's eyes.

Harriet loves rock music.  Hillsong, the popular Christian group, is her favorite band, and she loves attending concerts and worship nights in the city.  She never fails to indulge with me in the joys of ice cream and puts me to shame with her impeccable fashion sense.

She works with me at Refuge & Hope and has been a constant source of wisdom and motivation to me in the work.  Every time I have a question about Ugandan culture - no matter how silly - I never hesitate to ask Harriet, because she is unfailingly open and understanding about my curiosity (though that doesn't keep her from laughing at me...in a good-natured way, of course!).  

Harriet is my closest Ugandan friend here, and I could not have enjoyed my time here this past year nearly as much without her help and genuine friendship.  Her admirable character, intellect and convictions make me excited and hopeful about the future generation of leaders in Uganda.  I just can't wait to see what she'll do.  So here's to you, Harriet!  

All I Need to Know About Africa I Learned from Disney Movies

Many of you heard about the riots in Kampala earlier this month and wrote with concerns about my safety.  I was actually in Ethiopia when the riots took place and was shocked when I heard rumors of what was happening.  The violence that broke out here had really tragic consequences, and my Ugandan friend thinks there's a good chance that things could flare up again, since a final decision has not been made regarding the land dispute between the Ugandan government and the traditional Buganda king of this region which set off the riots.  We should all continue praying for peace in this city.  

I've actually been thinking lately about writing more about this city and its people - about the fact that, despite what you may have been led to believe, there are parts of Africa that are quite modern with people who lead lives very similar to yours.  

I once read an article in an Africa travel book which quoted a Kenyan writer critiquing the way Western travelers typically depict Africa and its people, saying, "Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book.  An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these" (Binyavanga Wainaina).  

It's true that Africa has come to be represented in the minds of most Americans as either just a huge expanse of wild, vast savannah grasslands teeming with exotic game and naked tribal people, or as nothing but an enormous dark pit, consisting only of all of the world's worst plagues of war, disease and poverty.   Sort of a Lion King vs. Heart of Darkness dichotomy.

It's also true that I may be part of the problem.  I've found myself choosing to post those photos which are most unlike the modern world in which I was raised, thinking that those would be the most interesting to you all.  My photographic eye immediately crops out anything familiar in favor of the grass huts, and my literary bias is to talk almost exclusively about what I see and experience in rural villages, where life for the ordinary farmer is still probably a far cry from "modern."

But the thing I want you to know is that it's not all like that here.  Sure, those things are there - otherwise the photos and stories would all be lies.  But they're not the whole story.  

There are modern buildings and internet here - cell phones, beauty salons, Coca-Cola and Jay-Z.  There are educated, urbanized Africans who have embraced me and become my friends.  And I've realized that there are many things that I share in common with these friends, not the least of which is the desire to see their country developed and their people delivered from the serious ills of conflict and poverty that still persist here, despite these steps toward modernization. 

These are the people and the things that I want to show you.  And while it's true that globalization may have exported some of the most unsavory aspects of Western culture, I don't want to focus on that just now.  I want to introduce you to a modern African city and to people who are not only more similar to you than you probably imagine, but who are possibly in some ways even more advanced than you are.  This is another important side of this place that needs to be shared.

So that is my plan - to write at least a couple posts on why the "All I Really Need to Know About Africa I Learned from the Lion King" mindset just doesn't cut it anymore.  Stay tuned!

Presenting: The Longest Post of My Blogging Career!

I'm the type of person who likes to have all of her stuff together.  Before I present anything on here, I'd really like to have all my photos and everything in order.  But I'm realizing that with the speed of internet here, I might keep you waiting until Christmas for this update on the past month.  So against my best instincts I'm just going to go with what I've got now.  It feels kind of liberating, actually.  Like my own personal freedom on Independence Day.  God bless America.

Ok, anyway.  Speaking of the US, this past month we had a small group come from the States to do some ministry here.  It was three students - Carson, Abby and Anna - and also my mom, Debbie!  They came primarily to do distributions of mosquito nets and to do sports camps/VBS activities.  They stayed for three and a half weeks, and they were really fantastic!  Their time here was very packed, so I definitely won't be able to sufficiently cover everything in just one post.  But here are the high points.

First off, after arriving at the beginning of June, they went out to a slum area here in Kampala to meet a widows group that makes beaded jewelry to generate income.  Many beads were bought.  Then we headed out for Kapchorwa district near the Kenyan border and ended up doing four different mosquito net distributions and a day of playing with the local children in the community of Greek, which I think I've talked about before.  My mom also found a ladies' sewing group and stayed with them for a day - getting a beautiful, authentic African outfit out of the deal, which all the Ugandan ladies said was "very smart."  

All in all, we were in Kapchorwa for a few days, finishing it off with a hike around beautiful Sipi Falls, and then we headed out to Kaberamaido district.  Our time was very full there!  We spent each afternoon that week at the orphanage, playing with the children, doing Bible story skits, and giving them enough mosquito nets so that each child can now sleep under a net.  We moved around each morning doing different things, including going to a fishing village on the lake to do a net distribution, meeting with the widows group we're working with there to pray with them and distribute 2,000 notebooks and 500 pens for their children and orphans they care for to use in school, and meeting with the Arrow Boys group we're working with to pray for them and hear more about their stories.  We finished off our time there with a youth conference we organized for 100 secondary school students.  Our friend who is actually from Kaberamaido led the conference on issues of character and developing a vision for their life, and it went really well!  It was a great way to end our time in Kaberamaido.

Next, we headed back to Kampala and joined up with a ministry called Sports Friends International.  Sports Friends combines Christian ministry with sports activities for several different communities around Kampala - many that target at-risk children.  We spent one morning with a group of street boys, for example, which was a rather moving experience for me.  But more on that later!  We also got to do a few more mosquito net distributions along the way (the team has provided nearly 2,500 nets - an amazingly large number!  We're still working on getting them all out to people..).  Then, to wrap up the "ministry" portion of the team's trip, we helped facilitate a games tournament called Kids Games for about 800 orphans and other vulnerable children, which was a really wonderful experience.  A great way to top off their ministry here.  

Before the team left, we all took a quick trip up to Murchison Falls in northwest Uganda and went on a fun little safari tour.  A rather momentous occasion for me, actually, as I discovered that the warthog could possibly be one of my new favorite animals!  

So the team left out for the U.S. the last week of June, and we are just so grateful for them and their willingness to come out and serve.  I could say so much more about them and their time here, but this is quickly becoming a mini-novel, and I know all too well (being one myself) that blog readers are not known for having the longest attention span.  : )  So I'll stop here for now.

But not without showing some photos!  I'll post one below, but I'm also working on uploading several hundred photos to my photo site online - a gargantuan task, given how slow internet is here.  So here's the deal.  I'm going to go ahead and give you the link so you can begin looking through the photos, BUT there is one quid pro quo: you must promise to go back later after I've uploaded all of the photos, because I have so many more to share and have very ambitious plans of also adding captions later!  So class, if I let you know when everything's up can you promise to go back and look?  Please and thank you?

Ok, now that we have that settled I'm going to continue killing mosquitos with my own bare hands.  Ha.  They're all over our house, and they really are nasty little suckers!

Thanks so much for reading and for supporting me here.  And thanks for the many well wishes for my birthday yesterday.  It was a great day!  I've been so encouraged in so many ways lately.  I love and appreciate you all, my family and friends.  Now go eat some barbecue and set off lots of fireworks for me!

From L to R: Carson, Abby, Anna, me, Debbie (aka "Mama Jennifer")