sleepless nights

i thought this concept deserved it's own title...

I have been wrestling with sleep since i arrived i may have had one good night of sleep since i got here. too many sounds, too many thoughts running through my head, too many prayers to pray, to much darkness when the electricity is out.

so i wake up at 4 am, i rationalize that the internet is faster then anyway.

we got batteries for the clock, so now i know what time it is when i wake up and there is no light out.

I finished a third book and am on to the next, a text book, that the students have to read, ugandan missionaries during the civil war twenty years ago.

the whole compound went maze harvesting this week, i stayed back with the little kids.
a student told me about a conversation he had with one of the locals, about harvesting corn by hand

"do you harvest corn where you are from?"
"yeah, but not like this"
"how do you do it then?"
"we have a big tractor and a machine that harvests it for us, just one man operates it"
 "really?"
this was as they were hand picking and shucking bags and bags of corn.

I had to explain a clothes washer to a girl the other day, I told her that you put the clothes in with soap and they come out clean usually.  she wanted me to act out how the machine works, I did the best i could, lots of whirring sounds, she laughed the whole time i did it.

this week i found the baby house, It is almost a mile from my house, which is good, because our diet here is rich in carbohydrates.  i've walked there as much as i can, i met the leader sarah, who immediatly gave me the okay to pretty much come by when i want and take kids for walks, play, hold babies and pointed me to the double stroller.  I hoisted two babies in, buckled them and took little daniels hand, we were off to see the pigs.  as we followed the back path to the pigs i began to doubt my 3 year old guide's directions.  He kept shouting pigs and pointing ahead so i kept pushing, over burned grasses and past ant hills as tall as me.  we arrived to the pigs, who were all sleeping, so lazy :) they were huge and as we peeked over every wall they seemed to be getting biger and bigger, until we saw the last pin, with a big mamma and her four piglets. laying in the dirt, so tiny and pink.  i picked up the two babies one on each hip and walked them to see the baby pigs, they pointed and laughed, and tried to copy my voice when i said "big fat pig" as i bounced them up and down.  daniel was off to see the next ones and every time he would hop and say "pig, pig, pig".

when we left the pigs, and headed back toward the campus, passing a small house standing alone, with pineapples growing in a perfect circle out front, I was caught off guard when i saw a cow on the road meandering toward us, because at first I pointed and said "cow" to the babies with exuberance, until i looked passed her to see a whole heard heading my way. I stood for a second, not really knowing what to do, I had three babies in a double bob stroller and the road was narrow, all i could see was the long horns on the bulls, pointing toward the sky.

Now dont get me wrong, Ive seen all sorts of cows in my day, my grand father is a cattle rancher, i've spent hours in my grandpas barn embracing and naming them, gone out to the field to help with irrigation so the grass would stay green, handed out alfalfa,  but I dont think ive ever, just had cattle walk by me on the road, usually they are behind a fence.  so i panicked slightly, my heart was racing, I shoved the stroller  half way up a little hill on the edge of the path, threw the daniel up on top and stood as still as possible, I was genuinely afraid, these animals were huge, and two bulls stopped to simply stare at me, like they were deciding if they were gonna go easy on me.  little did i know that daniel was about as good a little herder as Robert who introduced himself as he passed with a large stick at the end of the line.  He shook my hand and i think i was shaking, we shared a proper ugandan greeting and i waved him off to follow the cows, but a straggler was behind and daniel ran to it and shewed it ahead and even gave it a little slap in the hip to get it moving like a little professional, i sould have just let him lead the way.

It took me a few moments to recover from that unnecessary anxiety and we walked back to the baby house where i spent the next two hours holding baby joseph, who is so smiley and loved being tickled.  I met all of the Aunties, and kissed little cheeks and patted little tummies and it was time to go because i was on dinner dish duty.  so i walked the back way home through the David family village, where at least four people knew me by name, i was greeted, "Hello Aunt Rachael, how are you?", "I am fine, how are you" i would respond.  when i told them sleep well in Luganda they laughed hard appreciative laughs and told me "well done".

those babies are my new excitement lately, I have to say, as disgusting as it sounds, for me, being spit up on is bliss. I love everything about these babies, and I 'll have to be careful because I wont want to leave them come May.  I have held them all, some are tiny, smaller than they should be, some are so fat they cant walk, little leg rolls and dimpled cheeks, some of them are just right.  most of them are boys, there are two girls, and they are bigger girls actually, maybe 15-18 months. walking and starting to talk.
I tell them "jangu" and give a wave opening and closing my hand, they toddle over for hugs and smile so sweetly!

well...that's all for now, until next time... good early morning from Uganda.

love
rachael


 

Much to learn...

So, I have been in Uganda, Africa for a little over two weeks, in that time; I haven’t had the privilege to see the entire site, but I have moved my things into my little hut, I have watched babies, I have eaten matoke, g nut sauce, chipatti,  and posho. 

learned maybe ten “Luganda” phrases, held countless children with no other hope than the basic necessities they are provided by orphanages, made a new friend, read three books, written a few blogs that I am by far not ready to post and been forever changed by what I have seen.  My time here has been really life altering.  All that I know is that I’m not sure what I think yet.  I feel like that is ok, what I have seen of Uganda (which is a very small portion) is beautiful and horrible all at the same time.  It is fun and frustrating, joyful and depressing and everything in between.  Ok, now I will talk about the parts that don’t make me cry and maybe I will move on to the other things, that I really think everyone should know, but I’m not ready to share.

My hut…is a round structure, that has a roof made of aluminum siding, it is separated into two rooms, one serves as a small sitting room, with a couch and two chairs, the other is our bedroom… I have a roommate. 

Our hut has a “Bathroom” where there is a drain in the corner of a small room outside of our hut, enclosed by a wood door. 

Our Latrine, is a closet sized room with a hole in the cement, where we do our most important business, we have lovingly named it the embassy. 

My hut is one of 6 huts that form a semi circle around the main dining room finished by the large kitchen where all of our food is prepared by native Ugandan ladies all day.  The dining room also serves as the classroom for the people I came here to serve.  The Segners live in a house up the hill, two bedrooms, one full bathroom, kitchen, living room, patio…*sigh* its lovely, and I get to enjoy the full bathroom during the day J

I have recently acquired a roommate, named Speciosa, she is a young Ugandan woman.  Who works at the Musana camps ministry that is affiliated with New hope.  She is funny and sweet, and I like her a lot.  Happy to have a roommate.  Because  I don’t like to be on my own, and my first night, I came in to a hut with several varieties of spider, lizards and two dead bats…needless to say, I was afraid and slept maybe an hour.  Then special came and we cleaned together and made our little hut feel more like home, it has been wonderful since then.  My brilliant roommate also has brought solar powered lights and a battery, so when the power is out, as it is a little while every day, we always have light and a radio playing.  I am so thankful for her. 

The Segner kids have been struggling, since we got here, to find their sleep schedule, with sickness, with the food, with getting to know me, but these are all things that they will grow into with time.  So I am in charge, for only half of the day, of Karson, who is a 7 year old who looks like he is ten, and is a sweet brother, he makes friends fast and loves to be outside.  Everett, is 5 he draws me pictures  every day, and today he caught me using one as a bookmark in my bible and smiled, he is also smart, I caught him doing a secret code game in his coloring book without even needing any help or prompting.  Hadlee is 3 she is a little girly girl, when we got on the bus she asked me how the door closed by itself, probably expecting a technical answer, had wide eyes when I responded that it MUST have been by magic.  Within ten minutes, she told me that she loved me, haha.  Pierce is the toe headed baby boy, he is so darling, and smiley, he is the baby for sure, loves to be attached to mom or dad, we also find him running to the Ugandan strangers and grabbing their legs, they always pick him up and hold him by the armpits and smile.  He loves it. 

Kari and Jason are Texans, they are very kind, and considerate, have opened their home to me whenever they can and. …well …. They are moving indefinitely to Africa to start a medical clinic for orphans and pregnant women, so they are “those” kind of people, the good kind.   

The compound where we live is HUGE, as I said earlier I have made a friend, someone who I would say is not my roommate or my superior or another person simply living on property.  Her name is Betty, she is on staff here, our hospitality coordinator, which means she can answer just about any question we have, and she hands out the ration of toilet paper…so…I know how to pick em’ ha!

She has invited me to her hut, which we have recently deemed her mansion and we joke regularly that we will visit one another, but “how will I find you?”, I ask, to which she replies “I’ll be in the basement swimming in the pool”.  I tell her that, “I’ll be out back by the stables” when she needs me.  She has been a WEALTH of knowledge from pointing me to the clinic to showing me how to wash my underwear.  We have had a movie night, complete with popcorn, we have laughed and joked, shared countless stories, swung on the swings, she even walked me to meet her “family” which is one of the family groups on the property, my friend betty grew up in this place, on this property, worked hard, went to college and came back to serve here on staff.  I’m sure I will have wild stories to share about her.  But or now, she is my new friend. 

I have lived for a week in a radius of about 500 feet.  I have been to Kiwoko (chi-woko) with a small band of students, but mainly I walk to the Segners and back to my hut three to four times a day.  So not much action, but lots has happened. 

I attended church on Sunday morning, 3 hours, worship was 3 English songs and three Luganda songs, I liked the Ugandan ones more.  Then a message from the regional coordinator who oversees the ministries happenings, and all of the other sites that are affiliated, (including a special education school, a home for reformed child soldiers, a camp ground on lake Victoria, a radio station and a vocational school down the road for young adults).  He spoke about the difference between belief and faith.  That we are willing to say that we believe that God can carry us, but not willing to let him actually carry us through this life.  There were many long greetings and goodbyes after then late lunch and naps. 

Our week has been, lot of learning and there will be more soon, but I think this is enough for now.  Thanks for reading, please subscribe by e-mail , so you can keep up. 

Love

Rachael       

you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

It’s hot in this room, the fickle fan seems to dislike me, I am taking a break, from being sat upon by whomever could fit on my lap.  There are new kids here today, they are not new to the orphanage just new to me, Betty was a notable arrival, and only because hers is the one name I remember right now. 

Yesterday, a woman from the large group visiting the orphanage asked Brooke and me what is on our schedule, what we are doing during our stay and our answer was…nothing. We are simply being here, not cooking or cleaning, or doing laundry or doing anything.  I wish that we had jobs; the day might seem more meaningful.  For now we attend breakfast, hold kids, go to town (maybe)/play with the kids, attend lunch, go to town (maybe)/ play with the kids, attend dinner, visit the kids before bed, love on them, give them hugs, kisses, tickle them, give high fives and tell them they are special.  It feels like we spend a lot of time, sitting around talking with kids on our laps.  We both feel useless, doing little to nothing at all, but I know that the work that we do is not in vain. 

This is the scripture that I read at church the night I found out that the Segners would be waylaid for a week.  

But thanks be to God!

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers,

stand firm.

Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,

because

you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 cor 15:57

we have given ourselves, fully to the work of the Lord, we have come, we have made ourselves available, but all they have asked us to do is, love the children here.  If this is the work of the Lord well I am happy! I have been blessed by blessing these kids. It seems so small but as mother Teresa said, “not all can do great things, but everyone can do small things with great love”.

I went to glory dorm to fix the mosquito nets, but the beams that they are tied to were too high for us, and there was no Ladder.  So, we sat on the stoop while they took baths and took pictures, of their naked butts, of their Auntie Daisy, scrubbing their little necks.  I told the little ones to “seka” (smile) while they waited patiently on the stoop beside me, for their turn.  At dinner we ate with the large team that is visiting with “Visiting Orphans” and an old friend of the Children’s home, Carol, whose 9 year old daughter has raised all of the support needed to build a new playground for the 120 children who live at Canaan.  The two of them are here for a month to oversee and help with the building of the new playground, if you want to see more about the project you can click HERE.  We sat and ate with them, and talked about the Segners.  Who are scheduled to arrive at 10pm on Thursday the 5th which for me is today.  Very excited to meet them. 

            After dinner, we drenched ourselves in bug spray and went down to see the little ones.  Who were practicing their performance for the visiting orphans team, they are all no taller than three feet, they have strong features and baldheads, they are Gorgeous, you can see them soon! Promise.  They were stepping back and forth to the beat, one would call out and the others would respond, in song, they pressed their little palms together and shook their hips, Furrowed their little brows, clenched fists, they closed their eyes and sang louder, waving their little hand across the crowd before them like they were presenting themselves to everyone.  They sang a song telling the “vistas, you are welcome” and that they are praying for them and will never forget them.  So sweet, we told them to pee, took off all of their clothes (they sleep nude) and put them in bed, I went to help with mosquito nets laying them over the beds, the ones that did not need repair.  I called little Topista over a four year old who is teeny with a lot of personality.  Prayed for her to have a good night, sweet dreams, and peace.  She whispered “amen” and I kissed her cheek and told her good night, on my way out the door, I hugged their Auntie daisy, who is like their little momma, taking care of more than fifteen 4-6 year olds every day and wished her a good night.  Went to visit Vivian, and prayed with her, gave her kisses and said good night.  

A day full of nothing…well spent... more to come…

Love

Rachael   

  

We all ate and were satisfied

I spent my first day in Uganda, I woke up to a cool fan blowing on my face, the air was humid but cool, I lay there willing myself awake and wanting to drift back into a serene sleep.   I had to force myself up on the heels of my hands looking out past the billowing mosquito net, the light was coming in past the curtain and the birds were squawking their good mornings, I asked Brooke what that scratching noise was at the door, “it’s the crazy birds” she replied, but to me it sounded like a little monkey was wanting to come in. I told her as much and her only response was a half exasperated “I want a monkey”.  First conversation of the day and I’m off to a good start.

We prepared half of our things for our long ride to Jinja, before we went to breakfast in the lobby, French toast and a cheese omelet, local fruit, mango juice, tea, coffee, and a few guests.  Our driver had arrived to pick us up, early, he had left that morning at 5am, he brought with him, Stella the Canaan center secretary and Liti, the little girl that Brooke is in Love with and has a special relationship with.  It was beautiful to see Liti holding on to Brooke tightly, eating breakfast on her lap, and telling her that she missed her.  We all ate and were satisfied, then got our bags fully together so we could begin the journey to Jinja,

           

            3 hour rough car ride and today I realized why God sent me to Sicily before coming here…the traffic.

 My friend, Dany had driven me a couple of times through Syracuse, a skilled driver, but made me very frightened, I offered him all of the money in my wallet on one occasion to drive slower, he didn’t care.  The honking, making their own lanes, tailgating, it was quite an experience Sicily!

Africa was a close second, not quite so fast, not quite so close, but more people in the streets.  We drove forty-five minutes through open lanes, watching the passing shops, colored brightly with all of their merchandise out on display, and a shop keep usually texting on their phone near said merchandise, there were all kinds of beautiful colors on the dresses of the women, boda drivers weaving past dips in the road, people carrying any and everything on their heads, roadside conversations, mothers toting children.  Beyond them was a beautiful hillside, with lush greenery plumed all along, pink and blue and green painted houses nestled into the bush. 

We came into Kampala, the capital city, well the outskirts at least, there were so many people out; walking running, selling, riding, buying, talking, arguing, laughing, washing cars, peddling.  Traffic was much tighter and there were more pedestrians vying to cross the road, more street peddlers, and more shops.  It was crazy and uncomfortable, and interesting and new.  We passed the busy city, to open road and very few people.  The land was beautiful, the same banyan trees grow here as in Hawaii, the same bush, the same banana bunches hang, the same pineapples.  We drove past lake Victoria as the midday sun gleamed across the still waters. 

We arrived to Canaan children’s center, where there were 70 children, running to the car, Brooke warned me that they would be excited to see us.  Vivian had my hand before I stepped out of the car, the moment that the door opened, little Vivian was looking up at me with big beautiful eyes, long curly eyelashes, a bald head and yellow eyes that told of her malaria, she had on a fancy girls dress like the ones I wore as a child, that was filthy from playing in the dirt outside her dorm, her smile was radiant, she said, “hello, what is your name” to which I replied “Rachael” she smiled and repeated it back to me very politely, she told me her name, she was well mannered and personable.  They are used to having visitors, every month from an organization called Visiting Orphans (click here to check them out), groups of 25-30 people come to visit; orphanages, baby houses and children’s prisons in Uganda, Canaan’s is one of the places they come.  Visitors play with the children, help teach, put together crafts and other things for them.  All that is really expected of them is to show the children love, holding them, telling them they are lovely, strong, good, showing them that they are worthy of time and effort and affection. 

The young guys living at the center helped us bring our luggage to the room, We sat with the children most of the morning, I took a nap after lunch, then we took a boda to town, to a café called the “source”.  A Boda Boda is a motorcycle driver who is much more economical than a taxi.  They have an extended seat and you sit behind them, our trip to town was fifteen minutes and cost 8000 shillings each, a little less than 4 American dollars.  Brooke and I had never taken a boda before so we were both a little hesitant, but we got on behind our perspective drivers and held on for dear life, through streets so full and potholed we had to ride on the dirt beside the pavement, over a huge bridge/dam that connects Lake Victoria and the Nile River with picturesque cranes flying low over the water, at the bottom of a small green canyon that the river has made in Uganda. 

It has been interesting things are not working out at all the way that we planned them, Kari and Jason were supposed to be here, we were supposed to be staying in a nice hotel near town, the internet was supposed to be working in town today instead it is me and Brooke, in a room that we have lovingly named the bat room, because we were woken up our first night by a bat in our window.  Taking bodas to town where the power is out and having a blast! I’m learning so much, and I’ve only been here three days, looking forward to the Segners arriving and beginning the next part of our journey.

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Love

Rachael