Rivers and Roads

Rivers and roads
Rivers and roads
Rivers 'til I reach you

Rivers and Roads by The Head and the Heart

This week our class packed our bags and headed up to Gulu for a few days to visit the different Watoto projects there.  Most of us have never been there before and have been anticipating this trip from the beginning of the program.

After a six hour journey on the bumpy highway, our three buses made it to Gulu.  Gulu is in northern Uganda and for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few years and have never heard of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and Joseph Kony, Gulu is old stomping grounds for this guerilla group who now have moved out of Uganda and into the border regions of northeastern Congo, South Sudan, and Central African Republic.  Remnants of the war still can be seen in bullet holes in some of the buildings downtown.   Watoto has been doing a lot of work to help restore northern Uganda and make it livable again.

 On Saturday, we visited the children’s village in Gulu for the day.  After about an hour’s drive from our hotel along a red dirt road with grass and mud huts along the side, we reached a big flat beautiful grassy land where the village is located.  The Gulu village is only six years old and is still developing as it gets its own high school.  Throughout the day, we visited the homes which are a little different from the homes we have visited in Bbira and Suubi as people in northern Uganda speak Acholi, not Luganda.  We spent the morning attending the church service in the village and then our team split off to have a traditional lunch in the homes.  Momma Rosemary was a sweet lady that hosted me for lunch.  She showed us and her children great love and care.  In the afternoon, the boys in our class played a soccer game against the boys in the village on the field in the village.  So yes, this place is very serene and filled with joy.  Would you ever think that this place once was a base camp for the LRA only a few years previously?  All I can say is REDEMPTION!  The children that were directly affected by the war, some as child soldiers and others losing their families and their entire villages now live on the LRA’s old stomping grounds where they have a loving home where they are well fed, cared for, and educated.  Talk about a complete reversal and restoration. 

Some of my friends and I explored the area near the village and found a murky creek in the midst of tall grass.  We took the same paths as the soldiers took only a few years before.

We also visited the Living Hope ministries in Gulu which has empowered over 900 women in the past four years who are HIV positive or who were abducted from the war, giving them skills and counseling to now restore their lives, their families’ lives and their community.  Most of the Watoto textile products that you can find at merchandise tables at the Watoto Choir Concerts come from here.  I felt so blessed to meet some of the women while they were at work.  As we entered the sewing workshop, some of the women started to do this African yell (something I am envious of and wish I could do).  I don’t know exactly what happened next but the music began to blast, my classmates responded by doing the African call and then we all began dancing right there in the workshop.  I can’t even describe how joyful our spontaneous dance was with a mix of women affected from the war, internationals, and people who grew up in the Watoto villages.  I can only imagine what heaven must be like!

Living Hope

Helping out at church

Baby Watoto Gulu

Overall Gulu was an incredible experience and a great chance for our class to have lots of fun together in these final few weeks left of class.  My evenings at the hotel were spent teaching some of my friends how to swim in the pool, playing volleyball or Scrabble, and laughing with these incredible people that I have been so lucky to get to know and now call friends in the last five months.

On Monday before our long drive back to Kampala, we made a surprise detour through Murchison falls park for a safari game drive.  This time we even saw a male and female lion hiding in the long grass.  Despite the sixteen hours it took us to get back to Kampala, I was so grateful to get to see more African wildlife and this time have it be among all of my classmates.

A year from now we’ll all be gone

All our friends will move away

Even though in a blink my time in Uganda will have ended, I am forever grateful for the friendships I have been given and the places I have been so lucky to have visited, and have simply done life in.  God is so good in how He takes us to places we have only ever heard of in the news.  God is so good in how He plunks people into our lives for a given period of time so that we can grow with each other, help support one another and become lifelong friends.

Peace and love

God is Good

So the last two weeks have been filled with sickness (AW YUCK!)  and some amazing new things.  All I can say is God has been doing some incredible things and I am so grateful that I get to be a part of some of them.

 

In the last few weeks our class has been fundraising and deciding what to give to God’s Grace Orphanage.  As I have mentioned before, this place is in need of some major help.  For the past few months, a group of ten from our class has gone once or twice a week to play with the children or teach them in their classes.  This week our whole class came with a special surprise for the children.  We were able to provide the orphanage with mosquito nets for all of the beds, reusable diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, special food for the babies, salt, beans, a hundred pound bag of rice, and tons and tons of posho (Ugandan food) and other things. 

The children were very excited to receive their gifts and they thanked us for the time we have spent there over the last few months with songs and dances.  Our contributions are only a little sliver of what needs to be turned around at God’s Grace.  I truly believe that God is going to move mountains at this orphanage over the next while.  I am so thankful that our class was given the chance to build a relationship with all the children and workers at God’s Grace.  Here are some pictures from the very special day.

I have really liked the last few weeks because we have been doing ministry together as an entire class, when usually we just do things with our teams.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my central team…. They are the best and I wouldn’t want to be on any other team.  This last week, we didn’t have a usual week of classes and ministry, instead we packed up and moved to Suubi (one of the Watoto Children’s Villages in Kampala) from Wednesday to Saturday.  Our class was assigned a building project of making a sidewalk by one of the new schoolhouses.  Thursday and Friday mornings were spent mixing concrete and leveling it into a new path.  The rest of our time was spent hanging out and visiting our classmates’ homes in Suubi.  Natalie and I moved into our friends’ Miriam and Winnie’s home with their five other house sisters and their mom.  I was so blessed to get to stay at their home for those few days.  They made me feel right at home with their infectiously loud and loving personalities.  Also Natalie and I were fed like queens the entire time…  I could fast for the next few days as our momma fed us heaps of the most delicious Ugandan foods.  Suubi is a very serene place on a hill in the outskirts of Kampala.  Every night, we watched the sunset at the very top of the hill with many of the girls from our class.  Every evening, we would sit around the dining table by a glowing lamp with our house family, sharing things we were thankful for in our day, praying and singing together.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to live in Suubi and get only a glimmer of what life would be like to grow up there.  Honestly, I would recommend and strongly encourage any of you to sponsor a child or mother from Watoto Childcare as those donations are raising the next generation of Ugandan leaders.  See this link to Watoto Childcare

Apologies for the lack of pictures from Suubi.  We are restrained from posting pictures of Watoto children.

God is good.  He has invited me to see and be a part of many eye-opening and amazing things here in Uganda for the past five months. He has pushed me to do things I really did not want to do.  For example, I had to speak in front of all Watoto staff, pastors, and my classmates at staff devotions at church one day.  I thought it was a joke when they initially came up with the idea and I agreed to it… Stupid me but I am so grateful I did it. 

Some of you might be wondering what I might be doing after 360, well I came into this experience with an open mindset as to what I would do once this is over.  I am officially able to spill the beans now.  Back in February, I received an email from my old mentor teacher from when I did my practicum in Munich telling me how her husband (who was then my practicum supervisor) is now a director of a school in Berlin and they were both wondering if I would like to apply for a position.  I was in utter shock when I initially got this message.  Most international schools look for teachers who have two years experience with full-time, and I have a measly four months subbing.  Also, if I got the position, I would start August 1^st of this year, meaning I would just get back to Canada in June and then quickly turn around to Germany.  My initial concerns were “Can I really handle a double culture shock?,” and “Can I really live another full year away from my family and friends with little time to spend with them in between?” I decided to go for it, if it wasn’t right for me, then it simply wouldn’t pull through as I was applying.  After much discernment, research, and interviews, I was offered and now have accepted a one year contract, teaching Grade 2, at the Berlin British School.  God is good.  Even though I will be living across the world, He has provided me with a chance to have my very own classroom, with much support and opportunities to grow in my profession with the little experience I have teaching.  God flat out handed me the job of my dreams.  It won’t be easy as I move to another foreign land far away from my family, and have the responsibility of caring for and educating my own students for a year but I am so excited to begin this new chapter of my life and am at peace about my decision.  And yes, this means my time in Canada  will be very short but I still will want to jam it pack full with visiting old friends and family.

I am entirely thankful for the life I have been given and the things I have had the chance to experience and see so far.  Oh and I forgot a song for this time.  Sorry this blog just wasn't cooperating the way I wanted it to today.... Here's one we sing at church sometimes that I love Click here (even though this version does not do it justice)

Peace and love

Seasons of Life

Have you ever heard an old song and it immediately takes you back to where you were the first time you listened to it?  A rush of memories instantly come back from the emotions you felt, the people you were with, or the struggles you were going through in that season of your life.  One song I know I will always associate with my time in Uganda is 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman.  At this time, I feel pain and agony every time hear the first few bars of the song.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful song, just since I have been here, I have probably heard it… 10,000 times.  Despite the desire to stab myself every time I hear it, down the road, the nostalgia might make me teary-eyed as I remember singing it at Watoto Church amongst my Ugandan friends and international family.

Yesterday, Jack shared that he had a dream about our last day when we were all leaving and saying our goodbyes.  The reality began to sink in that we all might never see each other again and if we do, it won’t be our entire 360 class and in different life circumstances.  The discipleship program is slowly winding down and we even have paid our last visit to some of the ministries we have been involved in. 

Last time to visit the kids at Retrack with my Central team.

It seems like ancient history when we first were informed of when our week off would be.  At the time, it seemed like it our week off was nothing but a distant blimp.  Well, last week was our week off.  The first two days I spent in Jinja riding horses by the Nile with some of my international housemates.  Jinja is absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of a nice small town feel compared to the busy and dusty life in Kampala.

As soon as I came back from Jinja, I packed up to head out to western Uganda for a three day safari trip.  Our safari took place at Murchison Falls National Park, where we stayed at a beautiful lodge.  My friends and I have been dreaming to go on a safari for a long time and couldn’t wait to scratch it off our bucket lists.  The first evening upon arrival to the park, we went on our first game drive.  We went on another sunrise drive the next morning and then a boat ride in the afternoon of that day.  My favourite would have to be the first sunset game drive.  We all were flabbergasted that our dreams were finally becoming reality and our expectations of exploring through the African terrain were getting blown out of the water.  On that first evening, we were overwhelmingly blessed to see elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, and other wildlife.  We even were fortunate to see a lioness lying close to the road, in which our bus driver got out of our bus to wake it up and get it moving.  As we drove back to the lodge, holding on tightly to the bars we were sitting on the bus rooftop, with the sun setting behind us, we couldn’t help but thank God on how incredible His creation is.  We all pictured Jesus on that rooftop with us laughing His face off at this random group of people he brought together to be a family for six months in Uganda and saying to us, “You came to Africa to follow me and I want to bless you for it.  Look at how awesome my creation is!” 

Guess what song I listened to as I saw this sunrise… Click Here

I was looking forward to getting back to class this week to catch up with all of my classmates however this week started off with a bit of a rocky discouraging start.  This bump in the road lead me to adopt the feeling of being very drained and disheartened.  Thankfully, on Friday, we had a session on 2Thessalonians 3:13, growing weary of doing good.  It was just what I needed to hear to push me through the last six weeks of the program.  Even though I have become comfortable with the routine of my life here in Uganda, there are many things still to be learned, many friendships that can become stronger, many places I can impact even more, and many more areas I can grow in my character and relationship with God in these last few weeks.  It was a good wake up call to not check out but fully engage in what God has placed before me in this given season.

Now this season is approaching a close.  Our class has even started practicing our song that we will sing at our graduation ceremony.  YIKES!!  Every time, one of my friends want to discuss when I leave Uganda, I immediately shut down the conversation.  Let’s not discuss the end but live in the present.  Do I want this season to end?  NO!!!  This has been an amazing eye-opening and life-changing experience, where I have been tested and stretched out of my comfort zone.  I will miss it.  I will miss picking up garbage at markets, miss going to the Bbira to play volleyball, miss going to the slums to share life with HIV+ women, miss playing scrabble while waiting for all the ministry teams to come back, miss having men catcall at me as I walk down the street… (THAT’S FALSE), miss being a part of a mega-church, miss Sunday fun with my neighbourhood friends, and miss random holiday celebrations with my housemates.

 Beauty and the Beast at Disney Day

However, it best be that I do not prolong this stage of life.  I wouldn’t want to be sitting in limbo, holding onto something that has been expired.  A new season will begin after 360 and I look forward to what that might be.  Is there a possibility of me coming back to Uganda one day?  Absolutely, but it will be in a different season.

Peace and love