To make a long story....long.

Last Sunday I woke up in the middle of the night to a very loud squeaking noise.  Let me first say that I am not a light sleeper.   This squeaking was less like that of a rusty door and more like a freight train. (Maybe I’m exaggerating a tad…but anyway). I knew exactly what it was.  A rat.  Like most American girls I am quite terrified of rats.  I could tell it was coming from exactly where my hidden stash of chocolate was located (please don’t be deceived and think that I have had an abundance of chocolate this summer, but since I went to Kampala last week I was able to snag a bar).  I figured it would quickly steal away my bar and be on its merry way.  Two hours later it was still squeaking and tears were rolling from my face.  Call it stupid, or silly, but I was truly scared.  I couldn’t move out of shear fright and I dare not call out to anyone for help since there were many babies in the house sound asleep.  I was literally praying that the sun would come up quicker.  Finally, after what seemed like eternity the noise stopped and I was able to fall asleep.  After talking to Willy about it the next morning he told me it probably wasn’t a rat but a cockroach.  So that night I begged just about everyone in the house to sleep with me.  I couldn’t bare another night trapped under my mosquito net alone with…whatever it was.  After quite a bit of pleading, Mama DuDu came in and we dozed off.  At about 12:30 a.m. her phone started ringing.  She talked for a few minutes in her local language and then she left the room. I thought nothing of it and dozed off.  A few minutes later I woke up to the sound of her crying outside my room. I got up to check on her and of course being the independent woman that she is she told me to go back to bed as she probably didn’t want me to see her crying (much like myself).  But of course, being the stubborn woman that I am told her I wasn’t going without her.  Once we got back into bed I began my interrogation.  She said that it was her husband (a very devote Muslim) who had called.  Mama DuDu left him a few months ago.  I won’t get into their conversation but it was so great to be able to comfort her, rub her back, and tell her that although it’s not what she believes, I know that God has a plan for her life and that if she trusts in Him all things will work for her good.  I really felt that God used those cockroaches the night before to terrorize me just so she would be sleeping with me that night.  Little did I know what was to come….

So. A few hours later I woke up again with an upset stomach.  It was nothing unbearable but quite uncomfortable.  After about 30 minutes of tossing and turning I realized it was a little worse than only stomach pain.  As I shot out of bed and ran to the bathroom I was a little too late – after getting sick all over myself and the floor I was in tears.  Mama DuDu was right behind me to help. I was embarrassed, frustrated, in pain, and wanting to be home all at the same time.   After vomiting the entire night Willy told me we should probably go to the hospital.  I assured him that it was probably just something I ate and I’d be fine shortly.  When my sickness failed to cease I agreed to go.  We went to a little clinic down the street where they tested my blood for Malaria.  I absolutely knew the test was going to come back negative.  I had been taking my Malaria pills, sleeping with my net, and had been bitten only a few times this entire summer.  But you can probably conclude that since I’m writing about it that it didn’t come back negative…Yep.  The test came back positive for Malaria parasites. 

This is what it says in my Passport Health traveler’s book about Malaria:

“Malaria is the most serious potential infectious risk for travelers to the tropics.  You can get infected with malaria if you are bitten (and it only takes one bite) by the female Anopheles mosquito which typically bites at night.  The malaria parasite quickly invade the liver and then the red blood cells, where they multiply.  When the red blood cells rupture, an attack of malaria occurs, serious illness and/or death can occur.”

I only knew two other things about Malaria. 1. When I left home someone told me Malaria stays with you forever, it never leaves your blood stream. 2. Two of Mama DuDu’s children died of “unknown causes” (probably Malaria). 

Comforting, huh?

I know that this sickness was allowed to me as a test.  I knew what the right was to react were and I knew what the wrong ways to react were.  I didn’t freak out, I didn’t curse God, I didn’t regret coming.  After crying for a few minutes I sought out the only thing that could comfort me – calling my mom.  Just kidding.  The Bible.  After reading a few passages to calm my spirits and taking my newly prescribed medication, I fell asleep.  I slept for about 48 hours straight. 

Thank Jesus I feel much better .  I just checked my e-mail and my mom said that she “has been seeking wise counsel about the situation and thinks I should come home early to fully recover.”  I’ve got 9 days left and I’ll be spending them here.  It’s been 5 days and I really do feel I’ve already recovered.  Even though I feel better, please pray for me.  Please pray for the parasite to completely leave my blood stream.  And just as serious, please pray that the cockroaches stay away from my room and I still haven’t been able to sleep through the night since.

Disaster Prayer Relief

We need your prayers, we need your letter writing, we need your calls, we need your help. This country is so corrupt for doing this and other countries are corrupt for letting it happen.  For the past few days the government has been demolishing houses in Nakawa and Naguru.  These are two areas of town right outside Kampala.  Today we went to Nakawa to help.  The church that I worship from Sunday, just three short days ago, will be torn down tomorrow.  Most of these people have absolutely no where to go.  They few that have family in distant villages have no transportation to get them there.  Their shops, their homes, their churches are gone or soon will be.  If they don’t leave they will beat, they will shoot, they will spray tear-gas.  This is outrageous.

Naguru is completely destroyed.

Most people in Nakawa are trying to quickly take apart their houses so they can sell the scraps or reconstruct a new house elsewhere.

 

The conditions of the area were bad enough before all of this started…

As I began to help this one woman take apart her home (shack) she said to me that we better move fast.  She explained that the woman she bought the land from was getting the police and telling them she was only renting the land and never bought it.  She told me she bought it with her hard earned money.  She built one room out of scrappy plywood and rusted sheet metal with her own hands.  As she made a fist and clentched her teeth she said she was “fighting until the end.” 

A few minutes later the police come and they started s small brawl as they literally pulled back and forth on pieces of the house.

This is Kathryn, as her husband was tearing down their house behind her she cooked the only food they had left for dinner.  After I had packed up a few of their belongings in a potato sack she offered me a big plate of (whatever it was).  Their entire lives were falling apart, they had few possessions to their name, and she was offering me the last of their food.  A moment I will never ever forget.

 Of course I didn’t take their food but I did love on them and hold them as they ate it.  This is Angel, one of Kathryn's daughters, I couldn't stop kissing her.  She smelled exactly like poop and her skin looked very diseased but making her laugh and putting a smile on her face made us both feel better.

 

This picture isn’t much but the story behind it is pretty cool.  As I was walking around taking pictures this one woman started yelling at me to stop.  She said if I took one more picture than she would come and beat me.  After I let her cool down a few hours I went back to her and her sisters to try and talk to them and make peace.   I’m not gonna lie – I was pretty scared. The one woman who said she would beat me didn’t talk to me at all (and was holding a huge hockey stick looking thing).  Her other sisters gave me maize to eat and we joked about them marrying my 15 year old brother (some of them could be his mother).  They were really thankful after I told them what I was doing with my summer –hearing their appreciation felt really good after knowing a few hours before they wanted to cane me.  After a little more coercing the other woman decided she wouldn’t attack.  As I was helping them tear down their outhouse for the timber in the doorway I asked her if she wanted to take a picture herself- and here it is. 

This little girl’s mother abandoned her.  She apparently hoped the neighbors would take her in (to where?).  The entire afternoon I was there she was crawling around peeing in the dirt where she was playing.  Why don’t I help her, you might ask? How? Where can I start? Who do I call? What do I do with all of the other children who need help?

The majority of the residents of this area were hard at work tearing down and emptying out so that all of their belongings don’t get squashed tomorrow.  This man, however, is completely crippled.  He got into an accident a few years ago and has been in his bed ever since.  Tomorrow morning at 8 we are heading to his house to get him out of there.

 Pray. Pray. Pray.  This is dangerous and scary.  Pray for me – for them – for this country.  Let’s see Him do miracles. 

God has blessed America

Disclaimer: I should first probably say I am not anti-America.  I love the United States.  I have come to love it more being here.  We do a lot of things right.  The "land of opportunity" has a whole new dimension to me now. In a lot of ways I can't wait to be back. 

Today, in Uganda, I celebrated America’s independence.  We didn’t have hamburgers, we didn’t have red white and blue streamers, we didn’t even have fireworks.  We did however have what a lot of Americans don’t have today- unity, love, and family.  After a long day of meetings and working at the PDN office we all headed over to Richmond’s mother’s  house.  We came baring hot dogs, chips, and baked beans (the closest things we could find to American food in the Ugandan supermarkets).  After meeting “Mama” and the rest of Richmond’s family we started the fire and the small charcoal stove to get our party started. 

As not one of us 3 young adults who had gathered from the United States were with any of our biological family, we all felt completely taken in by our new, very big, very loud, Ugandan family.  After a big meal that we shared with some of the neighborhood (it seemed to be a feeding the 5,000 with two loaves situation) we all sat around the fire to fellowship.  Arthur, Richmond’s brother, played the guitar while Lois played the African drum.  We sang praise songs until we couldn’t sing until longer.  After worshiping around the fire for a few hours we left with a prayer and a blessing.  It was really refreshing to pledge our allegiance to our Lord and creator instead of a piece of cloth with stars and stripes. 

Katanga Slum

I will never be the same.  I have aged more today than I have in the past 20 years preceding.  Today I visited the Katanga slum outside Kampala.  It is in all purposes of the word a big mess.  I visited 4 different families in the slum.  I sat in their houses, kissed their children, rubbed their feet, listened to their stories, and wiped away their tears.  I came to Uganda for today.  Each of the four families that I met with consisted of a widowed mother and her children.  Their husbands died of AIDS, cancer, and war. Not one family had less than 5 children.  Three out of four of the families had at least one family member with AIDS.  I didn’t need UNICEF to get me those statistics.  I could describe to you for pages about how horrible the conditions of this slum are but since pictures are worth a thousand words I’ll just let them do the talking. 

The slum is smack dab in the middle of a swampland.

This beautiful woman has AIDS and probably won't live much longer in the conditions she is living in. 

 On a lighter note - this man gave me a handful of grasshoppers...crickets?...They were delicious.

These girls put on clean clothes for the first time in their entire lives. 

There is only ONE organization doing (minimal) work in this slum.  Why is the church having parties with bounce houses and cotton candy machines when our brothers and sisters are living like this?