I cant believe how quickly time has passed this summer. I feel like I just got out of school, yet here I am in my last week in Uganda. Today was my last official day working at Zana school. Their exams start tomorrow, and Tony is taking Darlene and I to the equator. I will return on friday, but just to say goodbye. I have really enjoyed getting the oppurtunity to teach at Zana School. It was so difficult and shocking during the first few days, but after I adjusted I became comfortable there. I have really enjoyed the kids, and I will be so sad to leave them. I was just getting to know them, and now I will be saying goodbye. The best part of Zana was the chance to really form friendships with the other teachers. I worked with a woman named Grace, and I really enjoyed her. Breaks in the teacher's lounge were always an adventure, and it will be sad to see them end.
But I still have 5 days left, and I can't wait to see what else God has planned for me in the last few days. I miss you all back at home, and I can't wait to see you all in a week! I continue to pray for you.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Some photos
Masese with Dan and Hannington
Nate and Scott
In Kigadi with Stephanie
Eating lunch with Alexisa week in zana school
Hey guys! Its been another week in Uganda. Today was friday, and it wrapped up my first full week at Zana school. Teaching at Zana school has been a challenge and a blessing. Everything about the way school is conducted in Uganda is different than what I'm used to, so I am learning every day. I have been able to form good relationships with both teachers and students, which has made it a really fun experience. The teachers are trying to teach me Lugandan, but it always ends with them laughing at me. It's a fun way to bond with them.
Everyday I am given more and more responsability at the school, and so it becomes more challenging, yet more fun everyday. Today I stayed to take the afternoon meal with the other teachers, and we ate posho and beans, which is a staple for them. One thing I have learned about Ugandans is that they LOVE salt.
This week at the Eby's we have had a lot of power outages, most of the time no internet, and our water has been turned off. It's been fun getting back to simpler days. The past few weeks have been very dry, and so it was a relief this morning to wake up to the sound of some much needed rain!
I am posting some pictures from the two weeks I was in the villages, sorry it took so long to get photos up!
Everyday I am given more and more responsability at the school, and so it becomes more challenging, yet more fun everyday. Today I stayed to take the afternoon meal with the other teachers, and we ate posho and beans, which is a staple for them. One thing I have learned about Ugandans is that they LOVE salt.
This week at the Eby's we have had a lot of power outages, most of the time no internet, and our water has been turned off. It's been fun getting back to simpler days. The past few weeks have been very dry, and so it was a relief this morning to wake up to the sound of some much needed rain!
I am posting some pictures from the two weeks I was in the villages, sorry it took so long to get photos up!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Zana school
Today, friday, was my third day at Zana school. Wednesday was my first day, and it definitely wasn't what I thought it would be. But my second day went alot better, and today did as well. I am teaching english, specifically reading comprehension to P-5 and P-4, which is equivalent to fourth and fifth grade. But in my P-5 class, there are a four or five students who are older than me. Working at Zana school is like being vaulted back in time a hundred and fifty years. I talked to the teacher I work with, and this weekend I am going to create my own lesson plans for next week, so pray for me this weekend!
Last night we said goodbye to Naomi Hill. In the past couple days, we got to spend alot of time together and I really enjoyed her friendship. It was really sad to see her go, one of the hardest parts of living with the Eby's are the constant goodbyes. She took us all out to dinner before she left. We ate at a pizza place on the way to airport on the bank of Lake Victoria. It was one of the prettiest places I have ever eaten. It looked like it should have been a hollywood movie set.
Rose, a Ugandan woman, had been living with us for the past week and she went home today as well. It's pretty quiet here now. After having two big teams in the Eby's house, having the place empty seems pretty strange.
Last night we said goodbye to Naomi Hill. In the past couple days, we got to spend alot of time together and I really enjoyed her friendship. It was really sad to see her go, one of the hardest parts of living with the Eby's are the constant goodbyes. She took us all out to dinner before she left. We ate at a pizza place on the way to airport on the bank of Lake Victoria. It was one of the prettiest places I have ever eaten. It looked like it should have been a hollywood movie set.
Rose, a Ugandan woman, had been living with us for the past week and she went home today as well. It's pretty quiet here now. After having two big teams in the Eby's house, having the place empty seems pretty strange.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday
Today was a really nice day to relax. Most of the Montgomery team left this morning to go rafting on the Nile, so the rest of us got a much needed day of relaxation. Naomi Hill, a doctor from the South Carolina team, left after our week in Jinja to do some medical work up in northern Uganda near the Congo border. She just got back today, and will be staying with us until Thursday, and its been fun getting to see her again.
We got a really amazing and encouraging phone call today. A pastor we worked with in Jinja named Jehosaphat left to start a church in an area of Uganda that is 98% Muslim. He brought his family with him, and they had their first church service in their home on Sunday. They had 21 people!! That is an amazing number, this is the first church of it's kind in that area, and now his home is too small to work as their gathering place! So he is trying to rent an old disco hall for their church building. God is really working through Jehosaphat!
We got a really amazing and encouraging phone call today. A pastor we worked with in Jinja named Jehosaphat left to start a church in an area of Uganda that is 98% Muslim. He brought his family with him, and they had their first church service in their home on Sunday. They had 21 people!! That is an amazing number, this is the first church of it's kind in that area, and now his home is too small to work as their gathering place! So he is trying to rent an old disco hall for their church building. God is really working through Jehosaphat!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
A week in Kigadi
Hey guys! I am back in the world of flushing toilets and showers! This week has been so amazing. I left last Saturday with a young team from Montgomery, and our 5 hour drive turned into an 8 hour adventure. The road is 2 hours on paved road, and the rest is on a dirt road through the wilderness that is Uganda country side. About 5o minutes into the dirt road, our bus broke down. We got out of the bus, and wandered around a tiny, tiny little village. They had never had 'muzungu' visitors before, and were pretty excited. We broke out the bubbles and the bible story book and had a great time. Some of the guys went into the crowd of onlookers and started sharing the gospel. It turned out to be a really good time, but we were all really relieved when our driver finally came back with a mechanic 2 hours later.
We stayed on the grounds of a women's college. We all lived in huts, with toilets, though ours didn't flush. My shower was a red bucket. Our life was definitely rougher in Kagadi than in Masese. We had a lot of bugs and slept under mosquito nets, though it brought back memories of Heidi's net at Murchison Falls, mine had a big hole in it too. The food was fun, it was authentic Ugandan food. Lots of rice and beans! And a boiled egg for breakfast every morning.
We did a lot of amazing things this week. We worked one day at a special needs school and spent a lot of time with kids who are deaf and mute. These kids are unwanted by their families and shunned by their community. First, one of the girls read a story to them, and then I presented the gospel and used the wordless book to teach them the 'colors' and gave them the bracelets that went with it. We spent a lot of time playing with them, and just trying to show them the love of God. They also performed some songs for us in sign language and danced for us. We saw where they lived while at school, and even by Ugandan standards, it was bad. All 60 live in three rooms. These rooms were made for commercial purposes, to store produce. There are some mattresses on the floor, very few, and no windows, and no light. Even during the day they were pitch black. The doors lock from the outside, so if there were a fire, those kids wouldn't have a chance. They are trying to build new accommodations for the kids, but funds are limited, and the kids are grateful just to be able to go to school.
We also went to an AIDS hospital, and that was probably the most intense and emotional experience I have had in Uganda. We toured the hospital, and then we went to the waiting room that held about 150 to 200 people (in America it could hold maybe 20), and shared testimonies and then Dave Eby preached to them and encouraged them. It was really emotional, and the people there were just so receptive and sweet. Many were obviously ill, and all of the little kids with AIDS had really bad coughs because of their immune systems. We got a chance to talk one on one with some of them, and I don't think anyone made it out with dry eyes. It was emotionally draining, but just so encouraging. We had quite a few people who were really interested in finding out how to get plugged into a church and how to become a christian. I had a man and his daughter come up to me after and ask me to pray with them for their test results. They were being tested, but the daughter had shown many symptoms of HIV. She was 14. I never found out the results, but they came to the crusade that night, which was so so encouraging.
Every night we had a crusade, where 2 or 3 of the team members shared their testimonies and then we sang for a long time, and then Dave or Pastor Aaron from Montgomery would preach, then we would sing more. It was always a fun, though long, time. It was held outside, in front of the New Life Presbyterian church of Kagadi. The second time of singing was like a giant dance party, they would move all the chairs and benches out of the way and sing and dance and it was really fun. By the time we got to dinner at the college every night, we were exhausted and ready for bed.
Some other things we did: A soccer game between the Kagadi Presbyterian church and USA team versus the local school team, which brought over 400 onlookers, we lost haha. Door to door evangelism. We visited a prison, where everyone there was facing a life sentence. Many had never had trials. The girls and women got a chance to speak with the three women in the prison, and we were shocked by their stories. Two had become believers in prison, the third accepted prayer. One woman was in prison because her husbands lover had died, and the family said that she killed the husbands lover through witchcraft. The other two were in prison because their husbands had kicked them out, and eventually they took new husbands. They will spend the rest of their lives in prison because it. Unfaithfulness in women is punished with life in prison if the first husband pays enough money to have them arrested.
Coming back, our bus broke down again, making our trip 9 hours. It was pretty funny having it happen again, though thankfully it broke down while we were still in Kagadi. Today, Sunday, it's raining and storming pretty hard, and Uganda is thankful for the rain. It was a really great week, pray for me this week on wed. It will be my first day teaching in Zana school. I miss you all!
We stayed on the grounds of a women's college. We all lived in huts, with toilets, though ours didn't flush. My shower was a red bucket. Our life was definitely rougher in Kagadi than in Masese. We had a lot of bugs and slept under mosquito nets, though it brought back memories of Heidi's net at Murchison Falls, mine had a big hole in it too. The food was fun, it was authentic Ugandan food. Lots of rice and beans! And a boiled egg for breakfast every morning.
We did a lot of amazing things this week. We worked one day at a special needs school and spent a lot of time with kids who are deaf and mute. These kids are unwanted by their families and shunned by their community. First, one of the girls read a story to them, and then I presented the gospel and used the wordless book to teach them the 'colors' and gave them the bracelets that went with it. We spent a lot of time playing with them, and just trying to show them the love of God. They also performed some songs for us in sign language and danced for us. We saw where they lived while at school, and even by Ugandan standards, it was bad. All 60 live in three rooms. These rooms were made for commercial purposes, to store produce. There are some mattresses on the floor, very few, and no windows, and no light. Even during the day they were pitch black. The doors lock from the outside, so if there were a fire, those kids wouldn't have a chance. They are trying to build new accommodations for the kids, but funds are limited, and the kids are grateful just to be able to go to school.
We also went to an AIDS hospital, and that was probably the most intense and emotional experience I have had in Uganda. We toured the hospital, and then we went to the waiting room that held about 150 to 200 people (in America it could hold maybe 20), and shared testimonies and then Dave Eby preached to them and encouraged them. It was really emotional, and the people there were just so receptive and sweet. Many were obviously ill, and all of the little kids with AIDS had really bad coughs because of their immune systems. We got a chance to talk one on one with some of them, and I don't think anyone made it out with dry eyes. It was emotionally draining, but just so encouraging. We had quite a few people who were really interested in finding out how to get plugged into a church and how to become a christian. I had a man and his daughter come up to me after and ask me to pray with them for their test results. They were being tested, but the daughter had shown many symptoms of HIV. She was 14. I never found out the results, but they came to the crusade that night, which was so so encouraging.
Every night we had a crusade, where 2 or 3 of the team members shared their testimonies and then we sang for a long time, and then Dave or Pastor Aaron from Montgomery would preach, then we would sing more. It was always a fun, though long, time. It was held outside, in front of the New Life Presbyterian church of Kagadi. The second time of singing was like a giant dance party, they would move all the chairs and benches out of the way and sing and dance and it was really fun. By the time we got to dinner at the college every night, we were exhausted and ready for bed.
Some other things we did: A soccer game between the Kagadi Presbyterian church and USA team versus the local school team, which brought over 400 onlookers, we lost haha. Door to door evangelism. We visited a prison, where everyone there was facing a life sentence. Many had never had trials. The girls and women got a chance to speak with the three women in the prison, and we were shocked by their stories. Two had become believers in prison, the third accepted prayer. One woman was in prison because her husbands lover had died, and the family said that she killed the husbands lover through witchcraft. The other two were in prison because their husbands had kicked them out, and eventually they took new husbands. They will spend the rest of their lives in prison because it. Unfaithfulness in women is punished with life in prison if the first husband pays enough money to have them arrested.
Coming back, our bus broke down again, making our trip 9 hours. It was pretty funny having it happen again, though thankfully it broke down while we were still in Kagadi. Today, Sunday, it's raining and storming pretty hard, and Uganda is thankful for the rain. It was a really great week, pray for me this week on wed. It will be my first day teaching in Zana school. I miss you all!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Busy morning
It was really interesting to be on the other side of short term missions team today. I sat down with Dave and Dar to prepare for the next team to arrive, and we worked on things like calling for transportation, getting shopping lists ready and menus for the time they are at the Ebys. We worked on sleeping arrangments and money issues. I got to see a glimpse of how hard they work getting ready for each team that arrives, as well as all they have to do once a team leaves. And when you only have a few days in between one leaving and one arriving, life becomes a constant laundry cycle of sheets and towels. Im really enjoying getting the chance to work with them and really see what life is like for them here. The new team arrives tonight and we leave tomorrow morning at eleven for a long bus ride to a village in the northwest.
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