The cost...

I wrote a few weeks ago about the cost of being here..in the DR Congo. Well i did not expect to experience that cost so visibly and powerfully, only 3.5 weeks after arriving.

On saturday i recieved some heartbreaking news from home. My sister was due to give birth in just 5 weeks, but on Friday, on a check up at the hospital, she and her husband were told that the baby had died. She has still had to go through the trauma of giving birth, and so in the early hours of this morning, alexander luke was born. Devestating for my sister and her husband, and terrible for the rest of my family too.

I have experienced a mixture of emotions since hearing the news. Shock, anger, confusion, sadness. im sure that all pales in comparison to what my sister and her husband are feeling right now. My feelings have been exacerbated by the fact that im so far from home.

Medair have been great, very supportive. They offered me the chance to fly home. I have spoken to the family a lot over the last 48 hours and we have decided the best thing is for me to stay in the DR Congo. I need to settle here and there are already so many people supporting Jude and Jonny. i think if i had returned home, it would have been more for my benefit than theirs. We will speak on the phone and on skype, and i am OK with that for now.

A colleague said to me yesterday that you really make a big sacrifice whn you leave for the field. Not only does that apply to me, but for the people you leave behind as well. I have had that truth rammed down my throat.

Please pray for my sister and her husband if you get a chance. i would appreciate it.

Peace for Development...by way of billboard...What?

On Sunday the beautiful landscape of Kaabong was marred by a billboard - can you imagine? This is what it says...




On one side english & on the other Karamojong - and yet most likely those who can read either are already working toward development in Kaabong...the ironies really could go on & on...


Surely they mean well, but really, I could think of many other things to spend Aid money on that would promote peace!!!



In other news, today was the 2nd consecutive day of rain in Kaabong! Its not just the people who are happy for this!

My job so far....

We have a lot of emergencies at the moment in the North East Congo, as the LRA continue to attack villages, causing thousands of people to leave their homes and live in temporary camps. These people are officially classified as IDP`s (Internally Displaced People). This effectively means that they are refugees within the borders of their own country

These are the people who get caught in the crossfire and suffer the most in many cases. Hard to believe, but the UN estimate that 45,000 people die every month in the DR Congo. Most of these people die from preventable diseases, an indirect consequence of the chaos that surrounds them. The infrastructure can be so bad in eastern Congo, and the security so unstable that these people can be difficult to reach. People die from diahrroea in the Eastern Congo. Does that not make you angry? The war in Eastern Congo officialy ended 5 years ago but fighting continues, and the shattered economy and infrastructure have never recovered

Consequently many of Medairs programmes in the Congo are focusing on emergency response and trying to ensure that as many people as possible can recieve the medication they so desparately need. Since I arrived in Isiro, my role has focused on the control of the medical stock and making sure this kit is transported to our beneficiaries in the field. The medical kit is mostly transported by air. The roads are in a terrible state so they are not really an option...the planes get in and out pretty quickly.

We have medical supervisors who distribute the medicines. They are all Congolese, completely dedicated to what they do and pretty corageous guys too, putting themselvs in the middle of some pretty dangerous situations.

I hope to get to grips with the rest of my role over the next few weeks. Its been a pretty busy start, but the role has a hands on feel, and knowing what you are doing really does contribute to saving lives directly is a good thing. That why I came i guess, to serve the people of one of the most forgotten crises on planet earth.

In the picture you can see myself and my colleague Isaac delivering the medication to the airport

Timu

Timu is located on the far Eastern border of Uganda & Kenya in Kaabong. It is at about 6,500 feet elevation and receives much more rain than the area we are staying in a bit south of it at 5,200 feet. The vegetation gets greener and more bushy as you head that way - it was a beautiful, albeit bumpy 1 and a half hour journey there on Saturday. Amber & Terrill are building a house there so they can be closer to the Ik people. The Ik are a different tribe than the Karamajong and there are very few of them, some estimate only around a few thousand people. They are primarily agriculturalists & do not raise livestock, but are unfortunately caught in a geographic area between the Turkana of Kenya & the Dodoth Karamojong of Kaabong. Which means they are often vulnerable to the raiding of their villages even without owning livestock.

Some pictures from there:

This is the doorway in/out of their village!

Graineries

Amber on the way to the village

the new house & its proud owners (the Ik community consider this house to be 'theirs')

the views are incredible! Kenya is in the valley on the other side of these hills.


cute baby covered with cream for its chicken pox :(

Present-day child sacrifice

While in Kampala I had a brief chat with Shane, the 'head of ops' shall we say at Come, Let's Dance. She was telling me how that week she had been invited to attend a meeting of Parliament & to be part of a press conference talking about this new law being proposed to end child sacrifice! Here's what she had to say about it:

Last Monday I was asked to go to Parliament and be a key spokesperson for Child sacrificing — to speak out against it and help make it a law in Uganda. Right now the President of Uganda is saying he will consider making the punishment ‘no bale’ for the person who sacrifices a child. I couldn’t believe it when they actually asked me what the law should be, what I would propose as a punishment or something to deter people from listening to the local witchdoctors and killing even their own children. WOW. So, I asked all the TV stations, radios, and Newspapers what the punishment for MURDER is...they said the death penalty or life in prison. So, I said child sacrificing IS murder, they should get the same punishment — and, can you believe that they had never thought of that?! What? So, I made Come, Let’s Dance the official NGO speaking out against child sacrificing — this Thursday we’re joining up with some other groups to march to parliament and deliver the petition asking the President to make this a law in Uganda — definitely NO bale, but also deem it murder. I was all on tv and radio and now I’m meeting the Speaker of the House. We all have t-shirts to wear and taking all the taxis full of college kids and such to make a statement — they’ll love it! Meanwhile, we’re living out Psalm 82 and defending the cause of the weak, fighting the wicked and injustice! Amen.

Yes...it is still happening & yes, it is mind-blowing to realize that its not even seen to be on the same line as murder. Here's an article that came out this week in the local Ugandan newspaper, New Vision. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/685203

Pass law against child sacrifice quickly, Parliament told

Publication date: Thursday, 18th June, 2009

By Mary Karugaba

MPS have been called upon to quickly enact laws against child sacrifice. The request was made by a local rights’ NGO after children presented a petition to the deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, yesterday.

The children had marched through the streets of Kampala before going to Parliament. The campaign was organised by Action for the Rights of Children (ARC) and the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children.

“We condemn this act, as well as the perpetrators, and ask Parliament to come up with laws criminalising child sacrifice,” the children said in the petition by Ingrid Naiga of Green Hill Academy.

In the petition, also signed by Penny Baziga, the ARC director and Rebecca Lukwago, the MP for Luweero, the children said the perpetrators of the crime were aiming at getting rich quickly.

“Children are the future leaders. Witchdoctors have no right to kill them. When they do so, it means, there would be no leaders and, therefore, no development,” Sharon Kyomuhendo from Mukono Boarding Primary school said.

The children cited Police statistics stating that at least 18 ritual murder cases were reported in 2008, but only 15 had been probed.

They also said close to 3,000 children disappear from home annually, adding that they could have been sacrificed.

The petitioners urged the Government to set up special courts to try perpetrators of the crime and to develop a standard code of conduct for traditional healers.

They also called for the establishment of a unit within the Police Force to check child sacrifice. Kadaga promised to forward the petition to Parliament within two weeks.

School Latrines

Another portion of this project has been the construction of latrines for local schools and then hygiene education for the students. This block of latrines is currently being built & I had the chance to visit. I know, not too exciting...but important! I'll upload photos of the finished product as well!

(that's Fiona there in the photos - our Hygiene Manager)

Sub-Surface Dam Project

Because I am far from technical in knowledge of all things construction & engineering, I find these projects so fascinating - at least to watch them come together & see how things are built and designed from the beginning to the end. So, this type of dam is built up underneath the riverbed to allow the water collection under the sand to be held in a certain area to provide more access to water during droughts. Part of this project is employing people from the local villages to provide work and therefore some flow of funds through the local economy. This particular dam is 3 meters deep! As you can see, the project is almost finished - at the end all you'll see is the sandy riverbed. I'll most pictures then.

pictures

Back in the 'Bong

(shout out to BG for the title…) It is so good to be back in Kaabong! I have been received so warmly here by my old friends. This place is really a world away from life back home – yet it feels so normal to be here, so natural to be back in a place that I spent a year of my life!

My first few days at work were quite busy as I dove back into the daily tasks of running Medair’s base. There have been many improvements and changes made over the past 9 months: a vehicle service pit, an abundant garden (!), an outside cooking kitchen for Stella, and various others that make the base run more smoothly. Along with changes, much is the same as when I left, so I’ve been able to resume my place quite easily and am trying to roll with the improvements as I learn of them. My staff are doing so well – it is so encouraging to see people I poured time and energy into continuing to improve and maintain their skills and performance on base. More than that, it is wonderful to see their smiles, hear about their lives, share in their physical presence!

The situation here in Kaabong seems similar to when I left. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the projects we do through Medair are really helpful and aid in the quality of life for the Karamojong, but will never truly solve the complex issues plaguing the people here. I was so pleased to notice, while flying into the area, that there have been many gardens (crop fields) dug (tilled) and planted this spring. Unfortunately, there has not been rain in the past few weeks and if it delays another few weeks, it will all be for naught. Pray for rain! The security situation is relatively peaceful right now. I am pleased that my first few nights in Kaabong were incredibly quiet – not a gun shot was noticed – and the mention of raids on local kraals and villages has been scarce.

Medair’s work has changed a bit since I was here. The main thrust at the moment is in more emergency relief through cash-for-work projects that infuse money into the economy by providing work, and that work is either to improve infrastructure through road maintenance/building and also the construction of sub-surface dams. These dams are built to provide a sort of water cachement beneath the river bed, which allows for greater access to water for livestock and washing, especially when rainfall is limited. I hope to visit one of these being constructed this week and upload some pictures. Another portion of the project is in constructing latrines at area primary schools, then providing education on hygiene & sanitation to the children. I hope to also stop in on one of these trainings – sure to be a fun time! Medair hopes to do some more borehole maintenance over the summer, depending on whether some expected funding comes through to support that.

It’s been a joy also to see and spend time with Terrill & Amber Schrock, the missionaries here with SIL. They are living here in Kaabong now, but are constructing a house so that they can live in Timu among the Ik people that they are here to serve. I am really hopeful to get to spend a day travelling there with them to see their construction, meet their community & villages, and get another glance at the great Rift Valley!

The days have been hot – I’m lucky that my job is mostly inside & therefore I don’t find myself out in the heat of the day, but many of our staff are out all day long. Their endurance is commendable!

I leave you with a few pictures from my walk home yesterday...or not, seemed to have misplaced my cable, will try again this week! Have any thoughts or questions? Would love to hear from you via comment or email. Lots of love!

Welcome to DR Congo

I flew to Bunia on Monday from Kampala. On one of the smallest planes you can imagine. A 12 seater MAF plane. Amazing views as we flew over Lac Albert and the jungle. Having been debriefed in bunia for a couple of days i flew on to Isiro on Wednesday, my new base. Isiro really is the town the jungle overtook, the villages on the edge of town surrounded by the encroaching rainforest. Believe it or not, in the colonial days, you could once fly here directly to Belgium. Not anymore. the airport has become a symbol of the towns decline. Constantly flooded when the rains come and hosting only MAF, the UN and a handful of domestic airline carries, it has lost something of its former glory

The house and the team are great. I have experienced the famous bucket shower of the Medair Isiro house. The school next door is a bit special as well. As the majorty of people dont have alarms here the headmaster wakes up the kids by smashing a big gong at 5am every morning. I kid ye not. You can see the base above

The secuirty in Isiro is pretty stable but the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) are attaking towns not too far from here. A particularly brutal, nasty group they terrorise the local population.

A bit of background the LRA are lead by a guy called Joseph Kony. They were originally based in Northern Uganda. For various reasons they are now more concentrated in North Eastern Congo. Kony is a spiritual medium and wanted the people in Northern Uganda to live by the 1o commandments. Its a strange 10 commandments that now includes rape, abduction and the infliction of complete terror on the civilian population.

After several failed attempts by the governments of Uganda, Southern Sudan and the DRC to wipe out the LRA, they are now scattered across the NorthEastern region of the DRC. Many of the towns north of Isiro are not protected by the military and are completely vulnerable to attack.

Darfur gets a lot of publicity at home, and rightly so. The LRA are a vicious group though and have been guilty of committing massive attrocities in this part of Africa.

I will attach a few useful links below so that you can read a bit more

http://www.hrw.org/en/node/80769/section/9
http://www.petereichstaedt.com/

Pondering Mzungu life & the call to humility…

Today I went for a walk by myself. Side-note: no danger here, middle of the day, lots of people all around, in a good part of town just in case anyone was concerned... And along that walk some feelings were stirred in me that I remember now are fairly common when living over here. Being white, or as they say in Swahili: Mzungu, makes you stick out over here. Not only do you stick out by color, but it deems you rich and privileged (which is often very true, but creates quite a negative divide that is insufferable some days). Not only do you never blend in, but most of the time you struggle with wondering why someone wants to know you….is it because they truly want to be your friend, or is it just to get something from you who has so much.

The feelings – one moment it is a feeling of being used & disrespected, such as when the boda drivers make noises to see if you’ll turn and look their way…remind anyone of junior high boys? Other times it is feeling very little and insignificant, like when everyone around you speaks in a language you don’t know and then laughs and points at you. I know many of you can relate to this, whether you’ve experienced it in the midst of another culture or even in your own town. Its not limited to cross-cultural experiences. I just happened to realize today how much it affected me…

The effect of these feelings I noticed is an automatic desire in me to prove myself or somehow make it clear that I am not below the other person, cannot be used by them and actually am above them. Wow…completely convicting. How do you choose to respond when others degrade, violate, or simply puff themselves up at the expense of you? Today I chose to ignore and yet sometimes that feels like I’m de-humanizing people by not acknowledging them. But do they deserve acknowledgment if they’re acting this way? And what is this need to puff myself up in response too? Why in the world do I need to prove myself & cut someone else down?

I think it’s the survival technique of this world – if we can prove ourselves to be bigger & better than others, surely we’ll make it further, have more success, feel better & happy…right? Yet I have to come back to Jesus who taught that it is better to serve than to be served, better to turn the other cheek, better to love one another, and to extend grace & peace to others as both have been lavished upon us. And so today I considered the small things that I do daily that are the result of me trying to be that bigger & better person – a cutting remark, jumping in on conversations just to get my voice to be heard, the internal monologue of judgement over other people and comparison to myself. What would it be like to take the lower position and be content there? Not to be walked all over, but if I stop trying to trample over others, surely they won’t have to try to trample me right? Perhaps life would be a lot more peace-filled and I probably wouldn’t be so wounded by remarks or experiences with people I don’t even know like today. I'm going to try and be more aware of this - both how I treat others and how I respond to their treatment of me.

That was a random path of thoughts – hope if you made it this far it made a bit of sense!

In other news, the last few days in Kampala have been restful and productive. I was fully briefed on Monday about the job that needs to get done over the next 3 weeks in Kaabong. I’m still very excited to get up there and will fly out tomorrow morning! I also had the chance to see the Come, Let’s Dance team on Sunday afternoon and deliver some donations. Ian, Morgan & I went to one of the boarding schools for some of the kids they care for. It was wonderful to see those girl’s faces again! Shane & I got to hang out for a bit this afternoon in town, which was a great opportunity to catch up and talk a bit more about my return to work with them this fall! So good things all around – I’m thankful for these past few days and looking with hope upon the days to come.

And so the adventure begins

So its been a hectic week. My friends and family gave me a great send off at home. Somebody said to me recently that there is always a cost of everything you do for God. Wise words!!! The lives of my family and friends will be moving forward, as will mine. I'm sure there will be quite a few things that I will miss out on.

I finally rented the flat out at the 11th hour. On Wednesday at 4pm i recived the confirmation that a girl would take it. I was leaving for the airport 2 hours later. Why does God always work like that? Ansers on a postcard

Anyway Im in Kampala now. Its been a great few days meeting the Medair staff here and geting to know the city. On Friday I recieved my visa for the DR Congo, so on Monday I will fly to Bunia and then on to Isiro.

It feels good to be here. For now this is the right place for me to be. There is nothing quite like walking in the will of God, even when you consider the costs that might be involved.

Kampala

I officially arrived in Kampala about 12 hours ago! I made it through the crazy long medical check (everyone has to fill out an extra health form these days to document who’s bringing in the swine flu, I guess) and visa lines at the airport, gathered both of my checked bags that amazingly made it all the way here, and jumped in the taxi that Medair had waiting for me. We made it back to the Medair Kampala house in about an hour, which is really good considering a few traffic jams we hit & the overall craziness of Friday-night life areas we have to pass through on our way. After being welcomed by the current teamhouse guests, I was able to give a quick call to the parents to let them know I was alive & well and to top it all off, have had a successfully good night’s sleep after only a few hours being caught while in transit. That is a productive 12 African hours!

It’s so good to be back! On the drive from the airport last night I was taking it all in again: the thick, humid, diesel-filled air, the crazy traffic of motorcycles whipping in & out and people dodging all forms of vehicles like a game of frogger, the horns beeping and dogs barking and loud African pop music being blared from who knows where. One thing Uganda is not is under-stimulating! And I love it! (most of the time)

Most impactful, though, was the reality that washed over me of how far this world is from the one I live in back in the US. I was reminded of the vast separation of classes here – how the poor are deeply in poverty and the rich are living in luxury – and the difficult tension of being white, aka ‘rich,’ in the midst of that reality. How the lifestyles I’m seeing around me here in Kampala don’t even compare to where I’m headed in Karamoja… And how I had forgotten these things, or rather chosen to not think on them much back in my own comfortable life. Now, I get to wrestle again. Somehow try to bridge my world with this world, try to make sense of what never will.

The goal today is to keep going & not take a nap…so we’ll see how that works out! I don’t fly to Kaabong until Wednesday, so I have a few days to get over jet lag and get oriented and briefed in the office. Hopefully I’ll get over to Nansana tomorrow to visit Come, Let’s Dance for a bit – that’s always a highlight for me!

I’ll try to get some pictures of the Kampala chaos up here later. Thanks for reading!

weddings galore

The past two weeks have been full of traveling, weddings, site-seeing, and packing...very full and very fun! I went to Sacramento for my friends' Andrae & Alyssa's wedding over Memorial Day weekend. I stayed a few days with some friends & visited in San Fran a bit. Then this past weekend was my friends' Nate & Brandi's wedding here in Denver. What a joyful season of celebrating such wonderful unions and new adventures for us all! I'm so happy for my friends and thankful for them in my life!

Tif at Pasadero Beach in CA

Brandi & I

Brandi, Nate, Tif & I outside of San Fran on a very windy day!

Andrae & Alyssa

Jared, me, Tif, Brandi & Nate at Alyssa & Andrae's reception