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.

Happy Leap Year Day!

We don’t get to celebrate this day very often – what fun things do you have planned?

It’s been a few weeks & I keep pondering what I should update on here. Life isn’t terribly exciting right now. I’m still in Kampala trying to figure myself out, living at the Medair teamhouse and working in the Kampala office about ¾ time. I’ve made some new friends while here which is nice. There’s a family from Austin, Texas that invited me over this week to hang out at their place. They have 3 teenagers and 3 dogs, oh, and 2 guinea fowl roaming their yard. It was great to just be with an American family and get to know them. They are here to start a farm/vocational school about 2 hours north of Kampala for senior high school aged boys to learn a trade. They have quite a vision and plan to be here for at least 5 years to start with, so far they’ve been here for 7 months.

I’m learning the lay of the city better now, got a good idea of where the best coffee shops are in town! I’ve driven around a few times, but the traffic is quite intimidating. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but there really aren’t any laws. You go when you want to go and maybe you yield for someone else, but mostly its just in time to not get hit by the other car. Really, if you’re not aggressive here, you won’t get anywhere! If you stop and wait for the line of cars to go by in order to turn onto a road, the guy behind you will whip around you & make his own way into the stream of traffic. Not sure how I will manage to curb this survival of the fittest mentality when I hit the US roads again!

I’ve received some fun mail while I’ve been down here – thanks to Mom & Dad, Ryan & Maddy, Pam, Janice, Judy, Fran & Rachel! Those little treats & notes from people are both nice surprises and encouraging to me.

The internet is not cooperating much right now for pictures, so I’ll add some more later – bye for now!

My first RnR

Last Friday I packed a bag & said goodbye to Kaabong, anxiously awaiting the next morning when I would pick up my good friend Tif from the airport in Entebbe here, welcoming her to a month of Uganda research (and first a week of fun with me!). The airstrip in Kaabong District is about a 25 minute drive from town down a very curvy, bumpy dirt road. We fly with MAF mostly (Mission Aviation Fellowship) as they have become more popular for reaching destinations around the country. The morning a MAF flight is coming in we have to call their office in Kampala and ask for the estimated arrival time, then we venture out to the airstrip to meet the plane. Most often it is a 12-seater plane that dives in & I've learned to tell who the pilot is by the length of the landing. One guy stops the plane within 100 meters of hitting the strip, smooth as a bird! And really, it feels more like SkyRide than Air Uganda. They shove your luggage in a compartment under the plane, you climb in & find a seat, then you are off to who knows how many destinations to drop someone or pick someone else up and finally end up at their strip just outside of Kampala! On Friday after I got on we stopped in Kologo, Patongo, Kotido, Lira, & then on to the final destination. It took about 3 1/2 hours, but I got to see a lot of Uganda that I would never see otherwise.

Tif arrived safely on Saturday morning & we spent the day resting and talking. I can't even tell you what a blessing it is to see a familiar face, let alone someone who knows & loves me dearly. And to make the day even better, Jared Mackey called me up to see if he & the Theisens could swing by & exchange some luggage Tif had brought to Kampala for them. What a joy it was to see Jared, Jeff & Michelle. Jared is one of my pastors from TNL, but more than that a good friend that I came to Uganda with last year. Jeff & Michelle are friends from Portland who live in northern Uganda.

On Sunday we visited an orphanage called Jordan House here in the city. The children are beautiful, of course, and they have a church service every Sunday. We sang and danced with them – about 50 from age 2 to age 16. They love to get hugs and to welcome you. There’s something about being surrounded by these children that never ceases to stir my heart. I have to wonder what I may be able to contribute to an orphan’s life – maybe one day God will reveal that to me. For now, I’ll keep on with where I’m at and see where this road leads.

Tiffani also brought me lots of fun treats from friends in the US. Thanks to each of you who were thinking of me - it was like Christmas in November! We even had a Tim Tam Slam, thanks to Brian & Kelley Gray!

Monday was another refreshing day of spending time with Jared & Tiffani exploring downtown Kampala complete with pizza for lunch and amazing Indian food for dinner! My taste buds are so happy this week!

Today I got a haircut at the local mall – a bit of a risk, I know, but it ended up ok I think. Good enough, at least. We found this great New York Kitchen diner that made amazing pizza, bagel sandwiches and (drumroll please…) pumpkin cheesecake! Wow, I couldn’t pass it up as fall and pumpkin are very missed right now in my non-seasoned life of rainy vs. wet season! I miss autumn!