More Picutres

Thought I'd post some more pictures as I try to organize them. Hope you enjoy

-- children at the camps waving frantically to us


-- a tuckel (pronounced tookle), which are the traditional mud huts people in uganda live in. The people in the camps still live in them. This is where I did most of my interviews


-- Jinja is the source of the Nile River - the place where Lake Victoria ends and the Nile begins. On the day we visited Prince Charles from England was coming to visit and everyone was out in the streets ready to greet him and hoping for a glimpse of him. After 3 hours of waiting, we gave up and went into town to get some lunch.


-- a picture of Invisible Children's new cafe in Gulu. an Acholi artist painted and some of the local children took pictures that you see hanging on the wall - it was a great retreat place for me during my time in Gulu


-- a shot of part of the market in Gulu


-- the outside of the CPA building in Gulu, where I spent much of my time during my two weeks in Gulu

Wrapping up

Alyssa and I did make it out of Uganda last Wednesday with only a small glitch in our travel plans. Somehow our taxi had been cancelled so Jennie ran around frantically trying to find all of us rides to the airport. Luckily, she was able to do so and we all got off just in time. It was REALLY hard saying good-bye to Jennie. The three of us cried when we had to part with her. It's hard knowing that I won't see this dear friend until next September. Please pray for her and the rest of her time in Uganda. Pray for the relief work she is helping with and that she feels peace and comfort in the middle of every circumstance.

London was GREAT! Alyssa and I met up with Jared (the pastor from my church's team that had just left Uganda) Wed. night and walked around and had dinner. It was good but we were pretty tired and Jared kept wanting to keep walking. We finally had to leave him at Covent Gardens because we were just too tired to walk anymore. But we were much better after a good night's sleep. We went shopping for some more wintry clothes on Thursday because it was quite a bit colder there than in Uganda -- like about 30 degrees. We spent most of the day just walking around and enjoying London. Thursday night we saw Les Miserables. It was FANTASTIC! Alyssa has seen it several times and she said it was the best performace she had ever seen. All the singers had incredible voices and played their parts so well. I didn't want it to be over. Friday we went to Westminster Abbey and walked around. It was nice to be in a more peaceful place and I think good for me to stop every hour to pray. They were starting a lecture series on Sunday about Justice. Alyssa and I were both really sad we were going to miss it. And they were doing their first Advent service on Sunday, which we also were missing. Next time maybe we'll plan a little better and get to actually go to a service. Seems like it would be a neat place to worship in. This is the place where all the old kings and queens of England are buried -- like all the King Henrys, Queen Elizabeth, King Edward...the list goes on. There are also a lot of the famous English writers buried there, such as Jane Austen, Chaucer, Handel and so many more that I can't remember them. We also saw Big Ben and all that tourist stuff around the Abbey. Then we walked to lunch and got a little turned around so we ended up walking for a really long ways and my foot was hurting a lot, so it took us even longer because we had to stop so much. But we finally found a little pub to have lunch in and sat and talked for a couple of hours over burgers and chips and pints of beer. Then we decided that we wanted to try to see another show that night. We ended up getting balcony tickets to Fiddler on the Roof. It too was a really good show and the players played their parts perfectly. Then we went back to the hotel and packed up and got on our plane without a hitch on Saturday.

So, I am home safely in Denver. It's good to be back, even though it was so sad to leave. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read about my sporadic and crazy adventures. I know there are many more stories that did not get told on this blog. Hopefully I will see most of you soon as the holidays are soon approaching. Feel free to email me with any further questions or comments. I would love to hear from you all. Thanks for partnering with me over this past month. You will never know how much your interest and involvement was needed and felt during my time in Africa. Many blessings.

Relaxing in Jinja

Alyssa, Jennie and I traveled to Jinja after saying good-bye to Jared on Saturday. There was some hubbub in Jinja because the delegates from Kampala along with Prince Charles were visiting at the same time to get a break from their meetings in the city. We went to see the “Source of the Nile” (the place where the Nile starts flowing from Lake Victoria) and were diverted because Prince Charles was going to be there “very soon.” “Very soon” turned into a couple of hours and we lost interest and decided to go to lunch until it was over. On Sunday we went to Bujagali Falls, which was absolutely gorgeous! On Monday after a wonderful TexMex lunch and some time at the pool, we took a sunset canoe ride on Lake Victoria and ended at the Source of the Nile. We kept looking around over the weekend and talking about how beautiful it was and how it felt like some kind of tropical resort. Everything was so green and the flowers were so bright. Now we are in Kampala and have checked into our guest house and got Jennie settled in her room at Medair. Alyssa and I will get on a plane to London tomorrow morning and send Jennie off to Kaabong again. It has been an incredible trip and we have had such a good time with Jennie. Tomorrow will be difficult saying good-bye, but, alas, it had to come. Pray for safe travel for all three of us and pray for Jennie as she goes back to work.

Bumpy Roads

There are many stories to tell about the last few days. After the team arrived, we spent some time relaxing and then on Wed. we went out into the camps with CPA and had what they call a "solidarity day." It's a day where we look at a day in the life of someone who lives in the camps. So, we drove to the camp...only this road felt more like a literal roller coaster with dips and turns. At one point one side of the car was at a 45 degree angle to the other side and we were all smushed on one side of the car. TIA -- This Is Africa. After arriving in the camp an HOUR later, the women were paired with other Ugandan women and had to cook and serve and clean and the men with the Ugandan men, who took them "hunting" and herding cattle. It was a LONG and hard day for all of us. We learned that women work WAY harder than the men!

Thursday we traveled as a team to Kampala and had Thanksgiving dinner with a group called Come Let's Dance. They are an orphanage based in Kampala. (www.comeletsdance.org) We had turkey and stuffing and green bean casserole and even sweet potatoes. It's good to feel closer to home.

Tomorrow the team will leave and my friends Jennie and Alyssa and I will go to this place called Jinja for a mini-vacation/de-briefing time for us. We are very much looking forward to it.

continue to pray for safe travels and that none of the crazy traffic/government stuff going on here hinders us from getting on any planes this weekend or next week.

Reunited

Yesterday was a lazy day for Jennie and me. We spent the morning listening to TNL's sermon from this past Tuesday and then hung out at the Invisible Children cafe just reading and working on homework for me.

Today we were reunited with the rest of the team from TNL, which was very good, although I know it was quite difficult for them to have to say good-bye to the people up north whom they were working with. We had lunch and are planning to spend the afternoon in the markets around Gulu. It is good to be baack together.

Pictures from the week

Here are some pictures (I hope) from this week in the camps. The first two are of some of the kids in teh first camp and the third was taken from the inside of the hut where I did my interviews. The last one is a pic just of me in the hut to actually PROVE to my parents and family that I am actually and in fact alive and kicking! : ) Hope you enjoy them!

P.S. Yes, sometimes I do just look around and think, Holy Cow! I really am in Uganda! It's kind of surreal....good but surreal.

Week's end

The rest of the week went really well. Thanks for all your prayers, even though I was not able to post here my need for them, they were really felt! Yesterday I went to the second IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp and finished up my interviews -- or so I thought. The last girl I was supposed to interview who had just returned from being abducted in the bush was only 16 and I need at least 18 year olds. Sad! So, I still have one more interview to do, but I don't think I will have trouble finding an Acholi woman to interview -- and I might even get to do it in English, if I'm lucky! But the week of work is over and my friend Jennie flew in today to spend the weekend and the last 10 days of the trip with me and our team. The team returns on Monday so we are spending time relaxing and enjoying Gulu this weekend. This morning we got coffee and banana pancakes at a new cafe in town. It was SOO GOOD!!!! I will try to post here as much as I can but power and internet connections are very sporadic. Thanks for your continued support and prayers.