10 Months Later, I'm Home

So now that I've been back home in Oregon for almost a week, I figured it was time to put up one final blog post. I'm not in Africa anymore, and there's no way that one blog post could properly give justice to all that I experienced during my time in Uganda. There will be no grand summary of everything I did in Africa. But there is an invitation ...

If you really want to know more about my time in Uganda, simply ask me. I'm back in the States, which means I have a phone again. And it means I check my email much more frequently now. And I'll be trying to put more pictures up on facebook in the next couple weeks, because I know I haven't done a good job at posting many on here. I'll be in Eugene with my family for Christmas, and then hopefully move up to Seattle sometime in the new year. I'm still looking for a job, but hoping that something will come through in the next couple months or so.

All this is really to say: I'm back from Uganda. I absolutely loved my time there. I learned a lot about microfinance. I learned a lot about international development work. I learned a lot about non-profit work in developing countries. I learned a lot about living in another culture and context. I have so many great experiences that will stick with me for a long time. I was able to do quite a bit of traveling, which I am incredibly thankful for. I made some great relationships with people in Uganda, both expats and Ugandans, who I am going to miss very much. And God has taught me so much in the last year that I can't even begin to explain it all. I think I'm still pretty much the same guy I was 10 months ago, but I know for a fact that my experience living in Uganda has changed me and formed me and helped me to grow up a bit.

I felt like I needed to close off this blog, at least for now. Who knows, maybe (well, hopefully) I'll get back to Uganda at some point in the next few years, but until then there won't be more "Life in Africa" stories to blog about. So consider this a farewell, and a thank you for those of you who read my blog and stayed in touch while I was away. It really does mean a lot to me.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I hope you are able to cherish the time you have with family and friends during the holidays. God bless.

Staff Fellowship in Kibaale

This past Thursday was the last Staff Fellowship of the year down in Kibaale. The staff hold these every week as a time to come together, worship the Lord, and learn from one another. Since it was the last one of the year, it was a little bit special. We had our usual time of worship and teaching, and then the extras began. Peter, the new Ugandan Director (first time in 18 years that the leadership team at the Center has been fully Ugandan!), spoke about his vision for the direction in which he wants to lead the Center, which was great to hear.

Also, two of our staff would be leaving Kibaale for good (or at least for a while) at the end of the year, so there was an added program for us ("us" is me and a girl from Canada named Natalie). Natalie has been in Kibaale for three months helping with the Special Needs class in the Primary school, and she is also leaving Uganda in the middle of December. Even though I've only been here six months, and Natalie just three, the staff wanted to send us out in style.

I got the chance to say a few parting words to the staff I will dearly miss.

Samalie, one of our directors, was pleased to give Natalie her present.

And Patrick, another one of the directors, was happy to give one to me.

It's a good look for me, right?

"Greetings from Uganda"

More decorations ...

When I said they wanted to send us out in style, I was serious! This is a whole African get-up that actually has West African origins (in Nigeria), but still, it's pretty cool. Except for the fact that it's huge! I'll have to ask our Tailoring teacher to sew it for me so it fits. I told the staff that I would wear it next week on payday when they all come into the office to pick up their salaries, so hopefully I can get it worked on before then!

Natalie loves her new African robe!

Another tradition at Ugandan ceremonies, whether it's a wedding or simply a goodbye-party, is cutting the cake. Our friends Sean and Jamie did the same thing before they left in September, so I knew the drill. Cut the cake into pieces, and then serve the guests.

The staff definitely enjoyed their food.

It was nice to be honored at the Staff Fellowship, but it was also very sad. I have absolutely loved my time working in Kibaale, and it will be hard to leave this awesome staff and some cool relationships that have started to develop over the past few months. This wasn't exactly the right time for closure either, because there's still one more week left in the school term, and it will be a busy week. But this night served as a very real indicator that my time here is almost up. It humbles me to witness how our staff serves each other, the students, and the surrounding community. It has been a pleasure to serve alongside them, and it will be a place that I will miss very much as I come home.

Lake Mburo

One cool thing about most places in the Pacific Northwest is that you can live in a big city, while at the same time be so close to mountains, lakes, rivers, and so many other outdoor options for fun during both summer and wintertime. Well there may not be good rock climbing or snowboarding options here in Uganda, but there’s a safari less than two hours away!

I love the beautiful African sunsets that are so common here.

Lake Mburo National Park is one of the smaller national parks in Uganda, but it’s the only one where you can see zebras. The best part about it is that it’s only an hour and a half drive away from Masaka, so it doesn’t require much planning. This weekend, I traveled there with some friends for just one night, but we were able to squeeze in a couple game drives and a boat trip into a short period of time.

The zebras' designs are so cool to look at.

We left Masaka around 4pm on Friday, and returned around 1pm on Saturday, which may sound like a very quick trip. And in fact, I didn’t even have to change my schedule much to accommodate for the trip. I was down in Kibaale on Friday, so I left a bit earlier than normal, but still had a pretty normal day of work. And on Saturday, I still had the rest of the day at the Timothy Centre like a normal Saturday afternoon. But in between, I was able to see a whole bunch of zebras, hippos, waterbuck, fish eagles, and so much more!

The boat we were on was tiny, so we were right on the water next to the huge hippos!

The fish eagles were out in large numbers - it was fun to watch them dive into the lake!

This mischievous little monkey was robbing the weaver birds' nests.

Yes, I’m certainly looking forward to having the ability to go up to the snowy mountains in the coming months at home, but I will miss the very “African” opportunities at my fingertips here in Uganda. The abundance of relatively cheap and convenient travel options is just one of many reasons why I have loved my time living in Uganda during this past year.

Crazy Krazy

There’s a section in the local Saturday newspaper in Uganda called, “Crazy Krazy.” I was reading through it today, and I thought I’d share a few of the more bizarre little stories with you ...

“Man pursues girl over perfume” - People in the Kampala Old Taxi Park recently watched in disbelief as a drunkard pursued a smartly dressed lady. As he followed her, he informed everyone who cared to listen: “I sat in the same taxi with her from Muyenga and her perfume had a good scent. Now I have to follow her to smell it more.” He further yelled that even if she alerted the police, he would not give up. The lady got out of his sight when she boarded another taxi.

“Thief replaces food with stones” - A family in Bwaise, a Kampala suburb, was forced to sleep hungry after a thief stole their food off a charcoal stove. The thief replaced the matooke, covered in banana leaves, with stones. After watching the 9:00pm news on TV, the father, Musoke, asked his wife to serve food since he had had a long day at work. He was in shock when his wife uncovered a hot, steaming saucepan full of stones. Musoke was so angry that he ordered his wife and children to go to bed. He then bought doughnuts, which he ate alone.

“Accident victim surrenders watch to retain hand” - Eyewitnesses were left dumbfounded on Masaka Road recently when a man carried an axe to the scene of an accident to cut off a victim’s hand in order to steal a watch he was wearing. He had tried to remove the watch but he failed because the victim would shout for help. He, however, never gave up. He threatened to use the axe he had carried to the scene. On seeing the axe, the victim pleaded that he take the watch and spare the hand. Quickly, the man dashed and started unstrapping the watch. But his luck ran out when one of the rescuers tipped off others who pounced on him and beat him up. He pleaded for forgiveness, saying he would never rob again.

“Mother smashes family TV” - A woman recently shattered a seven-inch black-and-white TV screen that her husband had bought, claiming that it was an embarrassment to the family. The husband had bought the TV after several demands from his wife. She was, however, not amused with the family’s latest gadget, claiming that their neighbors had better ones. She smashed the TV set and fled their home, vowing not to return until her husband bought a better TV.

... Those are just a few random stories that somehow make it into the Ugandan paper. That’s a very skewed version of life in Uganda, but a humorous glimpse nonetheless.

Other Rodent Stories From Africa, Part 2

When I moved out to the Timothy Centre (the project just outside Masaka where I live and work, not to be confused with the Kibaale Community Centre, which is an hour away, and I’m there three days every week), I was amazed at how nice it was. For the previous four months, I had been living in the room I described in the last post – a small, basic room with a bed and a desk, doing my “business” in a hole with swarms of flies for company, and eating lots and lots of matooke while sitting on a concrete step. You know, the local life. And it was good. But since I was going to be staying in the country for another six months, the upgrade in living conditions was a change I welcomed with open arms.

The place I moved into was a two-bedroom unit on the property where the school is being built. There was a real toilet, a real shower, a queen-size bed, a dresser and closet, and maybe most importantly, a kitchen! It had a four-burner stove, an oven, a fridge, a sink, counters, lots of dishes … everything. (As I’m writing this, I realize that it sounds just like a normal kitchen, but after not being able to cook for yourself for four months, the idea of making even simple things like pasta or eggs was so appealing! Not to mention the dirt-cheap produce (hah, pun intended) and the cooking experiments I’ve tried over the last few months.) And there was a volunteer work team who had been staying there just two weeks prior to when I moved in, so there was still food on the shelves! That’s great, right? Well, not so much.

As I started to go through the food that was left, I realized that I would be throwing much of it out. Some things were just left wide open, which meant the food had gone stale. Some things were just old and gross. And some things bore obvious signs of being picked through by some mice. If the mouse droppings all over the counters and cabinets weren’t enough to convince you, then looking through multiple bags and containers that had been chewed through had to set you straight. But I just figured that mice had been there when no one was around, but now that someone was there again, they would leave. But there wasn’t even time for an exodus.

There was a box of tea bags on the back of one shelf, and after I had moved everything else off that shelf, I went to see how many tea bags were left. But when I opened the box, I didn’t see tea bags, but instead, I saw two beady eyes and some whiskers staring back at me. “Oh, man!” I yelled as I dropped the lid back on the box. The mouse didn’t jump out, or try to run away, it just stayed there. Hah, silly little mouse. You’re not even going to try to escape? Your loss …

But first, I went to grab the guy living next door, named Karl. He came over, and I told him where the mouse was. We decided to gently slide the box into a plastic bag, then dump the bag in the trash can. We then took the trash can up to the garbage pit, and we did what happens to all other trash in Uganda: we burned it. We stayed by the pit for a while to watch and see if the mouse chewed its way out of the bag, but neither of us saw anything. Chances are, this little guy made his way out somehow, but I never saw it. All I know is that there were no more rodent problems in my new place until, well, yesterday, when the flying rat paid me a visit.

Other Rodent Stories From Africa, Part 1

While I’m in the spirit of telling you about the wonderful four-legged friends I’ve made in Uganda, I figured I’d introduce you to a couple more. The first pair came to visit me when I was still living with my host family in Masaka back in May. The room I lived in was a very basic 8x10 foot room with a bed, a small desk, and hooks on the wall for my clothes. And that’s it. I basically lived out of my bag for four months, and just got used to it. It’s really not that bad. But anyways … all that to say, there wasn’t much in my room. My bed was in one corner of the room, and in another corner, I noticed a little hole that looked like it had been dug through from the outside, with a small pile of dirt to show for it. But I didn’t think much of it, and went to bed.

As I was falling asleep, I heard some scratching along the floor, but again, didn’t think much about it. There are always geckos along the walls and floor, and often you can hear mice (or something) up near the roof, so this wasn’t much different. But then I heard something right below my bed, and then heard footsteps next to my ear, and in fact felt a bit of pressure on my pillow. So I sat straight up, grabbed my flashlight, and shined it down on my pillow. And sure enough, a little mouse was trying to get cozy with me, and that just wasn’t gonna happen.

It went a kind of “deer in the headlights” for a second, and then ran back down my bedpost to the ground. I jumped out of bed, partly freaked out by the mouse, and partly determined to figure out what the heck was going on. This is what I’m thinking: “First of all, I don’t even have food in my room, so what does he want? There’s plenty of food other places for him to get, so why is he here? Secondly, WHY is he on my bed, and HOW the heck did he get up here? Ahhhhh!”

I looked under the bed with the flashlight (keep in mind that there was no power, so I didn’t even have the option of turning the light on in my room), and I saw not one, but two mice. My little snuggle-buddy-wannabe had a friend! But as the light hit them, they booked it for the corner of the room with the hole in it, but I beat them to it. So they sprinted back along the wall under my bed, and then back again. The good part about all of this was that I didn’t have so much clutter in the room. The bad part was that the mice were running right through the part that was cluttered, with my bags, shoes, books, and papers on the floor, so they had plenty of hiding places as I tried to chase them around. Eventually, I decided I would just lead them to the hole in the corner and get them out of the room, and they left. Perfect. I can sleep in peace now, right? Wrong.

I moved my bed out from the corner of the room so that it wasn’t right up against the walls. I moved my pillow to the other side of the bed (after flipping it to the other side, the non-moused side). I held my headlamp tight in my hand. I laid my head down on my pillow and listened attentively for any slight sound of movement. I waited. And I waited. And then I heard movement and I knew they were back. So I jumped out of bed again, grabbed a shoe, and turned on the flashlight. Sure enough, the mice twins were back. This episode wasn’t quite the saga from before, as I chased them a bit, and then shooed them out of the room again. So I crawled back into bed again and waited. And waited. And waited. …

And all of a sudden, it was light outside, and morning was here. I quickly looked around and noticed that I didn’t have any visitors on the bed with me, and I gave a sigh of relief. That day, I went ahead and filled in the hole they had dug, and placed some things in front to try to block them from coming in again. Of course, there was enough space between the door and the ground that they could easily crawl through there if they wanted, but I was hoping they would be scared enough to try somewhere else. And luckily enough, they did. For the last three weeks I was living with my host family, I had no more mice problems, and that was a very good thing.

I Know I’m In Africa, but Flying Rats, Really?

Ok, so maybe rats can’t fly. But who knew rats could jump? And I mean really jump like they mean it, like three feet in the air. Well now I know that rats do indeed have a very impressive vertical leap.

Yesterday morning, I was making breakfast in the kitchen when along comes a rat just waltzing across the floor towards me. If this was a movie, I might scream and jump three feet in the air, and the rat would run away. Or if it was “Ratatouille,” the rat would make some human-like motions to let me know that he won’t bite me, and in fact, he just wants to help me cook my breakfast. But sadly, neither of these are what happened. Instead, what proceeded was a battle between me and a pretty good-sized rat. I got my weapon of choice – a broom – and the rat used his God-given defensive tactic of running … fast. For about ten minutes, I chased the rat along the walls, under the furniture, and even on the furniture. All of this came as no surprise.

But when I moved some furniture around and had the rat cornered, he jumped about three feet in the air to the curtain hanging by the window and climbed up to the top. This, I did not expect. After a few daydreams of what it’d look like for a rat to dunk a basketball, or catch a touchdown pass, or win an Olympic gold medal in the high jump, I snapped back to reality and realized I had a perfect chance to take this thing out. So instantly the broom in my hand became a baseball bat, I swung hard and … I hit a home run (or at least a base hit up the middle). But this rat was resilient. It dropped down and started running again. Geez rat, are you made of steel?

So after another five minutes of chasing him around and having him cornered a few times, only to be refused the satisfaction of killing him, I finally steered him out of the house. A little disappointing that I wasn’t able to win the war, but I like to think I at least won the battle. The rat was out of the house, and I could resume my relaxing Sunday morning. If he comes back again, though, I’ll be ready. I won’t be surprised if he leaps into the air, and I’ll be ready to swat him down and bring him back to earth where the rest of us live. Crazy mutant-rat …