A Basket of Avacados

(Most of the wording in this post came either directly from Miria or from her mom.  I just filled in the gaps.)

"I was at school, waiting to take some porridge. All of a sudden some of the other kids ran up to me.  They were saying, "Miria!  Come quickly, there is someone here who wants you."  I ran out from behind the school to see what was happening.  I saw a white girl standing there in the yard.  She walked past all of the other kids and came directly to me.  They told me that this lady had picked me, and I was going to be her daughter, and she was my mommy from America.  Out of all the other kids, she had picked me!   .Then she told the other children "Go back! I have picked Miria, and I want to be with her now." I was so happy.  That day, as soon as school was over, I ran straight home to tell my sister and my brothers and my mama about this white lady who had come all the way from America just to see me.  A few days later, she came to my house and brought me some wonderful new toys, and a dress, and a book to write in.
Now my white mommy has been at the school for a month.  I have seen her almost everyday.  But last week the term ended for school, so I am not there everyday and I miss seeing her.  Today my mama said that I could take my report card from this term to show my white mama how hard I have been working in school. This term I finished 5th out of 40 children in my class.  My mama said that I needed to show my report to my white mama so that she would know that I am working very hard to earn the education that she is giving me.  Me and my brother helped my mom to pick a bunch of avocados and put them in a basket to bring to my white mama.  I put the basket on my head and me and Jonah started off for the school.  It is a couple miles away from our house, but I am used to walking that distance to go to school each morning, and to get water from the borehole.  When me and Jonah arrived, we gave her the avocados, and then we sat on the porch to talk.  Moses came out to sit with us and translate what my white mama said to me.  He told us that something very sad had happened.  My white mommy had a Jjajja (grandma) in America, but last night she left to be with Jesus. I was very sad for my white mommy.  I told her how sorry I was and I gave her a big hug.  I think it made her feel better, because she smiled at me a lot after that.  I asked her if she would please walk home with me and Jonah, and she said yes!    I was very happy.  I asked her a lot of questions.  I wanted to know what it is like in America, and what kinds of food she ate.  She told me that she eats chicken there the same as we do!  But she doesn't eat cassava. She said she likes Matoke, and mangoes, but she did not like Jack fruit very much.  Jonah asked her if she knew how to drive a motorcar.  He thought she would know how to drive an airplane too, because we thought that all Mzungus knew how to do that, but she said no.  Jonah wants to be a pilot when he grows up.  I told my white mama that I want to be a doctor when I grow up.  When we got back to my house, my mama was very surprised that my white mom had walked all the way from the school to come see us.   Moses had come too, he was helping us talk to each other.  My little sister Lydia came running as fast as she could and threw herself onto my white mommy.  She was very excited! We showed my white mama our new piglets, and their mother.  And the puppies, and our two baby goats.  One is mine and one is Lydia's, to take care of.  Then my mama brought chairs out, and we all sat down.  My mom prepared some matoke and yams for our supper while we all talked.  Lydia felt left out, since I had shown my report card to my white mom, so she ran and got hers too.  And she brought out the picture that her sponsor from America had sent her of their family.  Lydia is so funny.  She said she wanted to tell her family in America that she would like to send them some matoke. I told my white mommy that I had put the things she gave me in a safe place and was taking very good care of them, so that they would not get damaged or messed up. Then my mama started talking. She told my white mama how grateful she was for the opportunity that she was giving her daughter.  She said that a lot of people like to promise things, but don't help, or follow through with their promises.  But this white lady had not only provided her daughter with an education and an opportunity for a better life, she had also come all the way to Africa to see them and to be with them.  And then my white mommy said something amazing.  She told us how grateful and happy she was to be a part of our family.  My mama was so amazed by this that she jumped up off of her mat, ran over, and gave my white mama a big hug.  I am so happy that I have two mama's now, an African mama and a white mama.  I asked how long my white mama would be here with us in Africa.  I wish that she could stay with us forever.  But she said that she had to go back to America on Tuesday.  I told her that I was going to be a brave, grown up girl and that I would try not to cry any when she left. I asked her to please come back really soon to see me again, and I also told her that when I finished all of my school I wanted to come to America to visit her.  And then it was time for my white mommy to go back and get her supper, so I walked with her down to the road and gave her one last big hug.  See you mommy!  I told her. She smiled and waved goodbye, and then turned and walked back down the dirt road."    

Kilombera

So I've bean a couple times now to this place called Kilombera.  It's about a 15 or 20 minute drive from Amani.  At Kilombera they make hand-woven fabric, and they use that to make things like hammocks, bags, curtains, bed spreads, etc.  It's a really beautiful place, you can take a short walk from Kilombera to a spot where you are on a cliff overlooking the Nile. The first time we went with Helene in the van, but yesterday me Jessie, and one of the other volunteers went on bodas.  Which is fun, because you can see more of the country side... Of course, that might be more difficult if you are concentrating on keeping your flip flops from flying off everytime you go over a pot-hole but still...

If you want to make taco soup in Africa...










All the ingredients, minus the meat and a bell pepper that you find in the fridge.



First you must find all the ingredients.  There is no cumin in the kitchen at Amani, so you ask if they sell it here in the supermarket.  No one seems to know...So you set out with a friend to find some.  Fortunately, all the supermarkets around here seem to be run by Indian guys, so they have lots of good seasonings.  The only kind of canned beans they have here, though, are baked beans...so you decide the soup can do without beans.  You locate a can of corn, and look for some sort of substitute for retell, but all you can find is canned whole tomatoes, so they will have to do.  But there is a plus, you find a nice frozen package of ground beef.  You need onions, but they don't have those in the supermarket, just the regular market.  So you walk outside and flag down a boda.  Your friend tries yelling over the street noise to the boda drivers that you want to go to Amani, but you need to stop first at the market.  After the boda driver nods his understanding, you hop on and off you go...straight to Amani.  You try explaining to the boda man that you need to go to the market first.  At this point, you realize that your very nice boda man understands little, if any, English.  After convincing him to turn around and go towards the market, your friend passes on her boda and yells "I got the onions!"  So you tell your rather confused boda driver that he can go back to Amani now.   Once you finally arrive back at Amani, you are ready to assemble your ingredients and start cooking! 


 







You don't have any corn bread or tortilla chips, but mama Josephine made some Chapatti earlier.











 

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Chopping the pepper and onions

I'm sorry for the rather random order of these pictures, I was having trouble getting it to post right....Anyway, stay tuned, I want to try and make my own chapatti soon! 

Sooo...I am finally getting around to answering some of these questions...


What was your first impression when you arrived in Africa?
Well, it was after dark when I arrived, so it was hard to get an accurate first impression.  One thing that I thought was strange was when Christie stopped in Kampala at a "mall" type of place, there were guards with machine guns standing around to check your car for explosives when you drove in.  Hmmmm... I'm not in America anymore!  It was interesting (to say the least)  driving through Kampala, because on the one side you have the almost "modern" parts of town, with the tall buildings and hotels and billboards, and then on the other side you have the slums with the mud huts, and trash everywhere, and red dirt covering everything.  

How is Uganda similar to the US? How is it different? 
Hmmm....I think I might have to get more pictures before I answer this one, lol.  Some parts of Uganda are similar to the US, (like Jinja) and other parts are completely different. Since Jinja is more of a tourist town (because it's located on the source of the Nile)  there are quite a few places in Jinja that are similar to the US.  Everything is smaller, though.  Like the shops.  There are tons of little one-room shops crowded together on main street.  For my family-  you know that little bent-and-dent store in Magee? I think it's called Martha's? That's what ALL of the grocery stores here look like.  Except most are smaller than that.   
The things that are completely different-   The small villages.  You drive into the middle of nowhere, and then turn left into the jungle....And you find all these tiny villages with people going on about their daily lives, with no electricity...no running water...  If you've seen Christie's pictures, than you have some idea of what it's like. 

Why are there so many orphans in Uganda? What needs to happen to relieve this issue?
This is a tough one. There are a couple different reasons for there being so many orphans in Uganda. One reason is that there has been a war going on in Northern Uganda (and several other African countries)  for about 23 years.  You can learn more about the history of the war here-  http://www.invisiblechildren.com/history-of-the-war  Or you can just look up Joseph Kony and the LRA. 

The other day on face book I asked if anyone had questions for me.  I got a lot of good questions, which I will answer in a blog post soon, but for right now I just wanted to share this.

Today I went to the market for the first time.  I have been to several of the small grocery stores in town, but I had not been to the market until today.  I would have just posted this picture on face book...but I though it deserved it's own post.    I asked her if I could take her picture and she nodded yes.  She, of course,  was very serious while I was taking it.  Then when I was done her mom said "show her" so I did.  I knelt down in front of her and showed her the picture and she broke out into the most beautiful grin...Africa is like that.  It is easy to see the dirt and poverty that is on the outside...and you miss the beauty of what's on the inside.  I hope you will all take a minute today to look past the skin of this world, to see more than a little girl sitting in the dirt, and see things the way Jesus sees them.  Through the eyes of Love. In this world there will always be sorrow, and pain, and poverty, both physical and spiritual.  We can choose to see only the sorrow and the pain of this world, or we can keep our gaze upon Christ, who makes all things new.   
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:  For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21  

Bujagali Falls

A day at Amani

Hey!  I though you all might be interested in what my day looks like here at Amani, so here you go:

I wake up usually between 7 and 7:30, eat breakfast, and then go downstairs with the kids at about 8:00, where  I help clean up from breakfast and get the kids dressed and make sure everyone brushes their teeth.
At  8:30 we start preschool.  There are eight kids in the preschool class.  Me and a couple other Aunties teach preschool in the mornings.
10:00 is snack time!  All the kids go get a glass of water and a snack.  After snack time I help clean up, change diapers, and start the 2nd part of the morning.
From 10:30 until Lunch time I hang out with the toddlers.  We play games, sing songs, and play outside if it's not raining.  The preschoolers stay inside and do crafts with a couple of the other Aunties.
Around 12:15 everyone comes in and gets cleaned up for lunch.  They all sit down and one of them will say a prayer (they pray before school and before snack time too)  which usually goes something like this:  "Hands together.  Eyes closed.  De-uhr Jesus, blessa our-a Aunties, blessa our-a food, blessa our-a mommies, blessa our-a vistahs, (visitors) blessa our-a Uncle Tim...."  There a couple here that are adopting two of the kids, and since Mr. Tim is the only uncle visiting right now, the kids always pray for "Uncle Tim" or sometimes "Uncle daddy". 
After everyone is through with lunch, usually around 12:45,  I help get the kids down for a nap.
I eat lunch around 1:15 or 1:30.  After lunch I have a break until 4:00.
At 4:00 we do different things on different days...Some days I have "outings"  where I pick one of the kids and take him/her into town.  We usually hang out at a restaurant called Ozzie's, and eat Chapati or a Cinnamon roll and drink some Fanta. Other days we do outside activities, or I help with laundry. 
6:15 is dinner time.  Three days a week I help with bed time, in which case I would stay downstairs with the kids until 7:00, and help get them in bed.  If I am not helping with bed time, then at about 6:15 I go back upstairs and help the other volunteers with our dinner. 
On Saturdays the volunteers do a project, like cleaning out closets or organizing the preschool supplies.  We have off Saturday afternoon and Sunday.  I go to church with the other volunteers on Sunday morning, and we have bible study on Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night.

Hello from Uganda!

Hi everyone!  It is Saturday so I have now been in Uganda for 2 1/2 days.  I have today off, and because of the time difference, none of my family is on facebook right now to chat with me. :(  So I decided to blog instead.  I guess I will start with a list of some of the things I have done since coming to Uganda-

1. In Uganda you drive on the left side of the road, but only when you want to.  When George and Christie picked me up from the airport,  George drove us back to Bugabo for the night.  I couldn't quite figure out why he used his blinker so much.  He said that in Uganda, you use you blinker when you are "not sure".  I am not sure what that means, exactly.
2.  When we got to Christie's house it was dark, so I didn't see much of the village,  and we went to bed soon after we got there.  Woke up the next morning to a beautiful African sunrise.
3. George drove me and Jessie the "back way"  to Jinja the next morning.  Which basically meant that half the kids we passed in the small villages had never seen a Mzungu (white person) before.  I waved to just about everyone. It was so fun to have the kids wave back and yell "Mzungu!! Mzungu!!" 
4.  Arrived at Amani about 10am on Thursday.  Helene (the volunteer coordinator)  took me and Jessie into town so that we could exchange money. 
5.  Found out Thursday afternoon that my sweet little brother had given me a stomach bug...So I spent Thursday afternoon and most of Friday in bed. 
6.  By Friday evening, after sleeping most of the day, I was feeling much better.  One of the other volunteers cooked supper, and then Helene surprised me with a Birthday cake!  :)

So...I guess that is all...I plan on writing a more in depth post in the near future...For now I just wanted to give you all a quick update.  


Much love from Africa,
Morgan

A different kind of dream

I stood in the darkness.  I could feel it moving around me, searching.  I looked around, but my eyes could not pierce the gloom.  After standing alone for what seemed like an eternity, I gradually became aware of a presence beside me.  It did not speak, but I knew it was a person.  It turned slowly to face me.  It seemed to me then to not be a single person, but rather an image, or representation, of many people. It seemed to be trying to speak, but could not form the words. Instead I could hear its thoughts; they seemed to flow from it like water.  It was waiting for something to come.  Something certain, unavoidable. It was afraid.  It did not know of Love, or Peace, or Joy. These things were absent from It's thoughts entirely.  It was devoid of all Hope.  And at that moment, I was a part of it. I felt the overwhelming terror, the certainty of what was to come.  I could no longer distinguish its thoughts from mine. Darkness.  And Despair. Those thoughts consumed me.  And then the moment was there; the end, without hope. And I was falling, falling down to a place no light could reach,  a place of death.  But then, when we were devoid of Hope, I heard a voice, calling out from above.  "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save those who are lost."  And I woke up.  It took me a moment to realize it was a dream, it had been so vivid.  And I started thinking about what it was that I saw.  I know I pray a lot for "people to be saved", to come to Christ.  For the children who are orphans.  But it was never really urgent.  It was always "those people".  The ones who seemed so far away that even though, yeah I was concerned about them, it really didn't "affect"  my life.  I couldn't see their faces.  Couldn't hear their cries, when another baby died of malnutrition, or another man died not knowing Christ's love.  But they are there.  Whether or not we choose see these people, does not change the fact that they are there.  Waiting.  So my prayer for today is:
 Lord, please break my heart for what breaks yours. Please let me see the hurting, the despair, and let your light shine shine through me into the hearts of the dying.  Not for my glory, Lord, but so that you may be glorified in everything I do.  Please use my life to glorify you, Lord. Amen.