Generousity

The first leg of our flight to the US was fine. We both ended up with two seats which gave us more room and we managed to get a little sleep. At the last minute before we left Uganda we had arranged to meet up with as many family members as were available at 6.30 on a Friday morning. Before we all sat down for breakfast in the airport we thought it best to go to our departure teminal and check in so we would have longer to chat. However when we tried to check in we were denied as we hadn’t completed an online visa waiver form now required for all travel to the US. We had no idea what this was and were starting to get worried as they said it could take up to 72 hours to be approved online and we only had 3.5 hours till our flights. Well to cut a long story short a helpful American Airlines employee took our passports, filled in the online form and got confimation for us in about 30 minutes. So we still managed to have a nice breakfast with our family and catch our flight.

Once we arrive in the States we were spending the weekend with our new friends from Elevation church (read our previous blogs from November 2009 to find out who they are if you missed it). Well the whole weekend was so lovely. Josh and his wife Angie hosted us. They have a beautiful house so we enjoyed some of the creature comforts of being in the developed world, namely power showers and a comfortable bed. Saturday morning they had invited all the guys who came to Uganda over to their house with thier wives and kids. It was so fun to meet all their families and catch up. They did a hilarious presentation mimicing a song we heard in Uganda ~ Chris and I were laughing so hard tears were streaming down our faces. Hanging out with this group we really felt at home. It is so nice to make connections with people in different parts of the world that you feel relaxed with and as if you have known for years.

In the afternoon the pastor wanted to bless us and buy us new outfits so we went shopping with Josh and Angie. Chris looked like a cat who got the cream when he walked out of the changing room to show us an outfit. As he asked us what we thought you could tell he loved the outfit and that we didn’t need to look any further. My shopping took a bit longer but I eventually found some great clothes and I have to say we both looked pretty trendy and fitted in with the Elevation chic.

We went to the Saturday night worship experience (service to us not quite so trendy people). It was amazing, great music, an atmosphere of worship  and a relevant message. We had to go on stage and give a short greeting in front of hundreds of people. We then repeated the short thank you message the next day at the three services at another congregation. Amazingly Chris managed to sound genuine and different each time, which must have been hard having repeated it so many times.

Somehow we also managed to fit in a lot of nice food and great conversations in the two days we were with them. The more time I spend with these guys the more I am challenged by my own generousity (or often lack of it) and it encourages me to do more. I would love to be known as a generous person.

 

Fortunate

After my earlier post about turbulence I thought I had to write something following the Ethiopian Airlines crash this weekend. Ethiopian Airlines has a good safety record but the day I flew from Addis to Entebbe another plane crashed on its way to Addis from Lebanon. I was blissfully unaware at the time but the next day when I heard the news I was quite shaken. How easily that could have been me.

When I was at univeristy and started to travel internationally I used to always tidy my roon and make sure if I never returned there would be nothing I wouldn’t want other people to find. Some people might consider that morbid but I just wanted to be ready for anything. Since then I have become much more relaxed about air tavel (a part from being scared by turbulence) because it is part of my every day life.

But maybe there was some wisdom in being ready for anything. We can’t take anything for granted. At least I know that my life is in God’s hands and as long as I try to keep following him the rest is in his control.

 

Every penny counts

After a very full week here in Ethiopia I am ready to head home to Uganda tomorrow. I have travelled to the field, visited two projects, strategised, planned budgets and encouraged staff. All in all a good time.

Ethiopian Orthodox Parade

Woubi translating for me during HIV prevention message at a coffee ceremony

Women's support groups ~ they save 10p a week and it is changing their lives

 

Humanity

I was in Kenya last week as the news of the Haiti earthquake broke. During our morning devotions the manager told everyone what he knew about the earthquake and encouraged us all to pray. He later admitted to me that he had no idea where Haiti was. He couldn’t even guess which continent it is in! Two things hit me. Firstly, satellite news stations are transmitting news all over the world but the majority of the audience probably have no context for what they are seeing. The second much more encouraging thing is that we have such a sense of humanity that even if we have no idea who these people are or where they are in the world, the fact is that they are suffering and we can help them by praying.

 

Responding in Haiti

When you look at the devastation that has happened in Haiti makes me want to respond. I would love to get on a plane and be on the ground to help. But as others rush to help there are a number of things that we can be praying for.
1. For our local partners on the ground who have been responding since the beginning yet they themselves have lost friends and loved ones.
2. That planes can land and supplies can reach the ground
3. For the people who are still trapped
4. For protection from disease for those who have survived and are without clean water
5. That families can be reunited amidst the chaos

To find out what we are doing as an organisation click the following link. (our response)

 

Between two worlds

I am currently in the time of year that I dread each year ~ the two weeks following being home for Christmas. Every year we have a wonderful time with friends and family over Christmas and this year was no different. The time is never long enough but it is always full of fun and memories. However starting a few days before we return to Uganda I get a sinking feeling in my stomach and I get very emotional very easily. It is a sense of dread about returning. Not because I don’t love what we do and know that it is what God has for us at the moment but it is that sense of being ripped away from the people you love. It is the sense that the time you are home is never long enough to have the conversations you wanted to have, to do the things you wanted to do and to maintain the relationships that mean so much to us. The longer we are in Uganda the harder each trip home is. No longer is our time in Africa a year out, or a couple of years away – now it is our life. And only having snippets of time with those who mean so much to us is the way that our life is now. This is what is hard to deal with. So as I sit and contemplate you all building snow men and having “snow days”, while I enjoy the 27 degree heat, know that there is nothing I would like more than to join the snow ball fight. However I also know that in a few weeks my emotions will be under control and I will be back to loving our life here.

 

I wondered when it would make the news

The issue of child sacrifice was very prominent in Uganda at the beginning of last year but we haven’t heard much about it recently. However this week there is an article on the BBC website (article) and there is a link to a documentary about it. It was actually taken in a village in Lira and a friend of ours accompanied them while they did their visit.

Child sacrifice is a very disturbing issue here but I don’t want you to think that everyone is involved. It is just a minority of crazy people. Never the less it is definitely something that we need to be fighting against.

 

Turbulence

I hate turbulence. I don’t know why it always makes me think I am going to die. As soon as the plane starts to shake around I grab Chris’ hand or the arm of the seat if I am travelling alone and hope for the best. The idea of being tossed around thousands of feet above the earth in a metal tube is somehow very scary to me. However as with every other experience of turbulence I have had this one ended safely and we arrived back in Uganda.

I don’t know why I can’t just sit back and trust that everything is under control. But it got me thinking. Last year there was “turbulence” in our life, but however much I stressed or worried we still came through the year and have so much to thank God for because it was an amazing year. This year I am determined to trust God that he has the best for us this year and whatever comes our way I will hold his hand and come out safely the other side. I know that when I look back on this year it is going to be a good one.

 

Daily Bread

Yesterday we had the most fun we have had in a long time. We decided to do something special to celebrate Christmas and say goodbye to Susan. So, we took our Lira staff for a day trip to Murchison Falls National Park. Well the day turned out to be very eventful. Susan and I had to share the driving of one vehicle because one of our drivers was sick. He still managed to come along but he really did look too weak to drive. 

So 3 vehicles, 20 Ugandans and 3 Muzungos set off for Murchison. I drove the middle vehicle in the convoy and after about an hour I hear Carol say, “Jodi, we have a ….” Before I can do anything I watch in the rear view mirror as one of the staff is sick all over the back window. So I pull over, clear up the mess. The poor guys had taken medication that morning and the journey had unsettled his stomach. With that all cleared up we continue. Off to a good start I thought.

We reach the park and stop at the Nile to watch the ferry (our staff are fascinated by boats as most have never been on one). We have a picnic lunch during which we have to wield off the baboons. We see a baboon jump into the back of our pickup truck, Augustine runs towards it shouting at the baboon. When the baboon turns and starts running towards him, I have never seen Augustine run so fast. Hilarious.

We do a game drive and quickly see everything but elephant and lion. It is great fun being in a vehicle with people who have never seen these kinds of animals before. Susan and I were praying that we would be able to find some elephant and lion. Then Carol shouts, “Elephant”, and sure enough in the distance was a large herd of elephant. We manage to drive closer to them and I hear Jimmy Francis say, “One more to go” referring to the lion.

As we stop to look at a herd of buffalo Benson spots 2 lionesses under a tree. We are able to drive quite close to the tree and each vehicle can park so we can all get a good view. We had one lioness facing us and one facing away. When our lioness turns her back to us we decide to drive around the other side of the tree. Just when I am within a few metres of the lioness my front drivers’ wheel gets stuck in a hole that was covered in grass. The vehicle is stuck less than 2 metres from the lioness. I quickly do up the window, take a breath and try again.  Going forward and back I am trying to inch my way out ~ to no avail. The vehicle is going nowhere.

Chris was trying to signal something to me from his vehicle but with all the adrenaline pumping through my body I had no idea what he was trying to say. I eventually realised he was saying “4 wheel drive”. I turn to Susan and ask her if she knows how to put it in 4 wheel drive, nope. At one point I just put my head on the steering wheel not knowing what to do. But I try a few things and some lights come on. I put my foot down and hope for the best. Finally we are out. The whole experience was a little stressful. But the comments from our staff afterwards are what made it so funny:

The lions were also praying for their daily bread – but the daily bread was scared!

I was just praying for Chris (making the implication that I was already a gonna!)

We were ready to run over the lions for you so we could get you out of the hole (the 3^rd driver – not Chris)

We weren’t really stuck ~ you were just overcome by fear

In reality we were never in any danger. If I hadn’t been able to get out of the hole we would have had to just wait for the lions to get bored and move so the other vehicles could have helped us. But if you ask my staff – we were saved from death. I’m not quite sure how they thought the lions were going to hurt us in a massive landcruiser. But oh well – they have a good story to tell their families this Christmas.

 

Close shave

A few months ago I was lamenting the fact that we wouldn’t have long at home this Christmas. In a spare of the moment decision we decided to change our flights from the 23rd Dec to the 19th. Four extra days means a lot when you haven’t been home all year. Well today it seems that the decision was even wiser than we thought. BA have voted to strike over Christmas, starting 22nd. I would have been so miserable if we were stuck here because our flight was cancelled. Let’s just pray we get home before the chaos starts.