Tuesday, July 22, 2008
leaving on a jet plane(well, not yet)
i'm supposed to fly home on thursday. i'm sure many of you have the date circled on your calendar. ok maybe not, but if you do you need to change it. i'm going to be staying an extra 2 weeks. i'm nowhere near ready to come home yet. i think it's safe to say africa stole my heart.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
two worlds apart
this is one of my favorite quotes from the jeremy cowart/jenna lee book hope in the dark. it pretty much sums up how i feel.
“I straddle two worlds. One foot in America. One foot in Africa. My heart is split. It’s an awkward place to be, as it stretches the legs upon which I stand. I would prefer to be in one place instead of straddled awkwardly across an ocean. Contrary to American doctrine, however, I think we’re supposed to be a little bit uncomfortable as we live within the tensions of this complicated world.
Lately, I’ve come to realize that it’s not just an ocean that separates us from Africa. Greater barriers have caused a distance between the two continents. Misunderstanding has turned goodwill into greater injustice. The media portrays Africans as victims, as children with flies on their faces, as statistics, as those we pity, and those we judge with Western standards. Even with the best of intentions to help, I don’t think we truly understand Africans because we haven’t taken the time to listen and to share their stories in an honest and humanizing way.”
-Jenna Lee
“I straddle two worlds. One foot in America. One foot in Africa. My heart is split. It’s an awkward place to be, as it stretches the legs upon which I stand. I would prefer to be in one place instead of straddled awkwardly across an ocean. Contrary to American doctrine, however, I think we’re supposed to be a little bit uncomfortable as we live within the tensions of this complicated world.
Lately, I’ve come to realize that it’s not just an ocean that separates us from Africa. Greater barriers have caused a distance between the two continents. Misunderstanding has turned goodwill into greater injustice. The media portrays Africans as victims, as children with flies on their faces, as statistics, as those we pity, and those we judge with Western standards. Even with the best of intentions to help, I don’t think we truly understand Africans because we haven’t taken the time to listen and to share their stories in an honest and humanizing way.”
-Jenna Lee
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
close call
last week john, one of the babies in my group, had a seizure and was in the hospital for a few days. i was talking to the dr. from the surgery(where they take the babies when they're sick) and he said john's blood sugar was 0, which he didn't think was possible. there was some talk about possible brain damage, but i'm praying that isn't the case. he's been back at the babies home for the last few days. i spent some time with him today and he seems to be doing ok, considering all that happened. praying we get that smile back soon. here's a picture of him from today.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
sick mzungu
sorry for the lack of updates. i've been sick for a week and haven't had much to update on. i went back to the dr. this morning and i have an ear infection so i have an antibiotic so hopefully that clears up soon. i wish this sore throat would go away too.
i went to one of the villages yesterday with some watoto people to help with the program they do in the schools. i'm glad i finally made it out to one of their villages. i'm excited to be going there twice a week.
hopefully i'll be back at the babies home soon so i'll have an update on how those kids are doing.
i went to one of the villages yesterday with some watoto people to help with the program they do in the schools. i'm glad i finally made it out to one of their villages. i'm excited to be going there twice a week.
hopefully i'll be back at the babies home soon so i'll have an update on how those kids are doing.
Friday, June 13, 2008
marcus
marcus is another one of my kids who has been sick. they took him to the hospital the other day and he has pneumonia. i got to spend a lot of time with him yesterday. he's quickly become one of my favorites.
some of you asked about jack. i saw him yesterday and he didn't have the feeding tube in and he laughed at me so i think he's doing better.
some of you asked about jack. i saw him yesterday and he didn't have the feeding tube in and he laughed at me so i think he's doing better.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
jack
that's my friend jack. he's one of the happiest babies i've ever met and i love love love hearing him laugh. he's been sick the last couple days and yesterday i had to hold him while the dr. put a feeding tube in him. it was really sad. 5 of the babies in my group are in the clinic now. i guess yesterday was a reminder of why i came here.
Friday, June 6, 2008
indescribable
hello mzungus! sorry for the lack of updates. it's crazy to think i've been in uganda for over a week.so much has happened since i've been here.
after flying for what seemed like forever i made it to uganda on wednesday night. i met up with my new friend patrick(he was in charge of getting passion people where they need to go) and my housemate stephanie.
we spent all day and most of the evening thursday at the field at makerere getting things ready for passion. when we got there we noticed one of the 2 LED screens on the ground. the night before it had rained really hard and knocked the screen over. it sat in 2 feet of water until people got there. they had it in pieces trying to dry it out. they finally got it to work for louie's indescribable talk on saturday night.
on friday around 25,000 students came to the field. when the intro video started playing and it showed africa on the screen people got really excited. chris played and the whole night was really powerful.
matt redman and charlie hall both played during the sessions on saturday afternoon. the power went out for a little bit, but that didn't stop people from worshipping. that night chris did a new song with the watoto children's choir. passion put a clip of it on youtube, so i'll post it on here. francis chan spoke twice and gave really challenging messages. like i said earlier, louie gave his indesrcibable message. it was pretty amazing sitting on the field under all those stars while he talked about how huge our God is. it was really humbling. later he told the students about them going to paris on the next stop of the tour and he asked them to pray for that event. everyone turned north(at least we think it was north) towards paris and sang and prayed for the city.
i wish i had better words to describe everything, but i don't. make sure to check out the passion blog for more pictures and stories(www.268blog.blogspot.com)
sunday stephanie and i went to patrick's church in gaba. pastor peter is a good friend of francis chan and a big reason why passion was able to come to kampala. his church is a sister church of francis' church in california. when we got there pastor peter pretty much shoved stephanie and i in his office with francis and his wife lisa. we got to sit and talk to them for a while. they are amazing amazing people. they do some much for uganda. francis preached in the service and lisa sang(by the way she has one of the best voices i've ever heard). after church we drove to lake victoria and got on a boat with the chans, pastor peter, and a few other people and crossed the lake. then we got on boda bodas(motorcycle taxis) and road to bethany village. that was an experience. bethany village is an orphanage that was started by the church in gaba. the chans have played a big part in it too. when we got there we met up with the passion team and listened to some of the kids sing. then about 30 of us got on a large wooden boat and crossed the lake. there were a couple times i wasn't sure we were going to make it haha.
since monday i've been with watoto. i've been spending time at their babies home where there are around 90 children ranging from newborn to 2 years old. it's crazy to hear where some of those kids have come from. most of the kids in my group have been sick this week, so it's been a little hectic. sometime in the next couple of weeks i'm probably going to be spending most of my time at some of the watoto villages.
hopefully you all made it through this long entry. i heard that my one accord mothers(who i'm impressed know what a blog is by the way) have been checking for updates-so here you go! hopefully they will be more frequent. you can see what pictures i have on here so far if you click here.
okwagala-kwe(there is love)
after flying for what seemed like forever i made it to uganda on wednesday night. i met up with my new friend patrick(he was in charge of getting passion people where they need to go) and my housemate stephanie.
we spent all day and most of the evening thursday at the field at makerere getting things ready for passion. when we got there we noticed one of the 2 LED screens on the ground. the night before it had rained really hard and knocked the screen over. it sat in 2 feet of water until people got there. they had it in pieces trying to dry it out. they finally got it to work for louie's indescribable talk on saturday night.
on friday around 25,000 students came to the field. when the intro video started playing and it showed africa on the screen people got really excited. chris played and the whole night was really powerful.
matt redman and charlie hall both played during the sessions on saturday afternoon. the power went out for a little bit, but that didn't stop people from worshipping. that night chris did a new song with the watoto children's choir. passion put a clip of it on youtube, so i'll post it on here. francis chan spoke twice and gave really challenging messages. like i said earlier, louie gave his indesrcibable message. it was pretty amazing sitting on the field under all those stars while he talked about how huge our God is. it was really humbling. later he told the students about them going to paris on the next stop of the tour and he asked them to pray for that event. everyone turned north(at least we think it was north) towards paris and sang and prayed for the city.
i wish i had better words to describe everything, but i don't. make sure to check out the passion blog for more pictures and stories(www.268blog.blogspot.com)
sunday stephanie and i went to patrick's church in gaba. pastor peter is a good friend of francis chan and a big reason why passion was able to come to kampala. his church is a sister church of francis' church in california. when we got there pastor peter pretty much shoved stephanie and i in his office with francis and his wife lisa. we got to sit and talk to them for a while. they are amazing amazing people. they do some much for uganda. francis preached in the service and lisa sang(by the way she has one of the best voices i've ever heard). after church we drove to lake victoria and got on a boat with the chans, pastor peter, and a few other people and crossed the lake. then we got on boda bodas(motorcycle taxis) and road to bethany village. that was an experience. bethany village is an orphanage that was started by the church in gaba. the chans have played a big part in it too. when we got there we met up with the passion team and listened to some of the kids sing. then about 30 of us got on a large wooden boat and crossed the lake. there were a couple times i wasn't sure we were going to make it haha.
since monday i've been with watoto. i've been spending time at their babies home where there are around 90 children ranging from newborn to 2 years old. it's crazy to hear where some of those kids have come from. most of the kids in my group have been sick this week, so it's been a little hectic. sometime in the next couple of weeks i'm probably going to be spending most of my time at some of the watoto villages.
hopefully you all made it through this long entry. i heard that my one accord mothers(who i'm impressed know what a blog is by the way) have been checking for updates-so here you go! hopefully they will be more frequent. you can see what pictures i have on here so far if you click here.
okwagala-kwe(there is love)
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