Close to in Congo/Bittersweet return

Ok, so I am back, but i haven't been able to type since my hand is all jacked up, but I'm going to give it a shot. so here we go.

9/3/09
We're heading over to Congo, there is a chance that we might get to cross over. We went with Darrie and Debbie Turner, who are resident missionaries in Uganda. I think it would be rad to get one of those stamps in the old passport. We drove from the Turners house in Kampala over to the Kasese district which is in the far west of Uganda at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains. The Rwrenzori mountain is actually the tallest solid rock mountain in Africa i believe, but anyways... it was huge. We stopped at a place that made handwoven baskets in the village of Rubono. I got one due to the extremely discounted price, they sell these things in Kampala for like 3 or 4 times what they do where they make them. Its a pretty rad basket. We went on through Fort Portal, and then south to Kasese. We saw the bible college that the Turners had been affiliated with for so long. They had installed a set of solar panels that powered a pump for irrigation and elephant fences around the colleges crops. He did a very good job. He has to be one of the smartest guys I know. We stayed at Kigongo Hospital in some rooms that they have for people who come to help out. It looked out over the Rwrenzori foothills. Steven and I shared a room with 3 beds... we had plenty.


Next day we went over to drop Derrie's Wife Debbie off at a church that was way the heck out the middle of nowhere. We could have almost thrown a rock over into the Congo. it would have been an unbelievable throw, but it was realistically maybe 2 kilometers. It was a really pretty place. The roads to get up there were crazy. I saw some of the biggest washouts on the road that I think I have ever seen. All the while, Derrie takes them at like 35 or 40 mph. There are some very beautiful people over there. After we dropped Debbie off we drove around for the rest of the day. We went and saw some of the crater lakes in the Rift Valley. there was one called Katwe that was HUGE. the Ugandans would harvest salt from the lake. They do it pretty much the same way that we do here by letting the water evaporate and scraping up the salt, only there they do it with their hands, and not machines.

***Sidenote***
I just went #2 for the first time in 5 weeks without my feet going numb in the process. Im sure the girls that read this know what I'm talking about, guys; not so much maybe. ...or, maybe it is a guy thing because girls always have to squat when they don't have a toilet... and know to do their business quickly... before the feet go numb.

back to the story:
We also drove through Queen Elizabeth National park and saw a Huge Bull Elephant just chilling off by himself. we got out and I had to get on Derrie's Luggage rack on top of the Land Cruiser to get a good shot of his butt; he wouldn't turn around completely, but its still a good shot. We saw a high school that was quite nice. they had vocational classes and nice facilities. They even had a dormitory for the children that lived too far away to walk to school every day. The kids were all away on Holiday though, so it was just us and the school master there, who was wondering who the heck we were but wouldn't tell us we couldn't be there. People in Uganda are very hospitable. We crossed the equator several times. I didn't do the cyclone toilet bowl trick thingy, but that would have been neat to try. I'm talking about how the water drains in a toilet clockwise in southern hemisphere, and counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere.
The time to pick up Debbie was getting close, so we headed back up to the church was speaking and hung out with some of the children there. They were a little shy, but we got to stare at each other and just wonder at what was going on inside each others heads; I remember wondering about all the things that those children have seen in their lives.
We left the next day. On our way back to Kampala we stopped at a coffee shop (awesome coffee in Uganda) and ordered some drinks, then went on to this place called "Camp Croc" we got to see a bunch of crocodiles that they slaughter for their skin. they sell the meat to 2 restaurants in Kampala, and the skin is sold to places like Gucci in Europe. It was a nice place that looked out on Lake Victoria. A lady there was telling us that it was a Military camp that Idi Amin had set up; pretty fascinating really. If you havent seen "Last King of Scotland" I recommend it. It is about Idi Amin.

Have you ever noticed that when you take a speed bump at lower speeds it is almost worse than going over them at a little higher speed? well as I mentioned before, Derrie is a speed bump assassin. He would take speed bumps at like 90 kph (which is like 60 mph). There would be a set of 5 speed bumps, and he would just take them all. it was quite smooth. Whoever thought speed bumps were a good incentive to slow people down on the highway (yes, highway. Ugandan highways have speed bumps) must have not have given that much consideration. ...because in Uganda, it makes people want to go faster. At least it makes Derrie want to go faster. =) It was a thrill.

9/9/08
Before we left for Congo, I was playing on the Neutron Spinner with some of the kids. They are brilliant. they figured out how to make that thing into a gear. they will find a big stick and put it in one of the holes on the underside of the handles. then the boy will walk around in a circle on the inside next to the pole pushing the stick. he walks at a slower pace, but the kids that are holding on to the handles are going so fast that their bodies are at a 45 with the ground. Anyways, I was playing, and got a pretty nice blister on the palm of my right hand. I didnt think too much of it. On our way back from Kasese,
it started getting very tender, and turning red. Then is started swelling. It became infected and swelled my middle finger, ring finger, and the whole upper pad of my hand. The pressure was outrageous. There was a good amount of pain, so when we got back to the orphanage, I asked Betty's husband John. who is a doctor, to take a look at it. he gave me all these pills to take, and said that it would get better. I took the pills. There was an antibiotic, and a pain killer called Dicofin. The next day it had gotten bigger and started being really painful. It would keep me up at night. So I went in to show the Nurse (who hadn't seen it yet), and she gave me some additional antibiotic pills to take and a cream to rub on it. So by this time I am taking the pain killer, Antibiotic A, and 2 pills of Antibiotic B. Then the puss started showing up. My skin had healed with the blister, so there was a pus pocket that was starting to form under my skin. Everyone would get all grossed out at it. The kids loved to look at it though. The day that we were leaving to come home the pus bubble had gotten maybe the size of a dime. So I took it to the Nurse, and she decided that it would be best to pop it. ...It was glorious. She filled 4 gauze pads with all different shades and hues of pus. Steven and I were wishing that we would have at least taken some pictures; it was so gross. So after she drained my hand, she decided that I needed another pain killer. I got a shot this time. She got out the syringe, and this little jar looking thing. she filled the thing with the pain killer fluid. I could not believe that she was about to pump all that into my arm. It must have been like 1/4th cup, not kidding. At least that's what it looked like to me. (Maybe you should ask Steven about it to get a realistic description. I just want to pump myself up and make it look like I am the man) I just sat and took it. There was a little bulge on my arm when she was done. Then she just attacked the thing; rubbing it in. My goodness, it felt like someone took a sledge hammer to my funny bone. So then we wrapped it up in a bandage, and that was that. she gave me some things to make new bandages with so that I could do it in an airport or something. While we were driving to the airport I had already filled the bandage with pus, so I had to setup "Adam's Backseat Kampala Road Clinic". Try driving over a million potholes and replacing a bandage totally saturated with pus. Double points if you can manage not to get blood and pus on your pants or the car. ..or your backpack. Adam's clinic is an international establishment. It has also been seen in Airport bathrooms, terminal waiting areas, and even airplane bathrooms. I wouldn't say it is the most sanitary of locations, but I got quite good at it.
Having my hand jacked up made it very hard to write or type, so I knew I wouldn't be able to blog or anything till I got home and my hand got better, so I had to scribble notes in my notebook lefty; and I mean SCRIBBLE. it looks like my brothers daughter got a hold of my pencil. Scribbling wasn't the only thing that I had to do lefty either. Try eating only with your left hand. You don't see many people eating with forks in the villages, so we ate with our hands a good amount. I had to lift the food from the floor to my mouth (I couldn't hold the plate in my right hand either) with my left hand; disaster. Try going to the bathroom not using your dominant hand. ...for anything. I have so much more respect for anyone who had the extreme misfortune of losing a hand. ...or any body part for that matter. Its better now; at least to the point that I can type.

I don't know how many times we would go to order some food on a menu in a restaurant and they would come back 2 minutes after we would order and say, "we don't have Beef"
"well what about a chicken sandwich?"
"We don't have lettuce, tomatoes, or mayonnaise."
"I see. Do you have hamburgers?"
"No."
"Ill take the beans and rice."
You have to love it. It makes for a good time.

Oh look honey! One of the most disgusting looking birds I have ever seen. ...in my life!! =) I call them garbage birds because the eat garbage. I saw them sneak up to some dudes food while he was in the bathroom and swallow a whole chicken from his plate(Game hen size), then all of his french fries. ...but they eat garbage too, not just deliciously prepared food.



We went to see another movie; "District 9". It was a crazy movie. Different than any movie I have seen before. I liked it. I am not going to say it was amazing because I'm a people pleaser and many of you may not like it. =) but I liked it. I have this tendency to love movies that people hate. Steven and I both watched a ton of bootleg movies. You can buy new releases that are playing in theaters still. The DVD are just burned DVD with marker on them. its pretty funny.

We went to the Zoo near Entebee Airport on our way out, and checked some more animals out. We were at the Rhino exhibit, Steven was over looking at the board that had all the info about and just started shouting. There were ants all over his feet biting him. He had managed to stand in the middle of this huge and trail that happened to go right in front of where people are supposed to stand and read. Those things were so big.

On the way home while in Amsterdam we went to one of the coffee stores looking for a little caffeine. I was unable to sleep the whole time. sleeping on airplanes just doesn't happen naturally. There is just so much that happens. you cant get comfortable, your contacts are in and dry, there is a ton of noise.. i just cant do it. so i was looking to get some coffee. Steven was like "there is this place that I got some over here, he showed me. I went up to the counter and bought a macciato or whatever it is, however its spelled; I don't know. The thing was TINY. I had to pay 2.35 that is Euros, so it was like 5 bucks. what a joke. Although to its credit it had some good caffeine. I had to buy a small can of coffee on my way out of the place though. it was like a Starbucks double shot drink thing. We had to take a picture. It looked so pathetic next to my (amazingly) pathetic looking bandaged hand.


I know that I promised a "don't take these for granted" list a while back, so Steven and I threw a few together. These are a few things that we really noticed missing in our daily routine. Don't take these for granted!
Carpet, both hands, hand soap, chairs, not having to sleep in mosquito nets, dinner menus that can actually serve what you order, food with no bones or rocks in it, toilette seats, toilets, toilet paper, the English language, showering without using a jerrycan, not showering outside with the mosquitoes, and pavement.


It was really hard to leave. I haven't been able to play with the kids since I got back from Congo. The morning we left I got up real early (6:58) and all the kids were getting ready to go to school. I had the chance to say goodbye to a lot of the older kids that had already went to bed the night before. I snagged my camera and walked around hoping to catch some more pictures of the kids. I was walking over by the playground and just had to stop and take in God's amazing picture that he was showing me; the sun was rising in the distance over the hill on the far side of the church. Kids were swinging just before they had to go to school, but they were silhouetted against the bright and hazy morning sky. I could have stood there forever. I could hear kids laughing and singing. Just the commotion of the whole orphanage was beautiful. It was a picture more extravagant than I think anyone could ever take. God has this way of just touching you at times when you are not expecting it. Later in the day when we were leaving, the kids had mostly left that went to school in other areas The kids still there were starting to go to school in some of the homes. The orphanage has decided to put up a school on site because the local school upped its rates a little bit and made it too expensive for the school to send the kids to school. They hired some workers to put up a temporary school so that the kids can attend there until funding for a new and permanent school can be built. They are interviewing new teachers right now. Having a new school that they can control and monitor will really help the students focus and learn. Many of the younger children were failing most of their classes and could not speak English, so Jackson and Eve Senyonga decided this was the best decision for the children. I have to say; I agree.

My trip has ended. I'm sure that there will be more stories that pop into my head that I will wish I could have put into this blog, but I hope that I gave you the ability to see a little of what I saw and experienced when I was there. I know that many of the things that I said were just funny side notes, but just to reiterate; This trip was not so that I could have a good time while doing good, but to show some of the glory of God through my hands, which he made, to the children and mums in the orphanage.

I hope that you have enjoyed my blog, but I do not seek glory for anything that I have written. I hope and pray that in all I do, I can glorify our Creator and not myself. I don't see a need to continue to blog, so I will not be sending any more notifications that Adam updated his blog. I try to blog once in a while just to update people that may look about whatever is happening in my life. So thank you so much for your support by reading this. I pray that I'll be blessed enough to write some more about next year.

Down to 2 weeks left

August 27, 2009

So today hasn’t been all that exciting, but it is always nice to hang out with the kids. I got to play some checkers with some of the children. I was playing Maureen, and I kept winning. Then Deizy who is like 7 or something started to play and beat me 3 times in a row… I couldn’t believe it.. she is good. Just like everything else, they play differently. Talking to Steven… he taught them wrong. Now im starting to think I don’t know how to play. Maybe I have been playing it wrong my whole life.

Last night we had a bunch of the boys over to watch a movie on the computer. It is a movie that we bought for 4000 Ush ($2.00). The dude that sold it said that there were English subtitles, but nope. No subtitles. It was a rad Kung Fu movie though; “Ong-Bak 2”. The boys liked it. Well see how much the girls like it.

Yesterday we also decided that we were going to do some laundry. When I say laundry I mean underwear. We usually let some of the Mums do the pants, shorts, shirts, socks, etc. but we piled up our underwear in a box and kept it. A few days ago I thought it would be a good Idea to let them soak in some soapy water. It was a bad idea. I filled the tub about half way with soap and water, put our clothes in it, and walked away. I forgot about it and 2 days later (yesterday) the smell was terrible. Just curious what he would say, we asked Bill if he wanted to give it to one of the Mums, and he was like “I don’t think I could bring myself to do that. The smell is too terrible.” And it was. So we sat out on our front porch and scrubbed underwear for the next hour or so. A bunch of girls decided to come and crowd around us and play games on our porch while we did laundry; I was all self conscience, because I could smell our underwear… They had to be thinking that Americans are the stinkiest ever. We got it washed and hung to dry, so we should be good for a while on our (to a degree) clean underwear.

August 29, 2009

Had Mum Sara come to our door this morning screaming for Bill, that is a usual thing, but this morning we were supposed to go down and take some pictures of getting plantains and making Matooke. Matooke is made with a banana that is not sweet. They pick it, peel it, wrap it in banana leaves, steam it, then when it is nice and soft, mash it. They usually put all kinds of things on Matooke. Here at the orphanage they usually put Meat, or Beans on their Matooke. Its delicious. We went, cut the Plantains, and peeled them so that the Mums and Bonsiano (Cook) can start to prepare dinner for the birthdays tomorrow. Im pretty excited to be here for that tomorrow. I know that they celebrate birthdays twice a year; Half the children in the summer months, and half in the winter months.

August 31, 2009

Last night I got back from one of the kid’s houses around 10:00. I have bonded pretty well with the particular house that I was at. Bill and Zion were in our house watching a movie and Steven was in bed. I usually am a light sleeper, but I just went to bed and before I knew it the lights had been turned out and I was asleep. This morning I woke up, and Bill had woken up, got dressed and was practicing singing his songs that he wrote. Im not saying they are bad, but they sure are bad when you just want to get a little extra sleep. I woke up, did my usual round-off out of my bunk to the floor, and found my shorts and shirt. I have to lay the deodorant on thick these days; I don’t get to shower all that often. I put some toothpaste on my brush, then proceeded to lose control of it and it went crashing to the floor getting toothpaste all over the place, and getting little interesting hairs all over my toothbrush. Steven and I both agreed that it looked like someone had probably been trimming in there. So I had to do a thorough wash of the toothbrush, and get to scrubbing.

I went to get into bed the other day, and I hopped up to the second bunk, and did my usual wipe of the feet; don’t want to get dirt in my bed. There was something stuck on my heel. Thinking about it, the last place I was in was the bathroom, so I took my hand up to my face to give it a little sniff, and sure enough. A little poo had gotten in between my flip-flop and my foot… I think I have better aim than that. So I hope that it wasn’t mine… then again I hope it was… both answers are bad… Just so you know, I got down and washed that trash off before I got into bed.

Since we took the girls to the Ridar, we had to take some of the boys. We had little Simon, Jimmy, Edgar, and James. …and Bill, of course. We didn’t want to blow a bunch of money, which is hard to do when you are taking quantities of people out, so we decided that we would just watch a Football match, and eat some lunch, then come back. The boys had Pizzas for the most part, James had a cheeseburger that looked amazing. Steven, Bill, and I didn’t eat restaurant food, instead Steven made a run to the store and bought some more fruit so he could snack on that. I got some biscuits, which aren’t really biscuits at all. They are more like delicious cookies, and Bill got something else. But we paid far less for our snacks than we would have for lunches. The boys disappeared with my camera for a while and when they came back, they had gotten in front of every car in the parking lot, put their feet on the bumpers like they were on the front of a CD case. It was pretty funny.

So yesterday was the kids birthday party that they celebrate once, maybe twice a year. One of the pastors from Christian Life church (Deborah) came to decorate and to help with the whole thing. We had a huge display setup in the main hall. It looked very nice. The Mums were simultaneously cooking a huge lunch for all the children. There were Irish potatoes, cabbage, matooke, some crazy fish soup thingy, and of course, a whole cow; liver, intestines, meat, bone marrow, all of it. They gave the head away to the evangelists, which they cooked and ate. Steven went down to their houses and took some pictures with it. The weather turned a little bad while the mums were preparing food. It went from warm and sunny to warm and monsoon rainfall. It was the kind that you step out in it for 2 seconds and it looks like someone pushed you into a pool or something. So a bunch of the children were holed up in the church and Betty decided to play a Luganda game show. It was the strangest thing. It was boys vs. girls, and the children would give each other riddles. I have never heard of the kinds of riddles that they were giving each other and none of them made any sense whatsoever to Steven or I, but it did to them which is what matters. There was one that I remember Zion interpreted for me. It was “what can a white man not sew?” and the answer... “A crack in the ground.” …I can’t believe I didn’t get that one; it was obvious. But it was fun to watch. Bill went head to head against Becky, and got destroyed. Steven and I were like.. “Come on Bill.” He would get one wrong, and the whole girls side of the church would roar, then the boys side would roar at the girls side… All the while Betty and Zion (The officials) were totally on the girls side, so it didn’t help our cause. While we were sitting there, we were commenting on this goat that was tied to the soccer goal out in the middle of the soccer field just getting pounded by the rain. It would try to run for shelter, then the rope would tighten and it would try to go the other way and do the same thing. Betty decided to send two volunteers out to get it, so two boys took their shirts and shoes off, and booked it through the rain after this goat. The whole church was crowded at the window to watch, it was pretty funny.
The power was out all day. I was supposed to take pictures of the ceremony and of the children with their gifts. Everything was setup in the church, but there was no light, and I don’t have a good flash, so the pictures were going to be garbage. So they decided they were going to move it outside, but it was busy raining outside, so we had to wait till it stopped. By that time it was getting dark anyways. When the rain did stop, we had to move all the gifts out to one of the porches of the homes, and setup a table with the cake, and gifts there, so to distract them Betty organized a little competition for the children; Race around the soccer field. I have to hand it to her, she is a genius at keeping children occupied. When we actually got around to starting the celebration, Betty was stressed, the kids were hungry, the food was getting cold, everything was wet, and I had a layer of clay that was about an inch thick on the bottom of my flip flops. Betty was asking me what she was going to tell Eve when she talked to her on the phone about how it went, and all I could think of was that God has a plan that is bigger and better than our plans. No matter what plans we make, sometimes God decides that he wants to make sure that we understand that. Even though it seemed like the birthday was a disaster, I won’t ever forget it. I think if it had been flawless, I would just pass it off as another birthday party. I don’t think that I would forget this particular birthday being in Africa with orphan children, but it seems the times that you remember the best are usually the times that don’t work out the way you planned them. I had a blast.

Steven and I leave for a few day trip to the Congo here on the 2nd. Should be pretty awesome. Some of the Gosvener’s missionary friends from Montavilla church (Darrie and Debbie Turner) that have been here for like 12 years or something have some down time, so Darrie decided that he would take us around for a little while. I’m pretty excited about it. I hear that you can trade a dog for like 4 goats there. That would be so rad. I totally would do it. Steven and I were talking this morning about stealing the neighborhood pest here, and trading it for delicious goats there. Given the opportunity, I think I would try a little dog. Maybe make a BBQ pulled dog sandwich.. mmm…
YACK!!


September 1, 2009
Had a little more restless leg last night, I had to get up around 1:30 to adjust the sheets and the blanket in my bed. I think it may be a combination of a few different things. I haven’t bathed in like 3 days, Steven hasn’t bathed in a week… but Ill cover that in a second. I got up at 1:30, and I noticed that the computer was on in our main room, so I wandered out there to find Bill watching a king fu movie. We bought this 9 in 1 Kung Fu DVD. The quality is somewhere around a youtube video, but the kids love them. Bill had been watching TV all day, and he was on his 4th movie. I walked out there, and was like “Bill… Really?! Go to bed and give the computer a break.” He is like a little kid that is addicted to TV. So I adjusted the sheets and went back to bed.

Last night Steven, Zion, and I were playing some Rummy, and Zion got called to Mummy Benna’s House. So to pass time while she was gone, I got up and went outside in the dark for a bit to find several girls huddled on the ground with their cups. I went to check it out and had to call Steven outside. The girls were eating bugs… The were like “You eat.”
“are you kidding me?!”
Again, they told me “you eat.”
“I wish I could, but they give me really bad gas.”
They were just chowing down on them. They are white ants that don’t bite. Supposedly they are a delicacy or something around here. I wasn’t about to eat that trash, so Steven said he would, then I had to. They had gobs of them in their little cups. When I finally got one in my mouth, the little jerk made a B-line for my throat. Just about made me gag. I actually have a picture with me looking like I was going to gag, but you can only see half the bug in my mouth because it was moving so fast. so I put one of the girls on there. I had to crunch down on him before he got into my esophagus and made a little home for himself down there somewhere. We ended up eating around 4 each, and taking a bunch of pictures of it. I got a good one of Steven, and a ton of the girls. So thats bugs off the list, now we got to get some dog in the Congo.

Speaking of bugs, we killed two monsters last night, we came in after eating dinner at another one of the kids houses, and there were these to HUGE cockroaches just chilling inside. So we smacked them with some flip-flops, and now they are just chilling over there in the corner being eaten by ants. I put my pencil in the picture so that you could get an idea of how big they are.

Also speaking of bugs. I got a bug inside my chin I think... It's just making a little nest for its babies in there, I know it is... I haven't had a pimple that size since I was like 15. made me look like I had a double chin. I was forced to shave some Lamb chops...

Its been almost a week since we posted last, but I don’t know if we will get a chance. I hope that Darrie and Debbie have internet that we could post with, but who knows. It might be a long time before we get to.

September 2, 2009
Made it to the Turner residence. We were blessed with some delicious sandwiches on hoagie rolls. I think that was the best sandwich I have had in a long time, and I don’t mean that because I haven’t had one in a long time. The avacados are to die for, the bread was so soft, and the cheese was Gouda! We went to this Italian store because Debbie needed to find some things for the pizzas that she wants to make for dinner tonight. They had all kinds of things there. Steven even bought Harry Potter 6 on DVD… wait, that isn’t out yet… (bootleg) We were hoping that they had internet so I could post, and thank you Lord, they do! We are planning on heading out to Kasesse tomorrow. It is about a 6 hour drive over there, and Darrie wants to take us to a game park, or something fun. We would like to go into the Congo, and he said that is fine, so we will have to see what happens.