Hard Core

I had a late night last night while Mum Betty reasoned with some of the older girls in the store house. I came back to find that the home that I sleep in was alive with conversation. Here I was thinking I would just roll into bed, but there were problems to be solved yet. I eventually went into my room, put my headphones in, and fell asleep to worship music. Its hard to fall asleep if other people are in the same house, because there is no ceiling, only the walls. The sound bounces off the sheet metal roof so you have no sound privacy, only visual privacy.

I had a guard watch the gate doors that were delivered yesterday. Someone could easily come in the middle of the night and remove them. We set one of the solar powered spotlights so that it cast a very dim light on the gate. They have been working on the gate today, but seem to be moving slowly. It has been raining off and on as well so I am sure that helps their productivity. 

The wall that extends down into the wetland, which was excavated yesterday, has been filling up with water today. We have ordered large stones, which they call “hard core”, that they place in the bottom of the trench up to the water line, then they build the wall on top of the large stones leaving a way for water to pass under the wall. We have had deliveries of these large stones all morning, while the other workers are working on setting the gate. 

Today in Uganda is Women’s Day. The schools have shut down, so the children are all home, and it makes it a little more challenging to keep track of construction. They all want my attention, and when I give it to one child, a crowd begins to form making it difficult to do anything. I wanted to teach some of the children how to make bracelets, but what ended up happening, is that all of the kids want string, but then they don't want to learn, they just end up walking away with the string. I have really been spoiled having Bruce, Julie, Susan, and Joe. Trying to do activities without help is close to impossible for me. 

Today is also Bruce, Julie, and Susan’s last day in Lira. Rachael and Daniel Graham came to pick them up and take them to Kampala. There they will stay with the Turners for a day or two, then board the plane for Portland. They dropped off all of their things that they wish to leave here at the orphanage, and loaded their things into the Graham’s SUV. As they drove away, I rode away on the bicycle that we purchased for the mums. 

Setting Stones

During the day I don't feel that we get very much accomplished, but when I look back on the last few days, it tells me a different story. 

The boss of our mystery surveyor actually took matters into her own hands and came to the orphanage yesterday with her own team of surveyors. They correctly located the boundaries of the orphanage and set stones to show us where we can continue the construction of the wall. She was alarmed to find the mistakes that have been made concerning boundaries in the area. It is evident that CLM has been mis-informed since they purchased the land back in 2003 and built all of their buildings upon the word of a surveyor who did not complete his work. 

Though we are happy to have stones that we can now build from, the homes on the orphanage step over the lines on almost every side of the property. 

Henry delivered our front gate today, and though we were expecting to see it installed, it sat idle for the whole day, and is now sitting idle into the night. We have hired one of the workers to come and watch it during the night to make sure that someone does not come to steal it. The reason for it remaining untouched throughout the day is because we focused our workers attention on digging the footings for the wall as it extends into the wetlands; a whole day of digging in saturated clay. 

We also received tables that we have purchased for the homes today. They came around 6pm, and still tacky with varnish. We decided to put them into the store house, where I sleep, so that the children wouldn't be touching them and the varnish would cure without fingerprints. The VOCs (volatile organic compounds) coupled with the doxycyclene should make for a very interesting dream. 

Long time coming

It has been killing me to have so much to say and no way to say it.. Some of you have probably been receiving updates from Joe's wife, Cheryl. Others have been wondering, "What is happening in Uganda."

Since so many things have happened, I cant elaborate. I have an entire volume that I was hoping to cut and paste into my blog, but it turns out that there is some issue preventing me from doing that, so I am trying to type directly connected to the internet.

Our progress has been very good. We have built nearly 3/4 of the wall. We have had our setbacks with delay of materials, theft of materials, theft of funding, and delay of surveying. Our biggest challenge right now is getting the surveyor whom we payed back in January to complete his work. This surveyor has been so bad in his work with Christian Life Church, that the orphanage was originally built in the wrong place because of his direction. This is the biggest prayer need that we have currently. We have communicated with his superiors, and called many people in the community with power through friends and other people we have met.

Through all of the surveying drama we have come to terms that the chicken coop that we constructed last year is lost to a municipal roadway, and that we will be losing a large portion of land that everyone understood belonged to us.

We have replaced our old contractor with a man named Henry Jones. He has a very good story attached to him, and everywhere he goes he wears a very nice white leather cowboy hat that looks like it was taken from a cheesy old western cinema. He has more character that he needs, but is very humble and dedicated to his job. He was orphaned when he was young, served in the military, and became a christian later in life working with missionaries building churches, and houses. This morning he showed me all of his certificates for schools in engineering because he wanted me to know him more.

Bruce, Julie, and Susan arrived safely, and have been keeping busy with various projects, and helping with construction. Joe also left on the 28th. I will miss Joe, he added a flare that leaves something lacking when he is gone. I love working with him. We recently purchased tables for each house to place in their main room. I swear we left money for this last year, but there are no tables. We have painted blackboards in each house, and have fixed all the major problems in the orphanage.

We had another lottery for the workers today. They are used to making 6000 shillings ($2.50) each day, so we gave about 2000 shillings on top of it. to them it is a big deal, and it encourages them to remain loyal to us.

Henry might want to flip our crew, he says that most of them are too young and inexperienced. He is not a man who manages by sitting in a chair, he performs work right along side the others and instructs as he goes. I will be having a meeting with him in the morning about some things I want to see him do as well as make sure we are keeping ahead of the workers so they don't have any down time.

March 4

We drove up to Soroti to meet Daniel and Rachael Graham. We left the wall project in the hands of our new foreman and Felix. I actually rode in the back of the Land Cruiser on top of a spare tire, but the road was one of the best roads I have been on in Uganda, so it wasn't half bad. We went and saw the office where they serve, and met their staff. We then took the Boda Bicycles into town and walked through the shopping district. I actually went through the market and found a lady who had a giant pile of bulk tea, and took the opportunity to purchase two kilos for a friend back home. We are now back at the Graham's home waiting for dusk so that we can go to the local pork joint. It is called "Pork Joint.

Squib

I could complain about the flight..  Lets just say my neck is sore, and I am fatigued.

I met a man from San Antonio who is a plastic surgeon doing a medical mission to fix deformations for people in Rwanda.. that was cool. I had a 2 hour delay on my flight out of New York causing Delta to kick everyone on board a $100 voucher and I still made it to Amsterdam with time to spare for my connecting flight... that was cool. After I sat looking at the Luggage carousel for 25 minutes, my bag rounded the corner, bringing a smile and sigh of relief to share with the person standing next to me. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen their bag yet. I hooked up with Bosa, our driver, and as we waited for Joe to walk out of the Terminal, I handed him a snack of soy wasabi almonds and bought him a bottle of water. Joe finally showed up and we headed into Seeta to check into the Ridar Hotel. We got into our rooms right around 1:30am and wouldn't you know it!? my 30 hour sleep deprivation disappeared. I didn’t feel tired. The feeling quickly returned when I decided to lay down and imagined what it was like to be on the plane in the uncomfortable head-bobbing position. It was quiet. It was dark. It was warm. I closed my eyes and before I knew it; it was morning. 

Today we had a nice breakfast and started out trying to get a hold of Felix so that we could meet with him about the wall. His phone was off, so we figured that it would be best to head into Kampala and stop by Christian Life Ministries (CLM) so that we could also run a few of our errands while we waited. We arrived at CLM and asked if we could meet with Felix and found that he was actually in Lira. After calling Felix, talking to a receptionist, talking to a man named William, and talking to Betty, we discovered that the plan was to withdraw the money that we wired for the project and exchange it into shillings to take with us to Lira. We needed to wait for someone to go and withdraw the money. Before long a girl walked out of the CLM building with a brown envelope and handed it to me and said, “here is your money”. Long story short, it was an incorrect amount of money, and we had to eventually get to jackson to actually find out what was going on. CLM gave us 20% of our budget out of their own pocket because the wire transaction had not been completed. He said, “sometimes it can take weeks, and sometimes only a few days.” Finally understanding; we took our funding and exchanged it at a rather good rate, and then bought some boxes of water.

We drove back to pick up some letters for children that were at the hotel, and then drove out to the orphanage to see the children, and to see what has been happening there. The school has made progress. There were several construction workers that were there relaxing as the children were gathered outside the classrooms listening to the schoolmaster. It was a beautiful dusk at the orphanage. Places that I have always seen somewhat dusty and barren were lush and green, and the area down by the pump house was surrounded by large beautiful banana trees. We also met with Daniel and Rachael Grahm, who were in Kampala. They were able to come out and see the orphanage. They are missionaries up north, who we will be visiting a little later in this trip. 

Also to our surprise I heard one of the boys call me “Makurada”. I turned to him and asked how he knew that, and he told me that it was my name; he was from Lira. I ran into a few other familiar faces from Lira later in the evening. Some of the older girls that I know had been moved from Lira to Seeta. They were moved to finish their Primary school and to go to Secondary school. - Today is the first day for primary school in Uganda, and secondary school officially starts in the next few days as well. I asked them who was going to play seven stones with me, but they couldn’t tell me..   Seven Stones is a game where as you try to stack seven stones on top of each other without them falling over, the catch is while you do this, the other team tries to hit you with a rock (balled up sock). The more times you can stack the stones without being hit, the more points you get. 

The Jet lag started to hit Joe quite visibly as he would stand and try to endure conversation. He told me a few times that this was the case, so we started to make our way back to the car. It wasn’t easy to leave quickly, since I doubt Ill see anyone from Seeta again during this trip. It felt strange to me. I almost didn’t want to go to Seeta in the first place because I knew that they would be sad that I was only there for a few hours, not to return till the summer months. I didn’t even get to see my daughter Florence; she was still with her auntie on holiday. 

Tomorrow we will leave for Lira in the morning. Hopefully we will get there in good time. I booked a room at the hotel there for the first night, and after that I am at the orphanage full time. There is a chance that I will get internet, but not until Bruce and Julie come to Uganda. 

8 days

       Over the last month, I have been talking to people on the phone, face to face, at Christmas and New Years parties, and via email. I have been trying to raise money to get the wall funded so all that remains is actually flying and getting my hands dirty. That time has finally come, and much sooner than expected. Right now, the obstacle is the 8 days before I hand over my ticket to the person at the flight desk, and board the plane. ...and not tripping over the giant “check-in” bag that is constantly spread open in the middle of my room. Every now and then when I think of something that would be useful, I will pick it up and figure out a way to mash it into the case. One example is bug screen...  I will be living at the orphanage for 2 months. Since the mosquitos and I don’t get along all that well, I am going to do my best to keep them away. I do not yet have malaria, and don’t intend to get it. The 2 ways to ensure this are very simple: keep taking my medication, which prevents it, and keep the mosquitos off of me. I have actually experienced moments here in the US where I am almost asleep in my bed and start batting at my ear because of some delusional flash-back where a mosquito annoyingly and slowly flutters into my ear canal... its terrible.

Several checks have arrived in the last week; our project is now fully funded and we are ready to start. I received an email from our partners in Uganda telling us that they need to pay the surveyor that was hired to locate the property lines, so, we have wired a payment to them that covers the cost of the survey and allows them to begin purchasing the materials needed for the wall. With materials now going into the orphanage, I am sure that all the children there are wondering what’s going on...  

I have a team of 4 to 5, not including myself, which will be meeting me in Uganda and joining in on the fun construction festivities. It has been a blessing to work through the details of the trip, though sometimes it’s mildly frustrating. The frustration, however, is in my head. Fighting that is a constant battle, and is overcome by remembering that God is the one that placed this project on my heart. He has truly put this small team together, and he will use us in the ways of his choosing to accomplish great things of which we are still unaware. I am expecting a trip of construction and relationships; encouraging the children, mums, and sharing the message of Christ with some who have not yet heard. What God has in store for us may be something entirely different... Please be praying for divine opportunities concerning my team; authentic ones. 

Prepping

Over the last few weeks I have been preparing to go back to Uganda. As some of you know, last year I had the privilege of leading a team of 10 to Lira. Our goal was to teach the children the bare-bones gospel through a very good curriculum called “Evangelism Explosion”. Our building projects were installing solar power lighting systems into the homes, and building a chicken coop that would provide eggs for the children. We accomplished all of our goals and returned home with satisfaction. months later, I received an email from Dr. Peter showing me a picture of the eggs that the chickens had produced for the children and was very happy. I read further in the email and he explained to me that there had been a break-in at the orphanage and many of the chickens had been stolen some time ago in the night. I didn’t understand how this could be possible since we built the coop very sturdy. The next picture I saw was of the back side of the coop where someone had taken hammers and broken through the ventilated portion of the coop enough to get inside and pass the chickens back through. Dr. Peter told me that they had come in the middle of the night during a rain storm so that they would not be heard. I was disappointed. A few days after reading Dr. Peter’s email I chatted with Mum Betty over Facebook and let her know that I had heard that there were a number of chickens stolen from the orphans, and I wanted to fix the coop. She then told me about he next time the thief came back; another rain storm, and all of the rest of the chickens that we had purchased were stolen. I called Bruce Douglas inquiring about what it would take to repair the coop and get some more chickens, the problem was that the thief would simply return and make quite a living out of the new source of chickens. I started to think about building a wall around the orphanage. 

I sent an email to Jackson Senyonga asking him if it would be alright if I were to raise funding, come, and build the wall around the orphanage. I later received a phone call one sunday afternoon from Jackson telling me that it would be alright, but he also told me a story about a truck that had recently driven through the barbed wire fence and collided with one of the homes; killing the driver. He informed me that none of the children were hurt, but it was one more confirmation to build the wall. 

In the past years we have noticed conditions in the Lira orphanage that continually decline as each year passes. When we first came to this orphanage there was no fence, nor were there homes in the immediate surrounding area, and there was no reason for concern. As time passed more and more people gravitated towards the city occupying more and more land. Homes started to be built around the orphanage and people tended to wander through the orphanage as a shortcut to get from place to place. Being a refuge for young boys and girls, this brought up concern from the management of the orphanage. They did not want people wandering through the orphanage for the safety of the children. A barbed wire fence was built around the orphanage to prevent people from passing through the grounds. We spoke with the mums and the cook about the fence. It was placed well inside the official property lines of the orphanage, leaving a considerable amount of property outside the fence. 

As people move into the city and build their homes, the fence indicates to neighbors that this is the correct property line. buildings have been built closer and closer to the orphanage and we are afraid that if much more time passes, this land will soon become land belonging to someone else. The correct boundaries need to be established so that this land is not “squatted” on by the neighbors, leaving the orphanage with less room then they are legally entitled. 

When it rains in Uganda, it pours. The average monthly rainfall is right around 5 inches from July to November. This is not very much water spread out over a long period of time, but Uganda rarely sees a day like a day in the Northwest. Their rain comes hard and fast making small rivers of water cut through the dusty ground carrying off large quantities of dirt. If you examine the orphanage you will notice that many of the home's foundations have been exposed and the dirt that once filled this space is now somewhere else. As the water continues to take soil from the area, the homes will experience increased cracking and crumbling, resulting ultimately in a house that is no longer suitable for anyone let alone children. Putting a wall in place will stop the erosion of the soil from the orphanage and could possibly provide a way to collect water. 

I started to think of ways to collect funding for this project. I came up with some rough figures of about 12,000 dollars for the entire budget of the wall. This included transportation to Lira, hiring a contractor and labor, buying all the material, paying for food, water, lodging, and even the flight it was going to take to get me there. I knew that it was too much to write to friends and family about, so I started calling people I know who have small businesses and know people who could help out. Fortunately for me, it was the end of the year and I was hoping to capitalize on year end tax donations from people who had not yet done so. I called Joe Cipov in California and spoke with him about the situation. It turned out that God had placed this exact thing on his heart a few weeks before I called him. I was beginning to see the divine appointment. He spoke with his wife and decided that he should come with me. He started talking to people that he knew in California and preparing as well. Funding has started coming in!! We have actually made it to our halfway point. I have made a contribution and purchased my tickets. My flight leaves Portland on February 2 and I return home April 3. I have been communicating with my brothers in Uganda about logistics and have really enjoyed talking with them again.

I feel that I have been enough times that I don’t have the crazy excitement of traveling any more, but I am getting very anxious. I am ready to get over there and start building this wall. I am excited to see the children in Seeta and Lira again. I am excited to see how the children have continued to grow and develop into people of character.

When I am in Lira, I doubt very much that I will be able to send any updates, as there is a severe shortage of wifi. But when I can, I will. I will send more updates as time gets closer. 

Home.

July 20th

We are back in the airport in Uganda, our flight is supposed to fly at 5:00pm. We will have a layover in Ethiopia for quite a while it seems. The flight from there is planned for 7:45am which will put us in Rome in the afternoon. Hopefully that gives us enough time to go straight to Casoria, or Naples.

The flight left Uganda at 5:00pm. We have become a kind clumped with the original passenger list of people that were scheduled for our first flight and have been traveling with them here and there. We landed at 7:30 and made our way through the airport. Having no idea what is going on or where we should be going, we just kept moving with the crowd of people. We eventually made our way to the main doors to the airport and found a few other original people. Some representatives eventually showed up and Looked at a piece of paper that we had been given with the name of the hotel we would be staying at. We were ushered outside to a van that had the hotel name "Churchill" written on it. We met an Italian woman by the name of Clara who is one of the original and is also going to Rome. She is a UNICEF worker in northern Congo where the LRA is still present and fighting. Se said that she lives in a container out in the middle of the jungle where she does her work. She said that the things that she sees out there is national geographic type stuff. I would love to see it.

We got to the hotel and got checked in. Both Julie's and my room are on the 6th floor of a hotel building that, from what I can tell, rises out of the middle of a slum. My room is on the corner of the building and overlooks dimly lit alleyways, and tin roofs. I opened my windows and experience a stillness of the area. The crickets are chirping, and the Muslims are in prayer. There is something beautiful about it to me, yet at the same time I don't really feel comfortable with it. It is beautiful to my ear, but disgusting to God's. They are cries to a false God that can not save them from sin. I need to go to bed. The bus takes us back to the airport at 5:20am. The flight should put us in Rome around 2:00pm, but I'm thinking that Julie and I may be catching a train on our own to Caserta.

We finally arrived in Rome, caught a shuttle to the main train station. I had no way of contacting the other team to find out where they were or where we needed to go. Julie and I checked the ticket machines to see when the next train to caserta departed. We then ran down the stairs of the train station into the underground to find a SIM card that I could put into my phone. My phone got switched over from Uganda service to Italy service but it took some time to activate, so we just decided to buy the tickets straight to Caserta. Our train departed on time with an estimated arrival time of 7:30pm. Julie and I had some good conversation on the noisy ride right up to 7:30 when our stop approached. I looked out the window to look for the Caserta sign, but I could only find one that said Isernia. I looked back at Julie, then to an old man that was sitting across the row from us. I asked him if he spoke English. "yes, a little." I held my ticket up and said, "Caserta." He said, "No, no! Big mistake, you make big mistake!" we were supposed to get off in Casino, and switch to a different train.. The next half hour I spent talking with Train officials, and our friends in Naples on my phone trying to figure something out. I couldn't understand what the official was saying so I would call my friends, and then they would talk to him, and then they would try to tell me what he said, but I couldnt understand them either. The official knew what was going on and made sure that we got to where we needed to go, thank you Jesus. After the second pick-up attempt, we finally were united with the team at a pizza restaurant, and started the Italy Camp Mission.

We spent the first night at the old mill (Vecchio Mulino). Though I was still in a bunk bed, at least now I didn't have to wrestle with a mosquito net. The Mosquitos that were at the camp were less than they have been in past years, but they still did a few dive bombs into my ear canal. I think that is the worst sound in the world. It is a sound that results in your arm whizzing past your ear so hard that you jolt yourself either upright, or into a completely new sleeping position. I never get them either, because they come back about 45 seconds later doing the same thing; new sleeping position.

We drove back into Casoria for church and heard Doug Valenzuela deliver a great message in perfect Italian. We could only sit and listen hearing the occasional word "Americano" drop. After the message, we returned to the camp and prepared for the campers to arrive a little later in the day. we had many new faces this year, which was really great. A lot of the older people couldn't come due to work or school. The students that we did have were amazing though. The week was filled with joy. We played team building games, volleyball, soccer, night time activities, study and meditation times that were led by the Italian leadership, and had great worship led by the Americans. I am really proud of the American team because of the way they integrated themselves in with the Italians. It is amazing to me the bond that you build with someone that you have never met before having spent only a week with them. God was with us on this trip, and he let us be examples of Christ in the way that we interacted with them and with each other.

 

July 28

We are now on the train back to Rome. Our whole team is spread out between two different cars, and only a few of us are lucky enough to be seated next to someone we know. The sun is going down and the lights have come on in the cabins. The train sways back and forth in an irregular motion as it winds around bends in the railway. I can see the Mediterranean sea on my left, and little castles on buttes on my right. Amy Simonson is sitting directly across from me sharing her headphones with an Italian girl that is on her commute home. Americans keep walking past the door to our cabin asking questions and saying hi... We have just a few hours before we are in our beds sleeping.

We walked around Rome for a few days. I think I have reached a point where the colleseum doesn't do much for me any more. I had much more enjoyment spending time with the team walking around, whether it was at the colosseum or not. I have seen everything but the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I had an opportunity to go, but I didn't feel a desire to go. The more I travel I find that I am less likely to need to see monuments and landmarks. I don't really care about them. Some of them are fascinating, but after I see them for a few minutes, I have this feeling like, "okay.. I can walk away now." I think it very much has to do with the people that I am with. I think it is true for more than just sightseeing also, if I am at home I can play a video game, but if I am by myself, it is boring. I can go and see the most amazing things that man has built, but if I am by myself it is just not as amazing. God has designed us for relationships, and that is exactly why I feel that way.

The flight back to Portland felt quick to me, probably because I was in and and out of sleep so much. We landed around 10:30pm. I was met by Cary Samsel and my car key, so I got to drive away from the airport. Sitting in my car, I thought about all that I have done the last 3 months, and the things that God has allowed me to do. It was warm enouh for me to roll down my window and let the air flow into the car and across my face. I didn't turn any music on; I instead just thought as I drove. The streetlights went by as I thought about where I was just 1 day ago, 1 week ago, the people that I have been with, the things I have taught, learned, and experienced. I turned my blinker on and changed lanes. I didn't have to worry about running into a ditch to get around the car in front of me. I thought about the dangers where I was, and now being back in Portland; safe and secure not having to worry about a thing. I almost feel more at home where I don't have the luxuries that I have when I am home. I know that soon I will be sucked right back into this place, expecting the things that I have, and not appreciating them. Last night I woke up sweating because of the heat. Portland isn't very hot, but I had a down-comforter that i didnt need in a bug-free, amazingly insulated room. No mosquito nets, no cocroaches. The bed was more comfortable than any bed I have slept on in the last 3 months. I am about to go camping at the beach with my family. My brother Elliot and I usually pack a futon that fits my tent perfectly; I am already expecting a bed that will be more comfortable than any bed in Uganda. My tent is better at keeping bugs out than any mosquito net. I will wake up to a nice breakfast, and relax most of the day in the sun, or shade, or whatever I feel like. I will have electricity, and running water... Camping. I don't have a lot by American standards, but I am filthy rich.

Now what happens? I'm not going back to work, I am applying for work with a christian international disaster relief organization called Samaritans Purse that will send me where they have the greatest need.

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