Thursday August 20th, 2009

As I write today I am enjoying watching just taking in the sights and sounds from around my room. It is an interesting mixture of Jonathan David Hessler, African voices streaming through the window and the encouraging of our pet gecko “Gerty” to eat all the flies on our wall just out of reach. I am resting after a long week of moving around the world. I’ll give a quick synopsis.

For those who still don’t know, I am no longer living in America (this should NOT be a surprise!). We are currently staying at Father’s Divine Love Ministries (FDLM) and working with David Zijjan. The ministry seeks to set orphans in families and to provide a place of safety for those who don’t have anywhere else to turn.

When we first landed, we were surprised by another team that was being hosted by Pastor David. The week that followed was an interesting one indeed. Rachelann and I were trying to figure out how to befriend the Africans (which wasn’t hard, they love us!) while at the same time trying to work with this new team we were intersecting with. During the days Rachelann would spend her time with the women in the kitchen, generating friendship through quality time. I spent much of my time working with the team to build a house off site for a mother and her two children. Downtime was often spent hanging out with the 59 children on the base. Friendships among the children were instant. The first question those who could speak English (and probably among those who didn’t) asked was, “how long until you leave?”. We had the joy of watching the thought settle into their minds when we told them we were committed to being here for a long time. So many teams come through and offer help is a good thing, however the children and staff also really need someone to hunker down and invest a significant length of time spent with them. We are hoping to offer that assistance through being the gift that we each are as well as through networking. Of course these realities are engulfed by the much bigger reality of God’s love and care for these amazing people.

So far we have had almost everything we have needed except internet. We are hoping to get that established soon. This blog entry is being written offline until it can be submitted online. Internet here requires an initial investment of about $200 for the wireless card that syncs with the cell phone stations. From there, we will be paying about $40/month for unlimited bandwidth use. I am excited to get this since it will be a good tool for so many things that will enable me to utilize my giftings most effectively here.

As I mentioned before, I spent a few days building a brick house with the team being hosted by David. It was some of the hardest and most rewarding work I have ever done. In addition to the team helping, several of the children came from the base and worked harder than some Americans I know (and without all the complaining!). We made concrete by hand (seven wheelbarrows of sand to one bag of cement). We used red clay bricks for the walls and metal sheeting for the roof. We poured a concrete floor with cement, medium sized rocks, and sand. Everyone worked hard. I am noticing that the children here work harder than most children back in America. Many worked barefoot and helped mix the concrete by hand. None of them complained and overall the attitude of the children and the team was joyful. It took us a few days to build the house but we finally finished it and it looks great! It is being given to a single mother and her two children.

Today I went to Kampala to retrieve three of our bags that were delayed. The team got dropped off at Entebbe International Airport at around 5:00am. I got to Kampala at about 5:30. The bus that dropped off the team wanted to go back to Jinja and not wait until 8:00 when KLM’s office opened. One of my new African friends, Noah, volunteered to stay with me. We hung out until 8:00 and then got the bags. Noah was a lot of fun to hang out with. He has such a sweet spirit about him. We took public transportation back and finally made it back to FDLM by 12:00.

At some point while in Kampala I realized that it was my birthday. Time passes much slower here in Africa where the pragmatic American drive is not present. Rachelann, who has spent much of her time in the kitchen with the ladies, worked to make a cake for me. I had never had a cake in Africa before. The cooks that we have are quite amazing and can cook almost anything. The food is great! When teams come, they pay for food which allows us to eat well for some time. When they leave, we revert back to beans, rice and poscho. However, Rachelann used some of our funds to buy ingredients for a cake and so we had a cake. All of the children gathered around and sang happy birthday to me. It was exciting. I even learned how to say “twenty seven” in Luganda: abiri mu musanvu.