Monday, January 30, 2012

T I A This Is Africa or I don't get it

TIA This is Africa!
This will be the new code for I DON'T GET IT. Some things I will still have to learn and the longer I am here the more I will understand but right now I am a little short on understanding of class schedules. But first our health. We both are 25-30 pounds lighter depends on the scale and the day. After the N ALL VOL and the long arduous ride back home Thursday, I noticed a tenderness in my R side, Friday it was worse and I felt a thickening and lump that was really tender with touch and certain movements. I called our Peace Corp Medical who are super and went to see a local Dr. who ordered lab to see if I had some problem with my liver. Tests come back in 3 days and the pain increased but nothing else. Because I have such good friends in the bible study one is a nurse here, one is a midwife using natural medications for 20 years, and the nurse has her daughter a DR from the UK visiting now. We consulted and looked at tropical med books and decided I may have a liver abscess from amoebic dysentery. The amoeba will live in your bowel but not cause a problem as it migrates to the live and your body walls it off like a pearl of pus as long as it doesn't rupture you are ok. So, Sunday after church, the ministers prayed over me and today a return appointment at the Dr. and a scan. Lab came back neg and scan said my insides looked good too. But the lump and pain remain so we will wait and see if anything new develops in the next 3 days. So for $30US I had all that done . The ultra sound did say I was full of hot air...I know that with all the beans eaten here all the mundu's (whites) are. So with all the confirming reassurance I am feeling better already. If not, Peace Corp and the high tech equipment are just a plane ride away in Kampala. If peace corp sends a driver to get me fuel here is expensive and it would be a 4 way trip to get me and take me home so the plane is cheaper and takes 45 minutes rather then 8 awful hours on a plastic seat with sun shining on you and a sick child close to you and maybe a chicken under the seat depending on the bus...
Classes now, we have students that pay 300,000UGS or $127.65 a semester for school fees plus bring a bunch of supplies for the school use, which is about another 300,000UGS. Some kids have only one parent who is a peasant and they work at whatever they can but they can't make the fees so they have to quite before finishing or delay coming back. This year I have said there are 200 in the new class and 7 teachers and a couple part time ones. The computer lab has 20 computers so I divided the class in to 9 groups with times for them and one class to be announced. Well, it seems one of the part time teachers who is the real computer teacher, has another job as a nurse for Dr Without Borders (MSF) so that is his primary job and the computer class is after his work hours. On Friday he didn't show up for his 5pm and Tuesday he didn't show up for the 5 or 6 pm class. I have made a big deal to the kids about keeping time. I told them if they are not at the class by 5 after the door is closed and you miss. Some of them have tried me on it and out they go and the rest of the kids join me in saying “goodbye”. They get a kick out of that. So what do you do when people who are college teachers don't show up for the class? Nothing apparently. The librarian is MIA too, as he is “taking classes” but no one seems to know when or where the classes are. The reason I am given for his retaining his position is because the previous principal hired him (Nepotism) and if he were fired (this is not new behavior) the old principal would say we did not respect her appointment and would shame the current principal so who looses? But TIA and I am learning. Tomorrow I will find the librarian and get a schedule for his hours and make random assignments from books only the library carries (1995 editions) so he will need to be in the room, maybe or be able to document his hours for review... Hope it improves his attendance. Did I mention his arrogance? That is what really grates me, next week it will be something new... Right now I think if I am going to do ward rounds that I need a notebook computer so as the students have questions I can answer right away rather then try and find it in a library book that I am now keeping in my office. I hate to keep my laptop in the office as I don't want to look rich and then the perception is we are able to help with school fees. We have much need. Many children are living with only one parent as the other is “late” and the family is living hand to mouth and the employment rate is bad. The kids seem interested in learning and the ward experience is the best place to take advantage of that. So I am putting out a call for a used notebook that the battery works on so I can haul it to ward rounds. There are no books on any of the wards except the ones funded by MSF and those are the TB ward MTCT mother to child transmission ward and nutrition (better known as malnutrition ward).
I have enclosed a picture of our new charcoal stove that we make a double boiler pan set up for and can now bake. Yesterday was our test run and the bread burnt really well in it. Today we will watch closer. Some things are fun learning about the simple technology and using it, and other things are hard. But TIA Love from the other side of the world where you are invited to come share the experience. Marc 


Friday, January 27, 2012

Northern ALL VOLUNTEER CONFERANCE

The matatoo "You get in now madame". (And start sweating with the rest of the people in the taxi)
Kitgum just a bus ride away
Some of the fellow passengers
Peace Corp has a gathering of all volunteers so we can hear of the projects that each of us are doing so we know who to resource with to spread the info so we are not reinventing stuff to share with our area. One of the volunteers that is extending for a year called together a North ALL VOLUNTEERS so since we are in the N we replied and and went. We have left site 1X for a perma gardening workshop in Nov . Otherwise remained here so we thought this would be a good opportunity to meet other volunteers and network. We forgot about the part we hate...TRAVEL...

Day one we start out okay by having a bus ticket. This is the way to travel here sit on the L side whee there are 2 seats together go early in AM before the sun melts you because you are on the L side and the curtains stop the open window breeze. There is a place you go from the N and have to transfer to another form of transport and that is Karuma falls. It is one of the few places you can cross the Nile and it is a terrible place. The taxi (matatoo) conductor fills the taxi which is licensed for 14 and if you remember kids on laps are only 1 person. The conductor told us we would only have 14 so we paid we got 14 right away and thought we were going. Nope, now you people you just move over and one more can fit in the row. The matatoo as I have said is our old Toyota van with with 2 extra bench seats added and a jump seat on the end that flips down so 3 across is comfortable but 4 across is not as a lot of Ugandans are well fed and have shoulder the size of football players. They have very few who deodorant works on either but they are very clean and dressed to the 9s if they can afford it and most do. Long story short we yelled at, threatened, got out, demanded but finally the conductor waited us out and we stuck in4 more people to make 19 in the matatoo and off we go to Gulu to spend the night at this nice quite hotel on the end of town far from the disco's that play loud music. All rooms are located around a open stairway with small windows facing out. We were on 4th floor and tonight was a graduation party on 2nd floor and it is hot so they opened the doors and windows and danced until 2 with the music so loud you could hear it in town at the disco's. Next AM the church service was very quite in the same room using the same sound equipment. We went back to the bus park to get our ride to Kitgum 2 hours N because we were going to stay in a hotel with a pool. I use the word hotel lightly.
Same story, we missed a bus seat as they were all full and got a matatoo this time he shoved in 26 bodies. We had luggage on the top and in the back they opened the door to put more in but the seat is at the edge of the door so the door won't shut. They tied it. Now the exhaust can come in with the door open a bit and so can all the dust dirt silt and ash. It is dry season and all the long grass is being burnt off so the new grass can grow. Ugandans do not understand that the burning kills the good microbes that are in the top layer of the soil and that the breakdown of the old grasses feeds the microbes. So the whole country is pretty much being burned off and the ash in the air is small black threads that love to get on your fresh laundry and when you brush them they smear ash... We found out the road to Kitgum is dirt not tarmac and the people in the back row were covered in the dirt when they got out. One man had on a black suit coat that magically turned red brown by Kitgum. The roads are crowned a lot of the way because of the heavy rains in rainy season and the buses with the wide wheel base using them so often so at times we were like we were on the side of a hill going semi vertical and thinking we may be tipping over at any moment. We saw the bus that was too full to take us changing a tire ½ way down the road too. The rocks are so sharp they just shred tires. Upon arriving we uncurled and decided my mom would not enjoy this. We walked a mile in the hottest part of the sunny day and got to the hotel. I put on my suit and went to the pool that is the size of a large hot tub see picture and got in. Yes, it was cool but had a lot of bugs and little swimming bugs in it too. I didn't splash around too much but the cool felt so good. Supper and bed in our single bed dorm room. Next day we met some of the PCV and went to the workshops held under a mango tree all day. It felt so Ugandan being under the tree on a mat learning eating and conversing. See Photo
Class under a mango tree
 The organizers of the all vol were good and the food was wonderful except the last day and I will show you more photos later on why. We met other volunteers and heard ideas and strategies and all agreed that the form of aid we are giving from USAID is not helping but creating a dependent society of handouts.
The food was cooked outside over a sygerie and day 3 the animals were interested in what we were doing because all the animals are free range you can see what showed up for the pics. The chickens were always present under the mango tree but the hen had 3 chicks day one and only 2 after that. Day 3 the rice was left near the fire and the chickens found it and we eating out of the pan and walking in it before it was cooked. But if you are a long time volunteer you know that boiling kills germs so you shrug and cook it, which is what happened with the rice. But when you went to eat it with the beans you had rocks in it and almost ruined your teeth. I couldn't eat mine as I am a new volunteer yet. Rice and beans are standard fare for lunches here sometimes the rice is substituted with another starch like enyasa (cooked cassava)or posho (cooked corn flour) both tasteless but lots of fine rocks in for crunch...
Pigs checking out the beans

Goats being moved from checking out the beans

Hungry humans checking out the beans

Wednesday, our last day we left early to enjoy the pool and relax with a book for a bit. We walked 4 miles in the heat of the day as we were stiff to start with and really hot by mile 1 and when we finally got to the hotel they were draining the pool because it was so “dirty”.
The dry pool in 90 degree heat
 We were so angry but what do you do? Shower right? So that was our cool down and we sat outside and talked with other volunteers from Mercy Corp that are working in Kitgum. They were interesting and fun to hear the stories they have, they are older volunteers too from California. We had meat for supper which we do not eat in Arua as we have no fridge, and went to bed content. Next day we went off to town to get a bus this time we had tickets but this bus they allow people to sit or stand in the isle for the 2 hour ride to Gulu so you again cannot stretch out as people are squished in the middle. We get to Karuma again and a PC pickup is there to pick up a volunteer to help her move to a site that she is changing too. Stevie the volunteer who is moving, Laura who is here with our group, and I squished in the 3seater pickup with the driver, so the the 4 males could have the seats on the bus. I had on capris so I sat over the shifter and off we went for 221 kilometers to Arua. 3 hours later we uncurled again and were home. Tom on the other hand did not get the bus but rather a coke truck that went 40 miles an hour and 4 guys and the driver rode in that. In Nebbi about 2 hours from Arua they found a bus with 2 empty seats and hopped that for home. Tom came in at 9 not very happy as we hadn't eaten much all day. But we are home again and remember why we do not like traveling. So if you come visit we will help you get a private hire. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Love from Arua where the grass continues to burn and the sun is still shining.(and hot) 
View from the bus what one can have delivered to your window for lunch

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Everyone Loves a Parade


Everyone Loves a Parade
Here in Arua where there are few forms of entertainment, church, speeches and boda crashes. One of the biggest ones is a parade. I have enclosed pictures of the parade that the women of Nacowlwa (national community of women living with aides) where Tom works, was in. The pictures are from the Worlds Aids Day and the most recent one was a community sensitization parade. The stigma of aides is so bad in many places here in Africa. Men blame the wives, of which they may have 4, of sleeping around and contracting the virus. Men won't get tested, it is the woman who has it not him and somehow he won't get it? A women gets tested when she comes to the Dr for prenatal checks but not allowed to go on the anti retrovirals because other people will know if they are taking medication that they have aides and the stigma is too high. The wives and baby are forbidden to go to HIV clinics and if they go to the clinic or are seen at the aids clinics the husband will put them out of the house with her children. If a baby is started on ARV's from birth the chances of them having the virus passed on to them is much less. They stay on the medication for a year and if they test neg they go off the meds and considered HIV free. But, they have to be started within 72 hours of birth and many baby's are born in the village and never get the chance to come to the hospital unless something happens during birth. It is a sadness how some of the culture and some parts of the society have trapped women in a cycle of poverty, injustice and ignorance.






But this parade is people, mostly women, gathering with there children to announce their HIV status and show others how they too, can join the group. Learn ways of living with the disease and be supported by other women. And friendships are developed with in the children So they have a parade with the marching band (that you hire for ~100US)from town that plays music for all the parades and they have many here. All the participants gather in the open area of the district office buildings so the district officers giving speeches don't have to travel anywhere just walk out the door to address the newest paraders. Ugandans love speeches and everyone gives one when there is a parade. So, the parade is suppose to be at 10. Having a time, I was told at my last nurses meeting, is a formality for the agenda and only a guideline. So by 10 enough people have come to town and milled around the district offices so the officer comes out and starts the speeches which last about 1-11/2 hour and then you line up and the band gets tuned up (they know 3 or 4 songs) and the parade starts on the one busy street in town where all the traffic between Congo, Sudan and Uganda go and all the buses run and all the 40 cars in Arua go. Everything gets held up or traffic tries to go around the mass of humanity. Now this would be special if it didn't happen so often. When the kindergartners graduated they marched, Catholics and Protestants march separately on separate days, when the Muslims started school or graduated (I couldn't tell because the uniform didn't change) they marched, when it was Independence Day they marched. It is kinda like a form of announcement to have a parade. So, now that you have some background, here are some pictures.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tom's Blog

I have to pinch myself as I look around me while sitting here thinking what to write about as my first contribution to the blog. We've been here 3 months now, and the place looks like it is a home, which of course it is, but every little article kind of has it's own story. So, since I've thought of this Uganda adventure as a kind of extended camping trip since we've gotten here, let's take a little day hike and figure out where we are.
As I look out the back window the neighbor kids are playing and the 2 year old boy is balling about something as usual. They're Margaret's (Marcy's supervisor- the head of the nursing school) grandkids who she inherited when her daughter died of who knows what late last year. Apparently, the kid's mom was not well-liked by her husband, the father of 1 of the kids, and she was poisoned, but the results of the autopsy have never been made public so people just kind of believe what they want to. Relationships are hard to figure out. Around us, we have neighbors whose husbands are wherever, working, while mom is at home working and raising the kids. The dad/husband probably has at least one other wife somewhere else, and you see him once in a while here in the neighborhood. There might also be a cousin, niece or nephew or one of the village girls, or all the above living with you, going to school, thinking about going to school or just staying with you and being a babysitter or house girl. People come and go. I'm being asked all the time, especially when out front doing my laundry, where the house girl is and why am I doing my own laundry. I explain we don't need one, we're with the U.S. Peace Corps and we're tough...haha.
As I look out the front door I see the deserted house belonging to the hospital where the people living there moved out last week to bigger and better things in Lira. The dad lost his job here, for reasons nobody knows, but there is a lot of speculation. They were a mixed family with kids from 2 of the guys wives, not sure he had any more, and the sister of 1 of the wives as the house girl, even though she is too old to be a house girl. Anyway, the kids and I became friends from the start and now they're gone. I'll miss “Public”, the 7 year old, rambunctious boy who came over often just to sit and chat, as well as “Joker”, his 13 year old brother who has sickle cell anemia and not the energy to keep up with his buddies so he just kinds of hangs out most of the day and complains of being bored. I could count on one of them being on the porch within 5 minutes of coming home, hanging out for 15-20 minutes then kind of wandering off if there was no food to share or they saw more exciting things to do. It's funny the nicknames they get hung with and they don't know where they come from. Not all the kids have nicknames, but the ones who do, go by the nickname and their friends will not know their real name. Naming here is also interesting, reflecting what is going on in the family when the kid is born. My co-worker, Christine, for instance, is named Mokeonzia Christine. The name means good-bad, followed by her Christian name. Something good-bad was going on at her birth and she got stuck with that handle. Some of them must be embarrassing, like the girl who gets the Lugbar name meaning she was a great disappointment to her father who wanted a boy, or the child who is born into the family that doesn't have a pot to piss in. (Really)
As I look around me here in the dining room we have maps of Uganda and East Africa on the walls marked with the places we eventually want to go. Right now, we can't do much out of our immediate town but that will change in about a week when we've reached some magic number of weeks at site that Peace Corps has written into it's policies. Then we can travel after filling out about a dozen forms submitted at least a month in advance, etc. It's not that bad, but in reality most volunteers don't conform to the rules and many just go and take the chance of not getting caught. This works for just leaving town or site without doing the paperwork for a weekend at another volunteers site, as well as the adventurous volunteer who will go on vacation without using any vacation days. I won't go into details. I also see some Lugbara language charts on the wall, and 2 sheets of paper with about 60 verbs we're supposed to memorize by next week. We both passed our Peace Corps language proficiency test, although I still can't fathom how Marcy and 2 of the others in our class did....she'll acknowledge this! It was somewhat of a big deal because if you didn't pass you have to go to your site, get a tutor, study for 3 months and take the proficiency test again, and again and again until you're “proficient” in someone's eyes. P.C. makes a big deal about language which is a good thing, but in our case the teaching was horrible and I think they wanted to just get rid of us up to the west Nile region, learn from their mistakes and do a better job next time. This region was closed for many years due to conflicts and war. The teachers, 10 of them who are 6 months ahead of us, are the first P.C. Group to be back in the region for a couple decades. The connection with language training? Since Lugbara had not been needed, since this is the only region in Uganda that speaks it, there were no teachers on staff. The ones they got were not seasoned teachers and were not familiar with the many dialects so they taught what they wanted when they were around. Out of our 12 weeks training in Wakiso, I think we had maybe 4 where both our teachers were there. The main teacher dropped out for 5 weeks for one thing after another back home here in the Arua area, and the other one was almost totally ineffective and would rather be drinking beer and enjoy being away from home! I think the training staff felt sorry for the bunch of us and cut a lot of slack to get us through. Marcy and I have been getting a tutor for a couple hours a week, at P.C. expense, a primary school teacher, and are trying to get a little more conversant. It's a difficult language, not so much in terms of the number of verbs and nouns that need to be memorized, but the sentence structure is so much different, and the individual words may mean up to 9 or 10 different things based on intonation and context. So we'll keep at it for awhile. Finally, on the walls I see pictures of family and friends and the thoughtful holiday greeting cards that many of you back home took the time to remember us with...thanks!
Moving to the sitting room, where we don't sit very often, I see the Lugbar stick furniture and the refinished sofa as well as a bunch of clay jars, floor mats, baskets and our bikes. The stick furniture is cheap and functional. There must be a village out there in the bush somewhere where a bunch of fundis' (craftsmen) turn this stuff out night and day. We've bought our share and will give them away when we are done with them. Waiting on one last piece of furniture, a shoe rack, which Maroni the fundi promised would be done and delivered by today. He was waiting for the caning material which apparently comes from the Congo and then somebody in his family died and he has been out of touch since then, about 2 weeks. So, this has been going on since the boda accident Marcy had after talking with him about building these. Today's the day, we'll see if he comes through. The sofa, on the other hand, is good hardwood, teak I think, that was sitting outside on a neighbor's porch when Marcy spied it out. We needed something to put in the room so she asked the owner and they said take it away, but give it back when done. I refinished it and an old school desk that was here as our furnishings and gave them to Marcy for Christmas. She found some upholstry foam and some material and did the cushions and now we have a respectably furnished sitting room that will compete with the Brits who seem to all have a larger allowance from their funding sources for furnishing their homes than we do. The bikes have been a God-send since they allow us to get around in a reasonable amount of time to where we need to go. You take your life in your hands every time you go out, especially near the town center because there is no traffic control and the town is nearly overtaken with boda-bodas' (little motorcycles, like dirt bikes size) with drivers that are all convinced they have to be somewhere 10 minutes ago and they all own the road. It really is mayhem and we've both seen our share of accidents and Marcy has been subject to being struck while trying to get across a busy intersection on her bike, but that story has been told in a previous blog. I get my exercise daily with about a 5 km ride to my work compound every morning and back at night. When we first got this place Marcy had something in mind for decoration and it has turned out to be a display area for weaved floor mats and hand woven baskets. I think we could be an outlet for the stuff, but the place looks good ! Actually, when she is done eating her tuna fish salad (which the good folks back home lovingly sent) we're going out to look at this Sudanese mat that I've just got to see. It'll be in the house somewhere come sundown.
Down the hall, first door to the right is the visitors bedroom equipped with 2 beds with mosquito netting and mattresses for our guests. The beds are also the stick furniture, made by the missing Maroni, and are very strong and a little bit attractive in a simple sort of way. One for Kate and one for Conor when they visit next December! The beds are open for anybody, before or after the kids, who would care to be a little adventurous and find their way over the ocean to pay us a visit. Knowing now what I didn't know before coming over here, would I visit Uganda? I think so. I don't think that Uganda is a destination, but definitely worth the trip because we're here. We have yet to get out and do any serious exploring, mainly because of P.C. rules, but we will do that as time goes by. There are a couple Ugandan national parks, the city of Jinja and Lake Bunyonyi way down in the southwest corner, that are on the list, and we need to get to Zanzibar, off the cost of Tanzania, and a couple other out of country places. We will have a good travel itinerary for visitors, promise!
Across the guest bedroom is the bathroom, it even has a tub in which you can take your basic bucket bath or a kind of shower with the solar shower unit we borrowed from a family that went back to the states for a sabatical- he is a language consultant, previously with Wyclif, the established Christian ministry that translates scripture into the world's different languages. Not sure what he does now, to be honest, Southern Baptist Missions maybe, but they are a very nice family and we've made friends with them. We have had the good fortune of meeting many interesting folks here, primarily through a women's Bible study group that Marcy joined shortly after we arrived in Arua. We've also gotten to be friends with families from Great Britain, Denmark and Germany, people who are here in one way or another with Christian ministries or NGOs'. I've also joined a men's group that meets once a month, but have only had one get together so far. Guess we're not as serious as the women, but men usually aren't are they? There's a lot of Africa experience in this group of people, with one couple being on the continent for over 30 years. I guess they like it better here than at home which to me, at this time, is a little mysterious. I think what happens is that you can get caught up in whatever it is you do and before you know it, a long period of time has gone by. The 30 year couple are both dedicated to what they do- him as an agronomist trying to work with people in different countries to increase food security, that is, trying to ensure there is always something to eat despite the changing climate patterns, pests, conflicts, etc. and her as a nurse in community health, working with tribes in the deep bush. One interesting story he told us is when she was captured by a terrorist group in the 1990s' and held for the better part of a year before getting set free. She won't talk about it. Another couple we know are from Germany, working at an FM Christian radio station. They've been here a couple years, love what they do and are not sure what they will do when their contract ends. So that's the bathroom, except for the nagging question of what exactly are the nature of the different creatures that exist in the hollow cavity under the bathtub.
The catch-all room at the end of the hall could be another bedroom, but we figured we'd use it for storage. The nursing school, owners of the house, built us a clothes cabinet after we came up last September to look at our future home. Actually they did several other things to the house we asked for and didn't really say no to anything. One important thing they did was to install screens on all the windows. It's unusual to see any structures with screens on the windows and you have to scratch your head and wonder why since malaria is such a problem. Disease is something everybody lives with here. I think Marcy has alluded to that in earlier blogs. I walk my bike through the hospital grounds every day on my way to the road, past all the clinics including the HIV/AIDS clinic, and there are always hundreds of people hanging out, just kind of sitting in the shade having a picnic or napping. Their relative or friend is in the hospital and the people are there to provide direct patient care to the unfortunate soul, including keeping them fed and clean. You'd think that would be nurses responsibilities, but there are so few of them for the number of patients that I think they just do the meds and other more technical tasks. Marcy has been in the different wards and has made it a point to avoid them in the future at all costs. I guess infection control is not the highest priority on the list, besides the fact that P.C. has determined that the clinical part of being a nurse volunteer at a nursing school will have to be from a classroom perspective. At work, it seems like someone in our office is always battling something. Last week, one of the guys had both malaria and typhoid, but still came to work. I think malaria is inevitable if you're here for any amount of time. We're on the prophylactic for our time here, but if you're here for any appreciable amount of time it's not practical or healthy to stay on the malaria med. So, you just take your chances and deal with it as it comes, and hopefully catch it early. Hepatitis is also an issue here, but we've been vaccinated. Besides the extra canister of cooking stove gas and the barbell I borrowed to pump up with, that's about it.
Last room, the master bedroom furnished with a 4-poster bed, deluxe mosquito net and P.C. issued blankets. There's a board about nose height with nails running around the room in-lieu of closets, and a couple of floor mats to wipe your feet on before you jump in. The floors are always dirty, not dirty, dirty, but just always dusty because the windows are always open. We are blessed to have a solid house over our heads here and we both appreciate it very much.
Work-wise, I've not really gotten too deep into any projects, more or less just helping around the office as I can. This organization is a national community of women living with AIDS, one of 40 branches in Uganda, whose members all have AIDS. There are some men members but the women pull the strings and they are an interesting bunch. One of the impressions I have so far is that there is a lot of in-fighting among the group. The leaders have been in their positions of leadership for many years, longer than their constitution allows, but there is apparently no one else who wants to step up into a leadership position. The women are uneducated and illiterate for the most part and the leaders are both school teachers. Don't get me wrong, the women are beautiful people, very humble and kind, but I think that what has happened is that they're in the organization for the goodies. Early on, the 80s' and 90s', there was a very strong national push to eradicate AIDS in Uganda, and at that point the organization was one big family. As time went by, and the international NGOs' proliferated in the country, with a ton of funding for just about any kind of relief effort related to HIV/AIDS, attitudes seem to have changed to where now it's my impression that the women are saying what's in it for me. This can take many forms, from demands to give them an allowance for lunch during their weekly peer group sessions they have in their villages, to “borrowing” the organizations vehicle to get a sick relative to the hospital in Arua to buying them uniforms to wear for when they go out in public for AIDS sensitization rallies. These are the kinds of issues that get discussed when the organization staff is in the villages. They're very poor and needy, maybe it shouldn't suprise me. Anyway, as time goes by, I'm hoping to get a better handle on the group's dynamics and needs that I might be able to help with. I'm especially interested in looking at income generating activities and have some ag related ideas that Marcy and I would like to pursue.
I'm going to end this now because it's been 4 days. Maroni did not show up...suprise, suprise, so I need to track him down. Luckily, I didn't pay him in advance, which by the way, you never, ever do in Africa and probably in other places as well. We are well, some days are better than others, the river we get our household water from is dry and our bellies are full. Life is good. Take care and keep in touch please. God bless each and every one of you. Love ya's,

Tom

Friday, January 6, 2012

Kids Immaginations

 Boys and their pine box derby cars

These are the box cars that the kids make when they find enough juice boxes in the trash, with the lids used as the wheels.  They race up and down the concrete in front of our house.  Simple games is a request to engage them to think in a sequential order and learn American # as they don't get those until 4 grade.  Dave H your cards are getting doggeared from all the use.  I test each of the boys that hang around to see if they know their #'s before I let them play war and that encourages them to learn them.  Hope you enjoy the Pictures.  Also included it one of Tom with the wonderful load of supplies from his family for Christmas.  THANK YOU TO ALL WHO SENT SUPPLIES!                                                                                                                   

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Our Address

For all those who ask our address and wish list from the states is

MacAulay
P O Box 933
Arua, Uganda   Africa
that is it.  Padded envelopes are the cheapest way to send most things and Toms favorite is VIA from starbucks the Italian Roast packets. I like salt teryaki beef jerkey, seasame rye crisps crackers, nuts, (not cashews) dried fruit, tuna in a packet, dill pickle relish, packets of miracle whip, hull less popcorn taco seasoning for the beans and Kraft Parmesan cheese.    Thank you everyone for your thoughtfulness to us.  The kids here have enjoyed playing with my playing cards and they are getting really used so if you have checkers, jacks, chess pieces,we have the boards jump ropes, simple game pieces all are appreciated.  The kids have nothing but great imaginations and a lot of friends.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

New Years Resolutions

Jan. 4, 2012 New Years Resolution
Am I really in Africa? Where the poorest people in the world are said to reside? Where the sun comes up everyday and the moon shines with the stars every night? Where the world can be seen from a whole different light because the power is off and the artificial light is not shining on everything to make you believe “all is good?” Africa has given me ears to hear a little better. The computer is our source of communication and I am so grateful for it. I am calling people on skype that I don't know I would have taken the time at home to call. I hear of their life and can hear hurts that I wouldn't have cared about in the states. The women at the bible study I am in, challenge me with the material they are using and God has placed such good books in Tom and I's hands to expand our faith and thinking. I cannot express to you how helpful WHEN HELPING HURTS by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert has been. Tom and I being here, believing our path was set out a long time ago to be here, and wanting in so many ways to be hands and feet for Christ have found this book to be a guide. We came with the mentality of helping the American way which is relief. Relief is as far as we have developed our world view because it is what we know how to do, with the least bit of involvement on our part. It is easy to mail a check, it is hard to develop a relationship. It is like the mission organizations in MN we would serve food at. I would take a team, plan, prepare, cook, set up, serve, take down go home and say “well done” yet not engage the able bodied people we were serving to assist or partake in anyway with us. In this way we robbed people of dignity by allowing them to be helpless and not engaging there skills for the kingdom.
When at church, we had a emergency fund for travelers coming through. I was a supporter because everyone that asked was given the gospel message from pastor Kevin and a conversation. Without redeeming the soul does a man have hope? NO, he is bound for hell. Without hearing the word can a man be saved? WHAT DO YOU THINK? When I attended the local pastors monthly gathering some of the other pastors were asking about the best way to handle the repeat askers for emergency help. Pastor Kevin had a chance to tell of his method of the “conversation and gospel” and to listen to the Spirit about how to help, it usually included the $ asked for. While reading this book it tells of the broken relationship the asker has with community. They are not using the gifts God gave to provide for themselves. And the next question is how can a church help develop those gifts or partner with the people asking to lead them in there own self discovery. But, that takes a relationship and that is too hard. It was convicting for me because $, I saw was not what God wanted for the long term. When Jesus came people liked him. He had relationships, he cut to the chase and went for the heart, and as believers we are called to do the same. (I know this is what got him killed for too.) I, sitting here in Africa, have time to see how poor I am. Do I really want to to develop a relationship beyond the white people I am trying real hard to get to know? Do I really want to tell the kids that stay at our house for a break from there site about Jesus when they annoy me with their personal bad habits? Do I show His love by keeping my mouth shut about his help in my life? These are my true confessions and you get to hear them because this is what I am seeing in Africa. If a Ugandan is sick and in the hospital, the whole clan shows up and stays with the sick or injured. (This is a good thing) The healthy caretakers find a relative that lives in the area and they go to their house and take turns at the sick bed if it will be a while before health is returned. I hear the Ugandans relatives complain that they eat all there food and have bad habits too and they stay too long. But they never let on, they are welcoming and engaging and understand innately that someday their turn may come and they practice DUE UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. I have not been so good at that. So, for the new year in Africa I want to hear, be, and do the responsible, God given talent for, thing needed in anthers life to help them live out their calling. I am praying real hard about this, as is Tom, and we would covet your prayers for us. We hope to stop our enabling of ourselves and western world ideas of help and actually do what Jesus called us here for.
Aside from all this, did you know that there are white, orange, purple, and pink bougainvillea here and they have been in bloom since we came? They are wild vines and considered nuisances. The mango's here are better than almost anything I have had anywhere else. Soon they will export them. I am having conversations with 2 mango grove farmers about dehydrating on site and shipping (in a suitcase)the 100% organic fruit home to MN in winter. This will require visitors with large suitcases so make your plans now for Feb and March of next year to bring the 1st shipment back. All are welcome. Marcy