For those of you who may not be aware, I took a trip with 6 other women to Uganda this August, the main purpose being to build a children’s home for the Watoto village Suubi 2. This is a brief detailing of some of our adventures, and some of my thoughts and impressions relating to this amazing country.
My first glimpses of Africa were from the plane, and I was enchanted by the lush greenness of the landscape, as it was bathed in the golden fingers of sunlight streaming through breaks in the swathe of clouds. The drive from the airport to the Adonai guest house was a good introduction to many of the differences between Canada and Uganda (or Kampala, anyway). The list includes the quality of the roads (pothole anyone?), the fact that it is not rare to see people walking around with machetes, that guards and members of the army all carry plainly visible guns, and that there are all manner of cows and goats peacefully munching on grass (or in the case of goats, anything) along the sides of roads. The atmosphere impressed me as much more laidback and community-minded than I am used to, but I really enjoyed it. They definitely aren’t as hung up on order and structure.
We had about 5 free days before were scheduled to start building, and so most of our 2nd full day in Uganda was spent driving up to Gulu, a northern city, smaller and much quieter than Kampala. A scripture reference for Zephaniah 3:17 was seen on the back of a bus travelling
between Kampala and Gulu. It says, “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save, He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” This really encompasses what we saw in Uganda, and a vision that many Ugandans seem to have embraced.Our accommodations in Gulu were lovely, and I especially appreciated the courtyard, providing more opportunity to spend time outside. Some of our team actually even played some soccer with people from another team visiting from the UK. Our 3 days in Gulu made quite an impact on all of us, as we visited both a Watoto children’s village and an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp. The village was obviously a joy to visit, as the kids just surround you and love you, begging for love and attention in return. We were all enthralled with the children and spent an hour or two talking to them, playing with them, singing with them... their zest for life is contagious! I think there was a sneaking suspicion among us that the IDP camp might be at the other end of the spectrum entirely, but that thinking was abolished, as the people of the camp greeted us warmly, inviting us to sit, surrounding us to listen to our introductions, thank yous, and prayer. A number of them had recently graduated from a trauma counselling program, and so we congratulated them on that. Just one more sign of how God is working in Uganda. The strength and resilience of people continuously surprises me; these people have not been hardened, but instead they display a peace, humility, and compassion that I wish I could transport within me to dispense at will.
Church in both Watoto Gulu and Watoto Central (in Kampala) was awesome. I really do not have words to describe the experience of being in a church packed and overflowing with people hungry to praise and worship and experienc
e Jesus. It was humbling and eye-opening to be in the midst of that, and later on sparked some interesting discussions among our group.The Watoto organization is amazing. Along with the children’s villages and trauma counselling, they have The Bulrushes (Baby Watoto), Living Hope (a women’s ministry), and are currently working on a home solely for children who are ex-soldiers. We had the pleasure of spending a morning at the Bulrushes, and it was wonderful to hear the stories of some of these infants and toddlers and to know that they now have a future.
Oh right, almost forgot about the building. It was a lot of fun, opening every morning with song and prayer, working with a fabulous group of locals. The site was beautiful, and w
e were blessed with near perfect weather, with the only rain of the week coming on Friday, our last day of building, and only lasting about 20 minutes. I’ve definitely skipped over a few other things, such as the traditional lunch at a children’s home in the Bbira village, and our trip to Jinja to visit the source of the Nile, but I think I’ve hit the highlights.The last night we were there the 6 of us sat down with Harry for a debrief session, giving honest answers to questions he asked regarding our thoughts and opinions on places we visited, our accommodations, etc. We all articulated that we had found everything, from the accommodations to the food, to our liking. Although we had sometimes felt a bit out of place, especially in the beginning, as we sort of drifted in and out of places and acclimatized; we soon realized that we were indeed welcome wherever we went, and we were able to communicate more easily and connect better to the places and the people. I mentioned that I didn’t feel we really got a good sense of what everyday life was like, because it seemed like so much of the time we had the red carpet rolled out for us, and were treated as appreciated guests. I tend to be someone who gets the most out of the littlest, less eventful details, so it may just be me who feels that being privy to those kinds of experiences – the “nitty gritty”, mundane parts of life - would have made for a more impactful narrative to share.
We developed many inside jokes throughout the trip, such as the one about Harry being our Charlie, and us 6 being his angels. We had a great time goofing around, good-naturedly poking fun at each other, mugging for pictures, and just generally enjoying each other’s company. I didn’t take my camera, and so left the picture taking to the other “angels”, but trust me, there are some real gems among the hundreds... Some unexpected (I used this word just for you, Tanya) things to come out of this trip:
- The acquisition of more music! Shiny!! Harry lent me his iPod to check out his music (I repaid the favour in kind), and kindly put a bunch of local music on it, all of which I am utterly enjoying.
- The relationship we had with the locals we worked with while building the house was surprising; I expected them to be friendly and helpful, but wasn’t expecting their interest in us, and our country. We had a number of good discussions, and their banter and the joy exuded each day, without fail, definitely made the building process even more of a delight.
- Learning some Luganda. And also learning some interesting things about Uganda, such as the fact that current life expectancy for women is 60 years, and for men, 53.
- I discovered that goat is tasty! Cute, amusing, and tasty - pretty much my favourite animal
all-round they are now. ;)
Any questions/comments/criticisms are welcome!
