I've now been here for almost a week! Sorry for the delay in posting...getting reliable internet service has proved to be a bigger challenge than I originally anticipated! I think I have everything set up and working now, though, so I should be able to post updates fairly regularly from now on.
I've been struggling a bit to figure out how exactly to describe all the events and details of my first week in Uganda. Life is SO DIFFERENT here!! It truly is a world away from what I've grown up with and have come to know/expect as "normal" in my lifetime. Even having anticipated and prepared for many of the lifestyle differences, a few things have still caught me quite by surprise and challenged me this week. However, I am slowly adjusting to everything...to the slower pace of life here, to eating LOTS of new foods, to taking cold "bucket baths" when the water runs out, to depending on others to walk with me or drive me anywhere outside the gates of the house where I'm staying, etc. Even though I've only been here for a week, I have already felt a HUGE sense of appreciation for all of the modern "conveniences" we have readily available in the US (ie- reliable electricity, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines/dryers, running water, etc.) and yet regularly take for granted. The lack of all these things in Uganda gives me such an enormous respect for all the hard work the people have to do here every single day just to live and eat and take care of their families' basic needs!
As for details about the work I've been doing over the past week, I'm still kind-of in the process of figuring out and defining my exact duties and responsibilities. The community health clinic I've been fundraising for over the past several months and will eventually be helping out in is still about a month or so away from officially opening, so I've mainly been filling my time inventorying medicines and clinic supplies, putting together purchasing spreadsheets, working on a sustainability budget, and helping the pastor's wife out around the house where I'm staying. I was originally hoping that the clinic would open pretty quickly after I arrived here, but now I'm actually incredibly grateful that we have a month or so to finish preparations and lay some solid ground-work for it so that it will run smoothly when it opens! The clinic looks absolutely AMAZING, though, and has come SO FAR since I was here with the Man Up and Go team back in May/June! I can't even describe the joy I felt when I got to walk through it for the first time a few days ago! It is going to be such a tremendous blessing to the poor rural community that surrounds it! I've posted a couple recent pics of the clinic below so you can see the progress on it, but I'm going to do a full blog post about it sometime in the next couple of weeks and will explain more about each of the rooms inside it and some other specific details then.
Besides doing lots of prep work for the opening of the clinic in the next few weeks, I think I'm also going to get the chance to lead some weekly chapel lessons for the young children at the River of God Primary School as well as plan and run some VBS-type activities for the orphans at Kerith Children's Home. I can't wait to post some pictures of those activities for y'all so you can see how absolutely precious all the kids are here! I got the chance to spend a few hours at the school today, and it only took me about 2 seconds to remember why I fell in love with this country and how much I just LOVE these kids! I could listen to them squealing "Mzungu" ("white person") at me 500 times everyday for the rest of my life and still never get tired of hearing it! They have so little, and life is just plain HARD for them on most days, yet they are ALWAYS filled with SO MUCH JOY.
Thank you all SO much for your prayers as I prepared to leave for Uganda over the past several weeks, and for your continued prayers as I've gotten settled in here this week! Each time I post a new blog entry, I'm going to try to list some specific prayer requests for those of you who have committed to praying for me on a regular basis (and also for my friends who like lists...you know who you are!). During this coming week, I would sincerely love your prayers for the following things:
1.) Renewed health and healing for the precious 3-year old son of my host family... he's been sick with a nasty cough and cold/flu that's been quite persistent all week!
2.) For the Lord to provide my remaining support funds (around $2, 000) in the coming weeks/months
3.) Immediate funding to cover some or all of the shipping costs ($10, 500) of an 18-wheeler-sized shipping container filled with 250,000 nutritious meals from Convoy of Hope from the US to Uganda...we've been given the food for FREE (it's worth over $40,000), but we need to raise funds for the shipping ASAP so we can get the container over here in the next 4-6 weeks in order to begin a feeding program for 100-200 poverty-stricken children in the rural village surrounding the Kerith Health Clinic.
4.) For wisdom and guidance as we continue to work on all the different preparations for the start-up of the Kerith Health Clinic and that the final stages of construction would finish in a timely fashion within the next month.
5.) Continued prayers for my safety and health...so far I've been feeling great (in-spite of having been quite adventurous in the things I've eaten over the past week...goat's meat and silverfish, anyone?), but I would love ongoing prayers for protection from both food- and water-related sickness and general illnesses (let's just say the level of sanitation here is low-enough to make even the strongest of stomachs a bit queasy at times...).
Thank you so very much for all of your love, support, and continued prayers! I truly feel like I have not come to Uganda alone, but that I'm here with dozens of you who have chosen to come alongside me and be the hands and feet of Christ in spirit with me over the next 9 months! So thank you! To close, I wanted to share some photos to help introduce you to my new life in Uganda and a give you just a small glimpse into my past week here:
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| My new Ugandan home! The pastor's family lives in the main house and my room is in the back house on the left. |
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| My wonderful little room... thank goodness for my mosquito net! |
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| My bathroom...a toilet and shower are luxuries here! |
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| The "kitchen"...aka 3 charcoal stoves outside where absolutely EVERYTHING gets cooked...I'm still amazed by this!! |
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| The water tank...our main source of water for cooking, cleaning, showering, and pretty much everything else! |
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| This beautiful Ugandan woman, who's a single mom and a Muslim, helps us do our laundry...she is so sweet! |
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| This is "Tall Sam"...he helps out with labor around the house/property. He is 6'4", hilarious, and "crazy" (in his own words!). He's walked me all around Pallisa & helped me get my phone/internet set up! |
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| This is the pastor's 3-year-old son, John Mark... he is SUCH a little rascal! His giggle is infectious, and at any particular point in the day he can probably be found glued to my side! (He's the little guy who's been sick all week and needs prayers!) |
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| Some precious village children who live around Kerith Health Center |
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| This beautiful village woman lives near the clinic and has several children, including this little punkin' and his twin brother! |
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| One of my jobs this week was to inventory all of the donated medicines, medical equipment, and first aid supplies that have been collected so far for the Kerith Health Center. |
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| The front entrance to the Kerith Health Centre clinic |
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| Side view of the clinic...it has come SO FAR since I was here back in May/June! Can't wait for it to open soon! |
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