Bags and Boxes, and we're away!

I know I still need to finish the Kabale Chronicles.  But at this moment I wanted to post about moving.

Easter night they had a good bye party for me, which was hard and beautiful.  They gave me a really nice cake, which just read "We Love you".  So many people have come up to me and spoken to me about how I have impacted their lives.  I will really miss these people.  They are wonderful.

I leave tomorrow morning.  Somehow, through handme downs, gifts, packages from America, desperate need for clothing and my love for buying books, I have accumulated 4 small boxes and 3 bags worth of stuff.  Now let me say: all of it is food, books, and clothes.  Honestly.  I am a bit embaraced to own so many possession but I really do need all the things I own!  I am giving away a good pile of things. 

It's a long way from one hiking backpack that I started with! 

In Kampala, I know I will get even more.  I think I am going to properly invest in a desk.  It feels so strange to be buying furniture!!  SO perminant!  But even if I only use it for 6 weeks (which I won't, it'll get used for a long time to come), it will be worth it.  I have so much work to do that needs a good space. 

My room options are nice, but I don't own very many essential room things.  My books will continue to be housed in boxes converted into stackable book shelves.  Thankfully I will have a nice closet, but I think I'll need to buy hangers!   I don't even own real bed sheets!  I've made a small budget to get some of these things.  I think I'll be able to find them cheap enough, or I might have to stick with my sleeping bag and liner sheet! 

These are the joys of living in common.  All these things, all the furniture, bed, bed sheets, hangers, etc have been given to me to use by the community!  It's strange to be leaving that setting after being use to it now.  My future roommate is very generous and I know there will be lots of sharing, but it's still not quite the same. 

But really, I hate MOVING.  I love to Travel, but moving is something different.  I am a bit nervous that this move will be stressful because I have to take all my belongings with me by bus.  I am dreading getting off the bus in Kampala and having to deal with those men.

I'm expecting a visitor in Kampala in a few weeks, which will be nice.  I think most of my Kampala friends are slowly finding out that I am coming.  I look forward to seeing how my great network of people open up for some enjoyment, relaxation and a heck of a lot of work! 

So, off into the unknown.  Tomorrow morning, taking the world by storm.  I am ready, but sad to be leaving these people.  It's an adventure, and I know it is meant to be embraces and enjoyed while it can be... as one of my friends said here "like Love!" 

Over the mountains and the sea... part 1

Or... over the lake and the hills... but you get the idea.

Sunday I was collected from where I was staying by the priest who was going to say mass.  I had dressed up nicely.  Father Bashabora had left early that morning. 

We arrived at the grounds and things had already started, but they were waiting for the priest I was with.  So I went and sat by Deo and visited with people for a little while.  We had mass (which was painfully long), then I went to go to our "base" house and a friend stopped me.  One of the students I had taught at the Missionaries of Africa a few weeks before had heard me on the radio with Fr. Bash and had come to see me.  I invited him to join us for lunch. 

At lunch Deo and I sat there and we just like "WE'RE DONE!!"  It was a good moment.  Various people who had worked with us ate with us and we visited with some friends and prayed for a few people. 

Then we were off, trying to find out how we were getting to town.  We walked for a ways, through twisting paths, our bags grabbed from us by helpful conference attendance who ran ahead of us.  We stopped at the home of some of Deo's "Children"... he has 10.  None of them are his actual children, a few are related to him but others aren't. 

Because of his own experiences of hardship growing up, Deo has a huge heart for children who are neglected.  This is how he ended up taking care of 10 children.  They are now all in their teenage years and in the challenging part of the Ugandan school system.  It was fun to meet them and chat with them.  They are really great kids.  They had a meeting, we took some photos, and gave them cookies. 

We decided that between the two of us we had too much stuff for the next leg of our trip.  So we consolidated into the smaller bag.  I am so glad we did!  I had my side bag and then just one small duffel for the trek ahead of us.

After meeting with the kids, Patrick and Dillion (two of them) took us to their school so we could see two of the others.  Deo had a million things to do, so for the next 2-4 hours we walked and walked and walked through the back paths of Kabale... visiting his sister, getting jarred cans for boat fuel, etc.  I was tired so I just followed a long. 

Finally we got a boda for the right price and were off to Lake Bonyoni.  The ride on a motorcycle was better than in a car, though at times trying for the small machine.  The views were incredible, the mountains high, the lake sparkling like diamonds under the late afternoon sunlight.  From the hill top, I could see the tallest mountain in Uganda in neighboring Kisoro.  The boda man took us right to the boat dock.  Deo had to hire a boat because it was sunday and no one was going.  We had fuel and packed the boat with a bunch of people who had been at the conference and were trying to get home.

Being on the water did something wonderful for my soul.  I miss lakes, I put my hand in the water and enjoyed.  The mountains, in a 360 degree view, were totally breath taking.  We were incredibly blessed to have a perfect day, the weather was bright, sunny and most importantly dry. 

We were dropped off by the boat at a remote dock, hidden in a cove surrounded by reeds.  Waving good bye we were greeted by the screams of delight from local children, dressed in only old, holey tshirts and bare feet.  "Muzungu Muzungu *giggle giggle*...run away" was the shouts that echoed around us for some time.  We began to walk.  The place was beautiful, hills upon hills.  We walked for a long time, next to rivers, and over them, up steep rocky paths, through euciliptis forests where the trees stretched so high above that they almost touched the clouds. 

We made good time.  Thankfully we didn't have to stumble around on the rocks in the darkness!  I would have died.  We made it to the trading center at dusk, and Deo was whisked away by locals all wanting to talk to him and see who this muzungu he had brought them was.  In total we walked about 4.5 miles from the lake to the parish. 

I went with the boy who was helping us with our bag.  I wanted to reach the parish before sun down.  On the way we saw the parish priest, who promised to quickly come back to meet me.  On arrival the house girl took my bag and I met the other priest in the hall.

"You're the one!" he said... I looked at him confused "Am I the one?"  I said.  He didn't know Deo, so trying to explain who I was was difficult.  But thankfully they were expecting us!

Once Deo reached we chated a bit with Father Dennis, the one I had met in the hall, and tried to listen to the radio, as we both wanted to know about Libya and the rest of the Arab world.  We also had a really good, fun conversation about politics.  It was enjoyable. 

We ate late and bathed and went to sleep.  My bed had a beautiful, heavy blanket on it... which effectively kept out the cold nights of the mountains of Kabale. 

To the Highlands of Scotland... or Kabale

Kabale looks like home.

No, not the menotenous flat lands of the mid west of America... but the Highlands of my people's home.  Scotland.

I went to Kabale for 8 days, for 2 reasons.  First, I was invited to be a speaker on a 4 day conference, not unlike New Dawn... though much smaller.  There were between1,500-4,000 people at any given time.

I was invited by a friend of mine name Deo who is from Kabale and has been working with the conference organizers.  The team was myself, Deo and Fr. John Bashabora, who is known all over the world for his profound healing ministry.  The conference was good.  A lot of singing, talks, and time for prayer.   I really enjoyed the experience and chance I had to get to know Fr. Bashabora, who I had only briefly met on different occasions.

We had a good number of amusing adventures, especially Father and I.  On Friday night, we left the conference ground at 11:40.  Tired and ready for bed, we had 4 people to drop off in different places before we could go to our accommodations.  We drove all over Kabale, dropping two at a convent and two at the local University.  When we dropped the university students we got a bit turned around.  Sitting in the car we debated which was to go.  We went both directions and then finally determined which was correct.  It brought about a lot of laughing.  By the time we got back to where we were staying it was12:30.  We went to our place but found no where to park.  We then drove to the administration block, where thankfully there was a gate man still up.  He let us park, though we had to park people in.  He walked with us to our accommodation.. but we got lost on the way.  Laughing still, trekking through some serious mud and fog we finally reached our destination around 12:50... falling in bed to prep for the next day.

The next night was even later, but with less adventures.  We had a beautiful candle lighting ceremony that evening.

And it was Friday night, that I became Mukiga (said Mu-chi-ga).  Mukiga is the predominant tribe in Southwest Uganda.  They speak Rukiga, which is exactly like Runyankore, except they use accents on their letters in a different way.  They have a very distinct cultural dance, which I had been dying to learn.  Basically they say that when someone dances the Mukiga, they break the floor.

So I gave a talk on Friday night, about forgiveness and needed to find a way to engage with the audience and bring out how powerful forgivness is.  So I used an analogy which then lead me to dance the Mukiga... with a bunch of old ladies and a crowd of 3,000 people laughing and rejoicing that the "muzungu" was doing the mukiga!  From then on people would come up to me and call me "mukiga"... it was good. 


Next adventures to write about are the 5 days in the villages of Kabale... an amazing experience!!

Changes and an explanation

Hello Readers!
   I am trying to buy my plane ticket back to America, and I am having an internet battle!  I hope it works!

I would like to update you all on where I am at with my work and what the next steps hold.

Over the last 2 months I have been able to do a lot of teaching and work around Uganda.  I have been developing a course which incorporates personal life management with the ideas of self sustainability.  It is based on the 7 habits of highly effective people.  I have now given the full course twice, and part of it another 2 times.

I am also working to develop this material, with a friend named Javis who works with Cornerstone Leadership Development, into a leadership program for Senior 5 students.  Senior 5 is a junior in high school.  We have had doors open in Masaka, to bring in this leadership formation program to Catholic schools there!  We are aiming to train the teachers this August and launch the program in one school in September!

However, because of the set back with my computer, there is a lot of work to do over the next 8 weeks to recover what was lost and fully complete the two programs.

My work at Yesu Ahuriire has been slow, but it also has had some small impacts.  I've been able to teach some people computer skills, outline some grants, and successfully started a craft group. 

There is one other major change in my life.  After Easter, I am moving away from Yesu Ahuriire Community.  I am sad about this, as I had high hopes to continue doing development work here.  However, my health has been terrible the whole time I have lived here.   When I leave the actual location of where I live, I am healthy!  It is enormously frustrating.

Some of my work will continue via email.  Also I will regularly come back to visit this my adopted family!!  I will miss the people and the beautiful hills, but I know that this is the best things for me to do right now.

I have been given a fantastic living situation in Kampala.  I will be living there for 6 weeks, writing the Masaka program, and volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity (this is direct service of the poorest of the poor...if all goes as I plan!).

On June 6th, I will be returning to America for 2 months.  This will be a time of both rest and work.  There is a lot of work to be done on the American front in order for my work in Africa to continue.  I will keep you updated on events and ways you can get involved even more with my work!

I will return to Uganda in August to run the teacher training and program implementation in Masaka.  I will probably live there for a few weeks.  This also will be a chance for me to continue helping Holy Trinity Community with their self sustainable efforts.  Then I will possibly be based in Kampala, most likely continuing to do some teaching/speaking around Uganda and also hopefully continued development consulting for different groups.  If my work with the Missionaries of Charity (service of the poor) goes will I will also continue that.  However, there are some other things which are in the pipe line which might happen.  I am playing it by ear.

The end of the year plans are still up in the air, but I will fill you in as they become more certain!

9 kilos of Cheese and Safari Ant Attack!

These are just a few fun stories from recent times...



Last night I had a lovely dinner with Fr. Emmanuel who just returned from a very long trip in Italy.  It was the first time I really got to sit down with him since he'd been back.  Elizabeth and Gertrude had made delicious fish, and Sr. Linda had made a chocolate cake with honey instead of sugar. It was extra good when I put my chocolate pudding on it.  :)

The dinner was full of laughter and fun.  At one point I brought up the ENORMOUS block of cheese which was at that moment taking up one whole shelf in the refrigerator.  I had been drooling over it all week, craving CHEESE.  But I hadn't gotten to ask Fr. if it was fair game.  So I had just been dreaming about it.

He said of course it was free for eating.  Then he proceeded to tell us the hilarious story of actually bringing the cheese back with him from Italy.  Apparently he hadn't had the 10 extra kilos he expected, so he ended up sneaking a 3rd carry on, which solely contained the 8 kilo block of cheese and some candles!  Apparently security got a bit concerned over this very solid object in his bag, but laughed when they saw the enormity of cheese, not a bomb!  We laughed so hard, and this morning Sister and I began the incredible enjoyment of glorious cheeeese!!  (I'm about to go have lunch of mac and cheese, I am so happy)



A few days ago, I went down into the cow farm to the pavillion.  It's the place we use for New Dawn, but we don't ever use it the rest of the year.  It's a large area, and it's a great place to be alone or to have a good chat with a friend.  I was meeting one of my friends down there and was wanting to sit out on the ground near the pavilion.  I brought my kitenge (clothing protecting blanket) so that we could sit on it and not get dirty. 

Well we went to sit and within 2 seconds both of us went running, screaming towards the pavilion steps!  SAFARI ANTS!!!  We were covered.  I have no idea how they move SO FAST.  They were everywhere, literally.  From between my toes to in my dreads!  Both of us were covered... in our clothes, shoes, underwear...everywhere is not an exaggeration! 

Safari ants hurt like nothing else.  They basically burn you when they bit you.  Thankfully the bites don't stay or become welts, they just hurt when they get you. They will walk all over you and then suddenly you will feel them in some terrible place!  Even as I was crawling into bed later that night, I felt/found one between my toes! 

I had only had one other encounter with them, and that was in Bikira outside of Masaka this past August.  I slept through the attack, but my hosts told me the next morning that we had been invaded by these terrible creatures and they had had to battle them for over an hour! 

Once and a while you'll step in the wrong place and get a few on you.  Then there is a sort of dance you do as you try to brush them off of you.  It is so painful! 

But I had never been covered with them before.  It took us over 20 minutes to de-ant, and we still found more even as the conversation progressed.


So that's just a little look at the adventure which is life in Africa! 

African Massage

This past week, Sr. Linda, our wonderful Californian nun, taught a 4 night session on giving full body massage!  She is a train professional and has put together an excellent class which teaches how to give a great massage!


It was such a wonderful and fun time.  6-12 women gathered each night to learn what massage is, how to give "instant massage", foot massage, then full body massage.  It was a wonderful learning and bonding experience.  None of the Africans had had a massage outside of this environment before. And they were really good at giving them.

To get a certificate we have to give and receive a full body, hour long massage.  I am excited to do this!  So when I am in America this summer, let me know if you want a massage!

It's been a fun activity to have in life these days.

Health is not great right now.