When the world turns upside down

I have tried to post here probably 10 times in the last week. The internet here is not working, and getting time to sit with it not really possible. But today is Sunday, so the office is closed. It also means the internet is faster. So, I am hoping that this posts!

My last post found me a bit out of place here in Mbarara. This post finds things different. While I still wander sometimes, not 100% sure where I am meant to be, I am very happy here. This group of people are incredible. Father Emmanuel is my hero.

I think that I will just write short sentences about some of my experiences. There is too much to go into great detail.

We went to the mountains.

I watched 80 AIDS patience be loved, cared for, respected, and given life giving drugs for free.

I sat in a meeting discussing a new toilet... the hole in the ground the over 100 children had been using had caved in. Father Emmanuel was able to gave them 110,000 shillings. We all clapped for joy! That will buy the school a much better latrine, with a cement floor and walls.

110,000 shillings is 55 USD. 55 dollars.

I visited a church 2.5 hours away and sat for 3.5 hours as the young people discussed how they can do development and really make a difference.

I've laughed with my friends so hard I almost fell over.

I've discussed every global issue with Father Emmanuel. And we both come back to the same thing... just start. Begin with One. Be the difference.

I went to Shalom Center, a massive building which is exactly what I want someday. It will be a home for mentally sick mothers, their children and orphans. The community has found that many of the mentally sick just need to be loved and helped. They have seen many of them healed through both love and medical care. It is close to the hospital. It will truly make a major impact of these people's lives.

I have visited 5 schools which Father has started and is involved in.

I taught Geography for 3 days using a blow up globe ball.

I have been trying to learn to peal Matoke, to the amusement of all the women. It is hard. They have done 5 by the time I finish one. I will learn.

Father and I sit at dinner and laugh at the fact I don't know how to eat the whole fish in front of my, as I quietly scrap the lens of the eye of the fish I am eating off the skin.

The community has 4 fish ponds. I joined them "fishing", a very different process from ours! The fish were delicious!

Sitting on the bench in the kitchen, I've listened to Elizabeth tell me stories about the war which raged in her region from 1996 to 2003. And explain how they had to flee into to the bush.

On Thursday I went on a life changing trip with Father Emmanuel.

We saw animals on the main road through the park!

We walked around his families land... and stories came out of him. Stories of walking for 2 days, only to reach home and find his family have fled. Then having to search another 2 days in the bush to find them. The War.

Or listening and hearing the sadness in his voice as he says that there were 11 children in his family... only 4 still live.

And to see his pride at the beautiful land he owns and to hear his incredible dreams of changing the lives of all people.

He is truly wise. And he is willing to teach me. I am ready to learn.

I held a small girl on my lap, her malnourished belly pressing against mine. She says my name, my heart melts.

A little one squeezes next to me on a chair. She takes my hand and puts a hair tie on my wrist. Probably one of the few things she owns.

I watched a little boy named John, paralyzed on one side, laugh and smile and say "mama" to the woman who cares to these children at House of Love Africa (Lilian). They found Johnny in the forest when he was a baby... eating grass to live. He couldn't talk or even smile. This is love, this is development.

I visited with 12 people from England, giving 7 weeks of their summer to build the new House of Love Africa.



I believe in Jesus.
I think that we can all agree He had some pretty good things to say; love your neighbor and your enemy, serve the poor, give to one another, share, be kind, be willing to suffer with people, love even when it hurts.

I am seeing these words come alive. I read my bible, then I see my bible walking around. These people are living what they believe.

They aren't street preaching. They are loving. They are working hard to transform this world. They are building the kingdom of God, a transformed society, the new in the shell of the old.

And it is beautiful.


I am made for this.