Where I lived...and a frightening experience!

Some of you have asked what my living accommodations were like when I was in Uganda. Here are some pictures...This is the outside view of the guest house (the black building) and part of the medical clinic. Shaun stayed in the guesthouse, we shared the kitchen area, and I stayed in the clinic building. Here's the kitchen, after we made a huge mess cooking dinner...
The kitchen had two propane burners, so basically everything that we ate did not require refrigeration and had to be able to be cooked in a pot or a frying pan! Pasta, tomato sauce, and canned corn was the default meal if creativity was lacking (which it often was!)

So, now to the frightening experience! A few weeks into my time in Uganda, Shaun and I headed to Kibaale to spend a couple days with our friends Jeff and Shannon. Shaun decided to head into Kampala with Jeff and Shannon for a couple of days after our time in Kibaale, but I decided to head back to Mpigi as I had some things I wanted to do in preparation for the upcoming clinic day. So I got on a taxi in Kampala and traveled back to Mpigi on my own. I arrived no problem, and spent much of the evening with the kids (that was the night of the baby fashion show). The kids went to bed, and I went back to the guest house.

At 10 pm I decided to head to bed. The generator had just been turned off, so the guest house was lit by solar power. I went into the bathroom, closed the door, and then I noticed something unusual. In the corner behind the door there was a black object, kind of coiled up. At first I didn't pay that much attention...the lighting wasn't great, and I was tired. But I looked again, and then I saw the coiled-up thing move...and then I clued in!! It was a snake of some kind...and one that looked black...which was not a good sign. (A note...Ugandans are very, and justifiably, afraid of snakes, as there isn't really such a thing as a harmless snake in Uganda).

I got out of the bathroom as quickly as I could, and willed myself to think of what to do. I grabbed my cell phone, and called the property manager, Mulumba. It was late, so I wasn't sure he was going to pick up...but after the phone rang and rang he finally answered. I managed to get out, "Mulumba, it's Rebekah. I think that there is a black mamba snake in my bathroom!" Mulumba said something to the effect of "oh, goodness", and then said he would call someone to come and help me. (Mulumba lives about a 5 minute drive away from the property).

So I hung up the phone, and then tried to think of what else to do. I then called Shaun, and at that point I started to lose it! I was practically gasping out through sobs that there is a snake in the house...and fortunately, Shaun was thinking clearly since I was not anymore! He wisely suggested that I actually leave the house (I was still standing like 4 feet from the bathroom) and go down to Pastor Geoffrey's house (Geoffrey and his family live on the church property). So grabbed my headlamp and went to wake Geoffrey up. By the time he was out of bed I also heard some boda bodas (motorbikes) coming up the road. It was Mulumba and a few others, armed and ready to get the snake! They had sticks with nails poking through the ends, as well as a bottle of kerosene to drown the snake in if necessary. So we headed up to the guesthouse to get that snake...I think there were 5 of us in total!

Once we got inside, I opened the bathroom door to show Geoffrey where the snake was. However, it was not there anymore! I started to worry that maybe I had just imagined it, and I had gotten all these people out of bed for no reason. I was sure they were going to think that I was just being paranoid and getting over-excited about nothing, and I would just reinforce the stereotype of mzungus not being able to cut it in Uganda!!

As I am starting to think this, I hear Geoffrey moving things around in the bathroom. I then heard Geoffrey yell out, and I hear smack, smack, smack, smack, smack of the stick on the concrete floors. After a few seconds, Geoffrey emerges from the bathroom with a dead snake!! I felt relieved (mostly because I was thankful I hadn't imagined what I saw, and also because the snake was now dead!) I found out that it was a baby cobra, and Mulumba figured it had managed to get in under the door while we were away for those few days since it was pretty small.

So it wasn't a huge snake, and thankfully it wasn't a black mamba (which are extremely deadly), but still!! Thankfully I found it when I did, and didn't accidently step on it in the middle of the night! And I was very thankful that so many people came to help me out that night - they definitely went above and beyond:) We did one final sweep of the house to make sure that there were no mothers or sibilings of this baby cobra hanging around, and then I headed to bed (amazingly, I slept pretty well that night!)

So that was my frightening experience...which now I find quite humorous:) Oh, and don't let this story deter you from going to Africa...I'm sure cobras aren't really all that dangerous, and it was only a baby, after all;)

Life in Zungwe

The Peace Portal Community church property is in the village of Zungwe. I spent an hour or so every few days just going for a walk through the villages near the church property, which was really interesting!! The locals eventually started to get used to the fact that I would just walk with no specific destination in mind - I had lots of people ask me if I was lost! (I was walking for exercise, but that concept is somewhat foreign to the average peasant farmer in rural Uganda who gets more than enough exercise just trying to survive!!) One man, as I passed by him for a second time (on my way back), called out to me, "Mzungu! Where are you going?" I replied, "For a walk." He looked at me, paused for a second, and then said (somewhat incredulously), "You are walking, and you are carrying nothing??" I nodded, and in apparent disbelief at the craziness of mzungus, he headed off to do something more purposeful than what I was doing! That experience made me laugh...although there were a few kids following me at that point, so I didn't laugh too loud!

I really wished I could speak Lugandan fluently when I was walking around the villages, as I am sure I would have had some really interesting conversations with the women I met on my way. In Ugandan culture, even if someone is practically shouting distance away it is expected that you say hello. So I would try to greet most people I met along the way in Lugandan, and often the women would respond in Lugandan and attempt to ask me more questions...which I didn't understand and couldn't answer. Next time, I will have to make more of an effort to get my conversation skills in Lugandan a bit more proficient!

Here are some pictures I took while I was walking around...

A pretty average village road. Uganda is very green...I loved the banana trees that were pretty much everywhere! I had kids following me when I took this picture...they would run to get close behind me, then as soon as I would turn around they would try and hide and pretend that they weren't following me:)

This is 85 year old Vincent, one of the men from the church, working in the quarry that is just down the hill from the church. Working in the quarry involves using a make-shift hammer to smash large rocks into gravel...not the easiest job. (I saw both men and women working at this). This is how Vincent makes money to support his grandchildren (two of his grandchildren live in the children's homes now, which helps).


This is one of the nicer rural homes that I passed regularly as I walked - it was always really well kept!

Medical Clinic

As promised, here is the first of a few blogs posts about my time in Uganda! There were so many things that I wanted to post about and pictures that I wanted to share, but often, getting to a computer that had decent internet access was a challenge! There was an internet cafe in Mpigi town (the town closest to the village where I was living) so I attempted to get access once or twice a week. But often, after walking 15 minutes, hiring a boda boda to take me in to town (about a 10 minute ride), and waiting to get on a computer, I would open my first web page to find out that the internet had gone down, or that the power had gone out, or that the internet was so slow that it was going to take me an hour to load one picture on my blog!! But at the same time, it was nice to not feel so attached to computers and the internet...I learned that it is actually possible to go more than a day without checking my email!

The primary reason for my trip to Uganda was to do some work with the medical clinic that is offered through Peace Portal Community Church. Using funds from Peace Portal Alliance in Canada, the church in Uganda offers a one day per month medical clinic as a community outreach. The goal of this clinic is to demonstrate the love of Christ in a very practical way to the surrounding community. As the clinic is only offered once a month, it is designed to treat non-emergency conditions...the kind of things you would go to your family doctor or a walk-in clinic about. In Uganda, people tend not to go to the doctor for minor conditions, especially since they usually have to pay for the drugs that they might need. The Peace Portal Clinic offers the drugs free of charge, so it is very well received by the community and it helps to prevent minor health problems from becoming larger problems!

I spent some time with the pastor that oversees the clinic as well as the doctor to find out how the clinic has been going over the last year, and to begin working on some plans for how the clinic can be changed and improved. Overall, I was really happy with how things are going, and it was encouraging to see how much can be done for so many people with a relatively small amount of money!

Here are some pictures of the medical clinic...

The pharmacy area...

The nurse giving medications to some of the patients...and
Patrick (the one with headphones in) helping out!

The waiting room!

Goodbye Uganda!

Hello from Swaziland! I’m here for a week visiting my cousin and her family (husband and their four boys) who are serving here for the next two years. I figured that since I was already on the continent, it only made sense to stop in here for a bit before heading home!

So my time in Uganda has come to an end, unfortunately…I would have loved to stay longer, but at the same time I am also looking forward to coming home. When I came I wasn’t sure if I would come home in August, and was prepared to consider staying here longer, but I definitely am feeling that Canada is where I am supposed to be for the next little bit! So while I will be sad to leave Africa (I love it here), I know that Canada is where I am supposed to be this fall and I am looking forward to discovering what the next few months will have in store for me!

But there are definitely more stories still to come from Uganda…lots happened during my time there that I haven’t yet had a chance to blog about! So to save you having to read one really loooong blog post, I will be attempting to update my blog over the next few weeks with shorter posts about different things that I had a chance to do…the medical clinic, going on safari, more stories from the 10 acres, and some reflections on my time in Uganda! And I’ll also be putting my pictures up on Facebook once I am on a computer with a decent internet connection!

This trip has definitely been a great experience for me, and I am now starting to process how I can and should live when I return home to Canada. As this is my fourth trip to Africa, I know that I could very easily just fall back into “normal” life in Canada and it could be just like it was before I left…but that is what I really don’t want to do! I still haven’t quite landed on how this is going to look…so it will be an interesting journey for sure. Thank you also to those of you who have been praying for me while I was in Uganda…I really appreciate it, and God has definitely answered your prayers on my behalf! So thank you again!

So, more to come in the next few weeks…and I will see you soon! I arrive in Vancouver on August 14th at about three in the afternoon, so feel free to give me a call anytime after that! Take care!

Baby Fashion Show

The children’s homes here in Mpigi house 52 kids. While the target age for the kids here is 3 and older, there is one baby who is about 14 months old who is living here as well. He was rescued from a difficult home situation, and the kids and the house moms here love having him around! His name is Zwa, but the moms have renamed him Mokisa, which means “fortunate one”. They feel like this baby has been given a second chance at life, so they felt that this new name was more fitting! It has been great to see Zwa grow and develop in the time that I have been here…he is definitely starting to thrive in this new environment.

However, Zwa didn’t have many clothes when he came here, and most of the donations that we get are for older kids. When I was in Kibaale, I found a bunch of second-hand baby clothes for sale at the market for 500 shillings each (that is like 35 cents). So I picked up a few shirts and shorts for Zwa.

I brought the clothes over to Suubi house to give to the house mother, Mama Rose. She was so excited! She made me go get my camera, and then we did a baby fashion show…she started putting outfits on Zwa, and then getting me to take pictures of him…it was hilarious! All the other kids were just loving it…they were cheering, and laughing, and just so happy for little Zwa. Here are some pictures of the fashion show…

Zwa posing in outfit number one…

Zwa and Mama Rose…and Zwa loving being the centre of attention…

All the kids cheering for Zwa!

Kibaale

I had a chance to spend a few days with my friends Jeff and Shannon Dyck (and family) where they live in Kibaale. Kibaale is about 120 kms southwest from where I am staying. In Kibaale I was able to visit the clinic that operates on the property, and also went on some outreach community visits. Outreach visits are when the clinic staff travel to a nearby village and provide immunizations for babies. They also go and visit people at their homes and make suggestions as to how they can improve their home and the surrounding area to help improve their health. Here are some pictures from my time in the village…

Handwashing station that they encourage all families to build…

Random guy showing me how to row a boat…

Immunizing babies!

Music Video

I got a great welcome back from all of the kids and house moms on the property when I returned from my week at Sanyu. I love living in community here – people are interested in everything that is going on, and are constantly checking in on how things are going. Pretty much every time I leave the property, even if it is just to go to the market to buy vegetables, someone wishes me a “safe journey”, and when I return everyone I see welcomes me back. I think this is something that I will miss when I return to Canada!

I spent most of last Saturday hanging out with the kids, and then at 5pm tons of people started showing up on the property. I asked what was going on, and they told me that we were going to watch some music videos in the church!

Let me backtrack a bit…when I first arrived in Mpigi, the church was being used constantly – people were singing and dancing in the church building all the time. I found out that one of the musicians from the church had written some songs and was making them into music videos. So one Monday, a producer and cameraman from Kampala came to Mpigi to film the music video. The church was packed, people were in costumes, they were dancing and singing, and trying (unsuccessfully) to convince me to dance in the video!

So last Saturday we had a chance to watch the completed videos! Everyone showed up at 5pm, and we were waiting…and waiting…and waiting…at 6:30pm we all moved in to the church to wait some more. People weren’t impatient…instead, they used the time that we were all waiting to start up an impromptu dance party! There was one little guy who was probably 4 or 5, and he was the star of the show…probably one of the better dancers I have seen in a long time! Finally, at about 8:30pm, the video arrived with the producer from Kampala and the show began!

It was great to see so many of the church community members in the videos…and whenever one of them appeared, the whole crowd of about 120 people started cheering! The videos were great…totally done Ugandan style, which is hard to explain in a blog post, but I am hoping to be able to get a copy of the DVD to bring with me back to Canada!

Music videos in Uganda…an unexpected but very fun evening!!

Here's a picture of Segawa picking up the dry laundry...

Sanyu Babies Home

Hello from Uganda!

Time is going by quickly now…I only have about two weeks left in Uganda (and then a week in Swaziland), which is hard to believe! I feel like I am finally just getting settled in to life here, and already I feel like it is time to wind down.

I spent a week at Sanyu Babies Home, which is an orphanage for babies and kids up to 3 years old in Kampala. (For those of you that know Jeff and Shannon, Sanyu is the orphanage where they adopted Mazzy from!) It was fun to spend time with the little ones, and I met a bunch of interesting people from all over the world who were also volunteering there (from Australia, the UK, Holland, Norway…)

Here are some pics of my time at Sanyu…

The little babies… Playtime...

Meal time…

Out with new friends…

A challenging word...

This past Sunday at church, I had the opportunity to hear a very challenging message from Pastor Geoffrey. Geoffrey is one of the full time pastors here at the church, and as I write this, he is spending the day in the church in prayer for the community here. Geoffrey, his wife Rose, and their three kids Esther, Isaac, and Praise live here on the church property. Here is a picture of Praise:

So this is the text that Geoffrey preached on:

2 Corinthians 8:1-4
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

He also used a couple of verses from Proverbs:

Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ear to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

Geoffrey’s encouragement to the congregation was to give from what they had, following the example of the Macedonian churches that were joyfully giving out of their extreme poverty. Listening to this message in a church full of people, many of them unemployed, or single parents, or elderly and struggling to meet the needs of their grandchildren, or parents who can barely afford the rent of their dirt hut and school fees for their children definitely got me thinking!! It is one thing to hear a message like this delivered from the comfort of a North American church, but in this setting I found this word much more challenging to hear.

Here are some things I have been thinking about following this message…
-do I give joyfully?
-what does it mean to give as much as I am able, and even beyond my ability?
-is giving a privilege for me?
-how should I respond to the cry of the poor?

This message will definitely keep me thinking for a while!!

And just so you can see that I really am in Uganda…here are some pictures of me with the kids, playing...you guessed it…memory!!




And one more picture of the kids playing taxi...using some leaves and ropes tied together and some sticks!

That's all for now! Take care!