This is Africa

I had a crazy day today.  So crazy that I wanted to write about it before I forgot all the details.  First it started off with trying to get 5 cakes out to the orphanage with driving for 45 minutes on African roads without them hitting the roof or a similar disaster.  We were travelling with the Macris family who was in another vehicle.  They got a flat tire before they made it out of town so stopped to get that fixed. We went ahead and our car broke down about 10 minutes out of town.  We broke down in the middle of a construction zone too.  It couldn't have been a worse place.  They caught up and Rachael and I went ahead with them while the rest of the crew stayed with the broke down vehicle.

After church, I had lunch with family 3, which was wonderful.  I got to spend a lot of time with those kids last year so it was great to see them all again. Then we had the birthday celebrations with the cakes that we had so carefully brought out there.  It was so great to see the kids get so excited about celebrating their birthdays.  We celebrated birthdays for the kids who were born in December, January and February.  They usually only do one month at a time, but since there was Christmas and then their school holiday in January, they needed to do 3 months at once.  Which also meant singing Happy Birthday 21 times in a row.  A first for me, but it was so fun! 

On the way back, Rachael and I took local transport since we didn't have a car to get back with.  We hopped in a taxi, and guess what.  That one broke down too!  How is it possible to have 3 car disasters in one day?  I'm not sure.  So we had to wait on the side of the road for quite some time until a bus came along.  After finally making it back to Masaka, the guys of the house butchered the turkey, and then we played some wild rounds of dutch blitz.  All in all, it was a really great day.

 Trying to figure out what to do with the dead car.

 Bushira who I sponsor shows her Canadian pride.  I love this girl.  She is much less shy around me on this, my third visit here.

 Boys will be boys, who don't want their picture taken.  My parents sponsor Joseph, second from left in the picture.

 Little Trust loves her cake!

Triumph loves cake too!  Fred is so compassionate to help her have some.

More of this wonderful

Hello again from Uganda.  More wonderful times here.  Yesterday we went into town in the morning to pick up some supplies.  It was fun.  Jovan went to negotiate on some pots for us at the market.  When he had agreed on a price, he needed to come back and get that amount of money, but walked right past us like he didn't know us, because if the store keeper saw him with 3 mzungu's (white people) the price would be more.  So we walked farther down and gave him the money.  When he went back, the shopkeeper had put up the price because she had followed him and saw him with us!  He was not so happy about that, so we went to a different shop to buy them.

Today we went out to the property and the highlight of my day was walking up to the school to see Wasswa, the littlest boy that I sponsor, come flying out of his classroom to see me and give me a hug.  It was so wonderful!  I love these people so much.  I simply just love being around them, the kids and the staff of Eagles Wings.

I have been so much enjoying staying with Joan.  Just being with her and lounging around the house in my pj's until noon.  Playing dutch blitz in the evening and laughing at silly things.

That's all for now,

Jaimee

 Elisha's all ready to go for school.  I was so half asleep when I took this photo I didn't even realize he had milk all over his face.

Me & Wasswa, my little sweetie:)

What a day.

Well I have to say that I am in a much better place than I was last time I wrote. Having a full nights sleep helped a lot I think.  So, yesterday was a pretty great day.  After getting Elisha off to school in the morning, we drove out to Kako to visit 3 Jjaja's (Grandma's) that are part of the Eagles Wings Extension Program. 

Let me tell you, despite being in their 90's, these women have some serious spunk!  We walked a ways downhill to visit the first Jjaja, and after talking with her for a bit, she decided she was going to walk us all the way back up the hill and she wouldn't take no for an answer!  So we slowly made our way back up there with her in the front.

Then we got to the second Jjaja's house.  This woman has more energy than people I know half her age.  She came and greeted us all and made us dance while she made sounds.  Then she decided it was time to start matchmaking and asked me if another one of the guys and I would please get married and have a child.  I think I was a pretty deep shade of red by that point!  I'm sure my Mother would have been thrilled to join forces with this woman. One of the things I love about cross cultural travel is experiences like this.  How something that would be so taboo at home, is not so here.

We got to the third Jjaja's house, who also happened to be Jovan's grandmother.  Jovan stays with us here at the house and I really enjoy his sense of humour.  The funniest part of this visit when she looked around the room and asked us if any of us had the ability to breastfeed. Another embarrassing moment for me.

Time is flying by already and I know that I'm not going to have enough time to do everything I want to, but I am savouring every precious moment I do have.  Or maybe I just won't come home at the end. . . I have really noticed this time, how this place no longer seems foreign or strange to me.  It all just seems like a second home.  I absolutely love this place.

 Me & Jjaja Namuule

 The second Jjaja made me shake my hips for her!  Definitely not something I would do in public back home!

 The first Jaja insisted on walking us back up the hill.

 Jovan dances with the Jjaja.  He's so good.

Joan, Jovan's Jjaja, Me & Rachael.  Love these people.

I love you Uganda

Well, I safely arrived in Uganda.  I was fortunate to stay with Jeff Austin from eMi and his lovely family for the night in Kampala before departing for Masaka the next morning.  It was so wonderful to arrive and be greeted by people I have missed so very much the past year.

Even though I was super tired due to jet lag, I stayed up until bedtime and taught my friends how to play dutch blitz.  It was so much fun, and so great to see them get just as wound up as I do playing that game.

Shortly after I went to bed, the lady I'm staying with phone rang. And the outcome of that phone call resulted in most of us in this house only getting a few hours sleep last night.  So I'm tired again today. No need, to worry because no one was hurt, however, I can't really say any more than that. However, I was not expecting to be so quickly thrown into such a difficult situation and to feel so helpless to do anything about it. You know how some people just seem to be born with wisdom beyond their years, I was wishing I was one of those this morning.  Elisha, the little boy that I love, is staying with us here for the next few days.  After a long night with little sleep, it was so special to have him sneak into my bed this morning to cuddle and hear him say "Jaimee, I love you."

So that's really all I have to tell you for now. I'm really not too sure what the next week is going to look like, but I'll try and update if I can.

Me & The Austin Family.

Reminders of Joy

Right now there is more luggage than free space on the floors in my bedroom.  I'm leaving for Uganda one week tomorrow, and yet I feel like I'm in a very different place than I was last year before I left.

While I'm excited and full of anticipation, I also feel the heavy weight of these things I carry.  Part of me won't allow myself to believe this trip is actually going to happen until I set my feet on those red dirt roads. God seems to be reminding me daily that this trip is His to give or to take away. Reminding me to hold it with an open hand, to lay down my expectations, and to be willing to let Him use me in ways I don't expect.

Life has been racing forward at warp speed for the past few weeks.  My job has had me in every corner of this province from the farthest North, and to the farthest South, East and West.  And in a matter of less than a week I'll be going from the Rocky Mountains to the African Sahara.  From -47 C wind chills last week to the sometimes oppressive heat of the equator. And as I run, race through each day it seems I carry the worry that somehow this whole thing is just going to slip right through my fingers.

Somehow there are people who just know. They know that words are my love language. And somehow they just know what to say when it needs to be said.  A friend that I treasure tells me to lay all that I carry, all these expectations, all these things I still need to do, to just lay them down at the foot of the cross. A co-worker who reminds me that I'm so much more than I let myself believe. A card from a friend that flows with words of encouragement and hope. This is why I speak this  language the best. Because I know that these, these words that were spoken or written, they cost something. And because of that, they are words I won't forget.

I was wondering if it is really possible to radiate joy in a way that other people can't miss, despite wading through the mire of this human condition we all battle against. To be real in a way that says, here I am, all of me. To be real in a way that allows you to look someone in the eye and communicate to them just how important they are.  And just today, I got a letter in the mail from Esther, my Compassion Child in Uganda.  She writes in her careful printing "Jaimee, I want you to know that the joy of the Lord is your strength." After 12 years of letter writing and finally meeting face to face two years ago, somehow even she just knows what I need to be reminded of.

And so I hope that I'll be updating you from the field soon. I'll be in Uganda for a total of 3 weeks, mostly at Eagles Wings Children's Village with a week of eMi in the middle.

    These kids right here are what motivate me to fight for wild and crazy joy.

Almost Goodbye

Somehow my time here is coming to a close, I leave for Delhi tomorrow morning and I don’t know how it has flown by so quickly.  I knew it would but somehow this ending still comes as a surprise. There is so much I’m going to miss. The children, the silly banter between my team members, the new friends I’ve made, all that makes India what it is. Living in close community like this with both my team members and the locals is going to make it hard to go back to the individualistic way of life at home.  I know from past experience that I always find the isolation hard to deal with.  I hope I have the strength within me to deal with all that will come with being back home.

Last night Alyssa & I went and hung out with the girls for a bit.  We played some silly games with the younger ones, and then after they went in the teenage girls came out to hang out with us.  It was so great and nice to be able to spend time with them.  They reminded me of the girls of that age I have hung out with at home.  The constant chatter and questions that flew my way as they braided my hair, “Didi, do you miss your parents?” “Didi, your fair skin is so beautiful” “Didi, let me teach you how to say you are so beautiful in Hindi” “Didi, do you know Justin Bieber?” “Didi, my voice sounds funny because I was hooting for my team at the football game” “Didi, do you want to marry someone from India, Canada or Korea (they all voted for someone from Korea which might be hard since I don’t actually know anyone from Korea)” “Didi, come look at our favourite Korean movie stars, don’t they look nice?” and finally “Didi we like you, when are you going to come back?”  How can I answer that question?  The same way I always do.  I don’t know when I’ll come back.  And that thought makes me sad.  I can feel it, have felt it as my time here has steadily moved forward, the ways these kids, these people have firmly grabbed hold of my heart and drawn me in.  The way they will keep part of it and I’ll notice that it’s gone when I get home.  I wish I could stay longer. 

I have learned more of their names than I thought I would.  It was a challenge for me at first.  And I still don’t know them all, but I have learned a lot.  And the reason this is so important for me is because I know that each of us wants to be known, and these kids are no different.  Maybe knowing who they are and what their names are will make it harder for me to leave, but it lets them know that I care.  I care a lot.  Tonight we get to attend the monthly birthday celebration.  They have one birthday celebration a month for all the kids with birthdays in that respective month.  I’m excited to go since they do the same thing at Eagles Wings Children’s Village in Uganda, but it never happened to be when I was there.  I have noticed at several times over this trip, just how different this culture is from East Africa, but how I love them both just as much.  I’ve heard some people who have been to both places say they find them similar, but I’m not sure I agree.  Sure, there are some things that might be similar, but in a lot of ways they couldn’t be more different.  So if someone were to ask me which place I liked better, I don’t think I could provide them with an answer because I love them both very much.

There have been challenging times on this trip.  Maybe more challenging that I had expected, but I’m not going to spend time elaborating on those challenges because they are all just part of the background.

And so I will leave you with a whole lot of pictures.  I couldn’t choose between these, my favourites. 

 Alyssa, the other girl on the team and I enjoy some morning chai.

 Stunning views in every direction.

 Gunga & Monisha

 Karina is such a sweetheart!

 Angelie, Karina, Padma, Avantica & Lata

 Panzay & friends making chapattis.

 The boys!

 Narush

 Can you spot Matthew at the total station?

 I love Bambi!

 Dance lessons for the younger kids.  They were so much fun to watch.

 Little Joelle is an acrobat and martial arts master.

Harish is an amazing dancer!

Good Morning Didi

Everywhere I walk on this campus I’m greeted with “Good Morning (Afternoon, or Evening) Didi.” In Hindi, Didi means older sister.  I like the way things are, I’m not sure how I'm ever going to go back to being just Jaimee when I get back home.  I was talking about this today with our team leader. The difficulty of transition back to home.  He said that for people who spend a lot of time in a place like this, people who live here for years and then try to move back to Western Culture, it can take up to 2 years to re-adjust to being home again.  For me, only being here a short time, I don’t expect it to take years, but allowing myself 3 or 4 months is probably accurate.  How can 10 days cause such upheaval for 3 or 4 months?

Today I walked through the mountains with Matthew and 3 staff members wielding machetes for brush clearing to go have a look at the water source.  It was an adventure.  The mountain vista’s were breathtaking and although I was good and sweaty by the time I got back, I had so much fun.  Before I left this morning I was able to show the medium girls how to use the survey GPS that we were collecting points with.  I’m starting to remember some of their names, and one of them told me she wants to be an engineer.  In general, I’ve felt that connecting with the kids has been more of a challenge than I’m used to.  The fact that I don’t speak Hindi is a stumbling block, even though most of the kids do speak English.  Although I do feel like I am getting to know some of the girls, I sometimes find the cross cultural aspect of communication in this formal and seemingly reserved part of the country to be challenging and hard to understand.  I wish I could have more time to get to know the people here. But don't be mistaken, I do feel connected, and I know I'm going to miss these people once I'm gone.  I'm just trying to take in every minute I have.  This morning as I was walking through the bush, I realized what a gift this is.  How lucky I am to be here. I've been noticing all the things that I'm going to miss once I'm back in Canada, rice for breakfast, lychee juice and cookies for morning snack (they have both morning and afternoon snack here!), the gentleness of the people.  There is so much that I want to share, I can't wait to tell people about all of this when I see them in person.

 Bambi, the resident St. Bernard needs a drink too!  She's so cute:)

 The ladies came all the way out to the water reservoir to deliver us juice and cookies for morning snack.

 Boys against girls in tug of war.  The girls won.  The boys were more than a little competitive.  Apparently, the boy's strategy of spitting in their hands to increase their grip, backfired.

 With the medium girls before they head off to school.  Love these girls.

 Walking through the "jungle" to reach the spring that is the water source for the home.