Faces

Life is busy here in Kampala. Some days require a lot of driving around from hill to hill to accomplish daily tasks. There is one particular road/corner that I think I have talked about before. It is a very busy intersection. Waiting time can sometimes be long, especially if the traffic police are directing instead of letting the lights do the work. Somehow the police make a mess of it. Anyway that's another story. Street vendors are in full force along this stretch of the road and unfortunately this is where the homeless and beggars gather. I saw the woman in the photo approaching. My heart breaks when I see the women and children dressed in filthy, tattered clothes, whose lives are reduced to walking this busy, dirty road to beg for food. This lady did not speak English but managed to tell me the baby's name was Simon. I said a quick prayer out loud for the woman and Simon as I handed her a small pack of cookies. God cares for them.

P.U.S.H.

The day started out with a strong sense of anticipation on my behalf. I think I went to sleep last night determined that I was not going to give up, let up or give in until the job was accomplished. The task I am talking about was no small thing. Let me give a little background. As you know from previous blogs one of the team members, currently in Sudan, had to go there without her luggage. I had picked her luggage up Wed. from Entebbe and had it stored with me as I tried to line up a flight for it to go on, along with satellite rods needed to test the satellite system so we could get it functioning. We are aiming at live satellite broadcasting this weekend! Thousands will hear Bible stories, as well as education and health lessons. Two wonderful aviation ministries here in Uganda help teams like ours do what we do. They are MAF and AIM. I spoke with both of them at length trying to coordinate a shipment of 1,000 hand held radios weighing 778 kgs. to be exact, that had been shipped into Entebbe from Canada and needed to be sent to the team so they could hand them out during their time there. It gets quite complicated from here but lets just say God paved the way through incredible obstacles to allow me to get the items cleared through customs in record time and a flight lined up for Sat. morning. The first photo is how I felt early in the morning as all these difficulties came my way. For the most part all the things I had to deal with were things I had absolutely no experience with, like airway bills, way bills( different from airway bills ) transit documents, letter of authorisation allowing goods to pass through the Republic of South Sudan, just to mention a few. One by one I prayed them away. Years ago there was a saying P.U.S.H. Pray until something happens! It works :-) Prossy joined me again for the TWO trips to Entebbe. At one point we had a 2 long steel rods, about 6 ft or 3m long and other pieces that I don't even know what to call them, loaded into the car. They wouldn't fit so we had them sticking out the front passenger window. The Ugandan who helped us load said" you can't go like that you will hurt a motor cycle rider or pedestrian". I said" I have no choice and no time to delay". As Prossy and I made the 24 km trip to Entebbe we prayed over and over for God's protection of the people outside. We also prayed that God would hide us, make us invisible to the police that are on the side of the road waiting to give tickets or get bribes. We saw many police, but I guess they didn't see us :-)
The big smile on my face you see in the last photo is because on my 2nd trip to Entebbe I was able to take the needed, lost rods for the 6am flight on Sat. and this meant everything was a GO for the trip.
As a side note, I had to wind the passenger side window completely down to fit the large rods I had earlier carried ( these were the incorrect rods) I have had trouble with the window getting stuck so like every good missionary I had duct taped the control button on the passenger side so no one would let the window down all the way. We drove back to Kampala for an hour and a half at 10pm with the window all the way down. By the way don't let anyone tell you there is less traffic in Kampala at night. At one well known round about there was no less than FIVE lanes of cars in the round about all the way around. I had to turn the engine off and sit in the round about circle until the policeman who was difficult to see over the cars and in the dark blew his whistle to move the cars on. It was a sight to behold. When I got home I tried once more to raise the window, but nothing. Feeling completely exhausted I decided to tackle it in the morning. Saturday morning I went out there with 2 screw drivers to try and figure out how to take off the door panel and fix the window. To my surprise the window was already raised about 4 inches. I was shocked. I then thought I bet its stuck in that position now. I went back to the drivers side window controls and raised the lever and up came the window, smooth as silk. God fixes broken lives and hearts AND broken windows.

Lemons to lemonade

Sometimes life is just plain frustrating. Imagine arriving in Africa at 1:30 am after a very looong flight and finding your luggage didn't make it. Well you may say "it will come soon or on the next flight" problem is you are leaving in a few hours for Sudan and there is no time to shop. You want very much to go on the next leg of the journey but there are certain things you just have to have. Team members step up and offer all kinds of stuff from their own supplies. "Coincidentally" extra supplies have been brought to the airport like a fan,snack food, headlamp,skirts, sunscreen, bug spray and the like. You get on the small plane and fly off to Sudan deciding the desire to go and share God's stories is stronger within you than the lack of your supplies. Some days are going to be hard but it will be okay.
Back in Entebbe your bags come in the next night at 1:30. They need to be picked up. That's part of my job while the team is in Sudan. I run errands, receive and pass along team updates and generally run interference for a host of other things. I asked my house helper, Prossy, if she would like to ride with me to the airport. Its about a 45 min drive on a good traffic day. She was beside herself with excitement. You see this woman in her mid 20s had not been to the airport or to the town of Entebbe on Lake Victoria since she was in elementary school. Her eyes were wide open enjoying the sights and her smile made my day. For Prossy, the lost bags turned out to be a great joy. We never know how God will use situations in our lives.

Two Cakes Day!

It's not too often that you get to have two cakes on your birthday, but today was the day for exceptions. I woke up early feeling excited that this was the day South Sudan would become a new nation it was also my birthday. (I'm not telling how many years! ) I watched the BBC for live coverage. They didn't have fireworks but a 21 gun salute. I had fireworks kind of, on my cake :-) A huge sparkler lit up my pretty pink and purple decorated cake with a rice crispy tea cup on top. My friend, Neltia, went all out with the cake decorating. The Sudan cake even had a mud hut on it with the South Sudanese flag flying high. July 9th 2011 is a memorable date. Hip pip Hooray !

Hospital visit

Here I am again back at Mulago Hospital. The building itself is very large. No one seems able to tell me how many rooms or patients. People are everywhere, laying on the floors,walking in the halls and of course many in beds and stretchers. We met with the COME team (Christian Outreach Mission Evangelism ) They work tirelessly 6 days a week trying to meet the needs of those who have no family, no food, actually no support of any kind. There was a woman seated in the office who was there desperate for help. She was holding a newborn. Her employer would not take her back with her child and she had run from her village when she was pregnant as she thought they may try to kill her. She was now wanting to go to her auntie who was her only living relative. She had no money and no way to get any. The overwhelming needs press on you. Where do you go when there is no where to go?
Suffering surrounds you here. We went today to visit 5 patients in ICU. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. The patients seemed cared for by the staff. As we went from bed to bed we got their names from the charts on the over bed tables. No one was able to talk with us, each person lay semi unconscious or had a tube in their throat. We prayed for each by name. There is no more that I can do. I always leave feeling sad and overwhelmed at all of the needs and then somewhere along the way home I got a little feisty. A policeman stopped me. My friends here have been waiting for this to happen. It's inevitable when you are white! I can't even begin to re tell the conversation its all so bizarre. I asked him to give me a ticket (aka receipt) That's the way you get them to leave you alone. They dont like giving tickets because that's more work. Finally he said he wouldn't give me a receipt and asked me if that was okay. I told him I appreciated it very much. I had done nothing wrong. Sometimes they just want you to pay them a bribe. I had a Ugandan lady in the front seat next to me. After we drove away she commented on how terrible that was. Just another day on the roads in Kampala :-)

Ugandan sights and symbols

Okay I know I have talked about these strange birds/storks before but they keep showing up in various places and I find them intriguing. I managed to get a close up this time. You can just barely see the fluff on the top of his bald head. He is so big with those long stick legs. I am constantly amazed at how he even gets off the ground. They like to hang out on the top of billboards.
Again I seem to be obsessed with birds since I arrived here. While walking in a garden recently I saw this metal structure that features the Crested Crane adorned with the colors of Uganda. The Cranes are popular here as they are the name of the national soccer team.

Independence celebration

Today, we celebrated Independence Day Ugandan style. We gathered with several hundred ex pats, a few Brits, Canadians and Ugandans at the local American Recreation Association facility. There were big tents set up on a large grassy area and we sat around and enjoyed visiting friends. Hot dogs and hamburgers were served while we were entertained by several groups. Some young people did a great job in giving us a brief history of the past 235 years. Although it was an American celebration we were reminded we are in another culture and were treated to some lively songs and dances. We were also happy to have the Marines present. Security was much tighter than usual to get into the club for which we were most grateful. To cap it all off we had a fireworks show which was short but still enjoyable. I am sad that family and friends back in Texas are not allowed to use fireworks this year because of drought and fire bans. Galveston Bay and the city of Houston will hold a public display. Happy 4th wherever you are and whichever time zone you are in. God Bless America.

Random Stuff

So many things happen here that it's hard to keep track of the funny and not so funny. I just keep thinking about different things that I don't want to forget about and that I think you'll find interesting. Firstly, did you know that if I need medicine I don't need to see a Dr. and get a prescription? I can just go to the pharmacy and ask for whatever I want. Vine Pharmaceutical is the place I go to most frequently if I need something. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. Downside is parking and traffic are terrible at this location.
Next random thing is the grasshopper salesman. They stand on the road at different intersections, mostly in the afternoons, in case you feel like some grasshoppers on your drive home. He will scoop them out of a bucket into a bag and pass them through your window and off you go :-)
Yesterday, I was driving along with my camera , because I recently decided that I see too many interesting things that I don't want to miss and low and behold I glanced in my side mirror and there it was, another strange sight. I whipped out the camera and had plenty of time as there was a traffic jam. I was able to get a good close up. Yes, they are dead fish that you can see tied to the front of a truck. In certain areas near lakes, rivers etc people sell fish on the side of the road. Rather than put the stinky fish in the car with them, most tie it on the outside. Never mind the dust and fumes that cover them.
Lastly, I see people carrying the most amazing loads. This man was carrying a 70kg (140lb) bag with some sort of grain across the street in heavy traffic. There are no wimps here. Women and children carry unimaginably heavy loads.
That's all for today but trust me there will be more.