Jonathan Jr. (no joke)

Ma Baby

So I know that I've only been here for 5 months, but I have a child here in Lango. Allow me to introduce to you Jonathan Ryskamp Awany.
Here is the story:
A few weeks ago, I was slated to be in the small church of St. Thomas for the day. I think they were excited because I was bringing news of a group of 7 churches in Calgary, Alberta who were interested in beginning a partnership. So everyone left early for the church.

One young and very pregnant mother was still getting dressed to come and greet me at her church. As she was getting dressed, she went into labor! No one was around, they were all waiting in the church to greet me! She delivered by herself in her home. So she asked herself, "Why has this trouble come to me? It is because of Jonathan. This child should be called Jonathan!"

This week, on Tuesday morning the child was to be baptized at the weekly communion service. Also on that day, I happened to be returning to the church to introduce two visitors, one of whom represented the 7 churches in Calgary. So I think when the mother saw that I had returned on the day the child was to be baptized, she decided to give the child my whole name! Locally, the official name will be more like Ricecamp Awany Jonathan, but the child will be called Jonathan and he was baptized with my full name. Crazy, huh? I'm incredibly honored by it, and I took some pictures with the child and of the family so that I can bring them back the next time I visit. Also, I was asked to give an impromptu sermon at that service, so that was fun too.

Workin

This week, Ida Mutoigo came to Lira as well. She is the director of CRWRC Canada. She was escorting the visitor from Calgary, but it was nice to get to know her and take her to some programs and places here in Lango. Her perspectives and words were very helpful for me. It was also an honor for myself and the Diocese of Lango, because now this year we have received both co-directors from CRWRC!

The Development branch of the Church of Uganda (PDR) is also working on a resettlement program for Northern Uganda. Part of the program is protection of wells and springs, so Jacob and I have been trying to identify communities and water resources that need help.

CRWRC is considering sending another intern to the Lango region. Her work would probably be more with training of teachers and helping to start some income generating activities (IGAs) so that some of the community projects can generate money and be self-sustaining. I've been working to secure her role and help plan her work.

Also, Jacob and I have been working to restructure his department. This involves the hiring of field officers, which is a difficult task when you have little to no salary available for them. Hopefully, we will be able to at least get one field officer in to place before I leave Lira in a week or two. This would free Jacob up to build the capacity of the rest of the departments in the Diocese (Mother's Union, Youth, Health, Education, Mission, Finance) and to plan with them on how they could obtain funds, how to get Boards in place and active, how their work can fit with the vision and planning of the Diocese, etc. So sometimes, it feels like the progress is haltingly slow, but I have to remind myself that there are changes that will come even if I might not get to see them all.

On a Personal Note

I am getting ready to go. There is no real good stopping point for this type of work, in some ways it feels like I'm just getting the hang of some things and now I have to go. There is definitely a lot of work still to do here. I'm trying to look at some of the objectives I've talked about above as some concrete steps for me to leave behind.

I'm a bit anxious about heading straight to Grad School. It is nice that I have something tangible to work toward as my next step, but it certainly adds to my list of things to do when I return: interviewing for and securing a field placement for my Social Work internship, deputation for CRWRC (which means visiting churches and talking about my experiences), moving from Grand Rapids to Chicago, catching up with friends and family, looking for funding for school, going to weddings, catching up on all the music I've missed out on.... that sort of thing. So if you think to pray about my transition (both leaving and returning) I would be incredibly grateful.

It was good for me to visit Otwal again before I left. The first time I visited this Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp it was a booming, crowded slum. Five months later, it just looks like a trading center. According to the camp leaders, 80% of the people have returned to their homes. The remains of this refugee camp are turning the area into a real town. Crowded mud huts that formally housed whole families (or two) have been torn down and are now gardens and spaces for children to play. Some of these people will try to remain in this former camp and turn it in to a town, others are very far away from their homes and are waiting maybe until the peace agreements are more certain.

Depending on who you ask, you will get different reasons for why people are remaining in the "camps". No matter who you believe, it is still an incredible encouragement to see the transformation that has taken place in such a short time. It is an encouragement to see this camp and its progress because other camps still remain with 90% or more of their original population. Some camps are turning into what they call "Resettlement Points" which means the people living there aren't home yet, but have left their original camp to get closer to home. Continue to pray that peace is secured for Northern Uganda.

A Scenic World

....where the sunsets are all....breathtaking.

In addition to a scenic world, it seems I have much to be thankful for today. Tuesday my mom underwent an intensive surgery (11 hours at the Dr.'s!) to remove a malignant growth (DFSP Sarcoma) from her back.

She said that she felt very supported, so I'd like to thank all of you who prayed and lended your kinds words. Today we are celebrating with you, as my mom recuperates with 9 inches of stiches on her back. Those are good stiches though, because they mean the cancer is gone! As they say so often here in Uganda, "Praise the Lord!" So as you may guess, my thoughts have been preoccupied with home a little bit these last few weeks. Hearing this news, however, was a relief.

As for me, the work here has kept me very busy. Last week I went to (Rys)Kampala for the Uganda Country Team Meeting. It was great to see old familiar faces, as well as really feel like a part of the team. I also got to hang out with Arianne (another CRWRC employee) and her brother who was visiting from China during their last days in Kampala. Arianne is going home to Canada to get married, so she was excited to go. When we took her brother to the airport it was hard not to imagine what it would be like to be going home now...

However, there is still lots of work to do here. I spent some of my time in Kampala with Davis and Rev. Jacob sitting down to figure out what direction the Diocese was going. I never thought that I'd be passionate about organization management, but when we sketched together how the Development branch of the church was going to grow, it was really exciting. So now Jacob and I are back in Lira working at how we can hire some Field Officers to take over the programs we've been running (HIV/AIDS, Food Security/Agriculture, Adult Literacy, Income Generation/Oxen Traction, etc.) so that I can leave in August and Jacob can remain in an adminstrative role helping the rest of the Diocese (Mission Department, Youth Department, Mother's Union, etc.).

The work, however, did not make me hurry back from Kampala. I took the long road home so that I could pass through Mbale, and Sipi Falls.

Even after living alone for almost 6 months, after a week of community in Kampala I was a little nervous about hiking around all by myself. Fortunately, after an adventure involving a broken bus axle, I reached Sipi Falls and found that I would be hiking and sharing a guide with 3 Israelis. I wasn't sure what to think about this at first, given my political feelings about the conflicts involving Israel, but I was worried for nothing. When I met these 3 friends, I soon found that I hadn't met anyone in Uganda yet with whom I had more in common! It was great. They were backpacking around Africa until they ran out of money, a way to blow off steam after mandatory conscription for 3 years in the Israeli Army.

So we spent the day hiking, sharing food, playing music for each other, and playing cards late into the night. Thus, I've added Hebrew to the plethora of languages from which I've learned a handful of words from while here in Uganda. Seriously, I'm not sure if I've had more fun my whole stay here. We even have tenative plans to meet up later and continue hiking in some other part of Uganda. Who knows? We'll see.

Before this, I had been moving in the field quite a bit. Jacob and I facilitated a Mother's Union in a former IDP camp area to receive some oxen as part of an oxen traction program. We had been working with this group quite a bit, so it was exiting when we got to hand over the actual oxen.

A few weeks ago, I came up with the idea of having a demonstration area in Boro Boro (the headquarters of Lango Diocese) where we would have examples of the work we were doing in the community. After the visit to Western Kenya, this idea really took hold in the Diocese. We invited one of the receipients of the community health program to teach the lay leadership of Boro Boro on the importance of maintaining a clean compound. As a part of this, they worked together to construct an energy-efficient stove where the smoke leaves the cooking hut rather than circulating within. We constructed one stove, but about 20 leaders learned how to make them. In addition we did an amaranth demonstration, planted a demonstration garden, gave out amaranth seed, and demonstrated composting which we'll use for planting fruit trees. It was an exciting day for me, because the community really took ownership of my little idea and made something special from it. This is a drawing one of the participants made of the final product.

So if my last month in Uganda goes anything like my last few weeks have gone, I'll be very happy. More than that, though, I think I'll leave feeling like my being here accomplished something and that I'm taking away much more than I came here with. That is exciting. As always, I thank you for your prayers and support. I'm glad to be somehow connected to all of you, no matter where you might be. Please keep praying for me and my family. My brother is away in China for the month, and my mom is recovering from surgery at home. Thanks!