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!