> Day 29 - MFL School & Swimming

Once again, my needs are met: With a cold and a lingering upset stomach I got to sleep until 9AM today! After weeks of early mornings, it was like sleeping until noon.

Our first stop today was the Music for Life boarding school in Kampala. This is the building that will be replaced by the new facility that’s under construction (see Day 23). Seeing this current location makes me understand why they are anxious to get into the new space. Only a handful of kids were there – those who are from Rwanda (too far to go for a short semester break) and those who remain at school due to undesirable situations in their homes. Mark and Kristine were there and gave us a tour.



The dorm rooms are about 8x10 or 10x10. Each room contained 9-12 beds stacked 3-high. In one room you had to squeeze between 2 sets of beds to get into the room. In another room, the door would only open about 40% of the way before it ran into the end of some bunk beds. The classrooms are small and each one must hold 25-32 children. The bathrooms (one at the end of each hall) have 2 showers, 2 sinks and 2 toilets. In the U.S. there would be daily fights over the bathroom in that kind of arrangement. But I’ll bet, knowing what I do of the kids who live here, they rarely if ever argue over bathroom time.


One of the classrooms and the slums just outside the window

There’s really no storage space. Mark & Kristine have boxes stacked in their tiny offices. There are several things they are very proud of at the school. One of them is a library of donated books. They only have a couple hundred books for the ~125 kids who live and study here, but each book is treasured. Mark had asked if we could bring duct tape with us from N. America and today we saw why. One of the teachers was in the library cutting the duct tape and repairing the binding on the books. I couldn’t help but think of the dozens of books I could have brought. Shipping is so expensive and luggage space a premium. But if I had known, I would have found space! Now I better understand little Martha’s inquiries about which book series I had read and who were my favorite characters. She seemed to know every page of every book in that library.

Another thing that Mark was proud of was the generator. The power is so unreliable and Mark expressed how difficult it is to manage that many kids in one place, let alone without electricity. There are safety concerns, too. So with their new generator, they don’t have to spend hours in the dark anymore. It makes life much easier on the Resident Assistants who live there with the kids!

After we left the MFL boarding school, Barnett surprised us with lunch at a Chinese restaurant downtown. That might not sound like a big deal, but the softball of carbs under my ribs was crying out for something other than rice, potatoes and matoke. Several of us are experiencing some digestive distress since eating at the Ndere Cultural Center 2 nights ago and the Chinese food was a welcomed variety.

Our next stop was the Cassia Lodge atop a high hill top where we paid a few shillings so we could use their pool and just play for a few hours. The view was spectacular and I realized that this is where the people with money live.



I didn’t feel up to swimming given my cold and my stomach ache so I took advantage of the chaise lounge chair in the warm sun to catch up on my journal. I also admired John Paul and Barnett, the way they playfully dunked each other in the pool and the big-brotherly way Barnett supported John Paul to help him swim. They’re both young adults, but there’s a childlike innocence about them that I’m not used to seeing in young men. There is none of the machismo so commonly displayed among young Western males, yet they are both very masculine. I’ve seen a lot of warmth and compassion and tenderness towards other people from all of the Africans I’ve met in both Zambia and Uganda. It’s a common custom in many African countries for men to hold hands while they talk to each other or to walk arm in arm. It’s sad that Western men have resorted to things like slapping each other on the back and punching each other in the arm to show affection.



We stopped by Priscilla’s house on the way home to pick up something (which I later learned was a cake). My birthday is in 2 days and Eva’s birthday is 4 days after that, so since this is the last night we will all be together, we’re having a little birthday celebration! The women at our guest house cooked up a big meal of lasagna. Mark, Sarah & Seth came, and Barnett, John Paul, Eva and Henry were there, too. After dinner, Miriam said she wanted to get a photo of the group out on the steps. That was just a big ruse to get me and Eva seated next to each other with our backs to the house. The custom in Uganda, odd as it sounds, is that on someone’s birthday, you surprise them by pouring water on them when they aren’t looking. It lets them know that you remembered that it’s their birthday. So without any warning, Eva and I were doused with water to the cheers and laughter of everyone. Then they brought out the beautiful chocolate cake that Priscilla had baked and we celebrated!

Tomorrow Miriam, Kathy and Molly begin their journeys back to N. America. I’m sad to see our team splitting up and going back to our usual lives. I don’t know what my life will be like when I get back. I need to go back to work, but what will that be? Will I be able to contribute to God’s work in a meaningful way? Will I ever have an opportunity for another trip like this? Will I ever see any of these people again? How will my perspective change once I’m back in the U.S.? How will my spending habits change after what I’ve seen here? Will this experience change any of my relationships back home? I have so many questions and no answers. My questions are really more of an idle curiosity than a concern. So many of the people I’ve interacted with in Africa say that they don’t have a clue what’s next for them, yet they all seem really happy. Will I be able to hold on to the peace I feel, the desire to surrender to God’s plan? Will I be able to stave off the societal pressures of my western culture – pressures for security, insurance policies (literal and figurative), and the illusion of control? I don’t want to lose this joy. I don’t want to forget how it feels to be near to God all the time. I don’t want to go home.

> Day 28 - Painting, a Patient & a Party

We went to the Eden School around 8:30AM. Eden is another literacy school like Bugalobi, but it's integrated with some kids who can pay some school fees and is therefore more like a real school with blackboards and desks and teaching materials. Eden is where the UK team held their camp while we were holding camp for Bugalobi. The reason we're here is because our team opted out of going on safari so that we could stay in Kampala and paint classrooms at Eden. The plan is for the UK team to come in tomorrow and the next day to finish what we start today.

When we walked into the school I immediately started to assess the work ahead of us. The downstairs was a very large open area without walls dividing the space into classrooms, so it seemed necessary to tackle the entire downstairs. The people at Eden hadn't done any prep work, so after meeting the teachers, we started moving furniture, taking the kids' papers down that were glued to the walls, removing teaching aids... The walls were covered in the ubiquitous red dirt. And there were no tools/supplies in sight. I started to feel totally overwhelmed. It's a little unlike me to shy away from big jobs, but I woke up with a cold and a tummy ache and the task before us just made me want to crawl back into bed.

Some sandpaper appeared and some scraper blades. And then we were given some spackling powder and some pans to mix it in. Including our Uganda team members, there ~12 of us doing prep work in this gymnasium-sized room.

Then the 4th graders were let out for recess. Apparently the 4th graders thought that the work we were doing looked like fun because suddenly there were about 50 kids with sandpaper going after those walls with a vengeance. The air was so thick with plaster dust you could hardly see and piles of the stuff coated the floors. But that just made it more fun according to the kids!



After about 30 minutes the kids returned to class. I looked around and realized that the prep work was largely done! Oh me of little faith. A couple of us continued to fill cracks in the walls while others started rolling on the white wash undercoat. By the time we left, the place was nearly ready for the UK team to paint the dark color that was to be applied about 5 ft up from the floor and the lighter color that would be above that.



We dashed home for showers and darted out the door for yet another engagement. Our first stop was to the Mzungu doctor. Jon has been suffering from an itchy rash on his arm and torso that isn’t getting any better; Jessica insisted that he see a doctor.

From there we drove across town to a large guest house for our farewell dinner. The UK team was there and practically everyone from the Music for Life organization and a bunch of people from Ambassadors of Hope. We were served a fancy meal of meat cooked in banana leaves, rice, matoke, G-nut sauce, peas, potatoes and fresh fruit. We played games and sang... there were speeches of thanks and we were each given gifts of Ugandan coffee, a CD by the African Children’s Choir and a polo shirt that Priscilla had spent the entire day getting printed with the logo that she designed especially for us. All of the former choir members (all of them adults now) got up and sang for us and it was glorious! We finished the evening with hugs all around knowing that we wouldn't see most of these people again.



On the way home I checked my cell phone for text messages from my husband. I was surprised to find a message from Michael, our coordinator back in Canada. It turns out that Jon emailed his parents this morning about going to see a doctor sometime today and they were worried because they hadn’t heard back from him. Packed tightly into our little matatu, we all laughed hysterically about how the doctor’s diagnosis was going to sound to Jon’s parents. It’s just not one of those things you hear every day back in N. America. I sent a text back to Michael:

“Not to worry --Just a reaction from the dust of a hairy caterpillar.”

> Day 27 - Choir Kids & Cultural Center

My little Uganda family hung out at the Adonai Guest House in Kampala for awhile today.

After lunch we went for the first time to see the "Choir Training Academy" where the up-and-coming choir learns their material and gets ready for their tour to begin. I'm not sure what I had in my mind about what the training academy would look like... Perhaps a big complex with a large music room with a fancy sound system and great acoustics, a couple of classrooms and some dorm rooms... The actual choir training academy was a house. The downstairs was the kitchen and a living room that was modified to be a classroom. The second floor is where the boys sleep and the third floor is where the girls sleep. There's a front porch and a nice-sized yard for play.

The kids were playing when we arrived. We brought soap bubbles and you would have thought we were handing out gold. There was so much laughter and so much fun! Somebody (probably our mischevious John Paul) told the kids that Eva and I have birthdays soon and put the kids up to gathering around us and collectively blowing bubbles in our faces. Jon showed a couple of the boys some card tricks and Candice took a dive into the dirt while playing ball with some of the boys. We were treated to a personal performance of the kids singing and dancing on the front porch and then we all danced together to their little portable cd player which was all there was to that expensive sound system I had envisioned.

We played as long as we could and I really hated to leave. My only solace was that I'll see these kids in the U.S. when they tour Texas next year. I'm not sure where or how yet, but I'll see them again.

See the photo album "Choir Academy": http://picasaweb.google.com/leeannvosel/ChoirAcademy#

Our next stop was the Ndere Cultural Center for an evening of traditional dances and music. We met the team from the UK there, had dinner and enjoyed several hours of live performances. The drums were huge; all of the instruments were handmade. There was a lot of that bum-wriggle dance that they tried to teach us around the bonfire last week. One of the most impressive performances of the evening was by the 4-ish year old son of two of the performers who played two drums with absolute precision. That was rivaled in skill by the women who shook their rear-ends at the speed of hummingbird wings while balancing clay pots on their heads.

The M.C. brought all of the children in the audience onto the stage and did a comedy routine with them. I especially liked when he told the kids to lie on the ground and roll around because their mothers love to do laundry. After involving all the kids in his act, the children in the audience crossed the stage with unapologetic ease all throughout the show. At one point, a tiny girl about 3 years old walked across the floor carrying her undies. A few minutes later, she walked back across the floor with her dress pulled up around her tummy, undies still in hand, showing the world her little bare bottom. Then she dropped her underwear and had to go back to pick them up, all the while completely oblivious to the laughter of the audience. By the way, if you watch the documentary titled 'War Dance', you'll see this same M.C. and the Ndere Cultural Center in the film.

See the photo album "Ndere Cultural Center": http://picasaweb.google.com/leeannvosel/NdereCulturalCenter#

> Day 26 - Saturday

I had a hot shower this morning... You know, a real shower where you stand upright under the shower head and a continuous spray of hot water runs over your head... It's my 3rd such shower since I've been in Africa. What a treat!

Our team had a debrief meeting this morning with Jessica, Barnett and Sarah. After lunch at the guest house, we went to "the mall" to exchange money. Now here's something you don't see every day in America: A live goat in the trunk of a car. Hm.

Armed with Uganda Shillings, we spent the next several hours at a craft market buying beaded necklaces, wooden carvings, fabric purses and other little souvenirs.

A few years ago, Molly came to Uganda and spent several months living with a host family. Her host sister, Tina, came to the guest house for dinner tonight. It's too far for her to go home after dark so she's spending the night with us. After dinner the scene around the living room reminded me of a college dorm a little bit. Candice was earnestly stitching up her pencil case (a left-over craft), Kathy was reading a newspaper that had been left there by another guest, several folks played cards and we took turns using the computer. Jon and I got into a long conversation about music. When it was time to go to bed, Molly and Rebecca got creative with the beds in the room they are now sharing in order to accomodate Tina. With the twin beds pushed together, it appears that 4 people can sleep cross-ways!

> Day 25 - Last Day of MFL Camp

It’s not only our last day with the kids from the MFL School, it’s their last day before they go home for the semester break. Not all of the kids are excited about going home. In fact, from Mark I learned that some of them are dreading it.

What’s not immediately apparent when you meet these kids is that they all come from places like Bugalobi (see ‘Day 17’). Very few of them are from a 2-parent household. At the MFL school, they sleep in beds, they get 3 meals a day and they have indoor plumbing. When they go home to visit their families during semester breaks, they may not eat at all on some days. Some of them return to parents like ‘Jackie’ in the story by Jon Blanc (See ‘Life in Kampala’). A few of them don’t go home at all because of concerns for their safety.

After the praise & worship I suddenly found myself with 30 kids in my charge and I had to figure out something to do with them on a moment’s notice. This was because our team was preparing a surprise scavenger hunt, so while half of the team planted clues all over the park, the other half of us were to keep the kids occupied inside. I decided to spend the time having each child tell the group about their favorite thing from camp or about something they learned or just whatever memory they were going to take away from the week. I expected to hear a lot of stories about the balloon fight, the bonfire, the games, the songs they wrote or just being at the Nabinoonya camp. To my amazement, almost every single child started out by saying that they had learned “to have faith”, “to be fair”, “to treat people well”, “to obey”, “to forgive”, “that God never gets tired”, “that God sees everything”… All of these were things we had discussed during Bible Study, notably the most boring part of their camp activities, but this is what these 8-10 year old kids were talking about!

The scavenger hunt was a blast! Candice and I were with the yellow team. We ran like crazy-people from clue site to clue site, performing the activity required of the clue and snapping a photo for proof. The kids really didn’t get the concept of using their bodies to spell out the word “SMILE’ on the beach and I don’t think they had ever built a human pyramid, but they had no trouble with climbing onto the cement elephant, placing pebbles into the mouth of the cement fish or synchronizing their jump from the stone wall. Our team came in first! While we were waiting for all of the teams to show up, a helicopter flew overhead. This multi-million dollar machine was so out of place in Uganda. The pilot was showing off for the kids because he circled the lake several times and ‘buzzed’ us. Some of the kids were terrified and ran for cover! Even the older kids came out of the main hall to see what was going on.

During lunch I started to feel really sad that our week with the kids was almost over. After lunch, Mark had his school awards ceremony. There were awards for top academic performers, most behaved, most improved… it went on forever! The winners were given pencils and pens for next semester. At the end of the ceremony Mark tried to give the kids encouragement about going home and then he invited all of us Mzungus to the stage to thank us for coming. The kids sang a song called “A Friend is a Friend Forever” by Michael W. Smith. Their sweet voices singing that song gave way to tears I couldn’t stop. All of a sudden, all that I had experienced so far in Africa came flooding over me. We hugged all of the kids goodbye and boarded our bus.

Heading back to Kampala it was oddly comforting and saddening that it was just the 7 of us from North America on the bus. Our driver was attempting to avoid traffic so he took a bunch of back roads through neighborhoods. I watched the people going about their activities. I noted the trees and the dirt and the kids and the food, and suddenly I realized that I had fallen desperately in love with Uganda. I wept tears of love for the people, of sadness for some of the tragedy of this place, of joy for God’s presence here, tears of longing as I already miss it and I haven’t even left yet. I thought about all of the people I’ve met and how full of goodness they all are. I will miss Eva & John Paul & Henry & Jessica & Sarah, Seth & Mark, and Teachers Helen, Isaac, Juliette & Angelina, and Kathy, Molly, Candice, Jon, Miriam & Rebecca. I’ll miss Barnett and I hope to hear about his wedding when that finally occurs. I’ll miss the hugs from the kids and their sweet voices and they way they inspire me with their heartfelt praying. I thought about the people I met in Zambia and the differences between them and the people in Uganda. I thought about all of the sick people in Zambia and the pregnant woman I befriended… There are so many people in Africa who have touched me in some way. I’ll likely never see any of them again and they will never know how much they mean to me. I want to give more. I feel a sense of let-down now that our work with the kids is over. I want to do another camp! I want to spend more time with them. I feel so helpless to do anything to make a difference for the kids. It is a test of my own faith in God’s mercy and God’s protection over these kids. I have to believe that their needs will be met, that they will be safe and that they will have hope and a future.

For all of its ugliness, there is a hidden beauty in poverty. For those who choose it, there is faith in God that is unsurpassed. Life is difficult, but it’s simple. They believe that God will protect them. They believe that somehow, there will be food and water. If they don’t have shoes, they’re thankful for their feet. If they don’t have a blanket, they’re thankful for warm conversation. The people I’ve encountered just don’t seem at all pre-occupied with all that they don’t have. They are at peace and happy. They just have a pure and simple faith that God is watching over them. The Abakkiriza of Africa… The Faithful People of Africa.