I am a Portland girl, born and raised. As such I have experienced a lot of rain in my lifetime. Oddly enough, I love it. No matter where I am in the world, rain reminds me of home. When the clouds build up, the sky turns grey, and the temperature cools off, there is a freshness in the air, and I can tell a rainstorm is coming.
I don’t own an umbrella and never use them if I can help it. I don’t mind getting my head and clothes wet. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is go puddle jumping ☺. Even at 30 years of age, I am not too old to run through the rain!
The sound of rain is one of my most favorite sounds. It’s soothing and comforting and makes me want to curl up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. I love hearing the plink, plink, plink of rain on the roof, the pitter patter of drops splashing through the leaves of trees, the pounding of a downpour, an overflowing gutter.
Here in Uganda, storms arise and pass through quickly, sometimes lasting an hour or two, rarely longer than that. And then the sun breaks through. Rainy season has come once again, so I get to enjoy my rain nearly every day. Many mornings I wake up to rumbles of thunder and pounding raindrops. It never fails to bring a smile to my face.
When it is raining, I find myself singing songs like, “Lord, let your love rain down” and “Let your mercies fall from heaven, sweet mercies fall from heaven, new mercies for today, shower them down Lord as we pray.” Rain is a physical reminder for me of God’s care for the earth and its inhabitants. It nourishes, it causes growth, it is necessary for life. I picture rain as God’s goodness, love, and mercy flowing over me, washing me, bringing renewal and refreshment, helping me grow, giving me life.
All that being said, while living in Uganda, I have been confronted with a couple of other things that rain brings: mud and disorder. A couple of areas of Kampala routinely flood every time there is a hard rain (which, during the rainy season, means a couple of times a week). When it rains here, everything runs even later than usual. Events and programs get delayed or postponed (“disorganized” as they would say here). Students arrive late for school, employees delay to go to work. For Hope Alive! this means that our Saturday clubs and other programs end up beginning an hour or more past their normal starting time.
I never used to understand this and would become somewhat irritated by everyone’s lack of “time keeping”, until one day I went to visit a couple of our Hope Alive! students when it was showering outside. Most of our students live on Naguru hill, a place where all the walking paths and areas outside of homes consist of packed dirt. When it rains, these areas turn into a muddy, slippery mess. On my short visit, even though I navigated my way as carefully as I could, I nearly fell several times and my shoes became literally caked with mud. The realization finally struck: No wonder the students remain indoors until the rain has stopped before coming to church for Hope Alive! events. I would too, if I lived where they do.
Traveling anywhere in the city is tricky. Walking is the most common form of transportation, but mud, puddles, and the danger of being splashed by passing vehicles makes walking difficult. Those taking taxis (Kampala’s bus system) find themselves being charged higher fares on rainy days and having fewer taxis to choose from. The only other alternative is motorcycle (boda boda) travel, which is wet, muddy, and slick.
Thinking of all this has brought another realization to mind: Where and how I’ve grown up has given me the luxury to be able to enjoy rain. Having sidewalks to walk on, cars to ride in, and a solid roof over my head have allowed me to experience more of the positives than negatives of rain.
So now, mixed in with my enjoyment of rainstorms are thoughts of those whose struggles increase with them. As I smile in the mornings over the sound of rain, I take a moment pray for those whose houses may be flooding and for our students who brave the downpours to reach school on time. I am continually reminded that God’s mercies are new each day, His faithfulness is great, and I still invite the rain to pour over me.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
January and February Fun
Here are some photos of what has been happening in the last month or so...enjoy!
BREAKAWAY: our holiday program for our students
getting ready to show the kids a movie...while I was getting this set up, I started showing pictures to a couple of kids...that quickly turned into a huge crowd...the scene was captured by my roommate, Sarah :)
Meanwhile...my other roommate Kacie, along with some helpers, began doing medical assessments on all the Hope Alive! students...taking their blood pressure, temperature, measuring height/weight, etc...all to develop the Medical portion of Hope Alive!
SPECIAL IN CHURCH: yep, my friends and I sang a special in church last month, "The Revelation Song." I was a bit nervous beforehand, but things went well.
LETTER WRITING/SCHOOL SUPPLIES: on the last Saturday of January, all the kids gathered together to write a letter to their sponsor and receive school supplies for the upcoming school year. I love this day! It is fun because nearly all of the students are able to attend. I like seeing what they all choose to write to their sponsors. It gets chaotic while handing out supplies and things, but it is great.
(Many of these photos were taken by my roommate Sarah!)
Yes, he is holding up a notebook with Obama on it! All the kids wanted Obama notebooks.
TRIP TO GULU: It's the dry season in Uganda, and the further north you go, the hotter it gets. Gulu was hot. (Usually at or above 90 degrees at night in my hotel room). Most of our time was spent in meetings, checking on how things were going at the Gulu site and making decisions about how to bring coaching classes up there as well as how to best serve the kids now that they all live in scattered locations (Previously, all the students lived in the IDP camp. With peace coming to the region, the camp has closed and all the kids have moved back to their villages...it's a real challenge to maintain close contact with them...one that's still being worked on). We did have time for fun and also got to hang out with some of the students, which was great too.
Gorgeous sunset!
Trying to stay cool--notice the cold water bottles placed behind their necks. It was a great cooling off method.
Gotta love those fish faces :)
Playing some basketball with some guys and girls that Shem (our assistant site manager) helps coach...it was my first time wearing trousers in Gulu--wow!
MISCELLANEOUS FUN PHOTOS:
BREAKAWAY: our holiday program for our students
getting ready to show the kids a movie...while I was getting this set up, I started showing pictures to a couple of kids...that quickly turned into a huge crowd...the scene was captured by my roommate, Sarah :)
Meanwhile...my other roommate Kacie, along with some helpers, began doing medical assessments on all the Hope Alive! students...taking their blood pressure, temperature, measuring height/weight, etc...all to develop the Medical portion of Hope Alive!
SPECIAL IN CHURCH: yep, my friends and I sang a special in church last month, "The Revelation Song." I was a bit nervous beforehand, but things went well.
LETTER WRITING/SCHOOL SUPPLIES: on the last Saturday of January, all the kids gathered together to write a letter to their sponsor and receive school supplies for the upcoming school year. I love this day! It is fun because nearly all of the students are able to attend. I like seeing what they all choose to write to their sponsors. It gets chaotic while handing out supplies and things, but it is great.
(Many of these photos were taken by my roommate Sarah!)
Yes, he is holding up a notebook with Obama on it! All the kids wanted Obama notebooks.
TRIP TO GULU: It's the dry season in Uganda, and the further north you go, the hotter it gets. Gulu was hot. (Usually at or above 90 degrees at night in my hotel room). Most of our time was spent in meetings, checking on how things were going at the Gulu site and making decisions about how to bring coaching classes up there as well as how to best serve the kids now that they all live in scattered locations (Previously, all the students lived in the IDP camp. With peace coming to the region, the camp has closed and all the kids have moved back to their villages...it's a real challenge to maintain close contact with them...one that's still being worked on). We did have time for fun and also got to hang out with some of the students, which was great too.
Gorgeous sunset!
Trying to stay cool--notice the cold water bottles placed behind their necks. It was a great cooling off method.
Gotta love those fish faces :)
Playing some basketball with some guys and girls that Shem (our assistant site manager) helps coach...it was my first time wearing trousers in Gulu--wow!
MISCELLANEOUS FUN PHOTOS:
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Some Things You Just Don't Expect
*getting a driver's tan on your RIGHT arm because the wheel is on the right side of the car
*traffic police stopping a car that tried to cut into the right turn lane, and actually making him back up and go straight! (my roommate and I cheered)
*getting razzed about the cleanliness of your car, purse, shoes, etc.
*learning how to make tortillas, salsa, and all kinds of yummy foods from scratch
*food cravings for things like grapes, cottage cheese, and graham crackers
*wearing sweats when it is over 75 degrees in your room :)
*getting super excited to see fog
*finding lightning bugs in Uganda!
*wearing skirts all the time and not minding it so much
*having words like 'hoot', 'somehow', 'indicator','slope down', 'stuffs', and 'slowly by slowly' become normal, everyday vocabulary
Fun times in Uganda
*traffic police stopping a car that tried to cut into the right turn lane, and actually making him back up and go straight! (my roommate and I cheered)
*getting razzed about the cleanliness of your car, purse, shoes, etc.
*learning how to make tortillas, salsa, and all kinds of yummy foods from scratch
*food cravings for things like grapes, cottage cheese, and graham crackers
*wearing sweats when it is over 75 degrees in your room :)
*getting super excited to see fog
*finding lightning bugs in Uganda!
*wearing skirts all the time and not minding it so much
*having words like 'hoot', 'somehow', 'indicator','slope down', 'stuffs', and 'slowly by slowly' become normal, everyday vocabulary
Fun times in Uganda
Friday, November 13, 2009
A Trip to the Salon
Ever since I came to Uganda, I have wondered what it would be like to have my hair braided African-style. Ugandan women like to get their hair plaited (braided). There is an almost endless variety of ways to do this: three strand braids, twists, different sizes of braids, different colors of extra hair added, different lengths, different designs, etc.
At school, children are required to have short hair, so you can always tell when holidays have begun because all the girls will arrive with new hairstyles. Then, as soon as students graduate from high school, nearly all of them keep their hair continually plaited.
When asking them about their hair, I have heard stories of having to sit for hours for the process to be completed. They also told of having their hair pulled so tightly that they would be unable to smile or laugh for a few days without having to grab their head in pain. Even so, I remained curious.
Then, in October, I gained a new roommate, Kacie. She had had her hair braided before, during her travels to Mexico and Haiti, and she definitely wanted to try it here as well. Her enthusiasm spread to me and our other roommate Sarah and propelled us into making plans.
Friday, November 6th was the day. Our friend Georgina helped find us a salon that had experience plaiting Mzungu hair, since our hair is much more slippery than Ugandan hair. We were also warned that it would take longer because our hair is so different.
After riding in a taxi that wove its way through downtown, morning traffic, we arrived at the salon. It was 9:30, and the day was bright and sunny, full of possibility. Our salon had the perfect name: Patience.
It took a few minutes to get everything set up, but soon I was introduced to my stylist. Her name was Hadijah. There were only 2 chairs available for the braiding, so I sat on the floor. Hadijah was an expert braider. Her fingers flew!
I found that the process is a bit more complicated than I had imagined it would be. In order for the hair to stay braided longer, fake hair is added to the real hair. This is done by grabbing a small section of real hair and wrapping the fake hair around it at the roots (a rather painful process). Then the hair is braided. Since the fake hair was longer than my own hair, I ended up adding length to my hair as well.
Sarah and I were having small braids done. Kacie, however decided on a twist.
Hadijah steadily worked on my hair from 10am-2:30pm, when we took a lunch break. The process seemed to be going well. During that time, my friend Shammah stopped by to keep me company. She joined me on the floor and distracted me from the endless tugging.
Here's Sarah at lunchtime :)
My favorite part of the day was when I had to go use the bathroom. The salon didn’t have a bathroom in it, but its customers are free to use a bathroom nearby. Unfortunately this meant that I got to walk outside the salon, past many small stores and customers, up a flight of stairs, and into the restaurant where the toilet was located. It was the entertainment of many ☺. As I passed a couple of people on the stairs, they both burst into laughter at the strange looking mzungu going by. It was awesome!
My hair reminded me of an 80s punk rocker.
Sarah and I
At this point, I was pretty convinced that we only had about 2 hours to go. I thought that we'd be done by 4 or 5pm at the latest, and I started making plans in my head for what I would do that evening. Oh, how wrong I was!
The braiding continued...and continued...and continued...it seemed like the process was never-ending. My scalp was hurting, my back was sore, my legs kept falling asleep, and still the braiding continued...
Finally, 9 hours after beginning, Kacie's hair was finished! The final step was to dip the ends in boiling hot water. That would help them not come undone.
Here is Kacie with Georgina. They both have the twists in their hair and now call themselves twins!
Once Kacie's hair was done, all the ladies that were working on her came to help me. This is me with Hadijah. Ruth is in the background, finishing up some ends...
It took another hour, but then I was finished as well! It felt soooo good to stand up and stretch! One crazy thing that happened: as they were finishing trimming up some things, the lady accidentally cut my ear! It bled and bled and bled! They were all worried. Luckily, I didn't even feel it.
Kacie and I
So, after I was finished, everyone moved to help Sarah...it was quite a crowd!
11 hours after we began, we were all finished...phew! What a day. We came in sunshine, missed a huge rainstorm, left in the dark.
I don't know that I want to sit that long again, but it's been fun having my hair this way. I'm a week into it and still enjoying it.
At school, children are required to have short hair, so you can always tell when holidays have begun because all the girls will arrive with new hairstyles. Then, as soon as students graduate from high school, nearly all of them keep their hair continually plaited.
When asking them about their hair, I have heard stories of having to sit for hours for the process to be completed. They also told of having their hair pulled so tightly that they would be unable to smile or laugh for a few days without having to grab their head in pain. Even so, I remained curious.
Then, in October, I gained a new roommate, Kacie. She had had her hair braided before, during her travels to Mexico and Haiti, and she definitely wanted to try it here as well. Her enthusiasm spread to me and our other roommate Sarah and propelled us into making plans.
Friday, November 6th was the day. Our friend Georgina helped find us a salon that had experience plaiting Mzungu hair, since our hair is much more slippery than Ugandan hair. We were also warned that it would take longer because our hair is so different.
After riding in a taxi that wove its way through downtown, morning traffic, we arrived at the salon. It was 9:30, and the day was bright and sunny, full of possibility. Our salon had the perfect name: Patience.
It took a few minutes to get everything set up, but soon I was introduced to my stylist. Her name was Hadijah. There were only 2 chairs available for the braiding, so I sat on the floor. Hadijah was an expert braider. Her fingers flew!
I found that the process is a bit more complicated than I had imagined it would be. In order for the hair to stay braided longer, fake hair is added to the real hair. This is done by grabbing a small section of real hair and wrapping the fake hair around it at the roots (a rather painful process). Then the hair is braided. Since the fake hair was longer than my own hair, I ended up adding length to my hair as well.
Sarah and I were having small braids done. Kacie, however decided on a twist.
Hadijah steadily worked on my hair from 10am-2:30pm, when we took a lunch break. The process seemed to be going well. During that time, my friend Shammah stopped by to keep me company. She joined me on the floor and distracted me from the endless tugging.
Here's Sarah at lunchtime :)
My favorite part of the day was when I had to go use the bathroom. The salon didn’t have a bathroom in it, but its customers are free to use a bathroom nearby. Unfortunately this meant that I got to walk outside the salon, past many small stores and customers, up a flight of stairs, and into the restaurant where the toilet was located. It was the entertainment of many ☺. As I passed a couple of people on the stairs, they both burst into laughter at the strange looking mzungu going by. It was awesome!
My hair reminded me of an 80s punk rocker.
Sarah and I
At this point, I was pretty convinced that we only had about 2 hours to go. I thought that we'd be done by 4 or 5pm at the latest, and I started making plans in my head for what I would do that evening. Oh, how wrong I was!
The braiding continued...and continued...and continued...it seemed like the process was never-ending. My scalp was hurting, my back was sore, my legs kept falling asleep, and still the braiding continued...
Finally, 9 hours after beginning, Kacie's hair was finished! The final step was to dip the ends in boiling hot water. That would help them not come undone.
Here is Kacie with Georgina. They both have the twists in their hair and now call themselves twins!
Once Kacie's hair was done, all the ladies that were working on her came to help me. This is me with Hadijah. Ruth is in the background, finishing up some ends...
It took another hour, but then I was finished as well! It felt soooo good to stand up and stretch! One crazy thing that happened: as they were finishing trimming up some things, the lady accidentally cut my ear! It bled and bled and bled! They were all worried. Luckily, I didn't even feel it.
Kacie and I
So, after I was finished, everyone moved to help Sarah...it was quite a crowd!
11 hours after we began, we were all finished...phew! What a day. We came in sunshine, missed a huge rainstorm, left in the dark.
I don't know that I want to sit that long again, but it's been fun having my hair this way. I'm a week into it and still enjoying it.
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