Gulu

Kopango? Kope! (how are you? fine! in Acholi). I am now back from Gulu and feeling refreshed. My friends Kennedy and Andrew, who are from Gulu, had told me that it was a big town, but I had never guessed that it was so big! It was like being in the big city-- not as big as Nairobi, but lets just say that they have air-conditioned banks!

We arrived there on Good Friday and stayed at a guest house that belonged to Kennedy's neighbor. The place doesn't seem to be used much and is definitely a family opperation. The bathroom is set up for running water, but just like out of an Ali Mzuri film (you know what I'm talking about IS grads), the water didn't work! So, we had to pour water into the toilet for it to "flush" and had to take a splash bath in the bath tub. Here in Ikotos I have to take a splash bath everyday, but we have the bath house set up for slash bathing, however when you splash bathe in a bath tub it is much more difficult. Although, we can't really complain because it roughly cost us about $2.50 a night--each and they provided us with an electric kettle for tea/coffee and with clean sheets.

We stayed there for 2 nights only before moving over to a more equipped guest house. At the new place, the Franklin Guest House, I had a single-- non-self-contained-- room and Kelly and Lydia shared a double-- non-SC-- room (non-SC means that the toilets and showers are shared by other guests). This place did have running water and the rooms were very nice and I had a great full-size bed. We stayed here for 2 nights at about $10 a night. whew, breaking the bank!

While there, we visited Kennedy's and Andrew's families. The first night we had tea with Kennedy and his wife Rose and met one of his daughters and his baby son. Later that night we had dinner with Andrew and his wife Dorene and their little daughter, Gifty (pictured above). Dorene is the best cook ever and we wished that they didn't have to go to Kampala to see their son, just so we could have dinner their every night. Dorene prepared for us: greens with peanut sauce, spicy lentils, Ungali, millet bread (like ungali), spiced rice, chicken (for those who eat meat), and fresh passion fruit juice. Later in the weekend, she showed us how to prepare greens (Bor) with egg,onions and tomato. Both nights at Andrew's house were warm and full of laughter.





Our Second favorite place to go while in Gulu was the Kope Cafe. It is a Mzuungu (white person) friendly place that serves great coffee and cafe-style food. 100% of the profits go towards the HEALS organization that supports healthy childhoods for the children of Gulu. One of their projects is implementing art into their life.




We went to Kope everyday for breakfast because they had the most amazing muesli (yogurt, mango, banana, honey, and corn flakes) and great coffee. Sometimes we went there for lunch or dinner too because we couldn't pass up the chance to try out there afternoon menu as well-- which was equally as good as breakfast.

The people who work at the cafe are just as great as the food we serve. Pictured at the top are two of our waitresses in their uniforms, who served us everyday, and the picture above is of Agnes and I. On the back of her shirt it reads: "as a child, I have the right to play."




One of my main goals of going to Gulu was to see the Invisible Children office. After watching the docuementary, "Invisible Children: the Rough Cut," I have volunteered a lot of time to publicizing the issue of war, night commuting, child soldiers, health conditions in IDP camps, and other issues in Northern Uganda; and lobbying congress and promoting letter writing to our congressmen. So, I wanted to see the field office and talk to someone about what they are doing in Gulu. We went there on Tuesday, the same day we left Gulu, and met with the PR officer. She showed us around the office and introduced us to some of the staff. I found out that they have Ugandan mentors who help former child soldiers with anything from pschyological issues to homework. The mentors go to the child's school, and the children will also come to the office when needed. They do many other things that are listed on their website, but this is one of the things I didn't know about.
At the end of the tour, we received a free copy of the film, which is great because just the night before, Andrew was saying that he had wanted to see the film. Sometime when school lets out, we will have a movie night at the LWF compound, where their is power and a projector.
To find out more about Invisible Children, click on their link in the list to the right of this page.

On Easter Sunday we went to prayers at a place called "Christ Church." Its an Anglican church that Andrew had recommended. We didn't know any other place to go, and we definitely wanted to go to a church that celebrated Easter (some African churches don't celebrate Easter-- we discovered when we returned to Ikotos that our home church didn't). The service was the MOST different Easter service sermon that I have ever heard. The Bishop of the area, who was on his way to Juba for a peace and reconciliation meeting, gave the sermon. He used the regular old verses from the gospels about Jesus' death, but when he spoke of Judas, he went off on an hour and a half tangent on how we betray the ones we love, just as Judas betrayed Jesus. He went on about Wives betraying their sons, children betraying parents, friends betraying friends, etc. It was looong. Lets just say that. Then, at the end of the sermon, he told all the IDPs to go home-- "the war is over! Go HOME!"-- that was his closing. ha, I was inspired-- to go home.


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One other aspect of Gulu that I would like to mention is the market. I have to say that the open, produce market is so organized. Ikotos could take a lesson in their organization. It was nice to walk to one area and see all the bananas, and another area: the rest of the fruit, and another area: all the beans and legumes, etc. Because outside of Sudan is where we have to buy all of our fresh produce and almost everything else besides onions and flip flops, the market was at the top of the list last weekend.

We returned to Ikotos on Wednesday, spending one night in Kitgum (the closest big town to Ikotos). The trip from Gulu to Ikotos is only a 6 hour drive, but unfortumately we got a late start from Gulu, so we had an extra night in Uganda. The roads in Sudan are so bad that a trip that would take about 3 hours in the US takes us 6. Plus, all the rocking and rolling down the road makes one tired at the end of the trip. I think all of us were ready to crash on the bed to and from Gulu. Otherwise, it was a great trip and I recommend Gulu to anyone!

Coconut Offerings, Sins of the Father, and Easter

HAPPY ST.PATRICK’S DAY!! I hope you all are wearing GREEN! Me, I’m sitting in my GREEN hammock as I type.

Since the last entry, Lydia, the new short-termer, has arrived and is learning the culture of the school, as well as that of the town. She has a blog that I will add to the list on the right so that you can read her perception of Ikotos. The second day she was here, we drove off to Torit to get her traveling pass and spent some time at Mahaal Saalem (the AIM Torit house) with the Bylers, the Nobles, and Kelly and Matt. As always it was fun and relaxing to spend time with them. Lydia is a cross-country runner, so she has been whipping me back into shape. Veronica (my sister) has registered me for a ½ marathon in Baltimore that will take place in October. So, I really need to start training. On Saturday and Sunday, I ran about 6 miles, on Monday, about 4 or 5, and then on Tuesday about 2 or 3 miles! Unfortunately, I have been having some pain in my foot after I run since August, before I left for Sudan, and on Sunday the pain returned. The pain is around my arch, which is swollen and it hurts when I walk, run or bike. Today I had Dr. Phil (Byler) look at it, since he came into town today to lead a workshop in Lobwaya (the village close-by). He says that I have a stress-fracture and that I should lay off running for at least a month. I thought that could be the case, but I was surprised that it hadn’t healed while I was in Kenya and only ran twice there in the span of 2 months. Dr. Phil says that it just hasn’t had time to heal properly with all my moving around. So, fat camp is off and I’m going to stick to leg lifts and a core work-out for the next month so that I will be healed in enough time to train for the race. I plan to still ride Jordan’s bike a bit though—Phil says that as long as I ride with my heels (a biker’s faux pas) than, it should be ok.

Life here is pretty much the same, except that the town is growing because the refugees from Kenya and Uganda are moving home in preparation for the national census. In order to have the big vote for/against separation, the country needs an account of its residents. Because of all this, the school term is being shortened to April 11th, instead of the 19th. The South Sudan Unit retreat in Torit is the 19th and 20th, so I will be going out there a little bit early to help with anything they need. Afterwards, Lydia and I will figure out something else to do around Ikotos for the month of May. Some ideas about tutoring or literacy have been bounced around. I might even take this opportunity to build my Juba Arabic vocabulary.

I should mention that, after a lot of thought and talking with the Central Region coordinators, the Scotlands are returning to Canada again, the first week of May to have their second baby and to encourage some interested couples to come back out here with them permanently. It is true that living here without interaction with other westerners is difficult and lonely. I used to be judgmental of people who felt that way until I lived here alone for only a month last year. So, for me, when Lydia leaves at the end of May for Kampala, I will fly out with her to do my exit interview with the Central Region and then fly to Nairobi. Veronica will meet me in Nairobi on 2 June and we will spend a week there together. After she leaves, I will explore some ministry opportunities for 3 weeks in Nairobi and then help with the Africa-Based Orientation (ABO) again, for the month of July. ABO is from 1 July to the 22nd and I hope to fly out sometime around the 24th. In all, I will not be coming home early however; my ministry in Ikotos will be cut short. My friends here have already told me how sad they are that I am leaving so soon. I told them that we shouldn’t think about it now because we still have 2 more months to enjoy each others’ presence.

That is all for now, except I want to tell you a brief story about the fellowship the Church held at the home of my neighbors. Usually our Friday night fellowship is lively, with lots of singing and the neighbors tend to show up to join along. Last Friday an older woman came out from her compound to sing with us and then went back home (just on the other side of the bamboo fence) for the sermon. When it was time to take up a collection for the people who hosted us with their food, the woman came back out with a coconut and kneeled before the table with the offering plate to give her thanks to God. I felt touched that, although she probably has little to no money, she brought her offering with such love for the Lord. I think about us on Sundays, giving our tithes, and the grumblings about giving “too much” to the church. Her display of admiration and generosity was beautiful and I hope to always remember it.

One more story that I want to tell you is that of a fellow teacher at the school. He was recently thrown into jail because of something his father did when he was alive. His father is now deceased, and so the son has to pay for his father’s crimes. That is the customary (traditional) law here. I don’t know about you, but I would hate to have to pay for my father’s sins. Which reminds me (with Good Friday approaching) of how Christ had to pay for the sins of his brothers, and it brings that concept to life, of that system of law in which a family member must stand in where the perpetrator cannot.

Have a Happy Easter and enjoy the holiday weekend! I will be traveling to Gulu for an extended weekend so that I can finally see the IDP camps there. Kelly, possibly Lydia, and I will be accommodated by a Ugandan friend, Kennedy, who works here in Ikotos. He is looking forward to introducing us to his wife and kids and showing us around his home town. Gulu is now the home of 210 NGOs, as the hub of humanitarian aid for northern Uganda. It was the site for the film “Invisible Children,” which was filmed in 2003 about the “night commuters,” children who have to travel from their village, into town to escape being conscripted into the LRA. Currently Northern Uganda is safe for travel and is working on reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reconciliation.

**note: the pictures are as follows, but not in order: the “six legged elephant” at ABO (Me, Kelly, and Rachel) “relieving” himself over the lead instructor; Calum having a bunch of fun with his favorite treat; my friend Amuna and I in my tuukel; a close-up snapshot of my tan/sunburn; and the group and I at the STAR Peace and Reconciliation workshop back in November.

**Also, right now I am reading "Emma's War" by Deborrah Scroggins. I recommend it for a background history of South Sudan and an interesting true story of an aid worker. Just don't think of me when you read it-- Emma was quite the loose woman.

My Tuukel Remodeled

Just so everyone knows, it was 48 degrees Celsius the other day, which is 120 degrees Fahrenheit! I was wondering why I felt like I was going to pass out while walking to school, but then I found out the temperature.
No worries, there has been other ways that I try to keep cool. For example, two days agon, I set up my hammock finally and that allows for a nice cross-breeze. And Phil installed my car fan onto the head board of my bed. It sounds like an airplane taking off, but it keeps me cool at night so that I can sleep.
Everything else is still the same. The numbers at school are going up and we have mostly girls this term. We still don't have proper books, but in time maybe.
The school and our compound are awaiting Lydia's arrival. I have cleaned up her side of the tuukel and prepared a proper "kitchen" complete with hand washing station.
She will be coming on Tuesday.
The pictures above are of my new and improved tuukel since the last time you saw it. Days before Christmas, Kelly and I painted the walls a nice, creamy yellow. Then, I fixed up the rest when I returned from Kenya. Its pretty swank now except for the termites and rats that like to make their residence inside, and the occasional cat who tries to steal my bread and power bars!

Back in Ikotos again

I came back from Torit yesterday with Phil and Linda Byler, who helped me to bring back some mattresses for my tuukel to share with Lydia, who will be here for 3 months, and they helped me to bring a lot of fresh food. Torit gets shipments of fresh produce and other supplies from Kenya and Uganda that we don't get in Ikotos, although we are right over the Ugandan border. So, it was great to have a means to bring all that stuff, plus, to be able to talk to my unit leaders for a few hours undivided.
On Monday, I will begin teaching and have heard that more students have been coming for class. Tomorrow I need to be diligent in completing my scheme for History for this term. I was putting that one off in case the Sudan curriculum changed anything, because once the South Sudan curriculum really begins, then the students will be learning more specifically about the history of South Sudan and less of East African history. However, that is not an option at the moment, so I will be looking through my half torn book to figure out some lesson plans for the Senior 1 and 2 classes. The book belongs to another teacher who had bought it from Uganda and now it is completely falling apart and missing some pages. Last week, I was borrowing a bicycle from someone and had the book tied to the back, as I rode to the air strip to meet a plane. As I rode, I hit a bump, coming out of a ditch and the book went flying off with all of the unglued pages flying up into the air and scattering themselves along the dirt road. I felt like an adjunct, absent-minded professor as I quickly jumped off the bike and collected the pages. A few children watched me and one small girl said "mylesh (sorry)." Hoping not to miss the plane before it took off again, I gathered the pages under my arm and rode on to the air strip to collect a parcel for the Scotlands. When I reached the airstrip (which was in view of the incident), there happened to be some kewajas there from an NGO, so I explained that my book had fallen apart and one of the ladies looked at my ragamuffin-self and replied, "clearly." My face might have turned red had it not already been red from the late morning jaunt in getting there. So, the pages were already disjointed, but now they are even crazier than before.
*Added in this entry is a picture of the AIM house in Torit and most of my students from last term.

In Torit

On Monday I went to school to begin classes, however, the students have not yet come. A few faithful students trickled in throughout the week to register and pay their school fees—most of them girls. So, we decided to declare this week opening and registration week and next will we will resume teaching. For the term, we will only have 7 actual weeks of teaching (out of 11) because of this delay, along with midterms, and finals, and closing (which takes a whole week). Job, the Kenyan headmaster, has asked all of the teachers to make a scheme of teaching for the term. I am hoping that this makes the teachers feel a sense of importance to teach at their scheduled time. For me, I typed out my scheme for English, which makes me feel more prepared to teach this term. I am still waiting to plan out the history lesson because we are in the process of phasing out the Ugandan curriculum and moving on to the one of South Sudan.

Currently, I am in Torit because someone from the school had to pick up the South Sudan curriculum from the Ministry of Education (don’t worry about me and the traveling. I volunteered to be the one to go. In Torit, I’m able to buy fresh fruit and vegetables to bring back to Ikotos, and hang out with friends. To get here, I just jump on board-- for free-- with a NGO vehicle that is already going this way). The South Sudan school calendar officially starts today as a new school year, but for some reason they made it impossible to retrieve the curriculum until the first day. All of you teachers out there, I’m sure would feel unprepared and anxious if you were unable to know what you had to teach until the first day of school. It is a bit annoying here, but at the same time, in this African context, I’ve learned to go with the flow. The main thing that bothers me is that the students are the ones who suffer when the teachers don’t know what they are doing themselves.

Today, I went into the ministry of education to talk to the head guy for the curriculum and he handed me what looked more like a book of rules than a curriculum (I know that some of you public school teachers are laughing right now b/c you feel the same way sometimes). Seriously though, neither mentions what we are supposed to actually teach nor a list of the textbooks. I asked the guy if I can obtain a list of the textbooks from somewhere, but he said that the list is in Juba and that I would have to wait until NEXT month to receive the list and possibly some textbooks. Hmmm….my thought is that if the list of textbooks is not there, then maybe, just maybe, we should hold off on requiring the new curriculum.

So, because the textbooks will not be ready until next month, we will continue with the Ugandan curriculum at least until next month, but hopefully we will not start it until next term for the student’s sake. However, knowing how things work around here, teachers may decide that it’s best to switch even as late as midterms. In late March I will come back to Torit to get the list of textbooks, and hopefully the actual textbooks so that we can sort through them and try to decipher what the curriculum for a South Sudan school year will look like.

My plan for now is that I will be leaving Torit (possibly) tomorrow with a NGO vehicle going back to Ikotos from Juba, and will begin instruction on Monday. Tomorrow is Andrea’s birthday, so I hope to celebrate that with her there. In Ikotos right now we have, and are expecting, a lot of guests for the next 3 months. There is a South African TIMO missionary staying with us for 1 month, along with a veteran AIM couple from Canada and their whole team of college students here for 3 months, and an individual American short-termer staying with us for 3 months (beginning late Feb). My understanding is that when I return from Torit, the Canadian team will be there beginning their home-stays and language lessons. The South African is spending her time observing the Scotland’s mission, the Canadian team will be learning the culture out at Lobwaya (in the village), and the American will be living with me and working with me at the secondary school. The school term ends 20 April, just in time for the South Sudan Team retreat in Torit. Then, in June, which will be the beginning of 2nd term, possibly a team out of Liberty College will be coming to assist with the various programs in Ikotos for 5 or 6 weeks.

That is the scoop and the outline for Ikotos as of late. I will try to keep everyone informed with the goings on of our little super centre. **note: the pictures are of my trip to Lobwaya last fall. Make sure to take note of the use of the USA cooking oil cans on the door of the tuukel (written on the cans, “A gift from the people of the USA. Not for resale” Do you know what the can of oil that I buy in the market says?).

Home Sweet Ikotos

Yesterday, I returned safely to Ikotos from my two-month, tri-country excursion. After being in Kenya for so long with modern conveniences like running water and flush toilets, along with fresh vegetables and fruit, it will be some getting used to the rustic living once again.
The last time I blogged, I told you all that I was sick. Well, I am much better now and I thank you all for praying and thinking about me. I’m not sure what all I had, but the symptoms seemed like malaria at first and then after going through a round of malaria treatment and not getting better, I was tested for an infection or an ameba. It turned out that I did have a bacterial infection for sure, but we don’t know if I also had malaria. Anyway, that is in the past and I’m moving forward with a clean bill of health. It was just in time too, that I got better, for I was only well for about 5 days before I re-entered Sudan.
The Africa-Based Orientation (ABO) that I was attending for the children’s ministry went well. There were 14 children, not including the babies which made Kelly, Carolyn, and I have our hands full. The children were great, but rambunctious. Most of them had never been to Africa before and were leaving their friends and family behind, and were definitely not used to having to walk everywhere. We took them on walks to the shops, the pre-school, around the campus, and to swim in a pool at a near-by boarding school. Inside, we taught them about Africa: the people, the cultures, religions, animals, and Kiswahili.
On our day off, a few of us went to a game ranch to see some wildlife. I was still sick when we went but I managed to stick out the ride on the first evening. Overnight I became violently ill and slept the entire next day. Fortunately, the rest of the group took some amazing pictures, which I hope to upload here for you.
So, the 3 weeks in Machakos went by very quickly. We lived in a dorm with 2 sets of bunk-beds, 2 closets, 2 desks, and horrible cafeteria food. Not to discredit the hardworking cooks at Scott Theological College, but I think most people were tired of cabbage, rice, Ungali (corn-maze mush), and beans by the first week. Those were our options for lunch and dinner everyday. Because I was sick, eventually I went into town and bought pasta, cheese, crackers, bread, tuna, mayo, and yogurt. Kelly and I started making tuna sandwiches everyday for lunch and pasta or grilled cheese for dinner (well, actually I made tuna and Kelly ate PB&J).
On the 5th of February, we left Machakos and drove to Nairobi, staying with Carolyn, for 3 days. The first thing we did there was get pizza! Fortunately for us the Pizza Inn has a 2-for-1 deal on Tuesday, which helped me to devour most of a veggie pizza—I had to make up for lost time of eating ;). Then, we drove to a mall and looked around a real book store for a couple hours and then went to a coffee house called Java House, which we had wanted to go to since we first arrived in Nairobi. At Java House, there is wireless internet and American-style food. Because we were still so full from lunch, we just ate salads, which was actually pretty great since we don’t get salads in Sudan. The next day, we went to Java House again for breakfast, and then to the movies to see Atonement. The movie was great cinematography-wise, and intense.
After doing some mega grocery shopping for the next leg of Sudanese living, we prepared to organize everything for the plane ride to Loki. We are only allowed 20 kilos of luggage and I had a total of 47ks! Fortunately, I was able to pay a little extra and get on the plane. Any one of you would have laughed to see my duffle bag, along with 4 gigantic grocery bags—tied off at the top— a huge pillow, and my extremely full backpack. I don’t think that any regular airline would have ever allowed such an arrangement. So, we made it safely to loki, spent the night at the Carpenter’s house, who then flew us out to Sudan the next morning (If you follow along in the last couple emails, you might see that we stayed with the Carpenters in Uganda, but recently they moved to Loki last week). Now, I am back and will start teaching again on Monday. Apparently, last week the teachers went on strike for money, but this week they will be back. We will see.
A verse that I enjoyed last night was 2 Corinthians 8:13-15: “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, and so that in their turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: ‘He who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little did not have too little.’” I think that we could all apply that to our lives in some way. For me, it is all about being generous with my Sudanese friends—not just with money, but with my time.
**p.s.- the pictures of the town, the landscape, and the children are from my hike in Machakos the first week. The animal pictures are from the safari. Doesn't the landscape picture look like Napa Valley CA? Click on the images to enlarge them.

Flying to Loki and then Sudan

Just to let everyone know, I am flying to Loki tomorrow morning and will be there until I figure out a flight into Sudan. Everything is still going well with me here in Nairobi. Things seem back to normal except they are out of raisins-- guess I'll have raisonless granola! I'll update you when I get to Loki and have longer time to internet. Peace.