Africa 2010 – First week+ in Uganda

My first week-plus in Uganda has been filled with ups and downs, rights and lefts. I am glad that I am here, but it has been a challenge. I haven’t been here in 3 years, so I have had a lot of time to think about what I want to do while I am here. I am not disappointed, but I am surprised. I am humbled to realize that I can make all the plans that I could ever want to, yet, they could all crumble at a moment’s notice. I seemed to forget a little variable called culture. No matter all the indexes available to measure culture, it has to be experienced to understood. Even though I have been here before, its not something that I had taken into account fully, or prepared myself for the personal experience it would be.

Even before I got to Uganda, when I was in the Addis Ababa airport on a layover, I came to the realization that I will always be an outsider wherever I go. I am not necessarily new to traveling, but it is the first time I had this realization. For some reason or another, I always thought that I could blend in or know the right people to have sufficient knowledge and sway. I realized that this is not accurate. It is impossible to blend in because my mind and character, and even my physical appearance is not like those in the host country. It never will be. All that to say that I was in for a surprise.

In addition to working with St. Ameria, the orphan care center I have been communicating since first visiting Uganda in 2007, I have also been working with a group called Women of Hope. The group was started by a lady named Judith Kiwanuka, a Ugandan national who has lived at the YWAM base for the last 10 years. She started the group for widows and women living with HIV and/or AIDS. She started with 4 women in 2008 and the group now has over 80 members. It is quite remarkable the support network that she has established, and the fruit of it has become evident on many different levels like the reduction in alcohol abuse, crime, domestic abuse, and unsafe sexual practices. There is a long way to go, but they are doing it together. They have a lot of needs, but they still are able to share support and encouragement with each other.

St. Ameria has gone through some dramatic changes since I first visited, largely due to some of the work a few other people and I have done over the last couple years. It resembles an orphan care center now. They house orphans there, but it also serves as a school for orphans in the community. There are 30 orphans that stay at the center, and an additional 170 that stay with guardians in the community around St. Ameria. The number of families that pay school fees can be counted on one hand. Some others give some small food products to the school, but mostly, there is a huge need. There is a need for food, shelter, teacher stipends, house mothers and fathers, and sustainability and expansion projects for the children once they are too old to remain at the center.

Communication has been the most difficult obstacle. It is extremely difficult to speak English with people whose native tongue isn’t English. Ideas are lost all too easily. But, by going slowly and always asking, “Does that make sense,” some of what we are trying to tell each other is eventually communicated. It is exhausting though. There are other cultural differences like traditions, politeness, pride, social structure, and even travel accommodations that further build the barrier between us.

I have been getting quite a bit of photos and video from St. Ameria. I have also been talking with the director and the headmaster about possible solutions to their problems. When it comes to making recommendations, it is difficult to walk the line between being pushy and too passive. What I think is passive, could be communicated as pushy and the other way around as well. Its just so different. I mean no offense, but I can see why people from the West come into Uganda and other places I am sure and set up their own centers that operate by their standards. Its much more difficult for people of two or more cultures to agree and see a project through to completion. I have been frustrated sometimes, and pushy for sure. But, I think and I hope that my love for the children will cover some of the offenses I am committing, knowingly or unknowingly.

If you pray, please pray that I will have increased patience. Pray also that I will cling to God’s plan for these ministries and let go of the ones that aren’t compatible with His. I am in good health, but hungry sometimes and occasionally crave a beer. I am also missing Laura and Sam so much that my heart hurts. Thank God for Skype, but I am looking forward to being with them.
All for His glory,
John Paul