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
on my way to Uganda, I spent a couple hours in the airport of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a location that i have been to a couple times and one that i will go to in a couple weeks. I jotted down some thoughts.
Immediately off the plane the smells of Ethiopia came back to me, the scents I should come to expect but am always surprised by. They aren’t bad at all, but distinct. Maybe its the injera, spices, the dust, the people, or a combination of all of those things. I’m only here for 2 hours and again my senses will be infiltrated by another set of smells, sights, and sounds. These too are ones that I have been familiar with, but will again be surprised by.
Even in London, the feelings associated with travel in Africa were strong. The International Terminal with outbound flights to Africa seemed to have its own culture already, a stark contrast to the European flights. I even thought I was in Africa for a moment.
I have been thinking about coming back to Africa for some time now. I have developed mentally and have even become more “professional,” but no matter how much I learn or experience, I will always be coming here from the outside. I will never fully now the truth of the people here. I guess I thought I could eventually blend in or know what their joys, problems, and circumstances are, but should that even be a legitimate goal? Who knows, it seems like I am already going to be leaving with more questions than I came with.
My friend Devin and I worked on a video for this annual conference in Seattle called the Unbound Conference. The purpose of the conference is to spread awareness and encourage networking and advocacy to fight human trafficking and slavery. The theme of the conference this year was “Your Response to Slavery” so we titled the video, “My Response to Slavery” and highlighted the work that a few people were doing to combat slavery in their own ways. This is the result.
Here are links to the organizations and individuals in the video.
Over the last few weeks I have really been asking myself if it was reasonable to go to Africa this summer or not. I tried to make it out last summer, but I couldn’t. This summer, I want to go, but I already feel the financial pressure of being able to raise the money to get out there. It would be so much easier for my schedule and wallet to look into other options. I know that there is a lot of work that could be done here to help a lot of organizations out, but my heart is constantly reminding me of smiles on young faces in the places that I have been before. I feel like God has so much for me to do for those children that I feel sad when I cannot be with them, taking care of them, playing soccer with them, comforting them in the storms, or telling them that they are worth more than what the world whispers to them in the darkest nights.
I asked if it was possible to have a backup plan. A harness, a net, a chute. Something to fall back on if I couldn’t make it back. Honestly, I don’t want one. I would love to hope without doubt. I would love for my mind to run free with plans of what I could do with the time that I would have in the land far away. I hope beyond to the impact that it would make. I think further to the type of man I want to be, to what God has for me, to what he has for the world. Does this all play in? Does this moment, this field experience, this research question have an impact? Would I miss something if I were to stay and find something else?
I want to go. I want it to be possible. It might not be reasonable, but it’s something that I can stand in faith for. It’s something to work towards, something to hope for. I don’t even want to ask about what would happen if it doesn’t work out because I don’t want to let myself think that this won’t happen. So I won’t. There is nothing I would rather do than to spend a month in Africa, renewing relationships with orphan care centers, investigating trends, offering myself and the gifts God has given me, and the mission that He has placed in my heart concerning the welfare of these children. What else could I do?
*Written as a reflection response in my Practicum class.
During class, I actually asked myself what I was doing here. It’s a question that I ask semi-frequently because I get overwhelmed and worry about things. Usually, its fine and I can just take it one day at a time, one assignment at a time. This is different. It’s not really something that can be taken day by day. Sometimes the planning stages are the hardest because most of it is theoretical and idea-based, something that on paper looks a little odd even though it is filled with hopes and dreams. Converting these hopes and dreams into the reality that comprise the hopes and dreams is the difficult part; project that into the future and it becomes even more difficult.
I struggle with the details. I don’t think that my ideas aren’t valuable, but I lack discipline in seeing those ideas come to fruition. In true John Vicory form, I am already worrying that this may be the same. I worry that I will come up with an idea that I want to accomplish and it will go downhill from there. I won’t get the connections I need, I won’t formulate it into a thesis or ask the wrong questions, or something will fall apart mid-stride and ruin the rest… Or, it just might end up dull and ordinary instead of sparkly and amazing.
I knew where my sites were and I knew what I wanted to say as far as what I wanted to do there. But, when it comes to talking about it with people, especially in front of a group, I make it sound like I have simply thought about it a little bit, or it was still vague in my mind. I know exactly what Becker’s students are feeling because I have the same fears as they do. I am afraid to actually say something because I really don’t want to be wrong. I don’t want to be viewed as a failure or bear the brunt of people’s jokes. Not that I think people in our cohort would do that, but people “out there” in the world. I don’t want to set a goal that I can actually fail at reaching, so I set safe goals. I have done that for a while and have suffered for it. I want greatness, but afraid to do whatever it takes to get there.
I don’t want to live my life like that. When I think about it, I would rather take a stab at greatness and be brutalized in return than to look back and wish that I had taken the leap. I say that now. I hope that when it comes to this practicum and this thesis project that my daily steps would be to dream big and not let my fear get the best of me. Jeez, I feel like a need group therapy or something…
My church asked me to talk about poverty a little bit to tie into a message about how much money we spend at Christmas and what we spend our money. He asked us to think about how much we spend on people or how much people spend on us that is wasted because we don’t like the gift or whatever.
Anyway, he asked me to put something together for the service, kind of like a voice from within Northshore (the church i go to). So, I asked Devin to help. We shot it all on a Nikon D300s, 50mm f/1.4 with a RØDE microphone with video lights in front of a huge seamless backdrop.
The song is Needles and Thread by Sleeping at Last.
Another response paper for a Social Justice class that I am in. My prof liked it, so I figured I would pass it on in hopes that others would too. Many people think that Justice is confined to the Old Testament, when it really isn’t. Love hasn’t replaced justice, it is magnified by justice. Enjoy!
The definition of justice in the Old Testament is vital to our understanding of justice today. Many theorists have placed the idea of inherent rights in the fourteenth century. If justice was not rooted in the Bible, then the fourteenth century definition (Wolterstorff, 2008) would be irrelevant to the contemporary Christian practice of justice. It would be based on the evolution of human thought instead of the basis of Christian faith, the Word of God.
In the Old Testament, justice was not an institution, it was a way of life (Wolterstorff, 2008, p.74). The institution came out of an understanding of inherent human rights. God loved the people of Israel, and all people, so he called them to practice justice. He held them accountable to just standards not for justices’ sake, but because of the worth that people had to God. Through the Old Testament especially, sacrifice for wrong doing is a central theme. Before God’s written law, the Patriarchs had to burn offerings to God for their repentance. Sacrifice, especially to God, would be completely unnecessary in a justice as right order context. The importance of practicing justice was made evident not only to Israel, but also to the surrounding nations. If God’s definition of justice lay in the institution of justice only, he would have no grounds for expecting the other nations to practice justice. How would the other nations know what justice really was if they didn’t have the Law of God? How did the Patriarchs know of justice or Joseph when he distributed grain for all of Egypt and the surrounding people (Genesis 41 & 47)? There was no Law at that time, but people knew because God created everyone with a sense of what is right and wrong.
The entire basis of what is right and wrong is dependent on worth. Since God has infinite worth, we ultimately deprive him of the rights in which he is due( Wolterstorff, 2008, p. 81). He created humans in his image and to deprive them of inherent rights is stripping them of worth. This is not only an act of injustice against the other person, but an injustice against God for defacing his image. This idea is fleshed out in the New Testament.
Jesus is God bringing justice to earth. It is God’s love that motivates justice. Because of God’s love for the world, he brought forgiveness, but also justice. For forgiveness to take place, the victim and perpetrator must recognize the inherent rights that God has as a perfect being and the value that he gave to humans by creating them in his image. Forgiveness cannot be separate from justice (Wolterstorff, 2008, p. 101). Jesus proved that justice was inherent and not defined by social order when he defied the social order of the day by reaching out to the diseased, afflicted, and oppressed. The forgiveness of sins by Jesus’ death on the cross is the central point of the New Testament. Since there cannot be forgiveness without the concept of justice, the entire theme of the New Testament is love and justice. The writers of the gospels showed Jesus’ love for those he came in contact with (2008, p. 117). His public interaction showed that he cared about the equality of people and highlighted the injustices that were being done to them so often. Not only was he there to lift up those who were oppressed, he came to show the backwardness of those who oppressed.
In the Old Testament, God is constantly reminding the Israelites of the bondage he brought them out of in Egypt. In the same way, we can look to Jesus as a constant reminder of the freedom from sin that we have been brought out of. We can also look back to the Old and New Testaments and see the value that God sees in every individual, whether they were called his people or not. The freedom that Christ brought on the cross and the example of love and justice that he showed during his life and death are the basis for all actions that we take as Christians. The idea of the inherent worth of humans, and the treatment of them that follows, is not an idea that originated a thousand years after Christ’s death, but is an idea that is foundational to the writings of the Old and New Testaments. Not only is it conceptual, but practical as well. God called the Israelites and the surrounding people groups to act justly in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, he lovingly gave himself as an example of the practices of justice and forgiveness. As we seek justice, we see Jesus as the perfect example of defending the poor and oppressed, and turning the idea of justice as social order upside-down.
with love, John Paul
Wolterstorff, N. (2008). Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
He was a young man then, with the hopes and aspirations to continue farming as his father had. He, like so many others in the Vietnam War, had left that dream for a time to secure democracy in another part of the world. The war was a little bit closer to home for him, but he still believed in the cause that he was fighting for. They lost too many men, and he barely even escaped with his own life. He sacrificed his life like so many Americans. Yet, rarely is he respected or given an honorable glance. He is Hmong.
In 1959 the Vietnamese Communist Party began an illegal campaign to use the territory of Laos as part of an effort to conquer Vietnam and imposed Communist rule on the peoples of Laos, against their aspirations and desires. The United States entered into the Vietnam War in 1960. It had directly affected on the Lao/Hmong who lived a peaceful life in Laos, Southeast Asia. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was first used as North Vietnam’s staging area to attack South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The Laotian people were recruited and funded by the U.S. C.I.A. to serve as soldiers… in defense of Freedom and Democracy… alongside with U.S. The “Secret War” began in 1960, and lasted until May 1975. (Lao Veterans of America http://www.laoveterans.com)
The Hmong suffered the most. They were the force of the Secret Army in Laos fighting the North Vietnamese army from 1961 to 1975. The US gave support from the air and to this day, Laos remains the most bombed country in history. Over the 14 years that the war raged on, possibly over 40,000 Hmong were killed fighting the communists and rescuing American pilots. They thought they were helping the American’s defend the Hmong. But the US left, taking its support with it. After the communists came to power in Laos in 1975, the North Vietnamese army targeted the Hmong for their involvement in the war and swept through Laos killing up to 30,000 more Hmong in the first 5 years. Most of the Hmong were forced to flee their homes to Thailand refugee camps. Many Hmong have come to the United States seeking to save themselves and their culture. Most of the time, they are met with negative stereotypes, hostility, economic instability, and culture shock.
Many who fought in the war, and had even lost brothers, fathers, or sons, thought that America would embrace them for the sacrifices they made, but sadly, that was not the case. The secret war birthed a forgotten people, forgotten heroes. As we recognize veterans and thank them for their selfless service, let’s not forget those who sacrificed and have never been mentioned or thought of. Take a moment for the tens of thousands who died on the field fighting our war, rescuing our American heroes. They paid dearly for their sacrifice, losing their homes, their land, and in many cases, part of their way of life.
Learn more about the Hmong people. It is worth your while. A great resource is the book: “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman
The definition of justice in the Old Testament is vital to our understanding of justice today. Many theorists have placed the idea of inherent rights in the fourteenth century. If justice was not rooted in the Bible, then the fourteenth century definition (Wolterstorff, 2008) would be irrelevant to the contemporary Christian practice of justice. It would be based on the evolution of human thought instead of the basis of Christian faith, the Word of God.
In the Old Testament, justice was not an institution, it was a way of life (Wolterstorff, 2008, p.74). The institution came out of an understanding of inherent human rights. God loved the people of Israel, and all people, so he called them to practice justice. He held them accountable to just standards not for justices’ sake, but because of the worth that people had to God. Through the Old Testament especially, sacrifice for wrong doing is a central theme. Before God’s written law, the Patriarchs had to burn offerings to God for their repentance. Sacrifice, especially to God, would be completely unnecessary in a justice as right order context. The importance of practicing justice was made evident not only to Israel, but also to the surrounding nations. If God’s definition of justice lay in the institution of justice only, he would have no grounds for expecting the other nations to practice justice. How would the other nations know what justice really was if they didn’t have the Law of God? How did the Patriarchs know of justice or Joseph when he distributed grain for all of Egypt and the surrounding people (Genesis 41 & 47)? There was no Law at that time, but people knew because God created everyone with a sense of what is right and wrong.
The entire basis of what is right and wrong is dependent on worth. Since God has infinite worth, we ultimately deprive him of the rights in which he is due( Wolterstorff, 2008, p. 81). He created humans in his image and to deprive them of inherent rights is stripping them of worth. This is not only an act of injustice against the other person, but an injustice against God for defacing his image. This idea is fleshed out in the New Testament.
Jesus is God bringing justice to earth. It is God’s love that motivates justice. Because of God’s love for the world, he brought forgiveness, but also justice. For forgiveness to take place, the victim and perpetrator must recognize the inherent rights that God has as a perfect being and the value that he gave to humans by creating them in his image. Forgiveness cannot be separate from justice (Wolterstorff, 2008, p. 101). Jesus proved that justice was inherent and not defined by social order when he defied the social order of the day by reaching out to the diseased, afflicted, and oppressed. The forgiveness of sins by Jesus’ death on the cross is the central point of the New Testament. Since there cannot be forgiveness without the concept of justice, the entire theme of the New Testament is love and justice. The writers of the gospels showed Jesus’ love for those he came in contact with (2008, p. 117). His public interaction showed that he cared about the equality of people and highlighted the injustices that were being done to them so often. Not only was he there to lift up those who were oppressed, he came to show the backwardness of those who oppressed.
In the Old Testament, God is constantly reminding the Israelites of the bondage he brought them out of in Egypt. In the same way, we can look to Jesus as a constant reminder of the freedom from sin that we have been brought out of. We can also look back to the Old and New Testaments and see the value that God sees in every individual, whether they were called his people or not. The freedom that Christ brought on the cross and the example of love and justice that he showed during his life and death are the basis for all actions that we take as Christians. The idea of the inherent worth of humans, and the treatment of them that follows, is not an idea that originated a thousand years after Christ’s death, but is an idea that is foundational to the writings of the Old and New Testaments. Not only is it conceptual, but practical as well. God called the Israelites and the surrounding people groups to act justly in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, he lovingly gave himself as an example of the practices of justice and forgiveness. As we seek justice, we see Jesus as the perfect example of defending the poor and oppressed, and turning the idea of justice as social order upside-down.
Wolterstorff, N. (2008). Justice: Rights and Wrongs. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
