Did Someone Kidnap My Visitors?

Stick with us as we describe our 3 day journey to the village, Bugiri (Boo-jear-y).

Driving out of the city of Kampala, we were introduced to a different side of Uganda... the country.  We passed remnants of a rain forest (most of which is now burned down) and sugar plantations (2 of 3 authorized to refine sugar for resale in all of Uganda)... we tried to take in the new and beautiful scenery, but most of us found ourselves nodding off due to sheer exhaustion.

Picture me this... the trilling voices, the hip scarves, the many handshakes... our welcome to the village and Reverend Moses Abasula's (sp?) house was overwhelming... in a good way.  Our first hours there were occupied by eating lunch and setting up our tents in the front yard.  Moses and Sunday (our favorite people who work with the Stevenson's, drive our vans, and keep us safe... we love them so much!) told Deb and Laura "Oh, that tent's very complicated... leave that for us. You set up this one."  After they set up the complicated tent (which Laura, Deb, and Alex set up another "complicated" tent up by themselves), there were two giant poles left sitting on the ground... so, of course, we had to joke with them.  Who knew where these poles were supposed to go?  Sunday decided to make up his own creation... after finding a picture of the tent, we realized Sunday guessed correctly!  He fist-bumped Laura in excitement (a gesture they had never shared before).  Our completed tents were set up in a circle... family style.  By the way... it rained both nights during our village experience.  Not just rained, but stormed... with bright lighting and rolling thunder.  This is not Indiana thunder that you barely notice, but this is African thunder that lasts at least 30 seconds and makes you ask "Is this an earthquake?!" or "Is this a jet flying above us?!"

The second night was especially traumatic for two team members... Kelsey and Alex had an emergency evacuation from their tent.  Soon after zipping in and settling down for bed, we heard a ripping sound from above.  Our first reaction was to burst into laughter followed by panic at what could possibly be happening... we discovered that one of our tent poles had broken in half (well, it was already broken, but Sunday said it would fine).  As Kelsey stood holding up the tent so as not to tear the outer layer, I yelled for help between laughs.  We could hear people laughing and tent zippers opening, but no one was coming to help... so I yelled, "Why is nobody helping?! Stop laughing and come help!"  Laura was the only kind soul to come in our time of need ;), and Tim came to inspect our plight.  The damage had been done, however, and we were forced to take shelter with the Spread the Word interns (Jennie and Jayce who are awesome!!) inside a concrete structure... slumber party!!  The next morning, Reverend Moses saw our tent deflated on the ground and wondered "Did someone kidnap my visitors?"

The programs we led in the village included a women's bible study, a men and pastor's group, and children.  These took place on Saturday and Sunday after church and lunch.  Kelsey, Sue, and Alex worked with the children (about 75 in all) while Laura, Chelsea, and Deb talked with some of the teenagers and took pictures... they loved having their picture taken, especially with the beach ball and Laura's purse.  Some young girls told Laura they wanted to come to America... she said, "That would be nice" and then they started laughing... a response we grew accustomed to.  Denise, Sandra, and Sharon led a bible study with the women... their group numbered about 50.  Carma, Marvin, and Shelby worked with the men and pastors and had 15-20 in their group.  The women received t-shirts and shampoo, and the men received bags filled with items to share with their families.  We left several soccer balls for the children, an item they desperately wanted.

Sunday morning was a glorious time of worship.  We split into two groups so we could visit two different churches.  Carma, Sue, Sandra, Deb, Kelsey, and Alex walked across the street to Pastor Joseph's church... well, actually, we were led by about 30 women who danced their way to and from the church.  Sue, Kelsey, and I led about 100+ children in Sunday School... we made "Good News" bracelets with the older kids and colored pictures with the younger kids.  It was a unique experience to communicate through an interpreter, but it was evident these kids knew the word of God well.  We returned to the service and enjoyed several different women and youth who sang and danced.  Then it was our turn to sing for the congregation, and Kelsey had a wonderful solo.  Deb and Sandra shared very touching testimonies, and Carma gave an inspiring sermon that encouraged everyone to continue to seek God and be open to his blessings in whatever form they may come.  The service lasted an hour longer than usual due to our visit (making it about 3 hours), but it was a time of celebration.
   Shelby, Marvin, Sharon, Denise, Laura, and Chelsea drove down a ways to a church near the jja jja house we dedicated on Monday (more to come on that later). We had a wonderful worship service led by Pastor Godfrey. The church was very gracious and welcoming. They were so thankful to have us, the visitors, with them. They repeatedly asked that we send their greetings and I wish I could relay just a small piece of the thanks that they shared with us. Congregation and visitors took turns sharing in song and testimonies. We were blessed with music from children's, youth, and women's groups, along with a man who shared a few short songs. Our group also sang. Several church members shared testimonies. Shelby, Marvin, and Laura shared testimonies that were meaningful for the people. I joked that the groups were made to split up the criers since Laura and Carma were in separate groups... (yes mom, I cried, as usual) Denise shared a message while Sharon led 60-70 children in a Sunday school lesson with Chelsea and Laura as helpers. At the end of the lesson, we passed out sandals to the kids. Chaos is a mild description. The kids were crowding and people were showing up that were not a part of the church service (the local well was right by the church and word spread faster than we could hand out shoes). We tried to make sure that children who were not wearing shoes got them first, but it was very hard knowing that every child there was not able to leave with a pair of shoes. Although we didn't want to be "unfair" in our giving, the harsh reality is that we would never have had enough shoes, and it was better that some were able to receive rather than none because we didn't have enough for all.


While we have shared about TAPP visits before, the visits we were able to do in the village were a different experience. There were two men  that drove with us deep into the bush. Colleen was driving... Moses and Sunday tend to take a more gentle approach for us :).  We visited a strongly professing Christian family first. The husband passed away, and the mother and her youngest of four were HIV positive. They often phrase it as "living positively." They were so grateful and send their greetings. They also gave Colleen a chicken, something we began to see very frequently - as we drove back to Kampala with about a dozen chickens and one pregnant goat strapped (literally) to the rack on top of the van. The next visit was an older married couple caring for a grandson who was positive. They had 4 children, all 3 boys were negative as they were. Their daughter contracted AIDS and both she and her husband died, leaving the boy with the grandparents. The sons were not providing help for their mother, so she had much responsibility. We also visited with a sister of one of the TAPP men with us. She has 8 children - the youngest being 1 month. Her husband died several years ago, but she continues to have babies. She has not had any of her children tested, but she is positive and her husband was positive. It was an uncomfortable situation for many of us, as Colleen talked about her needing to stop producing, begin family planning, and get her children tested for AIDS; she had this conversation as the brother of the woman translated. Although it was uncomfortable, it was a conversation that was important to have. We dropped off a few bags with family members for those who weren't home. One of these was a polygamous situation where the husband died, leaving both wives and children alone with HIV. Along the route we witnessed many difficult sights: areas of TB, children with distended bellies - a sign of worms, a girl being beaten by her peer group, a drunk man mildly confronting our group. These are common sights here and can make us feel hopeless at times, wanting to step in at every situation. We have to cling to the hopeful stories that have been shared with us and that we have been able to take part in, but it also helps us to know that the work is not done when we get home.

This morning we gave away more goats and mattresses. It is always a joy to see the smiles! A group of us went over to the church to paint... We painted at least 2 coats, but the paint was very thin and we didn't feel like we had done much. Alex made a reference to needing an "eye mask," meaning goggles, and Tim mocked her for the rest of the day, asking about Pirates of the Caribbean and other such things. Then we went over to the other church for the jja jja dedication. We had a real ribbon cutting ceremony, as the jja jja entered her new home. It was a celebration full of what I like to call trilling voices, singing, dancing, and lots of shaking our hands - a gesture of thanks. I can't express to you in words the joy this jja jja shared with us. I have NEVER seen anyone so happy and thankful.

Food. YUM. We thought we would share a few of the food names we have been enjoying. Please forgive in advance any misspellings and pronunciations for we don't have a keyboard to support typical pronunciation guides. Maybe you can find something about them on Pinterest. A few of the favorites are: well we know pineapple and mangoes, mandazis (mon-doz-eez) which are balls of fried dough, matoke (muh-toe-kay) - a mashed plantain dish, chipote (chuh-pot-ee) which kind of resembles a thick tortilla. We had jack fruit for the first time this trip - a first for many of us. Deb describes the taste as baby aspirin, it has a kind of orange flavor and is sticky and sweet. Laura has really enjoyed the cabbage dish prepared in the village. And we also had fried fish today which was delicious and a real treat!


We will leave you with a funny series of bathroom stories. As you may have guessed, our bathroom in the village was not a toilet, but more a hole. It was hot, smelly, and infested with flies. We braved through and I think all of us practiced the "squatting frog" over the hole. Some even had to use the hole while experiencing "traveler's revenge" (Montezuma's revenge doesn't seem to be an appropriate name in Africa). We usually went in pairs so one person could kind of be the look out. It helped to leave the door cracked, letting in light, and letting smell and flies out. If walking by, you may hear someone say, "Sorry if you hear something you don't want to hear." Let's just say we became quite close. We had an evening bathroom stop since none of us wanted to go back to the bathroom during the night alone. There was quite a rush, so several of us decided to just squat behind the latrines. It was dark, right? No biggie. Well... some people kept shining their flashlights around, and there was yelling, and panic everywhere. What a sight!  As you may recall, I mentioned that it rained both nights, so this same nightly routine was repeated on Sunday night... in the rain. Instead of flashlights, flashes of lightening threatened to expose us. We were very proud of Carma who conquered her outdoor restroom fears and peed in the grass. Hahahaha. Good job Carma! Think of it as practice for the safari... you will have to do it again in the daylight.

These bush babies need some sleep, and a rest from typing. Our painting this afternoon left us with temporary carpel tunnel.  Miss you all!
Laura and Alex
YBC-2012-UPPT