5 years ago we began trekking together with backpacks on our back going this way and that, sometimes together and sometimes apart.
For now, we will continue to stuff our bags and trek on -- together.
It's been some months now since we returned from Burundi. Since our return we've been able to spend time both with our family in the Netherlands and our family in the States.
Photos with captions about our time in Burundi
Although it is hard to get a good grasp of a family’s situation from one 3-hour interview, Allie and I have been fascinated to discover a little bit about the current state of gender issues in rural Burundi. It seems that in the villages where Fanning the Spark is located, things are changing at least slowly, and women are gaining more and more courage to speak up and become involved in family decision-making.
Talking to Léocadie was very inspiring, she is a very active member in her community. Besides training her group of 10 ‘2nd generation farmers’ she is also involved in a local micro-financing association. She even trains parents of 15 local malnourished children in better nutritional practices.
With Allie’s loyal heart, she wanted to visit as many of our Ugandan family and friends while there, so they would know we hadn’t forgotten them. Besides our Mama in Mukono, we have another Mama in a place called Kapchorwa in the mountainous east of Uganda.
Wherever you are, you will find that there are few better ways to celebrate the New Years than with olie bollen! Our Ugandan family now agrees!
First of all, we hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and we wish you a blessed New Year, from Mukono, Uganda. How on earth did we end up here?
It's been a while...
To be honest, our first month and a half in Burundi has been hard to write about. There have been a lot of difficulties scattered with a lot of good.
We have finally arrived in Gitega! This was what we came for, to do our research here. Although there are still a lot of uncertainties about how the research will go, we had a good, productive, and inspiring week.
Back in Africa! That is how it feels for both of us, always an interesting mix of old déjà-vues and new impressions. Welcomed by expected ambiguity and an immediate test of our patience, we feel like we are waiting around for something out of control to happen. In the meantime we have enjoyed some great African hospitality and we are finding our way around the capital city.
Photos from Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
....I've discovered that my figure drawing class has assisted me tremendously with my understanding of the human body, that my high school sculpture class founded my casting skills, and that drawing and offering my white hand as a blank canvas can bring a lot of smiles. And to top it off, I've witnessed the success of an organization founded internationally, but now completely run by and now taken ownership of by the local people....
Can I declare "African Time" in my defense for not posting in more than a month?
I'm not sure that would be the best defense. Honestly, the last month has been full of learning, school work, new adventures, challenges, travels, and a lot of processing.
Did you know that I glow in the dark?
Here are some pictures of my family here in Uganda. The slide show is a bit fast, so you may want to pause then manually flip through the pictures.
After all the students arrived, orientation, our arrival in Mukono, and more orientation at school, the students who are staying off campus, including myself, piled into multiple vans with all our stuff.
Our driver wound around town dropping people off. There were 4 of us in the car, and one by one we were dropped off with our new Ugandan families.
After the three other students in the van with me were dropped off, we continued through the town, down a busy side street, an on. I kept thinking, "will my home be here?"
We went further and further out. I was impressed with the driver's maneuvering-- the wheels balancing on the dirt road, little cliffs on either side of each wheel... Multiple times the bottom of the car rammed against the ground when a wheel rolled into a pit.
Finally, when the signs of the city were gone, we pulled over in front of a house surrounded by banana trees, and my Ugandan mama came out to greet me with a big hug! Her name is Mama Winfred. I'm to call her mama, but, for the sake of avoiding confusion with my mom, I will call her Mama Winfred.
After meeting Mama Winfred I met Jenni, she is the youngest and the only girl of the family. She is very excited to teach me the ways around the house, cooking, cleaning, laundry, everything. She also kindly warms up water for my bucket shower.
I have two brothers Samula, who is 20, and Joa who is 21. Both are very helpful and very nice.
Joa walks with me to school in the morning and home in the evening. Since I've been here we've made the trip 2.5 times (I'm just about to head home).
(This picture is taken about halfway between my house and school)
On the way to school the majority of the walk is up hill and it takes 50ish minutes. I actually find it quite enjoyable! Yesterday, my second trip there and back, I led the entire way to and from school. Joa even tried to tease and trick me by doubting my decisions to go left or right, but I stuck to my decisions and we made it home!
I'd love to write more but it is 6p here and I must make it home before dark!
Our driver wound around town dropping people off. There were 4 of us in the car, and one by one we were dropped off with our new Ugandan families.
After the three other students in the van with me were dropped off, we continued through the town, down a busy side street, an on. I kept thinking, "will my home be here?"
We went further and further out. I was impressed with the driver's maneuvering-- the wheels balancing on the dirt road, little cliffs on either side of each wheel... Multiple times the bottom of the car rammed against the ground when a wheel rolled into a pit.
Finally, when the signs of the city were gone, we pulled over in front of a house surrounded by banana trees, and my Ugandan mama came out to greet me with a big hug! Her name is Mama Winfred. I'm to call her mama, but, for the sake of avoiding confusion with my mom, I will call her Mama Winfred.
After meeting Mama Winfred I met Jenni, she is the youngest and the only girl of the family. She is very excited to teach me the ways around the house, cooking, cleaning, laundry, everything. She also kindly warms up water for my bucket shower.
I have two brothers Samula, who is 20, and Joa who is 21. Both are very helpful and very nice.
Joa walks with me to school in the morning and home in the evening. Since I've been here we've made the trip 2.5 times (I'm just about to head home).
(This picture is taken about halfway between my house and school)
On the way to school the majority of the walk is up hill and it takes 50ish minutes. I actually find it quite enjoyable! Yesterday, my second trip there and back, I led the entire way to and from school. Joa even tried to tease and trick me by doubting my decisions to go left or right, but I stuck to my decisions and we made it home!
I'd love to write more but it is 6p here and I must make it home before dark!
I left home on Dec 27 2012, and after a delay in Detroit, an unexpected trip to Canada, New Years in Amsterdam, and a transfer in Cairo, I finally landed in Entebbe Uganda at 3:40 am on Jan 4th.
Landing in Entebbe at night felt like landing in the stars. Looking out the window, first it was dark blackness, then, one by one as if the clouds parted below me, I saw one, then two, then many little lights scattered in the dark.
Unlike Chicago and Amsterdam, there were no grid or web-like patterns of lights to spot and identify as ground. Instead, like stars, each small light stood on its own. With nothing on which to base my perception of space I was not prepared for the jerk of landing. The wheels touching the ground startled me as the heavens met earth.
When I walked off the plane towards the airport I was released from the body odor smell of the plane and met with the aroma of open air and dust.
With the only light source in view being the airport building in front of me, it was hard to fully realize where I was. Assured by the red earth beneath my feet, I began to let the travel tenses settle: 8 days after leaving home, I had finally arrived in Uganda.
After receiving my visa and searching for my bag, I was met by someone from the school, a welcome face among the all the signs and taxi drivers. A blur of a car ride later, I found myself tip toeing through a hallway of a Convent, trying hard not to wake the other students.
When I finally laid my head down it was after 4am. I had some how figured out how to set up the mosquito net around my bed, and yet had failed to figure out a way to cool myself off. Encouraged by the crowing of the first rooster of the morning, and the foreign chatters and squabbles of the birds, I eventually, finally, fell asleep.
Landing in Entebbe at night felt like landing in the stars. Looking out the window, first it was dark blackness, then, one by one as if the clouds parted below me, I saw one, then two, then many little lights scattered in the dark.
Unlike Chicago and Amsterdam, there were no grid or web-like patterns of lights to spot and identify as ground. Instead, like stars, each small light stood on its own. With nothing on which to base my perception of space I was not prepared for the jerk of landing. The wheels touching the ground startled me as the heavens met earth.
When I walked off the plane towards the airport I was released from the body odor smell of the plane and met with the aroma of open air and dust.
With the only light source in view being the airport building in front of me, it was hard to fully realize where I was. Assured by the red earth beneath my feet, I began to let the travel tenses settle: 8 days after leaving home, I had finally arrived in Uganda.
After receiving my visa and searching for my bag, I was met by someone from the school, a welcome face among the all the signs and taxi drivers. A blur of a car ride later, I found myself tip toeing through a hallway of a Convent, trying hard not to wake the other students.
When I finally laid my head down it was after 4am. I had some how figured out how to set up the mosquito net around my bed, and yet had failed to figure out a way to cool myself off. Encouraged by the crowing of the first rooster of the morning, and the foreign chatters and squabbles of the birds, I eventually, finally, fell asleep.
Where am I going? Uganda.
To be more specific: Mukono, UgandaWhat am I doing?
Well, simply put, I am going to study at a Ugandan Christian University for the Spring 2013 semester. I'm going as a student from Judson University through the Best Semester, Uganda Studies Program.
When am I leaving? December 27, 2012.
I will make a short stop in Amsterdam to visit my brother Ryan and some wonderful friends! Then, I will arrive in Uganda early morning January 4th, meet my host family, and begin classes right away.
How long?
I will be finished with my semester at the end of April. However, I plan on staying in the region until mid July. During that time I will be doing an internship and volunteering (still working out the details).
From Uganda, I will make a stop in the Netherlands and then return to the states in August.
How am I getting there?
Work, scholarships, lots of love and support from my family, a lot of strategic planning and encouragement from my wonderful professors and the staff at Judson, and behind it all: God's provision and inspiration!
Want more details? Well, they'll come! If I sat here and typed out all the details for you now, I'd never go anywhere! It is time to get back to work! Finals week is coming up, it is time to try to finish strong!
A big thanks to my brother Kyle who helped me put together this blog (Uganda? I Ganda.) and is helping me with a website for my Artwork! He is a graphic designer, check out his work Here!