I’m laying on my bed, my temporary bed, made of 3” foam with wooden slats, and I’m thanking God that it is my temporary bed, and not my permanent bed. I am going home tomorrow. Home certainly means more to me now than it has in a long, long time. Maybe more than it ever has. I am so grateful for my home, not just my house, but that place where I belong…that feels like home…
Like I’ve said previously, I’ve spent a lot of time while in Africa trying to figure out what I can do to help the situation here—I am a fixer by nature, I prefer to fix a problem, as opposed to just empathizing with you over the problem, and I really just keep coming back to one notion…empowerment…in so many ways, but it seems that the basic need is for the economy to get going here…people need to make money. So I’ve done a crazy thing, and I’ve gone into business with several single mothers who are caring for orphaned and vulnerable children. I am currently in the jewelry business! They make absolutely beautiful jewelry, each unique and handmade, and then they have no place to sell it. I have many, many friends who wear all kinds of jewelry, and are always looking for a unique, lovely piece. So I figure that maybe I can put the two together, and we can make a difference, in a small way, for a few people (but in their own lives, it will be a HUGE difference--I bought beads from one woman, and it is going to allow her son to go to University for the entire year...WOW!)
The women in Uganda make beautiful paper bead jewelry, and it is lovely. I have also seen some beautiful beaded jewelry, and I have learned that the beads comes from Nairobi, sold every week at the local market, where Kenyans come from all over, and bring their handmade beads to sell. The women I am going into business with, have no means in which to get the beads, so you guessed it…I went to Nairobi and I am going to get them set up in business. When we told the driver where we wanted to go, he tried very hard to persuade us that the local market was not a place that we wanted to be…it is dangerous for Mzungus, he said. I told him that I had to go there, regardless, so he said, “Well then, I guess I will take you there.” He proceeded to give us all kinds of instructions regarding who to talk to, who not to talk to, etc. I had done an internet search and already read up on the proper way to negotiate and bargain. I have tended to just pay full price while here, but I have learned that doing that is actually an affront to them, they consider it good practice to negotiate, love to get animated, upset, etc. and they don’t take it personal in the least, they just want everyone to be happy in the end. So I put my game face on, and dragged my unwilling family along, and went to negotiate for beads.
I started out by very firmly informing the men who greet you at the market, and want you to gather everything you want, and then they will negotiate a price (and take most of the price), that I was quite capable and willing to negotiate my own prices, thank you very much. I also quickly realized that I needed Tim to carry the money, and stay far away from me, so that I could bargain them down prior to him coming along, and sort of play a good cop/bad cop routine.
Let me just say that I had the time of my life. I alternated between having a great time, and being nervous and scared, felt like I was performing a show, wanted to be careful to pay a fair price, and came away with bags of beads. I would begin by asking them how much they wanted, then I would give a fairly loud “humphf”, and inform them that while I may be white, I had lived in Africa now, and I wanted the local price, not the Mzungu price. To which they would all inform me that they had given me the very best price they had to offer. Then I would inform them that it was too bad that was their very best price, because it was a terrible price for me, and I was unhappy. They didn’t want me to be unhappy did they? Oh no, what price would make me happy? To which I would respond with a ridiculously low price, and they would loudly “humphf” me back, and thus the dance would begin. We would haggle, negotiate, throw in items, take them back out, I would show them the money, walk away, make a sad face, say please in a whiny voice (they really like that one for some reason), I would inform them that I didn’t want their children to go hungry, but neither should they ask me to pay such a high price that my own children would go hungry—to which they would howl with laughter, and usually, we would come to an agreement on a price that was at least half of what they started with. I would always then ask them if they were happy, they would ask me if I were happy, we would smile, shake and go upon our day. We took four hours at the market, but I think I have a great supply of beads that can be the start of something wonderful for these ladies. They are so excited…and truthfully, so am I.
If any of you are interested, I have brought home lots of paper beaded necklaces, I am going to send back the profits to these ladies to help invest in more things like a paper cutter, various tools and jewelry making supplies, and my hope is that by making a living wage, they will be able to feed, clothe, care for and send to school the orphaned and vulnerable children that they have taken responsibility for. If any of you have ideas or leads on getting the jewelry into stores, email me! My hope is that I can provide a market for these women.
Tim didn’t make it home with us, we parted ways in Amsterdam and he is headed for Mali and Senegal, while we have headed home. We miss him, I feel for him, he was ready to come home, but this trip needs to happen, and it is so much cheaper to fly from Amsterdam, so he went…we are on our final leg of the journey, an 11 hour flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco…a stop at In and Out Burgers, and then a two hour drive home… I have one more Africa story to share with you (maybe more, who knows). I have had to de-worm the family…oh joy, that is a direct result of embracing the "Africa Adventure", of eating the cooked chicken off the side of the road, of playing in the dirt, with all the joys, there is a price to pay…and we are paying! So the worms have died, and they are now making their way out, in the only manner in which they can make they way out…enough said. TIA!
The best advice I can give you all (not that anyone asked me for advice…), is to cherish what you have, and count your blessings. I received a wonderful quote this week, that is very appropriate for me, and oh so true! Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.
I have arrived at home, spent last night in a clean, wonderful bed; I was clean, my kids were clean, the bed was so lovely and soft…hmmm….it was wonderful… I am now finishing this writing up, sipping a cup of tea. Life is good, I am surrounded by the familiar, all is the same, but I am different… I will never be the same, and I never want to be the same. I want to feel my responsibility for the privileges I have; I want to share Lillian’s message; I want to help my fellow sisters make a living; I want to share in the collective responsibility of mankind to provide for the children of this world the opportunity to thrive, to be fed, to have love and care and hope for a future; I want to reach out and help others, to share the load, to bear the burden, to do what I can do, to be a drop in the bucket…I truly do realize how much I have…more than enough...enough to share...
Thanks for sharing this journey with me, instead of it ending, I have a feeling it truly has just begun. I will blog at this location occasionally, so check it every so once in a while if you want—let the adventure continue! Love to you all!
Ciao,
Cheri
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Women and Politics
Women and Politics…rumor has it you are not supposed to talk about either, and guess what; I’m going to talk about both in one blog!
First, let me tell you a few things that happened this week. We had someone try to break into our house while we were home. Once again, I think I must have a slightly twisted family, because for the boys, this was maybe the highlight of their week (unless it was catching a man cheating playing pool and confronting him, or the gigantic cockroach in the soup pan). Anyway, our guard was on the ball, and our family had about three knives and willing attitudes should the potential burglars decide to actually climb the fence. They spent quite a bit of time trying to convince the guard to open the gate, then they started throwing rocks, but that was as scary as it got.
We had the distinct privilege of travelling to Lira this weekend to look at another children’s village project that Assist has been involved in. It is called Otino Waa (which means our child in the local language), run by some wonderful people from Oregon, Bob and Carol Higgins. Carol had decided that we were probably ready for some home cooking, so they had us to their house for dinner. It was spectacular. That woman knows how to cook, the kids were in heaven. She had a pot roast, twice baked potatoes, and cinnamon rolls as the bread! Then she made a delicious homemade chocolate cake for dessert. We even had ice we could use. We ate and ate, it was so good.
The next morning we went out to a ceremony to celebrate the 100th protected spring that they had put into place. People, if you could see the before and after pictures, it is incredible. They have a water hole, that is used for drinking, animals, bathing, etc. and it is pretty gross. However, Bob and Carol have designed a way to protect the spring, and clear, cool water now runs out into a cement holding tank. Water to drink can be filled directly, and then the animals can go down lower and drink, thus not contaminating the water. This only costs $1000 to protect a spring, and it literally saves many lives, and improves the general health of an entire village. The village that received their 100th protected spring was a village of people who had just recently returned to their homes from the IDP camps (Internally Displaced People), due to the rebel activity and political unrest in the area. Their first crops have not even matured yet, they are very, very poor, very sickly, and yet know they have clean water to drink. Bob and Carol’s group is going in there this week to de-worm the entire village, and they hope it will drastically improve the health for these people.
When we arrived, they had music going, women dancing, children laughing, they had decorated the spring with flowers and bushes, and the joy in these people’s eyes was unbelievable. I couldn’t help but get tears in my eyes, as I think of the simple, basic things here, that when given, are so greatly appreciated. What Bob and Carol are doing is truly amazing. The celebration lasted about three hours, and I wouldn’t have missed a second of it for the world.
I want to tell you about a woman I met in Lira, at the celebration. Her name is Lillian, and she is a District Representative, in political power, quite a feat for women in Africa. Women in Africa basically have no rights. If their husband wants their money, he takes it, and beats them if they don’t give it to him. If he’s tired of being married to her, he divorces her, takes everything, and doesn’t haven’t to care for his children at all…she has no recourse through the law. If a man wants her seat, she sits on the floor. She works day and night, endlessly, and has no power whatsoever. If she is raped, she is outcast. If her husband dies, his family kicks her out of the family home and takes absolutely everything, leaving her with nothing. It is truly a desperate situation and I feel passionate about the need to empower these women, because I truly believe it is one of the things that is holding this continent back. When I think about what women do for our society in America, and then realize that women in Africa basically cannot contribute in that way, well, the men here need to get a clue, and believe me, when given the chance, I have been quite outspoken and let them know what I think about how they treat the women-I'm sure this surprises anyone who knows me-ha! (of course, when confronted, they all agree with me and blame other men, never themselves).
Now politics here are also a crazy thing. It is very corrupt. There are many reasons for the corruption, but it really holds the people down, and makes them feel powerless because there is such little accountability. Millions of the dollars in aid that comes through governmental channels is not funneled to the areas promised, but rather pads the pockets of politicians. In Uganda, where in the North, they have been terrorized for years and years by a man who is just pure evil, named Joseph Koney, I was asking why the government hasn’t gone in there and wiped him out a long, long time ago. Interesting to hear the opinions... One is that the past president came from one of the tribes being terrorized, and he wasn’t very good to the current president’s tribe…so there is no real motivation to help out. Another even much more interesting note is that the President’s brother has the trucking contract to truck all of the UN food aid up to the north in the IDP camps…a contract worth millions of dollars a year. Are you now getting the picture?
So back to Lillian, first of all, it is quite a feat to be a woman in political power, she has a dynamic personality, and she is very warm, caring, and intelligent. At the water ceremony, she turned to us and she spoke directly to us, and she said, “I have something I want to ask you to do. Please tell your government, tell any of our government you meet, and tell the world, that while we are so grateful for this gift of clean water, which will save countless lives, what we really need is a chance for peace. If we had peace, then we could stay on our land, work hard and improve our lives and our situations, but without peace, we can do nothing. So please tell the world that we just ask for peace.” Anyone out there listening? Do you know how easy it is to email your congressman and urge him stand up for peace in the Sudan/Uganda/Congo area? These countries all meet up in the North, and this is where the unrest is. So please, take advantage of our ease of communication, our freedom to express ourselves, and send an email to your congressman, senator, and President urging them to do all they can to bring stability to that region of the world. Lives depend upon it. I have already, and I will continue to, because I feel like I owe it because I live in a society where I am equal, where I have rights, where I can get a clean, cold glass of water whenever I want… and I owe it to my new friend Lillian, a woman who doesn’t ask for much.
Ciao,
Cheri
First, let me tell you a few things that happened this week. We had someone try to break into our house while we were home. Once again, I think I must have a slightly twisted family, because for the boys, this was maybe the highlight of their week (unless it was catching a man cheating playing pool and confronting him, or the gigantic cockroach in the soup pan). Anyway, our guard was on the ball, and our family had about three knives and willing attitudes should the potential burglars decide to actually climb the fence. They spent quite a bit of time trying to convince the guard to open the gate, then they started throwing rocks, but that was as scary as it got.
We had the distinct privilege of travelling to Lira this weekend to look at another children’s village project that Assist has been involved in. It is called Otino Waa (which means our child in the local language), run by some wonderful people from Oregon, Bob and Carol Higgins. Carol had decided that we were probably ready for some home cooking, so they had us to their house for dinner. It was spectacular. That woman knows how to cook, the kids were in heaven. She had a pot roast, twice baked potatoes, and cinnamon rolls as the bread! Then she made a delicious homemade chocolate cake for dessert. We even had ice we could use. We ate and ate, it was so good.
The next morning we went out to a ceremony to celebrate the 100th protected spring that they had put into place. People, if you could see the before and after pictures, it is incredible. They have a water hole, that is used for drinking, animals, bathing, etc. and it is pretty gross. However, Bob and Carol have designed a way to protect the spring, and clear, cool water now runs out into a cement holding tank. Water to drink can be filled directly, and then the animals can go down lower and drink, thus not contaminating the water. This only costs $1000 to protect a spring, and it literally saves many lives, and improves the general health of an entire village. The village that received their 100th protected spring was a village of people who had just recently returned to their homes from the IDP camps (Internally Displaced People), due to the rebel activity and political unrest in the area. Their first crops have not even matured yet, they are very, very poor, very sickly, and yet know they have clean water to drink. Bob and Carol’s group is going in there this week to de-worm the entire village, and they hope it will drastically improve the health for these people.
When we arrived, they had music going, women dancing, children laughing, they had decorated the spring with flowers and bushes, and the joy in these people’s eyes was unbelievable. I couldn’t help but get tears in my eyes, as I think of the simple, basic things here, that when given, are so greatly appreciated. What Bob and Carol are doing is truly amazing. The celebration lasted about three hours, and I wouldn’t have missed a second of it for the world.
I want to tell you about a woman I met in Lira, at the celebration. Her name is Lillian, and she is a District Representative, in political power, quite a feat for women in Africa. Women in Africa basically have no rights. If their husband wants their money, he takes it, and beats them if they don’t give it to him. If he’s tired of being married to her, he divorces her, takes everything, and doesn’t haven’t to care for his children at all…she has no recourse through the law. If a man wants her seat, she sits on the floor. She works day and night, endlessly, and has no power whatsoever. If she is raped, she is outcast. If her husband dies, his family kicks her out of the family home and takes absolutely everything, leaving her with nothing. It is truly a desperate situation and I feel passionate about the need to empower these women, because I truly believe it is one of the things that is holding this continent back. When I think about what women do for our society in America, and then realize that women in Africa basically cannot contribute in that way, well, the men here need to get a clue, and believe me, when given the chance, I have been quite outspoken and let them know what I think about how they treat the women-I'm sure this surprises anyone who knows me-ha! (of course, when confronted, they all agree with me and blame other men, never themselves).
Now politics here are also a crazy thing. It is very corrupt. There are many reasons for the corruption, but it really holds the people down, and makes them feel powerless because there is such little accountability. Millions of the dollars in aid that comes through governmental channels is not funneled to the areas promised, but rather pads the pockets of politicians. In Uganda, where in the North, they have been terrorized for years and years by a man who is just pure evil, named Joseph Koney, I was asking why the government hasn’t gone in there and wiped him out a long, long time ago. Interesting to hear the opinions... One is that the past president came from one of the tribes being terrorized, and he wasn’t very good to the current president’s tribe…so there is no real motivation to help out. Another even much more interesting note is that the President’s brother has the trucking contract to truck all of the UN food aid up to the north in the IDP camps…a contract worth millions of dollars a year. Are you now getting the picture?
So back to Lillian, first of all, it is quite a feat to be a woman in political power, she has a dynamic personality, and she is very warm, caring, and intelligent. At the water ceremony, she turned to us and she spoke directly to us, and she said, “I have something I want to ask you to do. Please tell your government, tell any of our government you meet, and tell the world, that while we are so grateful for this gift of clean water, which will save countless lives, what we really need is a chance for peace. If we had peace, then we could stay on our land, work hard and improve our lives and our situations, but without peace, we can do nothing. So please tell the world that we just ask for peace.” Anyone out there listening? Do you know how easy it is to email your congressman and urge him stand up for peace in the Sudan/Uganda/Congo area? These countries all meet up in the North, and this is where the unrest is. So please, take advantage of our ease of communication, our freedom to express ourselves, and send an email to your congressman, senator, and President urging them to do all they can to bring stability to that region of the world. Lives depend upon it. I have already, and I will continue to, because I feel like I owe it because I live in a society where I am equal, where I have rights, where I can get a clean, cold glass of water whenever I want… and I owe it to my new friend Lillian, a woman who doesn’t ask for much.
Ciao,
Cheri
Thursday, July 26, 2007
On the Road Again
It’s been a long while since I’ve blogged, and so much has happened, I don’t even know where to start. We have travelled more in Africa on the roads than we do in the United States. I am loving it, we have seen so much and accomplished so much, the boys get tired at times of the driving, but the experience they will never forget.
We left a week ago Saturday to take the River Ranch Church Team on safari for a few days. That was such a treat for us. The first day, after about a 12 hour drive, which included a minor bus accident in which our bus hit a semi-truck on the side and knocked a window out, shattering glass all over one of the women in the group (it was either that or hit a woman on the side of the road…a VERY close call), we arrived at a lake and got in old wooden boats and crossed over to a small island, where we stayed in “luxury” tents (ha ha!) Each tent was in a beautiful secluded wooded area…did I mention we arrived after dark? Each tent was lit by lovely candles, it was very eco-friendly and had no electricity…did I mention we arrived after dark? We had lovely eco-friendly restrooms as well (the kind that have no water to flush, etc…we call them outhouses in the United States). I have to admit, we were all looking at Tim and wondering what he had gotten us into. There were some very game people along (you see, I’m used to Tim and when he had said luxury tents, I knew what he probably meant…the others…well…they’re used to him now!)
The next morning I will admit that we woke up to a beautiful view of the lake, it was very exotic. I took a shower outdoors, because that was what was offered…at least I started the next day clean.
We next headed for another “short” drive to Queen Elizabeth Park…and good news, Tim found a short cut, so the drive was only going to be 2-3 hours. TERRIFIC! Another eight hours later, we arrived at Mweya Lodge, having seen many beautiful back roads in Uganda, met many local people (as we asked them for directions), experienced a plethora of potholes, we relieved ourselves in a hole (I have an entire philosophy here in Africa that I call my “Liquid Management” plan, and I will say, I was the only person out of 19 that didn’t have to pee in a hole…the plan is working…maybe if I market it right…hmmm…) We arrived at Mweya Lodge. By this time, I think Tim realized he was about to be voted off the island, so he was sweating bullets, and Mweya Lodge was his ace in the hole…they really pulled through. We arrived, hot, tired, sweaty, and covered in red dust…did I mention this shortcut didn’t involve paved roads? They had a lovely cold wash cloth for each of us, passion fruit juice, and the Lodge was lovely. We quickly forgot our journey and basked in the relative luxury of the next two days. We woke up very early the next morning to get out in the park while the animals were active and eating breakfast. As we were leaving in our Land Cruiser (there wasn’t enough room in the safari trucks, so we sent Bransen with the group, because he had never been on safari and was excited to stand up with his head out of the roof of the vehicle!) we had a knock on our window and a fairly frantic couple from Sweden asked if they could squeeze into our car because theirs had broken down and they wanted to go out to see the animals…of course we scooted over and had a lovely morning looking at animals and working on international relations!
On Tuesday, we left our team to head back to the airport, and we continued on to the border and crossed into Rwanda. Rwanda is a country that is scarred by the massacre of almost 1 million people of the Tutsi tribe, by the other predominant tribe in the country, the Hutus. This massacre happened while the world slept, only 14 years ago. Now, they are trying to repair their nation, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. I went to Rwanda six years ago and you could feel a sadness and darkness in that land as soon as you landed on the plane. I was SHOCKED at the changes that have been made since I was last there. Rebuilding is everywhere, hope is everywhere…it was truly, truly impressive and so wonderful to see. We went to the Millennium Village projects, assessed three hospitals, met some truly wonderful people, and headed back for Uganda late in the afternoon on Thursday. We had decided that we would drive for a few hours, instead of making the 14 hour drive all in one day. All went well, until we somehow missed the turn to our hotel for the night, and realized it was 36 km back. That is WAY too far to turn around and go back on Uganda roads, so we decided to push through to the next city, another 70 km away, and hope for the best. By this time, it was about 8 p.m., we had no lunch, the kids were hot, tired, thirsty, hungry, and grouchy…honestly, I was grouchy too…and emotional…even worse. I saw a goat that somehow reminded me of my little dog Bronte whom I haven’t seen for 8 weeks now, and I burst into tears and sat in the car crying because I missed her…that went over real well in a car full of boys…no sympathy for me, I was put on notice that I needed to suck it up and act like a man…hmmm…anyway, we had a general family meltdown, finally arrived into town, followed signs to the first hotel that was advertising, our thinking being if they had enough money to advertise, they can’t be too bad…and they weren’t. The sheets looked clean, they were serving a late dinner, and we ate and all fell into bed exhausted around 11:45 p.m. At which time, a group of Mzungu’s planted themselves literally two feet from our bedroom window at tables outside our room, and laughed and visited for almost an hour. We told them they were trying to sleep, so they took it down a notch, but it was literally like they were sitting in our room, so even with them talking quiet, they didn’t realize that we could hear everything they said.
We got back to Jinja, all is well, there’s so much that could be said. Chase left us yesterday to head back home…I already miss him. It is symbolic of his life right now, he is going to be leaving the nest, and no one told me how much it was going to hurt! Today we deliver the fish out to the children’s village. We are really excited. They are doing great, growing big already, and we have worked out a solar power system that seems to be working. I will be so excited if this idea works out, it really will be about six months before we know if it becomes profitable, because that is the time the fish will start reproducing, and also the time they will be big enough to sell at market.
I have been collecting stories of the children that are living in the village…after a while, I begin to almost get numb. Story after story of children whose parents died, or one parent died, and then the other couldn’t care for them, they were hungry, beaten, abused, with no place to live, and then taken in by tremendous people, who even though they don’t have the resources or room, they welcome them. I met an adorable mother named Sarah Waisana, and when I say adorable, I mean it…she is so cute, 8 months pregnant with her ninth child (only her third biological). Sarah and her husband David just keep taking in children who need a home. They live in a house that is probably 1000 sq. feet, with 11 of them, and they are thrilled, they feel so blessed. Their home is well kept, they have beautiful plants and vegetables growing, they are truly amazing people. I feel privileged to know them.
Our time here is winding down, and while I am THRILLED to be going home, seriously the thought of sleeping in my own bed, and taking a warm shower, and washing clothes in a washing machine brings me almost to tears, I can also say that the thought of leaving here makes me feel sad as well. I’m a problem solver by nature. I want to fix the problems that are here, but I realize that these problems are so big, have been here so long, that help given is a drop in the bucket. However, every drop counts, and at some point, it only takes one drop for the bucket to overflow. When I look at Irene, or Anna, or Mercy, or Richard, or Sylvia, and think about the fact that someone in America is a drop in the bucket, sponsoring them so they can have a hope and a future, I realize that each drop is a person, both here and there, and every drop is precious, every life is priceless…let it rain!
Ciao,
Cheri
We left a week ago Saturday to take the River Ranch Church Team on safari for a few days. That was such a treat for us. The first day, after about a 12 hour drive, which included a minor bus accident in which our bus hit a semi-truck on the side and knocked a window out, shattering glass all over one of the women in the group (it was either that or hit a woman on the side of the road…a VERY close call), we arrived at a lake and got in old wooden boats and crossed over to a small island, where we stayed in “luxury” tents (ha ha!) Each tent was in a beautiful secluded wooded area…did I mention we arrived after dark? Each tent was lit by lovely candles, it was very eco-friendly and had no electricity…did I mention we arrived after dark? We had lovely eco-friendly restrooms as well (the kind that have no water to flush, etc…we call them outhouses in the United States). I have to admit, we were all looking at Tim and wondering what he had gotten us into. There were some very game people along (you see, I’m used to Tim and when he had said luxury tents, I knew what he probably meant…the others…well…they’re used to him now!)
The next morning I will admit that we woke up to a beautiful view of the lake, it was very exotic. I took a shower outdoors, because that was what was offered…at least I started the next day clean.
We next headed for another “short” drive to Queen Elizabeth Park…and good news, Tim found a short cut, so the drive was only going to be 2-3 hours. TERRIFIC! Another eight hours later, we arrived at Mweya Lodge, having seen many beautiful back roads in Uganda, met many local people (as we asked them for directions), experienced a plethora of potholes, we relieved ourselves in a hole (I have an entire philosophy here in Africa that I call my “Liquid Management” plan, and I will say, I was the only person out of 19 that didn’t have to pee in a hole…the plan is working…maybe if I market it right…hmmm…) We arrived at Mweya Lodge. By this time, I think Tim realized he was about to be voted off the island, so he was sweating bullets, and Mweya Lodge was his ace in the hole…they really pulled through. We arrived, hot, tired, sweaty, and covered in red dust…did I mention this shortcut didn’t involve paved roads? They had a lovely cold wash cloth for each of us, passion fruit juice, and the Lodge was lovely. We quickly forgot our journey and basked in the relative luxury of the next two days. We woke up very early the next morning to get out in the park while the animals were active and eating breakfast. As we were leaving in our Land Cruiser (there wasn’t enough room in the safari trucks, so we sent Bransen with the group, because he had never been on safari and was excited to stand up with his head out of the roof of the vehicle!) we had a knock on our window and a fairly frantic couple from Sweden asked if they could squeeze into our car because theirs had broken down and they wanted to go out to see the animals…of course we scooted over and had a lovely morning looking at animals and working on international relations!
On Tuesday, we left our team to head back to the airport, and we continued on to the border and crossed into Rwanda. Rwanda is a country that is scarred by the massacre of almost 1 million people of the Tutsi tribe, by the other predominant tribe in the country, the Hutus. This massacre happened while the world slept, only 14 years ago. Now, they are trying to repair their nation, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. I went to Rwanda six years ago and you could feel a sadness and darkness in that land as soon as you landed on the plane. I was SHOCKED at the changes that have been made since I was last there. Rebuilding is everywhere, hope is everywhere…it was truly, truly impressive and so wonderful to see. We went to the Millennium Village projects, assessed three hospitals, met some truly wonderful people, and headed back for Uganda late in the afternoon on Thursday. We had decided that we would drive for a few hours, instead of making the 14 hour drive all in one day. All went well, until we somehow missed the turn to our hotel for the night, and realized it was 36 km back. That is WAY too far to turn around and go back on Uganda roads, so we decided to push through to the next city, another 70 km away, and hope for the best. By this time, it was about 8 p.m., we had no lunch, the kids were hot, tired, thirsty, hungry, and grouchy…honestly, I was grouchy too…and emotional…even worse. I saw a goat that somehow reminded me of my little dog Bronte whom I haven’t seen for 8 weeks now, and I burst into tears and sat in the car crying because I missed her…that went over real well in a car full of boys…no sympathy for me, I was put on notice that I needed to suck it up and act like a man…hmmm…anyway, we had a general family meltdown, finally arrived into town, followed signs to the first hotel that was advertising, our thinking being if they had enough money to advertise, they can’t be too bad…and they weren’t. The sheets looked clean, they were serving a late dinner, and we ate and all fell into bed exhausted around 11:45 p.m. At which time, a group of Mzungu’s planted themselves literally two feet from our bedroom window at tables outside our room, and laughed and visited for almost an hour. We told them they were trying to sleep, so they took it down a notch, but it was literally like they were sitting in our room, so even with them talking quiet, they didn’t realize that we could hear everything they said.
We got back to Jinja, all is well, there’s so much that could be said. Chase left us yesterday to head back home…I already miss him. It is symbolic of his life right now, he is going to be leaving the nest, and no one told me how much it was going to hurt! Today we deliver the fish out to the children’s village. We are really excited. They are doing great, growing big already, and we have worked out a solar power system that seems to be working. I will be so excited if this idea works out, it really will be about six months before we know if it becomes profitable, because that is the time the fish will start reproducing, and also the time they will be big enough to sell at market.
I have been collecting stories of the children that are living in the village…after a while, I begin to almost get numb. Story after story of children whose parents died, or one parent died, and then the other couldn’t care for them, they were hungry, beaten, abused, with no place to live, and then taken in by tremendous people, who even though they don’t have the resources or room, they welcome them. I met an adorable mother named Sarah Waisana, and when I say adorable, I mean it…she is so cute, 8 months pregnant with her ninth child (only her third biological). Sarah and her husband David just keep taking in children who need a home. They live in a house that is probably 1000 sq. feet, with 11 of them, and they are thrilled, they feel so blessed. Their home is well kept, they have beautiful plants and vegetables growing, they are truly amazing people. I feel privileged to know them.
Our time here is winding down, and while I am THRILLED to be going home, seriously the thought of sleeping in my own bed, and taking a warm shower, and washing clothes in a washing machine brings me almost to tears, I can also say that the thought of leaving here makes me feel sad as well. I’m a problem solver by nature. I want to fix the problems that are here, but I realize that these problems are so big, have been here so long, that help given is a drop in the bucket. However, every drop counts, and at some point, it only takes one drop for the bucket to overflow. When I look at Irene, or Anna, or Mercy, or Richard, or Sylvia, and think about the fact that someone in America is a drop in the bucket, sponsoring them so they can have a hope and a future, I realize that each drop is a person, both here and there, and every drop is precious, every life is priceless…let it rain!
Ciao,
Cheri
Friday, July 13, 2007
Free Fallin'
We sang that song as we headed to the adventure camp this afternoon. It’s true…I faced one of my biggest fears today (heights, right up there next to snakes) and took the leap off a 44 meter platform that hung out over the Nile River. I learned that 44 meters is approximately 144 feet…let’s just say it’s WAY up there. I was the third of eight of us that jumped today. Happily, I was the first Reynolds’ (them there is braggin' rights folks!) The first person went, did a great swan dive off the platform, and about halfway down started screaming, but she was smiling when she was finished. Not a bad start. The second person went (I won’t name names, but she’s related to me), she jumped without hesitation, but began screaming and kept screaming until she was safely in the boat. That was a hard act to follow…I was scared to death. They sat me in a chair that looked like an electric chair, I felt like a prisoner going to the guillotine…and then I sat there as they wrapped a towel around my ankles, so that the rope they tied around my ankles wouldn’t give me a rope burn (thank you very much!). I watched earnestly to make sure that a true slip knot was tied on my ankles. Then I had to waddle over to the side, hang out on a ledge over the Nile, with nothing to hang onto but the ceiling of the overhang, take a deep breath and plunge.
I had already decided that I was going to look down as I jumped. So I got to the edge, looked down, and said to myself “there is NO WAY I am going to do this, I don’t care what anyone thinks of me, I’m walking back down.” Thankfully, that thought only lasted a second, but I ditched my plan to look down as I jumped, and instead looked at the roof of a nearby restaurant, took a deep breath, embraced my fear, celebrated my courage, and took the jump. The first second of a free fall is mind-boggling, literally, it was so difficult for my brain to get around the fact that I had just launched myself off a really tall place and was hurtling down towards the water, but immediately after that second, the next feeling is your stomach falling, which is a feeling I just LOVE. I have seriously said many times that I wish I could have one of those amusement park drop rides in my backyard. I love the feeling of dropping, when my stomach is in my throat. That was it…I hit the bottom, sprung up, flipped around, and dropped again in another exhilarating fall. I started whooping it up, it was so fun. No screaming for me, I was laughing my head off! When I finally was pulled into the boat, the African men told me I had a very strong heart…I was grateful for the comment. Let me tell you a little secret about myself…there are a lot of things that scare me.
I don’t know where I heard it, but one of my life mantra’s is that courage is not the absence of fear (thank God because then I would be the lion in the Wizard of Oz constantly searching for my courageous heart), but rather, courage is doing that which you are afraid of anyway. I remind myself of that often, and as I battled in my heart and brain about whether or not I would jump, it was a bigger battle for me than just a bungee jump; it was a battle for my courage. Thankfully, courage won the day, and the reward goes beyond the one minute of hanging over the Nile River with butterflies in my stomach. The reward is knowing that I can still face at least some of my fears, and overcome them. Hayden was next, and he did a perfect swan dive off the platform, without a moment of hesitation, and made a beautiful landing. Tim and Chase decided to get dunked in the Nile during their jump, and that added even more excitement. Westin, Bransen and another friend Carly decided to zip line over the Nile River. That too was exhilarating and fun. Overall, it was just a great, great experience and I have no regrets…
In addition to the excitement of the afternoon, we had the privilege of holding a dedication service for the house that Neighborhood Church worked on this week. Neighborhood Church decided to build this house in honor of the first person from Modesto killed in the Iraq War, as a way to honor his name, Corporal Michael D. Anderson, and the contribution that he made to our country, and in particular, to honor his love and dedication to children. As I watched about 50 adorable school children singing and dancing, as I listened to different Ugandans share their vision for the children of this beautiful country, there was such love and hope and joy…I thought that any parent would feel this is a very fitting and meaningful tribute to a wonderful son. The Anderson House was commissioned today to provide stability, hope and a future to orphaned children in Uganda for generations to come!
Tomorrow we head out for a weeklong trip. Hopefully, I will be able to get online occasionally. But until we talk again…
Ciao,
Cheri
I had already decided that I was going to look down as I jumped. So I got to the edge, looked down, and said to myself “there is NO WAY I am going to do this, I don’t care what anyone thinks of me, I’m walking back down.” Thankfully, that thought only lasted a second, but I ditched my plan to look down as I jumped, and instead looked at the roof of a nearby restaurant, took a deep breath, embraced my fear, celebrated my courage, and took the jump. The first second of a free fall is mind-boggling, literally, it was so difficult for my brain to get around the fact that I had just launched myself off a really tall place and was hurtling down towards the water, but immediately after that second, the next feeling is your stomach falling, which is a feeling I just LOVE. I have seriously said many times that I wish I could have one of those amusement park drop rides in my backyard. I love the feeling of dropping, when my stomach is in my throat. That was it…I hit the bottom, sprung up, flipped around, and dropped again in another exhilarating fall. I started whooping it up, it was so fun. No screaming for me, I was laughing my head off! When I finally was pulled into the boat, the African men told me I had a very strong heart…I was grateful for the comment. Let me tell you a little secret about myself…there are a lot of things that scare me.
I don’t know where I heard it, but one of my life mantra’s is that courage is not the absence of fear (thank God because then I would be the lion in the Wizard of Oz constantly searching for my courageous heart), but rather, courage is doing that which you are afraid of anyway. I remind myself of that often, and as I battled in my heart and brain about whether or not I would jump, it was a bigger battle for me than just a bungee jump; it was a battle for my courage. Thankfully, courage won the day, and the reward goes beyond the one minute of hanging over the Nile River with butterflies in my stomach. The reward is knowing that I can still face at least some of my fears, and overcome them. Hayden was next, and he did a perfect swan dive off the platform, without a moment of hesitation, and made a beautiful landing. Tim and Chase decided to get dunked in the Nile during their jump, and that added even more excitement. Westin, Bransen and another friend Carly decided to zip line over the Nile River. That too was exhilarating and fun. Overall, it was just a great, great experience and I have no regrets…
In addition to the excitement of the afternoon, we had the privilege of holding a dedication service for the house that Neighborhood Church worked on this week. Neighborhood Church decided to build this house in honor of the first person from Modesto killed in the Iraq War, as a way to honor his name, Corporal Michael D. Anderson, and the contribution that he made to our country, and in particular, to honor his love and dedication to children. As I watched about 50 adorable school children singing and dancing, as I listened to different Ugandans share their vision for the children of this beautiful country, there was such love and hope and joy…I thought that any parent would feel this is a very fitting and meaningful tribute to a wonderful son. The Anderson House was commissioned today to provide stability, hope and a future to orphaned children in Uganda for generations to come!
Tomorrow we head out for a weeklong trip. Hopefully, I will be able to get online occasionally. But until we talk again…
Ciao,
Cheri
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Weevils wobble but they don't fall down!
This is seriously gross…I mean seriously…twice now, we have found small weevil larvae in our toothbrushes. We are not leaving our brushes laying around, but they are in plastic containers and then in zip-lock bags. We use only bottled water, and toothpaste from America. WHAT IS GOING ON? That’s what I keep asking myself. We have to do the daily worm check on our toothbrushes before we put them to use. Yesterday, it was my toothbrush who had them. I boiled everyone’s toothbrush again, and it took me a LONG time to muster the courage to put mine in my mouth and scrub, but I did…it creeps me out just writing about it again. Any of you that know me, know that I am a germ freak. I have four boys, so I can handle my house being messy, but germs, disgust me. My sister and cousin always make fun of me because I even wash my chicken and vegetables with soap and water prior to cooking them. So this “weevil in the toothbrush” concept is definitely stretching me!
We have spent most of this week with a terrific team from Neighborhood Church at River Ranch, doing a building project out the Children’s Village. In addition, we have facilitated taking smaller teams to the medical clinic, school and office to do volunteer work. My parents came out with the team, as well as aunt and cousin, so we are having a terrific time. Two days ago, the bus driver was late one too many times so my dad (remember my conversation about the slowness of Africa and country music? Well, I am my father’s daughter when it comes to that) fired the bus driver and decided that Tim could drive the team around the rest of the week. So they were talking about it at dinner that night and I said, well great, but you and Tim are flying to the Northern part of Uganda tomorrow, so who will drive them around…oh yeah…they forgot about that one…so yesterday, I was in a van I wasn’t accustomed to, and I drove the smaller teams all over the place. I only heard a few grunts and groans, I scraped the curb twice, I parallel parked the opposite way we are used to (my greatest feat for the day if you ask me!), I had a close call with a semi-truck when I got distracted and went up the wrong side of the road, and a cow got loose and almost ran into me—other than that, we survived just fine, although I think a few people might be visiting their chiropractors when they get home!
This week we have learned about a little boy who goes to the new AOET school that is an orphan and is being raised by his grandma. Well, AOET staff just learned this week, that this eight year old boy’s grandma drinks all the time, and doesn’t care for him at all, and the only meals he eats all week, is the lunches provided at the school every day. So he eats five meals a week, and is basically starving, barely surviving. Truly is it almost beyond my ability to comprehend. The greatest part of the story though, is that this Sunday, he is moving into one of the houses that have been finished this week by the people at Neighborhood Church and the rest of the crew! Such a great ending to a sad, sad story. This little boy will be able to integrate into a family, with a Mom and a Dad, go to school, eat meals, be loved, watch how a family is supposed to interact, and hopefully grow into a whole, contributing adult that can help to improve the future of Uganda. The constructing has been slow at times, and probably frustrating, certainly hot and tiring…but the impact cannot even be measured.
Today in the afternoon is free-time. I know what the means…bungee jumping time. I’ll report back to you on what my decision was, and how it went. I’m currently trying to broker deals and negotiate with my children, I’m even willing to resort to some bribery…if we could just pick an adventure that involves remaining on the ground!
Ciao,
Cheri
We have spent most of this week with a terrific team from Neighborhood Church at River Ranch, doing a building project out the Children’s Village. In addition, we have facilitated taking smaller teams to the medical clinic, school and office to do volunteer work. My parents came out with the team, as well as aunt and cousin, so we are having a terrific time. Two days ago, the bus driver was late one too many times so my dad (remember my conversation about the slowness of Africa and country music? Well, I am my father’s daughter when it comes to that) fired the bus driver and decided that Tim could drive the team around the rest of the week. So they were talking about it at dinner that night and I said, well great, but you and Tim are flying to the Northern part of Uganda tomorrow, so who will drive them around…oh yeah…they forgot about that one…so yesterday, I was in a van I wasn’t accustomed to, and I drove the smaller teams all over the place. I only heard a few grunts and groans, I scraped the curb twice, I parallel parked the opposite way we are used to (my greatest feat for the day if you ask me!), I had a close call with a semi-truck when I got distracted and went up the wrong side of the road, and a cow got loose and almost ran into me—other than that, we survived just fine, although I think a few people might be visiting their chiropractors when they get home!
This week we have learned about a little boy who goes to the new AOET school that is an orphan and is being raised by his grandma. Well, AOET staff just learned this week, that this eight year old boy’s grandma drinks all the time, and doesn’t care for him at all, and the only meals he eats all week, is the lunches provided at the school every day. So he eats five meals a week, and is basically starving, barely surviving. Truly is it almost beyond my ability to comprehend. The greatest part of the story though, is that this Sunday, he is moving into one of the houses that have been finished this week by the people at Neighborhood Church and the rest of the crew! Such a great ending to a sad, sad story. This little boy will be able to integrate into a family, with a Mom and a Dad, go to school, eat meals, be loved, watch how a family is supposed to interact, and hopefully grow into a whole, contributing adult that can help to improve the future of Uganda. The constructing has been slow at times, and probably frustrating, certainly hot and tiring…but the impact cannot even be measured.
Today in the afternoon is free-time. I know what the means…bungee jumping time. I’ll report back to you on what my decision was, and how it went. I’m currently trying to broker deals and negotiate with my children, I’m even willing to resort to some bribery…if we could just pick an adventure that involves remaining on the ground!
Ciao,
Cheri
Monday, July 9, 2007
Christmas in July
Christmas has come early in the Reynolds’ household and Santa’s elves came in the form of Grandpa and Grandma Pagett, and Aunt Bette and Cousin Ali. They arrived in Jinja this morning, with entire suitcases full of sustenance for us! We all cheered with joy at two rolls of soft toilet paper, poker chips, granola bars, Lysol wipes (well, I actually was the only one who cheered for joy over the wipes, but I whooped it up loud!), bags of each of the boys’ favorite candy, and the grand finale…ingredients to make the boys’ favorite no-bake cookies…Special K Cookies—only Grandma would do that! I’m not kidding when I say it was like Christmas, we were ecstatic as we sat in their hotel room and ogled the goods. We had packages of gum, protein bars, top ramen, crystal light packets…it was a plethora of comfort items that we are now devouring! Hayden received a bag of caramel Ghirardelli squares, and I seriously think he is going to sleep with the bag because he thinks someone is going to take one…he wouldn’t share with Tim, and I caught Tim with his nose in the bag, just savoring the smell…Hayden did finally take pity on poor Dad and gave him ONE…only ONE caramel square (actually Hayden just read over my shoulder and informed me that Dad actually stole his caramel square, he didn’t have permission…) Bransen has already eaten an entire box of Mike and Ike’s. I had a lovely cup of tea and read the magazines my Mom brought me…life is good. It’s such an interesting change in perspective for us at the moment. I mean seriously, three weeks ago, not a single one of those items (well, not totally true, the Special K cookies would have done it) would have elicited any type of excitement. Even candy, my kids can usually take it or leave it—and now they whooping it up over two rolls of soft toilet paper.
We have tilapia fish growing in our backyard…eight have died but Tim thinks it’s because of the trip over to our house, etc. The experiment continues! Today we went to church, and then after church we went and visited Amani Baby Cottage…amani means peace in lugandan, and peace is what you feel, even in the midst of 59 toddlers and babies. Amani was started by a young woman from Texas, who is a follower of Jesus, and loves African babies. The stories that could be told of these precious children and how they have been rescued from abandonment and given a hope and a future are just amazing and fantastic. We arrived just as nap time was ending, and poked our heads into different rooms to look at the children. We reached the three year old boys’ room, and as we passed by, a steady stream of three year old boys came running out of the room, and literally jumped into our boys’ arms. They crave attention, they wanted to be held, they were adorable, they loved my boys and my boys loved them! I attached myself quickly to a nine-month old little girl named Grace. She was HIV positive when she arrived, but she has been given medicine and she is now HIV negative. She is adorable, huggable, happy…ahhh…I want to take them all home with me!
Amani Baby Cottage was called by the Jinja Hospital (remember the one with no running water or electricity?) to come and get a preemie baby today that had been abandoned in a school yard and found crying and bloody by a stranger early in the morning. Since the hospital had no incubator, they were keeping the baby warm by placing a paraffin lamp next to it in the crib…oh my word! (Just a little side note, you can bet that we will advocate to GE passionately for some incubators at this hospital—and knowing GE’s commitment and big heart, I suspect that in not too many months, Jinja Hospital will not have to place paraffin lamps next to their babies to keep them warm.) The Director left to pick up the baby, and came back with the baby and two toddlers. As she was gone, the police called her because they had two abandoned toddlers at the police station, and didn’t know what to do with them, so Amani opened its doors. The ladies at Amani Baby Cottage are heroes. Today we are taking them beautiful little hats that have been knitted by a lady from America, as well as a suitcase full of new baby clothes.
Sorry it has taken so long to get this blog up. I’ve been busy playing poker and eating cookies! Life is good.
Ciao,
Cheri
We have tilapia fish growing in our backyard…eight have died but Tim thinks it’s because of the trip over to our house, etc. The experiment continues! Today we went to church, and then after church we went and visited Amani Baby Cottage…amani means peace in lugandan, and peace is what you feel, even in the midst of 59 toddlers and babies. Amani was started by a young woman from Texas, who is a follower of Jesus, and loves African babies. The stories that could be told of these precious children and how they have been rescued from abandonment and given a hope and a future are just amazing and fantastic. We arrived just as nap time was ending, and poked our heads into different rooms to look at the children. We reached the three year old boys’ room, and as we passed by, a steady stream of three year old boys came running out of the room, and literally jumped into our boys’ arms. They crave attention, they wanted to be held, they were adorable, they loved my boys and my boys loved them! I attached myself quickly to a nine-month old little girl named Grace. She was HIV positive when she arrived, but she has been given medicine and she is now HIV negative. She is adorable, huggable, happy…ahhh…I want to take them all home with me!
Amani Baby Cottage was called by the Jinja Hospital (remember the one with no running water or electricity?) to come and get a preemie baby today that had been abandoned in a school yard and found crying and bloody by a stranger early in the morning. Since the hospital had no incubator, they were keeping the baby warm by placing a paraffin lamp next to it in the crib…oh my word! (Just a little side note, you can bet that we will advocate to GE passionately for some incubators at this hospital—and knowing GE’s commitment and big heart, I suspect that in not too many months, Jinja Hospital will not have to place paraffin lamps next to their babies to keep them warm.) The Director left to pick up the baby, and came back with the baby and two toddlers. As she was gone, the police called her because they had two abandoned toddlers at the police station, and didn’t know what to do with them, so Amani opened its doors. The ladies at Amani Baby Cottage are heroes. Today we are taking them beautiful little hats that have been knitted by a lady from America, as well as a suitcase full of new baby clothes.
Sorry it has taken so long to get this blog up. I’ve been busy playing poker and eating cookies! Life is good.
Ciao,
Cheri
Friday, July 6, 2007
Road Rage
Yes it’s true, road rage exists even in Africa, and we are living proof. Today, Chase, Westin and I were on our way out to a remote village, and our van turned onto a road, and the only truck we saw in probably 30 minutes, tried to run us off the road. Our driver was so angry, that he stopped the van, and he and the truck driver proceeded to go at it for several minutes, yelling, pointing, their “posses” got out of the respective vehicles to back them up—we just sat quietly in the back of the van, minding our own Mzungu business…this wasn’t our fight! It was unbelievable and I can thankfully report that we made it there and back without further incident. We were over an hour on a one lane road, and then another hour on a dirt road, to go to a small village in the Kumali district where we helped with a monthly outreach HIV medical clinic.
We went with a medical team from AOET (one of Assist’s partners in Uganda), the team was made up of six WONDERFUL 20-30 somethings who are doing their best to make a difference in their country. They were so intelligent, full of life, compassionate…just wonderful people to know anywhere, and a complete joy to know in a country that desperately needs people like them working on its behalf.
The purpose of the clinic is to provide free HIV testing, with results in about 10 minutes (why can’t we get medical results that fast in America?), and then counseling and medication if the test comes out positive. I didn’t know what we were in for, but I was excited to go along. I learned that I would be helping with the questionnaire, registering of new clients, and logging results from the tests. Chase and Westin turned into pharmacists and were counting out pills and passing out medicine.
Once again, another experience that I just don’t know if I can adequately put into words for you. We were taking information, and giving tests to people, and the results if positive, would basically be their death sentence. I was stunned when the first 15 clients were young children, and even more stunned when the first positive result of the day was a little six year old child. I had to begin to get numb after a while, because I would ask these people all about their history, the number of children they have, their sexual history, etc. and then refer them to the testing area. Then they would bring the results back to me and I would read on the code whether or not they had tested positive. If it was a positive test, they were referred to one of AOET’s medical personnel, who would lovingly counsel them on safe sex, how not to spread the disease, and medicines they can take to help themselves live longer. My agony increased as I watched “mommy” after “mommy”, who had just told me that they had 4, 5 or more children, receive the positive results of their HIV test. I remember one woman in particular, she had 8 children and she was only 30 years old, and when she received the results, she just sat in the grass with tears streaming down her cheeks for over an hour. She waited and received her counseling and her medication, and I thought my heart would burst in two as I thought of this poor lovely young mother who not only was facing certain death, but another 8 children who would be joining the ever growing list of orphan children in Uganda.
My emotions ran the full gamut. Joy at the school children who came at lunch time to sing us a welcome song; empathy for the grandmothers who were bringing their grandchildren in to be tested, hoping they hadn’t contracted what had killed their parents; agony over the tiny children who tested positive; sadness for the mothers and fathers. I was enraged when woman after woman, during my interview with her, would tell me that their husband had been tested before, but he wouldn’t tell her the results. I will save the status of women in Africa and my opinion of that for another blog entry, but it is just so unfair, because almost every one of these women came back with a positive test.
There were some good results as well…I remember the young mother, just 23, mother of three, a baby at her breast, break out laughing when she received the negative results. She was just beaming…she was the minority. The number of people we tested was approximately 90, and I’m sure that over half of the adults tested positive, thankfully not half of the children tested positive.
The HIV scourge in this continent is just overwhelming. The cause besides the actual virus, is so multi-layered, it is not an easy fix except for a vaccination or cure. People here have no access to the types of education that we have in America, so many of them are so uneducated about the virus, as well as the ways to prevent it. In addition, women here have no rights, so it is virtually impossible for them to refuse unsafe sex. They need to be empowered!
One of my son’s initial responses to our conversation regarding HIV status in Africa was “Well, it’s their own fault!” Once I explained to him the complex situation, his heart turned more compassionate. Please let your heart turn compassionate as well. This situation goes WAY beyond fault and blame. Millions upon millions of people are dying, and millions of children are left to fend for themselves in a terribly difficult land to survive in. They become victims of abuse, disease and starvation. Every child is important, every child deserves to thrive, every child needs our help…what if it was your child?
Ciao,
Cheri
We went with a medical team from AOET (one of Assist’s partners in Uganda), the team was made up of six WONDERFUL 20-30 somethings who are doing their best to make a difference in their country. They were so intelligent, full of life, compassionate…just wonderful people to know anywhere, and a complete joy to know in a country that desperately needs people like them working on its behalf.
The purpose of the clinic is to provide free HIV testing, with results in about 10 minutes (why can’t we get medical results that fast in America?), and then counseling and medication if the test comes out positive. I didn’t know what we were in for, but I was excited to go along. I learned that I would be helping with the questionnaire, registering of new clients, and logging results from the tests. Chase and Westin turned into pharmacists and were counting out pills and passing out medicine.
Once again, another experience that I just don’t know if I can adequately put into words for you. We were taking information, and giving tests to people, and the results if positive, would basically be their death sentence. I was stunned when the first 15 clients were young children, and even more stunned when the first positive result of the day was a little six year old child. I had to begin to get numb after a while, because I would ask these people all about their history, the number of children they have, their sexual history, etc. and then refer them to the testing area. Then they would bring the results back to me and I would read on the code whether or not they had tested positive. If it was a positive test, they were referred to one of AOET’s medical personnel, who would lovingly counsel them on safe sex, how not to spread the disease, and medicines they can take to help themselves live longer. My agony increased as I watched “mommy” after “mommy”, who had just told me that they had 4, 5 or more children, receive the positive results of their HIV test. I remember one woman in particular, she had 8 children and she was only 30 years old, and when she received the results, she just sat in the grass with tears streaming down her cheeks for over an hour. She waited and received her counseling and her medication, and I thought my heart would burst in two as I thought of this poor lovely young mother who not only was facing certain death, but another 8 children who would be joining the ever growing list of orphan children in Uganda.
My emotions ran the full gamut. Joy at the school children who came at lunch time to sing us a welcome song; empathy for the grandmothers who were bringing their grandchildren in to be tested, hoping they hadn’t contracted what had killed their parents; agony over the tiny children who tested positive; sadness for the mothers and fathers. I was enraged when woman after woman, during my interview with her, would tell me that their husband had been tested before, but he wouldn’t tell her the results. I will save the status of women in Africa and my opinion of that for another blog entry, but it is just so unfair, because almost every one of these women came back with a positive test.
There were some good results as well…I remember the young mother, just 23, mother of three, a baby at her breast, break out laughing when she received the negative results. She was just beaming…she was the minority. The number of people we tested was approximately 90, and I’m sure that over half of the adults tested positive, thankfully not half of the children tested positive.
The HIV scourge in this continent is just overwhelming. The cause besides the actual virus, is so multi-layered, it is not an easy fix except for a vaccination or cure. People here have no access to the types of education that we have in America, so many of them are so uneducated about the virus, as well as the ways to prevent it. In addition, women here have no rights, so it is virtually impossible for them to refuse unsafe sex. They need to be empowered!
One of my son’s initial responses to our conversation regarding HIV status in Africa was “Well, it’s their own fault!” Once I explained to him the complex situation, his heart turned more compassionate. Please let your heart turn compassionate as well. This situation goes WAY beyond fault and blame. Millions upon millions of people are dying, and millions of children are left to fend for themselves in a terribly difficult land to survive in. They become victims of abuse, disease and starvation. Every child is important, every child deserves to thrive, every child needs our help…what if it was your child?
Ciao,
Cheri
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Border Crossing
Well, we are all currently back among the living, and eating, and walking…whew! Feels like we are getting back into the saddle. We are currently in Kisumu, Kenya, where Tim is assessing four hospitals that GE is going to upgrade in conjunction with the Millennium Village Project. Crossing into Kenya requires crossing the border from Uganda into Kenya. That was quite an experience. First, we were accosted by several men all wanting to take our passports and make copies of them for us…uh…yeah right…I wonder how many Americans have fallen for that one, it must be a lot because there were relentless. Tim had to go to six different offices on the Uganda side, to get us out of Uganda, while we sat in the hot car. Then we went into “no man’s” land between Uganda and Kenya, and the trek to six more agencies took place. It’s a lot to go into another country with a car, we had to register the car, get insurance, and go through customs, border control, immigration…crazy. We were getting sick and tired of waiting in the car, so I decided to get out and take a picture of the kids in the car. That was a BIG, BIG mistake…unbeknownst to me…apparently (I guess I should have thought of it) but it is illegal to take a picture in “no man’s” land between borders, because of terrorism. So border officials came running out and told me I had to go with them…I said, “sorry, no can do, these are my children and I can’t leave them alone.” Tim was nowhere to be found at this point, he had travelled back into Uganda to get car insurance that would cover us for all the countries we are headed to. So an official looking woman comes out at scolds me and tells me that I cannot take pictures here, I should be arrested on the spot and hauled off to jail! Oh great, I’m thinking, I seriously don’t want that to happen. So I apologize left and right, upside and downside. I have learned that two of the most powerful words in the world are “I’m sorry”. I tell her I can delete the picture, and she can watch; I was just taking one of my children. I tried to convince her that I wasn’t a terrorist and she finally relented. By then I was so nervous, I couldn’t figure out how to delete the picture, so I had to give the camera to Chase and he proceeded to save his mother from an indefinite length of time in an African jail.
While in “no man’s” land, there was a skinny little boy who came up to the window to beg. I didn’t have any money with me, so I gave him a bottle of water and some candy, and told him my husband had the money. He then entertained us for the next hour while we waited, even though we couldn’t speak the same language, he communicated just fine with his facial and body expressions. When Tim finally arrived back at the car, I had him empty out his pockets of loose change and small bills and gave them to our little friend, at which time we were rewarded with a big, beautiful smile and a great big “thank you!” Small change for us, big reward for him.
We arrived at our hotel, hot, tired and ready to dive into the pool. We were really looking forward to staying in a hotel. We get up to our room, and pull down the sheets, and no kidding, the place was filthy, filthy, filthy. There were food particles, hair, bugs, etc. in our beds. We had them come up and change all the sheets, clean up some of the bugs, and we stayed the night, but my great husband went that night and got us a different room for today in the hotel he usually stays at when he comes to Kisumu with GE. It is more expensive, but I have to admit, a guilty pleasure I am readily enjoying at this moment in my day. I do feel a bit of guilt and a whole lot of gratitude to be staying in this nicer hotel. So I’m sitting in the lounge area, enjoying a cup of tea, and wireless internet.
It’s moments like this that are really hard to put into perspective for myself. I’m being honest here, I know I don’t deserve this, it’s indulgent, but I am so grateful that I was born in the life situation I was born into, and so used to modern luxuries and conveniences…well…I don’t have it all figured out by any means, except I keep reminding myself and the children…to whom much is given, much is required…
We just received word that several new children are being added this week to the children’s village Assist helped to fund in the Lira District of Uganda. These children are orphans living so far out in the bush, that they are being brought in by motorcycle, as a motorcycle is the only way to transport them from the bush. We will be going up there shortly, and I can hardly wait to see their newly scrubbed faces, and hopefully help to spread a bit of the love that they so desperately need and deserve. That is something I have thought about so much while here. What we deserve. Why some have, and so many have not. I certainly know I don’t deserve all that I have—and I know that so many of the people here don’t deserve what they have, or don’t have. This is what I know: Children all over the world deserve to be safe, and to not just worry about whether or not they will survive, but they deserve to thrive. I know that everyone won’t live in the same economic status as each other, but certain things should be unalienable rights for all mankind. Like clean water, sustaining food, basic immunizations, safety from the horrors that evil can bring in the vehicle of depraved man. Simple things, that we in our blessed land take so for granted, yet for so many, a luxury they cannot attain. At this point in my journey, I don’t have answers, only questions.
Ciao,
Cheri
While in “no man’s” land, there was a skinny little boy who came up to the window to beg. I didn’t have any money with me, so I gave him a bottle of water and some candy, and told him my husband had the money. He then entertained us for the next hour while we waited, even though we couldn’t speak the same language, he communicated just fine with his facial and body expressions. When Tim finally arrived back at the car, I had him empty out his pockets of loose change and small bills and gave them to our little friend, at which time we were rewarded with a big, beautiful smile and a great big “thank you!” Small change for us, big reward for him.
We arrived at our hotel, hot, tired and ready to dive into the pool. We were really looking forward to staying in a hotel. We get up to our room, and pull down the sheets, and no kidding, the place was filthy, filthy, filthy. There were food particles, hair, bugs, etc. in our beds. We had them come up and change all the sheets, clean up some of the bugs, and we stayed the night, but my great husband went that night and got us a different room for today in the hotel he usually stays at when he comes to Kisumu with GE. It is more expensive, but I have to admit, a guilty pleasure I am readily enjoying at this moment in my day. I do feel a bit of guilt and a whole lot of gratitude to be staying in this nicer hotel. So I’m sitting in the lounge area, enjoying a cup of tea, and wireless internet.
It’s moments like this that are really hard to put into perspective for myself. I’m being honest here, I know I don’t deserve this, it’s indulgent, but I am so grateful that I was born in the life situation I was born into, and so used to modern luxuries and conveniences…well…I don’t have it all figured out by any means, except I keep reminding myself and the children…to whom much is given, much is required…
We just received word that several new children are being added this week to the children’s village Assist helped to fund in the Lira District of Uganda. These children are orphans living so far out in the bush, that they are being brought in by motorcycle, as a motorcycle is the only way to transport them from the bush. We will be going up there shortly, and I can hardly wait to see their newly scrubbed faces, and hopefully help to spread a bit of the love that they so desperately need and deserve. That is something I have thought about so much while here. What we deserve. Why some have, and so many have not. I certainly know I don’t deserve all that I have—and I know that so many of the people here don’t deserve what they have, or don’t have. This is what I know: Children all over the world deserve to be safe, and to not just worry about whether or not they will survive, but they deserve to thrive. I know that everyone won’t live in the same economic status as each other, but certain things should be unalienable rights for all mankind. Like clean water, sustaining food, basic immunizations, safety from the horrors that evil can bring in the vehicle of depraved man. Simple things, that we in our blessed land take so for granted, yet for so many, a luxury they cannot attain. At this point in my journey, I don’t have answers, only questions.
Ciao,
Cheri
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Montezuma's Revenge
I want to know who Montezuma is and why would he ever want revenge on me? It’s gonna be short, it’s gonna be sweet, because whatever hit Chase, has passed on over to me. Yuck. It’s hard to want to get on and update, as there isn’t much to update, and I prefer at the moment to be in the prone position. We are plugging away here. Feeling more and more discouraged regarding the Coffee House, praying for direction and wondering what is up and why…time will tell. The electricity has gone off again…no idea why but it seems to stay on only about 50% of the time, I have learned that every neighborhood is different. Great news, Nancy brought us an extra refrigerator that they had…we drank cold water at dinner tonight, it was terrific! We also had spaghetti, and were able to store the leftovers, although I stuck it in the freezer, because sure enough, the electricity went out again.
Tomorrow we head out to Kisumo, Kenya to do an assessment at the Millenium Village there. I think that a change of scenery and pace is going to be nice. Today we went to the school that Assist International partially funded. It is in a very poor section of Jinja, and 75% of the children that go to the school are sponsored, the remaining 25% are paying customers, so to speak. We talked to some of the children that go to school there. They are just adorable. Wonderful people, friendly, loving, and dirt, dirt poor. Everywhere we passed, the little kids would run after our car laughing and yelling Mzungu, Mzungu, bye Mzungu. I just wanted to open my car door, and let them all in, and hug them and kiss them and bring them home with me.
The personal stories I could tell of the last 24 hours, I really don’t want in print, so I think I will sign off for now. Thanks for reading.
Ciao,
Cheri
Tomorrow we head out to Kisumo, Kenya to do an assessment at the Millenium Village there. I think that a change of scenery and pace is going to be nice. Today we went to the school that Assist International partially funded. It is in a very poor section of Jinja, and 75% of the children that go to the school are sponsored, the remaining 25% are paying customers, so to speak. We talked to some of the children that go to school there. They are just adorable. Wonderful people, friendly, loving, and dirt, dirt poor. Everywhere we passed, the little kids would run after our car laughing and yelling Mzungu, Mzungu, bye Mzungu. I just wanted to open my car door, and let them all in, and hug them and kiss them and bring them home with me.
The personal stories I could tell of the last 24 hours, I really don’t want in print, so I think I will sign off for now. Thanks for reading.
Ciao,
Cheri
Friday, June 29, 2007
This Little Piggy Went to Market
A moth the size of a small bird is flying around the house right now, and it sounds like there is a dinosaur outside, but it is actually Chase, who ate something that didn’t agree with him, and it is coming back up as I write. Too much information, I know…sorry…TIA. He is green as the curtains in our living room (think pale lime sherbet). I’m not too worried yet, but I will become so if it lasts too long. Thank God we have connections at the local hospital (yes, the one with no running water or electricity, but I hope they will give us some Cipro if we need it.)
Lots of good things happened today. The weather was really, really nice. We had eggs for breakfast. The electricity has been on all day. We got a poly tank, and Lake Victoria water to start growing algae for our fish farm. Fred is back guarding our house (we are partial, trying not to be, but we are). Here’s an interesting side note about Fred, the guard. He is a very nice young man of 28 (I really CANNOT believe I am calling 28 young, like he’s my son or something, after all, he’s just a bit younger than me-ha!…but I digress). So Hayden is outside talking with Fred, and Fred asks Hayden if we have the moon and the sun in America—he seriously didn’t know whether or not we did. He also tells Hayden that he has heard of the ocean, but never seen it. For some reason, this just hit me as so unbelievable, I really hadn’t thought about it. When the best form of transportation hoped for is a bicycle, of course he has never seen the ocean. But to think that he’s never been educated in a formal sense to know about the moon and the sun and the stars…wow. And we complain if we don’t like the modality our children’s teachers are teaching in, or we think there should be more/less homework, tests, papers, etc. Cherish education, please!
Some very interesting things happened today as well. I went to the market. Not the supermarket (think 7-11 without the name brands, and no Slurpees...), not the little specialized stores that are all around, but the local market, where you feel like you are going underground, like a bunch of ants, scurrying around and carrying out whatever you see that you want. I don’t think I can find the words to adequately describe to you the market, but I wish I could. We went to an electrical store to ask where the plumbing store was, the man went out on the street, called a friend of his to watch his store, and said “Follow me.” We were literally running to keep up, going about three blocks, and all of a sudden, we were at the market. I’ve been wanting to go to the market with Anife, but haven’t yet, and maybe it is a good thing. It is little shanty shacks, probably at least 1,000 of them, stacked right next to each other, with uneven dirt and pavement, and it gets dark because a lot of it has a roof over it, and it is like a maze, not laid out orderly, but dark, noisy, and teaming with people, sights and smells…oh the smells! In the cracks and crevices, there is sewage water running freely through. There are shacks and shacks of vegetables, fruits, meat…yes…every possible part of a cow is hung up (with no refrigeration) to be purchased and cooked. The smell of raw meat is overwhelming…I can still smell it. When we got home tonight, Anife had cooked mincemeat…I couldn’t help but wonder what parts of the cow she had purchased and minced up for us to eat, I really tried hard not to think about it too long…and I ate a lot potatoes tonight! As we wound our way through the maze of the market, we passed tool shacks, shoe shacks, clothing shacks, food shacks, pot shacks, machete shacks, dishes shacks, mops and broom shacks, clothing shacks, scrap metal shacks, and finally, a plumbing shack. There we were dropped off by the electrical store owner, at his friends’ plumbing shack. This man was able to put together just what we needed, in no time at all, and then rush us to a tool shack, where his friend hooked us up with the tools needed to complete the job (the job being a hose bib at the bottom of the poly tank to release waste water in the fish tank). The market is so full of life, sights, smells, textures…I wish you all could have been there with me to experience it, it’s better than the movies!
We intended to put the hose bib on the stove and heat it really hot, and then melt it through the poly tank (kind of a MacGyver move if you ask me…remember that old TV show?), but we have become side-tracked with work related emails, and sick stomachs…we will insert the hot hose bib into the poly tank tomorrow. I can happily report that algae from the lake is growing in our back yard even as we speak (an essential we have learned in the proper feeding of tilapia). The electricity has decided to go to bed for the night, so I think that I will follow its lead. Please continue to pray for direction on the coffee house, a location at this point, is just not happening. It is in God’s hands. Say a prayer for Chase as well, he is suffering tonight.
Ciao,
Cheri
Lots of good things happened today. The weather was really, really nice. We had eggs for breakfast. The electricity has been on all day. We got a poly tank, and Lake Victoria water to start growing algae for our fish farm. Fred is back guarding our house (we are partial, trying not to be, but we are). Here’s an interesting side note about Fred, the guard. He is a very nice young man of 28 (I really CANNOT believe I am calling 28 young, like he’s my son or something, after all, he’s just a bit younger than me-ha!…but I digress). So Hayden is outside talking with Fred, and Fred asks Hayden if we have the moon and the sun in America—he seriously didn’t know whether or not we did. He also tells Hayden that he has heard of the ocean, but never seen it. For some reason, this just hit me as so unbelievable, I really hadn’t thought about it. When the best form of transportation hoped for is a bicycle, of course he has never seen the ocean. But to think that he’s never been educated in a formal sense to know about the moon and the sun and the stars…wow. And we complain if we don’t like the modality our children’s teachers are teaching in, or we think there should be more/less homework, tests, papers, etc. Cherish education, please!
Some very interesting things happened today as well. I went to the market. Not the supermarket (think 7-11 without the name brands, and no Slurpees...), not the little specialized stores that are all around, but the local market, where you feel like you are going underground, like a bunch of ants, scurrying around and carrying out whatever you see that you want. I don’t think I can find the words to adequately describe to you the market, but I wish I could. We went to an electrical store to ask where the plumbing store was, the man went out on the street, called a friend of his to watch his store, and said “Follow me.” We were literally running to keep up, going about three blocks, and all of a sudden, we were at the market. I’ve been wanting to go to the market with Anife, but haven’t yet, and maybe it is a good thing. It is little shanty shacks, probably at least 1,000 of them, stacked right next to each other, with uneven dirt and pavement, and it gets dark because a lot of it has a roof over it, and it is like a maze, not laid out orderly, but dark, noisy, and teaming with people, sights and smells…oh the smells! In the cracks and crevices, there is sewage water running freely through. There are shacks and shacks of vegetables, fruits, meat…yes…every possible part of a cow is hung up (with no refrigeration) to be purchased and cooked. The smell of raw meat is overwhelming…I can still smell it. When we got home tonight, Anife had cooked mincemeat…I couldn’t help but wonder what parts of the cow she had purchased and minced up for us to eat, I really tried hard not to think about it too long…and I ate a lot potatoes tonight! As we wound our way through the maze of the market, we passed tool shacks, shoe shacks, clothing shacks, food shacks, pot shacks, machete shacks, dishes shacks, mops and broom shacks, clothing shacks, scrap metal shacks, and finally, a plumbing shack. There we were dropped off by the electrical store owner, at his friends’ plumbing shack. This man was able to put together just what we needed, in no time at all, and then rush us to a tool shack, where his friend hooked us up with the tools needed to complete the job (the job being a hose bib at the bottom of the poly tank to release waste water in the fish tank). The market is so full of life, sights, smells, textures…I wish you all could have been there with me to experience it, it’s better than the movies!
We intended to put the hose bib on the stove and heat it really hot, and then melt it through the poly tank (kind of a MacGyver move if you ask me…remember that old TV show?), but we have become side-tracked with work related emails, and sick stomachs…we will insert the hot hose bib into the poly tank tomorrow. I can happily report that algae from the lake is growing in our back yard even as we speak (an essential we have learned in the proper feeding of tilapia). The electricity has decided to go to bed for the night, so I think that I will follow its lead. Please continue to pray for direction on the coffee house, a location at this point, is just not happening. It is in God’s hands. Say a prayer for Chase as well, he is suffering tonight.
Ciao,
Cheri
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Adrenaline Surge
We went to Kampala yesterday, to try and secure an air pump and water pump, and identify sources of supply for the coffee shop. It took us ALL day, and we basically learned some things, but purchased nothing. We ate lunch around 2 p.m. in downtown Kampala. We paid to park right in front of the restaurant, sat right there, a guard was there, plus a parking attendant, and somehow, the mirror on our car was stolen. TIA I guess. I have a new phrase to go along with TIA…it is IDC (I DON’T CARE) and I use it at times, such as whenever I tell my children to brush their teeth and they say TIA, I respond IDC. The car ride to Kampala (approximately two hours from Jinja) was great fun. Tim drove, I road shotgun on the wrong side of the road, and kept as vigilant as possible. Driving in Africa isn’t the same as driving in America—trust me, that is an understatement. I have driven around Jinja, and according to the kids and Tim, it should be a Disney ride named Cheri’s Wild Ride…Westin is the only person who wants to ride with me (I guess it’s not right to have a favorite child - but)…come on…I drive just like Tim, only on caffeine. I figure since I have a four wheel drive, why not use it? Potholes can be fun, they launch you! Also, just because I scrape the side of the curb a bit, I haven’t hit anything yet. It is very strange to back up, with a stick shift that is on the wrong side, looking over the wrong shoulder, etc. I think that if we don’t hit anything major, and we get there without too many wrong turns, I have done well. I did get yelled at by a big truck driver whom I had blocked in at the store…TIA I say!
The drive home from Kampala was seriously stressful. We were trying to get home before dark, but we didn’t leave Kampala until almost dark (in part because we also got a replacement mirror for the Land Cruiser…yeah!). Now for whatever reason, people here at night don’t drive with their lights on, and it is all two lane roads, and slow, slow trucks, and people passing them like no tomorrow (which could be true if you’re not careful.) So Tim and I were both VERY vigilant on the drive home. I had a tension headache by the time we reached Jinja. As we turned into our lane, I began to relax a bit, until…(let me give you a background story, two nights ago, three men came to our compound and asked some fishy questions, then the next morning they came again, asking more fishy questions, we suspect they are casing out the joint) a truck came up behind us on our little dirt road with its lights off, and as we turned into our little drive, it cornered us from behind, turned the lights on, and three men with guns jumped out and surrounded our car, while another man with a gun went to our gate and started to try and get in. Talk about adrenaline surge BIG TIME. I was scared beyond words. I thought for sure it was a hold up, and they were going to force us into our compound and hold us for ransom or something. So Tim said, “Should we leave?” and my response was “GET US OUT OF HERE!!!” Thank God for 4-wheel drives, we took off over the grassy hill, squealing away, while a man was running behind us yelling excuse me, excuse me, please don’t leave…once we were past the cornering of the three, Tim stopped to talk to the one man. He was the manager of the guards, our regular guard Fred, was sick, and our new guard didn’t know how to get to our house, so they were dropping him off, and had a truck full of guards they were delivering to their posts—they were trying to be polite and help us into our compound, thus the surrounding of the car. I don’t think they have any idea how much they scared us, they probably only think we are crazy Mzungu’s…which at times I definitely agree with. So, our adrenaline was kicking, but we were safe, and went into the compound and made friends with the new guard. His name is Boniface. I wanted him to be safe, so I told him about the snake that Fred had found. This was his response to me: “M’am, snakes here in Jinja are merciless, as soon as they see you, they will kill you, it is probably a cobra…I will be careful.” I thought a guard was supposed to make you feel better? Boniface didn’t, that’s for sure. So we still haven’t come upon our merciless black snake, but let me tell you, once we do…well…hell hath no fury like a woman afraid of a snake!
Again last night we had no electricity when we got home. In Kampala, we had eaten around 2 p.m., and agreed that I would make some soup when we got home. However, with no electricity, we had no way to prepare food, so we went to bed without dinner. The kids were marginally hungry, and woke up this morning starving, however, we still had no electricity. They ate a granola bar, and it did a bit to tide over their hunger. I shed some tears this morning during my devotions, for my own children who went to bed and woke up hungry, without complaining at all, but even more, for the multitudes of mothers who put their children to bed hungry every night, with no end in sight to the hunger, grateful for perhaps one, under-nourished meal a day. It truly just doesn’t seem right, in this day and age, with the resources and technology that this world has, that people would be starving—and I’m not talking "missing a few meals" starving, I’m talking "skinny, bellies sticking out from malnourishment" starving. Occasionally, I know that I will write things that will make us all feel uncomfortable, hang in there with me please, let yourself have a few moments of feeling uncomfortable, I think that we all need to feel some discomfort, because this is reality my friends. Not our reality, thank God, but the reality of millions of people with whom we share a common sense of humanity. I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs to “Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers. Speak out for justice. Stand up for the poor and destitute.” So please don’t leave me if you start to feel uncomfortable, but let it just work in your heart and you can decide what maybe you can do to help make a difference. At a café here in Jinja, I saw a very appropriate quote: “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
Ciao,
Cheri
The drive home from Kampala was seriously stressful. We were trying to get home before dark, but we didn’t leave Kampala until almost dark (in part because we also got a replacement mirror for the Land Cruiser…yeah!). Now for whatever reason, people here at night don’t drive with their lights on, and it is all two lane roads, and slow, slow trucks, and people passing them like no tomorrow (which could be true if you’re not careful.) So Tim and I were both VERY vigilant on the drive home. I had a tension headache by the time we reached Jinja. As we turned into our lane, I began to relax a bit, until…(let me give you a background story, two nights ago, three men came to our compound and asked some fishy questions, then the next morning they came again, asking more fishy questions, we suspect they are casing out the joint) a truck came up behind us on our little dirt road with its lights off, and as we turned into our little drive, it cornered us from behind, turned the lights on, and three men with guns jumped out and surrounded our car, while another man with a gun went to our gate and started to try and get in. Talk about adrenaline surge BIG TIME. I was scared beyond words. I thought for sure it was a hold up, and they were going to force us into our compound and hold us for ransom or something. So Tim said, “Should we leave?” and my response was “GET US OUT OF HERE!!!” Thank God for 4-wheel drives, we took off over the grassy hill, squealing away, while a man was running behind us yelling excuse me, excuse me, please don’t leave…once we were past the cornering of the three, Tim stopped to talk to the one man. He was the manager of the guards, our regular guard Fred, was sick, and our new guard didn’t know how to get to our house, so they were dropping him off, and had a truck full of guards they were delivering to their posts—they were trying to be polite and help us into our compound, thus the surrounding of the car. I don’t think they have any idea how much they scared us, they probably only think we are crazy Mzungu’s…which at times I definitely agree with. So, our adrenaline was kicking, but we were safe, and went into the compound and made friends with the new guard. His name is Boniface. I wanted him to be safe, so I told him about the snake that Fred had found. This was his response to me: “M’am, snakes here in Jinja are merciless, as soon as they see you, they will kill you, it is probably a cobra…I will be careful.” I thought a guard was supposed to make you feel better? Boniface didn’t, that’s for sure. So we still haven’t come upon our merciless black snake, but let me tell you, once we do…well…hell hath no fury like a woman afraid of a snake!
Again last night we had no electricity when we got home. In Kampala, we had eaten around 2 p.m., and agreed that I would make some soup when we got home. However, with no electricity, we had no way to prepare food, so we went to bed without dinner. The kids were marginally hungry, and woke up this morning starving, however, we still had no electricity. They ate a granola bar, and it did a bit to tide over their hunger. I shed some tears this morning during my devotions, for my own children who went to bed and woke up hungry, without complaining at all, but even more, for the multitudes of mothers who put their children to bed hungry every night, with no end in sight to the hunger, grateful for perhaps one, under-nourished meal a day. It truly just doesn’t seem right, in this day and age, with the resources and technology that this world has, that people would be starving—and I’m not talking "missing a few meals" starving, I’m talking "skinny, bellies sticking out from malnourishment" starving. Occasionally, I know that I will write things that will make us all feel uncomfortable, hang in there with me please, let yourself have a few moments of feeling uncomfortable, I think that we all need to feel some discomfort, because this is reality my friends. Not our reality, thank God, but the reality of millions of people with whom we share a common sense of humanity. I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs to “Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers. Speak out for justice. Stand up for the poor and destitute.” So please don’t leave me if you start to feel uncomfortable, but let it just work in your heart and you can decide what maybe you can do to help make a difference. At a café here in Jinja, I saw a very appropriate quote: “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
Ciao,
Cheri
Mangoes and Flies
I like mangoes…I hate flies…I especially hate mango flies. Let me tell you about them, as I just learned of them today. They are a small fly that lays eggs in your laundry if you leave it out past about 4:30 p.m., then the egg warms on your body the next time you wear your clothes, hatches, burrows in and grows a 2 inch worm inside you. We left our clothes out overnight last night because they weren’t dry…oh joy. So, if you iron the clothes well, it should kill the fly eggs. We went out last night and bought an iron. I felt funny ironing my underwear…but hey!
Yesterday we made progress on securing a location for the coffee shop, please pray that things work out. Today we are headed into Kampala to begin looking for equipment, we are also going to talk to another fish hatchery and see about buying an air pump and 55-gallon drum. Everything happens SO much slower here. If anything, that is the hardest part for me. I don’t like to wait around, I’m a get in there and get it done kind of person. That’s not the African way. It’s more like a slow dance ( I would equate it to country music -not my favorite!), instead of rockin’ to Bryan Adams or Bon Jovi (my style!) So I am trying to learn to slow dance a bit, and learn the lessons that go with the process.
Ciao,
Cheri
Yesterday we made progress on securing a location for the coffee shop, please pray that things work out. Today we are headed into Kampala to begin looking for equipment, we are also going to talk to another fish hatchery and see about buying an air pump and 55-gallon drum. Everything happens SO much slower here. If anything, that is the hardest part for me. I don’t like to wait around, I’m a get in there and get it done kind of person. That’s not the African way. It’s more like a slow dance ( I would equate it to country music -not my favorite!), instead of rockin’ to Bryan Adams or Bon Jovi (my style!) So I am trying to learn to slow dance a bit, and learn the lessons that go with the process.
Ciao,
Cheri
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Of Snakes and Women
Yup, it’s true; one of my biggest fears is here. The guard informed us that he saw a black snake as thick as his arm in our yard. Okay, when the Bible speaks of God putting enmity between woman and snake…well…I have an extra large dose of enmity between me and snakes. I HATE THEM. I had a lizard jump at me when I lifted the lid off the toilet this morning and I screamed. What do you think I would do if I found the snake? Of course my boys’ think it’s the greatest thing in the world now that we have a LARGE, potentially dangerous snake in our yard. Forget playing with fire, now they are moving on to bigger and better things. Bransen and Hayden have knives strapped to their waists, and they are “guarding “the compound with Mr. Fred, the guard. This is when I have to say prayers of protection over my children, and trust that God will put angels around us. Tim, ever the encourager, thinks it is a Black Mamba, the deadliest snake in the world. However, in his words, “Cheri, the bigger the better, it will be harder for it to fit through small spaces, plus if you’re ever going to be bit by a Black Mamba, Africa is the place, because maybe they have an anti-venom here.” Okay Tim, I feel much better now…
Snakes aside, today was a good day. We made progress on the coffee house, as well as the fish project. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the fish project yet, maybe I have, forgive me if I am redundant. One of my biggest passion’s regarding Africa, and especially the vulnerable women and children that we work with, is helping them find a way out of the extreme poverty they are in…instead of relying upon an American donation every month, giving them tools that will empower them to get themselves out of the situation they are in. They are hard-working people; they just don’t have many opportunities or resources. So we heard about a man back east (United States’ east), who feeds his family by raising fish in a 55 gallon drum. He raises catfish, has a faucet on the bottom of his drum that he drains off the scum from the fish, directly onto his garden, which waters and fertilizes the garden, which feeds his family vegetables. Then he takes the scraps from their food, and feeds it to worms, which he then feeds to the fish, which then feeds his family, and the cycle continues…a beautiful picture if you ask me. We wanted to find out if this is feasible in Africa. I don’t know of anyone doing this, but I already have found a way to attach an air pump to solar panels, because obviously electricity is a problem. So today, we went to the National Aqua Research & Development Center. They gave us a tour of their facility; we saw many indigenous fish and were able to ask many questions. The bottom line, they think it is very feasible for us to grow fish in a drum, with proper tank management. So we have many names of contacts for drums, air pumps, and fingerlings (baby fish), and we are going to try and set up a barrel of fish at our house, and work on that project for the next six weeks. Wouldn’t that be exciting if it works? If so, I am going to get a bottom line price to set a group of people up with the fish, and then I’m going to come knocking to as many people as possible to help fund mini fish hatcheries!
The internet set-up man just called and he should be here in 15 minutes. It is 7:20 p.m. on Monday night. I’m hoping it all works out and we should be up and running soon. I’m off for now with my flashlight to search the dark corners of my house for Black Mamba’s. Another chore I will add to my daily list until the hunters in my family can catch and kill a snake! Pray for us, please. P.S. The vegetable soup was met with a fairly warm reception. Hayden summed it up best “Mom, if this were America and you fixed it, it would be the second worst thing you’ve ever cooked, besides the corned beef and cabbage that one time, which was absolutely horrible(it was!)…but since we’re in Africa, it’s pretty okay.” Thank you…I think?
Ciao,
Cheri
Tuesday morning, no internet…TIA. The internet man came, he saw, he left. Apparently, and it sounds like he knew this was going to happen prior to coming, we need a special antenna to get a signal, which he didn’t have, so he will be back at 8:30 a.m. today with the antenna. I suspect that sometime by the end of the day, we will be online. Sleep last night was fleeting. I needed to use the facilities, however, the thought of coming upon an unwanted houseguest in the dark (ie. Black mamba) was more than I could bear, until my need to use the facility was more than I could bear. Then, I used a flashlight, and spent about five minutes sitting on my bed, looking in the dark recesses of the room before getting out of bed. All was well, except by that time, my brain was going…and I can’t always get it to shut off. This morning, I am going with Sam Tushabe and Chase, to identify some properties that are potential sites for the coffee shop. We need a new place, as the place we had planned, fell through while we were in flight. That is not a good thing, but I’m not convinced it was the best location anyway, so I think that this is going to be a situation in which when we look back, we will see that all things worked for good, that is for sure. Sam is meeting with a broker later today, to see what they might rent the sites for, however, if they know a Mzungu is interested, we will get the Mzungu price…not good. Tim is going to wait for the internet man and the special antenna…
It is 2:51 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon and we have internet! TIA! I am going to upload my blogs now.
Ciao,
Cheri
Snakes aside, today was a good day. We made progress on the coffee house, as well as the fish project. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the fish project yet, maybe I have, forgive me if I am redundant. One of my biggest passion’s regarding Africa, and especially the vulnerable women and children that we work with, is helping them find a way out of the extreme poverty they are in…instead of relying upon an American donation every month, giving them tools that will empower them to get themselves out of the situation they are in. They are hard-working people; they just don’t have many opportunities or resources. So we heard about a man back east (United States’ east), who feeds his family by raising fish in a 55 gallon drum. He raises catfish, has a faucet on the bottom of his drum that he drains off the scum from the fish, directly onto his garden, which waters and fertilizes the garden, which feeds his family vegetables. Then he takes the scraps from their food, and feeds it to worms, which he then feeds to the fish, which then feeds his family, and the cycle continues…a beautiful picture if you ask me. We wanted to find out if this is feasible in Africa. I don’t know of anyone doing this, but I already have found a way to attach an air pump to solar panels, because obviously electricity is a problem. So today, we went to the National Aqua Research & Development Center. They gave us a tour of their facility; we saw many indigenous fish and were able to ask many questions. The bottom line, they think it is very feasible for us to grow fish in a drum, with proper tank management. So we have many names of contacts for drums, air pumps, and fingerlings (baby fish), and we are going to try and set up a barrel of fish at our house, and work on that project for the next six weeks. Wouldn’t that be exciting if it works? If so, I am going to get a bottom line price to set a group of people up with the fish, and then I’m going to come knocking to as many people as possible to help fund mini fish hatcheries!
The internet set-up man just called and he should be here in 15 minutes. It is 7:20 p.m. on Monday night. I’m hoping it all works out and we should be up and running soon. I’m off for now with my flashlight to search the dark corners of my house for Black Mamba’s. Another chore I will add to my daily list until the hunters in my family can catch and kill a snake! Pray for us, please. P.S. The vegetable soup was met with a fairly warm reception. Hayden summed it up best “Mom, if this were America and you fixed it, it would be the second worst thing you’ve ever cooked, besides the corned beef and cabbage that one time, which was absolutely horrible(it was!)…but since we’re in Africa, it’s pretty okay.” Thank you…I think?
Ciao,
Cheri
Tuesday morning, no internet…TIA. The internet man came, he saw, he left. Apparently, and it sounds like he knew this was going to happen prior to coming, we need a special antenna to get a signal, which he didn’t have, so he will be back at 8:30 a.m. today with the antenna. I suspect that sometime by the end of the day, we will be online. Sleep last night was fleeting. I needed to use the facilities, however, the thought of coming upon an unwanted houseguest in the dark (ie. Black mamba) was more than I could bear, until my need to use the facility was more than I could bear. Then, I used a flashlight, and spent about five minutes sitting on my bed, looking in the dark recesses of the room before getting out of bed. All was well, except by that time, my brain was going…and I can’t always get it to shut off. This morning, I am going with Sam Tushabe and Chase, to identify some properties that are potential sites for the coffee shop. We need a new place, as the place we had planned, fell through while we were in flight. That is not a good thing, but I’m not convinced it was the best location anyway, so I think that this is going to be a situation in which when we look back, we will see that all things worked for good, that is for sure. Sam is meeting with a broker later today, to see what they might rent the sites for, however, if they know a Mzungu is interested, we will get the Mzungu price…not good. Tim is going to wait for the internet man and the special antenna…
It is 2:51 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon and we have internet! TIA! I am going to upload my blogs now.
Ciao,
Cheri
Time Stands Still
Time stands still when you’re travelling to Africa – at least that’s how it feels. The time: Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Kenya time. 11:00 a.m. Thursday morning, West Coast time. I have officially been up since 7:20 a.m., Tuesday morning. We are on our last leg of the plane trip, waiting in the Kenya airport for a 10 p.m. flight to Entebbe. We will then sleep and move into our house on Friday morning. It has been a really long time getting here; however, we are having a great time. When we landed in Kenya, we were all starving. Somehow, and believe me, this is a miracle in our family, all six of us slept through the meal service. If you know my boys, sleeping through anything that has to do with food, lets you know how very tired they are! We went to Java House in the Kenya airport and had milkshakes, Panini sandwiches; I had a great cup of tea. Kenya has the best tea I have ever had, better than even England – blasphemous, I know.
I have a growing excitement, as do we all, for what we are going to experience in the next six weeks. Tuesday as we were preparing to leave, I got a phone call from Bransen: “Hi Mom, (long pause) I REALLY don’t want to go to Africa anymore” he said with quite a bit of sadness in his voice. Uh oh I thought it’s a little late for that. I knew that he was probably feeling nervous about the unknown, and I knew that I wanted to be there for him, and not negate his feelings, but I really didn’t know what to say. “Well B, we’re leaving in just a few hours you know” “Yeah, but I don’t want to go anymore.” “Do you want to stay home with someone else? You know the tickets are bought, the arrangements are made.” “No, I want to stay home with you…” Hmmm…we didn’t really make a whole lot of progress, it was a running conversation the rest of the day, and he went to sleep still wanting to talk about not going after all. Thankfully, he woke up in the morning with great anticipation. I didn’t wake up that morning, because I never went to sleep. Tim had been telling me all day on Tuesday that he was feeling really good about where we were at with things, and thought we could be ready by 9 p.m. and get a decent night’s sleep. I looked at him as if he were a complete fool, because I know that no matter how hard you try, there are always things to be done. At 2:30 a.m., I was still cancelling the newspaper (thank God for the internet!), calling the police department so they know what is up (thank God for small towns!)
So far I haven’t thought of anything that we forgot, that is large part to my sister, who came over about 9 p.m. the night we were leaving, and talked me through everything, making sure I had thought of everything, then she helped me make a list and we hit Wal-Mart at 11 p.m., for those things we needed that I had almost forgot! Thank you Michelle! We did forget something in Amsterdam…Westin left his sweatshirt in the boarding area, his only piece of clothing that has long sleeves…that’s not a good thing.
While in Jinja, Uganda, we will be doing an assessment of the hospital there, as enroute we learned that GE is going to upgrade that hospital as well. Did you know that the hospital in Jinja, which isn’t a remote village, but a normal town in Uganda, has no running water or electricity? That boggles my mind folks; I know it is just the beginning of the boggling that is going to go on in my mind over the next six weeks. I mean, our spinach is triple-washed before we even buy it for goodness sake, and they don’t even have running water in the hospital. Things that we so take for granted, they don’t have. I’m wondering how anything gets sanitized, cooked, life-saving machines can’t run…what really can that hospital do? We will see, hopefully we will be able to get a water system and generator in place for the hospital, that alone could make a huge difference in saving people’s lives.
Friday Morning: We slept last night at a hotel near the airport; we all slept very well, quite grateful to lay out our tired bodies horizontally. I have elephant ankles…what is up with that? Obviously my circulation isn’t what it should be, but why do I have to worry about things like that…I’m only middle-aged, and everything I read tells me that 40 is the new 25…I don’t think a 25 year old would have elephant ankles just from a long plane ride…someone’s not telling me the truth here!
We are waiting for a ride out to Jinga, where we will get settled into our new house and the village we will spend a lot of time in. I am very excited, so are the boys – we have no idea what to expect and I’m trying not to expect anything, so it will all be well.
I HAVE AN ARMED GUARD OUTSIDE MY BEDROOM WINDOW…more on that later. Ahhhh…our fearless leader has taken sick. Seriously, Tim ate something bad I think (although I think it is curious as to why we all aren’t sick). He is feeling dreadful…I asked him how he feels compared to when he had Malaria…Malaria wasn’t this bad he says, as his body quivers with a round of nauseous. Okay, seriously folks, Tim was my lifeline for the first few days. He was going to spend the first two days getting us set up in our house, helping me to know my way around town, etc. Now he is lying under the mosquito net, oblivious to everything and the boys are looking at me and telling me I got them into this—now what? Somehow, it is the family consensus that this entire trip was Mom’s idea. I keep reminding them that my idea actually was just that we spend the summer together as a family, it just so happens that Dad is the one going to Africa, so we needed to come along…they aren’t buying it, they still think it’s all me.
Dinner is a problem. We have no refrigerator, so everything we get, we have to get and prepare that day. The market is not within walking distance. Did I tell you all that they drive on the opposite side of the road in Uganda? We have a left-handed stick shift Toyota Land cruiser, and I’m thinking I’m going to have to take it market soon…scary thought. Chase thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world; he wants to go RIGHT NOW…I think we should give Tim a little bit longer to recover.
Now, I am not complaining, but I want to let you know how things are here, so that you can know how it really is. So let me start with our house. It is in one of the nicer sections of Jinga, it is considered expensive by Africa standards. It is in a compound which is nice, meaning there is a gate and a fence all the way around, at night we have an armed guard that walks around…armed as in a great big, scary looking gun (I took him dinner last night, because I want him to be our friend!) Nancy and Sam Tushabe, wonderful Ugandans who run the children’s village we helped to build, and will be in charge of the coffee house, have helped us secure the home and car. So I asked Nancy, why do we need a guard, what is he guarding us from? She reassured me that it was just a precaution, since we are Mzungu (white people), there is a chance someone may want to see if we have something valuable. But she assured me that with the armed guard, no one will bother us. (I could write an entire page on my feelings regarding guns, etc. but suffice it to say that I am being stretched by having an armed guard in our compound.)
Okay, back to the house. It has “proper plumbing” which means that we have a toilet, and a shower (which is a shower head, right next to the toilet, and a drain in the floor.) Sometimes we have water, and sometimes we don’t. We have no water right now in the kitchen. Let’s talk about the kitchen. There are shelves (no cupboards), there is an oven/stove that will work when we have electricity (which I am told is random), we have a small sink that doesn’t have water in it, we have no lights in the kitchen, and no refrigerator. This is going to be interesting. Those of you who know me know that first off, I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen, by virtue of the fact that I have four, growing, hungry boys. We have TWO refrigerators, to hold the milk we go through every week. So this is going to be interesting to say the least. Our beds are three inch foam on wood frames, covered in mosquito net. There is either bird poop or my kids’ think it is lizard poop, periodically on the walls and curtains. I have also found quite a bit of rat or mouse poop, but no vacuum cleaner. I’ve swept up what I can, the rest, well…I am embracing the experience, God help me! It rained last night (that is a whole other story, Tim told me it wouldn’t rain at all, so we have not come prepared for rain, Nancy says that the weather has been weird all year…global warming effects? I don’t know). Anyway, back the rain…I just can’t imagine how they deal with the rain here, because many, many people have mud floors, and tin roofs, and dirt roads, and dirt everywhere, which we all know turns to mud when it rains. We are so blessed, that is what I keep telling myself. We have NO IDEA how blessed we truly are.
So far there is no internet, and I’m not sure when that will happen, we are hoping to get it to our house. In the meantime, I am blogging, and not posting. That doesn’t work too well, but everyone will just get many blog entries when we finally do get internet. We have a new motto since we got here…TIA…it means “This is Africa”. We use it frequently, such as when we realized there isn’t water in the kitchen, or the electricity goes out, or our car is two hours late to pick us up, or something we bought doesn’t work. We actually borrowed the phrase from a movie, “Blood Diamond” which I seriously recommend that you NOT watch the night before you are moving your family to Africa for an extended period of time (note to self!) More later, I am going to join a game of catch with Smarties candy…we Reynolds’ are resourceful!
Ciao,
Cheri
Saturday night: We didn’t drive to the market, but the kids’ and I walked into town. All was well, until we were accosted by a thug, as we were later told. He started with the boys, holding a business card and asking if they had given it to him, then he came up to me, and asked me, then he grabbed me by the waist and squeezed, then I lit into him! Big time! I started yelling at him and pushing him backwards and told him to leave me alone and never touch me again. My finger was in his face, and he backed away fast. It scared me, and when I get scared, I get mean! That soured walking into town for Bransen. He doesn’t want to go again. I kind of feel like I passed my first test and survived. Tim is in bed still, not feeling good at all.
Sunday afternoon: Well, now we know we don’t have any hot water for showers. Brrrrrr…however, I start a big pot of water on the stove, and do the final rinse with warm water to heat me up, it makes me appreciate warm showers! Tim decided to join the living and we went to church this morning, and Nancy decided to “get our feet wet” slowly so she had us go to a church that she thought would be fairly American, run by some missionaries. We get there; they have already started…oops! Anyway, about 25 minutes later, the preacher is finished and says that is all, thanks for coming. We look at each other and Nancy and I tell her, that is even shorter than fast food church in America. So we meet some people, and start to head out, and they look at us weird…you are leaving now? Isn’t it over we asked? Just Sunday school, church starts at 10 a.m. – we weren’t late after all! Then we had a fairly African church experience. Exuberant singing, lots of talking that we didn’t understand, however, the preacher did preach in English and they translated into Lugandan. The boys loved it, and were quiet--whew. After church we went to Two Friends Restaurant for pizza, but they weren’t serving pizza until 6 p.m. It was only 1 p.m. and there was no way we could wait, so we ate other things, and then went up to look at Bujagali Falls and found a place that lets you bungee jump—oh boy! I guess this is what the boys’ were talking about when they said the trip could be fun if I will let it be fun? We’ll see, I’m sure there will be bungee jumping stories, I just don’t know if they will include me as a participant or an observer.
We have met a few of our neighbors. We have a youth hostel next to us, filled with probably 40 children who don’t go to bed until midnight, and get up around 5:30 a.m. I don’t get it? Don’t they need their sleep? I know I do, but 40 children are not a quiet group, that is for sure. They are boarders going to school…the fortunate ones. They work very hard, always washing their clothes, or doing chores, laughing and happy with life! It is truly a sight to see. They are quite curious about the Mzungu’s living next door to them.
We have a young woman who is coming in to help with laundry and cooking. Now this is a new and uncomfortable thing for me. However, I will never be able to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished, and have to do chores the African way. So it is a necessity. As soon as I learned that she has no job, so this is truly a blessing for her, I felt a lot better about it. You should see the laundry she is washing right now…six people…lots and lots. Her name is Anife, and she has trained to be a caterer. In the back of my head, I am hoping she will make a great employee at the Coffee House. She has only cooked us one meal so far, but it was really great! The boys were so thankful and appreciative. I think I need to make them wait until they are REALLY hungry at home, then maybe I can get some gratitude as well…
We spent the rest of Sunday, acquainting ourselves with the town, and continuing to fix up our house and make it a home. The electricity went out around 6 p.m., so I was going to try and cook vegetable soup, but couldn’t—you guess it, back to Two Friends for pizza! Yum. We found out that the two friends are a mother/son duo, Europeans. I thought that was very sweet, my boys were trying to figure out how the mom and son could be friends…
Monday morning: We are going to get internet this morning, try and secure a location for the coffee shop, go to the fish hatchery to talk about tilapia fingerlings, lots to do, I am really excited! I made vegetable soup this morning; it is on the stove simmering right now. No one has tasted it, but I’m thinking since they’ve only had a granola bar and tea so far, they might actually think it tastes good. We ran out of water this morning, and you have to climb up a tower and turn the water on and fill it. Westin drew the short straw and headed up, straight into a hornet’s nest that we were unaware of…five stings later and a big jump down from up high, he ran in the house kind of rattled. The bites were swollen up big, the younger boys came running in also because they were in the back yard playing with fire…did I just say that? TIA! Thankfully, I brought a large stock of Benadryl products. Had him take some, and sprayed some on his chest and hands, and after about two hours, the swelling has gone down. He looked at me and said matter of factly…hey, I guess I won’t die.
Ciao for now, it is time to serve up some vegetable soup!
Cheri
I have a growing excitement, as do we all, for what we are going to experience in the next six weeks. Tuesday as we were preparing to leave, I got a phone call from Bransen: “Hi Mom, (long pause) I REALLY don’t want to go to Africa anymore” he said with quite a bit of sadness in his voice. Uh oh I thought it’s a little late for that. I knew that he was probably feeling nervous about the unknown, and I knew that I wanted to be there for him, and not negate his feelings, but I really didn’t know what to say. “Well B, we’re leaving in just a few hours you know” “Yeah, but I don’t want to go anymore.” “Do you want to stay home with someone else? You know the tickets are bought, the arrangements are made.” “No, I want to stay home with you…” Hmmm…we didn’t really make a whole lot of progress, it was a running conversation the rest of the day, and he went to sleep still wanting to talk about not going after all. Thankfully, he woke up in the morning with great anticipation. I didn’t wake up that morning, because I never went to sleep. Tim had been telling me all day on Tuesday that he was feeling really good about where we were at with things, and thought we could be ready by 9 p.m. and get a decent night’s sleep. I looked at him as if he were a complete fool, because I know that no matter how hard you try, there are always things to be done. At 2:30 a.m., I was still cancelling the newspaper (thank God for the internet!), calling the police department so they know what is up (thank God for small towns!)
So far I haven’t thought of anything that we forgot, that is large part to my sister, who came over about 9 p.m. the night we were leaving, and talked me through everything, making sure I had thought of everything, then she helped me make a list and we hit Wal-Mart at 11 p.m., for those things we needed that I had almost forgot! Thank you Michelle! We did forget something in Amsterdam…Westin left his sweatshirt in the boarding area, his only piece of clothing that has long sleeves…that’s not a good thing.
While in Jinja, Uganda, we will be doing an assessment of the hospital there, as enroute we learned that GE is going to upgrade that hospital as well. Did you know that the hospital in Jinja, which isn’t a remote village, but a normal town in Uganda, has no running water or electricity? That boggles my mind folks; I know it is just the beginning of the boggling that is going to go on in my mind over the next six weeks. I mean, our spinach is triple-washed before we even buy it for goodness sake, and they don’t even have running water in the hospital. Things that we so take for granted, they don’t have. I’m wondering how anything gets sanitized, cooked, life-saving machines can’t run…what really can that hospital do? We will see, hopefully we will be able to get a water system and generator in place for the hospital, that alone could make a huge difference in saving people’s lives.
Friday Morning: We slept last night at a hotel near the airport; we all slept very well, quite grateful to lay out our tired bodies horizontally. I have elephant ankles…what is up with that? Obviously my circulation isn’t what it should be, but why do I have to worry about things like that…I’m only middle-aged, and everything I read tells me that 40 is the new 25…I don’t think a 25 year old would have elephant ankles just from a long plane ride…someone’s not telling me the truth here!
We are waiting for a ride out to Jinga, where we will get settled into our new house and the village we will spend a lot of time in. I am very excited, so are the boys – we have no idea what to expect and I’m trying not to expect anything, so it will all be well.
I HAVE AN ARMED GUARD OUTSIDE MY BEDROOM WINDOW…more on that later. Ahhhh…our fearless leader has taken sick. Seriously, Tim ate something bad I think (although I think it is curious as to why we all aren’t sick). He is feeling dreadful…I asked him how he feels compared to when he had Malaria…Malaria wasn’t this bad he says, as his body quivers with a round of nauseous. Okay, seriously folks, Tim was my lifeline for the first few days. He was going to spend the first two days getting us set up in our house, helping me to know my way around town, etc. Now he is lying under the mosquito net, oblivious to everything and the boys are looking at me and telling me I got them into this—now what? Somehow, it is the family consensus that this entire trip was Mom’s idea. I keep reminding them that my idea actually was just that we spend the summer together as a family, it just so happens that Dad is the one going to Africa, so we needed to come along…they aren’t buying it, they still think it’s all me.
Dinner is a problem. We have no refrigerator, so everything we get, we have to get and prepare that day. The market is not within walking distance. Did I tell you all that they drive on the opposite side of the road in Uganda? We have a left-handed stick shift Toyota Land cruiser, and I’m thinking I’m going to have to take it market soon…scary thought. Chase thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world; he wants to go RIGHT NOW…I think we should give Tim a little bit longer to recover.
Now, I am not complaining, but I want to let you know how things are here, so that you can know how it really is. So let me start with our house. It is in one of the nicer sections of Jinga, it is considered expensive by Africa standards. It is in a compound which is nice, meaning there is a gate and a fence all the way around, at night we have an armed guard that walks around…armed as in a great big, scary looking gun (I took him dinner last night, because I want him to be our friend!) Nancy and Sam Tushabe, wonderful Ugandans who run the children’s village we helped to build, and will be in charge of the coffee house, have helped us secure the home and car. So I asked Nancy, why do we need a guard, what is he guarding us from? She reassured me that it was just a precaution, since we are Mzungu (white people), there is a chance someone may want to see if we have something valuable. But she assured me that with the armed guard, no one will bother us. (I could write an entire page on my feelings regarding guns, etc. but suffice it to say that I am being stretched by having an armed guard in our compound.)
Okay, back to the house. It has “proper plumbing” which means that we have a toilet, and a shower (which is a shower head, right next to the toilet, and a drain in the floor.) Sometimes we have water, and sometimes we don’t. We have no water right now in the kitchen. Let’s talk about the kitchen. There are shelves (no cupboards), there is an oven/stove that will work when we have electricity (which I am told is random), we have a small sink that doesn’t have water in it, we have no lights in the kitchen, and no refrigerator. This is going to be interesting. Those of you who know me know that first off, I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen, by virtue of the fact that I have four, growing, hungry boys. We have TWO refrigerators, to hold the milk we go through every week. So this is going to be interesting to say the least. Our beds are three inch foam on wood frames, covered in mosquito net. There is either bird poop or my kids’ think it is lizard poop, periodically on the walls and curtains. I have also found quite a bit of rat or mouse poop, but no vacuum cleaner. I’ve swept up what I can, the rest, well…I am embracing the experience, God help me! It rained last night (that is a whole other story, Tim told me it wouldn’t rain at all, so we have not come prepared for rain, Nancy says that the weather has been weird all year…global warming effects? I don’t know). Anyway, back the rain…I just can’t imagine how they deal with the rain here, because many, many people have mud floors, and tin roofs, and dirt roads, and dirt everywhere, which we all know turns to mud when it rains. We are so blessed, that is what I keep telling myself. We have NO IDEA how blessed we truly are.
So far there is no internet, and I’m not sure when that will happen, we are hoping to get it to our house. In the meantime, I am blogging, and not posting. That doesn’t work too well, but everyone will just get many blog entries when we finally do get internet. We have a new motto since we got here…TIA…it means “This is Africa”. We use it frequently, such as when we realized there isn’t water in the kitchen, or the electricity goes out, or our car is two hours late to pick us up, or something we bought doesn’t work. We actually borrowed the phrase from a movie, “Blood Diamond” which I seriously recommend that you NOT watch the night before you are moving your family to Africa for an extended period of time (note to self!) More later, I am going to join a game of catch with Smarties candy…we Reynolds’ are resourceful!
Ciao,
Cheri
Saturday night: We didn’t drive to the market, but the kids’ and I walked into town. All was well, until we were accosted by a thug, as we were later told. He started with the boys, holding a business card and asking if they had given it to him, then he came up to me, and asked me, then he grabbed me by the waist and squeezed, then I lit into him! Big time! I started yelling at him and pushing him backwards and told him to leave me alone and never touch me again. My finger was in his face, and he backed away fast. It scared me, and when I get scared, I get mean! That soured walking into town for Bransen. He doesn’t want to go again. I kind of feel like I passed my first test and survived. Tim is in bed still, not feeling good at all.
Sunday afternoon: Well, now we know we don’t have any hot water for showers. Brrrrrr…however, I start a big pot of water on the stove, and do the final rinse with warm water to heat me up, it makes me appreciate warm showers! Tim decided to join the living and we went to church this morning, and Nancy decided to “get our feet wet” slowly so she had us go to a church that she thought would be fairly American, run by some missionaries. We get there; they have already started…oops! Anyway, about 25 minutes later, the preacher is finished and says that is all, thanks for coming. We look at each other and Nancy and I tell her, that is even shorter than fast food church in America. So we meet some people, and start to head out, and they look at us weird…you are leaving now? Isn’t it over we asked? Just Sunday school, church starts at 10 a.m. – we weren’t late after all! Then we had a fairly African church experience. Exuberant singing, lots of talking that we didn’t understand, however, the preacher did preach in English and they translated into Lugandan. The boys loved it, and were quiet--whew. After church we went to Two Friends Restaurant for pizza, but they weren’t serving pizza until 6 p.m. It was only 1 p.m. and there was no way we could wait, so we ate other things, and then went up to look at Bujagali Falls and found a place that lets you bungee jump—oh boy! I guess this is what the boys’ were talking about when they said the trip could be fun if I will let it be fun? We’ll see, I’m sure there will be bungee jumping stories, I just don’t know if they will include me as a participant or an observer.
We have met a few of our neighbors. We have a youth hostel next to us, filled with probably 40 children who don’t go to bed until midnight, and get up around 5:30 a.m. I don’t get it? Don’t they need their sleep? I know I do, but 40 children are not a quiet group, that is for sure. They are boarders going to school…the fortunate ones. They work very hard, always washing their clothes, or doing chores, laughing and happy with life! It is truly a sight to see. They are quite curious about the Mzungu’s living next door to them.
We have a young woman who is coming in to help with laundry and cooking. Now this is a new and uncomfortable thing for me. However, I will never be able to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished, and have to do chores the African way. So it is a necessity. As soon as I learned that she has no job, so this is truly a blessing for her, I felt a lot better about it. You should see the laundry she is washing right now…six people…lots and lots. Her name is Anife, and she has trained to be a caterer. In the back of my head, I am hoping she will make a great employee at the Coffee House. She has only cooked us one meal so far, but it was really great! The boys were so thankful and appreciative. I think I need to make them wait until they are REALLY hungry at home, then maybe I can get some gratitude as well…
We spent the rest of Sunday, acquainting ourselves with the town, and continuing to fix up our house and make it a home. The electricity went out around 6 p.m., so I was going to try and cook vegetable soup, but couldn’t—you guess it, back to Two Friends for pizza! Yum. We found out that the two friends are a mother/son duo, Europeans. I thought that was very sweet, my boys were trying to figure out how the mom and son could be friends…
Monday morning: We are going to get internet this morning, try and secure a location for the coffee shop, go to the fish hatchery to talk about tilapia fingerlings, lots to do, I am really excited! I made vegetable soup this morning; it is on the stove simmering right now. No one has tasted it, but I’m thinking since they’ve only had a granola bar and tea so far, they might actually think it tastes good. We ran out of water this morning, and you have to climb up a tower and turn the water on and fill it. Westin drew the short straw and headed up, straight into a hornet’s nest that we were unaware of…five stings later and a big jump down from up high, he ran in the house kind of rattled. The bites were swollen up big, the younger boys came running in also because they were in the back yard playing with fire…did I just say that? TIA! Thankfully, I brought a large stock of Benadryl products. Had him take some, and sprayed some on his chest and hands, and after about two hours, the swelling has gone down. He looked at me and said matter of factly…hey, I guess I won’t die.
Ciao for now, it is time to serve up some vegetable soup!
Cheri
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Final Preparations
Today is it...whatever we don't get done, just simply isn't going to get done at this point. It actually is great to be at this point, you know, you have to prioritize, cut out what's not important, pare down. I know there's a bigger life lesson just in that one sentence, but honestly, today, I don't have the time to think it through - ha!
I am not only trying to get us ready for Africa, but we don't have many days after we get home, until Chase leaves for college, and the other three boys start school, so there are so many details I am trying to complete, prior to leaving (like applying for a student loan, the laptop program, a loft-system for the dorm room, changing class assignments before they all fill up, one of Chase's adorable friends last night even insisted he should call his future roommate to make sure they color-coordinate - I seriously don't think those two words have been spoken together in our house until last night, and there will be no color-coordinating, although I think it's a good idea!)
One of the responsibilities I will have while in Africa, is the establishing of a coffee house to help fund one of the children's projects that Assist has built in Uganda. We are going to establish a for-profit business to help fund the children's needs. So I'm gathering as much information as I possibly can on exactly how to establish a coffee business, and what I don't know, I figure I'll learn once I get there. Another task that will be predominantly Tim's, is the assessment of several Millenium Village Medical sites, throughout the region, that Assist is in charge of outfitting and upgrading for General Electric, in conjunction with Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and the Millenium Village Project. These are the villages that are being made famous by Bono, Angelina, Madonna, etc. The kids would LOVE to run into one of these celebrities on the off chance they are visiting this summer, wouldn't that be fun? We do have the celebrities ranked in order of who we'd like to see, but that ranking will remain private to protect the guilty (I bet you can all guess who the boys want to meet!) There's actually many more things we are going to do while there, I'm sure they'll get mentioned over the course of time, but right now, I better get busy.
We haven't packed yet. Enough said. We also haven't cleaned the house yet. Hmmm....we also have football, two basketball games, a conference call and two business meetings, prescriptions to pick up, a rental car to pick up, a dog to deliver, sandals to return, protein bars to purchase, friends to say goodbye to...and all I could think about when I woke up was the Bible reading that has been on my heart: "In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success." -Prov. 3:6 So that is what we are going to try to do. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Ciao,
Cheri
I am not only trying to get us ready for Africa, but we don't have many days after we get home, until Chase leaves for college, and the other three boys start school, so there are so many details I am trying to complete, prior to leaving (like applying for a student loan, the laptop program, a loft-system for the dorm room, changing class assignments before they all fill up, one of Chase's adorable friends last night even insisted he should call his future roommate to make sure they color-coordinate - I seriously don't think those two words have been spoken together in our house until last night, and there will be no color-coordinating, although I think it's a good idea!)
One of the responsibilities I will have while in Africa, is the establishing of a coffee house to help fund one of the children's projects that Assist has built in Uganda. We are going to establish a for-profit business to help fund the children's needs. So I'm gathering as much information as I possibly can on exactly how to establish a coffee business, and what I don't know, I figure I'll learn once I get there. Another task that will be predominantly Tim's, is the assessment of several Millenium Village Medical sites, throughout the region, that Assist is in charge of outfitting and upgrading for General Electric, in conjunction with Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and the Millenium Village Project. These are the villages that are being made famous by Bono, Angelina, Madonna, etc. The kids would LOVE to run into one of these celebrities on the off chance they are visiting this summer, wouldn't that be fun? We do have the celebrities ranked in order of who we'd like to see, but that ranking will remain private to protect the guilty (I bet you can all guess who the boys want to meet!) There's actually many more things we are going to do while there, I'm sure they'll get mentioned over the course of time, but right now, I better get busy.
We haven't packed yet. Enough said. We also haven't cleaned the house yet. Hmmm....we also have football, two basketball games, a conference call and two business meetings, prescriptions to pick up, a rental car to pick up, a dog to deliver, sandals to return, protein bars to purchase, friends to say goodbye to...and all I could think about when I woke up was the Bible reading that has been on my heart: "In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success." -Prov. 3:6 So that is what we are going to try to do. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Ciao,
Cheri
Monday, June 18, 2007
Hanging on to what we love
Indulge me if you would, I am sitting in my house, it's 11:54 p.m., I have a house full of teenagers that I love to the moon, and I realize that when we get back from Africa, many of them will have already left for college, so this is basically the last night they will hang out together as a group at our house. I have a lump in my throat and such joy in my heart for all of the good times and great memories that I have watching, listening and playing with these kids. So if any of you read this blog, know that the time you've spent in our house, has been a pure joy. I'm not blogging anymore tonight, because I want to enjoy the rest of this night with them.
Ciao,
Cheri
Ciao,
Cheri
Friday, June 15, 2007
Starbucks, In & Out, and Cheetos...
What do those three things have in common? They are what I am filling up on as I anticipate six weeks without my family's favorite things. As I ponder my behavior, I really am kind of disappointed in myself, thinking that I must gorge on a bag of Cheetos all by myself (I am actually partipating in that activity right now!), it's kind of like pigging out the night before you start a diet. Almost every night this week my plan for dinner has been "So, what fast food do you want tonight?" The routine has pretty much been Taco Bell, In & Out, back to Taco Bell, then In & Out...you get the picture.
Progress is being made on the plans for our adventure. I took care of some paperwork, put another load of laundry in, then went to Starbucks with some of my favorite pals, because I have priorities! Today was the dreaded day that three of us visited the travel nurse to make sure that we are current on all our shots. I've been to Africa, not all of my children have, so I logically am thinking that they will have to get more shots. We go in, the nurse goes through our files, and comes back with the results. Bransen 5, Westin 6, and Mom a whopping EIGHT shots...hello? What is wrong with that picture? My kids were laughing their heads off at me, "Mom has to get the most..." So I bravely stick my arms out for the nurse, to set the tone for my children, and after four in one arm, and a big stinking ouch typhoid shot in my second arm, I was pretty much wanting to start whining like a big baby and wishing we could stop at six...I didn't, but I sure wanted to. So we are now thoroughly immunized, from everything, seriously.
Then the nurse gave me a great big packet of information for our travels, you know, the dangers we face and precautions we should take. Well, in each country, there are big warnings on every region we are headed to. As I sat in the waiting room for the required 30 minutes post-immunization (to make sure we don't keel over with a reaction, thank you very much), I do the logical thing and pick up the phone and call Tim to discuss the warnings I am currently reading about. This is how the conversation went: "Tim, I'm reading the travel advisory on Uganda that the nurse gave m..." Tim interrupts me "Cheri, put the paper down and quit reading." "Okay, but T..." "Cheri, I'm serious, just put the paper down and quit reading." "Well ya but.." "Cheri, trust me, put the paper down and quit reading, don't worry about it." Hmmmm....I'm not sure that put a lot of confidence into me, however, I am confident we are to go, and I'm confident in Who is going before us, so I am choosing to relax and rest in that knowledge and assurance.
One of my family's favorite quotes, and it is written on our quote board in the kitchen of our house, goes something like this: (best read with a Scottish accent, think Mel Gibson in Braveheart!) "Every man dies...not every man really lives." We embrace that as a family, and I tell my children all the time, to be participants in life, not just observers. I am aware as I prepare for this trip, that sometimes being a participant hurts a bit, and is a little scary, but I'm taking my own advice. More later.
Ciao,
Cheri
Progress is being made on the plans for our adventure. I took care of some paperwork, put another load of laundry in, then went to Starbucks with some of my favorite pals, because I have priorities! Today was the dreaded day that three of us visited the travel nurse to make sure that we are current on all our shots. I've been to Africa, not all of my children have, so I logically am thinking that they will have to get more shots. We go in, the nurse goes through our files, and comes back with the results. Bransen 5, Westin 6, and Mom a whopping EIGHT shots...hello? What is wrong with that picture? My kids were laughing their heads off at me, "Mom has to get the most..." So I bravely stick my arms out for the nurse, to set the tone for my children, and after four in one arm, and a big stinking ouch typhoid shot in my second arm, I was pretty much wanting to start whining like a big baby and wishing we could stop at six...I didn't, but I sure wanted to. So we are now thoroughly immunized, from everything, seriously.
Then the nurse gave me a great big packet of information for our travels, you know, the dangers we face and precautions we should take. Well, in each country, there are big warnings on every region we are headed to. As I sat in the waiting room for the required 30 minutes post-immunization (to make sure we don't keel over with a reaction, thank you very much), I do the logical thing and pick up the phone and call Tim to discuss the warnings I am currently reading about. This is how the conversation went: "Tim, I'm reading the travel advisory on Uganda that the nurse gave m..." Tim interrupts me "Cheri, put the paper down and quit reading." "Okay, but T..." "Cheri, I'm serious, just put the paper down and quit reading." "Well ya but.." "Cheri, trust me, put the paper down and quit reading, don't worry about it." Hmmmm....I'm not sure that put a lot of confidence into me, however, I am confident we are to go, and I'm confident in Who is going before us, so I am choosing to relax and rest in that knowledge and assurance.
One of my family's favorite quotes, and it is written on our quote board in the kitchen of our house, goes something like this: (best read with a Scottish accent, think Mel Gibson in Braveheart!) "Every man dies...not every man really lives." We embrace that as a family, and I tell my children all the time, to be participants in life, not just observers. I am aware as I prepare for this trip, that sometimes being a participant hurts a bit, and is a little scary, but I'm taking my own advice. More later.
Ciao,
Cheri
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
T Minus 6 days and counting
Today is the first shopping experience I had to begin to prepare the family for our great Africa Adventure in which we leave in six short days. Now mind you, it's not like I haven't begun to prepare until today, I started preparing on Tuesday! Seriously, life is so full of events and activities, that I just take it as it comes, and prepare for the next event...finally...Africa is at the forefront. So I spent over $1K (big ouch) outfitting my crew...what did that buy? Well, not a lot when you consider I was buying for six people, and when I broke it down and realized I only spent about $166.67 per person, and that included quick-drying pants and shirts and undergarments, as well as rugged sandals for all...well...I don't feel so bad. Of course, it wasn't evenly spent amongst the six of us, because I needed not only quick drying pants, but a quick drying skirt as well, and a hat (that hopefully won't need to be quick-dried, because that would probably mean I somehow was in the water, and I've heard stories of alligators...so...), and a new pair of sunglasses. Hopefully my kids aren't reading this!
Let me introduce myself. My name is Cheri, I am 29 and SEVERAL months (I'm talking about 144 months), mother of four, wife of one, and about to embark with my family on a six week journey to Africa in which we will endeavor to touch a small number of people in a way that hopefully will make a positive impact on their lives, I know it will touch our own lives. My husband Tim goes to Africa regularly, and all of us except the youngest (Bransen) have gone at least once. Tim is Executive Director of Assist International and oversees the building of children's homes for vulnerable children, as well as the upgrading of hospitals and villages throughout Africa.
Last summer Tim was gone for most of the summer, and we all decided that we didn't like that too much, so we decided to tag along with him (the benefit of many, many airline miles that add up nicely, thank you Northwest Air!) So we are renting a house site unseen, and moving our crew over there to help with several projects. Our crew consists of Tim (the Dad who is as relaxed as any man just having another day in the office), Cheri (the Mom who is as relaxed as any woman embarking with her family to Africa and all the unknowns that can be conjerred up with a VERY active imagination), Chase (the 18 year old recent high school grad who is coming along in search of the great adventure - and he better find it, because he is giving up his last summer with all of his friends before heading out to college), Westin (the 16 year old who is giving up both a lovely girlfriend for the summer, as well as a summer of football, which is going to hurt him once the season starts--he is going to have to do 2500 up-downs to make-up for lost time!), Hayden (the 13 year old, who has mixed feelings about coming, a very tender heart and excited about helping, yet he's going to miss lots of relaxing by the pool, fun with friends, and of course...playstation), and Bransen (the 9 year old, who really has no idea what is going on regarding Africa, except that he's counting on lions, tigers and alligators...throw in some reptiles, preferably if they are in our house and make Mom scream, and he'll have a great summer adventure.) So that is our crew. We leave behind two dogs (thanks G-pa and G-ma and Alexanders!). Tomorrow I will let you know what exactly we plan to do while in Africa. Until then, I have LOTS more laundry to do, bills to pay, things to figure out, more purchases to be made, and at some point, I need to get a little bit of sleep!
I hope this blog will be something that lets those who care into our adventure, so you can send warm thoughts our way, and prayers up for safety and effectiveness.
Ciao,
Cheri
Let me introduce myself. My name is Cheri, I am 29 and SEVERAL months (I'm talking about 144 months), mother of four, wife of one, and about to embark with my family on a six week journey to Africa in which we will endeavor to touch a small number of people in a way that hopefully will make a positive impact on their lives, I know it will touch our own lives. My husband Tim goes to Africa regularly, and all of us except the youngest (Bransen) have gone at least once. Tim is Executive Director of Assist International and oversees the building of children's homes for vulnerable children, as well as the upgrading of hospitals and villages throughout Africa.
Last summer Tim was gone for most of the summer, and we all decided that we didn't like that too much, so we decided to tag along with him (the benefit of many, many airline miles that add up nicely, thank you Northwest Air!) So we are renting a house site unseen, and moving our crew over there to help with several projects. Our crew consists of Tim (the Dad who is as relaxed as any man just having another day in the office), Cheri (the Mom who is as relaxed as any woman embarking with her family to Africa and all the unknowns that can be conjerred up with a VERY active imagination), Chase (the 18 year old recent high school grad who is coming along in search of the great adventure - and he better find it, because he is giving up his last summer with all of his friends before heading out to college), Westin (the 16 year old who is giving up both a lovely girlfriend for the summer, as well as a summer of football, which is going to hurt him once the season starts--he is going to have to do 2500 up-downs to make-up for lost time!), Hayden (the 13 year old, who has mixed feelings about coming, a very tender heart and excited about helping, yet he's going to miss lots of relaxing by the pool, fun with friends, and of course...playstation), and Bransen (the 9 year old, who really has no idea what is going on regarding Africa, except that he's counting on lions, tigers and alligators...throw in some reptiles, preferably if they are in our house and make Mom scream, and he'll have a great summer adventure.) So that is our crew. We leave behind two dogs (thanks G-pa and G-ma and Alexanders!). Tomorrow I will let you know what exactly we plan to do while in Africa. Until then, I have LOTS more laundry to do, bills to pay, things to figure out, more purchases to be made, and at some point, I need to get a little bit of sleep!
I hope this blog will be something that lets those who care into our adventure, so you can send warm thoughts our way, and prayers up for safety and effectiveness.
Ciao,
Cheri
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