Ali Takes A Tumble

I have been super busy the past few days. On Thursday, Sarah and I went to find a place to watch the USA Ghana game and we ended up at an Irish pub called Bubbles right down the street. There were so many white people there. Even though we lost the game, it was fun to be in Africa and have Ghana win. When we were going home, I got backed into by a car and fell flat on my butt. Easily one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. No matter what I do, I fail to blend in here.


On Friday, a couple of the girls and I went to visit an orphanage about 20 minutes away called Sozu. Two American started it when they came for a visit to Africa. They spent most of their days at a orphanage called Mercy House that had over 200 orphans who only got fed 3 times a week. The government came in and said that they were shutting it down and the children would need to leave so the Americans took the 17 youngest kids on the spot. They rented out a house about 5 weeks ago and they taught a few Ugandan women how to run the home by themselves. Their plan is to leave in October and within just months they were able to create a safe haven for these vulnerable children. The kids are kept in an environment that is similar to any other African family and they have plenty of food to eat. We had the best time hanging out with the kids. Somehow they found stickers and things got a little carried away...




On Saturday we went to a authentic Ugandan wedding. It definitely is not the type of wedding we have at home. The music is more upbeat, glitter is apparently not tacky but beautiful and everywhere and there is no kissing. Did I mention the whole thing was in another language? It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.


After the wedding we went to a tribal dancing show. The people here are born to move and I would give anything to be half as good as they are at dancing. Oh well. I will continue to pretend.

This morning we took some of the baby's out for lunch. You can only imagine what people were thinking but it was really fun. Some of the kids have never left the home and they were wide eyed the whole time we were out.


Coming home seems so out of reach. I head home tomorrow night and have a long layover in Amsterdam so I am planning on hanging out at Anne Frank's house for a bit and then I will catch my plane to TEXAS and arrive on Thursday.

I can’t believe I come home in less than a week. A month seemed like forever before I came and now it is hard to believe I will be leaving all of my new friends and the kids I love so much.

The other day I decided to go check out an organization that I heard about called hands for hope. It is relatively small but the work they have done is amazing. Basically they focus on the population of people in Uganda that live in the slums. They go out into the community to find families that they think are vulnerable and then they find sponsors for the kids to attend a small school that the organization has put together themselves.

They also provide loans to some of the families so that they can start their own businesses so that they can feed their children. They whole purpose of this group is to provide children with the opportunity to receive some kind of education and to have an escape from the slums. I spent most of the day at the school with the kids in their classrooms. They sang songs for me and all wanted to be held and hugged throughout the day. When naptime came they all laid down on the hard cold floor to sleep and when it was lunchtime, not only did the kids eat with their hands but they literally licked their bowls clean (for most of these kids this will probably be their only meal for the day). A lot of the people who live in the slums are refugees that escaped the Congo when the civil war started and they were all forced out of their villages with no money so they did not have a choice to live in the slums. We got the opportunity to go walk through the area where nearly 7,000 people live and it was absolutely heartbreaking. The slums were full of dark, sewage infested alleys that have 8 ft by 8 ft houses squished together with tin caved in roofs and at least a family of four living in them. There is no power, no running water and the people were all wearing clothes that had holes ripped into them.

I know that God did not create humans with the intentions of them suffering like this. That is where we come in. I can’t help but think about how comfortably and luxuriously we all live at home. To the people that live in the slums, three meals a day would be unheard of. Most of them live on less than a dollar a day and the sad thing is that we are the minority. This is the real Africa. We are called as Christians to help our brothers and sisters but how much would we really be willing to loose? I will never be the same after spending time in the slums.




In the evening I got the opportunity to work with the premature babies in the clinic, which was so special. They are so fragile and tiny. One of the little boys named Wilson is four months old and was born six months premature. He nearly fit in the palm of my hand. This is him....

Hakuna Matata

I have a lot to cover in this blog but let me first start by talking about my day today. One of my roommates and I decided to find a place to buy movies for super cheap so we wandered all around town asking if anyone knew where the Matasaa Kafero Plaza was so that we could meet up with Timothy (our dealer). We took a taxi not knowing where it would take us and it wasn't until about 30 minutes later that I realized I left my wallet in the 18 person taxi and there was no way I was going to get it back. So I called my dad and being the amazing guy that he is, he woke up at 4:00 am to cancel my credit cards. The only problem now is that I am in Africa with no money so my last week should be quite interesting.

On a better note, I just got back from a safari yesterday that was absolutely amazing. We drove seven hours in a bus up north to the Murchison Falls National Park and the bumpy ride there as well as throwing up on the side of the road were well worth it. The hotel we stayed in was absolutely beautiful and we got to go on two game drives and a boat ride down the Nile River to the bottom of the falls. We saw elephants, giraffes, hippos, water buffalo, heartabeast, leopards, warthogs and crocodiles but we couldn't be satisfied until we found pride rock because we knew that was where Simba was going to be. And sure enough...We found him. We decided that it must have been the circle of life playing on repeat on our ipod speakers that lured him :)

Our guide for our trip just so happened to be one of the first Watoto children in the village and is now 25 years old, a lawyer, and volunteers with Watoto still. He was placed in the village when he was 8 after his mother and father died and he has gotten the opportunity to see the organization grow. It is neat to see the bigger picture of Watoto. The safari was such a good break from work and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go.


Things back at the baby's home are going great. I have been working with a little boy named Patrick on his first steps and the other day he took them. It makes me sad to think that no one is there to document such special moments in the kids lives. Some days at the home are super exhausting and after about the 10th time I get spit up on I just want to go home but I am constantly reminded why I am here and who I am doing this for. I have realized that having a positive attitude and keeping my focus on God's will have allowed me to enjoy it much more. With only 9 days until I leave, I am trying to cram as much as I possibly can into my time left so the next few days should be eventful.

The other day I was reading 1 timothy 4 and I came across a verse that said "don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." It made me think about how I limit myself in my faith and how I should be a reflection of Christ in everything that I do. It is important to be in the world not of the world so that we stand out in our speech, life, love, faith and purity like the bible says.

Hello. I have been super busy this week so I have not had a chance to update yet but here is what i have been up to....

On Thursday we took a quick day trip after work to the equator which is about 2 hours away for a quick snapshot. We noticed a school while we were wandering around so we asked our driver if he would talk to the teachers about possibly letting us come and see the kids at the school. The kids loved that we were there and they showed us all around their school. Most of them were not wearing shoes and had a few miles to walk home around 6 when they got done with school and when it was dark out. It was heartbreaking to see but the kids loved us being there and were thrilled when we started taking pictures of them.




After work on Friday we found ourselves at the market where you can get anything and everything homemade. Everything was beautiful and was super cheap.

Saturday was my day off so some of the girls and I decided to go white water rafting down the Nile River. We did not know what we were getting ourselves into. A boat full of girls and grade 5 rapids don't go well together. I can easily say that when our boat flipped and I was underwater for a 120 meter grade 5 rapid, I thought my life was over. Luckily the boat ended up on top of me and I found an air pocket underneath it. Despite our near death experience....IT WAS AMAZING and I highly recommend it. This is definitely not the kind of stuff just anyone would be allowed to do in the states. Talk about liability.



This Sunday we went to church and I don't know what it is about that place but I can't go in without goosebumps and I can't make it through the first song without crying.


In other news, things are going great! I have taken over 600 photos so check out my facebook if you want a little preview. Harrison is still my number one man. I have started preparing for my safari adventure. We are moving so Johnny will no longer be our house chicken. GOD IS GOOD.

LOVE YOU GUYS!

1. I started working the early shift this week so I work from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm and it is EXHAUSTING. The little baby's are keeping me busy and their drool and snot have given me a cold so I am temporarily trying to recover from that. I officially have a favorite. His name is Harrison and I plan on sticking him in my suitcase when I come home. I have been spoiling him like crazy and now when anyone puts him down he whimpers. Opps. This is him....






2. Tomorrow we are taking a two hour drive for a quick 10 second snapshot of ourselves along the equator. Who says you can't be in two places at once??? And on Saturday, I have the day off so we are going to go to Jinja where the Nile river is to do some touristy things there.

3. We have decided to start saving some money so the past few nights we tried to cook in our guest house (not really allowed but we did anyways) so we went to the grocery store and bought all of our supplies and brought it home thinking we were going to have a luxurious meal. Little did we know..... we had to pour boiling water over every dish we used to sterilize it, there was a giant cockroach in the utilities drawer and the house chicken, Johnny, pooped all over the stove top. It is safe to say we wont be cooking anymore.


4. Sunday was my first day at church here. Watoto has built several church's and the one we went to is the biggest one in Kampala. It is English speaking and has four different services. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever been to. I was expecting quite a bit of energy but there is no way I can compare this to anything I have ever seen. You could see the passion in their worship. I will make sure and take a picture of it next week so you can see what I mean. I want to pick up the church and move it home.

5. For your viewing pleasure....

Exploring The City

Saturday was my day off from working at the baby’s home so naturally I slept in and then I went to a pool down the street with one of my housemates. After that, I went to explore the city. I walked up and down a lot of the busy city streets to get a feel for the culture here. Cars and boda boda’s (mopeds) weave in and out of traffic and honk their horns nonstop, people walk right up to the car windows to sell things, taxi drivers constantly pull up to you and try to get you to ride in their car, and little kids (we are talking between 2 and 12) are laying on the streets everywhere begging for money. It seems everyone wants something from you. Parts of the city are pretty developed but other parts have shacks lined up side by side with families sitting in the dirt outside going about their everyday lives and trying to get you to come into their shops. After exploring, I hit up an Internet café called Java, which is very modern. I go there when I need to feel at home because it is where all of the white people hang out :)

On my way home from the babies home the other night I got stuck in traffic for an hour with our cab driver Joel so I started chatting him up about his life. He was telling me that the only time he has ever been out of the country was to go to Kenya when he drove there and back. He has been driving a cab for 7 years and hopes to one day own his own cab company but it is expensive to buy cars here. Very few people here have their own cars but somehow traffic is ridiculous. As my stomach growled for food (a reoccurring event here), I asked him if he was going to go home and cook dinner and he told me that his girlfriend usually cooks him dinner. This led to me explaining to him that since I am a girl, I need to know every detail. When I asked if he was going to marry her he told me it was too expensive and a wedding just had to wait. I have found myself several times wanting to give the people here anything and everything I have but am constantly reminded that I might have worldly possessions but the people here have so much more. Joel is so content with his life and is happy with what he has been given. It didn’t take me long to realize that I am the poor one after all because I put my worth into things that are temporary.

What is Watoto?

Yesterday we spent most of the day traveling around Uganda to different Watoto sites. When we are working in the babies home it is hard to see the bigger picture so it was nice to see the product of our labor. I had no idea how big of an organization Watoto is here and I learn new things about it everyday. Watoto was started by a missionary couple that felt called to create a place for children to develop into the future leaders of the country. The orphanage that I am working at is called the bulrushes and is located in Kampala city. It has about 36 babies all together. The babies are given to the home by the hospital that finds them neglected, abandoned or abused. Some of the children are found on the side of the road or in dumpsters. Once the children get to be a certain age, they are transferred to a Watoto village that has several housemothers. Each mother can have up to 8 children. The child gets placed with these families and stays with them until they can move out on their own and represent Uganda in a great way. The Watoto model is brilliant. Each village is like a community where the kids can go to school and live with their "families" in a safe environment. The need for safety here is so great because child soldiers are a sad truth of the country. In a town about 5 hours away from here called Gulu, soldiers would come into the villages and take the children for soldiers and the women in order to mutilate and use them for sexual fulfillment. Watoto has also started a branch in Gulu to do reconstructive surgery for the women and provide psychiatry to the brainwashed children. The things that I have seen here are heart breaking but it reminds me how thankful I am and how much of a need there is to be selfless.

I have met several people in Uganda that have literally given up their lives to be here. People who quit their jobs and left their families behind to pursue something greater and it has made me really think about what Francis Chan says in crazy love. That “the world needs Christians who don’t tolerate the complacency of their own lives.” We are all called in one-way or another to spread God’s word. It might not be in such a self-sacrificing way but why is it that we always turn our backs on God?

My plan was to upload pictures but I forgot to bring my camera to the internet cafe so they will hopefully be posted soon.

No turning back....

So after 24 hours on a plane and 24 hours lay over time, I finally got to Uganda. My flights went pretty well but made me exhausted. It didn't hit me that I was going to a foreign country alone until I was on the airplane sitting next to people who hardly spoke English. I was about to have a minor freak out on my flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi when I sat next to a lady that was from Kenya and she told me about everything I could expect and kept telling me that I took the leap of faith and because I did that, God would provide. I would not have made it the rest of the flight without her.

When I got in it felt like the first day of college. I got picked up from the airport and dropped off at our guest house with nothing to do and no one home. All that was running through my mind was...WHAT NOW??? So I took a freezing cold 20 second shower.Things got better when I got a roommate around 1 a.m. So far, I have made friends from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Scotland. I have shamefully started picking up on words like bugger and often find myself talking with an accent. Opps.

The second day we were here we headed to the baby home and got a short orientation. I now know what it would feel like to have sextuplets. Its not easy. And I smell awful by the end of the day. The people who work at the home permanently are so humbling.

Uganda is nothing like I thought it was going to be. I am currently drinking a chocolate shake at an internet cafe. Looks like I wont wither away after all :) The people call us mezungo's which means white person. I keep forgetting why everyone keeps staring at me and then I remember that I stand out like a sore thumb. The taxis are insane but kind of fun (sorry mom).

If I had more time, I could have tried to be creative or funny but my internet time is up. More to come hopefully soon. God has already shown me so much and I can't wait to see what he has in store for me.

The Call

This past school year really challenged me to discover what God's will was for me and the harder I searched, the more difficult it was to find. I had to learn the hard way that my plan might not always be what God has planned for me. So I took a leap of faith and gave my summer up to him. There is so much pressure to know where we are headed next and what our future should look like and the simplicity of trusting that God has it under control and we will all end up where he wants us to be is so foreign to us. The bible says in Romans 12:2 "do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." So I began praying that God would open doors for me and put me where he wanted me to be.

I have always wanted to be involved in missions and I heard about Baby Watoto from a friend. I was drawn to it the second I looked into it as a possibility. A baby orphanage seemed to fit well with my major and my passion for kids but the more I wanted to go, the more I had to pray that this was God's desire for me and not my selfish ambitions. I started filling out applications in October and after 8 months of patience and some frustration, God decided that Kampala Africa was where I needed to be as well.

So....Here I go. With purpose, with passion, with love. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me while I am there but I can imagine it is far more than I could ever expect. Watoto is an amazing christian organization that provides vulnerable children with the opportunity to rebuild and I am so fortunate to get the opportunity to be a part of that.

I am leaving on May 30th and will be back June 30th and I would like to ask for your prayers as I journey alone into a foreign country to try and live my life the way it was meant to be lived.

"Not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness." Psalm 115:1