Askaris

Martha said one of the young men, Loumo Paul, is teaching the kids sunday school now, which is great. Unfortunately, I can't remember who the heck he is. So I'm posting pictures of Peter, one of the watchmen, instead. (I think his K'jong name is Loumo. But I really can't remember.) Anyway, he is one of the askaris who's just a really nice guy, even if he falls asleep instead of doing his job. So hopefully we don't see him get fired for beating anyone up anytime soon...


Peter the Askari


In his more usual clothes, with Rose and Tony

Everyone made it safely to Kampala and are having a good time, it sounds like, so thank God for that.

Prayer Requests

I just got an update from Martha and from Katie. It sounds like they're going through a lot of tough times right now. They had to fire a watchman because he was drunk and actually beat up the wife of one of the clinic staff members. Well, he wasn't too happy with that. He complained, got a bunch of other watchmen who had also been fired for drunkeness to complain (this isn't a show up once to work a little wasted kind of thing), and apparently there have been threats against some of the men at the mission. I guess it's hard to gauge how much danger they'd actually be in, but if one of these guys gets drunk and gets on the mission compound, there could be serious problems. It must be very discouraging. Hard to be objective when you're surrounded by violent, drunken people sometimes. But at the same time, these people need the gospel as much as any of us. Someone with experience counselling drug addicts would be very helpful, Martha thinks.

At the same time, she writes that she's thankful for the opportunities to fellowship with people in the village; it sounds like they're really making some good connections with children and their mothers. And they have their own Sunday school building now (a traditional shelter) - no more meeting under the tree where the wind sometimes whips up the tarp you sit on and all the kids are freezing!

Bob & Martha

You know that quote in You've Got Mail where they talk about a "bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils"? Now that reminds me of Martha Wright. She and I both have a thing for sharpening pencils. Maybe it's the sound it makes when you stick it in the sharpener, or that fresh smell of graphite and wood shavings (mmm), or the look of sharp lead when you take it out.

Martha has a PhD in linguistics, I think. She did her thesis work when they were in Eritrea; she studied Tagrinian (sp?) and how kids learned in the primary schools. I decided I definitely did not want to pursue any more higher education when I saw the size of her finished thesis. ;) Anyway, she and Bob got me hooked on all kinds of good books, like Nigel Barley and Lief Enger's Peace Like a River.

Bob reminds me a lot of my dad in some ways. He laughs at the same things. It was always fun taking an afternoon tea break with him - often greasy from trying to fix one of the mission vehicles or someone else's - and Martha. This year the older kids had become coffee drinkers, having their morning coffee with milk and sugar sometimes before school.

I realize this is a very random posting, but I've just been thinking today about how much I like the Wrights! Lots of good memories. Lol, I just thought of the time Martha and I were peeling potatoes out of a big basket. She picked one up and a big spider ran out, across the table. I had a crazy idea that it was going to get on me so I jumped up and screamed. And I think knocked my chair over...

Anyway, I am so thankful for Martha and Bob's friendship. Letting me lie on their couch last year when I had malaria and was too lonely to stay in the big house by myself, Martha bringing me along to Bible studies in the village, taking me along when they went to Kampala and treating me like one of their family. It's good to have friends like that.

There's beeing some rioting...

in Kampala this past week. You can read more at these blogs: No Hurry in Africa and Cara in Uganda. I haven't checked the papers yet. Anyway, it sounds like things are settling down. Museveni is infinitely better compared to Idi Amin, after all, and so I think a lot of Ugandans are reluctant to give him the boot if he won't go reasonably. Maybe he knows he's got them in an unfortunate situation...he's not being very democratic, but he's not killing anyone either, at least as long as he stays in power. Makes me realize how good it is to be an American...

Katie says that the K'moja mission was planning to spend Thanksgiving in Kampala, but aren't sure if that's wise at this point. If you think of it, please pray for them. I think it's been a while since they've all gone and done something fun like that. Pray for Uganda too; they've already been through enough horror to last another thousand years, i hope.

Good news! :)

My friend Rose just had her baby - named Loduk Robert (literally "Bob the Builder") after Bob Wright. Apparently they are doing well. Hallelujah!

The Night Commuters

Today is the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. To be honest, the word "persecution" has always bothered me; it seems so extreme to say the church in some country is being persecuted. Unfortunately, most people probably feel the same way. It just seems so distant, so terrible to think about, so plain unreal. That sounds like what everyone thought when they heard that Nazis had been systematically mass murdering Jews for years. They couldn't believe it.

Anyway, my thinking is slowly changing and I'm beginning to see that persecution is very real; people are willing to die because they have a sure hope in Christ...or to lose their jobs, or be mocked, or any of the daily little persecutions that can be hard to bear, too. I'm sure these people are fearful sometimes, but yet they remain unshaken. And what completely amazes me is that others see that and they come to Christ - persecution is just unable to stop the church from growing. Truly the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

My dad led prayer at church this morning, reminding us particularly of the war going on in Northern Uganda against the LRA; the Lord's Resistance Army, who has kidnapped some 20,000 children, forcing them to become soldiers or sex slaves. I highly recommend this article about Uganda's child soldiers in World magazine, if you have time to read it. The article also takes about the "night commuters," kids who flee to towns like Gulu, Uganda every night so they can sleep in relative safety from capture by the LRA. Then they return to their villages and go to school the next day. Check out this Northern Uganda conflict blog for more info. (It's written by a women who worked with refugees in Gulu, I think, and now is working in Chad, which sounds like a very difficult job but one there's a real need for.)

Maybe some of you have heard of the Gulu Walk - people around the world simulated the night commuters' walk to raise awareness of what's happening in Uganda. I knew about it, thought "oh, that's nice, but it would be a lot of trouble to participate and I just don't do things like that." Aiyaiyai. I'm really part of the reason things take so long to change, because I talk myself out of doing anything to help. Maybe not a Gulu Walk, but there's always something you can do, even if it's only praying and contributing to aid organizations, or talking to your friends so that word gets around about what's going on. Change comes "slowly by slowly," as they say in Uganda...

Okay, one last thing. My dad prayed that many of these LRA soldiers would be able to desert (it's not easy to leave), and that they would also be saved, their sins forgiven by one who willing took their punishment on himself instead. (Imagine the guilt you'd feel after having murdered so many people, seen horrible things and been too afraid for yourself to stop them.) But us being able to forgive them, too, isn't easy. Last year, my first trip to Uganda, there was little a shootout when "the enemy," the Pokot, came to steal some donkeys. (Thankfully no one was hurt, but AK-47s are VERY loud and it was pretty scary.) As I lay awake for a little while afterwards, I was praying that the enemy would just fall in a ditch or something as they ran, so they couldn't harm anyone else that night...or ever again. Although I believe there's also a place for that, can we forget the mercy we've been shown ourselves? I don't shoot people, but didn't God pay the same incredible price in blood for me? Maybe Christians who are being persecuted are much better than me (actually, I'm pretty sure that they often are!), but it's still human nature to love your friends and hate and despise your enemies.

Anyway, as we pray for those who are suffering, maybe pray too that they would be able to love their enemies; even as Christ did.

Perceptions

I just read this interesting blog post about Ugandan converts to Judaism, among other things. (Lots of cool pics there, too, including a totally Ugandan-style synagogue.) But the whole tone of the article, this woman's thoughts (as a Jew) about their conversion, are what's really interesting. Basically, they don't have a bond in their mutual religion, and the fact the "Abayudaya" were trying to please the mzungu guests troubled her.

Not so much like my experience in Karamoja. Yes, often people come to church only so they can ask the mzungu, "You give me 5,000 shillings." On that count, though, they're not so different from Americans; why do you want more? because you just want it, so you should have it! However, it's hard to see people that I think genuinely are Christians still want loans they won't pay back (even though they could), and leave when the mission says enough. It's really hard to know what to do, when so many people could use money for good things, and yet it's not your job to be a bank who never collects! The diaconal ministry wants to help those genuinely in need (e.g., they need food, not a second pair of shoes). Also, Pastor Al is encouraging the church members to directly help their neighbors, which many of them are well able to do.

Okay, back to what I meant to say. In Karamoja I realized for probably the first time that God truly is everywhere, calling people from every tribe and language and nation to freedom in Christ; no longer slaves to sin, but sons and daughters of the living God. So when you're singing next to someone (and trying to clap to their rhythm), and you don't know what all the words mean and can't even say all of them, there's not a disconnect. You know that person is real, you don't think of them as natives of ethnological interest if nothing else.

Akiru

Karamoja has been having a ton of rain (akiru) even though it's the dry season - someone told Katie it's more rain this year than in the last 10 years! Oh, Katie also says that she and Amy politely ate a mash of stuff like posho, pumpkin, and beer (nagwe) that a village woman offered them. They didn't want it, and it was probably some little kid's dinner, but they didn't want to insult her; what to do?

Some friends, Chrissie and Mackie, went back to K'moja with Craig and Kris; I hope they're having a great time. Sounds like they got right into the swing of things (they've been there a week and a half now)!

This is a post of rather random subjects. Lately I've been thinking for quite a while how much easier it was to read the Bible consistantly in K'moja. Maybe because I had a somehow flexible schedule and all I had to do in the mornings was get up and get dressed, pretty much. So I could just sit at the table and read while I ate breakfast. It helped too that Nolan was always doing devotions when I got up, too. Now it's so easy to be busy, distracted, what, what (as they say in Uganda). Now I do them at night...when I'm too tired. So I'm trying to change my habits, but it's slow work!

Oh, and I have a Swahili question. What's the difference between "mzungu" and "mzunga"? I thought maybe one was a female version, but it seems like they get used interchangeably.

The Karamoja Gift Guide

My dad mentioned at dinner the other night that we should write a Karamojong gift guide. I offer you a preview of this definitive work on the blog. ;) Below you will see some fine cowhide sandals sold to me for probably too much (5000 shillings=$2.50). Amos sold them to me, but i believe he bought them off someone else, because there was an old man there who adjusted the straps for me. One is still way too tight, but then I don't exactly wear them every day, so it's all good! Amos said that only the men wore them (before the invention of flipflops made from old tires), but since I was just a mzunga it was okay.

Karamoja sandals

See the rest of the pictures on flickr.

Photo Album

I just added a few of my pictures to Flickr if you're interested.

More from Stott

I finished Christian Mission in the Modern World this week.

This is Stott's quote from the Lausanne Covenant, dealing with the issue of whether salvation looks like just "freedom" for people from oppression, or what (p. 100-101):

'We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all men. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men from every kind of oppression. Because mankind is made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, colour, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he should be respected and served, not exploited...Although reconciliation with man is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty. For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and man, our love for our neighbour and our obedience to Jesus Christ. The message of salvation implies also a message of judgement upon every form of alienation, oppression and discrimination, and we should not be afraid to denounce evil and injustic wherever they exist..."

Don't forget a person's need for "living water" while giving them clean drinking water...but don't think a person is all soul without body, either! I tend to fall more often into the first one.

Malaria

World magazine has a cover story on malaria in Africa, which is pretty good. Apparently a lot of foreign aid ain't going to effective mosquito prevention. I can vouch that mosquito nets don't necessarily do a lot of good. DDT sounds like the thing to use; it's not nearly as dangerous as people thought it was. (Or as dangerous as getting malaria and not treating it.) One thing the article didn't mention is that not all mosquitos carry the malaria parasite, just the Anopheles gambiae.

Here's another article I found a while ago, but haven't finished reading yet: malaria - the parasite from hell.

Last summer Elizabeth, the clinic's lab tech, let me look at the parasites in my own blood smear under the microscope. It was very cool. Here's a picture of malaria parasites in cells (with a lot more parasites than I ever had).

And finally, an somewhat hopeful article from Dec. 2004 about malaria vaccine research.

Joyce

Katie just shared this:

Saturday night Joyces brother-in-law came to her house pretty drunk and beat her and Sarah up pretty badly. *sighs* Sarah seems ok; she came to church on sunday. But Joyce is quite bruised up and wont be coming to work for the next few days. Keep her and her kids in your prayers. whenever this stuff happenes to her she says it s no big deal and that shes been through worse. Which I suppose is true. After all she saw her first husband murdered when she was sixteen.....

Apparently her husband now, Elijah, has been spending most of his time with his other wife. Anyway, please pray for them! Although cases of wife-beating (or husband-beating for that matter) are very common, they're not a good thing...