Discouragement is looking at the contents of my room and wondering how in the name of all things I'm going to fit all of it into my suitcase. It's miserable. To make matters worse Laura is blasting Taylor Swift from the other room.
On a happy note, we made the most delicious mocha frappuccinos today.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
The Countdown
Ever since we had 4 weeks remaining Laura has been counting down the days til we come home. I don't like it one bit. As much as I tried to be in denial though, I'm starting to feel like it's about that time. I think a lot of it had to do with saying goodbye to Auntie Jill and Uncle Joel yesterday. When they nailed down their departure date about 2 months ago I knew we'd only have a short time left once they had gone. We had a goodbye party for them yesterday (which was a nice excuse to kill and roast that dang pig that had been squealing like a little girl right outside our house) and they left this morning. I absolutely hated saying goodbye to them. Partly because I know it's just the first of many goodbyes in my near future, but mostly just because they are fabulous people that I love and adore and who have, in the least cheesy and non cliche way possible, changed me. I cried and became slightly less social, but I'm just trying to convince myself that I'll see them in the States when I go home.
The end of GETS is also a contributing factor to feeling like my time is almost up. We have a small ceremony for them today and they will most likely be going back to their homes on Wednesday. They have become my friends more than anything else, so saying goodbye to them won't be fun at all.
Though Laura has been counting down for ages now, I tried to refrain as long as I could, but even I can't help but think that I've only got 11 more days in Uganda, 8 more days in Mbarara, 3 more days with the GETS girls and 1 more team meeting. I'm trying to think of all the last minute things I need to do-people I need to see, pictures I need to take, gifts I need to buy, questions I need to ask..the list goes on. It's unbearable.
As hard as it will be to say goodbye though, I feel like it's about time to go home. I'm thankful for the wonderful family and friends I have that will care to hear about my stories and share in this part of my life with me.
The end of GETS is also a contributing factor to feeling like my time is almost up. We have a small ceremony for them today and they will most likely be going back to their homes on Wednesday. They have become my friends more than anything else, so saying goodbye to them won't be fun at all.
Though Laura has been counting down for ages now, I tried to refrain as long as I could, but even I can't help but think that I've only got 11 more days in Uganda, 8 more days in Mbarara, 3 more days with the GETS girls and 1 more team meeting. I'm trying to think of all the last minute things I need to do-people I need to see, pictures I need to take, gifts I need to buy, questions I need to ask..the list goes on. It's unbearable.
As hard as it will be to say goodbye though, I feel like it's about time to go home. I'm thankful for the wonderful family and friends I have that will care to hear about my stories and share in this part of my life with me.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Land of a Thousand Hills
I went to Rwanda earlier last week. My surrogate father Dale is the unit leader for the team here in Mbarara and the team in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. He needed to pay the Rwandan team a visit, so Laura, Josh, Jason (another short termer who arrived recently) and I decided to come along.
We started our trip on Monday, left about an hour later than we had planned on, our van overheated about 2 hours in, and I used someone's pit latrine on the side of the road (I'm getting much better at that than when I first got here...I can almost get it all in the hole). We ate lunch in Kabale, a town at the bottom of Uganda, crossed the border and drove to Kigali. The drive was stunning. Beautifully cultivated hills spanned the country side. The contrast from Uganda to Rwanda was almost immediate. The roads are nicely paved and litter free. In fact, it's illegal to bring plastic bags into the country. I'm a fan of that.
We checked in at our hostel and went to a missionary couple's house for dinner. They're from New Zealand and the husband looks just like Mr. Bean (in fact, he often gets shouts and inquisitive looks from strangers and passerbys). After dinner and an amazing cup of tea, we watched a film entitled "As We Forgive". It's about the reconciliation after the genocide 16 years ago. This was a good preface for our activities the following day.
We started out our morning visiting the genocide museum. This provided us with a great deal of information and context through to view the culture. Prior to my visit, I knew little of of the conflict and what I did know was very general knowledge or came from the movie Hotel Rwanda. The museum was nicely laid out and did a great job explaining the events that led up the '94 genocide. We spent a total of 3 hours there, reading the info., watching shorts, hearing stories, etc. There was one room that had clothes of some of the victims hung up behind glass. I was shocked at how modern these clothes were (ie-GAP) and it struck me that this was so recent-in my lifetime even. It was powerful to say the least.
Certainly even more powerful was the church we went to visit next. The priest of the church had told his congregation that they could seek refuge there. 5,000 Tutsis crowded into the building, only to have the priest betray them. Grenades came in through windows and cracks and eventually the doors were broken down. Children were beaten against the walls and families were brutally attacked with pangas. The church is now a memorial-heaping piles of the victims' clothes cover the pews and outside are mass graves that you can walk down into. There you find rows and rows of skulls and piles of bones, often cracked or shattered-the remains of the victims. My heart was wrenched out. There's a visual that isn't likely to leave my mind any time soon.
Driving back into town, eyes filled with tears, I listened to Sigur Ros thinking of the overwhelming weight of sin in this world. I felt burdened by the lack of attention/aid from the international community and couldn't help but think of the situation in central Africa right now with the LRA. When all is said and done will we regret our lack of interest in this conflict? I'm praying not and the passage of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act is a step in a positive direction.
Pray for Rwanda and those affected by the genocide. With a population of only 8 million in which 1 million had died, I'd be surprised if it were even possible to find a single person not affected in some way.
On a more cheerful note, the rest of our trip was nice and relaxing. Minus the fact that we ran out of gas on our way home and stopped by yet ANOTHER backyard pit latrine.
We started our trip on Monday, left about an hour later than we had planned on, our van overheated about 2 hours in, and I used someone's pit latrine on the side of the road (I'm getting much better at that than when I first got here...I can almost get it all in the hole). We ate lunch in Kabale, a town at the bottom of Uganda, crossed the border and drove to Kigali. The drive was stunning. Beautifully cultivated hills spanned the country side. The contrast from Uganda to Rwanda was almost immediate. The roads are nicely paved and litter free. In fact, it's illegal to bring plastic bags into the country. I'm a fan of that.
We checked in at our hostel and went to a missionary couple's house for dinner. They're from New Zealand and the husband looks just like Mr. Bean (in fact, he often gets shouts and inquisitive looks from strangers and passerbys). After dinner and an amazing cup of tea, we watched a film entitled "As We Forgive". It's about the reconciliation after the genocide 16 years ago. This was a good preface for our activities the following day.
We started out our morning visiting the genocide museum. This provided us with a great deal of information and context through to view the culture. Prior to my visit, I knew little of of the conflict and what I did know was very general knowledge or came from the movie Hotel Rwanda. The museum was nicely laid out and did a great job explaining the events that led up the '94 genocide. We spent a total of 3 hours there, reading the info., watching shorts, hearing stories, etc. There was one room that had clothes of some of the victims hung up behind glass. I was shocked at how modern these clothes were (ie-GAP) and it struck me that this was so recent-in my lifetime even. It was powerful to say the least.
Certainly even more powerful was the church we went to visit next. The priest of the church had told his congregation that they could seek refuge there. 5,000 Tutsis crowded into the building, only to have the priest betray them. Grenades came in through windows and cracks and eventually the doors were broken down. Children were beaten against the walls and families were brutally attacked with pangas. The church is now a memorial-heaping piles of the victims' clothes cover the pews and outside are mass graves that you can walk down into. There you find rows and rows of skulls and piles of bones, often cracked or shattered-the remains of the victims. My heart was wrenched out. There's a visual that isn't likely to leave my mind any time soon.
Driving back into town, eyes filled with tears, I listened to Sigur Ros thinking of the overwhelming weight of sin in this world. I felt burdened by the lack of attention/aid from the international community and couldn't help but think of the situation in central Africa right now with the LRA. When all is said and done will we regret our lack of interest in this conflict? I'm praying not and the passage of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act is a step in a positive direction.
Pray for Rwanda and those affected by the genocide. With a population of only 8 million in which 1 million had died, I'd be surprised if it were even possible to find a single person not affected in some way.
On a more cheerful note, the rest of our trip was nice and relaxing. Minus the fact that we ran out of gas on our way home and stopped by yet ANOTHER backyard pit latrine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)