My Very Last Ugandan Blog

Alright folks, this is a short one.

It's finally sunk in that I'm actually leaving this place, and it's not going to be easy. I've established so many amazing relationships with Ugandans and Americans alike, and I'm not at all prepared to abandon them. Tonight was our Farewell Dinner and our Mukono host families, service project leaders and Honors College students were all invited. It was pretty nice, but just another reminder of the fact that my time is nearing it's end.

Tomorrow is our last day on campus. I've already done the majority of my packing, but have one more 5-page paper to write and I'm finally done with work for the semester. I probably won't sleep tomorrow night because we leave 5:00 am Thursday morning for Rwanda. We'll be there until the 1st, we'll return to campus for a night, then leave the following morning for a Debrief/Retreat in Entebbe until we leave on the 5th for the States!

Therefore, just a little note, I won't have internet again until I'm back in the U.S. So I guess this is good-bye and thanks for following my adventures, everyone! It's been an experience, to say the least.

Peace and love.

UGANDA | On religious epiphanies, IJM and really good potato salad

I had no idea that anyone was actually still reading this until today, which gave me a little motivation to try and keep at it. After all, only 3 weeks til I'm home!

Last week was my final week of classes. Thursday, I had my last class in African Traditional Religions and we discussed religious pluralism. That class has been the biggest joke all semester, and I'm taking it Pass/Fail so I've basically had no motivation to put forth any effort, but our last class was amazing. We talked about different arguments surrounding religious plurality and it was basically an answered prayer. I've been struggling a lot with the idea that if my God is truly a loving and just God, why would he choose me to be born in to the wealthiest nation in the world while so many are suffering? More than that, why would he give me the opportunity to be saved and continue my Christian walk never having to worry about persecution while others don't have those luxuries? And would I still be a Christian had I been born into Hindu India or Buddhist China?

Anyway, one of the arguments was called the "inclusivist argument" which basically says that God, revealed through Christ, is universally accessible in all religions. Basically, salvation through Christ can be found in all religions, even if believers don't recognize Him as the driving force. I ADORE this theory. Not only does it give credibility to all religions (because who am I to say that my religion is the "right" religion?) but it allows all of God's children to have the opportunity to find salvation through Jesus Christ. I know a lot of Christians may have a problem with this idea, but it's something I've believed for a very long time and it was amazing to finally find out that not only do other people believe it as well, but there's an actual term for it!

Saturday, Katy S, Bea and I went into Kampala hoping to find some market that everyone had been talking about. We never ended up finding it, but we did have the most PHENOMENAL lunch at Cafe Pap. It was totally an American meal (as opposed to a Ugandan take on an American meal which we've grown much too accustomed to when attempting to eat out). I had a veggie sandwich, potato salad and ganache for dessert. My mouth is watering just remembering it!

Decades-themed Goodbye Party with the Honors College before we depart for Rwanda

Easter Sunday was incredibly uneventful. I didn't even make it to Church because I've had a cold since Saturday and felt like death. Yep, I'm sick again. Story of my life here. The highlight of my day was finishing my religion paper that was due Monday. I've really been struggling trying not to buy food with my limited budget these last few weeks, because I'm about to scream if I have to eat rice and beans for one more meal. I digress.

Monday night, I had dinner with Walter, a Ugandan acquaintance. We haven't really talked that much the entire semester, but we met when I found out he was the founder and President of UCU's campus chapter of IJM. I can't even put into words how amazing and inspiring our conversation was. I've been getting really pessimistic and negative being here, just because I've realized how helpless I am, and how close to hopeless the situation in Uganda is. But talking to him was just a reminder of why I came in the first place. He's a law student trying to get into corporate law, but his main passion is justice for his people (his words). He's founded his IJM campus chapter, recruited about 400 students to join (as opposed to Eastern's 20) and trained 32 in the field. He's also worked in Eastern Uganda campaigning for sexual purity and has reached about 1000 kids promoting his message. Oh, but it gets better. He's the oldest in his family, and is able to attend UCU through a Compassion sponsorship, so he knows all too well about what it means to go hungry and is one of the most Godly people I've ever met. I can't say enough about him. He's also written a book, and is hoping to have it published in the next year or two, God willing.

I'm pretty sure he's my new role model. I think I've boasted long enough about him and this is getting pretty lengthy. Anyway, pray for my final exam tomorrow and for the rest of the papers I have to write. Everything is due by the 22nd. Then 5:00 am on the 23rd we're shipping out to Rwanda!

Thanks guys, for giving me so much love and support and for continuing to read my word vomit. Love you lots!

UGANDA | Safari Weekend at Queen Elizabeth Wildlife Reserve

Hello All!

I know, I know. I'm the worst blogger ever, but life is crazy! I don't have too much time, but I thought I'd get everyone up to date on what I've been up to the past couple weeks.

I think I mentioned previously I was pretty sick. I had recurring strep throat for 3 weeks. It was awful. Thankfully, one of my fellow USP girls, Esther, brought antibiotics specifically for strep. She was kind enough to share with me and I am now happy to say I'm so much better!

Last weekend was our safari weekend. We drove 11 hours on Friday, spent 7 hours in the car looking for animals on Saturday then drove 10 hours back on Sunday. Clearly, there was a lot of time spent on the road, and I discovered I have pretty bad motion sickness, but I'd have to say it was worth it. The scenery was beyond amazing, and the animals weren't bad either. It was like I stepped right into the Lion King!

Bad news: Monday night something pretty scary happened. A man rumored to have been caught stealing was wrapped in car tires and burned alive right outside the campus gates. No one from UCU was involved, but it's still pretty unnerving that it happened in such close proximity. Uganda still heavily relies on a system of mob justince and it was absolutely unreal to hear about it actually being put into practice.

This week is my last week of classes! Even though tomorrow is Good Friday, we have to make up for missing classes last week for the safari. Then I have absolutely no plans for Easter weekend besides doing TONS of work. I've never had this much work to do- it's insane! Next week I think I only have two finals, but the amount of paper-writing I have definitely makes up for it. I'm going to be a busy little (Kaity)Bee! Aside from buckling down and getting lots of work done, I'm planning on making one last trip into Kampala to buy the rest of my souvenirs and possibly dye my hair. It's so cheap to do here, I'm definitely considering doing it before I go home. I'd also like to make another visit to my Mukono host family.

I think that gets everyone caught up for the most part. Sorry it's so vague.  I took lots of pictures on the safari, but the internet is very uncooperative in uploading them, so for now you'll all just to use your imaginations. I might not even worry about uploading them until I get home (*updated to say, I finally managed to upload them!)

Anyway, love and miss you all so much. Almost 3 weeks left!

Even Ugandans think I look like Hilary Duff

I wanted to highlight a couple of recent events that I missed yesterday, so here goes:

So I briefly mentioned the crazy roads and such that took me to the doctor's yesterday. But I just had to share because every time we drive in to Kampala, it's like another world. First of all, Annie (the intern) hired a private driver to take us to the doctor's. The main route was stopped up because there was a bad matatu accident. He decided to take the back way which was of course- dirt roads, filled with potholes and would barely suffice as a driveway in the States. Vehicles pass each other with about an inch of clearance (if that) between their side mirrors. It's quite scary! At one point, we had to pull off to the side of the road for 15 minutes or so while a man with a long, pointed stick (the size of a 2x4) held up the overhead power lines for a line of tractor trailers to pass under. I couldn't help but think I would love for Kenny to have seen that!

On the way back, we were in rush hour traffic which is always amusing because people walk down the lines of cars selling bags of cut up sugar cane, steering wheel covers, airtime for mobile phones, and even hand towels!

Red dirt-stained feet and infected mosquito bites. Or as I like to call it, life in Uganda.

Tomorrow are Student Guild (a.k.a Student Government) elections. You would NOT believe what a big deal they are here. Students get so into it. There are huge, super official campaign posters all over campus. The supporters of the candidates volunteer in the dining hall to serve food and spread the word. During meals, they turn the lights off to show a PowerPoint presentation on the background, campaign goals, etc of the candidates and parade through the place making all kinds of noise- whistling, blow horns, screaming- you name it.

People here are riled up about politics in general. Uganda's Presidential elections are in 2011 and people are acting like they're tomorrow. It's really got me thinking, because most people in the U.S. are so apathetic regarding the politics of our nation. It dawned on me that we don't need to care about politics, because no matter who's elected we know we'll remain in our boring, secure, comfortable lives. Here- who gets elected determines whether your family will have food to put on the table. So of course people are passionate!

Thirdly, I was sitting in worship today when I happened to glance down at the notebook of the girl sitting next to me. She had written a note to her friend on her other side that said, "Do you see my neighbor? She looks like HILARY DUFF!" I get it in Uganda too! Needless to say, it made my day. To top off a pretty spectacular day- my throat is 100% better and after being sick, and not running for an entire week- I ran 4 miles today! Yay!!! I could've kept running too, but it was dark and I was on the track by myself which made me nervous. So yeah, good day.

Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did :)

Back in Commission

Sorry guys! I've had strep the last few days and I've been MIA. But I'm back and feeling much better!

So this one is gonna be short and sweet. Sorry, I haven't really been feeling the whole blog thing lately. But anyway...

Thursday night there was a good-bye party for a girl named Debbie who's Honors College alumni, but still hangs out with everyone in Honors College because she works as a babysitter for some of the staff here. She married a USP student last year (I believe) and is now moving to Chicago to live with him. I didn't know her super well, but it was a bittersweet good-bye because she's really awesome.

Friday, after waiting forever for our transportation to pick us up, 30 or so of us made our way to a rafting place in Jinja. We got there late, ate a complimentary supper since our ride was so late and eventually drifted to bed.

Since I hadn't slept the last few nights I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had nothing to do that day, everyone was leaving to raft and I was in the most comfortable bed ever. I finally woke up when the two other girls, Lillie and Esther asked if I wanted to join them for lunch in Jinja town. I got up around 11:00 am and got ready and we headed out. We had a few ideas of where we might want to eat, but we decided to just wander until we found something that looked interesting. It was a couple miles walk but we ended up settling on a restaurant that served Indian food and pizza. Odd.

I ordered chicken nuggets that I probably should've expected wouldn't be what I thought of as chicken nuggets. They weren't awful, but I guess I should leave my chicken nugget-tasting for Amsterdam and quit trying to cheat.

We began walking back to the place we were staying where a truck would take us to a campground to meet up with the rest of the group and have a BBQ. On the walk back we saw a sign pointing down a side road to a War Cemetery of some kind. We weren't sure which war, but decided to check it out anyway. It ended up being a WWII cemetery and everyone buried there had served in the King's African Rifles and died fighting for the British. It really was a World War...

We made it back afterward, all the while shrugging off sleazy comments and requests for money. We boarded the coaster bus to go to the campground and were joined by a girl from the UK who was also staying there. She had worked in Malawi for a couple months as a law intern, and was now just traveling all around Africa until the beginning of April. It was so interesting to talk to her, especially just hearing about the condition of the legal system in Malawi.

When we got there- the place was GORGEOUS. Most spectacular view of the Nile ever. I just had to stop and soak it all in because it was so surreal. It was one of those "Wow, I'm really in Africa" moments. After we walked around scoping out the place. We saw people swimming in the river and decided, even if we didn't have bathing suits with us, there was no way we were passing up the chance to swim in the Nile. We chilled out there for awhile and it was so perfect. About 5 minutes after we dried off and got out the rest of the group arrived and we chowed down, then headed back to our lodging.

I passed out almost immediately after getting back from exhaustion, plus my throat had been killing me all day. When I woke up the next morning, throat still killing me, we all ate breakfast and boarded an open truck that took us to Adrift, which was the bungee jumping place. We hurriedly paid and signed up, then made our way to the tower. I was the third to jump and was pretty excited because I wanted to be one of the first to go since I've been waiting to bungee jump for forever. Plus, I wanted to be able to chill and watch everyone else go. Actually not as intense as I thought it would be, but looking down before the jump with my toes over the edge was a little intimidating. The guy who'd strapped me in told me I probably wouldn't be able to touch the water because I was too light, then proceeded to count "3...2...1...BUNGEE!" I'm pretty sure I jumped by 1. Such a rush, but way too short-lived.

Once everyone had jumped we got back on the truck, headed back to where we were staying, ate lunch, then boarded the bus back to school. When we got back to school, I showered and passed out, still feeling like crap.

I woke up Monday, knew I had strep throat and went to the doctor's yesterday, just so he could confirm what I already knew and told me to keep taking the antibiotics I've been taking for Malaria. It was the biggest waste of time and money, but the USP intern, Annie, took me out for an early supper afterward and I got a banana milkshake out of the deal! They're my favorite things EVER! So the day wasn't a total waste. It was quite an experience though, and was one of the best examples of how badly the Ugandan infrastructure needs to be improved. If you desire some elaboration, feel free to ask. As for now, I'm wiped out.

Only 49 days left in Uganda! Love to everyone.