With only a month left...

I am winding down my time in Uganda at this point, with only one more month to go. I am spending a little bit of time in Kampala right now, and then I have 2 weeks in Pader, one final week in Kampala, and then I come home to America! It is strange to think that I have been here for so long...I have gotten very used to life here. When visitors came to Pader last week from the Phillipines, I realized how much I knew about Uganda by comparing myself to other foreigners. It will be strange to readjust to America.

Anyway, an update on the famine in Pader...
We've had scattered rain recently that helps a little bit, but there is still a lot hunger in the area. Over the weekend and the beginning of this week I did food distribution in some of the IDP camps. Emmanuel International does not have significant funds, so we weren't able to work on a scale even remotely close to the UN World Food Programme, but we worked with what we had. So, we worked with local community leaders to identify the most vulnerable families in the camps (usually elderly, breast-feeding mothers, and widows) and handed out posho (basically corn flour), salt, soap, and clothing to them. We told them that we knew it wasn't a lot, but we were trying to share the love of Christ in our limited capacity to help their physical needs. It is really hard to see the conditions of the camps...there is really poor sanitation and a huge lack of medicine, so there is a lot of disease (especially in children and the elderly). The UN World Food Programme already pulled out of Pader last year, so there isn't international assistance coming to people. They are focusing on the Karamajong, another tribe, because the famine is even worse in that region.

I have recently ended my time working in the schools identifying challenges facing the students (teenage pregnancy, child labor, poverty, etc.) and talking to them about ways to encourage their education. But a big problem for girls in these poor areas is that they often drop out of school because of a lack of sanitary pads. It seems like a trivial item, but when you can't afford them, you just stay home whenever you have your period, and then catching up is too big of a task and the girls simply drop out. So, when I go back to Pader for the last two weeks, we're going to start a program where we teach them how to make their own pads out of cloth so they can be cleaned and reused.

So, thats it for today...I will write more when I go back to Pader. I miss everyone terribly and can't wait to see you all soon!

I'm still alive...

Sorry for the gap in updates, but there hasn't been many new things going on lately. I am still talking at different schools in the area, addressing the students' challenges with education. There is a cultural celebration this friday I might attend, with all the different schools doing traditional dances (acholi dances are really fun to watch!) I have exactly 6 weeks left in Uganda...time is flying by! Anita Bertrand is coming up to Pader on Sunday with a visiting couple, and then I'm going down to Kampala next Wednesday for about a week. I am doing very well and I'm staying healthy. I will write more when there are some changes or exciting stories! I hope everyone is well back home!