Last Blog from Uganda!

Well, I think this last post will wrap everything up...I left Pader on Thursday and am now staying in Kampala until next Monday, when I fly to America! I had a good last couple of weeks in Pader, mainly doing food distribution in the camps (handing out posho, salt, and soap). I have also been making some powerpoint presentations that Anita sends to Canada to solicit donations from churches there so we are capable of buying more food and give it to the most vulnerable people during this famine. We tried to work out a plan with other NGOs and government offices in Pader to coordinate food distribution and try to see if any of them could give us more food to hand out. EI is really great at reaching the people directly without mismanagement and corruption getting in the way, so the other NGOs know that we are really helping the people. However, meeting with other officials showed that they are not well-organized and either are lacking funds for distribution, or don't have transportation, etc. No one has the complete resources for successful distribution so they weren't capable of helping EI out all that much. There's a lot of politics going into something like famine relief, and unfortunately it gets in the way of actually assisting the needy. We met with one official from the UN World Food Programme who warned us, "Technically, its a 'hunger gap', not a 'famine'...if we use the word 'famine' we get in trouble". Its very frustrating to meet attitudes like that when you see the desperation in the camps.

Anyway, I was sad to leave northern Uganda, but the EI team gave me a great send-off with a small party where I ate my last bit of traditional food (millet bread, rice, beans, cabbage, malakwang, and goat meat). And now I am just hanging out in Kampala, visiting UCU one last time, and doing some last minute souvenir shopping. I am really looking forward to being home, especially seeing my family that I miss so much! Although, I only have one night at home and then I have to move into Eastern University for my fall semester. That Thursday, the 27th, is also my 20th birthday! So it will be a busy time as soon as I get back, but it will definitely be enjoyable. I know I will feel a lot of culture shock, especially since I spent such a long time in such a dramatically impoverished area like northern Uganda. But God will see me through and teach me a lot, I'm sure. Even though I am leaving please keep the people of northern Uganda in your prayers and maybe research some ways to assist the people in development of the region (maybe you could even travel to Uganda one day!). Thanks for keeping up with my blog, and I will be sure to write again once I am in the States about my adjustment and observations on life there. God Bless!

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!

Famine

Well, its a little worse than I thought. As I said down below, there has been a real lack of rain here this season and the crops are really suffering. I was talking to Reverend Kenneth today (the local head of EI) and he was telling me that it has caused a famine in Pader district. So far 5 people have died from hunger this season, two of them children. People are also stealing each others' crops right out of the ground out of desperation. The World Food Programme has already withdrawn from this district, so international aid isn't widely available. These people really need your prayers for rain, which will relieve their suffering. Emmanuel International has been doing seed distribution to vulnerable people, but that really doesn't matter if there's no rain. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Halfway!

Well, I am almost halfway done with the summer! I am doing well in Pader, and keeping busy. This week (and into July) I will be visiting communities and schools around the camps to do lectures on the importance of education. A lot of children are kept home from school in this area to work (since there is a lot of poverty families rely on children to make money or harvest crops or watch little children at home), and a lot of girls get married young and don't continue education. So hopefully we can inspire some of the organized groups to work with their communities to encourage children to stay in school.

It has been very dry and hot here, which is very bad news considering this should be the rainy season. Desertification is a serious concern here, with overgrazing, deforestation, and global climate change causing an expansion of the Sahara Desert. I am hoping to do some work talking about environmental concerns, and helping the groups figure out some ways they can improve their ecosystems. But vulnerable people are the first to suffer from environmental damage, a lot of which is caused by outside forces (especially countries like America). We are one of the top producers of greenhouse gases and the victims are people like the ones here. So, we should all be aware of the destruction our country (and we as individuals) is doing in the world and take responsibility.

Anyway, I am going back down to Kampala to pick up my passport and visa from the immigration office on Monday, so I am looking forward to that. I have finished reading War and Peace, and now I'm reading a book by Noam Chomsky on American foreign policy in the Middle East. He is incredibly intelligent and its interesting to see the true nature of the American government and its corruption. I recommend his works highly. Well, I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you all terribly!

Short Update

Hey everyone! This will be really short, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm doing well. Last week I spent a couple of days in Kampala just to relax, and got to hang out with one of my friends from UCU named Jones. But I'm back now and ready to work hard again! This week we are going around to visit schools and hand out some uniforms and books to children that can't afford them. Then on Saturday we are having a training session for EI's Why Wait program, which offers education on HIV/AIDS around Uganda. Next week I'm going to be helping local teachers incorporate some of the material into their curriculums and stuff like that. Anyway, I've started reading War and Peace to pass some of the time, and its very good! I highly recommend it! Also, there are now three puppies here with me, and I named them Ringo, Pavlov, and Tolstoy. Reverend Kenneth's daughter Glory is now with me in Pader, and she will be working as my translator here. So, its not so quiet in the house anymore, which is a good thing lol. Well, I hope everyone is doing well! I only have a little over 2 months to go!

The Only Mzungu

Well, I'm just about finishing my first two weeks in northern Uganda so I figured I'd give a little update. This week I have been visiting different IDP camps around the area leading discussions on improving sanitation. The Ugandans in these camps need a lot of prayers, because the war with the LRA has left them extremely vulnerable. There is a lot of disease and malnutrition, and the crops haven't been growing very well this season. Also, they keep expressing a need for more water pumps because usually there is just one for an entire IDP community. It is also difficult to see how much the conflict has affected all the people I am working with. There are so many widows and orphans left to fend for themselves, and a lot of people that had been abducted as child soldiers that are now trying to live normal lives. The war forced them to move into IDP camps, which are forced communities so that the government could protect them from the rebels. THat meant that they all had to leave their original home farms and live in an area where farming wasn't possible. Even though the LRA has been gone from the area for a couple years, most people are too afraid, or lack the necessary resources to move back to their land. THe farthest they've gone is establishing satellite camps halfway between the original IDP camp and their own land. But its still really bad, and they need a lot of help. I am one of the only mzungus in the central town of Pader...I see one once in a while but for the most part there are no other westerners. Its funny because down in southern Uganda most people assumed I was american, but here they keep yelling "Canada! Canada!" at me. I think thats because the majority of NGO workers are Canadian, and they rarely see any Americans. Well, I am heading to Kampala for a couple of days on Monday, so I will talk to everyone later!