Greetings from Pader!

Sorry I have not written in here for so long! I have been moving around like a madwoman, and I rarely have access to the internet (its a long process of dragging out the generator, hooking it up to a power converter, trying to find a connection with a little MTN wireless hookup...etc.) Anyway, I miss EVERYONE so much, and I can't believe all the USP people are back in America now! I originally came to Pader on the 9th, but we went to visit Reverend Kenneth's family in Gulu that following Tuesday. I just got back yesterday, and today was my first day where I officially sat down at my desk to get some work done for Emmanuel International.

I am staying in a compound right outside of the town center in Pader district in Northern Uganda. On the compound is my own little house (it looks like a two story silo, kind of. It has a straw roof, so think of a vertically extended African hut), where I have a bedroom (there are 2 other empty ones), a bathroom/washroom, and a little kitchen area where I cook my own meals. Kenneth, a Ugandan missionary, lives on the compound in another little house. We have a guard stationed at the front gate, armed with a bow and arrow (not kidding), a little area for the cows, a resource center (where they also hold the community's church services), and an office (where I now have my own desk as the Coordinator for Ministry and Education). A woman named Millie is also on staff here, and she is paid to clean the house and dishes for me lol. EI has a couple permanant staff up here, including counselors, and then a handful of volunteers.

The work I have started is going around to the IDP camps and giving lectures and demonstrations on hygiene and sanitation to vulnerable groups (widows, orphans, returnees from the LRA, child-headed households), and assisting the counselors to those same groups. EI has a couple other projects going, including bead making for widows to earn a profit, and seed distribution (which I'm also helping with). We have a lot to do, but it is very quiet here and I have a lot of alone time. I'm on page 850 of the book Atlas Shrugged, which I started a week and a half ago, so that should give you an idea of how much free time I have. Haha.

Anyway, I love you ALL and thanks for all of your financial and emotional support you've given me. I'm excited to work here, and I'll keep you all updated as much as possible!