Sweet Summertime

Here in Bundibugyo I often feel like we live in an eternal state of summer. But, the world outside of this place continues on with seasons and we were blessed to have 3 summer interns join us for June and July! They left last week and their joyful, serving presence is missed here. One thing (out of many) that I was so thankful for was their taking photos of daily life here in Bundi. It's not something I get around to often but here is a peek into my life over the last 2 months!

A typical road scene here...

I do love the views on the 8 hour ride from Kampala!

My Bible study at Mt. Zion church

We meet in a "school building" (on the left) next to my friend, Annette's house.

Clovis, my co-leader, with a few of the many kids that are always hanging out.

Summer and Ashley--two of the interns.

Hiking to Nyahuka Falls. I ended up being the "guide" by default--not a great idea.

Of course we ended up asking directions.

There were beautiful views on the way though!

And after much scrambling, bush-whacking, and whatnot we made it!

Hosting a nutrition table at a local health fair.

Lots of people came!

I was very thankful for a great translator.

Weighing babies at the second meeting of our nutrition program.

Dr. Jess measuring height for assessment.

Taking a little girl's MUAC measurement for assessment.

The Nyahuka Health Center--operating theater is white building, darker building is lab and outpatient department. Lots of laundry out to dry too!

A typical roadside view here--love those mountains again!

Also a semi-typical thing--baboons on the roadside! 

Hiking to the Sempaya Hot Springs was a fun outing...

It definitely felt like we were in the rainforest!

We fit three to a motorcycle plus the driver--a first for me!

With Richard, my new boda driver friend.

We had to stop at the equator on our way to safari!

L to R: The Stevens family, myself, Ann, Jess

I just love this sign. I'm not sure why but it makes me laugh every time I see it.

We saw lots of hippos on the boat launch.

They have such stubby legs!

And there were a ton of mongooses hanging out in the shade of our car. Weird!

With Summer and Emily on a rooftop safari drive.

All of Christ School's OVC sponsored students at a meeting.

Cocoa is growing again so we're seeing more of it drying in the sun!

We had a great team retreat over the 4th of July weekend. As you can see, we're a very put-together type of team.

That's better :)

With my Christ School girls' cell group after chapel.

Mama Joyce with Owen and Marvin--some of my favorite people!

And for good measure--the weekend the interns left my house flooded. As you can see, I was not very happy about modeling my gumboots while in the bathroom.

Weekend Warrior

On Friday night I was past my expiration date. I could feel the stress of the week piling, my brain slowing down, the introvert in me screaming for quiet time, the general lack of love and increasing irritability that “good” missionaries shouldn’t struggle with. I stayed up waaaay past missionary midnight (9 pm) until the real midnight in hopes of watching the Olympics opening ceremonies in London. Despite the major advances in technology and Internet in Bundibugyo in the last few years, the opening ceremonies viewing was a flop. Youtube failed to buffer well and we sat watching the spinning wheel more often than the actual footage. We gave up and trudged home. I was beyond exhausted and went to bed thinking to myself “I could really use a mental health day tomorrow”.

Those were fleeting hopes. I woke up the next morning exhausted, happy I could sleep in. I figured I would use the bathroom and head back to bed for another few hours. Nope. As I rolled out of bed, with bleary eyes I noticed my bedside mat was wet. It had rained very hard the night before but as it is rainy season, I didn’t think much of it. It had rained really hard nearly every night last week. But as I got out of bed, I realized something had gone very wrong. My room had a puddle of standing water near the door. When I opened the door and looked around, I considered going back to bed and pretending the outside world didn’t exist. Our bathroom had 4 inches of standing water in it. There were puddles throughout the entire house. The front room had a layer of mud and slime amidst the puddles. The kitchen, hallway, and living room were pond-like. The two rooms unaffected? The pantry (where everything is off the floor) and the office (where nothing important is kept).

I went into “emergency mode” when my mind runs at about 100 miles an hour. What to do? Where to start? Josh. I called the team knight in shining armor who is ever rescuing us. Thank goodness he was awake and came over to confirm that yes, indeed, this sucked and was generally quite awful. The next four hours were all consuming clean-up. After receiving the sympathies of my teammates, I called three Ugandan friends and helpers—George, Joas, and Gladys. Pat and Katie from Fort Portal, who were staying with me for the weekend, woke up and sprang into action; making coffee, providing encouragement, and filling buckets and basins with the floodwaters.

When Gladys arrived, she was her typical joyful self. I was struggling to keep it together but she came in, assessed the house, and said “It’s no problem. We will fix it today.” She then merrily started humming to herself as she filled a basin with water. How could I be upset when she was happily humming praise music and her child was hospitalized with malaria??

The day steadily improved—within 4 hours the house was clean and smelling of bleach. I picked up a care package that was full of goodies from my parent’s vacation to Ocean City, NJ. Ann brought me more coffee (I was running out!) and Jess went to the market for me. The power came back on after being off for over 24 hours. And on Saturday night I enjoyed tacos and mojitos with the team, successfully watching mens swimming on the Olympics afterwards.

Life here in Bundibugyo often feels like moving from one crisis to the next. You can’t go very long without feeling the brokenness of the world here. From the annoyances of burning my finger, the power being out, and the internet not working to floodwaters invading my house. Add on the much bigger crises of the area such as famine, cholera and measles epidemics, tribal conflicts, rebel attacks just over the border, and a new ebola outbreak and my shoulders quickly become heavy.

It’d be great to have full redemption now. I’d very much like the suffering to end. But God hasn’t promised a life of ease and perfection as we wait. And I’ve found in living here that suffering, whether it be cancer or a flooded house, opens doors for the Gospel. People suffer more here in a lifetime than I can probably imagine. But being vulnerable before my Ugandan friends; showing them that I desperately needed their help and having a bad day in front of them has a greater effect than I previously realized.

Isaiah 52:7 has greater meaning to me now that I am living in Bundibugyo than ever before. It says:

“How beautiful on the moutains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

These are not what I would call beautiful feet. Flip flop tan lines, mud caked from cleaning up flood water, bruised and broken nails from hiking the Bwamba Pass. They’re pretty gross and my “foot righteousness” has long vanished. But these feet are a testimony to what God has been doing in my life—a year ago I had beautiful, soft feet because I was laying in bed and teetering on the brink between life and death as I got ready for cancer treatment. Now, my feet are ugly but show just how much I’ve been up to lately. And these feet show the struggle that allows me to identify with my dear Ugandan friends, the ones that I came to serve. Tonight, I am thankful for flood waters and ugly feet.

Bundi Nutrition is Back

July 10th was a day I had been eagerly anticipating for about 16 months. After leaving Bundibugyo temporarily for health reasons, a lot of changes occurred within the nutrition program and due to lack of team members and Ugandan employees, the program was closed down. When I returned in January, I had planned to restart the program with the help of my new teammate, Dr. Jessica.

As we assessed the previous program—its successes and failures—and dreamed about what we wanted to do, I became more and more excited. Of course, this is still Bundi, so there were plenty of roadblocks and delays. But finally, on July 10th, we launched our Bundi Nutrition Outpatient Program.

Now, three weeks into the program, there have been a lot of frustrations, surprises, and encouragement. Jess and I have been learning together the ins and outs of starting a program from scratch (thank goodness for some infrastructure laid from the previous program though!), managing a new employee, trying to balance American expectations with the Ugandan culture we live in.

While malnutrition is an overwhelming and daunting problem here, I am encouraged. I am happy to see parents consistently bringing their child to the program. I am thrilled to see them engaged and paying attention to the Bible and public health lessons each week—asking questions and voicing their concerns. And seeing super cute babies each week is a perk to the job too :)

We can certainly use your prayers—that these kids would gain weight and move out of the moderate acute malnutrition zone, that parents would put what they learn to practice and share it with their community, that hearts might be changed through Bible lessons, that God would give us a vision for ways to expand the program and make it more sustainable in the future. As you pray, ask God if you might have a role in partnering with this program. If the answer is yes, email me or click here.

Sunday-Wednesday

It is only Wednesday but it has already been a full week. A few of the things the last four days have included:

• My debut as a driver in Bundibugyo. After one lesson with Josh, I drove home from Bundibugyo Town to Nyahuka with Jess’s assistance. Despite the seat belt gagging me, the clutch getting stuck, and repeatedly “downshifting” into 4th gear rather than 2nd, I managed to get us home without hitting any goats, pedestrians, bodas, or running us off the road.
• A rat in the house. Before we left for our team retreat in Fort Portal, we had a record-setting week of 3 dead rats. Shortly after we arrived home, I saw a dark streak run down the hall as I sat in my bedroom. A rat! After much chasing, screaming, searching, running around with bats and brooms, and more screaming, we pinpointed him in the office. Our solution to his hiding: a baited trap with a towel stuffed under the door. The verdict is still out.
• Visiting my friend Janet in Bundibugyo Town and holding her one month old baby—Tumusiime Hazel. She was chubby, beautiful, and had the softest head of hair!
• Also while in town, there were the typical frustrations: trying to explain what type of light bulb I was looking for was a 10 minute process, the ATM was out of money—and where was the money? Coming from Mbarara (a 6 hour drive away).
• Hearing from several friends about the tribal warfare that went on while we were away. Tribalism is always a difficult thing to explain and is complex with many layers. Either way, people died, houses were burned, and there is a big police presence in the area. Things seem to be cooling off.
• Had our first nutrition program meeting!! Despite challenges that came up at 9 pm the night before, it was a great day. We assessed about 30 children; enrolling 14 in the program, sending 4 to be admitted in the paeds ward due to severe acute malnutrition, and congratulating 12 mothers for feeding their children well, as their children were not malnourished. We couldn’t have done it without 3 very helpful volunteers from Mt. Zion church (my home church here) and many answered prayers.
• Reading through the stories of missionaries who have lived here over the years. Travis had them email him their Bundibugyo experiences in a “5 minute” version for our team retreat. Most were more than 5 minutes :) But it was fascinating to read through them—to see how much Nyahuka has changed in the last 20 years, to be inspired by their courage, to be encouraged by their weaknesses. It’s great to know I’m part of a much larger story and cloud of witnesses here.
• Sending my friend, Bahati, off to university. She is headed back to nursing school for her next to last term. It has been great to have her around the last month and I’ll miss visiting her.
• The many administrative tasks that fill my life here—organizing referral patient cases, emailing Christ School sponsors, sending what felt like hundreds of emails as I ironed out my parents’ visit in October (hooray!!) and my doctor appointments in December (boo…)
• Reaping a harvest in my garden; cucumbers, okra, cilantro, and more! Battling the ants that are ruining my sweet corn and making trails through the garden.
• Resetting the voltage stabilizer at least six times a day—thank you God that Josh is bringing us a new one from Kampala soon!
• Realizing that I’ve now spent a full 12 months in Bundibugyo, despite a long span in the middle. Happy one year anniversary! There are many days that this place feels like home, many days that I wonder what in the world I am doing here, and many days that include a bit of both! I’m also reminded of where I was a year ago—healing from my second surgery. God has brought me a long way in a year!

My First Health Fair

On June 28, I attended what I’m guessing was the first public health fair ever in Bundibugyo. Since May I had been volunteering once a week at a local NGO, Bundibugyo Hands of Hope. The organization itself is amazing—a human rights advocacy group started by Ugandans for Ugandans. The founder and director is a graduate of Christ School who continued on to receive his university degree. What makes him unique is that he came back! The few students who are able to receive higher education rarely return to Bundibugyo but the few that do return have a heart to help the place they came from.

As I visited BUHAHO (abbreviation) and heard about their plans for an “exhibition” of sorts, I saw a great opportunity for public health education. Collaborating together, we came up with the idea of stalls covering a variety of topics including nutrition, agriculture, education, savings, sanitation, and spiritual needs. The fair was held at a local school in Bundimbele; a school that BUHAHO was already investing in.

The week of the fair, I found myself working feverishly—homemade laminating of visual aids using contact paper from America, buying bags and bags of produce from the market to demonstrate with, typing up a lesson plan in simple English, coordinating transport of some donations to the site, and so on.

The day came and despite my worries about rain (it had been pouring off and on for quite a few days straight), the fair was a great success! I was paired with a wonderful translator—a local farmer with a great understanding of English. Together, we gave the same lesson about nutrition at least twenty times. As groups of adults and students came around to our stall, it was so encouraging to see them engaged in learning and asking great questions.

The lesson was simple enough; grouping foods into three groups (body building, energy giving, and body protecting) and then teaching that you should eat three times a day and each meal should have something from each of the groups. 3 x 3 was our motto! I also included a visual price comparison—attempting to demonstrate that nutritious foods are locally available and inexpensive.

My mom’s job as a nurse includes a lot of health fairs. And I’m quite sure that this did not look like any of the ones she has attended! But, as I looked around, I was so encouraged. Ugandans were teaching each other about such valuable and life-giving things; things that will bring development to Bundibugyo. I was privileged to be a part of it and I learned a few things myself!

Therapeutic Gardening

There are lots of reminders here in Bundibugyo that life is fragile. Emaciated babies in the pediatric ward at the health center. A phone call from a referral patient's mother--the child died of pneumonia in Kampala. Rumors of a cholera outbreak in the area as a measles epidemic winds down.

In a place where life is difficult and often far outside of my control, I have found some ways of coping. I obviously find myself running to Jesus more often here. But there are other things too--like cooking. Oh how I love to cook here! The absence of convenience foods or even semi-prepared foods forces you to learn to cook from scratch. And the kitchen is my sanctuary. There is something comforting about mindlessly chopping vegetables at the end of the day to unwind. Listening to my iPod as I create a delicious reward for making it through another day.

I've recently discovered another therapeutic activity--working in my garden. I first attempted flower gardening when I was in the U.S. last summer. Stuck at home, not feeling well, processing the life change of cancer, I was encouraged as I watched the seedlings I planted turn into big, beautiful, healthy flowers. I needed a sign of new life as I was fighting for my own to return.

Here my desire for fresh vegetables (that aren't available) and feeling a sense of accomplishment as things grew led me to plant a garden. First, I had to fence in an area so that our dogs wouldn't run through it or sit on the seedlings. They seemed to think their job was to incubate the tiny little shoots by firmly planting their butts on top of them. Not helpful--they're plants, not eggs. That aside, I employed some neighborhood kids to put up a fence and turn the earth a bit.

I longingly thought of Willy's Gardening Center at home as I planted each item from seed, rather than waltzing in and buying trays of already growing plants. But now, about three months after my first round of planting, I noticed some fruit for my labors last night! Photos are below (mostly for my mom but you can check them out too :)

There is something wonderful about going out and digging in the garden; working up a sweat not just from standing still but from actually working hard. Seeing green shoots magically sprout up a week after planting seeds. Ripping out the weeds that just love to take over here in the jungle. And when I take that first bite of fresh green beans, a sun-ripened tomato, or crunchy okra, I think it will taste extra delicious since it came from a seed I planted!

the garden--complete with locally made fence

baby green beans!

baby cucumber!

Moringa--the miracle tree

green tomatoes

tiny okra

enjoying a sunflower bloom inside

and a zinnia for good measure

And something else that makes me super, duper happy: a new ceiling fan installed by Josh!