Sudan Here we come,

So this week has been simply quite the experience, I don't even really
know how to describe it. I got to work and help in the health clinic
two times this week. Also I helped one of the long term guys set up
solar panels on the translation office. This office is responsible
for translating the Bible in the local language (Lubwsi). That was
cool so now I sorta know how to install solar panels on the house.
Maybe I should go green when I get back....Ha ha. The health clinic is
also so interesting. It is amazing how many sick kids come in. We had
three kids who were around 500-1000 count for Malaria. That means it
was a very serious case because 20-30 is usually the beginning number
for Malaria. What is also interesting is that here it is so isolated
from the world that antibiotics such as Oral Penicillin and other
drugs such as Quiann (spelling) still is very effective. Crazy huh?
On thursday it was really intense and definitely stretch my experience
here. We had a patient who came in looking very unresponsive. They got
him to the back round and he started to hemorrhage very badly.
Eventually, he passed away. That is my first experience with death
really up close. I honestly did not know how to react. The mother of
the child started to cry and wail. She was yelling and crying at the
top of her lungs. It was customary for this to happen when a person
dies. Apparently, the people here usually tell the story about of the
how the person dies. The next I got to see the exact opposite. Some
neighbors close to us had twins the night before. I went there to
their house and saw the family dancing to the three or four drums. I
am running out of internet time so more later. I am leaving for Sudan
this week. Please pray for me.

Peace
J

Mirror Mirror on the Wall What is a reflection of this Culture?

Hey Everyone,
Things are going great. I am feeling a 100% better. On Friday, I had a
really good conversation with one of the teachers at the CSB. It was
great. He gave a wonderful insight on the people here. For instance,
it's an terrible and not surprising that women are considered property
here. Therefore, the more wives you have the higher you are in the
social economic ladder here. Most marriages are not official
licenses…A man pays a dowry to the women's family for the marriage. In
fact, there is a ceremony where the two families will actually haggle
over the price and everything. It's really interesting. It amazes
that there are still places in the world where women are still
consider property. This place is remote but there are cell phones
here. So how remote can it be? I have started to teach my bio labs in
the afternoon. I love it. It is so much fun and I really do enjoy
seeing the young minds work. THANKS so much for your help with the
lab. (You know who you are!) We just finished a lab studying how
diseases spread through a population. It is quite fitting here because
they have experience first hand a deadly disease, Ebola, spreading
through the district here. Also it is a good lab to discuss how
sensitive the issue of being positive can be. For instance, I
corrected a student who said that it was good bad when the test came
back. I told him that he should say positive and negative because the
disease could be a very serious issue like HIV. Saturday, I hiked up
the mountains of Uganda. It was quite the experience. I can't even
begin to talk about it. Some things are better said in person. But
the sites were very beautiful and I enjoyed most of it. I cramped up
and the high attitude was messing with me most of the time but I
still enjoyed the experience. How often can someone say that they hike
through the mountains of Uganda right next to the DRC boarder?
Seriously, I wish I got more pictures but it was raining and the
forest canopy made it difficult light to take photos. The forest was
something from the time of Dinos. I believe the other interns got
some good shots. This place is so beautiful yet full of disease and
poverty. It is so hard to believe that is possible to see God's
beautiful creations and then to see so much dirt and filth.
My interactions with the neighborhood kids have been fairly positive.
Most of them know who I am now and I know most of their names. They
often come by to see if I want to play or burrow a basketball, soccer
ball, or cards. The one thing that is hard for me to deal with is the
fact when I sit down and try to play cards with them they love to
cheat. Countless of times, we have told them to stop or we will quit
the game. Yet they still do it. I don't know why this is. I think it
is a reflection of this cultural and the society here. It pains me to
see that kids are learning how to cheat at such a young age and have
no guilt about it either. Also for the first time (for me), I got two
kids who caught up with me on the way out of the door. They asked me
for some bread. This situation apparently for most people is fairly
common. I have been here for about a month and this is first time it's
happened to me. I told them we don't have any. We actually ran out of
bread this weekend. I don't know how to approach this request but I am
definitely going to pray and talked to long-term missionaries about
dealing with this situation. I hope I will obtain the knowledge to
deal with this problem. We leave for Sudan soon in a week actually. I
am excited. I will definitely give you a better idea what is up about
the trip when I can.
Peace,
-J
The definition of the African soccer player: At Christ School, I play
soccer with many of the students and this one was the definition of
what it means to be a soccer player here. He was epitome of soccer
player. He wore one shoe for his dominant foot and played with no
shoe on his other foot. I thought it was pretty fitting. Random I know
but still great.

Mystery Meat

So this past weekend was quite the experience. It was filled with lots
of fun and lots of stress. On Saturday we went to the river with a
bunch of the long term missionaries. There we had a relaxing time
floating down the river with tubes. It was a good destresser from the
hard week. Last Friday, I spent most of the time with one of the
doctors. We worked in the ultrasound together. It was quite the
experience. We saw many pregnancies and even a man who was quite young
in cardiac failure. It is sad to see a man who is around 31 that is
cardiac failure. We saw about 20 patients and unfortunately did not
have the time to see more. That was an interesting experience. I loved
it. Part of me thought during that time that I should go into the
military and be a doctor for it. I don't know why but that is what I
was thinking. Anyway back to the weekend. After the lovely morning at
the river, it was great because the locals were fascinated at us. Soon
we let them use the tubes and they were having a blast. In fact, I
remember rafting down the river (which boarders the DRC) with some of
local children hanging on. Then we came back and the interns prepared
for our overnight. Overnight is where the person stays with a family
in the village for a night. We were assigned to students at the Christ
School. My was a S2 named "John". John lived very far away. Seriously,
we hiked in the bush for about 3.5 hours to get to his house. It was
crazy far away. By the time we reached the house it was near dark. We
then preceded to talk about the English Premeir League. Dinner was
then served. It was rice and beans with matoake (which is a starch
like potatoes). Then I talked to his mom about my family and such. It
was intereseting to see How God can bless a family after so much
hardship. They lived fairly comfortable by the Ugandan standards here.
They had mosquito nets for every member of the household and they
brothers go to school too. His dad was killed in ADF came to this area
about 10 years ago. He also has mental handicapped older brother. Yet
they still managed to have a nice home and life. His mom was
especially happy to see me play football (soccer) with the kids.
However, the unfortunately thing about the visit is the fact that I
got sick from what was served the next day. (this is speculation but
it prob happened). I was served meat with Irish potatoes (that is what
they call them here). Meat was definitely normal beef and the other
look like muscle tissue. Sure enough, it was most likely cow
intestine. Apparently, it is quite popular here but not with my
stomach. Therefore, I have been sick for the past couple of days but I
have been in great hands here. I am feeling better now and I am
currently eating. One of the guys made a really good eggplant
parmasean. Well I am going to bed it's late (10:00) the inter-culture
dynamics make you incredibly tired…… Hope all is well

Peace
-J

The Sounds Of Bundibugyo

So this is one way that I have decided to describe the area around my
house. There are many sounds that are not familiar to my ears in
Uganda. First of all, the local language here, Lubwisi sounds
completely different from any other language that I have heard. It is
a very strange dialect of some language. Who Knows? There is a
workshop next to our house so I get the sounds from there creeping
into my window especially in the early morning. Some animals here make
noises that are very bizarre but I have yet to hear that many.
Occasionally there is a car, motorcycle, or truck that passes by our
compound. The road (using this term lightly) is very bumping so you
can also hear shouts of the people trying to hold onto there stuff.
Drums and singing can be heard if there is some kind of ceremony going
on. We heard them last Saturday. In fact, it continued all through the
night. We believed it had something to do with a funeral. A child had
died shortly after it was born a few days before. However, there are
some noises that are familiar to me. Farm animals all speak the same
language. Cows, Chickens, Goats etc. Unfortunately, there is often a
child crying in a nearby home. You can people laughing and children
screaming for joy when they are playing games with us. These sounds
are very familiar to me.
Today was the first day in the clinic. It was interesting and I felt
more of reason of why we were here. It was sad to see so many kids who
were on the boarder of starvation. Also because of sickle-cell anemia,
many people don't have a high enough hemoglobin count. According to
the RN on the team, in the US, if the person has a hemoglobin count of
8 then they are put in the ICU and have a blood transfusion. Here in
Bundibugyo the rules are different. The person usually doesn't have a
hemoglobin count of above an eight. When the person has a count of 8
the clinic will send them home. Scary to think huh? I feel like health
here is an uphill battle and I am only beginning to learn that. Well I
hope everything is going well!

Peace
-J

My First Week!

So we barely made it to Bundibugyo. We had to fly in the rainstorm and the pilot had trouble finding the grass airstrip. In fact, the entire 4 passengers had to look for it.   Our plane was so small that we had dump stuff. Most of my luggage with the exception of the essentials is coming on the plane around July 8. That includes the bigger bottle of sunscreen! It was quite the adventure and tons of fun. It's great here because there are fewer distractions in life. I feel like I am adjusting fairly well. It still makes me sad to see so much poverty. Most kids don't have shoes and live in a mud house that is barely 100 sq feet.  Also it's great because most of the local people will stare at you words of the local language, Lulswi (spelling). Olyao Good Morning, Wasylo Good Afternoon, Makulu How are you/ Mirembe I'm fine. That is about it. Of course I know the word for foreigner because most of the kids will shout it at you when you are walking down the dirt street.  I am hoping that I will learn more of the language as I stay here. The team is great. I love them already. One of girls here lived on my sister's hall her freshman year at William and Mary! I think that is quite crazy that I met this person before. Who knew that I had a connection to someone living in Uganda? The house we are living in is pretty nice.  Running water is available which is a plus. We have to filter it to drink it but that is quite easy.  No toilet but we have a cho (outhouse) in the back. We have to cook and fix meals on a gas stove. Our fridge (big plus!) uses propane to chill things. My roomates are great with the exception of the rats that can come in. So far the insects here are not bad. I have a mosquito net I sleep under at night, which is also a great plus.  So far I have just taken most of the week to get adjusted to life here. Our  regular schedule starts next week. I will be teaching the missionary kids, at local primary schools, working in the hospital and health clinic. Also I will have a cell group and help the leader with the bible study. More is to come!  Lastly, for those who want to send me an email. Please use my gmail account! It is my first name.lastname@gmail.com There is a period between each part of my name and my last name is two words. Thanks! Hope everything is going well.

Peace,

-J

So I decided to be a co-pilot

Hey Guys,

I have to be brief...We finally made it to Bundbiguyo, Uganda. It was
quite the amazing trip. London was fun (9hour layoff). We laned in
Entebbe and took a taxi to Kamapala. Basically, the streets look like
any movie that has Africa in it. Blood Diamond etc. The plane ride was
amazing. I got to sit up front in a five person plane. The pilot (MAR)
missionary was great. He had lots of insight and such. We took off a
dirt airstrip and landed in a grass one. It was so much fun because I
had to help the pilot see the airstrip. It was raining and cloudy. We
couldn't find it for the longest time. I will try to explain more when
I have time.

Peace
-J