Adopting Families

Our first experience in Africa was really being immersed in the drama of International Adoptions.  We didn’t intend to be in that position, but because the guest house we stayed at was housing so many adopting families, it just worked out that way.  We learned so much and have such a great respect for people who have been called to adopt.  This commitment to adopt a child from another culture is an amazing thing.  I have to admit that I don’t feel that call on our life, but to witness it changed my heart.

I did not realize the sacrifice that it takes to adopt.  One family has been delayed in the process for many months and has many more obstacles to overcome before they will be able to take their child home.  So what this means is that they are basically trapped in Africa.  They can’t leave without their new child and they can’t go home because the paperwork isn’t complete.  They endure being separated from their children and spouses back in America because of the love and commitment they have given this new child.  This story is common.  There are the occasional cases that go smoothly, but so many don’t.

The governments in Africa operates much differently than they do in America.  You have to remember these are “developing” nations – which basically means that they just don’t have their act together quite yet.  Filing systems aren’t the same, expectations aren’t the same, the addage “time is money” means nothing there.  No one wants to accept responsibility and so the addage “pass the buck” reigns!  It is simply the reality and there isn’t anything you can do about it as much as it grinds against our “American way”.

So those families who have made a commitment to adopt a child from one of these developing nations are saints in my book.  Not only are they opening their home, their family, their heart to a child that was born of another, they are opening their lives up to trial and difficulty that they probably would never have imagined.  But after meeting the children who benefit from this commitment I understand why they do it.  The children are just wonderful and so deserving of a loving family.  We met some of the darlingest kids that I will never forget.  I found myself, at times, being envious that God had called them and not us, just because the kids are so amazing.

If you know of someone who is adopting, please remember to pray for them.  They will need it!  They are becoming lifetime missionaries in a sense as well as living out the example set before us in that we have been adopted into the family of God ourselves through the sacrifice of Christ.  Adoption is such a beautiful picture of sacrifice and redemption.  It simply amazes me.

 

How we ended our trip

So we saw the hippos on Lake Awassa.  It was fun going out on the boat, but I have to admit, seeing the hippos was pretty anticlamatic for some reason.  I guess we were just too far away and the boat driver wouldn’t get any closer.  I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.  So, no matter!  It was a nice time anyways and I did get a few pictures.

Sunday morning Guy got to share at “English” church.  English church is a service that is held every other Sunday in Awassa.  It is basically for the missionaries in the area, since most services are in Amharic.  This gives them a chance to fellowship in English.  They take turns having different speakers, so there is no one pastor conducting the service.  Guy did a great job bringing a message about serving the Lord in love.  Rachel did a fantastic job leading worship!  I loved it!  I guess I was due for a little “English” church myself.

We invited our friends the Ayele’s and the Munson’s (the folks we are staying with) to dinner after the service.  Then we went home and packed up our stuff to prepare for the long journey home.  Our journey home included one little detour however.

I have to tell you this little story.  When we decided to go to Ethiopia for this trip we knew we wanted to go to Awassa, but we also wanted to visit our friends in Burayu.  Unfortunatley we were not able to connect with anyone in Burayu before we left and so we just didn’t have any way to make it all work – no place to stay and no driver.  But I just couldn’t shake the desire to see our friend Pastor Amanuel while we were in Ethiopia.  So one day (it was the day we saw the hippos) we were having lunch at this beautiful resort and a familar face walked past us.  I couldn’t take my eyes off this face because he looked so familar and he too had his eyes fixed on Guy and I and then it hit us both – Dawitt!  Dawitt was our driver the last time we were in Ethiopia.  I had tried to email him, but did not get a reply – and there he was – in Awassa, in the same resort.  Well we had hearty greetings and were both pretty surprised.  He was busy with clients, but we got his phone number, just in case he could help us with directions we’d need to give our driver in order to get to Burayu (no one in Awassa knew of the place) on our way to Addis before we flew home.

We found out later that our driver wouldn’t take us to Burayu so we ended up calling Dawitt and he magically arranged for a driver to meet us in Addis and take us to Burayu and then to the airport.  I know the Lord arranged all of this!  So we did get to visit Burayu and our driver knew right where the church was.  We went to the church and within 10 minutes Amanuel was there to greet us.  We explained that we only had a few hours to visit, but we managed to see Amanuel’s wife and daughter, tour the new training center for pastors and evangelists, tour the school and the new church building.  We were impressed with the changes we saw in the town and in the growth of the church.  God is doing an awesome work there.  We were blessed to see a few old friends and have a chance to bump shoulders and exchange greetings and then just like that our time was up and we were off to the airport.  I still marvel at how that all worked out.  God is so awesome!

 

Awassa

So Guy and I have spent the last couple days “exploring” Awassa.  We leave the house we are staying at and trek up the road into town.  Sometimes a Bajaj will stop and we ride a ways, but we never really know what to tell the driver, so there is often a lot of confusion and I’m sure we usually overpay for short trips to the wrong place – oh well, whatever – it’s all totally fun anyways!  Yesterday we used a little map that our host had made and that helped us get around a little better.  She recommended an Italian restaurant in town for lunch and we actually got a driver to take us right to the front door.  We sat outside and had a leisurly lunch.  They served perfectly cooked pasta that was sooooo delicious.  I even had dessert after.  It was like a gourmet meal and it cost us all of about $10 for both of us including drinks.  As we sat there we could just as well have been sitting at a restaurant in Maui.  It was amazing!

We wandered around town for a couple more hours and even found ourselves in an alley or two.  We high fived each other that we were walking in alleys in Africa.  I know I know – it sounds silly, but it’s braver than you think.  We were supposed to be at the orphanage at 3 and found ourselves just a little bit lost.  Of course the bajaj driver had no idea what we were talking about when we said the “secret code” that we were told would take us to the right neighborhood that the orphanage was at.  So we hopped in anyways and by the grace of God pointed our way right to where we needed to be.  More high fives!

We spent a couple hours hanging out with the kids and babies.  Oh my goodness!  They are the darlingest kids you’ve ever seen.  They are so loved at Ebeneezer Grace Children’s Home.  So loved!!  We spent a little time all together, praying for the kids, the mamas and the orphanage.  It was a great time!

Then we headed back to our house and that evening a bunch of folks came over for “movie night”.  There was Christmas music playing, cookies baked and kids and parents and friends piled in for a great time of fun and fellowship.  Everyone was a missionary of one sort or another with amazing backgrounds, educations, and stories about their journey that lead them to Ethiopia.  I have to admit, I felt a bit unworthy to be in their company, but it was a real blessing all the same.

We are just getting ready to head out for a “fun” day (as if everyday hasn’t been a “fun” day)!  We are going to rent a boat and see hippos on Lake Awassa!  How fun is that?!!?

 

Awassa Ethiopia

Sorry about the delay in blog updates.  We flew into Addis Ababa Ethiopia on Sunday and was greeted by the Ayele’s (our missionary friends that we have never met).  It was great to finally meet them in person.  They are the reason we made the trip to Ethiopia.  We spent one night in Addis and then drove to their hometown, Awassa, in the morning.  . . . . another long day driving in Africa, ughhhggg!!  We are staying with friends of theirs in a beautiful home – we hit the jackpot here!  It’s better than the Hilton anyday.  We don’t have very convenient internet availability though which is why the updates have been sparce – sorry.

We have spent the last couple days visiting orphans, visiting widows, recovering from malaria (Guy), eating odd food, and having a good time with new friends.  We’ve been stared at, begged from, heckled and loved.  Awassa is a really cool town, especially for being in Africa.  It’s like the Ashland, Oregon of Ethiopia except they don’t speak English like they do in Uganda.  It’s a separate and distinct culture from the sub sahara region of Africa.  In some ways it’s better and in some ways it’s not better – language and food are more challenging, but the crowds and roads and available transportation are much better and everything is a lot cheaper (well almost everything).

We are looking forward to spending a day on the lake and hoping to see some hippos.  We’ll try to fill you in on that before we head home.  There is so much more to say, but it’s just not convenient to get it all in on a borrowed computer/internet, so we’ll try to post more after we get home.

God bless you all!

 

Sixty Feet Visit

Deb and I just returned from Mokano, a two and a half hour drive from Kampala. We got a call last night from Kelsey, a Sixty Feet volunteer from Florida who has been in Uganda since August.  She arrainged a home meeting with a young girl we sponsor. She arrainged for a driver to pick us up at 8 am and said it was a short trip to her home. Wow what a break, we got a driver paid for and all we had to do was travel. You see in Uganda that is a short trip, it’s the road and traffic one has to deal with. I joked with our driver Frank that Ugandan drivers won’t tell you the truth about how far or long the trip will be. Its always “its just over the next hill, or only about a half an hour” after you have been in the car for hours. Anyways we finally drove thru the three foot grass in the middle of the driveway and the holes you could lose a trash can in,  (did I mention we went the whole way with a spare tire that looked like a bicycle tire?) and came upon a delightful colonial home. An elderly Uganda gentleman met us as we exited the vehicle amidst groans and sighs (I’m old) and showed us into a type of sitting room. Kelsey accompanied us with her sister and three children, who were saved from dire straits, and we all sat very formely in this plantation type house. I half expected Clark Gabel, most of you wont know who that is,to ask us on safari. Anyways we learned that thru Sixty Feet that this man and his wife were the great uncle and aunt to young Claire which we were about to meet. I almost went into my favorite Colombo routine because Claire had not appeared yet. Then she finally entered the room.  What a beautiful youg lady. Her story was tragic and now thanks to obedient calls on their lives this  14 year old girl has a sure future. She had been ignored after the death of her father by an angry step mother. This turned into severe abuse and eventually placement in a child prison. The unwanted children in Uganda can be victims of the most heinous behavior by neglectful parents and officials.  Her family had no idea that Claire was in this position until Sixty Feet informed them. They were all for her living with them and raising her.

Her great uncle is an educated man and we all spoke excitedly for over an hour and a half. The discussion centered around politics and the future of Uganda and her people. Africans are savvy to global polotics and even our driver, a graduate in statistics, bent my ear. Then amidst the discussion Claire brought in African tea and chipatis (a tradtional Ugandan dish – like a fluffy tortilla) to our delight. She served it (very British) and then proceeded to sit with us. We presented her with a  Lugandan Bible that Tom Young pulled out of his hat the night before to our delight. The whole day was so typical of life here. You never know what you will encounter. What started out for me as a ‘here we go again’ ride turned into a beautiful day of fellowship and life changing experiences. Deb and I will keep in touch with Claire and her family and 60 Feet to see how they are doing. The last thing Claires great uncle said to us was “we greatly appreciate your help but we dont expect it.”  What a wonderful thing to say.  As we left the village the children flocked to the roadway to wave and yell “muzungo” at us as we headed for home.

 

kampala

Well hello everybody! Were back in Kampala where we first stayed when we arrived on Nov 13th. Were resting up waiting to leave Sunday afternoon for Ethiopia.This is home base for our future travelers to Uganda. Yes those of you who feel the nudge to step out of your comfort zone and see how the rest of the world is living, Deb and I are setting up the logistics and lines and contacts to make your visits seamless. Thanks to Tom Young and others we can get you from Sisqiyou county to Uganda and the mission field or just visit without a hitch. We can talk about it when we get home. There are so many things I could write about and tell you all but suffice to say it has been well worth it.

One cannot describe Africa without hearing, smelling and breathing it. Pictures wont do it justice. There is an earthiness, a viceral connection that brings one back around to yourself. When you played in the dirt as a kid, when you heard thunder for the first time, your first cut, your first kiss. Africa is sensual, perplexing, disturbing, surprising, comforting. Africa dosent make sense until you stop trying to figure it out. You know that whole circle of life thing, thats it.

I could go on and wax poetic but I will save you the experience. Enough already.We are staying with families here that are trying to adopt. I have never been around people more commited and long suffering. The process is gruelling to say the least. They persevere because they know they are the only ones who can save the life of this child or take a horrible situation and bring healing to it. The orphanages we have visited are run by saints, I had no idea of their commitment. Day in and day out they are there for the kids who get thrown away, unbelievable.I cant think of a harder place to help children. The culture of Africa is broken. It just is. But God in His mercy is working here thru a body of believers and volunteers saving one person at a time. What brings people to Africa? Simple its the children. They are a magnet for anybody. You cant help but love them.The African smile is like no other.If you want to stay young and slim come to Uganda.Between the kids and the food you cant lose. Shalom for now.  – Guy

 

Africa

Hi Folks just a few comments on Africa in general.After settling in now one gets a deeper view and perspective of the people and culture of Africa.There seems to be  a sense of community here a togetherness I have sensed here in Uganda and in our previous visit to Ethiopia. A community feel we perhaps had in the U S during our struggling early years. The years of colonizatrion here although in most aspects help build the infrastructure [roads bridges schools communication churches etc. have led to a convoluted dependency. I would compare it to adolescense. The sense that we know what we want but not really sure how to get there from here. I never realized the role model  we in the U S play here. The people here really look to the west for leadership role models and especially the Body of Christ ie the Church!Where do I get this idea?Having had many conversations with our drivers as we tour Uganda. They all expressed a hope in the church and in the U S. They all believe that the U S is this land of riches and wealth where everybody is rich and happy sort of a shangra- la.Truthfully it is in a material sense.  Life for the most part is brutal here. Its like camping out for the rest of your life. There is a sobriety a awful awareness that this is as good as it going to get for most Africans.Thats where the Church comes into play. To help but not to produce dependency.There are many ngos here [non govermental agencies] but I dont see that as the ultimate solution. Its the same problem we have in the U S with our welfare system. The culture here is to seek for help rather than for help to originate from within. But I belive that might be changing with the huge influence of the church and the teaching of the scriptures. Ugandans, Ethiopians and Africans in general are tired of the status quo. Their seems to be a growing desire to do it Gods way. The greatest need I see here is LEADERSHIP. Not helping hands but African hands. I have never seen such a desire for leadership not dictatorship. The word of God is the greatest factor  in changing Africa. So come on Church lets dig in and pray for the church here and support them as God changes Africa from within. After all were all in the same family. Shalom from Jinja,

 

 

The Nile

WOW what a day in Africa! Deb and I went  (along with our driver Dayo(sp?)) went to the head waters and the source of the Nile! You enter in your car like our national park system to a gate and a small building and a sort of park ranger comes out and you have to pay an entrance fee. They charged us white people 12000 shillings each and our driver, a native, 2000 shilling. 26000 shillings is about  11 dollars us. Then we drove about 300 yards and spotted the Nile. Awesome!  In fact Lake Victoria is the source of the Nile. We paid 200,000 shillings (apx $80) to a tour guide to take us out on the water for a little over an hour. We went along the shore to see all the wild life. Huge birds and Heron and kingfishers and other exotic birds dotted the shore line and also an occasional lizard. The vegetation and trees were absolutely remarkable, green, green, green. Some of the birds had blue and red beeks or were completely white. The current was strong and the boat [large canoe] had difficulty at times with the rapid current. The Nile is different than our rivers I mean this is the river Moses drifted in. Our guide gave us all the info about the river and such. It takes 3 months to get from here thru the Sudan, then Egypt and then its final destination the mediteranean sea. There were fisherman on the river throwing out nets just like the time of Jesus. There were communities or villages along the shore line going about their lives unconcerned about the Muzungu [foreigners]. It was a moment in time I shant forget. Then when we exited the large wood canoe there were soldiers and police around the area for some political rally or speech or something. We left not wanting to be involved in the gathering- that’s Africa things can change quickly.

 

Gulu Sunday

Sunday we went to Pabbo, which is a village that used to be an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp. Jerry and Candis would minister in the IDP camps early in their ministry here in Gulu. Where we went this day was the village of one of their staff named Charles. Charles works with children and is an amazing evangelist. They picked us up at our hotel about 9:30am and after buying gas we were on our way. We headed out of town on the road that will take you to South Sudan.

We passed a lot of trucks that were going or returning to Sudan with supplies. One thing about the situation with Sudan is that many NGOs are setting up camp in Sudan and they come to Gulu to buy supplies. Now from an American point of view that would seem like a great opportunity for capitalism, but the result for the people who live in Gulu is short supplies on basic needs and high inflation. So the quality of life goes down. Pretty ironic huh? The NGOs are coming to “help” but they are really causing harm here.

Anyways back to our adventure. I know I’ve mentioned that the roads here are bad. Well I didn’t know bad roads until this day. The entire road was either completely washboard, potholes or something worse than a pothole and I wouldn’t even know what to call it. It was so noisy the entire time as the van shaked and rattled. So they have a ‘thing’ here in Africa – about every half hour or so the host will tell you “we are close” and then after about another half hour they say it again, “we are close now”, and this continues on and then they might say, “It’s just past the next few hills”. Apparently they don’t want you to get discouraged by telling you that it will actually take about 2 hours to get where you are going. You learn early on here to stay flexible and not get upset when things don’t go as you expect – because they will NEVER go as you expect.

We did finally arrive at the turn off to the village. Waiting by the side of the road were about 10 children. They waved and clapped and did their little African screaming thing they do. Then they all piled into the van and immediately started singing. Now when I say they started singing I’m not talking a sweet little childrens choir type singing. This was LOUD!! I mean REALLY LOUD! Pour Guy! He even tried putting his head out the window, but there was just no help for it. They just have the pipes for it, like nothing I’ve ever heard. And they praised the Lord the whole way to the village.

The “road” to the village wasn’t a road at all. It was a walking path, but Jerry just drive right through. Through the grass and bushes, over the tree roots bumping and singing all the way. We thought the village would be “right there”, but again it was “just a little bit further”. Whoa! What a ride! When we did finally enter the village it was a few cement huts with thatched roofs and the people were all outside waiting to greet us. There were about 20 people in this village. That’s all.

Church here is very informal. They prayed and then Charles introduced Jerry who shared a short message about God. He is so great at it, so enthusiastic and the people loved it! Then Candis shared. She talked about loving the children as Jesus did. She’s a natural! We could tell that both Candis and Jerry were in their element. This type of outreach is what they love to do and it showed. Then it seemed like a good time to sing a song, so Charles pulled out his guitar – an old nylon string with half nylon and half steel strings on it, and we sang. Then they invited Guy to speak and he shared from the word and shared his testimony. Then it was my turn (I was completely unprepared – hadn’t even thought about sharing) so I prayed and shared my testimony as well.

Then Charles invited the people to share if they wanted to. An older lady stood up and shared how her husband was a pastor and there was a white man that used to visit and help them, but when her husband died he stopped visiting her. She was obviously hurt and bitter about it, but she wanted to return to the Lord. Then another man rose his hand and said “because of what I’ve heard, by the end of the year I will become a Christian”. Candis spoke right up and told him that the bible says not to wait, that today is the day of salvation. So there was a spontaneous altar call of sorts and the woman and this man came forward and knelt and we started to pray for them and then another come up and knelt and another and another! It was such a blessing to see these people who have so little decide to put their trust in Jesus.

And then we sang!!! whoo! did we sing!! The only fomality of the day was that we were invited to eat. It is awkward because we are the only ones who eat, but it is their custom. They finally eat too, so that made us feel a little better. It was good food – cooked cabbage and cooked greens and posho, which is like a corn porridge that is thickened to the point that you cut off slices of it. I was so thankful they didn’t serve meat!! As it is Guy and I both have a little instenial trouble this morning . . . oh well, what do you expect? It was definetly the Lord’s day! Makes me tear up just recounting it. ah, but then I remember the drive home . . . yikes!!

 

Gulu 4

Everything in Africa is hard!  I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, but I want you to know just how hard things are here so that you would know a little better how to pray.  I think I caught strep throat a couple days ago, so I haven’t been feeling too good and I can hardly talk and sleeping is rough.  Thankfully one of the new missionaries here is a doctor and she was able to get me some penicillin, but I still haven’t really started to feel any better yet.

We have gone for three days with no water coming out of the faucets.  It is a little frustrating because we spend our day doing so many things and being around children and they are so dirty (bless their hearts) and so you are dirty and sweaty all the time.  When you come in for the night you want nothing more than a shower and there is none to be had – only a jerry can and plastic tub.  And no, you can’t flush the toilet without water, so this is the routine – pour water into the plastic tub, wash up, dump the dirty water into the back of the toilet and repeat that with every washing and then when you “have” to flush the toilet you can.

And the electricity is out more than it is on.  Thankfully the hotel we are at will run their really big generator (which is right outside our room by the way) and we can charge batteries and stuff from about 6pm-midnight and then again for a couple hours in the morning.  The lighting in our room is very dim, so even when the lights are on it is so frustrating trying to “see” – like when you need to dig through your bag to find something you just get so frustrated because it’s not bright enough.  And the electrical outlet endures these power surges so it buzzes and crackles and then you have to monkey with the cord in order for the power to come through smoothly.

Oh and let us not forget the mosquitos and the mosquito net.  Thankfully we have gotten this routine down pretty well, but still!  You get so tired of getting up at night to use the bathroom (because you’ve drank so much water all day) and having to slip under the net and then slip back into the net and then re-tuck the net into the mattress so that the mosquitos don’t fly up and under the net.  Apparently they are really attracted to our carbon monoxide and especially to the smell of feet!  So I always try to wash my feet before bed and I wear heavy socks.  I’ ve been bit quite a bit, but not at night – which is when the “bad” malaria mosquitos tend to bite.

And there’s driving here.  You just can’t imagine worse roads.  Our bodies are constantly being jostled and bumped and jarred.  I can’t imagine how the vehicles survive here.  You HAVE to have 4wd or you just won’t be able to really go anywhere.  Once the rainy season is ended they will repair the roads, but there is not sense doing it before then because the rain will just wash out the repairs.  There are only one or two paved roads here.  The rest are all dirt and they are full of pot holes at best and creeks at worst.  It’s really just hard to describe to be honest with you.

This is what the people here have to deal with everyday and even more.  Sometimes the town will run out of gasoline.  Sometimes the UN or other NGOs will come into town and buy up all the food and supplies to take to Sudan or the Congo and then it creates inflation and food shortages.  It just goes on and on.  I have so much respect for the people here, especially the missionaries who have a choice to leave and they don’t.  I have been humbled by their dedication to these people!  May God bless them!