This will be a quick one...
Crystal is feeling much better now. She ran a fever for two days but it back to herself. One of our roommates came down with the flu also, she thought it might be mararia, but it wasn't and she is feeling better also.
On Saturday evening it rained. I have never been so grateful for rain in my life! Gulu feels like its about the hottest place on the planet and so when the dark clouds roll in everyone thanks God. We've had some spectacular lighting and thunder displays this weekend, last night was like a light show in the sky...amazing!
This weekend we walked into town to get our bearings. We stopped at the bank, at Kope Cafe for lunch and went by the outdoor market. More about the market later, but lets just say we stumbled into about 50,000 blackened fish with an odor too pungent for words. Where the fish come from I have no idea, they must be transported from quite a distance. And refrigerated? nope. It was before lunch and Crystal almost lost her apetite, I got her out of there before she started dry-heaving. After lunch I took a big breath and headed back into the market for some vegetables but Crystal opted out the the third-world market experience and waited outside.
This morning we took our first boda-boda. That is a cross between a motorcycle and a taxi. He drove very safe--though I think it may have been because his beaten-old motorbike didn't have a whole lot of giddy-up with the three of us on there (surprising considering all the weight we're losing).
Today we spent more time at the Restore Academy, getting to know the kids and hanging out with the faculty--especially Peter, the headmaster. Many more thoughts on this to come...
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
"You are most welcome here"
Being sick far away from home is rough. Crystal woke up this morning with a pretty sore throat. Throughout the day it progressed into quesiness(sp?) dizziness and a fever. Its a little scary when your wife gets sick out in the bush in Africa. We rested this morning and then walked to lunch with one of our roommates where we ordered some much needed american food. I got a "beef burger" crystal got spaghetti. But believe me, whatever picture is brought through your mind right now of beef burfer and spaghetti is not what we got served. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't In-n-out or Buca-di-beppo either.
Crystal took a turn for the worse after ordering so we got our plates to go (they charge an extra 500 shillings for take out boxes--not much motivation to save some in a doggie-bag) and walked 15 mins back home. It felt like we were walking in a giant dusty tanning salon and I have a white-trash tank-top tan that any red-blooded american hick could be proud of.
I talked to a friend in Kampala that is a nurse this afternoon and ran Crystal's symptoms by her for some feedback. She said it sounds like a minor flu that has been going around Kampala, nothing serious. Praise God. We stocked up on the Immodium and the Cipro before leaving thinking that diahrea would be our arch-nemesis, turns out to be the opposite. Getting fiber is near impossible on a diet of white rice and poshu (sp?) an bland pot of corn flower that looks like angel food cake but tastes ironically like a bland pot of corn flower.
Last night we had 16 of the students from the Restore Academy over to the Restore office and held a video conference with 200 people supporting Restore in Washington. It was amazing to bridge the gap across the world. The kids introduced themselves and talked about how much they enjoyed being able to go to the Academy. Before the conference call we all watched the movie "War Dance" which is about a group of students from Patongo (pronounced Pa-Tong) primary school (in an IDP camp) that wins a national music award. A moving picture that I recommend, the kids stories place an unavoidable lump in your throat. It was an honor to watch the film together.
On our first day in Uganda last week we bought a local cell phone. The phone was 45,000 Ush (about $22), then we bought 5,000 Ush of pre-paid minutes to use (ends up being about 4 mintues, "airtime" in uganda is expensive). If you do the math that makes a nice round 50,000 Ush (no sales tax in Ug). I handed the woman 3 bills of 20,000 each and the woman put them in the desk gave me my receipt and moved on to something else as if the transaction were complete. "Umm... lets see, 45,000 for the phone, plus 5,000 for the minutes," I announced, pretending to be doing the math for the first time, "makes 50,000." Studbornly, the woman reaches into a drawer to pull out change as another employee tells her what she owes me. She hands me 5,000 in change and then looks at me. I stared back into her dark eyes without moving the hand that the cash was in. Reluctantly she gave me another 5000.
Today when we were walking back from lunch we passed a late-elementary age girl dressed in school uniform who greeted us with a smile and a hello and then unashamedly said, "You give me money." Not 2 minutes later we passed an older ugandan woman about 50 yards from our house who looked at us and then looked down. As we passed each other she muttered, "We don't need you people here."
How does one reconcile these encounters with the tremendous hospitality that floods northern uganda? Nearly everyone we pass on the streets smiles and every time we enter a room we are greeted with handshakes and the warm greeting "You are welcome!" The nation is abundantly friendly--far more friendly than my own. The teachers and students we have met have embraced us as their own in only a matter of days. We are served tea at every stop and it is always insisted that we are served meals first. We are taken care of and looked after and constantly asked, "How you like Uganda?" The hospitality is overwhelming, I feel embraced by people that are not my own. And yet still I struggle, wondering if we are doing some good here.
Crystal took a turn for the worse after ordering so we got our plates to go (they charge an extra 500 shillings for take out boxes--not much motivation to save some in a doggie-bag) and walked 15 mins back home. It felt like we were walking in a giant dusty tanning salon and I have a white-trash tank-top tan that any red-blooded american hick could be proud of.
I talked to a friend in Kampala that is a nurse this afternoon and ran Crystal's symptoms by her for some feedback. She said it sounds like a minor flu that has been going around Kampala, nothing serious. Praise God. We stocked up on the Immodium and the Cipro before leaving thinking that diahrea would be our arch-nemesis, turns out to be the opposite. Getting fiber is near impossible on a diet of white rice and poshu (sp?) an bland pot of corn flower that looks like angel food cake but tastes ironically like a bland pot of corn flower.
Last night we had 16 of the students from the Restore Academy over to the Restore office and held a video conference with 200 people supporting Restore in Washington. It was amazing to bridge the gap across the world. The kids introduced themselves and talked about how much they enjoyed being able to go to the Academy. Before the conference call we all watched the movie "War Dance" which is about a group of students from Patongo (pronounced Pa-Tong) primary school (in an IDP camp) that wins a national music award. A moving picture that I recommend, the kids stories place an unavoidable lump in your throat. It was an honor to watch the film together.
On our first day in Uganda last week we bought a local cell phone. The phone was 45,000 Ush (about $22), then we bought 5,000 Ush of pre-paid minutes to use (ends up being about 4 mintues, "airtime" in uganda is expensive). If you do the math that makes a nice round 50,000 Ush (no sales tax in Ug). I handed the woman 3 bills of 20,000 each and the woman put them in the desk gave me my receipt and moved on to something else as if the transaction were complete. "Umm... lets see, 45,000 for the phone, plus 5,000 for the minutes," I announced, pretending to be doing the math for the first time, "makes 50,000." Studbornly, the woman reaches into a drawer to pull out change as another employee tells her what she owes me. She hands me 5,000 in change and then looks at me. I stared back into her dark eyes without moving the hand that the cash was in. Reluctantly she gave me another 5000.
Today when we were walking back from lunch we passed a late-elementary age girl dressed in school uniform who greeted us with a smile and a hello and then unashamedly said, "You give me money." Not 2 minutes later we passed an older ugandan woman about 50 yards from our house who looked at us and then looked down. As we passed each other she muttered, "We don't need you people here."
How does one reconcile these encounters with the tremendous hospitality that floods northern uganda? Nearly everyone we pass on the streets smiles and every time we enter a room we are greeted with handshakes and the warm greeting "You are welcome!" The nation is abundantly friendly--far more friendly than my own. The teachers and students we have met have embraced us as their own in only a matter of days. We are served tea at every stop and it is always insisted that we are served meals first. We are taken care of and looked after and constantly asked, "How you like Uganda?" The hospitality is overwhelming, I feel embraced by people that are not my own. And yet still I struggle, wondering if we are doing some good here.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Potholes, Toilets, & Gulu
After arriving at Entebbe Intl Airport and being greeted by John-John, the Restore International driver, we got a quick tour of the city and then stayed with some friends in Kampala. As Crystal hinted at, we stayed in Kampala for 5 days as we adjusted to the new surroundings and slept off a pretty severe case of jet-lag. In Kampala we tagged along with John Neimeyer (with Restore Intl) as he ran errands, had meetings, etc. We bought a local cell phone and groceries and became surprisingly efficient at converting Ugandan Shillings to USD in our heads (about 2000:1).
Kampala is an interesting city, by far what stands out the most is the traffic. I don't recall anything bigger than a 4 lane road and there are no freeways, no lines in the road, only 6 traffic signals in the entire city and no real rules except avoid the potholes and yield to larger vehicles. Kampala was a good transition to Uganda because it is relatively westernized.
On Tuesday morning we left for Gulu around 8am and made our way through kampala with what could be considered light traffic (everything's relative). The roads meander through the country like a highway of swiss cheese, it seems like we were on the right side of the road (which is wrong side of the road) as much as the left. African huts and small towns are scattered across the countryside between bananna trees. If you slow down in any of the towns you are bombarded with salesman pedaling meat on a stick, casava, and roasted banannas (which aren't half bad). At almost every turn there is a brightly-painted building bearing the initials MTN, UTL, or one the other mobile phone networks. Everyone it Uganda that I have come across has a cell phone, but everything is pre-paid minutes so you constantly have to drop by an 'authorized dealer' (or really anyone on the street) and pick up some airtime for 5 or 10 thousand shillings.
We arrived in Gulu around 230 or 3 and met our new roommates outside of Barclay's bank. We got a quick tour of the town (at 3 blocks by 6 blocks pretty much any tour of Gulu would be quick) and then headed 10 minutes north to the house we will be living in. Apparently the house is nice for Gulu standards and its really not all that bad--even considering that the toilet erupted the day before we got there an
d flooded our room shortly after the our door had locked itself shut. Our 10' x 10' utopia marinated in toilet water for 30 hours or so before we moved in. We dropped our stuff off and headed out to the Restore Academy in the afternoon. Classes were out at 5 and the students assembled under the shade of tree where we were introduced and asked to say a few words.We have spent a couple of days at the school and are getting to know a few of the students. We sat in on discipleship class where the Headmaster, Peter, lectured. Peter is an exceptionally gifted teacher. He drew on stories and examples to illustrate the shifting paradigms of the local culture and environment. In the afternoon there was a soccer game about an hour away but Crystal and I were tired and still very much adjusting to our new surroundings and so we headed back to the Restore Office for a little R & R. We borrowed a motorcycle from one of the teachers and after stalling a few times and getting some help from the students (amid healthy roars of laughter) we putted the 8 or 10 kilometers back to Restore.
We have been commuting an hour by foot every morning to the Restore house. Its amazing how great we feel after an hour walk as compared to sitting in traffic for an hour. We do live quite a distance from the office, the academy and town and so we're thinking about how we can solve our transportation woes.
Beyond that, it is hot here! Hot, Hot, Hot. I'm praying for the rainy season to come quickly (apparently it cools down a bit) although that in and of itself with add to the complexity of our transportation dilemma.
We miss you all!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
welcome to uganda!
we have arrived safely in uganda! the country is beautiful ~ green & lush. we are staying with a kind family in kampala while we work out some car repairs and arrange transportation. we have met some great friends already & have visited with ugandan teens in some group homes. we miss you & hope you all are well!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
56 Hours And Counting...!
Hi Friends and Family!
Well the countdown is beginning, in a little less than 56 hours we will be taking off from LAX en route to London and then Entebbe, Uganda. We’re looking at almost 20 hours of flying consisting of two back-to-back overnight flights. Sweet! And while Crystal, being the world traveler that she is, has experienced several multi-day flights across the world, I have never been on an airplane longer than 6 hours at a time.
Five months ago tomorrow was my (Ryan’s) last day working as a Service Center Representative for LPL Financial in San Diego, CA. I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Finance Degree in June 07 and then worked as a wakeboard coach (my third summer doing so) before landing my first “real” job for LPL last fall. I answered phone calls, about 50-60/day for 50 weeks before finally breaking down and giving my two weeks notice on the day the Dow Jones dropped 777 points (September 29, 2008). Terrifying? Yes, who quits a finance job on the brink of a global financial crisis?
Over the next three months Crystal and I were looking pretty seriously at moving to Colorado. I applied to nearly 60 jobs in Colorado and San Diego and Crystal sent resumes to at least a dozen companies. No leads. My only job prospect was a position as a financial advisor with Edward Jones. I went through the interview process, which took five weeks and included going door-knocking in my neighborhood to survey people. I was pretty sure I would land the position based on my degree and experience in brokerage finance, but on Friday January 23rd I received a letter from Edward Jones. The line that stood out the most was, “Although your background and experience is impressive, we have decided to pursue other candidates for this position.” Slam! One door closed. I almost felt a sense of relief, the prospect of having to knock on 75-100 doors a day for the next two years was a little intimidating to me anyway. Hmmm…what now?
At 8am the next morning Crystal had an email from an individual that we had been referred to in Gulu (Northern Uganda) that was looking for roommates. She said she’d hold a room for us and we could move in when we got there in March. One door open. 72 hours later we bought plane tickets from LA to Uganda. After a year of searching and praying for the “next chapter” in our lives, in 24 hours it had become clear.
Crystal gave two weeks notice to the Alumni Office that she would be stepping down as Communications Assistant, and she resigned her position on the board of Professional Women’s Fellowship. We packed up everything in our little backhouse in Ocean Beach and moved out at the end of February. We painted our walls back to white—the brown living room, the red kitchen and the smurf-blue bathroom (which took multiple coats of primer).
Now we each have one backpack and a small suitcase of consumables. I’m bringing 3 pairs of pants, 2 shorts, 4 shirts, a mosquito net, a rain jacket, a small video camera, 3 tubes of superglue, 156 Malaria pills, 75 Clif Bars, and a pinstripe business suit from Goodwill that was $18 including the shirt and tie. That should cover it for about 9 months right?
Thank you all for the tremendous support we have received. We have been prayed for, we have been given checks, hundred dollar bills, boxes of Xperia, old suitcases, books, countless meals, and loads of encouragement. We look forward to taking this journey with each of you by sharing pictures, videos, and stories. We hope you will see Uganda not as a distant place with complex issues, but as a beautiful place with beautiful people who are filled with love and joy. That you would feel like perhaps you have more in common with someone in Uganda that you do with your own neighbor.
We are doing this in order to learn about each other. To experience something extraordinary in our first year of marriage that will for decades be a glue that bonds us together more and more. We believe that Jesus is engaged in a worldwide conspiracy of love and that he is up to something special in Uganda and we want to see what it is. We want to learn to listen to and love people that seem different than us but perhaps are really more similar than we ever imagined. We want to learn to pray. We want to inspire those who, like us, are as average as can be but have big dreams. Go! Do what it is that is on your heart to make a difference to someone somewhere.
Well the countdown is beginning, in a little less than 56 hours we will be taking off from LAX en route to London and then Entebbe, Uganda. We’re looking at almost 20 hours of flying consisting of two back-to-back overnight flights. Sweet! And while Crystal, being the world traveler that she is, has experienced several multi-day flights across the world, I have never been on an airplane longer than 6 hours at a time.
Five months ago tomorrow was my (Ryan’s) last day working as a Service Center Representative for LPL Financial in San Diego, CA. I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Finance Degree in June 07 and then worked as a wakeboard coach (my third summer doing so) before landing my first “real” job for LPL last fall. I answered phone calls, about 50-60/day for 50 weeks before finally breaking down and giving my two weeks notice on the day the Dow Jones dropped 777 points (September 29, 2008). Terrifying? Yes, who quits a finance job on the brink of a global financial crisis?
Over the next three months Crystal and I were looking pretty seriously at moving to Colorado. I applied to nearly 60 jobs in Colorado and San Diego and Crystal sent resumes to at least a dozen companies. No leads. My only job prospect was a position as a financial advisor with Edward Jones. I went through the interview process, which took five weeks and included going door-knocking in my neighborhood to survey people. I was pretty sure I would land the position based on my degree and experience in brokerage finance, but on Friday January 23rd I received a letter from Edward Jones. The line that stood out the most was, “Although your background and experience is impressive, we have decided to pursue other candidates for this position.” Slam! One door closed. I almost felt a sense of relief, the prospect of having to knock on 75-100 doors a day for the next two years was a little intimidating to me anyway. Hmmm…what now?
At 8am the next morning Crystal had an email from an individual that we had been referred to in Gulu (Northern Uganda) that was looking for roommates. She said she’d hold a room for us and we could move in when we got there in March. One door open. 72 hours later we bought plane tickets from LA to Uganda. After a year of searching and praying for the “next chapter” in our lives, in 24 hours it had become clear.
Crystal gave two weeks notice to the Alumni Office that she would be stepping down as Communications Assistant, and she resigned her position on the board of Professional Women’s Fellowship. We packed up everything in our little backhouse in Ocean Beach and moved out at the end of February. We painted our walls back to white—the brown living room, the red kitchen and the smurf-blue bathroom (which took multiple coats of primer).
Now we each have one backpack and a small suitcase of consumables. I’m bringing 3 pairs of pants, 2 shorts, 4 shirts, a mosquito net, a rain jacket, a small video camera, 3 tubes of superglue, 156 Malaria pills, 75 Clif Bars, and a pinstripe business suit from Goodwill that was $18 including the shirt and tie. That should cover it for about 9 months right?
Thank you all for the tremendous support we have received. We have been prayed for, we have been given checks, hundred dollar bills, boxes of Xperia, old suitcases, books, countless meals, and loads of encouragement. We look forward to taking this journey with each of you by sharing pictures, videos, and stories. We hope you will see Uganda not as a distant place with complex issues, but as a beautiful place with beautiful people who are filled with love and joy. That you would feel like perhaps you have more in common with someone in Uganda that you do with your own neighbor.
We are doing this in order to learn about each other. To experience something extraordinary in our first year of marriage that will for decades be a glue that bonds us together more and more. We believe that Jesus is engaged in a worldwide conspiracy of love and that he is up to something special in Uganda and we want to see what it is. We want to learn to listen to and love people that seem different than us but perhaps are really more similar than we ever imagined. We want to learn to pray. We want to inspire those who, like us, are as average as can be but have big dreams. Go! Do what it is that is on your heart to make a difference to someone somewhere.
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