Ngoni from Uganda

Marmite

I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed the Lugbara Enya and beans when I got back here a couple of weeks ago!

Recently I reread an article on some milestones usually encountered in the journey toward authentic cross-cultural sensitivity and understanding; at the time I reflected on where I am on this journey. Now I’m here in the midst of another culture – the only white person for miles – time to reflect again…

The first step is ‘My way is the only right way’. In other words, ‘different means deficient’. I’m definitely past that!

The second step is ‘Wait a minute, there may be another way’. This is when an individual is willing to crack open the door a little and admit we all wear some cultural lenses.

Third step, ‘Oh, you mean there are reasons why people respond differently’. Here you become tolerant and try to be a little understanding.

Fourth is saying ‘It’s OK to be different’. I’ve definitely reached this stage; I have a favourable acceptance and respect for cultural differences.

The last step is appreciation and admiration of the culture. ‘Multi-cultural living can enhance our lives and even be fun.’

Have I reached stage five? Well, I certainly have in terms of food! Still enjoying the Enya and haven’t missed my marmite at all yet!

Termites

This leads into the termites and how I wish my skin could turn a different colour!

The reality with communication here is that the white man is always right and knows the best, even when you know what he/she is saying isn’t the best!

Building is a classic example…

If you take the white man to the markets and he says ‘this is the wood we need’ then this is the wood we use – even if you know that means the structure will fall down in a couple of years time because that wood is a favourite of the local termite!

I Might

Sat in on an amazing seminar the first week I was here – full on 8.30am to 5pm, (which if you’ve been to Africa you’ll know that’s amazing in itself!). A team came from Kampala and incorporated the ‘seven habits of highly effective people’ teachingwith ten other sound principles.  Comments from the team on the last day…’I commit to hard work’ ‘I promise I will transform completely’ ‘I have been a new woman since Monday because we started with forgiveness and I have learnt to forgive’ ‘I will be proactive’ ‘I commit to personal integrity’ ‘I will never allow issues to affect me so that I burst like a shaken Coke bottle’ ‘I will commit to discussing issues until we find a win win solution’One of the sessions was on letting your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no. We talked a lot about communication; both within the team here but also cross culturally.

So this is where the ‘I might’ in the title comes in…

You know how bad we sometimes are of saying ‘Yes, I’ll do that’ then not following through? Well, take how bad we are – multiple that by 1000, and you’re in Africa! The advantage of coming back to the same place time after time is that I’m building relationships and getting a deeper awareness of the culture here. My skin must be changing colour too, at least in a few people’s eyes, because for those few I’m no longer in white woman you say ‘yes’ to when you know your answer should really be ‘NO!’

I hope this means we’re on track towards more sustainability i.e. no more structures threatening to fall down because of termites. (Using termites both literally and figuratively there!)

Now off to email my uncle ‘the metal man’ to get a solution to the literal termite problem!

Barely 20 meters away are two community rubbish bins that the city authorities daily empty. Every hour as the local residences cast their waste out, others scavenge.

One is only a young man, some are middle aged alcoholics, but many more are the elderly trying to make ends meet in their effort to survive yet another year in what is now the poorest country in Europe. I often count six or more homeless/needy people each hour sifting through other people’s trash.

This is happening in one of the better parts of the capital. The further out from the city, the worse it gets. Every week as I get to understand the community around me, my eyes see deeper and I identify more and more suffering. Alongside the flashiest cars that money can buy are many people who barely eke out an existence.

Is this fair? No, but it is the reality in a country that struggles on, 20 years after independence from Soviet rule. Life is slowly improving for this small country, but it still has a long way to go. Meanwhile the hurting and the desperate will continue as best they can – on other’s trash.

The saddest girl I have ever met; I wanted to put my arms around her and cry for her. That was in April.

Today she is missing. Her story is one that can be told all over Moldova. She and her mother have been living on the streets for years. Her mother is a chronic alcoholic who will do any thing to satisfy her addiction. Natalie’s father lives over 100 kilometers away, also an alcoholic. At 17 years of age she has rarely ever been to school and children like her invariably survive by doing anything they can. This usually means menial tasks akin to slave labour, often only receiving something to eat and sleeping in a barn or shed.

No one trusts Natalie’s mother into their homes because of stealing. This is probably not the worst; physical and sexual abuse are more likely to be the norm in order for Natalie to survive. How much more must she endure.

Natalie is one of those most at risk of being trafficked. How can we make a difference in her life? I don’t know. But first we have to find her –  and then understand her and what she might like to do . Hopefully if all goes well the ‘lifegate’ program might be the key for her future.

Last April God spoke to me through this girl and she is one of the reasons that I am working in Moldova. Pray that she can be found, that it is not too late. I believe we all have a responsibility to make a difference in the lives of children like Natalie. If nothing else at least pray for her and others like her.

This is not the end of the story. People are out searching for her…

Chris is in Moldova, Eastern Europe for a few months, helping  set up an agricultural project and micro-enterprise credit union.This week he has been part of a team involved in rescuing three teenage girls from the streets of a Moldovan village. Here are his words…

Running wild and unloved and unwanted, at least by their society. Three of them; one disease ravaged by syphilis, one hiding from an alcoholic stepfather who is trying to sell her to the sex trade, all of them riddled with lice and living on the street.
God’s heart is bleeding for these teenage girls. To Him, they are as precious as rubies.
This is a real situation. These girls are desperate for a long term, loving, nurturing family environment, a safe house, a gateway to a better future. Just this week a group of people have taken these girls under their wing and thus is born LIFEGATE Moldova.
Combining God’s resources of passionate believers of Jesus Christ on the front line and some emergency funds from ORA International, hope is on its way. Long term living accommodation is being sourced in this village at this very moment for six to seven girls. And a loving couple is moving into a God given ministry, rescuing these girls and others from a dark past.
What is the story behind all of this?
How can this happen you say?
It is a story that can be told many times all over in the poorest country in Eastern Europe. Moldova is a country of immense beauty and potential. However, the Internats [orphanages] are being closed down, often literally casting children onto the streets. These children are uneducated, unloved, unwanted and abused, so they easily become victim to the predators of the sex slave trade.
Now is the time for the world to seek justice for these vulnerable children. That is our mandate. Together with people on the front line and our resources we can make a difference. Let us partner and stop this crime. Let’s rescue these children and give them a fighting chance. We cannot conceive in our minds what these children have been through and are going through. Only God can. But we can be instruments of His JUSTICE. We need to make a difference and provide what these children lack. HOPE.
There is so much more to this story but now is the time for us to be a part of the next chapter of Lifegate, a strategy for rescuing children, especially girls, from the trafficking of the sex trade or worse.

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Chris has just come back from a rural market and only found cassava, beans, peanuts and avocados for sale. And he has finally realised the full importance of cassava, why it is such an important part of the diet here. We’ve know for a long time that the nutritional value of cassava is not all that great, and we’ve wondered why on earth it’s such a staple in the diet. The penny has dropped at last! Cassava is important, because during the hard dry seasons it literally keeps millions of people alive when nothing else is available. It is resistant to many diseases, grows all year round, even in the dry season, it can be stored unharvested in the ground for about six months after maturity, and can also be ground into flour and stored for longer periods than other staples here. Just add hot water, stir and eat – with a few beans of course!

The coffee bushes at the ORA base are flowering after 18 months. So the first small harvest will begin in September. Meanwhile, locally purchased beans have just been roasted on site and packaged for our trip to Germany later in the week!

Photos to come!

The main activity for ORA Uganda is caring for sponsored children. The majority of the 114 children on the sponsorship programme are orphans and live with the surviving parent, extended family or caring unrelated families in the community. The other day we attended a Guardians’ meeting. ORA staff took the opportunity to explain parts of the sponsorship programme and to talk about some of the successes of the programme as well as the challenges they face. The guardians both thanked ORA for support and also talked about their successes and challenges. Although most of this exchange was carried out in the local language, Lugbara, I was surprised at how much I could understand as I watched body language, listened to tones and caught the odd word or name here or there. I am constantly amazed as I hear the stories of the children here, and the stories of the (often unrelated) people who have taken them into their homes. One thing came across during the meeting; both staff and guardians want the best for the children and they’re working together to achieve that.

Another day I had a sedate ride on the back of the motorbike to visit a couple of secondary schools. I think perhaps Chris shaking his fist as we drove out of the ORA base, telling the driver to look after his ‘lovely’ (all with a smile on his face of course) may have had some influence on the speed! The children in secondary schools have a reasonable grasp of English as all the teaching is in English; so the conversation was more easily understood! The children and ORA staff relate well; the children share their problems and their triumphs. They have the same issues as young people everywhere, and it’s so great to see them share confidences with the ORA staff. Discretely a child is taken aside for a more private chat, and as always the mondo (one who has travelled far i.e. white!) is asked to speak a few words of encouragement. The children so love to receive letters and cards from their sponsors. Some photos from my previous visit really went down well with all the students at one school!

Sponsorship really does change the lives of these children. None of the families would not be able to afford the fees for schooling, and quite a few of the children wouldn’t be alive without the medical care provided. It’s so cool to be part of an organisation that’s making such a difference.

Photos and profiles of children waiting for sponsors are on ORA New Zealand’s facebook page http://www.facebook.com/oranewzealand

It has been a long dry season. More than three months with no rain. It had been predicted that rain would not come until May, but it arrived Tuesday last week. The food harvested late last year is running out and those who rely solely on the food they can grow in the fields around their homes are starting to run short.

Children from the surrounding villages coming to the ORA Uganda base to play on the playground often glean food from the ORA fields; they may only get one or two meals a day at home during this season. Even though these children look really poorly dressed, it is the norm here for children to have three sets of clothes; their Sunday best, a school uniform, and their play/work clothes, which are often full of holes and dirty as only children can get dirty!

 

 

A video Skype call from a bedroom in Wellington NZ, to a village in West Nile, Uganda, Africa – the wonders of technology. Firstly the thatch roof and latrine in our wee mud brick home here. Then the computer running around the compound and children and adults alike running to see and greet the girls in Wellington. People on opposite sides of the world seeing into the lives of each other and longing to experience what the others do…

Last night I was singing with the kids here on the ORA Uganda base – “Zoom, zoom, zoom around the room”, “Awania” and other songs – when we heard Chris calling out from our small three-room hut, “There’s a snake over here!”

Immediately everyone in the vicinity was running over to find out what was happening. Chris was standing at the bathroom door, shining his headlight (compulsory travel kit) into the room. Some were hanging back from the action, fearful and shaking; the few brave ones pushed into the hut and looked into the bathroom. The consensus was that there was a big snake in there, black and dangerous. All the time Chris was saying, “No it’s just a little one!”

People ran to find the local snake killers. When no one was to be found they got on their mobile phones, relating the BIG snake story. Chris was told to wait for Gasper to return – that he wasn’t far away. Meanwhile someone had given Chris a long and thick stick, and Gasper’s wife Stella was standing outside with another one. Whenever Chris stepped forwarding saying, ”I’ll kill it myself” Stella rushed in front of him with her stick yelling, “Yo! Chris! Yo!” (No! Chris! No!)

I found out that they do have Blackstone available (charcoaled cow thigh bone – extremely absorbent and used to draw out snake venom) but there was much discussion about whether it would work on the type of skin Chris has i.e. his hairy legs!

Eventually, after half an hour,  Chris gave up waiting and rushed into the bathroom and totally over-killed the snake (although he says it wasn’t until the last hit that he got the head). The poor flattened wee thing that emerged on the end of the stick was hardly recognisable as a snake! Even though it was only a couple of feet long they were right about it being dangerous, it was a black mamba.

Another drama over – perhaps still the dumb white fella, but brave at that!

p.s. Tonight I was walking into the bathroom and Chris said, ‘Look out, a snake!” I’m sooo not impressed!

Dubai/Kampala/ORA Uganda Base

We left New Zealand on Sunday evening – two very tired Kiwis – there are so many things to do at home and on the farm before embarking on a trip like this. Our first stop was a 24-hour break in Dubai, staying with a most generous and hospitable Kiwi! Thanks Christine! Ah, the luxuries and opulence; man has taken a desert and created an oasis, both with amazing architecture, engineering feats and landscaping, and with a safe and secure multinational society. What you can do when you have lots of money!

We went to dinner in a restaurant overlooking the amazing Dubai Fountain. There must be several acres of fountain, and every 30 minutes it plays choreographed to a different song. Can you imagine water dancing and waving, with spouts of water higher than you’d have ever seen! It’s such an amazing engineering and artistic feat. The scripture that came to mind was the one about the trees and rocks of the field clapping their hands to praise God! No need to imagine – here’s a link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6-jgoqC4FQ

Even in a society like this there are the underprivileged e.g. immigrants working in construction and as maids. We heard stories from those with a passion for these people, a passion that has hands and feet, and a voice insisting on better living and working conditions for those that don’t have a voice for themselves.

Two hours off the plane in Uganda, we were in a meeting at a babies’ home; beautiful babies, so sadly abandoned. Later in the evening we briefly met and heard the story of a young woman who had grown up in an orphanage and is now the director of a large agricultural project. This is the sort of hope we are giving to the children in the ORA Uganda sponsorship programme. Hopefully I’ll be able to write about some of them over the next few weeks.

The next day, caught in Kampala’s notorious traffic jams and seething mass of humanity, with a taxi driver who did not know where the bus terminal was, we missed the 1pm bus and had to wait for the 10pm one. However the most dramatic part of this whole story is that Chris hopped out of the taxi thinking that he could get to the 1pm bus before it left. Unfortunately he waded in the tide of black masses in the direction that the ignorant taxi driver sent him, and promptly got lost. It wasn’t too hard to find him because everyone kept saying, “There was a white man here.” “There was a white man there.” In the meantime, however, the taxi driver panicked at the thought of losing a white passenger and left the other passenger, that is ME, alone in the taxi with the windows down, the key in the ignition, surrounded by the above tide! After some brief moments during which a few seedy looking characters descended on the poor maiden in her chariot, two shining knights in ebony armour came and stood guard until the dumb white fella turned up.

I had always known that Chris would SO not be impressed to be taking the bus – he’d so much prefer to be fly! But just before he managed to catch up on a few zzzz’s on the bus he commented, “Lord, thank You for letting me out of Kampala!”

To think that only a few days ago we were in wealthy Dubai, and today I sit and write this in a mud hut with a thatch in a rural village in West Nile, Uganda. Arriving here, we brought the first rains since December with us; rain is so important to this people who depend so much on the food they can grow year to year to survive. If the rains failed just once many people would perish. And how can I describe that I feel so much more at home here than I did in Dubai?  I’ll try to do that in blogs over the next few weeks.