Final Countdown

Our fourth place finisher in the 10Km race, Felix. Seeing the kids giving everything they had at the finish of the longest run of their lives was enough to almost bring me to tears. I felt like a proud parent must feel.

This, sadly, will most likely be the last time you will hear from me in Ilula. One week from today, I will be leaving Ilula early in the morning for Nairobi, where I will then catch a short flight to Maasai Mara for a brief safari experience in what I am told is the best game reserve in Africa. After that, it is back to Nairobi to spend time with my friend and see what he is doing with an NGO centered around microfinance and small crafts production. I am also hoping to spend a couple days in Mombasa with some friends I met in Nairobi the first day I arrived in Kenya, who are involved in microfinance and education. Following that, since I got an essentially free stopover in Europe on my flight itinerary, I will spend a few weeks with my Aunt and Uncle, who live in Brussels, and with my mom and another aunt, who are making the trip over. While there, I will speak with a group of children about my experiences, and also visit some organizations based in the area. As you can tell, even though the official “work” of my journey is within a week of completion, the learning experiences will continue until I return to Seattle on June 18th, when the real work begins. This is consistent with a twofold lesson I am constantly trying to teach the children, which is to never stop learning and always allow God to work in and through them, the two of which go hand in hand. Every single day presents many opportunities for both, and how we respond to those opportunities affects the course of our lives and those we come in contact with, whether positively or negatively. Such lessons are not easy to communicate to anyone, let alone children in their second language, but I think they are really starting to understand what I mean.

The opening coin flip of the afternoon football (soccer) competition between the families at the home.

As for the past week, it has been very busy, but very productive. The race and sports day was the main focus of my time and energy, and it went off without a hitch on Saturday. It was another example of doing something seemingly minor that is received as something quite major. Apparently this was the first organized road race in the area, which is unbelievable to me since this district is where the majority of elite Kenyan runners come from. We ended up having a local restaurant sponsor the race and provide free lunch to everyone involved, and even a television station come to cover the whole event for their evening news program. To motivate the children and provide living examples of the dedication and commitment I have been preaching, I invited a few top level local runners to come run the course before them. The kids were so impressed and encouraged by them, and even the men themselves were appreciative of their first opportunity to race in their own community. In total, we had 32 children run 4 kilometer and 10 kilometer races, many of whom realized that day that they have a real talent for running. Our top finisher in the 10 Km race, a 14 year-old, ran an impressive 37:58, just five minutes behind the top senior level runner. There were many people from the community who came out to see what all the madness was about, and ended up staying to support the children. We even had a physiotherapist and massage therapist, who has worked with the national running team the past two Olympics and world championships, on site to provide medical attention and massages to the exhausted finishers. After the race, of course, we had a typical Kenyan ceremony, which means it was way longer than it needed to be and filled with way too many overly dramatic speeches. During the ceremony, each finisher was honored and received a certificate and a new pen, and the top three finishers in each race received slightly bigger prizes. All in all, it was a huge success, which provided the means for many children here to discover their abilities and/or enjoyment in the sport of endurance running. They are already saying it will be an annual event that will grow to involve children throughout the entire community, and even competitive senior runners. At the consideration of all of this, I would have to say, “Mission accomplished.”

A hard fought volleyball game between families at the home.

The next week looks to be very busy for me as I go through the standard last week conclusion activities. I will be visiting many homes to meet family members and share meals, and of course we will continue running in the mornings, as even more children are excited about doing so after watching the event on Saturday. In order to keep the kids on track and motivated, I will put together a training program for them to use in my absence. Next weekend is the much anticipated wedding that I have been waiting for the entire time I have been here. I know that I will get to be there and treated as family, so I will experience it as authentically as possible. After spending the past nine weeks here as part of this huge family, I am finding it difficult to leave everything and everyone behind, but that is the nature of this journey, as I have learned at least twice along the way. Each time I have left one place or another, I have felt a huge sense of disappointment and sadness, but also a lot of excitement for the coming of the next stage. This time it feels a little different, as it now seems that I am leaving behind the entire journey and looking to the next stage as reentering the familiar life I used to lead. Who knows how that life has changed since I left I left it nearly a year ago, and how exactly I have changed during the same time period? So I find myself stuck in between the excitement of return to familiarity and highly valued relationships, and sadness for leaving behind the incredible experiences and new relationships that have represented the past nine months. I guess that really isn’t too bad of a place to be stuck, huh?

Any time I am with the kids, they grab onto my forearms and do a pull up, waiting for me to twirl them around.

I had a really good thought the past few days in relation to the above. When I was finishing university, I got the standard question of what I was going to do next as much as anyone else did, and I finally got so tired of answering it that I just decided I would tell people that what I was going to do next was love people and learn about the world. As I thought about that the other day, I realized that I have been doing just that, though I never imagined it would be in this context. To me, that is the beauty of applying the twofold lesson I spoke of. If you are always learning and always available to be used by God, then you will find yourself enjoying many situations and experiences that you would never have been able to guess for yourself. Last week, as I was eating recently slaughtered goat liver, kidney, and intestines with one of the fathers at the home, we had a conversation about living authentically when travelling. He told me that he really hates to see Wazungu (white people) come to Africa and only live in a way that is comfortable by their standards, and so he was pleased that I had lived like one of them for the past couple months. I told him it would have been a waste of time and money to do otherwise. With that said, I still am in a position where I know that I will be here only temporarily before moving on, back to “real life.” The entire time I have been here with the kids, I have not been able to really conceptualize that this is their real life; it isn’t a summer camp or boarding school. I keep imagining that they get to call or email their parents every once in a while like I do, but they don’t have that luxury. A lot of them do not even know their biological parents, and so their parents are here with them and this is their real life, and the same is true for each of their 90 siblings. Part of me is very sad for them when I think about this, but when I consider the alternative, I can’t help but smile and be thankful on their behalf.

My little buddy, Joshua, and I hanging out in the dairy during milking time. This was the first time I held him without him crying, “Mama!” I think it is only because he was more scared of the cows than he was of me.

I am trying not to become too reflective too early, but repressing my undoubtedly overly reflective nature in a transition of this magnitude is not easy. I have had just enough experience as this point to understand that bigger and more important transitions will come in my life, but this one is the biggest to this point, so I need to deal with it accordingly. Either way, I think I should be ready for culture shock when I get back into the developed world and everything that comes with it. So, farewell from Ilula; thank you for your support and attention the past 9 months, and I look forward so much to seeing you all in a couple months. I will write when I can from Nairobi and Europe, but otherwise, be good to yourselves and those around you.

Wild Times

My camping spot the third night, at Murchison Falls National Park. You can see how close we were to the Nile River, which offered a wonderful soundtrack of wandering hippos throughout the night. Don’t worry though; our campsite had a guard with a spear for any overly curious ones.

The past couple weeks turned out to go much differently than I had anticipated, but I couldn’t be happier about it. I ended up going to Uganda a week earlier than planned so I could join my friends on a camping trip they had planned over the Easter weekend at Lake Albert, in the western part of the country. So just two days after returning from Kamwago, I was again the only Mzungu on a full bus, this time traveling west through the middle of the night. My bus left at 2am, the implications of which offered a lot of excitement, fear, and fatigue. Soon after finally falling asleep while weaving through deep ruts and potholes, I was abruptly awoken by the rush of people exiting the bus at the border crossing. I followed suit and made quick work of the Kenya side of the border, but that is where it got interesting. The distance between the migration offices of the two countries is about a kilometer, which must be walked through pseudo jungle and across a muddy bridge over a small river. Dealing with immigration already feels like a bad DMV experience, with money changers and others trying to take advantage of me or get their hands on my passport, but add a 4am unguided walk through a jungle with sporadic guards donning fatigues and AK 47’s, and you feel your fight or flight mechanism kick in pretty strongly. I also got a tutorial in African corruption when I was forced to pay off the Ugandan immigration officer just to get my visa. I resisted for some time, but finally decided, in order to get to my bus before it left, I would give him the extra 500 Kenyan Shillings he told me I needed to pay him “to cover exchange rate fluctuations.” I walked outside, already feeling defeated, and took a nice look at a brand new Mercedes that I was sure I had just partly funded. If I wasn’t worried about getting arrested or missing my bus, I would have done more to not play into this activity, the principle of which is a major contributor to conditions in this region. I guess the immediately important thing is that I got back onto my bus and made it to Kampala about 6 hours later with all my belongings.

The shore of a small fishing village near our camping grounds at Lake Albert. Water really is life for these people, and Lake Albert provides all they need to survive, as you can see by the countless fishing boats and women carrying water for their families in jerry cans on their heads.

I met up with my friends, Gerry and Claudia, at their office briefly, before taking a taxi back to their house for some much needed rest. That afternoon we were on our way to Lake Albert in Western Uganda, by way of Hoima. We met up with their friends, Steve and Jo, and their kids, Hetti and Jemima, at a hotel in Hoima for dinner and a good night’s sleep. I must have been absolutely exhausted, because I slept through an attempted break in at the hotel, during which the guard shot a few rounds at the intruder. No one was hurt during the incident, which we guessed was the result of someone seeing our cars, packed full of equipment, pulling into the parking lot. After a quick breakfast the next morning, we were on our way to Lake Albert to camp for a few days. I am used to camping in thick forests in the Northwest, with deer and the like, not in a savannah in Uganda with baboons, monkeys, gazelle, and crocodiles. Waking up the first morning and finding a large baboon sitting outside my tent as I unzipped the door was a quick reminder of where I was. We spent a couple days at this campground, mostly just relaxing and going out for bicycle or SUV game drives. On Easter Sunday, Gerry, Claudia, and I decided we would head for Murchison Falls, a few hours North of where we were, for one night to add some variety to our camping experience. It was here that I got up close and personal with Africa. We camped in a small field, literally 100 meters from the mighty Nile River, which is home to thousands of hippos, crocodiles, buffalo, elephants, wart hogs, and so forth. I went to sleep that night listening to the calls of feeding hippos, with no idea how close I would be to them the next day. We woke up early the next morning and quickly packed our gear and ate breakfast, so we could make the not-so-quick drive through the mud to catch a boat tour of the area. The three of us got on a small steel boat with a guide and set out to see the surrounding wildlife and natural beauty, including Murchison Falls, a waterfall of nearly 150 feet where the huge Nile River is forced through an opening of just a few meters. We came just about face to face with several hippos, crocodiles, and elephants during our three-hour journey, and also observed buffalo, water buck, hartebeest, cobb, wart hogs, and various beautiful birds. There were many points where I was sure we were going to have to use the life jackets as hippos approached, and I think we also narrowly avoided a charge by a huge female elephant with a couple babies in her herd. After the boat ride, we crossed to the other side of the river for a quick game drive, during which we saw giraffes and even the elusive leopard, among many others, on our way out of the park and back to Kampala.

The camping crew at the vista right next to our tents at Lake Albert. It was on this wall that I was startled to find a huge baboon upon exiting my tent the first morning.

Once back in Kampala, I got down to business and spent a lot of time riding boda boda’s (motor bike taxis) all around town to interview experienced relief and development professionals. I met with many high-ranking UN employees, including Gerry and Claudia, whose interviews were probably the most enlightening, as well as directors of a few UN partner organizations. I asked many questions in reference to their specific programs, as well as general questions about poverty and development programs, which led to hours of very meaningful dialogue about different approaches and theories. I don’t think I have had the chance to process everything that was discussed as yet, but it was so valuable for me to discuss such topics with very educated and experienced individuals. What was so nice, and honestly a bit unexpected, was that all of the people I met with not only had a wealth of academic knowledge on the subjects, but they had vast and varied experiences in the field. Making a list of the countries these people have worked and lived in, and the projects they have been involved in would take too long, but they cover every inhabited continent and every major crisis of the past decade at least. Talking to them confirmed the importance of my current journey, as a lot of my conceptions about poverty, or its alleviation, were way off base in certain contexts. There are certain principal truths that seem to apply regardless of the implications of location, but the practical application of such truths must be very carefully considered based on many differing conditions. I know that statement is very vague and probably quite obvious, but I am learning so much about both sides of it, and am not prepared to comment on specifics at this point. The most pleasing aspect of this experience was that I got to spend time in a professional setting with very intelligent and experienced people. The past seven months have been spent almost entirely in the field, which is crucial, but combining that experience with some stimulating academic conversation on the subject will not only make my understanding more complete, but will give me a more profound appreciation for my overall experience and the people I have shared it with. I discovered throughout the past week just how passionate I am about poverty alleviation and eradication, as I thoroughly enjoyed talking about it and thinking through the challenges it presents, and felt so invigorated whenever I left an interview.

A view on one side of our boat as we were literally surrounded by huge crocodiles and hippos that were only a few meters from us, and coming nearer. Our guide turned off the motor to allow them to approach, much to our concern.

I couldn’t have asked for better hosts than I had in Gerry and Claudia during the week I was with them in Kampala. Their house is beautiful, and they essentially gave me free reign of the place while I was there. They gave me a key to come and go and I pleased, and kept the refrigerator, an appliance I am not used to using, fully stocked of delicious foods to satisfy my every impulse. We hung out together when possible and enjoyed many flavorful dinners together on their veranda, and Gerry and I even got in a couple tennis matches at the Sheraton near their house. All that to say I lived like a king for the past week, especially compared to what I have become used to. Now, as I return to Ilula for the last two weeks, I am very refreshed and focused to make the most of it, for myself and for the people here. The kids are all excited about the 10km race we have coming up on Saturday, and there is still much more for me to learn just through spending time with the children and parents. The children came running and yelling my name as I walked over to greet them after my return last night. Honestly, nothing makes you feel happier and better about your efforts than a group of smiling African kids.

A refugee camp in Northern Uganda, which houses thousands of refugees who were displaced by the violence in Sudan. The tiny huts went on forever into the hills behind.

I hope you are all enjoying some nice spring weather in your respective areas of the world; be good to yourself and those around you.