Reverse Aid from Africa

A boy from Kanyagoga A village posing for my camera!

Reverse Aid from Africa is the opposite of what we give to them through the many NGO’s and churches that send many different forms of aid to Africa. Reverse aid is what happens to us when we return from Africa. What gifts do we bring home inside of us? How does it change our lives?

Another child from Kanyagoga IDP Camp

I started to travel to Africa in 2007. I noticed upon my return to the U.S. that there were changes, but I didn’t know to what extent. I usually traveled during October and returned in November; the month that Christmas shopping begins. My first sign of change was that I no longer wanted to buy my growing children electronic toys and games that I knew would be discarded within a year. I had witnessed such poverty, and I was almost embarrassed by our excess. So for Christmas that year, instead of buying expensive electronic games, I arranged a vacation for us on another island that we had not visited. We had a wonderful time, including a helicopter ride over Kaui. Instead of more “things”, my family was treated to lifetime memories! A distance began to grow in the way my ex-spouse and I wanted to handle our money. I now wanted to put more aside for traveling to Africa and fund raising efforts to sponsor projects in areas of Africa that I was visiting. He wanted to continue to upgrade our DVD player, get a new flat screen TV, new computers, and buy things. His list of wants was long. I had lost interest in buying things; worldly things. I didn’t even like to waste money on eating out at anyplace more than a sandwich place! I saw money in a totally different way, because I saw how hard it was to live without it. People here often live on 1,000UGX/day, which is equivalent to 50 cents a day. All they can afford to buy is a little bit of beans, some corn flour for posho, a tomato, an onion and some oil. This is their breakfast, lunch, and dinner; beans and posho.

An example of the very over crowded living conditions in an IDP camp.

Clean water is something we all take for granted in the U.S. My next gift from Africa is an appreciation of the clean water coming directly into my home. We don’t need to boil it, or filter it; it is ready to drink! In Uganda, the water is boiled; even the tap water in my home in Uganda needs to be boiled before we drink it. I will always be thankful for the water we drink straight from the tap in Hawaii!

These kids are appreciating the clean borehole water to drink!

I am now more thankful than ever before for many things; my car, electricity, a comfortable bed to sleep in, a stove and a fridge to prepare proper food with, a washer and dryer for faster cleaning of my clothes, all my kitchen gadgets and accessories that prepare food faster, paved roads (that’s a BIG one!), my health and the fact I don’t worry about malaria, worms, and infections, and finally, a proper sewage system that we enjoy in the U.S. (flushing toilets), and proper garbage disposal.

I think the two biggest things I learned here are appreciation for everything I have, and respect for other’s ways and culture. Although I found it difficult, I had to tolerate African time being about two hours late, meetings and ceremonies that were hours too long from speech after speech, and a society that doesn’t believe that women are equal to men, and one that still embraces multiple wives and girlfriends. I usually tried to practice patience, but I didn’t always succeed. There are a few incidents I would like to have a chance to do over again. I would rethink my actions and realize the issue was one of culture. At the time, I perceived something as thoughtlessness, when in fact it was just a big difference in culture and the way things are done in Uganda.

My time here is winding down; only a week left. I will enjoy every hour of every day. Someone told me that once you live in Africa for an extended period of time like I have, that it is very difficult if not impossible to adjust to life in America. Many people end up relocating back to the place they lived in Africa because they were not able to readjust to their life. Will this happen to me? What about Kayla? Life is full of surprises and twists. I know that God brought me here for a reason; I now know that reason. I definitely know that certain key people were brought into my life in Gulu and it has changed me inside forever. I have also crossed paths with many people that I will never forget. I have made new lifetime friends in Gulu, Uganda. I came with a broken heart, and I leave whole again; I was given the gifts of joy, love and happiness. I am now ready to rebuild my life in Hawaii.