2012 August in Gulu, Uganda

I have a story to tell you before I get into my August happenings. One day I saw a group of white people sitting all together at a table.  I was so attracted to them - like a butterfly to a beautiful flower!  I can go for days not even interacting with another white person.  I just wanted to be with them and talk to them.  They were from my own "planet", and I wanted to communicate with them.  I feel I have been living so far away and for so long. I approached these "Earthlings" and introduced myself.  Then something very strange and foreign happened to me; I began to feel very shy and unable to concentrate on my words. I even began to sweat and was uncomfortable. I was nervous around my own people! They asked me what I was doing here, but I didn't use my intelligent words; I mumbled something. All along, I was wondering what THEY were doing here on MY planet. After a few moments they got up to go.  I had mixed feelings. I wanted to stay in their company, to be around people that looked like me and understood what I said, but I was also relieved to be free of their company because they made me so nervous. How can this be when I can sit at a table with local people and laugh, chat their ears off, and tell stories?  I forgot how to talk to Earthlings because I have been on Mars for too long! 

 

Will I ever be able to go back to Earth (USA) and assimilate into a normal life?  Have I changed so much that no one will ever know or understand me again? Have I seen too many sad things, lived around such poverty, experienced too much pain to ever be normal? Have I lived abroad for so long that I am no longer an Earthling?  Am I lost in space?

 

Some of the changes I am aware of is that my heart has had to build a protective covering around it.  It has become harder in order to protect itself.  I don't cry as easily anymore.  If I havent seen the worst, I have heard it.  I don't think there is any place on this earth that has gone through worse than the last 40 years of Northern Uganda.  Maybe equal to, but not worse. 

 

Now onto my life in Gulu for the month of August:

Sharon got new hands in August!  When she was a baby, the LRA shot her mother and father leaving baby Sharon unattended in the hut.  She crawled right into the fire and burned her hands pretty much off.  Through donations from Rotarians, we have paid her school fees and provided her with several prosthesis'.  In January, we enrolled her in Primary Level 4.  She has been promoted TWO levels to Primary Level 6! Way to go Sharon!  She is thriving, happy, chatty, and doing great!  I took reuseable menstruation kits to her and all the other young ladies at her school.  Now they dont have to spend their valuable little money to buy pads.  Every little thing helps.

This is a close up of her new hands.

Dr. Muzira David is the doctor in charge of Sharon's hand prosthesis.  He will also give her physical therapy and teach her to use them efficiently.  

In July, a group of friends and I made the trek into the bush to find the beautiful Aruu Falls.  The grass is stall and the hike was steep!  Here is my friend Stephanie in the tall elephant grass. If I fall more than a few steps behind her, I will lose her for good!

We finally found the top of Aruu Falls, but now we are going to make the climb DOWN to the bottom.  We were hoping to find a swimming hole. 

 This is Aruu Falls.  A hidden gem.  The Niagra Falls of Uganda! It was breath taking!  What a wonderful site and a wonderful day!

In my last blog, I introduced Suzy and her group from African Promise Foundation.  We had visited the Women's Prison in Gulu in July and had promised to return with more needed supplies.  Suzy sent me money from her foundation to purchase 40 new mattresses for them. I used a local friend to help me get the best price because if I were to just walk into a store, my "mzungu" price would be much higher.  

They sent some male prisoners to help carry the mattresses the short distance to the Women's Prison.

Here are 40 new mattresses on the road to a new home. 

The prison officials were very happy to see our gifts.

The women prisoners sang and clapped for us and thanked us for making their lives a little easier. 

On a MUCH sadder note, a good friend of mine died this month in a very unfortunate way. He was poisoned. I was shocked and scared. I am very sad about it.  Life can be very difficult in Gulu, even for those born here.  I have very little experience in processing death.  It's hard to let friends go.... 

 

As for my work with Aid Africa; it continues to go well.  The 2011 audit has come back with a favorable result.  I am currently training someone in the office to take over for me.  My overall work is important and I know I am making a difference.  It's life's daily little things that I am struggling with...