April 1 2007: See You Again, Africa

Here it is... the last update
I absolutely cannot believe our time here is over, we've broken down crying at least once a day this past week at the most random times. Even writing this i'm beginning to get emotional, but i know this for certain -- not coming back is not an option. Africa has stolen my heart, and livened passions and dreams i never knew i had. My soul is heavy with the fear of being just another volunteer, another person that came and went, someone that will let Africa, Uganda, and the little faces that have changed my life, become a memory. Because these people, these hearts deserve more, and the experience I’ve had here has shown me that. These people will not just slip into the background of my mind, but firmly hold their place in the foreground impacting the things I do every day.


Shane, the director of Come, Let’s Dance, came in two nights ago, and it’s been so helpful being able to process through our successes and failures, our frustrations and joys of these past three months. Her words of encouragement, her dedication to these people, and her listening ear has given us so much closure for this particular trip, and inspiration for our next. The fact remains though that we will miss so many things here:

TOP TEN LIST OF THINGS WE’RE GOING TO MISS
(Not in order of importance)
1. Rolex’s… Chapat’s (crepe type tortillas) with fried egg, cabbage and tomato served burrito style with our own personal addition of hot sauce. The stand is 100 meters from our house, and they cost 500 shillings (28 cents). It’s perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

2. Boda Boda’s… Our choice of transport as long as they don’t rip you off too much for being white. They’re motorcycles/moped type things that weave in, out, in front of, behind, on curbs, in grass, and in-between semis as you sit lady like on the back of it. It’s a thrill every time you get on one, especially through Kampala traffic, which you can only imagine if you’ve seen it.

3. African time… 4:00 pm really means 6:00 pm, and everywhere in-between. Things that should only take thirty minutes take the whole day, 15 minutes late is early. Ok, so maybe I will miss that more than Susan, but it’s taught us so much patience, how to just go with the flow, and enjoy each and every moment whether it’s how we thought it was going to be or not.


4. The Pure Randomness… We’re not going to be in another music video any time soon, or find ourselves having dinner with Mr. Uganda. We won’t be in car accidents that get resolved by the driver just paying off the very angry official, play in waterfall pools off Mount Kilimanjaro, raft the Nile, or take crazy two day trips to Rwanda. The sense of spontaneity and adventure that continually knocks on our door is something that we’ve cherished so much.

5. Our Hill… So not really ‘our’ hill, but our house is at the bottom of a very long, at points steep hill amongst many other families, and houses in our village. Everyday we have to walk up this monstrosity that we often complained about at least once day. But along the way we are greeted by kids playing with tires and sticks screaming “See you mzungu!”, a family of chickens that we’ve seen since they were hatched, the bull and goats that live across the orange-dirt road, and our numerous friends that excitedly shout “Nicole, Suzie, how are you!?” and just as excitedly shout “welcome back” when we come back home.

6. Matatus… the public transportation, Come, Let’s Dance owns a taxi (minibus that seats 14) so everywhere we’d go with the kids we’d take them in this taxi, but instead of 14 we’d seat 36-40. Don’t ask me how, but we’d do it. Those taxi rides were always the best, with at least three kids on top of you, and constant chatter and singing and laughing. The stares from all the people on the road were always fun too.

7. The sayings… Don’t worry, we’ll give you earfuls of them when we get home, but Ugandan’s have their own special way of speaking English that makes us smile all the time. Things that people sing, or phrases that people use that are so cute, and so unheard of in America.


8. The boys… David, Deo, Wilfred, Philip, Ben, Wilson. The people that have made our trip possible, and not only that, but made it incredible. We’ve built such strong, and meaningful relationships with each of them. We’ve heard their stories that made our eyes leak, and jaws drop, and had the privilege of watching them live their lives that rocked our very world. Words cannot express how much we will miss them.


9. The kids… obviously, and most importantly. The kids that have made our arms ache on days we don’t get to hold them, the kids whose dance moves have reshaped my own, the kids whose laughter and joy give us hope. There are no kids like this in the world! We were able to see other orphanages and work with many other kids, but there are none like these. Maybe we’re biased, but that’s the way we see it, and it’s good that way. God gave us hearts for these kids, and parts of our hearts will always be with them. We will miss the rush of kids jumping and grabbing us until we fall over when we walk in the door, the kids who are too cool for school to show how excited they are to see us, but know exactly where they’re running when they fall down. We’ll miss the little hands we get to hold everywhere we walk, and the excited giggles when we throw them in the air. We’ll miss the evenings doing nothing except for cuddling one of them as they fall asleep in our laps, and the snot, urine, and dirt that cover us every time we leave. We’ll miss them, and who they are, the little things that make each of them special, and the little things that have made us fall in love.

10. Africa… As a whole, as a continent, as an experience. This place has shaped our lives in ways we didn’t expect, and has thrown us into an adventure far beyond our greatest imaginings. We will just miss this place, because it is Africa, because it was a dream of ours for so long that became reality.

So there you have it, and it is officially all your jobs back home to comfort suzie and I through our mourning period! We will be home on Thursday night, so we will see a bunch of you this next weekend, crazy stuff. Our adventures are by no means over, and our plans to return here will probably start as soon as we get home. We’re still doing tons of stuff with Come, Let’s Dance, just on American soil for a while, we’ll keep you posted on the new projects, and we’ll finally be able to send some pictures! We love you all, and we’re so thankful that you were on this journey with us.

Nicole and Suzie

March 25 2007 As the Days Dwindle

Wow... we can now count on two hands the remaining days we have in Africa (ten!). We're trying to emotionally process everything about our trip because when the inevitable time comes that we have to leave, we want to be at least somewhat prepared for it. It's not going to be easy, but what makes it better is knowing that you all await us at home.


This week Sue and I set out again on some travels... this time to Rwanda. We packed in the dark (our electricity has been very scattered lately) and boarded a night bus at 3am to take us with nine of the people we have been working with to a conference/Wilson Bugembe concert (by the way, the music video we're in has been airing on several different television stations, and all the time we get asked on the street if we're the mzungus in the Ugandan music video) It was so much fun travelling with our Ugandan friends, even at 3 in the morning on a bumpy, hilly, cliff ridden bus ride.

Many people are still very uninformed about the happenings in Rwanda in spring of 1994... I was until seeing the movie "Hotel Rwanda" but here's a brief history if you didn't know. (it's from wikipedia.com)


"The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass extermination of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu Sympathizers in Rwanda and was the largest atrocity during the Rwandan Civil War. This genocide was mostly carried out by two extremist Hutu militia groups, the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi, during a period of about 100 days from April 6 through mid-July 1994. Over 500,000 Tutsis and thousands of moderate Hutus died in the genocide,[1] with some reports estimating the number of victims to be between 800,000 and 1,000,000.[2]

In the wake of the Rwandan Genocide, the United Nations and the international community in general drew severe criticism for its inaction. Despite international news media coverage of the violence as it unfolded, most countries, including France, Belgium, and the United States, declined to intervene or speak out against the massacres. Canada continued to lead the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). However, the UN did not authorize UNAMIR to intervene or use force to prevent or halt the killing.

The genocide ended when a Tutsi-dominated expatriate rebel movement known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, overthrew the Hutu government and seized power. Fearing reprisals, hundreds of thousands of Hutu and other refugees fled into eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Ethnic hatreds that fueled the Rwandan Genocide quickly spilled over into Congo, fueling the First and Second Congo Wars. Rivalry between Hutu and Tutsi tribal factions is also a major factor in the Burundi Civil War."


I highly recommend the movie "Hotel Rwanda" to really visualize the horrificness of the events that occured there. In fact we visited the hotel the movie is based on during our short two day visit. Upon entering Rwanda a strange feeling filled our hearts and it lingered there for the duration of our stay. We were encountering a generation of people that have lived through things we can't even imagine, and as we visited genocide museums, mass graves, and just sat and listened as people told their stories it forever impacted the way we look at the hardships we encounter.


Unbelievable stories of women who held their children as they were hacked to death by a machete, people who were forced to kill their loved ones, and then be tortured and killed themselves, children who watched their parents die terrible deaths, and now are orphans with scarred memories. Not one person in all of Rwanda escapes the effects of that brutal extermination, all have friends and family that were victims, and murderers. We attended a church in a village just north of Kigali, the capital, and were overwhelmed with the open arms that accepted us... These people were incredible, they gave us everything, from places to stay, to food, to tours, to an image of what it truly means to be joyful. Lately I feel i've let my heart become hardened by the different cynicisms I've developed, and the Rwandan people
inadvertenly exposed that in me, and it drove me to my knees. I have absolutely nothing to not be joyful about, and these people have everything to be resentful about... and we'd somehow switched places. Those two days in Rwanda brought down walls Sue and i have been building for a lifetime. Walls of cynicism, pain, callousness, selfishness, and resentment, walls that had the right to be demolished, because there's no need for them in the all encomapassing joy of our Lord.

Our last night we ate dinner with much of the congregation and as we concluded our time together, we prayed over our journey, and their church, and we ended by singing "Because He Lives" acapella, and the sounds of those voices will echo through my thoughts for years and years to come, and the tear stained eyes that sang them will be impressed on my memory for just as long. We took another bus home early yesterday morning, and Sue and I processed through our experience in that beautiful country with beautiful people, and even more beautiful souls hoping to return as soon as possible.

As the days dwindle, we look forward to the conclusion of our trip, and the things the end has in store. Look for at least one more update, and then look for us at home :) we love you all very much.
Because He lives,
Nicole and Susan

March 14 2007: Long Awaited Update

Hello all,
We're so sorry it's taken so long to finally write to you. I wasn't able to use my computer for a while, and then we didn't have power in Nansana for a few days so we didn't have easy internet access, and then I tried writing this e-mail not once, not twice, but three times, and each time my computer at the cafe shut down as i was typing and i lost the whole e-mail! I apologize in advance for this is going to be a very fact-based e-mail, because i don't have very much time today... but so much has gone on, and we want to update you!

We made it back from our trip in one piece, learning so many things, and severly intensifying our travel bug. Kenya and Tanzania were incredible, but we were heartsick for Uganda. While we were gone so many things happened. There was a fire at the little kids house, and luckily no one was hurt, but most of the clothes, and shoes for the school uniforms, and everyday wear were completely ruined. The landlord wasn't sure of the cause and is now kicking us out of that house. All the kids have already moved over to the older kids house just down the main road, but we're having to move out of that house as well by the end of march. It's such a huge let down, because we just bought the land next to the little kids house and built a fence, a chicken coop, and had plans to build a playground there. Everyone still has high hopes for whatever comes next, in fact we've already found a new house, and started renovations on it this week and it's exciting to see God provide, but it's disheartening to see kids who have nothing lose even more.
On the night we got back from our trip Susan's camera was stolen, so all our pictures from the first half of the trip have been lost, but there are worse things that could happen. And this week, Peter Maloney, Susan's super brother came to the rescue by giving her another digital camera when he came to visit on the way home to America from Iraq. Yay for Peter!

Last Friday night Sue and I took all the little girls back to our house for a girl's sleepover. And in life, I've come to realize, there are successes and failures. This was a failure. I mean our intentions were great, but some things just don't turn out like we want them to. The night started out fine, we left the house Mom's behind, taking care and responsibility of the kids for the first time on our own. We walked from the older kids house to the guest house, where we stay, with 14 girls between the ages of 4 and 11. When we got there we danced, played games, got popcorn and settled down for the night to watch the movie Save the Last Dance. Settling down did not occur, and the 5 mattresses we laid side by side in our living room to sleep on didn't exactly encourage keeping quiet. In close proximity for long amounts of time little kids hit, pull hair, tease, mock, and yell at each other, and Susan and I don't speak their native language, so the words "stop" and "no" at midnight when we're all laying in the same room in the dark didn't go too far. Eventually after some water, some strategic separation, and goodnight kisses and hugs the girls fell asleep. Sue and I looked at each other relieved, and laid down in our places. I happened to be sharing a mattress with three other little girls, and Sue with two. Within a half hour a running water sound and a strange smell awakened me. I looked around and realized Hannah had wet the bed next to me. She just continued sleeping, and I figured we'd just worry about it in the morning. A half hour later the same thing happened, and it happened again and again, we tried to get some of them up and to go the bathroom, and when we'd finally get them into the room they would just squat and pee on the floor, so we would clean that up and try again, but it was useless. These girls wouldn't wake up, or cooperate in the anti-bedwetting campaign for anything. Apparently the dinner that they had earlier wasn't settling well in some of the stomachs and so on top of the pee we had to help with…. well you get the picture. Sue and I were finally able to get a little bit of sleep on the urine infested mattresses at about 4am, but Joann, who was sleeping next to me changed positions every fifteen minutes, usually involving an appendage of hers on my face or neck, so i didn't exactly sleep.

At 6am all the other girls woke up, and started yelling at each other because of all the susu (pee) and taking off their clothes because all except a remarkable 5 wet the bed. We got up and started washing all the girls which was very wet, and slippery chaos, and then dressing them in makeshift pillowcase/sheet skirts and dresses, it was quite a sight. We walked all the girls back to their house, and realized that it was never supposed to be the best sleepover ever, or anything close to that. Falling half asleep to the rhythmic breathing of 14 little girls who completely have our hearts, and waking up every fifteen minutes to see their angelic faces was amazing beyond words. And the fact that they peed on us all night long, made us realize that we've fallen more in love with them than ever before. That night with all the mistakes, and mishaps we were exactly where we were supposed to be.

Sue and I started teaching in a school in the Katanga slums every morning from 8 til 10. The school is about sixty kids in two rooms, in a shack type building, with dirt/rock floors, with stick/cardboard walls. There are three easel chalkboards which the lessons are written on everyday, and the kids copy down the lesson into their pads of lined paper. There are not enough desks, chairs, pencils, pencil sharpeners, or teachers. We've developed a semi-good balance with teaching, and helping, but it's so hard because so much time is spent disciplining the kids, and copying things on the chalkboard. We absolutely love it though, despite the difficulties.



Again, sorry it took so long to get an update out, but you'll get at least two more before we leave. only three more weeks exactly before we board a plane back home. crazy how time flies. We've loved our time in Africa so much with every success and every failure, but we know that at the end of the day we're exactly where we're supposed to be and that's enough. We love and miss you all!
Nicole and Susan

February 17 2007: Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Hey-o !
Right now Sue and I are in lovely Mombasa Kenya... All the kids went back to school at the beginning of last week, so Sue and i took the opportunity to do some traveling. Last Thursday we packed our lives into backpacks and took a bus from Kampala through Nairobi to Moshi, Tanzania. We stayed the weekend marveling at amazing Mount Kilimanjaro. We were able to do a short trek up to the biggest waterfall on the Marangu trail and climb and swim in one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. From Moshi we went to a small coastal town in Tanzania called Tanga, our room had an incredible view of the Indian Ocean. We spent Valentine's day in Peponi, which in Swahili means Paradise, and it was just that... crystal blue water, white sand beaches, exotic plant life... it was truly unbelievable. We spent the day lounging around, reading, talking, and processing our experiences thus far.

Then we sat on the beach watching shooting stars in a galaxy we felt we hadn't even seen before. I can't even do those stars justice in my simple explanations of them, but it restored me to such a new humility at how absolutely small i am, and how absolutely short my life is. Sue was holding the sand in her hands and watching it blow away, and she said "it makes my heart glad to know that God knows the number of grains of sand on this beach." There's such joy getting lost in something so much bigger than yourself, and we were both so lost in the sand, in the stars, we're lost in Africa, and in this world, but it's ok because God knows the grains of sand, the lives of the stars, the blades of grass, the hairs on our heads, the number of our days, and we don't have to figure it out. We have comfort in the fact that God knows, and we know Him, so we can stay lost in His vastness forever. These nights of traveling, and meeting insanely great people from around the world has instilled a new found peace, and wellness of soul that send us spiraling to whatever comes next. We head to Nairobi for a few days tomorrow to spend time with Damaris the Kenyan recording artist who stayed with us, and then back to Kampala. You'll get more details later, but we don't get internet access too often on the road. It has been a while since you've gotten an update, so we wanted to say happy valentine's day (late i know) and that we love you all so much. Hugs and kisses!

Nicole and Susan

February 5 2007: Catch Up Time

Oliotia! (hello to you) This e-mail will be a compilation of short stories just to catch you up on some things that are going on!

We've been all over the country side outside Kampala and seen some pretty devastated areas. One of the boys (the pastors or the house dad's) will inform us they need to borrow us for a little bit, and we'll be all over the place meeting kids and families that might be taken in to the kid’s home that Come Let's Dance helps sponsor, going to pastor's conferences, and meeting crazy travelers and aid workers from all over the world. Here are some stories from the last few weeks…

Sofia
We stood looking at coloring books, cheap crayons, and biscuits (cookies, if you’re in America) wondering what a girl who lost her ability to walk would appreciate most.

We finally decided on the book with the big happy safari animals and numerous word searches. We walked through the open rusted gates for our first visit to Mengo hospital. It’s supposed to be one of the nicest hospitals in Kampala and we were disgusted but not so surprised to find that “nice” in America and “nice” in Uganda did not mean the same thing. We walked along the sidewalk that weaved around the different run-down buildings; the birthing center, the new patient center, the terminally ill center. As we walked through some of these buildings we found most of the patients on their deathbed, people didn’t come here to get well, they came here to die. Doctors don’t wear gloves or wash their hands. IV’s are hanging from rusty nails in rotting wood on the wall. Syringes and other items that should be kept sterile are piled without containers into cabinets. Visitors have their soiled sleeping mats on the ground next to the patients’ cots, and sleep under the cot during the night. It was awful. We finally came to the pediatric center, where
Sofia, the object of our visit, was.

Sofia is about eight, has brown wondering eyes, and a shy smile. She had gotten a cut on her knee a month or so ago and it wasn’t taken care of properly so it got infected. The longer the cut went without treatment, the farther the infection spread. Until something completely preventable turned in to paralysis. The mother couldn’t afford hospital treatment so little Sofia’s legs were just left to decay and become useless. Some volunteers from Chicago that left just before we arrived were informed of the situation and immediately put forth the money and effort to bring Sofia to a hospital. She’s been there ever since.
I’ve since thought about how if those people hadn’t brought her to a hospital, Sofia would have become one of those PBS documentary children: begging on the street surrounded by flies, crawling with her hands, as she drags her body and limp legs behind her. Even at the time of our visit her legs still looked awful, her knees had swollen to twice their normal size, and down to her ankles they looked like sticks. She won’t be able to walk for at least another six months. We stay with her, coloring, laughing, talking, smiling until the doctor arrives and says they have to drain the fluid in her knees. Sofia loses the color in her face and her eyes leak a few tears as she thinks of the pending pain. She closes the coloring book and hugs it tightly. I’m not quite sure what the fluid drainage entails, but my heart sinks as the doctor tells us that she isn’t allowed any pain medication during the procedure. They have to do this at least once a day. My thoughts race to find the optimism in the situation… at least now she’ll be ok right? The current pain will lead to walking again right? All of these procedures will work out, and she’ll still get to have a childhood right? But we don’t know, and we can’t do anything about it. I’ll watch all those PBS documentaries differently now, I’ll look at the blind, lame, diseased people I walk past everyday differently now, it all could have occurred from the completely preventable. All of Africa suffers from an infected cut that goes untreated.

Internet Lessons:
We took all the older kids, half on Thursday and half on Friday, to an internet café to teach them how to use a computer. It was crazy how all except a limited few had never worked on them before. We could barely even teach, because Sue and I have grown up with computers all our lives, so we forgot to tell about things like handling the mouse (double clicks and such), the space bar, and how to make capital letters. But we had all the kids set up an internet account on Yahoo and write their first e-mail. E-mail really is a wonderful thing it's unbelievable how connected it makes the world. Most of them wrote an e-mail to Shane Gilbert our American contact who is the director of Come Let's Dance. Some of them remembered e-mails of old friends that have since moved away, and were absolutely ecstatic to communicate with someone they thought they had lost forever. We hope to be able to take them back this week so they can check their e-mail, and get a few more pointers on how to use a computer.

Swimming:
On Saturday we took almost all the little kids swimming. Imagine 36 people in a taxi built for 14, it was nuts, and they sang the whole way. Susan and I just looked at each other and laughed, and we both had one of those moments where we sighed with joy at how there was no place else we'd rather be. We got to the pool and decided the swim lesson should be floating on your back. So we took 5 at a time trying to teach them to stay afloat, but most of them even though they could touch the bottom with ease were scared to death and clung to us for dear life. After we had done our best with all the kids David declared that everyone could swim and all the kids went screaming and jumping in the pool. It was so amazing to see all the kids get comfortable in the water and begin not crying when Sue and I threw them in. Sue and I weren't expecting to be out in the sun as long as we were, and even though we put on sun screen it didn't help me out much. I am peeling severely as I write this email, but it was so worth it!


Love, love, love:
Suzie (that's what everyone here in Uganda call her, isn't that cute?) and I have successfully made it our first two and a half weeks here, it's unbelievable that it has only been two and a half weeks, it feels like a lifetime. We've already had our share of building relationships with incredible people, amazing memories, homesick stomachs, and disappointments.

There was something in the air the other day, and we both felt it. It wasn't until we went to bed that night that we really talked about it. We were both in a way slightly discouraged, neither one of us have ever done anything like this before. We've gone different places on vacation, to travel, to visit family, to work with teams of people, but we've never come to a place with the intention to help and have no idea how. All the other trips kind of like this that we've been on have been mission trips with pastor leaders and schedules and months of planning. We have to come up with our own ideas of things that we want to give these people whether it is supplies, labor, or skills. We need to plan it, and we need to make it happen.

Writing it now makes me excited, but we figured out that the discouragement was stemming from the fact that we're also scared. We're scared that we won't make a difference, that we'll get lazy and nothing will get done, that we're just another group of people that will slowly fade out of their lives because at the end of the day we're still going home. And as we were talking the conversation slowly took a turn. We were never called here to change the world, we're not super amazing people with the capability to really even help out here. The only thing we can do, and that we have unlimited ability to do is loving God, loving these kids, and loving each other. But even though love is the reason why we're here, it's one of the only things in which we won't be able to see its effect. We won't be able to measure how much we loved someone or the difference that it has made. I don't know if it's an American thing or a people thing but we all seem to be very end result driven, we want to know that we've accomplished something, see the outcome, and reap its good feeling benefits, and we've come to the conclusion that that may not happen. We might not ever be able to see if we did anything of lasting importance here, and we have to decide everyday that that has to be ok. because whether we see it, or we don't, whether we get good satisfied feelings, or we feel useless. loving someone is always worth it. So as we continue to learn, our hearts continue to break, our spirits continue to be humbled, and our lives continue to head in directions we don't expect. we know that we are together for a reason, and that we are here to love. when it's hard, when we don't have to, when we feel we don't have any left, and when there's absolutely no evidence that we're doing anything at all.
Pray that we find direction, and that discouragements never get the best of us. You are all so wonderful!
Nicole and Sue

January 28 2007: MTV What?

Hey everyone!
Sometimes our internet availability is unpredictable, so we'll continue updating you as much as we can!

Monday was a day going nowhere fast, we had been warned many times before leaving the US that Ugandans if not provoked to do anything will do nothing. all day. I wasn't completely sure of this until it happened. Monday morning we woke up early, because we were supposed to go to a meeting at 9 with Wilson and an assistant of the first daughter of Uganda. After the meeting we were planning on going into Kampala, and then going to play with the kids until dinner. We didn't get picked up at 9, but Deo called at 10 and said that he would be there to get us in twenty minutes to bring us to Wilson's house. Twenty minutes in African time (or Nicole time, Sue has come to calling it) really means an hour. On this particular Monday even African time was slower than usual. At 11:30 Deo came in, and we waited around for a little bit more. Deo told us that we were going to Wilson's house to meet him, and then we would go from there. We were a little bit skeptical of this plan, but it was already in motion, so we just went with it.

When we arrived at Wilson's house there was no Wilson. Apparently, he had gone to the meeting without us, and hadn't communicated this to anyone. But Deo informed us that he would not be long, and that we were just going to wait for him, because he wanted to see us. So we sat, and sat some more, ate a chapat (a tortilla thing), and sat some more. Deo put in a dvd of some of the Ugandan gospel artist's music videos. One of the artist's was Damaris a girl from Kenya who stayed with us at the house where Susan and I live while she was recording her new cd. Wilson hadn't made a music video yet, but Susan and I set our hearts on being in his video whenever he made one. Wilson finally arrived at 2 and when he got there we still did nothing. Finally at about 3, Wilson said he was supposed to be at another meeting at 3, so we got in his car and started driving. Sue and I didn't know if we were going with him to the meeting, or to lunch, or just for a drive. By this point we didn't know anything that the day had for us. We don't even ask questions anymore because we know we're going to get dragged around regardless.

So we dropped off Wilson's car at the shop because apparently it wasn't working, and then we got a taxi, and we drove around Kampala. We made 3 random stops where we got out, walked around and got in another taxi. We mentioned briefly that we were hungry, so we stopped again, walked around and looked for a restaurant. Finally after much debate we chose one, and sat down. After we finished lunch Ema, the taxi driver, pulled up with tons of the older girls from the older kids house, and shouted at us to get in. Very confused at how everything was coming
together Sue and I got in the taxi, and all the girls were dressed the same.
We finally ventured to ask, "what are we doing!?" Wilson in his goofy way slapped himself on the forehead and said "I forgot to tell you, we're going to make my music video, that's my appointment!" Sue and I excitedly looked at each other, and asked simultaneously "do we get to be in it!?" "I would be honored" he replied, as we excitedly squealed.

We went to the music studio, and met the producers and directors of the music video, and waited around a little bit more. When we left the studio we anxiously asked where we were shooting, but no one seemed to know, so we got in the taxi again, and just started driving. The shooting happened to be 2 hours away through a place even the kids we're working with called the ghetto.

Anyway, we start going up a mountain (large green hill really, although they call it a mountain) on a road, no I wouldn't call it a road. It was more like a path, but barely, and Susan and I just looked at each other and laughed, because we had no idea how this huge taxi now with 18 people and video equipment was going to make it up this "mountain". We go as far as the taxi can take us, and were told to get out and hike to the top. At this point, Sue and I felt like we had pretty much wasted an entire day. Even though we were promised a place in the music video the way the day was going we weren't even sure if that was going to happen. We hiked together and we reached the top laughing at our current circumstance, and we were still laughing until our breath was taken away.

At the top of this very large green hill we were able to see all the other very large green hills of Uganda, the tall grasses, thousands of trees, and the surrounding villages. We were close to the clouds and the birds. It was the cool of the evening, and a light mist surrounded the tops of the trees, and the lilac sky was as far stretching as I have ever seen it. Susan and I just looked at each other and sighed knowing that even if we just turned around and went back home, after that view, our day had not been wasted. This mountain belonged to a village called Jinja Kolooli, and the villagers all stared strangely at the people who came with cameras, mzungus (white people) and very nicely dressed men. Scattered on the path that led to the top were different piles of large rocks and women sitting next to these piles breaking these large rocks into smaller rocks. At first we only saw 4 or 5 children, but after about 20 minutes the group of tiny spectators multiplied, and the music video filming began.

First of all, do not be deceived. This was no MTV production. There was a boom box, yes a boom box, playing the song on a tape. Not a cd, but a tape, and one video camera. They would play the whole song through, a few times for each different shot, and then rewind the tape, and switch camera angles. While everyone was busy with Wilson and the dancers, Susan and I decided to get to know the kids who gathered to laugh and point at all the funny things we were doing. Our knowledge of the Lugandan language is very limited, so beyond "oliotia" (hello) and "weraba" (goodbye) we're pretty much useless. So we did the only thing we know how to do well that translates to every language: Be Goofy. We had the kids laughing in two seconds, and somehow got them to tell us their names, and play simple hand clapping games, and dance, and hug. It was wonderful. We took lots of pictures, and realized that kids are kids everywhere, just like laughter is laughter is laughter everywhere.

Finally Sue and my debut in the music video came and our location was sitting up on the highest rock of the hill with Wilson, and we were pretending to be the backup singers. Our line was "Njagala Kumenya" which means "I want to know You Lord" but don't you worry, the language might have been Lugandan, but our dancing was purely Sue and Nicole. We made everyone laugh especially all the tiny spectators. Susan and I laughed the duration of the taping so hopefully there's some footage that will be useable. The editing should be done early next week though and hopefully we'll be able to put it on youtube or something so you all can watch it!

The sun went down and we climbed down the hill before it was too dark to see, and Susan and I marveled yet again at the things we had learned from the day. First of all, we'll never doubt again anything we do with Wilson, because it's sure to be an adventure. Second, that music videos are easy to make, and we'll have to do it more at home. And lastly but most importantly: When you do something with the right motives, and approach it with love and laughter impossible boundaries are overcome. People are people everywhere: language barriers, economy, and cultural differences disappear when you come to the core of everyone. the part that allows you to feel, to cry, to laugh, to be... your soul

We love you all, thanks for reading our super long emails!
Nicole and Sue

January 23 2007: Bath Time

Hey all!
Life is so very good in Uganda, we were able to meet up with two friends from Colorado Springs, and hang out with them for a day, and show them the kids house, and where we live, it was so cool to see old friends in such a different place!

Sue and I have been debating how to email all of you and keep you updated because we have so many amazing experiences in one day that our emails would be novel length if we wrote you about all of it, so we've decided to include a little general information, and something from the week that really touched our hearts, or a special event that we think you all would like to know about. Hope that's ok!

Most of our days are spent at the kids' houses. There are two houses, one for the older kids and one for the little kids. When you arrive at the little kid’s house, you walk down a bumpy dirt hill similar to the one we walk down to get to our house. There's a huge gate that guards the house. Once inside you're on pavement leading to the cement porch at the front of the house. There are kids everywhere, between the little kids house and the big kids house there are 80 kids, so there are kids jumping rope in the front, and sitting on the porch, and running around, and tons more playing in the back, in the living room, and in the bedrooms. As soon as we enter everything stops, and there are screams of excitement, and giggles of joy and just a flock of kids that swarm you, jump on your back, attach themselves to your legs and arms, and grab your hands, and face and hair, until you're about to fall over. We continue walking, now attached to at least three more bodies to greet some of the kids who are in the between being young and old stage. They don't scream and run to us, but rather pound our fists as we seek them out to say hi. It's funny how kids get too cool for school in Uganda as well. There is a living room and a small kitchen. There are four or five other rooms that just contain tons of bunk beds for all the kids that sometimes sleep 3 of them. When you walk into a bedroom you're overwhelmed with the smell of urine, and the way the children seriously live on top of each other. At the back outside of the house is a narrow play area between the main house and the back quarters with about 6 bedrooms filled with more bunk beds. The narrow area has clothes lines with wet clothes on them always, because there is always laundry. Everything is always dirty, and everything is everyone else's and there's not enough space for the kids and their huge personalities, and you're never alone, or not attached to someone and we love every second of it.



On Saturday, we greeted everyone which usually takes ten minutes in itself to move from the front of the house to the back of the house, and after the little girls anxious pleading "Mommy Nicole come dance, Mommy Suzie come dance" we finally move to the back of the house where their favorite cd is playing, and everyone just breaks into dance, and these little girls are the best dancers you've ever seen. They have such internal rhythm, but for some crazy reason they try and copy us. We are used to people laughing at us when we dance, because we're goofy, but they don't laugh at us, because they think we're good. (We hereby apologize to Africa if our dance moves spread outside the gates of that house) We grab and spin the girls, and try and c-walk with the boys, and hold as many hands as we can, because we know three months will be over too shortly already. After about an hour of just playing, and dancing, the house moms exclaim that it is bath time. There are three house moms, and they're between the ages of 15 and 18, and they do everything, anything that you can think of regarding taking care of children, they do with no complaint.

One of the girls takes the cd out, and puts in a Christian hits cd from 1998. (I think both Sue and I have it at home, because we knew almost all the songs...we're not nerds!) Bath time consists of filling two oval shaped, shallow tin buckets with murky water, one contains some kind of soap, or at least something that makes suds, and the other is just water. Linda (one of the house-mom's) sets this up, and the kids all take their clothes off and line up against the main house waiting for their turn. A song called "Who am I" by Point of Grace began to play and Susan and I just sat and observed. Jesca stepped into the bucket of soapy water and Linda with her hands washed Jesca’s malnourished body, first with the suds, and then rinsed her with the water from the other bucket. Jesca after being rinsed wiped her eyes of the water looked up at us and smiled her huge smile, ran grabbed the dress she had been wearing, put it on and found a spot on my lap as Susan and I continued to watch as Linda repeated the process for each child. The song reached the chorus which just repeated the line "who am I to be loved by God" and Linda and some of the older girls sang along as they helped kids get undressed, dry off, and put their clothes back on. I began to cry and Susan and I looked at each other at the same moment with tears dripping from our too easily leaky eyes, and she exclaimed "I've never been so humbled." Jesca looked between the two of us over and over again very confused, but didn't say anything, and eventually buried her head in my chest. But it was true, I've never been so humbled.

Knowing that God loves me when I have my own bed, and real food, and lots of clothes, and parents, is really easy. I have no idea what it really means to have nothing, or to pour out unconditional love on children I don't have to help like Linda does. And right then and there the idea of Susan and I coming to Uganda to teach anything ended. We are here to learn from them, to hear their stories, and try to follow the example of their lead: Love like they love, be thankful the way they are thankful, and be willing to be with and touch and wash those who are truly dirty.

We await all the lessons to be learned here in Uganda, and are so thankful for the people that are guiding us through them. Thanks for letting us be part of your lives still even if it's just by being part of this email list!
You're loved,
Nicole and Sue!!!!

January 19 2007: In Africa

January 19 2007
hey all!
nicole here, hope this e-mail finds you well... i just wanted you to know that i got into uganda safely, although not without its share of problems! I got stuck in amsterdam for 12 hours missed my connecting flight to uganda, and spent 8 hours in nairobi making my total travel time a whopping 44 hours! needless to say i'm exhausted. but so very much in love with uganda... sue and i are having the time of our lives and it hasn't even been a full day yet, it feels really good to live your dream! we're slowly but surely learning lugandan... we rode a boda boda today which is like a motorcycle but not, and strangely ugandans don't believe in traffic signs, lights, speed limits or lanes, so it's always exciting knowing your life is in the hands of a 14 year old kid that likes to go fast! thanks so much for all your support, and know that i love you all so very much!