The big farewell

This past week has been very full with end of semester events, grading and getting ready for a few weeks of travel. A highlight has been a visit from my friend Heather! She was here my first 6 months in Uganda and was able to come back for a visit before I leave. Heather has been a wonderful guest- cooking for me, being encouraging and having lots of good laughs together. She got to be here last night for our big USP farewell dinner (probably 350+ people!) which was also a UCU farewell to me. Here we are as the event gets started:

There were a lot of nice speeches, both about the students and me, and a very sweet one from the Bartels family. Here are Rachel and Mary in their Ugandan outfits:

It was hard not to feel a bit self-conscious about all the nice things being said. I tried to embrace and enjoy the time with so many people that have become important to me over the past 4 years- the host families, the practicum site staffs, the UCU community and, of course, the USP staff. This year we did the matching outfits again and you can see the results below:

I am definitely grateful for all the ways I have learned from and been challenged by the various people at the dinner last night. During my "farewell speech" I read the quote that is on the side of my blog by Miriam Adeny. Very aptly describes the feeling of leaving Uganda right now.

Tomorrow I leave for Rwanda with the group and will be traveling through the time the students leave May 2nd. Will be back to blogging in May!

My Easter Weekend

This is my 5th consecutive Easter in East Africa (last year I was in Rwanda, the others in Uganda). I really enjoy Easter here for several reasons- the services and traditions of living in an Anglican community, and the heavy emphasis on Jesus and almost no emphasis on chocolate, bunnies or dying eggs. We also get Friday and Monday off which is the only long weekend scheduled for the year, so it makes it extra special!

I did a few things over Easter weekend- Friday to Saturday I went to Jinja with my friend Elizabeth. It was a great (almost last) time together- here we are by Lake Victoria:

My friend Kate came out to stay Saturday night and we had an Easter brunch at my place. There was a lot of good food- we did the somewhat traditional eggs-in-a-bag that turned out quite well.

I also appreciated the different opportunities to remember Christ's death and resurrection. I attended a Wednesday service, a Good Friday service and the Easter Sunday service at UCU. Living here has made me appreciate the liturgy and traditions of Anglican worship, and I love the symbol of the reverends all wearing black on Good Friday and then white on Easter, so beautifully symbolic! Easter morning was a lively worship service, I took one picture which doesn't quite capture it but shows the choir leading us:

One thing I have really enjoyed this Lent season is reading through a daily devotional book with a friend, Pilgrim Road by Albert Holtz:

Everyday he tells a different narrative about his travels, then offers a reflection and scripture to go along with it. I looked forward to reading it every night and will truly miss it's daily insight.

With the end of Lent and celebration of Easter, I am looking ahead to a busier month. The next few weeks will bring final classes, grading and events. Then we leave for Rwanda with the students, plus debrief at the end, with the students leaving May 2nd. This end of the semester is always a push, so I am glad for this long weekend of reflection and rest.

Rwanda Visit: Part Two

As I mentioned in my previous post, the main reason I took a trip to Rwanda last weekend was to visit a friend and see Lake Kivu. It was quite a different experience from traveling with 50 other people (which I"ll be doing in 2 weeks). I flew, which shortens a 12-15 hour drive to a 45 minute flight, and the picture to the left is of our take-off over Lake Victoria. I realized I have rarely taken off or landed during daylight in Uganda so it was nice to see the lake as the sun came up.

I stayed in Gitarama for one night, which is about an hour outside of Kigali. My second day Christi and I took the windy road to Kibuye on the lake. In the picture below I was trying to capture the twists and turns of the road but it doesn't quite do it justice- lets just say the motion sickness medication was very tested.

We stayed at a Catholic guest house right on the lake which had amazing views and surprisingly good food. Our first morning we had crepes and giant fruit bowls. The picture of Christi with our breakfast is a great moment- sitting on the terrace, with good food and looking forward to a fun day.

Lake Kivu is on the border between Rwanda and Congo. Not sure if you can actually see Congo in this photo, but it is in that general direction. Rwanda is often called the Land of a Thousand Hills and it is very obvious why from any point around the lake.

One activity we did was go on a boat ride to an island about 30 minutes out. As you can see below- safety first! It was a pleasant cruise and stop on Amahoro Island.

It was a great weekend of catching up, seeing a new place and feeling refreshed. It was good timing before the busy month ahead of final classes and meetings then 2 weeks of travel with the students.

One funny aspect of the island we visited was this old playground ride positioned in the water. We were skeptical but after some encouragement climbed on and were pushed in a circle over the lake. I had to take a picture as we pulled out of the contrast between the odd and the beautiful, which sums up a lot of what is enjoyable about traveling to new places.

Rwanda Visit: Part One

This past week I visited Rwanda (Thursday through Sunday), mostly to visit a friend, Christi, and go to Lake Kivu. A blog post will be coming later in the week about that! But another thing I did on my trip was get a chance to visit my Compassion child. This is the third visit with Asumani and sponsoring him and seeing him over the years has been an interesting journey. Here is a brief overview- I started sponsoring Asumani in 2002, soon after I graduated from college and was looking for a way to tithe money from my first out of college job. I chose him from a database on Compassion International's website (www.compassion.com) and chose Rwanda because of the East Africa connection and a vague awareness of the genocide.

When I moved to Uganda in 2008 I hoped that I would be able to plan a visit after getting his letters and pictures over the years. In February 2009 I was able to visit Asumani and his family for the first time- here we are at that meeting:

Through this visit I got to meet the Compassion staff in his area and some of the national office staff. I was really impressed with their work and care for the kids. This picture is of me with Asumani and his family along with a few Compassion staff members:

You can see I got a special red Rwandan basket as a gift from the family. After this visit I arranged for our students to hear from Compassion in Kigali and was able to visit again with Asumani in August 2009- here we are with the student group at the Kigali office:

During the past years I've had other interactions with Compassion- the local office near Mukono where our students volunteer, meeting UCU students who are Compassion recipients, and seeing their work and sites around East Africa. I even had a chance to visit their main office in Colorado Springs years ago. I have been grateful for the insight in to the organization I have been supporting for years, and glad to see all the good work they are doing. It seems that their focus solely on sponsorship allows them to have local offices run by people from the community, and supporting the families in their area.

So this past weekend I had another visit with Asumani. Conveniently he lives in the same town (and within walking distance!) of Christi's house. We recognized each other right away, but he is definitely a teenager now! We were able to visit and talk about school and our families and take some pictures together. I told them (through Christi's translation) that I was leaving Uganda and this would probably be the last time I would visit them. Here is Chance, Asumani, me and his mother at their home:

While I don't think that sponsorship is the perfect solution to poverty, it does a good job of providing opportunity and education. Done well, like with Compassion, it can be more than just relief. Getting to meet Asumani and his family helps me see some of the complexities of their lives- health issues, school struggles, difficult living conditions. I understand that sponsoring someone does not change everything for them but a holistic organization like Compassion that cares about the whole family is a good start.

I wish I had a copy of the first picture I had of Asumani when he was 6, but even in these pictures you can see him growing up. Seeing him this past week made me want to recommit to praying for him and his family even though we might not physically see each other again. I am hopeful for him and the ongoing work of Compassion in the lives of so many.