Jan and I are in Gulu.  I left her resting while I went to a local hotel to get online.  I had hoped to blog often, but TIA (This Is Africa).  We have Wifi at the place we are staying, but it isn't working...TIA.

We have had baboons in our van and an African buffalo nearly visited us in our room...stories to tell later...

Last night we had no electricity, but a student from Stanford Skyped with some of us for a paper he s writing about farming practices and global warming.  Peter told him to come here and visit...it is hard to imagine from a California perspective.  We have been with farmers...women who have a baby strapped on their backs and perhaps another in their bellies.  Having children is important, because they will be the ones to care for their parents.  There is no social net.  If you get hurt or injured, you are on your own.

It is impossible to summarize all we have experienced.  Aid Africa is a wonderful organization working with poor farming villages.  We have been greeted with tremendous love and hospitality.

What has surprised me most, is the number of remarkable, bright, young people we have met.  I have many stories of orphans who are now teens or young adults, and they could change this part of the world, if they could just get education and opportunities.  Aid Africa is helping some of them, but a small investment in their futures would be money well spent.

I am honored to have kept company with such amazing people.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to meet with the local Anglican Bishop...Their church is packed three services per Sunday.  You should see the size of their Sunday School!

Waken (see you later),
Nancy

One Week To Go

In just one week, my loaded suitcases, Jan Roberts and I will be aboard Emirates Airlines en route to Uganda, via Dubai.  We are bringing lots of goodies for the orphanage and for children of the AidAfrica staff.  I hope the little ones like the cars, dolls, Disney tattoos, fairy wings, gum, and headbands.  Serendipity has smiled on us.  UCC San Luis Obispo sewed sun dresses and shorts for children in Uganda this past year and the timing is perfect for me to deliver them.  I hope to take pictures of the exchange that I may send so that UCC SLO will see who received their gifts.

It has been a whirlwind preparing for this trip, with special services at my church this past month - the Kirkin' 'o the Tartan was special - love those bagpipes!  There's been extra events during Lent; decorating the sanctuary with palms last Sunday; preparing for an upcoming candle light Good Friday Taize service; purchasing 24 Easter flowers will happen tomorrow, as well as writing my sermon, I hope; the day after the Easter celebration is my 24th wedding anniversary, and then I head to LAX.  It's all been wonderful, but I do not have my head in the game for going to Uganda.

Normally, when I travel, I purchase a guide book about where I am going and part of the fun is reading and preparing for the trip to come.  Not this time.  I plan to read about Uganda on the plane.  Fortunately, Peter Keller and others have told me about working with AidAfrica and I have seen their pictures.  I have some idea what to expect, yet, I doubt anything can really prepare me.  I can't imagine what it must have been like living with the likes of Joseph Kony terrorizing the neighborhood, nor what living in a refugee camp might have been like.  I am happy to think of working along-side villagers reclaiming their homes.

Maybe after I get an Easter sermon written, I will blog about how elephants changed my life or how the plight of boy soldiers infiltrated my soul, if I can find words for such divine interventions.  May you be blessed with such things as well.

St. Patrick's Day, 2014

Top 'o the morning! Yesterday was amazing!  I was installed as a pastor at a wonderful church.  My hubby and youngest daughter created and performed a hilarious skit.  Great pastors, wonderful friends, and two of my most esteemed professors were present.  I was so honored! Afterwards we celebrated and were entertained by bagpipers and an Irish band.  Ah..such a great day!
   
I'm part Irish, so the Celtic celebration reminded me of my Dad's family.  He was the youngest of 14 children and he died this past year.  When he was just three years old, his mother died of tuberculosis and his father, a manual laborer, injured his hand - making it hard to work.  The children were visibly hungry and when my Dad's arm was broken, there was no treatment for the first week.
 
I imagine that life in rural parts of Uganda may be a bit like what my father experienced as a child:  preventable illnesses taking the lives of loved ones; inadequate access to medical treatments; hunger; working hard just to get by; and yet, simple pleasures and moments of treasured joy.
   
In just over one month, I will be in northern Uganda, and I expect that my preconceptions will prove inaccurate.  Through AidAfrica.net, I will be working alongside Ugandans attempting to reclaim and improve village conditions.  I hope to learn and maybe, if I am lucky, be transformed.  I fear that my pilgrimage outside of middle class America won't have a lasting effect on me.
   
My prayer is that God will allow me to get to know someone I work beside so that I may carry him or her in my heart.

Uganda and Ireland forever!