Mzungu Memoirs

Whenever my aunt moves to a new house, she always sends out an e-mail letting all her family and friends know about their new address and that they are settled in by inviting them to the new location of the “Wallace Bed and Breakfast,” letting everyone know that they are welcome to come visit.  She started this when she and my uncle moved away from Texas and most of their family in an effort to encourage said family to visit.

While I have never sent out an announcement about the new location of “Donahue Bed and Breakfast” after we have moved to a new area, I have always thought it was a fun idea.  Of course, it’s a little far for people to come visit our Bed and Breakfast now, and our facilities are a little lacking.  We only have two bedrooms, no guest bedroom.  And our couch is barely big enough for Caleb to nap on let alone anyone anywhere close to adult size.  Besides, we only have two mosquito nets, one for our bed and one for Caleb’s.

But thankfully that didn’t stop my mom and sister from coming to visit.  We had to find other sleeping arrangements for them (they ended up staying at the eMi duplex where the interns are housed), but they did join us on several occasions for breakfast and we even took breakfast up to them one morning.  As you can imagine, hosting and entertaining is decidedly more challenging in a developing country, but we managed OK and I think my mom and sister really had a good time.

Actually, having my mom and sister here was good practice for our next venture in the world of hosting: hosting a new eMi family, Gary and Erin Hightower, who have come to serve as long term volunteers as well.  It was good timing really, especially for Robert who was acting as chauffer as he was able to drop off my mom and sister at the airport the same morning he had to pick up the Hightowers.  After chauffeuring my mom and sister around for a while, Robert has gotten quite adept at navigating the horrendous Kampala traffic.  I even tried my hand at Ugandan driving, but only in our immediate neighborhood.

As we showed my mom and sister and now the Hightowers around town, I came to the realization that this really is “home” and I have been showing it off as such.  The realization was a little startling at first, but I guess it shouldn’t have been.  Since arriving in Uganda, we have made a concerted effort to truly make this “home.”   And I guess we have succeeded.  Home is where the heart is, and our heart is definitely here in Uganda.  The Donahue Bed and Breakfast is official open for business.  Y’all come see us!

Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.

Psalm 84: 3-4

When we were preparing to come to Uganda, people often asked what I would be doing while Robert was working with eMi.  My standard answer was that I would probably have my hands pretty full running the household and chasing after Caleb.  And while running a household in Africa is decidedly more involved than doing so in the States, it does not take up near as much of my time as I thought it would.

And I struggled to find things to fill my time.  I guess I thought I would be spending a lot of my spare time with the other eMi wives.  But they all had lives of their own that kept them pretty busy, and they didn’t really have time to babysit a new missionary wife fresh off the boat.  It didn’t help that we were struggling with finding a church home and then where to fit into that church once we found one.

As mentioned in last week’s blog, Robert was able to plug into Kampala International Church (KIC) pretty quickly even if it wasn’t quite a role that he felt fully qualified to fill.  I, on the other hand, continued to struggle.  I volunteered to help with the tea and coffee service after worship, but that was only once every 6 weeks or so.  After some words of insight from my sister-in-law, I pursued the possibility of serving on one of the various praise teams.  I attended one of the Worship Leader Training sessions but quickly decided that I didn’t really want to lead singing as much as serve as a backup singer.  I was asked to sing as part of a team, but so far it has only been once.  Hopefully, I will get more opportunity once school and normal schedules start up again, especially since KIC will be going to two services this fall.

In an effort to get me more involved, Robert signed us up to work with an eMi project trip together.  The project site was just north of Kampala, so the team actually stayed here in town.  This allowed us to participate in the project trip as a family, something Robert has wanted to do for a while.  Our experience is detailed in a previous blog entry entitled “eMi Project Trip, Family Style.”  The project did get me more involved and helped to fill up my summer, but I have determined that I am not really called to serve on eMi project trips.  I will leave those to Robert.

My service to eMi is more in the form of food.  The cook at the eMi office has been wanting to learn more mzungu type recipes, and I was asked to assist with that.  As cooking is something that I love to do, this has been something that I can really get into, and I have.  I poured through all the cookbooks that were already on hand at the eMi office, looked though my own personal recipes and scoured the internet for suitable meal ideas.  It’s not as easy as it sounds to find recipes that can feed 20 people without breaking the budget.  It has been a lot of fun though, and we have developed a good set of menus that we can pull from to provide adequate variety for mzungu palates.

About the same time I was exploring the idea of serving with a praise team at KIC and was starting to work with the menus at eMi, I was approached by one of the eMi wives about helping with a fledgling program.  She and a friend from Canada were teaching women in the area to make cards by punching patterns with pins into cardstock and creating designs with thread.  The idea is to teach vocational skills and provide income-earning opportunities for Ugandan women who currently struggle to meet the basic needs of their households.  The program is loosely modeled after Bead for Life, a program for which the friend from Canada was volunteering.  I thought it sounded like a really neat program and I love crafty types of things, so I eagerly agreed to help.

After months of wondering about my purpose here in Uganda, I went from having not so much to do to being so busy I could hardly keep up.  It has been a really good busy, though.  The card making program really was fledgling and I have had to do a lot of figuring out as I have gone along.  Not too long after I was asked to get involved, the two ladies that asked me to join them left for Canada leaving me to run the program over the summer in their absence.  It has been a lot more involved than I realized it was going to be, but I am really proud of what the program has become and I am eager to watch as it continues to grow.

I feel that this is why I am here in Uganda, to work with this fledgling program.  I love working with the ladies and watching their craftsmanship improve.  I love learning about them and their culture, although the learning is slow as there is a language barrier to overcome.  English may be the national language here, but it is not the native one.  Still we manage to communicate, sometimes directly, sometimes though translation, and I catch glimpses into their lives.  I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the program, for my work with it and for the lives of the ladies I work with.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. – Matthew 18:20

Upon moving here to Kampala, one of our first priorities was to search for a new church family to plug into.  We thought this would be a fairly easy endeavor, but as we all seem to learn, things tend to be more difficult in practice than in theory.  We joined several other eMi families at their respective churches, including Kampala International Church, a Presbyterian Church, Calvary Chapel Downtown, Calvary Chapel Kololo and Watoto Church, formerly Kampala Pentecostal Church.

We kept going back to Kampala International Church, partly due to it being within walking distance.  We decided to join a newcomers’ lunch to find out more and meet some other folks.  The pastor was at the lunch, talking to both Heather and I.  The next week, he called to meet with me about serving the church as the interim treasurer.  But, I’m an architect.  I also enjoy some graphic design.  Did I mention that I’m not an accountant?  But we really need someone to step in as treasurer.  Let me pray about it.  Sometimes God makes reassignments.  Mary: peasant girl to the mother of Christ; David: shepherd to king; Peter: fisherman to lead the first church; Joseph: baby brother to Egyptian prince.  Now I’m not expecting to become a Ugandan prince, but sometimes God is glorified and His power shown through our weakness.

Kampala International Church is a multi-nations church with about a 60/40 Mzungu to Ugandan ratio.  There are Brits, Dutch, Americans, Ugandans, Kenyans, Congolese and Sudanese.  KIC was started by a small group of families after the Idi Amin regime fell.  It has since grown into a medium sized church with a satellite congregation.  Every six weeks or so, the congregation meets in four zones of the city, meeting in gardens, enjoying smaller groups and often having food to promote fellowship.  Our neighborhood zone meets in a bar which is a fairly quiet place on a Sunday morning.  Some of the bar staff are being reached.  How many of us can say they have had church in a bar?

Heather was asked to serve with one of the several rotating praise bands.  Some use full drum sets, bass guitars and a keyboard, while others, like the one Heather has joined, use an acoustic guitar, keyboard and human voices.  She had been struggling for a while since we moved here to find her place and calling, but I think she has definitely started to find her niche.

Heather has also been enlisted into service at KIC, helping with the tea and coffee ministry.  After morning services, tea and coffee is served to the adults and fruit juice to the kids for a fellowship time to get to know each other a little more.  Having helped out with the dish washing on ocassion, I can say that the tea and coffee ministry entails a good bit of work.  Aside from maybe a retail store, I don’t think I have ever seen that many cups in one place.

Another way I have begun serving at KIC is in the way of graphic design, an opportunity that only opened up after I was willing to serve in the capacity of treasurer.  I redesigned the Sunday bulletins (see above) and an advertisement for a local Kampala magazine (below).  We feel fortunate to have found such a great community of believers while we call Kampala home.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. – Genesis 1:24-25

Can you imagine being at God’s side as He was creating the world, watching it all unfold?  I see the world as an amazing display of diversity, creativity, elegance, planning and interdependence.  Mountains, storms, sunrises, ocean waves and stars all show just a glimpse of His power and glory.  With the beauty we see amid a fallen and sinful world, I can only imagine what heaven will be like.

With Heather’s mom and sister visiting us for a couple of weeks, we decided to go on a safari trip to Kenya’s Masai Mara National Preserve to see some of God’s creation.  Masai Mara is world renowned for its’ prolific game wildlife.  The timing of our visit to the park coincided with a unique natural phenomenon occurring in the Mara, the wildebeest migration.  Depicted in Disney’s animated movie, The Lion King, the wildebeest migrate from the Serengeti region of Tanzania during the dry season north into Kenya for literally greener pastures.

We spent one night of our two day journey to Masai Mara in Kakamega Forest Preserve, the last remaining rain forest in Kenya.  In the Kakamega Forest, we saw colobus monkeys and many amazing and unique flowers.  The following day, we drove through Kenya’s tea country and part of the Great Rift Valley.

Some African roads can be brutal to vehicles.  The seemingly indestructible Toyota Land Cruiser we hired to travel to the Mara had a fuel tank leak, flat tire and nearly rolled over in a gulley while crossing a river.  Fortunately, the Land Cruiser high centered on the rear differential, thus preventing a rollover.  Vibrations from roads that looked more like the moon than a travel platform removed none less than a door lockset, the hood prop rod, a cover to one of the batteries and the entire front grille.

The sheer volume of game in Masai Mara was mind boggling as we saw thousands upon thousands of wildebeest and zebra.  The zebra apparently migrate with the wildebeest, sometimes leading the wildebeests in long lines reminiscent of cattle drives or rush hour traffic.  Other similar game included topis, hartebeests, gazelles, impalas, bush bucks and dik-diks.

With all of this tasty game around, lions are sure to be lurking.  With our Masai guide that we hired from the tented camp where we were staying, we found three prides of lions and two solitary lions.  The largest pride numbered about 18, while the smallest was only four.  We saw lion cubs, adolescents, lionesses and males with huge manes.  The alpha male of the smaller pride was so close to us we had to close our windows while watching him rub the side of our vehicle.  One of the solitary male lions had just caught a wildebeest, which he was dragging over to some tree cover.

A rare sight, we found a cheetah that had just killed an impala.  With several safari vehicles around, the cheetah seemed irritated at these large noisy animals and just wanted to get on with his meal.  Returning later in the day, the cheetah had left little more than bones of the impala on the savannah.

Spotting a black rhinoceros rumbling about, we witnessed another rare sight.  Not surprising, the rhino sighting caused quite a traffic jam of safari vehicles.

Other animals we viewed in their natural habitat included forest elephants, savannah elephants, giraffes, hippos, Cape buffalos, ostriches, warthogs, jackals, hyenas and birds.  God’s creation is complex, elegant and amazing in so many ways.  We feel fortunate to have seen parts of His creation that He took special care in creating.

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” – Revelation 5:13

When we were on the eMi project trip in June, we tried to include Caleb as much as we could, but there was a lot of time spent in meetings and working on the design that we felt would bore a 5 year old to death, so we found people to watch him.  Each of the eMi families took at least one turn watching Caleb for a day.  Even the interns watched Caleb a couple of evenings.  I felt they were angels helping me out and making us feel like a true part of the eMi family, but they weren’t Caleb’s angels.

No, Caleb’s angels didn’t show up until the very last night of the project trip.

We had traveled to Jinja with the project team for our closing time.  Again, this was a part of the trip in which Caleb really couldn’t participate.  Unfortunately, we didn’t really have anyone we could call upon to watch Caleb.  Since we were not leaving the retreat center at which we were staying, we decided that Caleb could just stay in the room by himself and put himself to bed.  So we set him up with his DVD player and one of his favorite movies, Disney’s Cars, gave him instructions to go potty when the movie was over and go straight to bed.  He seemed ok with the instructions, so we gave him goodnight kisses and left the room.

About midway through our closing time with the rest of the team, I went back to check on Caleb.  He had done exactly as we had instructed him as I found him safely tucked in bed fast asleep.  One thing we hadn’t thought to do before we left Caleb in the room was to pull the mosquito net down, so I had to do that without waking my sleeping child.

Later, we heard Caleb’s side of how the evening had gone.

After he had finished watching the movie, he had turned off the DVD player and left it sitting on the couch just as we had instructed him to do.  He forgot to go to the potty, but that’s ok.  The he proceeded to climb the ladder to his bed, my one hesitation about leaving him to put himself to bed.  But apparently I need not have worried as, according to Caleb, there were angels that helped him climb the ladder.  I believe he said that there were two, one in front and one behind him.  And then he had four angels come “snuggle” with him.

I don’t know if Caleb really saw angels or not, but I believe they were there protecting my child.  I know because I pray for that kind of protection for him every day, and I believe God answers our prayers.  And I believe he sends angels to protect us and help us whether we really see them or not.

I wish I had angels to snuggle with me.

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

Angels watch me through the night,

And keep me in their blessed sight.

– Author unknown

When looking for a major eMi design project team to join this summer, I was considering a couple of projects in Central Africa, a Christian university master plan in Gabon and a school/ orphanage project just north of Kampala.  The Gabon project desperately needed an architect and ended up not having one, but the project here in Uganda offered a rare opportunity for Heather & Caleb to join the team as well.  I ended up leading the site master planning effort, while Heather led the architectural building design effort.

Aside from Heather, Caleb & I, the team was recruited from Canada and the States.  This was an incredibly humble servant-minded and willing team.  We all worked really well together, as if we were being led by the Spirit.  Several on the team were experiencing their first eMi trip, while others were seasoned eMi veterans.  The team bonded very well, enjoyed one another’s fellowship and enjoyed Bible studies together.  Pictured from L-R, Corwin Neufeld, structural Engineer from Calgary, Alberta; woman serving with Agape; three crazy mzungus living in Kampala, Uganda; Daniel Wang, architect from Oakland, CA; Dorcas, serving with Agape; Steven, contractor who grew up through Agape ministry; Eddie, driver serving with Agape; Kevin Winner, architectural engineer from Redwood City, CA; Darren Eklund, surveyor from Calgary, Alberta; Kristen Sharer, eMi intern/civil engineering student from USC, Los Angeles, CA; woman serving with Agape; Andy Engebretson, electrical engineer/eMi Project Leader; Agnes Kabatesi, Agape Ministry Leader; Dave Yackuboskey, eMi intern/landscape architect from Penn State University; Chris Ford, civil engineer from Raleigh, NC.

The site became increasingly more difficult as we progressed into the design.  Despite a seemingly ample 60 acres, the buildable land continued to shrink due to high water tables, government restricted wetlands and septic limitations.  Approximately 40 acres of the site is a seasonal wetland marsh.  Related high water tables consumed another 5 acres, leaving only 15 acres of buildable land.  To add to the site difficulties, this area had a steep cross slope of about 16%.  If that wasn’t enough, it also had poor soil conditions that were not conducive to septic soak pits predominantly used here.  On a few occasions, I said that this site was cursed.

Agnes, our ministry contact, has a God-sized vision for this site.  Having worked with Watoto Children’s Homes for several years, she has developed a big heart for the orphans of Uganda.  Her life is an amazing testimony to God’s continued calling and patience.  Despite a successful secular career, several supporters continued to encourage her to develop a ministry and pursue a divinity degree in the UK.  After brushing them off several times, she finally relented and began to feel God leading her.

Currently working with about 100 orphans, Agnes feels called to develop Agape Education Centre, a boarding school for almost 900 primary students and about 800 secondary students, housing 75% of those on site.  In addition, the centre would provide teacher housing, administration offices, dining/multipurpose buildings, a vocational school, kitchens, canteens, toilets, etc.  Agnes also has a huge heart for a Bible training centre which would provide discipleship for local pastors and church leaders, with housing and meeting spaces for 50 students.  In addition to all of this, the vision for the site included a retreat conference centre for 300 guests, with sleeping accommodations, meeting spaces, restaurant, pool, exercise spaces, etc.

As we began laying out all of those program requirements on the 15 acres, we realized that, despite trying two-story buildings, proposing shared dining spaces and other ideas, the great vision would almost completely saturate the site, leaving very little open space between buildings.  A final blow came when our civil engineers discovered that the soil strata in the buildable land of the site would not percolate and allow the typical septic soak pits.  Their solution was to propose horizontal percolation fields with imported sand, similar to leach fields often used in rural areas of the West.  With buffers and the extensive size of these percolation fields, the project became impossible.  Discovering this dilemma the night before our presentation to the ministry, we were faced with the need to contact Agnes and inform her of the problem.

As Andy was preparing to call Agnes, she called him to inform the team that she and Dorcas, one of the women working with the Agape ministry, had decided to remove the secondary school from the program of the buildable 15 acres, moving it to a potential adjacent property acquisition in the future.  The “Dorcas Miracle” thus allowed the project to become feasible.  On many eMi project trips, I have witnessed the fulfillment of prayer, angelic protection and work efficiency that could only be explained as Divine Provision.  Experiencing the Dorcas Miracle impacted our whole team as we all felt God working in an amazing way to provide for the expansion of His Kingdom.

Despite a rough construction cost estimate of about $9 million USD to develop the entire vision given to Agnes, she feels confident God will provide, knowing His heart for orphans.

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.” – Matt. 13 31-32

I know as Christians, we are called to be in this world but not of it, but we are all still born into certain cultures.  And as an expatriate, I struggle with balancing learning about this new culture we have immersed ourselves in and honoring the culture from which we come.  We are not really part of the culture here, more of observers and occasional participants, but we’re not really part of the culture we come from either, at least not physically.  And as the mother of a TCK (Third Culture Kid), it is very important to me that I share with my child about my native culture and that he understands the culture he comes from.

Which brings me to the 4^th of July.  It is just another day here in Uganda, just like the 3^rd or 5^th of July.  But to an expat American, Independence Day is probably the most important holiday of the year.  Notice I specified “American” as opposed to “Christian.”  There are many Christians here, both Ugandan and fellow expats although not necessarily American, who share the important holidays of Easter and Christmas although the traditions may be different, but that is the subject of another blog.

In the weeks leading up to the 4^th of July, I really wondered how we could mark the day as special when no one else around us would be.  Because we work with an office that is predominantly staffed by Americans, we decide to have a good old fashioned hot dog roast/potluck.  This also gave us the opportunity to share our important holiday with the Ugandan staff and help them understand a little bit more about our culture.  We had some very American pasta salad and baked beans, and I even found paper plates with a picture of the American flag on them for the occasion.  I’m not sure the Ugandans were really all that impressed with the hot dogs and baked beans, but they sure seemed to have fun with the s’mores that we made afterward over what was left of the fire.

We ended up having our little office potluck on Saturday, July 2^nd because the American Recreation Association (ARA) was having their Independence Day Celebration on Sunday, July 3^rd.  The celebration at the ARA was an interesting mix of American traditions like fireworks and hamburgers and hot dogs and cultural presentations by Ugandans of singing, dancing and drums (they do like their drums here).  There was a march through American history presented by The Patriots, a club comprised of American expat children organized for the purpose of teaching about American customs, history and holidays that are not taught in the international schools.  I was very impressed with their performance.  Of course, we had the presentation of the colors by the Marine Corps and the singing of the American National Anthem as well.

It really was a nice celebration, attended by American expats as well as other expats and some Ugandans.  There was even an impressive little display of fireworks set to music even.  I’m sure they paled in comparison to the displays that were shot off in the States, and the musical choice seemed a bit odd (“Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen?).  But Caleb, who had never actually seen a “professional” display of fireworks before, was duly impressed, and I enjoyed watching his reaction to them.

For some, it was really just an excuse to get together and have a party.  But the thing that impressed me most about the whole celebration was the little speech given by someone representing the American Embassy.  She talked about it being the 235^th birthday of the United States, and she reminded me of why we celebrate the 4^th of July.  Yes, it is our American Independence Day.  And yes, it’s a pretty big deal and a good excuse to have a party.  But sometimes I think we forget that on the 4^th day of July, 1776, a new nation was born in a way no nation had ever been born before.  It makes me proud to be an American and unashamed to share the culture from which I come.  Of course, I still want to learn about this culture that I now live amongst, but I don’t feel so bad about holding to the roots of my American culture and teaching my son about them.

Happy Birthday, America.  God Bless the USA… and Uganda and the rest of the world as well.

“And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.”

— Lee Greenwood

When I was originally thinking about this blog, I thought I would write something about our second visit to The Surgery and call it “The Surgery, The Sequel.”  But Robert suggested that our recent trips to The Surgery are part of a bigger picture and are about much more than the experiences themselves.  He maintains that they are part of the spiritual warfare and attacks from Satan the eMi office has been experiencing as a whole lately.

When we signed up to serve with eMi East Africa as Long Term Volunteers, we knew that attacks from Satan were part of the deal.  We had experienced spiritual warfare before, usually as Robert would be preparing for a short term trip.  We didn’t always recognize it until after the fact, but we could usually look back and identify certain events as attacks from Satan.  Some of his attacks seemed to get pretty creative, like when our car was broken into while Robert was at orientation for coming to Uganda and all the illness we were plagued with before we left to come overseas.  But we had always experienced these attacks either personally against Robert, as a couple or, at the very most, as a family.

When we got here to Kampala, Satan of course didn’t give up on his attacks, but we started realizing that it wasn’t just our little family that he was attacking.  We were now part of a larger family, the eMi East Africa family here in Uganda as well as the more extensive eMi family around the world.  And somewhere along the line, eMi must have really pissed off Satan because he seems to be coming after the eMi family here in Uganda with a vengeance.

Satan does seem to like to use illness in his spiritual warfare.  Even before our two recent trips to The Surgery for Robert with malaria and Caleb with a stomach flu, I had had some stomach trouble and flu-like symptoms.  Fortunately, neither was terribly severe and I was over it in about a day.  And there have been others affected by illness in the office as well.  Brice, another Long Term Volunteer who has actually been here less time than we have, has already been through a round of malaria.  Steve, a staffer stationed in Jinja and Brice’s immediate supervisor, has had malaria since we have been here and was just recently bitten by a tick which is causing some problems that the doctors are having difficulty diagnosing.  Stephen, the eMi head of security, has been having stomach issues and trouble with acid reflux.  Janet, the office cook, has been having trouble with pain in her leg.  And Stella, one of our house help ladies, spent some time at the hospital here recently.  There was concern that is might have been an ectopic pregnancy but ultimately it was determined to just be heavy menstrual bleeding.

The office seems to have been affected by more than its fair share of family deaths as well.  Not too long after we arrived in Uganda, our wonderful neighbor and fellow eMier, Grandma Maggie, lost her mother and her sister within a month of each other.  Due to financial reasons, Maggie was not able to return to the States for either funeral.  John, the director of the office here, and his wife, Paula, have both recently lost their fathers.  Fortunately, John was able to return to the States for his father’s funeral, and Paula was able to move the departure date for their furlough up so that she could return earlier to participate in her father’s memorial service that was being postponed until her arrival.  The Ugandan staff has not been free from the wages of death either.  Semei, the office accountant and jack-of-all-trades, has recently lost a sister and niece.  And Stella has lost an uncle and two other clan members, a clan member being part of the Ugandan extended family, a much closer knit unit than the American extended family.

And the very structure of the office has been under attack.  Before we left the States, it was discovered that the process of applying for a work permit had changed.  Once the change was discovered, we began apply for Robert’s permit, and the visas for Caleb and myself that are tied to it.  That was six months ago, and we still don’t have a permit or visas.  We have been able to obtain special passes that allow us to legally live and work in Uganda while the work permit is being processed, but it was an extra $300 for passes for the three of us on top of the $200 that we have already paid for visitor visas to get into the country and for Robert’s reentry from Burundi.  And if the work permit has not been processed by mid-August, we will have to spend an additional $300 for more special passes.  This is all on top of the $550 that we will have to shell out once the work permit and visas are approved.

At least Robert’s work permit is still in the approval process.  The work permit for one of the other eMi staffers, Brittany, the office administrator, has been flat out denied, and she is essentially living here illegally.  The reason for the denial, according to the immigration office, is that “office administrator” is a position that can be filled by a Ugandan.  The thing the immigration office does not understand is that Brittany is here as a volunteer, raising her own support to pay her way, and eMi is not going to hire someone to do the job she does if she isn’t here.  There is also concern that with the current problems with Brittany’s work permit, future work permits for staff, long term volunteers and interns that will be arriving soon will be difficult or obtain to denied as well.  And there is always concern that eMi will be asked to leave Uganda all together.

One thing that I don’t think Satan really understands is that with every attack he throws at us, he forces us to grow closer together as an eMi family.  And he forces us to rely greater on the God that has called us to serve here.  That’s the ironic thing about spiritual warfare.  While Satan is trying to break us, his attacks are really making us stronger.  And really, it is just confirmation that we are right where God wants us to be.  If we weren’t, I don’t think Satan would be all that interested in us.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” – Ephesians 6:10-12

As the mother of a very active boy, I expect I will have my fair share of emergency room visits throughout Caleb’s childhood.  I just never figured on the first one being while we are here in Uganda.  Actually, if you want to get technical about it, I guess we’ve made a couple of visits to the Urgent Care before, but I pretty much knew what was wrong on those trips and they were made because we were either away from home and our normal doctor or between doctors.

This trip was different.  I really didn’t know what was wrong and I really didn’t expect to end up in what is essentially an emergency room here in Uganda.  For six hours plus.

It started out simple enough.  Caleb had become sick to his stomach since about suppertime one evening and by early afternoon the next day, when he was unable to keep even water down, I was starting to get rather concerned.  Robert came home from the office early to take us downtown to The Surgery, a clinic run by a British doctor that seems to cater to mzungus.  It was quite the feat getting a sick child there on a boda boda.

We got to The Surgery about 4:15, and ended up waiting for about an hour.  When it was finally our turn, we got to see a lady mzungu doctor but she wasn’t British or American.  I think she may have been German or something, but it really didn’t matter.  She seemed pretty good, and seemed rather concerned that Caleb had been throwing up for almost 24 hours.  And she got even more concerned when I told her that he had thrown up half a dozen times within the first two hours.

The doctor examined Caleb pretty thoroughly.  Then she gave us a cup for a urine sample and directed us to the toilet and then up to the nurse’s station.  At the nurse’s station, Caleb got his finger pricked for some blood tests, including a test for malaria which is a fairly common practice here.  Then we were taken to a small room with a bed, a little table and two plastic chairs.

Not too long after, the nurse came back with a shot of anti-vomiting medicine to give Caleb.  At first, she said that she wanted to give him the shot in his rear end, but then she gave him the choice of the rear end, thigh or shoulder.  Caleb chose the shoulder, presumably because that is where he has been getting shots recently, so that is what he knows.  Of course, we had to get ready to take the shot first.  He got into my lap (I was sitting on the bed with him), and we took his shoes off so he could wiggle his toes (a great distraction technique).  Then it was time for the shot.  Caleb was very proud of himself: he didn’t even cry.

Then we had to wait half an hour for the medicine to take effect before he could start drinking anything.

About 6:00, the doctor came in to check on us as she was getting off her shift.  She said that Caleb was very dehydrated and that we needed to get him re-hydrated before they would let us go home.  She really wanted to get some juice in him for the sugar.  Unfortunately, Caleb doesn’t really drink anything except milk and water.  Robert suggested a lollipop as it was the fasted way he could think of to get sugar in the boy.  I don’t think it was quite the form of sugar the doctor was meaning, but she was agreeable to the idea.  So when the nurse came back, we asked for a lollipop in addition to the water she had brought.  It is the first time I have ever heard of a lollipop being administered for medicinal reasons.  Unfortunately, the sugar in the lollipop didn’t seem to work.  After finishing the lollipop and about half of the bottle of water, Caleb was asked to pee again and there was no improvement.

The nurse was still pushing the juice idea, but Caleb wouldn’t have any of it.  We asked if there was any milk.  Unfortunately, the only milk they had was warm, and they would have to add sugar to it.  Then we came up with the idea of running to the closest store to buy some chocolate milk, which would have a higher sugar content than white milk.  When we asked the nurse, she said that she was going to suggest that idea as well.  So off Robert went to find Caleb some cold chocolate milk.  And again, I was surprised they were suggesting milk for medicinal reasons as I have always be under the impression that it is better to avoid dairy for upset stomachs.

While Caleb was working on finishing the milk (250 ml or about 8 oz. of it, more than he had ever had in one sitting before), a second doctor came in to talk to us.  This one was Ugandan, but I had seen him around the clinic before.  He reiterated what the first doctor had said about the necessity of getting Caleb re-hydrated before we went home.  He also said that they would give us a syrup form of the anti-vomit medicine in case we needed it.

The nurse came back to check on us, but she wouldn’t let Caleb pee again until he finished either the water or the milk.  So we worked on the milk some more.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work either, so we were on to the next step in trying to get Caleb re-hydrated.  We were also on our second round of nurses and third doctor due to the shift change at 9:00.  We had now been at The Surgery for almost 5 hours.

The next idea was to have Caleb drink the sugar water that would normally be used for an IV drip.  The idea being that if he drank it, he wouldn’t have to have the IV.  Unfortunately, he didn’t like the taste of the water and refused to drink it.  We tried to scare him into drinking it by showing him the size of the needle he would be stuck with if he did the IV, but that didn’t work.  Surprisingly, he opted for the IV.

Actually, he did amazingly well getting the IV put in.  Between the Daddy distraction factor and how smooth the nurse was, I don’t think Caleb even felt it.  Once the IV was in, we were all able to sit back and relax a little while the IV did its thing.  In fact Caleb even fell asleep.  Unfortunately, that meant that we had to wake him up to get him to pee again.  In the process of doing so, we pulled the IV supply line out from the needle and then we managed to pull the IV out of Caleb’s hand.  It was quite the sight with me holding my thumb over the IV line in one hand to keep it from squirting everywhere and Caleb’s arm that was now dripping blood all over the bed in the other while Robert ran to get the nurse.  I don’t think the nurses were very happy with us after that.

By this point of course, Caleb was awake and rather upset.  It took some coaxing and calming down to get him to pee.  Once we did get him to pee, we had to wait for what seemed like an eternity (you have to remember it was approaching midnight by now) for the results.  Finally, the doctor came back in and said that while the results were not quite where they would like them to be, there was sign of improvement so they were going to let us go home.  Yeah!  So, after almost 8 hours, we gathered up our stuff, paid the bill, which was only 165,000 UGX (about $69) and hightailed it out of there, making a beeline for home and bed.  The doctor did make me promise that I would continue to work on re-hydrating Caleb with the electrolyte drink mix she gave me.

Caleb seems to have made a full recovery (despite the fact that I didn’t get much of that electrolyte stuff in him, although he does seem to tolerate it better than the IV fluid they tried to have him drink) and is back to his normal active 5-year-old self.  All in all, it really wasn’t that bad an experience.  I have to give credit to all the doctors and nurses at The Surgery.  They were great and had a way with Caleb despite his “stubbornness.”  I’m not terribly eager to make another trip back there, but I know if we need to we will be well taken care of.

We learned a lot on this project trip: about ourselves, God, and life in general.  But I think one of the biggest things we learned is that you can do an eMi trip as a family.

I was a little concerned at first with an eMi staff response of “that’s never been done before”, but we had an awesome team leader who worked with us from the very beginning on how to include Caleb.  The team responded very well to having a child in tow, not a normal dynamic of an eMi trip.  Even Agnes, the ministry contact, seemed to enjoy having a child along.  In fact, one of the days we had left Caleb with friends to get some work done, she asked where he was.

We met the team as a family from the very beginning.  Team members trickled in one by one for breakfast after their late arrival the night before.  After breakfast we sat down for the first time as an entire team.  We started off with testimonies and expectations, a standard first activity on eMi trips.  Andy, our team leader, started and then invited Caleb to share his testimony, which mostly consisted of what he likes about living in Uganda.  Then he went off to play on his video game while the rest of the team shared their testimonies.

With some of the initial “business” out of the way, it was off to the project site, about an hour drive north of Kampala.  At the site, Caleb was already making himself comfortable with the rest of the team, just randomly grabbing the closest hand when he needed help.  He also made himself at home with some local children huddling under a tree to get out of the rain.

Then it was back to Kampala and the eMi office for orientation.  While the team was busy learning the eMiEA way of doing things, Caleb kept himself busy outside playing with whomever was available: the guards, the interns, the kids of other staffers, he’s not picky.

Finally, it was back to the guest house for a late dinner, team meeting and devotional.  Caleb managed to make it through dinner, but crashed on the couch during the team meeting and devotional.  It was quite the trick to figure out how to get a sleeping child home on a motorcycle.  Unfortunately, one of the sadder moments of the trip occurred when Caleb’s backpack fell off the back of the boda where it had been tied.  We had decided to tie it on the boda rather than try to put it on a sleeping boy because Caleb was sandwiched in between Robert and I rather than riding in front where he usually sits and where he could wear the backpack on his front.  Despite retracing our steps all the way back to the guest house once the loss was discovered, the backpack was nowhere to be found.

Saturday we left Caleb with friends so that Robert and I could get some work done programming with the ministry and planning with the team.  Sunday Caleb and I were going to join the team for church while Robert went to our home church to help with the collection.  Unfortunately, Caleb woke up with an upset stomach and we had to stay home.  Fortunately, he had recovered enough by the time Robert returned home from church to head out with us to meet the team.  We arrived at the guest house late and thought we had missed our ride, but they were running later that we were and came in a few minutes behind us.  We met up with the team north of Kampala and made a quick transfer of vehicles so that the survey crew could take the vehicle we were in and we could join the rest of the team in the minibus.

Then it was off to a retreat center for lunch and for Agnes and others from the ministry to share what they liked about the facility in terms of its design.  After a nice lunch of chicken or fish (for those who were a bit more daring) and chips, we headed off to an orphanage/school to explore more design features.  Caleb again made himself right at home with the orphans and asked to go play basketball with them.  He was the only mzungu child in the bunch and easy to spot, so I figured we would not have any trouble finding him again.

Finally, our design exploration was done for the day and it was off to dinner.  Unfortunately, after a late departure from the orphanage and heavy traffic coming back into town, it was another late dinner.  While we were waiting for our dinner to be served, we took the opportunity to get a team picture.  Caleb was hestitant to join us a first, saying he wasn’t really part of the team, but we insisted and he consented.  Then Andy entertained Caleb by teaching him how to play “Thumb War” and showing him a straw and water trick.  By the time we got back to the guest house, we decided to excuse ourselves from the devotional to get Caleb home and in bed before it got any later since it was already 10:00.

We thought the next few days of the project trip would be fairly dull for an active 5 year old boy, so Caleb was able to play with friends while Mommy and Daddy slaved away with the project team.  Each eMi family as well as the interns took a turn looking after Caleb.  But Grandma Maggie took the lion’s share, arriving early in the morning to watch Caleb until the family watching him that day arrived, and returning in the evening when the family brought him back.  She even watched him all day Wednesday and overnight so that Robert and I could stay at the guest house as late as we needed to work on the last push of the project.

By Thursday, we had cycled Caleb through all of our eMi family, so we asked Monica, one of our house helpers to come watch him on her day off (it was a national holiday).  It allowed her to make a little extra money, but it really wasn’t all that expensive for us as babysitting is really cheap here (a little over $4 for the day plus a little extra for her ride home).  Then we paid one of our trusted boda drivers to bring Caleb to where the project presentation and celebration dinner was being held.  Due to Africa Time, Caleb actually arrived in the middle of the presentation but did a marvelous job entertaining himself with the facility’s playground.  Then it was one last dinner with the ministry to celebrate the completion of the project portion of the trip.  We all gave Agnes one last hug, but I think she relished Caleb’s the best.

Friday we headed out for our “closing” time.  The first stop was the Friday Craft Market.  We arrived about an hour before the rest of team and scoped things out.  When the team arrived, Caleb decided to pal around with Andy.  Then he switched and joined Robert, and then he went off with another team member.  Finally, he ended up with me.  Once the team had completed their shopping, we headed to Garden City for lunch.  I think we go there too often to eat because he was greeted with recognition by the wait staff at the place where we always order his pizza.  After lunch, we headed to a retreat center in Jinja where we would stay for the night and have our closing time.  Caleb joined the interns on one of the hammocks on the grounds, swinging and generally being silly with them.  He was right at home.

After dinner, the team was going to have our “closing time” where we process the trip and prepare to return to our daily lives.  I figured it wasn’t really something that Caleb needed to attend, so we set him up with a movie and told him go to bed when it was over.  At one point during the evening, I went back to check on him, and sure enough he had done exactly as we had told him.  I guess our little boy is growing up.

Saturday was filled with more fun with the team and travel back to Kampala.  The hardest part of all was saying good-bye when the team dropped us off at our house and set off for the airport.  Hugs were passed around, of course, but I’m sure the best hugs were given by the littlest team member.

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. – Joshua 24:15