A Pain in the Foot

When I told you about student camp, I mentioned going door-to-door sharing Bible stories. One of the houses we came to had Neria.


She sat all day long, doing nothing, while flies just hovered around her foot, which was bandaged in a piece of material.


We didn't see her foot that day, but her family was so open to the message of God's word, that we promised we would return.


I didn't see the wound, but heard the story.


When she was in exile in Congo during the war, she developed a "spot" on her foot. About 10 years ago, the "spot" opened and started to grow. 5 years ago, she saw a doctor who told her she should have an amputation to save her leg. She hasn't seen a doctor in 5 years, but her daughter (on the right in the picture below) cleans it faithfully every day. (I was incorrect in my first post where I assumed the wound was dirty).


With this knowledge, I pretty much knew that I wasn't going to be checking on her foot. I didn't know what it looked like, but I have learned since becoming a parent, that I am NOT "nurse" material.


When my kids throw up, and I see it or smell it, then I start gagging. And apparently, I'm not so good with blood either. Lucky for Doug, huh?


Anyway, I went along with Doug and Florence armed with prayer, all the medical supplies needed, and a camera (hoping to get a glance so we could show an expert).









































































Thank you, Doug, for being the hands and feet of Jesus to Neria. It was such a blessing to watch you serve and love her.



She has never been tested for diabetes, but it looks like she might have it. Some medical personnel in the States suggested she get the dead/black skin burned off, to give it a chance to heal.


We are returning this week to tell her more Bible stories and pray with her, and maybe she will agree to go to the doctor with us, if we promise her we won't let them take her leg.


I've been at the hospital a few times this week, and I know the medical care isn't great, but God can provide someone who knows exactly what to do. You can pray for that with us.

A look back...

I was listening to a wrap-up session of Beth Moore’s “Esther” Bible study last spring, and my mind started wondering. I heard her say something about “looking back to see how it all fit,” and I started thinking about my own life.



Each person’s past is preparation for what God has for him.



Your life is not an “accident.” Every person you come in contact with, experience you have, and place you live is to prepare you for something more.



This is not an all-encompassing list, and the things on it don't make me any more special than the next guy, but it was precious to look back on some of these things.



I grew up in the country. When the power went out with a storm, we not only had no electricity, we also had no water or toilet usage since the water was pumped from a well with an electric pump. Now, I am regularly without power and/or water, so somehow...I got a head start :)



In the country, we planted a large garden, and even though I hated working in it, the education it provided me is really coming in handy as I plant my own food now.



My parents “allowed” us to try foods that might not be highly favored like liver, cactus, and snake. But it was just a warm-up for the caterpillars, grasshoppers, and termites I have tried since being here.





















Also growing up in the country, I had several opportunities to “relieve” myself when there were no toilets around. It made me an “expert” so I could teach my girls the tricks of the trade. Toilets (to sit on) are a rarity here.




























My mother cooked fresh vegetables from her garden most nights, so I was well-trained for the foods available here (nothing pre-made, preserved or found in a box).





































I think camping every summer with my family whether in a pop-up trailer or a small camper helped me learn how to cook in small, cramped spaces, like my present kitchen.






















My parents always gave to those in need, and it was always modeled for me long before I arrived in Africa where “need” is always at my gate.



























My parents taught me how to work hard and have a good work ethic. Every summer, my siblings and I got up before the sun rose to either pick corn or spray Mesquite and Huisache trees. So I was prepared long ago for the extra work that is required on a daily basis to live here (of course, this picture is not something we do on a daily basis, but it's fun to see Kylie imitating the African women, isn't it?).






















My mother taught me how to cook at an early age. If I had only known how to open a box or defrost a frozen bag, I would have been in a lot of trouble.



I remember my mom cooking with powdered milk in my younger years (which I am forced to do now), and before microwaves, she had to heat up all the leftovers on the stove (which I am also forced to do now).



I wore my sister’s (and my sister’s friends) hand-me-downs, so I was never attached to brand names. It comes in handy when the only place I have to shop is the used clothes market.



My hometown was 45 minutes from a mall or movie cineplex, so the 7-hour drive I now have to a “city” is not too far of a stretch for me.



My college education was focused on “education,” and now I am in a place where I have no choice but to teach my own children.



Five ladies in Mississippi prepared me to homes chool my children, even though I never knew in what capacity I would be doing it. Thank you, Lisa, Colleen, Anna, Angie, and Debbie.



The large university I attended has an old tradition where you greet everyone you pass with “Howdy.” Now, I’m in a culture that also expects you to greet everyone you pass, but I just say, “Mi ngoni,” instead.





















I started going on mission trips in college. Now I'm "living" a mission trip.



Thankfully, God had already moved Doug and I away from “home” twice before. So this move wasn’t my first time to leave Texas, but my third.



We applied for foreign missions the first time before being called to Baton Rouge. After arriving in Baton Rouge, the pastor left within a month, but because of us serving there, I went on my first mission trip to Uganda. I also found life-long friends (who still encourage me) within months of moving there.



The last few years in America, we moved so much that we didn’t bother hooking up cable, so I thankfully got used to not having a TV. Besides growing up, I only had CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS anyway. Anyone?



The DVD screens in our minivan went out while we lived in Baton Rouge, so my kids were already trained to make a 7-hour drive with no entertainment but what they made themselves.



I have been blessed to sit under many great teachers of the Word: Chris Osborne, Gregg Matte, Tommy Politz, Chip Henderson, Stuart Rothberg, Richard Bowden, David Welch, Tommy Nelson, and Neil McClendon, among others. Thankfully, I have had a lot of teaching, because now I am responsible for feeding myself the Word.



My sister has also lived overseas for 20 years, so she paved the way for me, and was a great resource before I ever left American soil.


Isn't God good? Everything we go through is for a reason.


I just never knew He had been preparing me for the mission field L O N G before it was ever a thought in my heart.

Take a look at your journey. What do you see?

Hardware for the Face

I can go days and not see anyone wearing glasses or braces here.


I’m pretty sure this isn’t a “contact-wearing” culture, and I’m also quite certain they don’t all have 20/20 vision.


That leads me to believe that some of these boda drivers can’t really see a thing in front of them.

Yikes!


I’m pretty sure there are not any glasses or contacts sold in this town.

A lot of people cannot read, but those that can and have trouble seeing, can you imagine their struggle??


My houseworker is one of those. When I write her a note, she gets so close to the paper, her nose is touching it.


And about braces…for the most part, the people here are blessed beyond belief with a great jaw structure.


They have the most beautiful teeth. And funny enough, you will rarely see them brushing with toothbrush and toothpaste. But you will see them every morning with a piece of stick sticking out of their mouth. They walk around doing their morning routine while they rub this stick up and down on their teeth. Pretty amazing, huh?
When you don’t have...you make do.

Dispelling the Darkness

Our town has been without power for a month, and all of a sudden, it came back on the last day of September...last night. It surprised us all because we had heard it would be November or later. (And maybe this is just a trial run for some cruel experiment, and it is still going to go off again soon – who knows).


Anyway, because we are blessed with solar panels, our life has pretty much been normal except for no hot water for baths. Heating water on the stove for the kids, limited kid-bathing, and letting out small screams when the cold water hits your back, just became the norm. No problem. Our solar was also a blessing for the people who live around us and work for us, because we are able to charge all their cell phones for them.


When I was in town two weeks ago, I was just making small talk with the “grocery store” worker about the power, and he said, “We have been in darkness for a month,” and the thought struck me. I wanted to say, “No, sir, you have been in darkness for a lot longer than that.”


As I’m sure you have heard before, when it is dark in Africa, it is REALLY dark. There are no street lights, no night lights, no televisions in house windows, no nothing. You can’t see the hand in front of your face. It is an eery feeling. It’s like you are floating in space with nothing around.


This must be the kind of darkness that those not in Jesus are surrounded with. It’s eery, unnerving, and frightening, whether they will admit it or not.


But because of the lack of light here at night, the people’s eyes here (not mine) have adjusted, and they can actually see pretty well at night (not me).


This is also like the person who lives spiritually in darkness. For example, while living in Mississippi, Doug and I had a conversation with a student who had just accepted Christ. He said that before Christ, he thought he understood peace and he thought that his life was “good.” But after accepting Christ, he saw clearly that what he thought was peace and goodness was NOT. He said, “I just THOUGHT I was happy. I didn't know how different my life would be with Christ.”


People in “darkness,” have adjusted to the lack of light in their life and learned to live with it. They don’t even realize they are squinting and straining to see the beauty around them. To them, it’s natural. They just don’t know the difference.


Pray for the darkness to be dispelled in all the places of the world where they need the true light of God’s SON.

New insights

I had a conversation with a mother about delivering children in the hospitals here.


Here were some of her observations:


If it’s dark, and you don’t have a lamp, the nurses will leave you and go help someone deliver that has a lamp.


If you yell or scream during labor, the nurse will beat you or abandon you until you are done.


Many children die because of nurse-negligence.


If you don’t bring gloves and a plastic sheet (like are in the Maama kit), the nurse will not let you on a bed. She makes you deliver on the cement floor.


Women who are used to delivering in the village (in a standing position), find it difficult to push when they come to the hospital and are made to lie on their back. If they tell a nurse that they “can’t do it” lying down, the nurses have been known to slap them.


I don’t know if you are aware, but the hospitals here are not required to feed you (or care for you in a general sense). If your loved ones do not come and cook out in the yard for you or bring you water, bananas, etc., then you just don’t get to eat while you are trying to heal??? Makes sense, huh?


The power has been completely out here for a week, and it’s been off and on in the capital city of Kampala as well. A missionary friend in Kampala said that when the “powers that be” turn off a power grid in the city, they don't consider what is on that particular grid. Sunday, when we were arriving in Kampala, I witnessed major intersection lights out, and no traffic cops to assist in the need. My friend says that when they turn the grid off where the hospital is located, they don’t even seem to care. MANY patients have died because of lack of power, and it seems that the government doesn’t take notice. It’s not like you can sue here and get any justice.

This is the rat...

This is the house that Jack built.

This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

Yes, that is a dead rat you are seeing!!!!

AND, it ate a little more than malt.

½ bar laundry soap

Sweetarts candy

1 Mini Hershey bar

He got into a bag of Peanut M&M’s

1 huge hole in the girls’ mosquito net

Grits

Note paper

1 silky pair of pajama bottoms

1 pair of athletic shorts

2 of Caleb’s Bendaroos

He got into a granola bar

He got into my bag of Trail Mix!!!

He got into TWO bags of flour

He gave a Ken doll a lobotomy

2 glitter pens

6 Mini Reese’s

2 raw eggs, rolled to a corner and cracked open (before I found them after too long of time)

A USB computer cord

An ipod charging cord (shredded it)

Cardboard stuffing inside a box

Chewed open a bottle of red ink (it went everywhere)

Chewed open a bottle of black ink (it also went everywhere)

Chewed open and ate half of 2 contractor bags (holding our luggage)

Gnawed on a luggage handle

Ate Minnie Mouse’s ear

Chewed a hole in a stuffed elephant

Pooped on Kylie’s bed and shelves

Pooped and peed all over my pantry, our garage, and the kids’ room

Nested in Kylie’s underwear

Chewed open a water bottle (water went everywhere)

Gnawed on my TUPPERWARE!!! (thank goodness my chocolate chips are safe)

Styrofoam peanuts

After three weeks of battle, he was found dead in a bag of cushy styrofoam peanuts.

My kids brought back some rat traps with them, and they had only been out TWO days...but they didn't get him.

Someone else in America is sending some glue traps, which I will be diligent to leave in my pantry!

Before any American traps were set, Doug saw bloody footprints on a plastic box in the garage. I guess one of he Ugandan traps I had set three weeks ago, actually went off and nicked him.

No matter. He’s gone, and I’m leaving traps permanently up in strategic areas in case his cousins decide to come in.

For now, the dead rat is out in the burn pile, and my garage and pantry smell like bleach, and I am one happy momma!

CAMP - Start to Finish

Can I just tell you I feel like I’ve lost an apendage? Being without my camera this week was so hard! As I spent time in the village every day, I tried to take it all in so I could give it to you in word pictures so you could “see” it, too. But I think the personal stories will have to wait until another day...

The training time in the mornings got better each day as we learned from our mistakes the previous day. That’s what being a disciple is all about. The twelve dudes with Jesus had a learning, trying, failing cycle going on all the time.

Some of the same old problems of this area kept coming up as we went out. The church has told second wives, people who grow tobacco, men who didn’t get married in the church, etc. that they can’t be born again. Some of these people can’t change their situation in life, and so this proclamation by man leaves them hopeless.

I know my group had conversations that were hard to have and hard to hear.

The last day the groups went out, we took some “good will” items. We had been looking for terminally ill people, HIV positive people, and pregnant women all week, so we could bless them. We took BGR (Baptist Global Response) buckets to the sick and Maama kits to the expectant mothers. The buckets have things like a plastic mattress cover, sheets, towels, lotion, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, 300 vitamins, socks, straws, and plastic gloves (As a side note, you can volunteer or donate to BGR at THIS LINK. They are doing a lot to fight the famine in the Horn of Africa).

The house my group identified had two pregnant ladies and one very sick grandmother. She has a wound on her foot that won’t heal (probably because it is not kept clean). It’s rotting, and the “poison” of the wound is moving up her leg. Her son would like her to get it amputated, but she feels she is too old for that procedure (and I might have to agree).

While we visited with the family, shared a Bible story and gave a testimony, I sat by her and fanned the flies off her wound for one hour. That’s at least one hour out of her day that her wound got a break from those germ-carrying, pesky things. I really hated to leave her, and I’m not sure how much more time she has. The family was beyond grateful for the bucket and didn’t even have words to express their thanks for that and the 2 Maama Kits.

This sweet grandmother told us she identified with the story we told the first day we visited. In the parable of the Four Soils, she said she was the soil with the thorns. The worries of her wound and her sickness have choked the Word of God out of her. We prayed over her both days, and I hope to return to the village in September and see how she is doing. You can pray for her, too. Her name is Neria.

Here are some of the sick people that our different groups found:

An 18-month old burned with hot milk by his mother because of jealousy???

A man dying, lying in the sun, in the dirt, with no one to really care for him.

A lady whose dress caught on fire when she was cooking, and she couldn’t get to help fast enough.

Here are some of the comments from our students after the last day:

"I feel like I can tell stories to my neighbors and those that live around me now."

"I had never ministered to “sinners” before – like talking with drunk people."

"I feel like God has given me courage like it says in Joshua, 'Be strong and courageous.'"

"This was the first time I had ever laid hands on a sick person."

"This was the first time in my life I’ve ever given my testimony."

I don’t know who all was praying for this camp, but you affected more than just life-change in the students. So many people in the village were touched, loved on, taught, prayed for, and had their lives changed as well.

At the camp, a few were unsure of their testimonies, one girl was hearing voices calling to her (not good ones), and there were some students from some mixed-up backgrounds, so your prayers were necessary for them.

Now, all these students are seeking ways to help their own people! And they took ownership of their ministry. By the last day, they were saying to us adults, “We’re going to do it like this...” Most adults didn’t do anything on the last day in the village because the students were following the lead of the Holy Spirit and doing so well on their own.

THIS is how we work ourselves out of a job…

And that's a good thing!

We train the nationals to take the Word of God to their own people (Sudanese and Ugandans) in their own language (Alur, Lugbara, and Juba Arabic)! And multiplication of disciples happens.

Isn't God good?!

A New Kind of Camp

Today was the first day for the students to go out into the village and share. We went to three different villages in a total of 8 groups.

Talk about on-the-job training! Some of these kids had never said their testimony out-loud before camp, and here they were, standing in a yard in front of a mud hut, sharing with 20 or more people!

They also shared the story of Jesus and Nicodemus today. Sharing that story brought with it some cultural issues based on what the nationals “believe” the verse is saying rather than what it is actually saying. So some groups had quite a discussion on their hands.

A challenging aspect of the camp is that the kids speak other languages, in addition to English. We had to divide the kids into groups based on the languages they were able to speak (a definite first for me at a student camp). Two of the villages spoke Alur and one spoke Lugbara, so we needed able-speakers at specific places.

These amazing students, studied the story we gave them in English, and then they had to practice translating it into their heart language for the people.

Another fun piece of the puzzle is that we have 6 Sudanese students at the camp who speak Juba Arabic, but none of the local languages. We are using interpreters for them in the village, but we realized today that their English-reading skills are so poor that they aren’t even able to read/understand the story in English to really be able to repeat it well.

SO….tomorrow, my language teacher Florence, who speaks Juba Arabic, is coming to tell the story to them in their heart language, so they can better tell it in English.

Crazy stuff, huh?

God created all these languages, so we know He will speak to the heart of the people no matter what language is being spoken.

The students also prayed over the sick, hurting, and dying. The most extreme case of the day was one man who had HIV, Tuberculosis, AND stomach cancer!

Again, I will say, this has been a camp unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of.

Even though they were a bit nervous and a little timid, the students did amazing!!

Doug got it right when he told the students they were getting to experience first-hand what God created them for: to know Him and make Him known. No wonder they felt so fulfilled after our time in the village.

Student Camp

Our student camp started yesterday.

We are having it at a boarding school outside of Arua.

Students were given two locations in town for pick-ups, and they could be at either one.

They had to come with not only their mattress, sheets and towels, but also their own basin for bathing and their own bowl and cup for eating and drinking (no one uses utensils here). How’s that for a camp experience?

The leaders of the camp, Doug and 6 other Americans, all had to bring the same things. I am one of the leaders, but I’m not staying at the school.

Every morning and every evening, I take a 40 minute side-saddle motorcycle taxi ride back and forth from home. I could have stayed out there this weekend, but that is a lot to haul out there for two days.

The reason I’m not staying on the premises is…language.

My teacher, Florence, is one of the translators for the camp, and I am one of the small group leaders.

This is a leadership camp designed to take students further in their walk with the Lord. In the morning-time, they will be learning a story from the Bible, and in the afternoons, they will take their testimony and the Bible story and go hut to hut in a village.

The translators are only needed in the villages, so they don’t have to stay at camp either.

After I’ve completed my small group duties each day, and after we have gone hut to hut in the village, Florence and I will spend the remainder of the day studying Lugbara.

All of that was the long way of explaining why I’m able to write this tonight – at a place that has internet (sometimes) and electricity (hardly ever –but I do have solar).

Twenty-nine students registered, and it has been a fabulous time with some incredible students!

I taught about Testimony on Saturday. I gave my testimony and explained the three parts: my life before Christ; the circumstances that led me to invite Christ in my life and make Him LORD of my life; and my life since I did that.

The students had to break up into family groups and not only write out their testimony in three parts, they each had to share it with their group.

Not everyone had a three-part testimony. These are all church-going kids but some of the students only know of their “life before Christ” because they have yet to invite Christ to be LORD of their life. But even this is exciting, as some of these students have this realization.

They are then forced to answer the question: “What do I believe about Jesus?”

The most important decision anyone makes in his life is about Jesus.

It has eternal significance!

“DRIVING HOME”

Dinner is about to be served each night when I leave at 7pm. Jack drives out an picks me up in a huge ski jacket, because when the sun goes down, it gets a little chilly here.

My rides home have been fun.

Have I mentioned before how much I love this town?

I’m not usually out at night, for safety reasons, but it has been so much fun to see the nightlife as I drive into town on the back of a motorcycle.

Out in the “bush,” I saw a man who had stopped his bicycle on the side of the road for a small snack. Whatever you are picturing…it’s wrong.

This man was at a termite mound, and as they flew out, he grabbed them, tore the wings off and popped them in his mouth. No cooking involved! I draw my limit right there. My brain tells me I can eat termites as long as they are cooked. I know it doesn’t sound normal, but it is what it is.

As you come into Arua, on both sides of the road, there are many, many dukas (pronounced DOO-kas).

In America, a duka would be a small store of some sort. But here, they don’t get much bigger than the size of your guest bedroom. Most of them, however, aren’t even that big. They are usually a 5ft x 5ft “box” or a 8ft x 10ft “box.” Think “kids’ playhouse.”

They sell matches, bread, sugar, eggs, washing soap, tomatoes, peanuts, air time, etc; OR they might be a barber shop or a weave “center” for hair extensions; OR they could be a “not-so-legal” DVD vendor. You get the idea.

The fun thing about seeing them in the evening is the activites in and around them.

They usually have blue or yellow light bulbs, so that makes them look interesting. And most of them (even the 5x5 dukas), have a small 8 or 9 inch box TV inside. Some were tuned in to soccer matches, but a lot of them were showing movies from “not-so-legal” DVDs. If you want to watch a movie, you pay 500 -1000 shillings (about 20 – 50 cents), and then you just crowd in at the door or window-opening of the duka.

Tonight I saw about 30 people crowded outside a small 5 foot opening on a duka.

I know I’m not doing a good job describing this nightlife atmosphere and all the sights and sounds I saw, but I guess it’s hard to imagine if you haven’t seen it.

You are all most welcome to come see it for yourselves! (When a Uganda says this, it always comes out, “You are almost welcome,” and it makes me smile every time.)

Jack is picking me up early, early tomorrow, so I’m going to bed, but I wanted to tell my sweet daughter, Kylie, happy birthday. She turns 9 today! Her daddy will not have phone or internet access to talk to her, and I haven’t been able to contact her yet.

Kylie, we are praying for you. We pray for you to know the love God has for you and understand that He has a perfect plan for your life. We are so blessed to be your parents! We love you, and hope you are enjoying your time in Texas. We miss you and want you to have the greatest day ever!

More Girl

Well, I’m sure you’ve figured out, it was more of an escape on Girl’s part than it was a rescue mission on ours.

As SOON as Aunt learned Girl was gone, SHE bought a taxi ride to Sudan.

Doug, a few others that knew of the situation, and me all gathered to pray for Girl’s safety and ultimately, her life.

I have found out all this information at varying times, but I will try to put it in proper time-sequence order for you.

Girl reached her real sister’s place in Sudan, only to find the sister not living there anymore. Her parents are apparently MUCH farther north, and if you’ve ever looked at a map of Sudan, it is a BIG place.

Girl wasn’t deterred, she went out asking people she knew where her sister had gone, determined to get to her.

When she reached back to town, guess who was at the bus stop?

Aunt.

This is an 8-hour journey to this place in Sudan, but seeing as she was only a few hours behind Girl, she managed to find her fairly easily.

Aunt immediately started beating her and asking the taxi driver how she had gotten there. He explained that one Ugandan and two whites had helped her. Aunt started accusing us and the taxi driver of stealing her, but the man assured her that that morning, Girl was happy and enjoying herself, not afraid. He also pointed out that if the whites had wanted to steal her, why wasn’t she with them.

Being in her own country, speaking her own language, Aunt was able to pay the police to arrest the taxi driver and his conductor (the one who collects the money) on charges of stealing Girl. (The driver and the conductor, in turn, the following day, paid the police to let them out, and they are back here in Uganda. We know this because they called Florence when they returned to let her know.)

Girl left on Sunday morning and was back in Arua on Monday night.

Aunt promptly brought her to the place outside our gate and asked to speak to the guard who used to work for her, who lives next door to us. We were not at home, so several witnesses told us this story later.

She asked him how Girl had gotten to Sudan…as if she didn’t know. He told her how Girl had told all of us that she could go as long as she had money, so “the whites” helped her with money.

She wanted to know why.

Well, open door…in walks SEVERAL Sudanese.

You see, I live surrounded, almost on all sides, by Sudanese families. What I DIDN’T know is that they were all WELL aware of Girl’s treatment. In fact, they knew things that I didn’t. So they all, women and children, came out to confront her. Not only that, my guard and two other guards AND Aunt’s own boda driver joined in.

She was accused of feeding all the children except Girl.

She was accused of making Girl sleep outside at night.

She was accused of using Girl as a slave.

And of course, they all mentioned the beating.

The Sudanese, her own people, said if they heard of Girl being beaten again, they would go and have her arrested.

We had been told, by someone who obviously didn’t know, that there was nothing you could do for children who got beat. Thankfully, Florence went to the police on Sunday afternoon, which I should have done a long time ago, and found out that even Sudanese living in this country could be punished for hurting a child.

It’s good to be informed.

It’s also good to know that in a country where all the laws aren’t ones I agree with and there are many laws that they don’t have that I wish they did, they do have one that really counts!

Pray for Girl. We now know where her new house is, and several people are voluntarily driving/walking by, checking on her regularly (from afar). I haven’t seen her, but when I do, I will give you an update.

Now, it looks like I owe a taxi driver some reimbursement police pay-off money for getting himself out of jail.

Moderate Makeover & Challenges

Extreme Moderate Makeover & Challenges

1) It’s rainy season. I don’t mean to make all you people in the heat of North America feel bad, but it does, in fact, rain here nearly every day.

That means that nearly every day, it rains….in my bedroom as well. I have a tin roof, not like all the thatched roofs around, so I needed more than a bundle of grass to fix the problem.

Our landlord sent someone to fix the roof, but alas…there were still buckets and towels all over the floor.

“Super Doug” crawled on the roof and in the attic and caulked all the holes.

Now the rain remains outside!

2) Most nationals I have met, really like their dirt yards to be swept clean every morning. Which, in turn, means that grass can never grow. And if it does, it is slashed with a machete-type tool which is really unhealthy for the grass.

But we like grass.

My feet like grass.

Anyway, we finally felt that we could ask Patrick and Jeremiah to sweep only once or twice a week, and it wouldn’t hurt their feelings. We also asked them not to slash the grass every week. Doug explained about wanting grass to grow.

Well, it’s working. There is grass in places where there didn’t used to be, and where there IS grass, it is very long and un-cut. PLUS, both guys have taken the initiative to go outside our compound, dig up grass/weeds from the side of the road, and come back in and transplant it in little clumps all over the yard.

It’s also having a good chance to grow because my kids aren’t around.

3) Every cartoon you’ve ever seen with a mouse in it, at one time or another, showed someone chasing that mouse with a broom.

Can I just say that Doug looks really cute chasing a mouse with a broom.

He saw “our friend” one evening, and he went for the broom. He followed the mouse into the wash room, beat the washing machine until the mouse ran out, and just grazed the mouse as it ran out the door, between his legs, into the hall.

We weren’t sure whether it ran into our bedroom or the girls’, but I guessed the girls because I had seen evidence in their closet that they had had a visitor.

The mosquito net was down, and it has heavy material sewn on the bottom, so I knew, more than likely, it didn’t get under the net.

But the closet was a black hole. (Girls, you really need to clean your closet when you get home!) “Our friend” was long gone.

Oh well, I’d do it all again to watch Doug with that broom :)

4) We got a freezer!!!!

And it’s hooked up to solar!!!!

And it uses less energy than a light bulb!!!

This means I had the privilege of collecting all my frozen food from two different houses, and I can actually store it in my own home.

This also means that we can have ice for the first time in a year and a half.

*When we didn’t have a freezer, I carefully packed away the ice trays so they would be ready when the time came….

Now, I can’t find them.

No ice yet!

5) Town power is now only running from 7pm-11pm. From what I understand, they don't think residential areas need more than 4 hours of power a day.

I want to thank all you people AGAIN who helped us with purchasing our solar panels and batteries. And here’s to Jack Dody who taught us how to operate it!

We still have town power hooked up to our house. It helps boost the solar batteries on cloudy days and it allows us to plug in items with heating elements (when the power is on).

Without town power, I can’t use a toaster, for instance. (that’s okay. I can toast my bread in the gas oven)

Without town power, I can’t use an iron (oh darn!)

Without town power, I can’t use a crock pot (I knew that ahead of time, so I didn’t bring one)

Without town power, I can’t use the hot water heaters for showers and baths (WHAT!!?????)

Yes, I live in Africa. And in dry season, I really like cool showers. But it’s rainy season here – their equivalent of winter – and I’m a bit chilled. My friends living in Serbia gave me a light jacket, and I’ve been wearing it every day! So…yes, I’m a bit spoiled from my days with constant hot water, and I do like my warm showers.

Isn’t God good! He lets the power come on at 7pm every night, so that by 7:30 I can have a warm shower.

Ahhhh….bliss! Thank you, Lord, and keep it coming!

(more on Girl tomorrow - and for those of you who asked, Girl is 11)

Girl

We had a special girl that lived next to us for over a year. I won’t use her name here for security reasons, so I will just refer to her as “Girl.”

Girl and my kids talked through the fence, shared things, and played together. But Girl is from Sudan, and her parents are back in Sudan. She stays here with her aunt and cousins in hopes to get a better education.

The whole family speaks Arabic, but Girl was learning some English and Lugbara at school, so we could communicate a little.

Over time, she started talking to us less – or only when her aunt wasn’t around.

Sadly, I started seeing her get beaten. I would make my children remain inside when I heard the stick begin hitting her bony frame and heard her screaming out.

I would walk to the fence (as hard as it was), in hopes that her aunt would not continue beating her if I was looking on, but she never stopped. Sometimes, there would be over 70 swats with the stick before she would quit.

One day when the aunt was not around, Girl told me at the fence that she had been told if she were caught talking to us, she would get beaten. Her aunt also threatened her saying she would call the police on us because she said we were trying to take Girl away from her.

Well…Girl and the family moved to another house at the beginning of June.

But last Wednesday, Girl came to the gate asking if I would pay for her to go to Sudan.

Of course, I had a lot of questions.

Does your aunt know? “Yes, she said if I got money to go, I could go.”

Are you going to travel alone? “No, my cousin-sister will go with me.”

How will you know how to change vehicles at different stops? How will I know if you reached there? How can I know you will be safe? Etc.

I told her to come on Friday with her cousin-sister so I could talk to her.

Girl and her cousin-sister came. Thankfully, my teacher, Florence, was still around, and Florence had learned Sudanese Arabic when she lived in Sudan for a time. She was able to help me decipher some of the issues.

We decided that the girls would come to our place on Sunday morning at 8am, we would drive to pick up Florence, and she would go with us to the taxi park to translate between English, Lugbara, and Arabic. The taxi vans leave at 9am to go to Sudan.

Sunday came…8:00….8:15…

I went to Patrick, our guard, and he talked to the guard next door that used to work for Girl’s family. Patrick and I asked him to take his bike to where they are living now and see if Girl was on her way.

He found her and brought her to my place, but it was already 8:40. She came in complaining of an arm injury from being beaten again.

Girl gave me a number to call her cousin-sister to find out where we could pick her up on the side of the road.

The phone was not turned on. ???

Sarah said to just go without her. (*ring, ring* those are bells going off in my head).

We picked up Florence and then headed back to town. Through translation, I asked why she was late, and she said her aunt had told her she couldn’t go until she cooked for the day and washed all the clothes.

Florence was amazing. She talked to three drivers before she found one that carried a phone with a Sudan number. She wanted to make sure that someone could call when they arrived in Sudan. AND she found one driving straight to Girl’s town, so she wouldn’t have to change vehicles.

Florence and I went and bought food for Girl for the journey, while Doug made sure her luggage got loaded. We paid the driver money for the phone call he would make from Sudan. We gave Girl extra money to eat on the way, and we gave her her ticket for proof that she had been paid for.

God had orchestrated for a man to sit in front of Girl whom Florence knew. Florence talked to the man, and he also agreed to call Florence when Girl reached home. In fact, he offered to walk Girl home once they got to her town.

Girl was sitting in the back of the van smiling. I hadn’t seen that smile in a long time.

We left happy because she was going home and satisfied that she would be well taken care of.

Of course, we didn’t know someone was lying…

Four hours later, a boy arrived at our gate wanting to know where Girl was.

We told him everything we knew, and that she had said she had permission to go. (We couldn’t confirm with the aunt because she does not speak to us) We also said that cousin-sister knew and had come here with her to inquire.

The boy said that cousin-sister was indeed going to Sudan, leaving in one hour. But he said he didn’t know about Girl.

I know she’s safe. That’s all I know for now, but something tells me this story isn’t over.