Arriving and First Week

Blog Post About June 2021

When we arrived in Istanbul, we were all SO tired. It had been a big week and we had such a late flight.

This is Karis and Keira after a small breakfast.

June 20, 2021

When we landed, we were finally in the same time zone as Kylie, but it would be another two weeks before I would see her. 

First, I had to get my cell phone hooked up, and then we had some shopping to do before we started traveling everywhere.

The dance studio that we have been a part of in the past told me Keira could come to their dance camp, so that helped tremendously!

After Karis and I went to Old Navy, Kohls, TJ Maxx, and two Targets, we were worn out and we hadn't found much. Selections were scarce. We decided to just go sit somewhere and order things online.

We also had a few advisor visits at Texas A&M.

After four days, it was time to travel to see my parents. This is how the six of us communicated while we were apart. Three of us in South Texas, one in Tennessee, and two in the Middle East.

June 25, 2021

We stayed three nights with my parents and we also went to church, and then we went to see Doug's parents.

June 29, 2021

We had high hopes of finding better shopping options in their town. 

We went to Target, Old Navy, Kohls, Claire's Boutique, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Ollies, Sam's, and Walmart in a two day span, and I think we found enough to get by :) The tough item to find was good, reasonably priced luggage (I was going to take some things back for a friend, and I needed some extra luggage space)

After three nights with them, we headed back to our base.

People without a Home

 Last fall I visited one of the many refugee camps that are outside the city.  Some of my friends work with an NGO that services the disabled in camps around our city. 

We drove through a small village to get there that had been bombed by forces battling ISIS a few years ago.

Some of the people in the camp told us they can see their home from their tent, but they are not allowed to go there. 

They are not allowed out of the camp without special permission.

We were there on a cold, wet day, and all I could think about was the upcoming winter weather.  Tent walls are thin and the ground is cold.

Portable potties and washing areas are provided for each section of the camp. 

We visited on a day when food distribution was taking place.  Lines formed at the front of the camp and family by family had a wheelbarrow take their goods to their tent. 

We met an old couple who were not allowed to get anything from the distribution.  A tent had to have at least 5 people in it to get anything, so this couple had to borrow and share with other family tents around them.

The tents behind this man are the make-shift school at the camp.  But teaching only happens sometimes, and when it does, the quality is just how you would imagine it would be.

I went in one tent that was nice because the family had been able to bring some things with them.

But most of the ones I entered, weren't so nice.  

One lady was outside in the cold baking bread in an "oven."

She shared with us!

 One lady pointed us in the direction where other disabled people lived.

 This boy enjoyed the only playground he has access to.

 Two months after this, when I was in a freezing house with no power, one working toilet, and no working showers, I knew I STILL had it better than all of these people. 

Every time it rained, I thought of the cold, wet nights they would have in their tents with cracks and holes.  The camp had been around for so long, that funding for it had started to dry up.  Distribution wouldn't be coming as often and tents would not be repaired.  There were more to take care of in other places.

I know of one camp with 30,000 people and one with 60,000.  It is hard to imagine the size of these places and how many people are squeezed into such a small area unless you are seeing it with your own eyes.

As we left the camp, I looked across the road, and I saw another camp in the distance.  I don't know if you can see how big it is, but all I know is there are thousands of people there that they have nothing.

Be Thankful!!!

A finish and a beginning

Well, here's a quick wrap-up of camp along with some new pictures I've borrowed from other people's facebook pages or emails that have been sent to me.

First, I wanted to show you the 6 groups in action.  It was hard to get pictures of them because I was always in my group simultaneously.

So, one day, Karis had come to my group to learn the story, and after she had gotten half of it down, I asked her if she would go take pictures of all the groups I hadn't gotten to yet.  Sometimes (like Group 6) it was hard to get close to them without being a disturbance, but I'm so thankful for Karis for doing this for me.


This first one, though is HER group with Gordon Caldwell, Lee Anderson, and Pastor David, and Doug took this picture.

Karis sitting and learning the story while Joanna shared with the group

Kylie's group led by John Shaull and Courtney Tucker

My group led by Richard and me

Group 4 led by Stan Wafler and Taban

Group 5 led by Mike Carlson, Betty, and Denae Kioko

Group 6 led by Dianna Sparks and Jill Gase.  Doug listening in one day.

This is what the food line looked like, and you can see my girls trying to be African and carry their bowls on their heads

.

 This is where the girls took their bucket baths every night.  No running water.  Just bring a basin of water drawn from the bore hole (cold!) and pour it over yourself one cupful at a time.

Don't forget to wear your flip flops!

The dorm where the girls slept.  The three young girls slept in the triple-decker bed to the right (where the giraffe pillow is)

Patrick (in white, in the front) and Rachael (in the back in denim) got baptized after camp was over

Reading from Scripture as a reminder that the water doesn't save us.  It's just a step in obedience to following Jesus!

Love that smile!

A good ending to camp, and a good beginning for Rachael and so many others!

Camp - Day 6

Finally, the last installment is being typed up.  I had no idea how exhausted my body was after camp, but three days later, I’m STILL not fully recovered.

The last story was the most difficult to memorize and share, and so with the kids being tired, too, on the last day, it made it feel a bit longer.

When the students signed in for camp, I think I told you that the volunteers from America gave them drawstring backbacks, water bottles, and pens.

On this last day of camp, they gave each student a head lamp with three extra batteries.  The students were SO excited!

In a town where power can be rare, this was quite a blessing.  As a matter of fact, Arua had been without power for three weeks as of the last day of camp.

After the students shared the story and led a mock story group, we all gathered together to take the Lord’s Supper and discuss baptism one more time.

The national leaders helped pass out chapati bread and the black currant juice for the Lord’s Supper, while Lee, a missions pastor from Florida read the Scripture.  

Then, Stan, a fellow team member, discussed baptism again, using Scripture and showing the students why a follower of Jesus is baptized AFTER he believes, rather than before. 

He discussed it again, because two of the students whom Doug has been storying with (Erik and Tom) had decided to be baptized.  They wanted to be baptized in June, but schedules didn’t work out, so camp seemed like a perfect opportunity.

But at camp, there was no swimming pool, of course.

The girls, following, after the boys had already stationed themselves down the hill

The men journeyed down to the river to make a “ladder” for the girls to walk down because it was very steep.  I was so glad they were there, because on more than one occasion I slipped, and would have tumbled all the way down the hill without those hands grabbing my arms.

 

Jill, thankfully being caught by Stan and Gordon

Once all the students from the camp were on the dam,

Pastor David, Doug, Stan, Erik and Tom walked into the water.

Erik was a little difficult to pull up, so when Tom went, he started on his knees.

The water coming out of the dam was so loud, Pastor David had to shout, and Doug had to shout at the end so his prayer could be heard.

Then we all trekked back up the hill for lunch and saying goodbye.

 Unfortunately, I didn't carry my camera to the "goodbyes," but there was quite a bit of engineering going on in the loading of the cars.  I'll get pics from someone and share another time.

Thankfully, for you, I DID get a picture of the bathroom I used all week.  

Go in...

Move the wood to the side...

And there you are.  

I didn't want to zoom in too much because you can....see things.

I have such empathy for the nationals who have to squat 365 days a year, including when they are 32 weeks pregnant!  It was not easy.

But my girls did this morning, noon, and night, including taking bucket baths with water from the bore hole.  

That means they stand in a basin, and pour cold cups of water over themselves to bathe.

When they got home, they were SO thankful to sit on a toilet, eat with a fork, eat something besides rice and beans, and SO looking forward to sitting in a warm tub.

But if you remember, there had been no power in Arua for 3 weeks.

So, I spent the evening back and forth at the stove, heating water.  We boiled 7 big pots of water so all of us could have an inch or two to bathe in.

And wouldn't you know...God turned the power on for us the very next day!  And it stayed on long enough to fill the hot water heaters before it turned off again.

"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”            Luke 6:3