Apwoyo! (Sounds like Afoy-yo... and means hey is Acholi)

I realized I didn't well describe my living conditions when I posted. And now the internet is good! So I am adding some more...

To start off, above is a picture of the Kampala flooding. I talked about it earlier. This was maybe Monday last week and it rained and hailed soooo hard. Anyway... here is a picture of what it was like after only 2 hours of rain. It was so bad that it was all over the news that night


Ok back to living in Koro. First off... if you know what a latrene is then I'm sure you know what it is like to use one. Basically there is not water or electricity. So my toilet is a hole in a concrete slab, and my shower is a basin. It was a little difficult taking a bath yesterday but after being at Fred and Nicolette's I got the hang of it really fast. We use candles and flashlights after 7 (which is when it gets dark every night) and I have to charge my phone during the day when we go into town and visit the hotel.

The Kitchen is like a small (very small) shed made out of random wood and a corrugated metal roof. They cook with coal in pots that have holes in them. It's amazing how much they can cook with such a small space. For water, they collect it on the roof and it goes into a concrete tank in the ground. To retrieve it they "draw" the water in a bucket with a string. Clothes are washed by hand in basins, as well as dishes.

It's kinda remote, but actually it's not bad at all. I think anyone could live this way it just takes a lot more time. The women who live here do all the cooking and cleaning so for me it is easy.

Here is a picture of the church:

 All those are chairs to be distributed. There are about 60-100 people who are from Gulu that currently attend. Much Much more could fit in it though


I also haven't mentioned my new friend: Joshua! This is Esther's new baby, he is about 1 year old. When I first met him, like many mzungus, he really didn't like me. But after a 4 hour car ride up here I think I am now one of his favorites. He is a handful. He never stops moving but he is a wonderful baby... and of course super adorrrrrible.

Hello!!! Greeting from Gulu.

Wow what a different place... both different from Kampala and different from when I was last in Gulu.

So here is a brief summary of what is in Gulu: Aloysius Kazze and his wife Esther moved here a long time ago to work with displaced people from the conflict in Northern Uganda. You know Kony right? Well Kony 2012 should be more like Kony 2002.... This war started over 20 years ago and the peak of it was maybe 6-8 years ago. Anyway, their family came here to minister to people in IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) camps and to help them return to their villages. That is where the farm has been a blessing. They use the 30 some acres that the ministry has to teach former villagers how to farm, raise livestock, and other basic public health skills so that in re-entering their villages, they can create a sustainable life for themselves.

The farm is SOOOO BUSY. I was here 4 years ago when it was just starting up. At that time they had cleared about 1/2 the land and were farming on maybe 1/4 of it. There was a dirt soccer field, a pavilion that was used for church, daycare, and other things. There were 3 mud huts, and one over hanging. That was it. It was a quiet humble place. Now it is totally changed. There are many buildings where a dozen or so staff reside, including Aloysius and Esther's home (where I am staying). There is a BIG church, a daycare which has its own kitchen. And so many plants! and so many animals! Like big fat pigs, cows, goats, rabbits, chickens (hundreds). And most of all it is bustling with people. I mean the first day we had two drop in visitors that wanted a tour. There are two teams here... one from Intervarsity campus ministry in New England area, and a Wheels for the World team from all over the US. On top of that there are 5 interns, Justin and I (who are interning for a long period of time and living in Aloysius's house) and many many people who volunteer.

Right now I am working mostly with the wheels for the world team because they have so much demand. I drove up with 4 of the leaders who came a few days before the other 16 people. Their names are Jill, her husband Richard, Pastor Greg, and Dana (who is a man). They are distributing wheel chairs to people who are disabled and it is a huge operation. They custom fit these chairs so they make cushions, put on seat belts...... I never knew there was so much to wheelchairs. There are 225 chairs, probably 40-50 walkers, and maybe 30-50 sets of crutches.

You know they saying, be careful what you wish for? Yeah....

So I asked Aloysius to put me to work... and yesterday I helped load and unload all 225 chairs. It look 8 loads and it was soooo hot. I put on sunscreen but my hands were still burning at like 8 that night.

 This is where the chairs came from. That is one of those giant shipping containers. Pastor Greg is in black, Justin in gray, and Richard in red. We unpacked this and also a whole other one. GEEEEEZ.

So this is the truck that we put them on to take them to the church where we will distribute them all next week. It looks like the truck is in the shade.... but this was the early morning.....

The one is Justin. The girl on top is called Dorothy. 

 

 This is an image of like 1/3 of the chairs at the church after we got them there.

 

This is Jill and two of the local volunteers. I know the name is named Jimmy and we works on the farm. Jill taught us how to move the chairs and use them and how to treat people who are using them. She was so good at teaching and there was so much I had never thought about before that she told us... although she has done these distribution trips all around the world for the last 10 years... I think this is her 21st time. 

Justin is also staying with me. His is an intern from Liberty College in Lynchburg VA. It is nice to have someone else with me again.... Although I dont see him so much during the day.

Hopefully my access to internet will be more frequent. I miss home, but am glad to be here.

Hello! This morning I have an oppertunity to show some photos. I hope you enjoy them. 

This is in the car on the way to church Sunday with Angel and Joel. 

This is a picture of the guys playing a futbol match at the outreach on Friday. Training days are Monday Tuesday and Thurs and yesterday Amanda and I ourselves practiced dribbling and juggling while they played..... We are uh... kinda ok at soccer....

 This morning we had to say goodbye! :( This is me with Agnus and Joel. I love them so much!

Boda Boda! That is what Ugandan call moto taxis. They carry everything! Sometimes 3, 4, even 5 people (I have seen 5). They carry sugar cane, chickens, its crazy. Amanda and I really want to ride one.

This is a slum home. The mother and her children. We spent time here, the tall boy and the girl are in the chess program. We heard their testimonies, which I dont have time to write now, but they are now in this new home. Their old home would flood up to the windows when it rained and all 4 children slept on one mattress. Now they each have their own bed.

This is AMANDA! My new friend! With Joel, Angel and Jovan. Aren't they beatiful?

Again, these photos are from Amanda. 

Hello everyone!

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted. Internet here is iffy and I tried to post earlier and we lost power so I lost all my typing. Also I cant access photos without power so I am so sorry but you will just have to read boring words until I can get photos. It's hard adjusting to not being able to do everything you want with the internet...

Here's a little update on what is to come: Tomorrow I leave for Gulu Uganda where I will stay with Aloysius and his wife Esther. My friend Amanda will be leaving sometime I think on Friday to go to south sudan for a few weeks. Then she will join a team in Gulu from her church and leave at the end of July. That will be nice to reunite with her! :) I guess there is a young man who is staying with Aloysius already who is also from Amanda's church so I will have him for company. Also I think they will be really busy with American teams while I am there. SO MANY Muzungus! I thought it would be all africans but its turning out instead I will see many Americans.

I am supposed to be traveling with a group of four from a non-profit that was started by Joni Earekson. I don't exactly know what they are doing (see a trend?) but I guess I will find out! It was sad this evening. It was the last evening prayer with Fred's family. I love them so much. I love that they do devotions every night as a family and I have already learned so much from them. I am sooo excited though to spend even more time with aloysius's family.

I know it has been a while so let's start with Sunday. I went to Fred's church called Watoto Central. WOW. I thought Rolling Hills was big. This place was packed and fit maybe somewhere between 1500-2000 people. I honestly dont know how many but they also had 4 serivces that were all that full! And an overflow room. Not only that... but that church was one of 5 branches of the same church. I couldn't believe it, it was just like going to church at home. There were lights and sound equipment and everything. I personally like the small slum churches a lot, but this one was very nice and had a great sermon and pastor.

After church we did some things.... one of those being picking up Esther to visit her children. She lives in the north but her children go to boarding school in Kampala and it was parents weekend I think. She travelled all that way with an 11 month year old baby in a taxi van! People here are amazing. I will see her again tomorrow when I go to Gulu!

Church and everything was great on Sunday, but something else really was the best part of the day, and actually probably the most touching thing that has happened since I came here. I know I have mentioned that Fred has a women who works in their home and that she has two sons. Joel is 5 and Jovan is 2 1/2. I have played with all the children, but Joel is especially difficult to make smile. He is so serious. He will talk but you never see his teeth and he acts like an adult because in reality, he has had to be one since he was 2.

Agnus, the mother, when through a very hard time before she came to work for Fred and his family. her and her sons had to sleep on the ground, they lived on the streets... I just know it was worse than many people in the slums even. Joel at his age is sent to the market alone by his mother. I think she has had so much hardship that it is hard for her to express love, even though she the THE MOST beautiful smile! In all of Uganda!

Anyway, we took Joel to church. Before we went I was with him in the morning (I always get up too early...) and I got him to ride on my back and of course I was being goofy. It was really fun as Amanda and I were playing with him, he was laughing and smiling a lot, but once we got in the car he was serious again. When we got to church I had him sit with me instead of go to Sunday school (because we were late). I felt so bad because during worship he couldnt see so I picked him up and held him the whole time. You can imagine my arms were sooo tired and I was so sweaty but I just didn't put him down. And during service he sat on Amanda and my laps so he could see, and he even fell asleep. After church was over Nicolette told me that he probably hadn't been held in 3-4 years by his mother.

It sounds cliche... but he was not the same at all after Sunday. He is still smiling soooo much. It was like a compelte 180 degree turn. Amanda and I feel so blessed. We just love playing with the children but to know that it has really changed Joel just had already made this journey worth it. And not only that, but Agnus is really happy to see her children smile and she is trying hard to hold her kids and show them love. I know it's hard to visualize but it is really amazing. Christ can do wonderful things even if it is small like that. I just pray that it wasn't Amanda or I who changed Joel, but Christ is truely working in his and his mother's lives. 

I wish I could upload their picture so you can see!!! Hopefully soon.

Another amazing thing that happened was the flooding yesterday. We were heading to see a feeding program in Kabuli (pronounced Chi-boo-lee) slum and it started to rain. We ran into the church and within 10 mins it was pouring.... HARD. Think of the hardest rain you have witnessed in Oregon, and that was what it was like. Then in a half hour, it was twice that hard. We had to move up to the alter area because the floor started to flood. Then it hailed with lightning and thunder and the rain was so loud on the metal roof, I couldn't hear myslef think. It was so crazy. When you would look outside there was just floods of water pouring down the street.

We stayed in the church waiting for about 1 1/2 hours. I want to show the picture,  but when we were driving away all the roads were flooded and it took 3 hours to get home when it normally takes 1!

I want to talk more but it is late and the battery is running out. Thanks for your prayers! I miss home quite a bit sometimes (not the food because I love everything here) but I am very glad to be here.

Until later, Samantha

This is the first day right after we "taught" some english at Natete slum. After we taught the actual teacher asked us to take role....... you can imagine how that went!

There is a chess program that was just starting when I went to Uganda in 2008. It started in the slums as an alternate to soccer since in Katwe slum it is hard to find space to play soccer. Today I went to a senior (secondary) school where there are some slum students. The program is so big! One of these girls is named Feona (fee-o-na) and in case you didn't read the ESPN article that was published over a year ago, she went to Russia to compete internationally! She is incredible. Still a young student, from the slums of Uganda, and a top top chess player! What an honor to meet her.

These are a bunch of the children in the village that we went to yesterday. Amanda and I gave them all stickers and played games with them. I don't know what they are doing here... but honestly the didn't smile all the time. We were kinda scary at first because white people hardly visit these areas... Amanda even made a baby cry! But after warming up to us it was very fun.

I wish I had taken all these beautiful pictures... but they are Amandas. (she's kinda a professional, it's pretty nice) So thanks Amanda!

God Bless. I will post later.

Starting another morning in Fred and Nicolette's home. Today is the 23rd and we are supposed to spend the morning in the Katewe slum looking at all the projects. This afternoon we will sit in on Robert's chess program. If you are not familiar, one of the staff teaches chess to children of Katewe slum. A few years ago one girl did so well that she competed nationally and then when to a worldwide tourniment in Russia. It was an amazing thing to have happen and I am excited to return to see those children.

Yesterday was outreach day so Amanda and I joined the Good News Team (Sport's Outreach's soccer team) and travelled about 2 hours to a village west of Kampala. We started with an introduction in the church there (which since it is a village, the church is just a sort of hut with a dirt floor). After that we watched the football match (they call soccer football) and it was very fun. Amanda and I of course hung out with the children. I forgot that in villages they are not used to mzungus (white people) at all so I was at first very suprised when all the children stared at me. I think Amanda even made a baby cry :)

We played games with the children which was very fun. Later an old woman approached me who did not speach english. One of the staff members translated and told me that she wanted me to pray for her because she had a lot of pain in her body and was very lonely because her husband had just passed. It was wonderful to be able to pray for her (even if she couldnt understand) and then we got her connected to the village church.

On the ride back I almost fell asleep many times, I was sooo tired. We got to Fred and Nicolette's home at about 10:30 and ate at 11! Ugh, I don't know if my body is used to this eating late thing.

Right now I am in the living room playing with Angel (Fred and Nicolette's adopted daughter) and Joel and Javen (the son of their house help whose name is Agnus) while watching looney toons. Sound familiar? I am having a great time and it's great to have Amanda with me. Although I am very excited to go to Gulu and see Aloysius and Esther. I know they will work me  very hard which will be a nice change since the staff here always just want to make me comfortable. It is probably good for me to rest though because my sleep schedule is still off from the trip over here.

Thank you for your prayers! I appriciate them very much and I know God hears them.

Ps- I tried to upload pictures but it is going really slow. I will try again tonight

This morning I woke up to the sound of about 1000 birds all going to choir practice. There was also some really big rooster that at first I thought was a crying baby. The whole city of Kampala smells like smoke is busy with hundreds of people in their market stores. There is dust everywhere, and a warm mist of humidity.
It is so wonderful to be back with Sports Outreach. Yesterday morning I went to devotionals with the staff at the Mango School for Physically Handicap, where they also have their office. There is another girl here who is 24 and is named Amanda. It is such a blessing to have another America lady to be able to talk to and share this time with. I think we are secret twins; this is her 3rd time to Uganda (just like me.) She is just as in love with the country as I am. Also, she has been to Nicaragua! which I did a few summers ago. And we almost share the same name... Amanda Farrell and Samantha Farwell.
My first night was at the Pope Paul Hotel, but Fred and Nicolette from Sports Outreach have opened their home to me and Amanda for the rest of the week. They have a beautiful adopted daughter named Angel who is sooo full of laughter! It is such a great experience to be in their home. Last night we got back around 7 and talked over tea and coffee for over 2 hours. Nicolette has so many wonderful stories to tell. At about 10pm we ate makote, sweet potato, beef, cabbage, pinapple, and avacado. YUMMMM.
In about 15 mins Amanda Fred and I will head out to do an outreach that is about 60km outside of Kampala. (I forget the name of the town.) It will be a long day but a good one.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I am so greatful for the internet at Fred and Nicolette's home so I can write on the blog. Hopefully the power will come back soon so I can update pictures!

God Bless -Samantha

Today is the day! I am heading out from PDX at 1:30. My dad was able to coordinate our flights so I get to travel with him for the first leg to Amsterdam, which will be sooooo great! Then I have a two hour lay-over and I get on my next flight to Entebbe, Uganda. I should arrive around 10:30pm (Uganda time). 

My first week (or more) will be in Kampala doing ministry in the slums. I can't wait to see Robert, Sam, Rita, Paul... and all my friends in Sports Outreach! I also just found out that I am supposed to meet Joni Eareckson, and maybe travel to Gulu with her. After I travel to Gulu I will be staying there for the rest of the trip.

I am super excited and nervous at the same time. I really have no idea what to expect besides many sweet familiar faces and wonderful adventures. 

Thanks for your prayers! I will try to get on the internet as much as I can to share my experiences

Hello friends.

I have been extremely blessed with the opportunity to return to Gulu, Uganda for a third time this summer! Recently I found out Aloysius and Esther have graciously accepted my request to intern at the koro farm.

I am leaving June 19^th and returning from Uganda August 11^th so I will be in Uganda for almost 2 months.  While I am there I will be staying with a wonderful family; Aloysius and Esther. 

My internship will be to help the Ugandans who run a farm called Koro, which is property owned by Sports Outreach in Gulu (northern Uganda). I will help with business, working in the farm, managing mission teams, and doing whatever I can to serve! Right now Sports Outreach uses their property to grow crops and host sports camps, church services, and do other things in their ministry. They want to move to be fully self-sustaining and hope to improve the farm so that more crops can be sold to help run the Gulu projects. 

I am excited to leave, and it is creeping up on me fast. I hope you enjoy following my adventures in koro. It's going to be pretty crazy, I am not even sure what I am getting into, but I know it will be absolutely wonderful. Uganda stole my heart the first time I came in 2006, and so it will be so sweet to return. I will try to update as much as I can, but please be praying for me.God Bless.