Last week in Uganda....

This last week has been full of debriefing and trying to mentally prepare ourselves for the return home and all the things that await us there. The Director of International Academics for Food for the Hungry, Michael Pucci, flew over here to conduct the debriefing sessions (which have been AAAmazing). This last week has also consisted of presenting our final Oral Literature projects with were culminated during our various practicums and also a little presentation of each of our different practicums. Our final practicum presentations were tonight that was the final aspect of our academia here in East Africa. Here is a little snippet of what I presented...enjoy (you may want to grap a Coke and a bag of popcorn...hehe!)

A Rwandan Thanksgiving

Oh to be a tree. What do I mean by this? Well, just to add to the abnormality of spending Thanksgiving in Rwanda and having chicken instead of turkey, no cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie and it being over 80 degrees...my fellow students and I created our own tradition and dressed like trees. Our "Wear a Tree Outfit Day" to be commemorated and recognized on every Thanksgiving for the rest of our lives. Well, maybe that's stretching it a little, but at least i hope every year for the rest of my life, I'll at least remember that one time I spent Thanksgiving in Rwanda, Africa and my 12 fellow classmates and I dressed in the colors green, brown, tan and any other leafy colors to try out best to resemble trees. This epic day is marked and remembered by the photo shoot beautifully representing our "treeness".

AND it wouldn't be a proper holiday without the typical family portrait...awkward smiles, head tilts, hand placements and of course, a crying baby....

Being the Love

So Eric Robbins, (my pastor from Sacred Journey Church in Kirkland, WA where I attend regularly during the school-year) has been doing a series of sermons at church entitled "Feel the Love." I have been listening regularly to the podcasts from the church so I can still try to be connected to them even though I'm here in East Africa.  This series is about how as Christians, we are to "be" Love. He emailed me and asked me if I could write about how I am being the Love while here in Africa.  I just thought I would share a few of my thoughts about how I view myself as "being" Love while here (you can listen to the podcast at: http://www.sacredjourneychurch.com/messages/112308.mp3) :  

How am I sharing or being the Love while here in Africa.  How am I sharing or being the Love?  Maybe I am when I'm playing soccer with some kids on the street or changing diapers at an orphanage.  Maybe.  Surely that is showing Love...but how am I being Love?  Seems like I should have an easy answer or tear-jerking example of this since I am in Africa, but I seriously wrestled with this question for a long time.  Do I even know what it is to 'be' the Love? I first asked myself what it is that motivates me to love.  I hoped it wasn't just to take the stereotypical National Geographic pictures of half-starved, naked, scabies children with snot running down their faces in the middle of a garbage heap.  The child would provide me a great photo opportunity to who my friends and family how 'hard' life is in Africa and how much I am 'suffering' for God...but in that moment would I have been love to that child or been simply declaring my love of self?  Could I be so ignorant as to only see the filth and scabies and not recognize the beauty of the creation made by a loving Father? I would like to say no.

I am currently in Rwanda and will be for the next 5 weeks studying about issues surrounding the genocide hat happened here in 1994.  Prior to this trip, my knowledge of this ethnic massacre was limited to what I saw in the movie 'Hotel Rwanda' since the event took place when I was only 8 and all I cared about were Barbies and 'Little House on the Prairie'.  Of course when this happened, I don't think many Americans realized the severity of this situation in Rwanda either.  Not with all the media directing its attention on much more important issues...like the OJ Simpson trial.  Talk about a reality check.  It's easy to deny reality, until perhaps you find yourself one day having a cup of tea with one of the survivors.  You can still see the pain in his eyes as he struggles to retell his stories, even after 14 years.  He was only 10 years old when this 'ethnic cleansing' took place and he vividly recalls an instance when he witnessed two of his Tutsi neighbors get slaughtered by machetes as he hid in the bushes...fearing for his own life.  And that is just one of the stories.

What is it to be Love? 1 John 4.8 says, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."  So if I understand this correctly, if God is love, then being Love to others is being Christ to them in a sense.  Everyday I have the opportunity to be Christ in every situation whether I'm in Africa or in Montesano, Washington.  I have just as many, if not more, chances to put this into practice at home.  I have to make it a daily conscious effort.  It doesn't matter whether I love on neglected children, listen to a genocide victim, obey my parents, or simply smile at a stranger.  If I am choosing to be like Christ, then I am choosing to be the Love.  I am being Love.

An October in Kapchorwa

Scene : *Just imagine the scene at the end of the Sound of Music when the Von Trapp family is coming over the hill in the Swiss Alps or the book Heidi also taking place in the Alps.....Kapchorwa greatly resembled those scenes and I often found myself tempted to go frolicking through the fields singing away.*
Mornings were filled with the sound of a particular cock crowing starting at 5am and continuing for the rest of the day and gravel crunching outside my door as the voices of Juliet (our cook/housekeeper/mother) and James (our security guard) began to speak loudly about something or another, all in Kubsabiny Me, finally getting out of bed continuing to concoct my plan for murdering the rooster, but never actually following through...alternatively, just 'gently' throwing a couple of rocks at it without actually hitting the intended target....at least not every time:) As I would be brushing my teeth, I could see Juliet in the corner of my eye with a bucket full of steaming water rushing toward the bathroom. As she emerged from the bathroom I instinctly knew what would happen next..."Sarah! Bath!!" and she would jut out her index finger in the direction of the bathroom as my forced daily bucket bath awaited me. I would pout to myself and grumble "I'm coming" as I drug my feet all the way to the bathroom. What if I wanted to be dirty and smelly? Just one day??? Nope. Not a chance. Juliet may not have known much English, but she definitely knew how to communicate what she wanted and trust me...she was not one to be reckoned with. So I just took the bath. One day I will look back and thank her, I'm sure. My mother would appreciate the fact that I was well looked after and she very much has Juliet to thank.

I was setting a HUGE fashion statement up there in the mountains as well...and I must say. I've grown rather fond of the combination of flannel + skirt (cultural thing...apparently I would be seen as a prostitute if I wore trousers and I definitely wouldn't want that) +leggings + rubber boots and I'm thinking of trying to start it up in Washington...I could be a trend setter.....or possibly end up in the 'worst dress' edition of the Seattle Weekly. Anyway, it was necessary for the flannel and leggings because the climate up there was significantly colder and rainier than most of Uganda. The weather was so predictable though because since we were at the top of the mountain, we could see the dark ominous clouds of death coming up over the hills towards us tauting us with their gifts of destruction (okay, I may be just a slight overdramatic). Thus, we knew we probably had about a half hour to an hour before we would would get bombarded with rain pellets the size of spit wads and wind that would surely direct them right in our faces. Often we even received intense electrical storms with these clouds of death...just a great packaged deal....you get spit wad rain AND thunder and lightening striking every 10 seconds and only being 1/4 mile away. Many times did we contemplate whether the huge water tank standing only 20 feet from us would ever be the recipient of stuck a bolt....unfortunately nothing in our perimeter was zapped. The previous definition of the weather should definitely give reason for my daily footwear. Now these are not those dainty little rubber boots that apparently all the rage in the Pacific Northwest pink with polka dots that girls wear even when its NOT raining...no....these are hard-core black, up-to-your-knees, with the same tread on the soles as hiking boots. Yes. I was that cool.

Following breakfast, I would proceed to participate in the daily Food for the Hungry staff devotions. This would always include singing a few songs from a songbook called 'Uganda Youth Praise' to start out devotions. Various renditions of hymns sung in slightly different time, beat and pronunciation than I was used to..."burdens are lifted at Cal-E-vary", et al. Even their own rendition and multiple verses of 'Kumbaya' was often a top favorite and often picked. The first time we sang it, I started giggling like a little girl and peeked up at Kyle only to find his reaction the same as mine. We glanced at each other wondering if we were really singing this song for serious. I eventually grew very fond of the song that is often thought of as being sung around the campfire. It actually is such a spiritially impacting song...don't believe me, go look up the other verses to it. I promise it will change your life :)

It got dark around 7pm and having no electricity, we were forced to use laterns (oh darn...). I felt oh-so-like Laura Ingles Wilder as I used it to light my way to the outdoor latrine (okay it wasn't completely out of necessity though because we had a perfeclty good working Western flushing toilet inside the office...honestly I just felt more hard-core...squatty-potty style:)). It was a nightly ritual for me to bring my latern to Kyle's room and we had our little lanterns sitting on a table between our chairs. Very quaint. I must say I felt quite like an old British couple...the only thing missing was the tea and crumpets. Oh, and of course the accent (minor detail). Periodically, we would hear the whistling and singing of teenage girls and boys as they practiced their ritual dances for the upcoming circumcision ceremonies in December. Often we would sneak ouside in the pitch black and try to spy on the dances going on around us, but all we could see were the outlines of dark shadows from which loud voices seemed to be coming from as they passed by right along the road in front of us. Didn't help that it was so dark we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces and were frequently running into large objects (like the water barrel or the truck) or each other....where's the night vision goggles when you really need them? Our friend the donkey (affectionately known as Mr. Jackass) provided our nightly background music to soothe us to sleep. There is nothing quite like the loud (and might I add, tone deaf) braying of a donkey to send you off to dreamland in peace (or just to scare the bejeebers out of you when you are trying to spy on dancing people in the road and you don't realize the donkey is there until you hear the loud and unnerving noise causing you to check pants to make sure you haven't wet yourself). I think he was in cohorts with the rooster. Sheesh, it was just a couple rocks....a day:)

Yes, these were my routine (well not necessarily 'routine' because I didn't plan them, they just sort of happened everyday) daily happenings during my month in Kapchorwa and they were ever so endearing by the end of my time. You are probably wondering..."so, what were you actually doing in Kapchorwa besides vacationing and hiking up in the mountains?". Well, let me tell you, it was one of the most amazing months I've ever experienced and it wasn't just because of my trendy outfits either:) I was actually doing research for Food for the Hungry up there in the area of AgroForestry. One of the volunteer staff, Alex, was assigned to help me in my research and he definitely DID help me greatly. I was researching crops and fruits in the area, energy-saving stoves, coffee trees, soil erosion and ideas for sustainability in Kapchorwa. So basically I was going around to different farmers everday and researching what crops they are growing, their yields, challenges, farming strategies, etc. See, all the people there are all displaced people and were placed in this area after being moved down from the National Park or others were forced up the mountain, to this area, because of the Karamajong who are violent cattle raiders near the area. Most of these tribes were pastoralists and were faced with having to start cultivating without having the appropriate knowledge of farming. So, they chopped down most of the trees in the area and burned them so they could plant fields of crops. This happened about 25 years ago and as a result of this deforestation, there is significant soil erosion occuring causing rivers to become polluted and when it rains heavily, landslides often occur which usually kill cattle and destroy crops. Also because of the lack of trees, there is not enough wood for building and for using to cook. Now, women and children have to go deeper into the National Park forest to get firewood and often times are abused, fined, or sometimes raped by the park rangers up there.

These are reasons I was doing research. The possibility of families installing energy-saving stoves would reduce the use of firewood significantly and also prevent many respiratory problems caused by open fire pits used for cooking in the huts. Also I was able to research and suggest ways for these farmers to generate more income for their crops and give suggestions about which crops would bring in the most cash and also provide food for the family. It was so, so interesting and I absolutely LOVED it....it was nice to know that what I was researching is actually going to be used by FHI as far as their involvement in assisting these farmers. My eyes were definitely opened up greatly to the realities of life and raised a lot of questions and spurred some ideas in myself. Such an amazing learning experience and I met some beautiful people in the process that I will be erased from my memory. Since it was such a long month packed full of great stories, I decided that I'll spread them out over a couple weeks or so that way I won't have written a book in the process of writing this one blog post....so stay tuned for further stories from the mountains.......

Kapchorwa

So, I am heading to a place called Kapchorwa tomorrow morning and which is at the base of Mt. Elgon here in Uganda and will be gone until the end of October.  It is also right by the border of Kenya.  It is pretty much a rural village and will take about 5 hours to reach from where I am staying here in Kampala.  I will be doing a practicum for the program I'm with and I applied to do the agro-forestry practicum in Kapchorwa and that is the one I was selected for so I was really excited!!  I will be pretty much shadowing and working with the Food for the Hungry staff who are currently working with the agro-forestry and local farmers in that area.  All of the FHI staff are Ugandan so it will be really awesome to interact with them and get to know them. 

I will not have internet access except for maybe once every couple of weeks....so when I do I will make sure I keep my blog updated so I can relay my exciting experiences up on the mountain of isolation :) Along with no internet includes no electricity or warm water (luckily we do have a western toilet...don't know how i lucked out with that commodity), and more often than not non-working cell-phone service.  I am going along with one of my fellow classmates, Kyle, and he will be doing research for the Child Development Program that Food for the Hungry has in Kapchorwa.  They sent us all out in pairs so that is nice that I won't be completely by myself.  So, if you think of me keep me in your prayers!! 

Uganda....green again!!

So I arrived here in the beautiful country of Uganda on August 24th at 3:45am. The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the airport was that there was mist in the air and I wasn't struck by an intense wave of heat the instant of first contact. I certainly wasn't in Egypt anymore. So, I went through the immigration and visa line and went and looked for someone holding my name on a sign. And there was no one. There was no one hardly waiting in the arrivals lobby. I was just thinking "Oh no...the airport taxi guy forgot about me." Luckily I had the phone number of the taxi driver that was supposed to be picking me up and one of the other taxi drivers let me use his cell phone to call him. So I called Godfrey (taxi man) and with a thick African accent he said "Oh yes madam...I am so sorry...I will be there in 10 minutes madam." Yep....an hour later (approx 5am) he showed up and drove me from Entebbe to Kampala which is about an hour away. So I arrived at the Food for the Hungry compound around 6am Sunday morning. I wasn't too tired because there is no time difference from Egypt to Uganda and I just slept for most of the flight. So, unlike my classmates who had flown the day before from the States, I was fortunate enough not to get jet lag.

I should tell you what I'm doing here in Uganda and where I'm living, with whom, what I'm eating, assurance that I'm brushing my teeth every day, drinking enough water, etc:) So I am doing a semester abroad program here in Kampala, Uganda with a Christian organization called Food for the Hungry. They are an NGO that is here working to develop sustainable living and education for people throughout Eastern Africa and many other parts of the world. They have a compound here with an office and a guest house on it and my fellow classmates and I are living in the guest house. There are 12 of us college students from various colleges around the States and there is only 1 guy. Lucky guy:) Yeah so we have class for 5 weeks through Uganda Christian University here in Kampala, then we all leave September 29th for our practicums which are for 4 weeks. During our practicums we are all sent out to various villages and towns in either Uganda, Rwanda or Ethiopia to work with Food for the Hungry field workers. So I will be without communication for that month I am doing my practicum so pray for my mother that she survives this lack of communication period:)

After we are done with our practicums at the end of October, we are heading off to Rwanda where we will study there for another 5 weeks. Then, we come back to Kampala on December 6th and we will have one week here before I leave to go back home on December 14th. I am really excited for all of the things we get to do!!! I have a feeling time will go by really fast and before I know it, I will be home and it will be Christmas!!

I've already had a pretty exciting time here so far as I went white water rafting down the Nile on Saturday (feel free to ask me about because I can't possibly describe this experience properly on this blog). It was soooooo amazing...probably the most amazing adrenaline rush/experience I have ever had. Then, on Sunday we were able to go to this cultural dance and that was a really cool experience too. Well, I promise I will stay more faithful in updating this blog since I had a long stretch between posts even though so much has gone on. If you have more questions about Egypt or Uganda feel free to ask me!! I love to talk about my experiences thus far!!

Don't drink the Nile water...I wish they woulda told me

Well last week, after my episode and encounter with some not-so-friendly critters known as lice(for which you can see us treating ourselves in the picture below and thoroughly enjoying it), I looked forward to the prospect of a fresh new start being bug-free for the rest of my stay here in Cairo. I was not so fortunate. Last Sunday we were scheduled to renew our visas since our "travel visas" expired after a month. Jackie and I were to meet Moody at the government office at 8:30am because he was going to help us with all the paperwork since we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. I knew it was going to be a long day and a long process to get our new visas, and little did I know how truly long of a day it would be.

You see, I woke up with a very strange feeling bubbling in my stomach followed by intense, sharp cramping....OUT OF NOWHERE....and realized my dire need for the nearest unoccupied latrine at that very moment. My first thought was,

"Why now?? I've made it this WHOLE TIME without even getting a little stomach ache!"

Somehow I knew my lack of diarrhea prior to this moment insured certain and impending doom. Such did this event foreshadow the rest of my week. Needless to say, it was a very long day of going back and forth from office to office in the government building...up the stairs, down the stairs, then back up, and down again...then waiting two hours in McDonalds (sprawled out on 3 chairs sleeping..or attempting to snooze) JUST for a little sticker which allows me to stay legally in Egypt, I mean come on, how important is that REALLY? ;) Luckily we got all of it taken care of before 2pm and I was able to go home and crash for the rest of the day.

Usually, this kind of sickness happens to foreigners because of eating the local food, drinking the water, etc. BUT it usually only lasts for the longest, 3 days. After 6 days, of not being able to eat anything because anything I ate or drank just came out (one way or another) within just a short time, I was pretty much fed up and decided, "Hey, maybe I should ask someone what is wrong with me or take some medicine or something."

So, Joy suggested that maybe I may have a parasite or amoeba since I had been sick for so many days....I'm thinking, "Oh great, I probably have this huge worm inside me that has been growing all this time and its going to like come crawling out of me while I'm sleeping."

With my fears or gigantic worms aside, I learned Joy has experienced a similar sickness and she told me of some amoeba killer medicine that worked for her. So I figured, "What the heck, nothing else I'm trying is helping me get better so I might as well just try to kill the little bugger." Now in Egypt you can go to a local Pharmacy and get this stuff over-the-counter...I don't know about you, but anything that is potent enough to kill a worm/parasite/amoeba thing shouldn't be so readily available.... I don't know maybe its just me:) But, this is pretty potent medicine because you take one whole box (4 pills, I just like to make it seem more dramatic) a day for 3 days at the same time everyday. Sure enough, the day after my first dosage, I felt SO SO much better...I couldn't believe it. Plus, my mom had my whole church in Montesano praying for me and I know that definitely had a lot to do with my quick health turn-around. After the three-day dosage I felt completely better and was back to my healthy, normal, food-digesting self:) I think I might have gotten a bug from not washing my fruit before eating it...whoops, but I really don't know. All I do know is that I can now experience Cairo and all its wonderfulness for the 8 days I have left of it....so weird to think that time has gone by so quickly then I will be heading to Uganda for 4 months. Welp, I will have a busy week ahead of me and I look forward to it...lice/parasite/wormy/amoeba free:)

Garbage Village

So, the last two Saturdays I have been going to a place called Garbage Village in Cairo with Joy to help out at a school for handicapped kids there. This village is basically its namesake and pretty much a dump with a bunch of buildings in it. The people who live in these villages collect garbage from all over Cairo and bring it back to the villages, where they sort through it all and recycle it to earn money. So, it is actually a good little business they have going on, but it doesn't provide for the best living conditions. In this particular village (there are a couple of Garbage Villages in Cairo), people were living in simple little huts and shacks until a few years ago when the wife of the richest man in Egypt decided to pay for them to have buildings constructed for them to live in. She also built the school I've been working in.

There are about 20 handicapped kids that come 3 times a week to this school where they are taught basic things like numbers, letters, etc. Others are given physical therapy. Some are there just to be loved on and shown the love of Jesus to. The conditions of these kids differ from cerebral palsy to down's syndrome to mental retardation.

This Saturday, I went with one of the teachers to go pick up two sisters that both have cerebral palsy. When we got to their house, I was overwhelmed by the stench of garbage and manure....there were thousands of flies everywhere and on everything. I was also overwhelmed by the amount of people living in this one-roomed "house" at the end of this alleyway which looked like the community compost pile. We waited while the mother finished getting the girls ready for school and I played with the other children that were flocking around us. There are 7 children altogether (not including the one on the way) and the oldest one could not have been more than 14 years old, but was carrying out the same duties as the mother. There are 6 girls and 1 baby boy and they are all soooo beautiful, with great big brown eyes and million dollar smiles that mask any hint of the fact that they are living in poverty.

So, we wheeled them back to the school and I got to help one of the girls (Donnia) with her physical therapy for the day. This included doing a bunch of exercises to strengthen her legs and help correct her balance. It was so much fun because she is such a sweet girl and always so happy. While I was helping her walk, I noticed that she had something in her hair...they were little white specks. When I took a closer look, I realized that they were lice eggs. Okay, to back up my story a little bit, I have been telling Jackie like since we got to Egypt that I had this feeling like I was going to get lice at some point and she can back me up and tell you that this is true. So, when I saw those eggs in her hair, after she had been hugging me and I had been holding her closely for most of the time.....I knew my time had come. Sure enough, while I was there, I felt something on my arm and looked and discovered a little lousy trying to burrow itself into my arm hair. I killed it, then went and showed Jackie, Joy and one of the teachers. The teacher told us that both of the girls usually had lice really bad because their mom never washes their hair so it just gets worse and worse. They have done the whole lice treatments on these girls multiple times, but it just comes back because nothing is done about it at home.

After we left the school and got back home, the first thing Jackie and I did was go to the Pharmacy and buy some lice killer hair stuff. We just wanted to be extra sure that we didn't have any other hidden critters roaming around up there. After an hour with this putrid "Licid" in my hair, I washed it out and was going through my hair (just to check) and sure enough, I found a dead little lousy on my scalp *shudder*. I just slightly freaked out, then had Jackie check the rest of my head to make sure there wasn't anything else. Praise be to Jesus who loves me, there were no eggs or any other dead (or alive) bugs. I was able to kill the little sucker before it could lay its spawn in my hair....haHA!

You know, this could have been a tramatic event that could have freaked me out and made me extra cautious about how close I get to the kids. Only with God's help was I able to put aside my own vain concerns and look past the dirty, lice-infected, smelliness and see these kids as God sees them.....as beautiful and unblemished. Sure, I don't WANT to have little bugs in my hair, but you know what? I can overlook that and truly give a child the love and attention he/she deserves and show them love that can only come from God....the EASY part is getting rid of lice.

Lillian Trasher Orphanage - Assiout

Last week, I had the chance to go to a town called Assiout to the Lillian Trasher Orphanage. I think the orphanage was started 100 years ago by a Christian lady named Lillian Trasher if you couldn't get guess from the name of the orphanage. She came to Egypt in the beginning of the 1900's after calling off her wedding 10 days before the wedding. That is pretty intense if you ask me. So, she is engaged to this guy and 10 days before her wedding, she feels like she is called to Egypt and he wasn't so she broke it off and headed for Egypt. She funded and built this orphange with the help provided by churches in Egypt and around the world. In Egypt, it is illegal to adopt, so there were a lot of children without homes and Lillian started just getting babies and taking care of them. At one time they had 1200 children in the orphanage but now there are only about 200 kids because there a couple more orphanages in Egypt and not only one option anymore.

It was really cool being able to see how the orphanage is run and seeing the amazing facilities they have there. It is really cool because the orphanage is affliliated with the Assemblies of God and is run by Christians and the kids are brought up in a Christian environment. But like all things, the orphanage is not perfect and has its flaws. One of the major downfalls is that the girls in the orphanage are very secluded and are very naive when it comes anything going on in the world outside the orphanage. They hardly ever mix with the boys and are pretty much kept just with each other....and they are starving for attention. When we got there, they just completely flocked around us. Like seriously, there were 10 girls all huddled around each of us and they were all just ask us our names and touching us nonstop. They were all so sweet though and just kept telling us how beautiful we are and that they want to come to America so bad. I actually almost got Matthew married off because I was telling the girls about my family and when I got to talking about my brothers they were like "Oh yes, you have a brother....Matthew!! You must bring him to Egypt!!" Hahaha...too bad he's only 12. Not quite marrying age yet:)

Another thing that bothered me about the orphanage is that these girls don't have very many options for a future outside of the orphanage when they are old enough to leave. Once they turn 18 they have the option to leave (which they are not encouraged to do) or to stay at the orphanage and work there by helping taking of the younger kids, cleaning, cooking, etc. It used to be that pretty much the only chance the girls had of leaving the orphanage was to marry a boy from the orphanage. In Egypt it used to be that if you were an orphan, it was pretty much the lowest class so the orphans would just marry each other. But, now its not the same and a lot of the boys in the orphanage are marrying girls outside the orphanage and so less girls in the orphanage are leaving because less are getting married. There are old ladies still at the orphanage who have never left and they have just spent their lives there. These girls go to school, but most don't try very hard because they don't see the point because they don't see a future outside the orphanage. They aren't taught any other skills that they would need to survive in the "real world" and they are so sheltered that it would be such a culture shock if they were to move to a city like Cairo.

This is one of reasons why Jen brought Azza and Manal to work with her. They had begged her for a long time to come and work with her and finally she agreed and brought them to Cairo 6 months ago. Manal told me that when she was in the orhanage, whenever she heard that Jen was coming to the orphanage for a visit, she would get so excited and she would always go and find Jen. So now Jen is teaching them English and office skills so that after 2 years they will be able to go out and find a real job. Jen has actually been in contact with some missionaries in Dubai and Azza might go work for them and live with them as a nanny. So, this is a really good opportunity for her and a chance to travel and see other parts of the world. This is so awesome what Jen is doing for these girls and the amount of patience she has is amazing! But, she can't hire every girl in that orphanage. What they need is someone who can come in and teach them English, help motivate them to do well in school, and teach them basic skills (like how to use computers). My heart just goes out to these girls because they deserve a chance to live their lives. Please keep these girls in your prayers and that God would just send the right people into their lives to bring encouragement.

computer issues

So, I know...I have been super slow at updates for my blog, but please forgive my sluggishness. So in my flat the second day I was in Cairo, I mysteriously picked up a wireless internet connection from somewhere [I don't know from where, but I think Jesus just loves me a lot:)] and it was really exciting! But this week, the connection has lost....there has been no signal at all...zilch...zero. AND on top of my lack of internet [I don't know how people used to survive without it:)], my AC power adapter to my computer has stopped working. This is due to the generosity of Deborah's dog Keava, who so kindly decided that the cord on my charger looked like a little treat to nibble on during the night. So, she left her mark [a nice set of teeth imprints] on my charger and now I am reaping the results of her philanthropy. In short, I am without a internet and presently without a computer. Oh, I can't wait to go home and give that dog a big..um...hug.

But not to worry!! Help has come to this poor soul!! In a week there is another girl coming from the States to Egypt and she is going to be living with us. Her name is Jessica and she is my God-send...literally. So thanks to her generosity and just greatness, I was able to order and new AC power adapter for my laptop and send it to her so she, in turn, can bring it with her. I was really freaking out though before I thought of sending it to her because I did not trust sending anything to Egypt and having it arrive here before I leave. God is so awesome and truly knows my needs. Even in the simple things...He cares enough about me and my need for a computer to supply a way for me. How silly do I feel to freak out about something so stupid just to come to realize that its not silly to God. He really does love me and wants to take care of me and provide for my needs. It makes me realize how important I am to Him and this is how He feels about all his children....He loves us each individually so much and truly does care enough about us to help us with even small things in our lives.

I feel like everyday He teaches me more and more about Himself and I find myself growing closer to Him and loving Him so much more! I have been learning so much about myself being here in Egypt and have been able to grow closer to God, but not because I "have nothing else to turn to" or that I've "hit rock bottom and only have Him to rely on"....BUT because I realize the precious gift that I have been given. I got really convicted when I first got here because I see all these people around me who are trapped in a lie (Islam) which has twisted the truth just enough for it to seem right...and I realized that I have the truth available to me so easily in the States and its so easy to be a Christian in the America, but I was taking for granted my relationship with Christ. This was something HUGE that God showed me and I since then I feel like I've grown so much closer to Him and just so much appreciate that I was able to grow up with the knowledge or Christ and was raised in a family that loves God. How blessed am I? I sometimes wonder why God chose me to be so blessed...and I haven't figured out the answer yet, but when I do I'll let ya know;) So yeah, thats just a little tidbit that turned into me just blabbing my feelings away, so thanks for contributing your time to listen...err....read:) I promise I WILL write soon about actually things happening in Egypt and post more pics SOON!!

Pyramids + Faluka = Maya Maya (very good)

This week has just been pretty crazy busy so far!! Last Saturday, we went to see the Pyramids and Sphinx AND we rode in a faluka on the Nile River. We started bright and early by leaving at 7:30am to get to the Giza by 8:30am because we wanted to be able to get there in the morning before it got blazing hot in the desert. Also, to go inside the Great Pyramid, you have to get there pretty early to get a ticket because they only sell a certain amount of tickets per day to go inside it. I was told this is because they want to limit the amount of traffic coming in and out to preserve the pyramid better. So, I got go inside the Great Pyramid and it was so, so amazing! You have to climb up this tiny ramp thing and bend over because it is really enclosed and not very well lit. So, it is a little eerie, to say the least, partly because it was so closed and tight (if you are claustrophobic I wouldn't suggest going inside the pyramid) and partly because you are like in a giant tomb. You climb up to this big chamber and their is a huge sarcophagus where the pharaoh was buried.

There are three major pyramids in Giza and they are the biggest 3 pyramids of the 8 that have been discovered in Egypt. The Sphinx is by these three pyramids and I was kind of surprised at the size of it. I just thought it was a lot bigger because pictures make it look HUGE. I mean, it was impressive and big, but just not as big as I thought it was going to be. This Sphinx is missing a nose and his little goatee because when Napoleon first saw the head sticking out of the sand, he and his men shot at it not knowing what it was. Then, the British came later and sawed off the goatee and took it to England where is now sits in the British Museum. It was really interesting learning all these fascinating things about Egyptian history as far as how these fantastic structures were constructed and why.

And yes, what would more silly then to come to the pyramids and NOT ride a camel. Come one, its part of the whole Egypt experience. The stables we went to get camels only had 2 camels and 2 horses, so since we had 4 people, the owner told us that we could take them and then switch halfway through our ride into the desert. So we set out and this man comes up to us and is like, "I will be your guide and take you to very beautiful view so you can get great pictures" and Jon was like "Well, we don't really need a guide because we don't want to pay extra." The this Egyptian man was like "oh no, I come with these animals....don't worry about the money...I do my best, and you do your best." We thought this was kind of shady, but we just went along with it. So, Jon and I were on the horses to start off with and Jackie and Tara were on the camels. Then this man decided that he didn't want to walk and jumped up on Jackie's camel with her, which is unheard of and she even insisted that she just ride with Tara, but he assured her it was okay and normal (which we found out later, wasn't normal). Our guide led us into the Sahara Desert and we got some great pics of all the pyramids and it was just so beautiful! Then on the way back, Jon and I were getting on the camels and Jon's plan was to get on the camel that the guide would ride on so I wouldn't have to sit with this creepy man, but it undoubtedly, I ended up on the camel with the guide. It was so funny though because when the guide was trying to sit on the camel, it started standing up really quickly and he fell off (we thought it served him right:)). Now you have to understand, when camels stand up and sit down, it is not very graceful. They use their back legs first, so you have to lean way back or else you'll fly forward and possibly off, which I almost did when the camel stood up really fast:) Anyway, when our little riding excursion ended, the guide was haggling us pretty badly and wouldn't take the money we were offering to pay him blah blah blah, but in the end we were able to bargain him way down from what he originally wanted.

So we had some quite humorous and entertaining events happen while we were walking around the pyramids. First, when we got there we had all these guys coming up to us and wanting us to buy their products and trinkets etc. and one man came up to Jackie and was like "Oh beautiful lady, where are you from?" So Jackie was like, "Uh, uh......I don't remember where I'm from!" It was so funny!! So apparently, these men will know how to say the same things in a bunch of different languages so if you don't respond to one they will try all they know until they get a response, so we thought it would be funny to start speaking gibberish to them so they would be confused and not know which language we were speaking:)
Another really funny incident that happened with these men trying to sell stuff happened, again, to Jackie:) She is just the lucky one who provides all the entertainment for us while we just watch:) So another guy came up to her and was asking her if she wanted to buy these postcards that he was selling. So Jackie like panicks and puts her hands over her head and starts running away while saying "NO, I don't want any!" The guy was just like, "Don't run.....why you scared lady?" It was soooo funny and we always do reenactments of Jackie running away from the man with the postcards:)

Later that evening we went sailing in a "faluka" (which is like a big sailboat) on the Nile River. We went in time so could catch the sunset and it was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. It was just so relaxing too, and heck, I was on the NILE RIVER!! I got some really good pictures from the faluka.

The Holy Day...

So the last couple of days have been jam packed with all kinds of activities!! Since Friday is the holy day in Egypt, we went to church. That is actually part of my internship, teaching the children's church for Heliopolis Community Church. Mostly foreigners attend this church because it is an English-speaking service, but there are a few Egyptian families that attend. So Thursday, we went over to the Wommack's house to prepare everything for Friday morning. We have some children's church curriculum, but it is kind of cheesy and the church we go to is not Pentecostal so some of the stuff in the curriculum isn't appropriate. For example, in the puppet skit for this week, one of the puppets was talking about being a "super Christian" because he could speak in tongues. Well, this church definitely does not believe in speaking in tongues nor are they very charismatic so we had to tone down a lot of the material:) This was fine because we had way more fun coming up with our own stuff!
I put to use my stock of camp songs I have ingrained into my memory from working at Camp Berachah for two summers and the kids LOVED them!! It was so much fun watching them dancing around singing silly kids songs...you can even watch the video of one of the songs above. It was about 111 degrees by then so after jumping around and doing crazy motions to the songs, I looked like I had stuck my head in a water barrel by how much I was sweating:) Apparently the children's church is usually not that active and they are just used to hearing a story, eating snacks and doing worksheets. So the kids really enjoyed being able to jump around, be loud, and have fun. We had planned to do a game, then sing, learn the memory verse, tell the story of the Good Samaritan, review the verse and do a word search puzzle, but the service was shorter than normal and we only got the verse. At HCC (Heliopolis Community Church) they have everyone joined together for the first part of the worship service, then they stop in the middle of worship and do announcements. On this particular Friday, there was a baby dedication, so since that took longer than normal we were cut short on time. It was totally fine though and luckily we were able to teach them the verse so they got something spiritual out of children's church besides how to sing silly songs:)
There was one boy who had the "I'm too cool for school" attitude and I went up to him after we were done and he was like "Could we pleeaasseee have a sane teacher next week?" Ha! I told him "Nope, not possible. Plus these other girls will be just as crazy as I am, so you're out of luck." Poor guy. Stuck with crazy American girls all summer. I'm sure deep down, he really does like our insaneness, he just has an image to keep up, thats all:) If he thinks that was crazy, then he doesn't know that this was a mild version of how we will normally be...haha.
So yes, our first church service went very well and I am so thankful for what God has been doing since I've been here. He has proved himself faithful to me and opened my eyes to so many things already and I am remain open for him to use me in whatever ways he deems best.

Maadi

I got my first lesson in Arabic yesterday, which was fun, but a little difficult. On Sun-Thurs I go to Maadi to work with AG missionary Jennifer Day who is an RN and does medical missions. She has an Egyptian man who works with her named Moody and his father is an AG pastor in Assiout and helps run the Lillian Thrasher Orphanage. Anyway, he is giving us "survival" Arabic lessons twice a week while I'm here. It is really good and I learned a lot. Jennifer also has two Egyptian girls who work for her who are also from Assiout and both just got out of the orphanage there. Their names are Menal (24 yrs) and Aza (22 yrs) and Jennifer has taken them under her wing and is teaching them English (which is now currently my task) and also teaching them skills to use so after two years they can find jobs on their own. They are the sweetest girls in the world!

On Mondays, Jennifer does a clinic in a city called Kozzika. So, I was able to help out at the clinic by getting charts, weighing the patients, and playing with the kids while they were waiting. It was so funny because we told the kids that we wanted to practice our Arabic and they were tougher on us than our teacher:) I think I was forced to count to 20 in Arabic at least 20 times, and one boy even taught me how to write the numbers from 1-20. But it was so funny because they were so intent on teaching me Arabic and even the Muslim mothers were helping us...and laughing at us as we kept ranting off 1-20 and "hello, how are you?" conversations. It actually helped a lot and it was just so great how eager they were to help us. Apparently, they love it when foreigners try to learn their language and make an effort to communicate in their first language. These are some pictures from the clinic.

Finally, in Egypt

So...I have finally arrived in Egypt! Well, actually it was at 2:00am two days ago that we actually arrived....after many hours of flying and layovers, but everything went really smoothly and we had not problems whatsoever. All those months and hours of praying really helped:) It was such a relief to see Craig and Joy (Wommack) waiting for us after we got off the plane in Cairo.

It was really ironic because the first day we were here (the 4th of July), we went to a 4th of July party hosted by the American Embassy here in Cairo for all the American, British, and Canadian citizens at a British private school. I thought is was funny that my first experience in Egypt was celebrating an American national holiday:) It was really fun though and I was able to meet a lot of people I will be working closely with during my stay here. It was really awesome because I got to meet a group of 5 American girls my age who are in Cairo too with a missions organization working with children. They live pretty near me and are going to be here for another month and they are amazing girls, so hopefully I will be able to connect back up with them.

So, I am living in a "flat" in a part of Cairo called Heliopolis. It is about 10 minutes away (driving time) from the Wommacks and is a really great, safe area to live. There are three of us girls living here, which is really nice and they are both so great. I am so lucky to be able to live and work so closely to these girls! Our mean of transportation is by taxi which is really cheap and convenient ALWAYS! But, I have to say, I don't think I'll ever get used to Egyptian driving! Basically, there are no rules for driving ANYWHERE at anytime which is very frightening about 75% of the time. There are just so many cars and people and people not caring about how close they are, how fast they are driving, or who they could possibly be running into. It is quite an experience and there is NEVER a dull moment. I like it though, its kinda the same thrill you get from riding a roller coaster:) Just kidding mom, its incredibly safe and everyone here are defensive drivers:)

Well, you are probably wondering what exactly in the world I'm doing here....and I can tell you;) You're in luck! Sun-Wed, I will be working in a clinic in Maadi (outer Cairo) in the mornings, then teaching English in the afternoons. Thurs, I will be prepping and getting ready to teach Children's Church on Friday (their "holy" day) then Friday is church at Heliopolis Community Church , then Friday evening is Youth Group at the Wommacks, where I will be helping leading. Saturdays are free days where we can go sight-seeing and explore Cairo more! So, I will be staying really busy (which I love). Tomorrow is my first day to go to Maadi and so I'm really excited to start there, should be a whole new experience!

Here's to the pyramids....

As some of you may already know, I was recently notified that I will not be able to go to Sudan (as had been previously expected)because it is near impossible to get a Sudanese visa right now as the government seems having higher security right now and not letting foreigners into the country.
I was really discouraged about this because I really wanted to go to Sudan and I didn't think I would be able to get another internship together in this amount of time. Luckily, God is so amazing and totally opened up an opportunity for me to go to Egypt and work with Sudanese refugees there. Talk about God having things under control!! He just keeps proving himself faithful to me more and more every day!!
So, my official departure date is July 2 which only 16 days away now and I am greatly anticipating it!! Please keep me in your prayers and I cannot wait to tell you about my experiences in Egypt when I get there!!!

Welcome!!

Hey all!
Thanks for visiting my blog! This is where I will be keeping you up-to-date on my adventures in Africa and will be putting photos on here too, so you can join my on my journey:) Keep a heads up for my blogs while in Africa starting in July....talk to you soon!!

Sarah