Jet Lag in Avocado Falls

Avocado Tree 

When I first arrived at the Rafiki Village I was shown to the house where I would be staying. The actual guest house is closer to the entrance of the village but the ROS (Rafiki Overseas Staff) are playing around with accommodations for visitors so I am actually staying in one of the houses ROS would normally live in long-term. I must say the place is pretty classy. There's a kitchen, a living and dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. The living room is nicely furnished and the dining room has a large dining table in it. The bedrooms are fully equipped with plenty of closet room and mosquito nets over the bed.

I had maybe two hours before my orientation to shower and take a little nap. By this time I was really starting to feel jet lagged so I allowed myself 45 minutes or so to sleep. Then on my way to orientation I was greeted by Jack, the Village's new canine resident. Still a puppy, this Jack Russel terrier was being chased by about 17 of the resident boys living at the Rafiki village. Each boy came up to me, shook my hand and introduced themselves to me. One of them even called me 'Auntie'! It was the sweetest thing!

At orientation I learned that there are a lot of interesting noises that can be heard throughout the day at Rafiki, particularly in the houses. For instance, avocados will quite regularly fall from the tree onto the roof of the house I'm staying in and make sometimes very loud noises. The second morning I was here I woke up only a few minutes before I heard this huge boom! Though it was slightly off-putting I simply assumed it was another avocado falling from the tree. Another noise one might here is the music and emceeing coming from some sort of recreation center located right down the street where famous people often go to perform. Though the music often goes long into the night it is easy enough to tune out and by God's grace hasn't kept me from sleeping thus far. I have also heard the calls of many different kinds of birds and have probably heard monkeys too, though I haven't actually seen any in or around the village. One of the house maamas tells me that there are many but I learned today that one of the responsibilities of the guard is to keep the monkeys away so he must be really good at his job! 

I slept fine the first two nights I was here but on the third night I found myself wide awake at 12 midnight! I suppose the difference amounts to being tired from the long journey and then having recovered from that my body still had to adjust to the 7 hour time difference. Hopefully my body has got it figured out now and willingly goes to sleep tonight. 

And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so...And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves...and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 

Genesis 1: 11; 21

Mzungu! Mzungu!

It is incredible how different life is here. There is so much poverty. Little kids will come up to your car windows with one hand out and the other pointing to their stomach, or they will ask for water if they see it in your car. It is the most heart-wrenching circumstance when you have to say no to giving them money or see how thankful they are for just a small glass of clean fresh water to drink. It makes you realize just how much you have taken for granted and how little you have truly been thankful for. For me, it is a sobering reminder to be thankful for even the smallest provisions that the Lord has given me. He has given me so much and yet I thank Him for so little. May my heart be moved to thankfulness more often!

On our way back to the village we made several stops. We stopped at this one woman's house to pick up goods she had handmade by order of Rafiki. Rafiki has a widows' program where they teach widows certain craft skills and then commission the making of those crafts and market them in the United States. It was really neat to witness first hand God's provision for this widow and her family. Her son, Charles, was such a gentleman too! He brought out our shoes to us as we were preparing to leave. What a sweetheart! 

Another stop we made was at a local church. The church was down the street from a market area and surrounded by open land and huts. Many children roamed the around the area near to the church and when they saw us approaching in the car they would yell 'mzungu, mzungu!' which means, 'white.' We got out of the car to make a delivery to someone at the church and as we got out a few of the children approached us. I greeted them and they were very polite in return. As we were walking toward the church, one child reached his hand in mine and held it until we reached our destination. My heart melted! 

Never in my life have I been confronted with such severe circumstances and yet everyone you meet is simply overflowing with joy. The child holding my hand on the way to church, the children residents at the Rafiki village. Each one of them, despite the disparity of their circumstances, have this incredible joy shining on their faces, a joy that cannot be heard through speech but must be seen with the eyes. Their joy is so great that it overflows onto those around them. 

The joy that comes from these young ones is infectious. I cannot help but be joyful in their presence and moved to thankfulness and peace of mind and heart when they are near. I am looking forward to the two weeks or so I have remaining to spend with them. 

Blessed are those whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs. 

Psalm 84:5-6a

Traveling Mercies

I made it! I have traveled half way across the world to the Wakiso district of Uganda in Africa. Wow! I can still hardly believe that I'm here! It took 2 days of traveling to get here. One 3 hour flight, one 6 1/2 hour flight and one 10 hour flight. Let me tell you, that is a lot of time to spend on a plane. The time changes wreak havoc on your brain's internal clock. When I arrived in Amsterdam I met up with a missions team and we went to have breakfast in the airport and I was ready for dinner! Finally, we boarded the plane from Amsterdam to Entebbe, Uganda only before we took off an announcement was made (in both Dutch and English) that there had been a problem in the security process and that they needed to empty the plane completely and then board again. Ayayaya! It was my first delay the whole trip so I suppose I cannot complain too much. Finally, we arrived in Entebbe where before landing I experienced my first aborted landing attempt. The plane had been descending getting ready to land when the attempt had to be abandoned and we started going up again! Eventually we were able to land and we had finally arrived in Uganda.

It took very little time to collect our baggage and after we made our way to the parking lot where the team I was with had two people waiting for our arrival. They loaded up all of luggage (and together it was quite a lot!) on top of a van and we all scrunched together to fit 12 people in an 8 person vehicle. Ha! Our hosts drove us to a facility somewhere between Entebbe and the country's capital, Kampala. It was very late when we arrived probably sometime after midnight. The kind people at the facility had dinner ready for us and so once we settled in we ate dinner at about 1:00 in the morning.

The next day, a wonderful lady from the Rafiki Village in Uganda, picked me up from the facility that I had stayed the night at. From there we went to the supermarket, exchanged my U.S. dollars for Ugandan shillings, bought groceries and had lunch at a restaurant called Good African Coffee. The food was delicious! We drove around the campus of African Bible College and then headed back to the village.

The Lord has surely showered his mercies over me in allowing me to arrive safely and without much delay to this new place. I am very grateful for His hand of provision that has allowed me to go on this trip of a lifetime. The God I serve is a mighty God! May He receive all the glory!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness! 

Lamentations 3:22-23