Water and other things...

Moving to a developing country is a dream that God has put in our hearts.  We are grateful.  It's a mixed blessing!  Poverty sucks!  In the U.S., we have a buffer with poverty, but as a friend here put it, "Africa throws it all in your face and says, deal with it!"  Well said.  So, we are adjusting--death to many ideals and trying to live with tension of being treated as a wealthy person here and then, in the U.S., we would be considered "poor" as we are now on full volunteer support.  

Also, we share with our friends here, but in so many ways we cannot relate.  I often am chatting with Johnson who works with us and we will be laughing and sharing and then he will say things like "Yes, I need to put money down on my daughter's school fees so she can eat lunch this week.  I will go early to the village and then come back to work here."  Sigh.  "Johnson, take the day off and go take care of that family."  He comes back, we are sharing and such.  "Johnson, how did it go?"  "Yes, madame, it went well, but my other son surprised me at school, so I had to divide up the school fees so that now they can both eat lunch the next two weeks.  I thought he would be sick all week (he had gone to the hospital the week before), but he struggled and made it over the hill, so he can go to school and not miss."  Sigh.   I can only listen and try to imagine.

So, this blog is dedicated to Johnson, a God fearing man with amazing children that he manages to send to school and still have joy.  This blog is dedicated to the Ugandans who do amazing work in the face of many obstacles, you are my true heroes!  

By the way, one of my subconscious ideals was to romanticize "the poor".  There are good people here and there are scoundrels.  It is just like the U.S.--full of good, amazing people and then, the selfish and the greedy. There are strong people here and then there are people here with many emotional, social problems--they can't deal with the poverty and they are struggling with drugs, alcohol and just a scavenger type mentality.  We have that in the U.S., too--even among the wealthy, they can't handle wealth!  It's all mixed, isn't it--no matter where you live.

So, on to the water issue.  Water is life--you hear that all the time here.  I am fast becoming a water advocate--everyone should have access to clean water!  At the bottom of this post are a couple of links--one to Compassion International who do amazing work with the poor and then also to World Vision who has a great water program.  I have been very thoughtful about legacy.  Investing in water and clean water is a GREAT legacy.  Investing and partnering with the poor is a GREAT legacy!

 We had a short time of struggling with lack of water--we now have a water tank and a couple of back up options.  When the city water goes out and it doesn't rain, people have to go to great lengths to get water for cooking, washing--many more uses that I never even used to think about!  That's your whole day when there is a shortage or if you do not have good access to water--all you can do is haul water.  Ugandans learn this at a young age--even toddlers will be walking around with a one litre container.  I am just amazed.  We are deeply grateful and have new compassion towards this struggle, so I would just like to share that.

This is a GREAT water filter--very light and very accessible.  We brought it with us in our luggage and bought a bucket locally. 30 minutes later, we had a filtering system for a million gallons.  I think this would be a great thing for churches and volunteers to bring over to give away, if they travel to a place where clean water is an issue.  It's awesome.   Click here for more information.  Even a small impact is an impact.  We all can do something small, at least!  I do believe in that with all my heart.

This is our rain water tank--many people have this.  The church here has a water program where they go around building this type of tank for needy families--actually theirs looks like Greek pottery--it's impressive, beautiful and functional.  Great job, church!

Here is another common sight.  We now have this in our back yard--1,000 litre water tank that uses gravity to pump to our kitchen.  The house has a small reserve for the back water system--toilet and bath, but we found out it runs out in 2 days (although we learned to stretch it to 4)  I cannot express to you how stressful it is to be out of water in the kitchen or for washing clothes.  This water tank will fill from our city water pipe, rather than relying on the rain water.  The city water can go out when the electricity goes out or we were out for about 4 weeks when a pipe broke during the Christmas holiday.

Basins--this to me, will always remind me of Uganda.  Basins are used for everything--washing clothes, people, food, dishes etc.  Also, now we keep a reserve of bottled water, too.  Clean water is awesome!

Gerry cans.  This also for me, is the sign of Uganda.  Loads and loads of people carrying Gerry cans all around.

Lock box on the water pipe.  Water theft is an issue.  This is a common sight around town.

Do you know how much a simple flush of the toilet uses?  In the U.S., you can put a heavy weight in the tank and use half the water, but the water pressure is not good enough here.  I didn't know what these buildings were when we first moved here.  Latrines!  Oh, man, do I LOVE latrines--no water use!  A great help when your water is out.  The kids use them at school.  We call them squatty potties.  Emma Shae hated them because she had quite a few accidents at school and finally had found a toilet she could use. At the new school, that is not an option.  I tried to get her to practice at home, but she refused.  Then, second week of school, she had an accident in the class b/c she waited too long--so, she sweetly and humbly came home and asked if we could practice with the squatty potty.  Good girl, poor, girl!  Mallory and I were the first ones in the family to get into the latrines, but others have followed.  Is this too much information or what? This is the behind the scenes...

So, think about pitching in for your brothers and sisters--supporting financially, giving your expertise or being a voice for those who are just trying to make it, is a wonderful legacy to leave from your life. It is said that with wealth comes great responsibility.  I had to learn this from the poor themselves.  Wow, thanks, guys!  Once a friend and I were talking about the issue of serving the poor.  She was lamenting a bit, since we were both young moms--our hearts were there, wanting to get past check writing service, but what could we do?  She said, "Do you think everyone is supposed to move to poor neighborhoods and struggle, etc?"  I didn't know, but I wanted to.  I can say now after living here and seeing the fight--yes, do something--small or large, just do something!

These are only two organizations that we are personally familiar with--there are so many good, good organizations doing compassionate work around the globe and in your city, in fact!  Check it out!

Click here to learn about child sponsorship from Compassion International

To read more about the water issue, check out World Vision's program.
World Vision - Water, Sanitation, Hygiene

The Garden

We have discovered that we have moved to a house plot that has very good soil.  We are so thankful.  Uganda has been called the Garden of Eden because soil can be sooo good here.

In the past, we have only gardened a bit--tomatoes, strawberries, basil for fun in pots in our back yard.  In moving here,  we brought heirloom seeds to try to grow and eat some vegetables.  In the first few weeks of moving to Kabale, there was a guy that brought us these amazing vegetables--his name is Medard.   I asked him to work with us to grow our garden and to teach us and Johnson how to garden.  It is so interesting!  Most Ugandans tend to eat the same things every day and lots of it (beans, cabbage, rice, local greens and sometimes matoke, which are green bananas-- it's like manioc that you find in South America) So, they have a different planting strategy.  You plant lots and lots of cabbage, for example.  I don't know about you, but we tried that and I can eat about a fourth of a cabbage once a year.  Contrast this with Americans, who tend to eat a smaller amount of veggies and more variety. Interesting.  So, we are learning to basically plant small amounts of a salad--lettuce, tomato, carrots etc.  Also, for some Ugandans who don't have schooling or a trade or work, they can plant vegetables to sell.  It is very common to see people walking around with hoes and baskets of vegetables on their heads.  They can sell door to door, to businesses in town or to the local market.  So, there are just massive amounts of gardens all over the place--for personal use and for making a shilling or two.

Honestly, in the U.S. gardening is more of a hobby or for folks who live in the country or older folks.  We have shifted to relying on supermarkets or for those "granola" folks, they can participate in a food co-op or such.

I have totally caught the vision for sustainable agriculture!  Part of it is having time and space to dedicate to it and having help, it's great.  Wonder if we would keep doing it in the U.S.?

The greenhouse where we plant seedlings.

This is the back of our house-- dill, broccoli, garlic chives, lettuce, basil and cilantro grow here.

On top of our hill, we can grow swiss chard, cabbage, and loads of local greens.

The first time we have picked carrots!

Did you know that Barbie likes to garden?

Pumpkins!  These we by and large failed on b/c we didn't give them much room.  I brought pumpkins not knowing that they grow them locally.  So, when we were starting these, Medard and Johnson asked me, "Are these the kind that move?"  what?  Now, I know.  They are vine growing and travel and needs lots of room.  Local pumpkins do not grow on a vine.  So, now we know and have adjusted the planting strategy.  These guys get their own plot in the corner of the hill and have lots of room "to move".

Butternut squash!

We don't have small garden tools here, so I was laughing--Mallory is digging up a carrot :).

Christmas 2010

Well, our family celebrates Christmas this time of year.  We start with Advent, the Sunday after Thanksgiving and this year, we actually remembered.  We have some time and space here to remember things.  Although, it didn't always feel like Christmas--not a lot of commercialism here, we began to learn how Ugandans celebrate.  One funny note was, the Friday after Thanksgiving we had to go to Rwanda for renewing our visas.  We were there for a few hours in the capital, which happens to have a western type mall and a shop sort of like a Target --so, due to time constraints, we found ourselves running around grabbing Christmas decorations (that was one of the things we forgot) and dodging Koreans in Santa Hats--it was strange, but fun.  Aaron had looked over at a TV while we were eating in a pretty cool restaurant and there was CNN showing Black Friday shoppers--we felt American.

This time of year is a big time for Ugandans.  Disclaimer--this is from my limited understanding-so, don't quote me on these things :).  Some people save all year to make large purchases, so it was very common to see bicycles, motorcycles and trucks packed full of people and goods like sheets of iron for roofs, furniture, etc..  Prices go up at this time, but it did not deter anyone.  My favorite scene is a bed frame on a bicycle--just stands straight up--had no idea you could do that!  Also, it is a big reunion time of the year.  Kampala empties out and most of Uganda retreats to grandma and grandpa's house in the village.  For most Ugandans, it is the one time of year they eat meat.  The family will go in together and buy a cow, goat or chicken to be butchered and then have all the traditional dishes--rice, beans, matoke (green bananas), irish potatoes, mingled millet bread among others.  People do not traditionally exchange gifts, but will try to buy a nice new outfit to wear to church.  Uganda is by and large Christian, at least in tradition.  I haven't figured out if there is a Jewish population here, but I did see a picture of a synagogue once on the web--I need to find out more about that.  There are Muslims, so Eid is a national holiday.  People are pretty religious here, there is not a lot of secularlism.  People also do a lot of drumming, dancing and singing.  For us, we got a few cards and garden vegetables from neighbors and we discovered that some people do have trees and decorations with cards in their homes.  We even saw lights on the tree at church.  We also got loads of text messages from students, neighbors and friends--that was nice.  Our German neighbors cut the tops of a Cypress tree for us, so we had a fresh one at the last minute (which is not last minute for Germans, who celebrate on Christmas Eve).  Also, New Year's is a big celebration--the day is a national holiday.  New Year's eve is celebrated with fireworks at hotels and burning tires and people used to pop off guns, but that, apparently, has been more and more discouraged.  For New Year's we had over our British friends who stayed until around 9pm, then Aaron and I rang in the new year together--beautiful fireworks and the whole town seemed to be celebrating--it was very fun and encouraging.  We live on a hill above town, so we could see the fireworks and hear the cheering and music from the valley--cool.

So, here's what we did....


Our little tree from Rwanda :).  Of course, later we saw bigger artificial trees in Kabale.  We didn't know, but the Hines ended up getting one of those.

 The Saturday before, we had Dr. Gilbert, his wife Constance (with baby Mei Li) and the clinical officer group over for a chili  dinner and games.  It was fun!  We played Catch Phrase, which was hard until we did the science and technology section and they were all over that!

 We also played Apples to Apples.  At first, they weren't too sure about it, but then really got into selling their answers--what a fun group!

 Christmas Eve.  Decorating Gingerbread Men at the Hines.

 Travis read the Christmas Story.

It was a beautiful evening--it threw me when I was listening to the story and then looked up to banana trees and a beautiful tropical sky!

 The kids wrote and acted out a Christmas play, which I will post on Micah's blog.  Afterwards, they exchanged gifts.

 Woohoo, Christmas morning!

 This was one of the most restful Christmas days ever.  Partly because I forgot to plan any meals after breakfast--I think we just had cereal and popcorn the rest of the day!  I was pretty proud of homemade pecan sticky buns! ha!

Micah hates getting dressed up, but as you can see the girls don't mind.  Off to morning church service.

 After church, there was a snow storm.  Of course, it came from China in the spray snow cans.

The New Year's Eve girls, Bethany, Mallory and Emma Shae

The Village

There is a lot of talk about "the village" here.  My guess is that it is the equivalent of visiting relatives in the country in the U.S.  Many people have 2 houses--town and village and everyone has grandparents in the village.  We have had so many invitations to the village and finally one has worked out.  Bernard, Aaron's colleague at work was hosting a thanksgiving at his church and had invited work colleagues, important people from town in his life and such.  Typically, it is a 3 hour church service and the out of town folks are the guest of honor, especially, in this case, our friend Travis, who was preaching.  Reverend's are held in high esteem here.  We were unsure how the kids would do with travel--long and bumpy and long church service and then a long lunch and visit, but they did great--they loved it and so did we!  Ugandans are very honoring to guests--they can host amazing functions!


Love the drum with worship.  Here are Aaron's work colleagues in the front as guests of honor.

 Travis preaching with his trusty translator.

 Travis got the congregation in hand motions--this was higher, I think...

 A dance of celebration held by Aaron's work mates--everything was in Rukiga and we did not have translators, so we didn't always know what was going on.  Mary Jane who is the white lady in front is a wonderful Peace Corps volunteer and Mukiga!

 So, I had to laugh, while our work colleagues were free and dancing, this was my family--Micah especially had his eye on our bag and this crowd of kids that edged closer and closer to us during the service!  ha!

 We were watching the auction.  If you are poor and don't have money to give to the offering, you bring your beans, matoke and what and what and there is an auction.  Aaron's work colleagues were totally into it and bought most of the stuff.  A friend afterwards explained that church is the best place to buy your vegetables because they sell below market price.  Who knew?  Notice the crowd of children behind us.

 Back at Bernard's for lunch afterwards.  Notice the guy with Aaron--he snuggled in with his hand on Aaron's knee for much of the visit.  Men are very affectionate with each other and I just got so tickled because we had just met this guy, but he was feeling the celebration!

 After lunch, we gathered with friends, relatives, and neighbors and shared nice encouragements about the day and Bernard and his family.

 Bernard and his family got up to say a few words of thanksgiving.

 Travis as the honored guest gave an expected speech.

Outside my window

Outside our window, we often see great things.  Aaron and I both are always moved by the guys pushing bicycles up the steep hill.  On Fridays, there is a cattle market, so this is the view.

The picture doesn't capture the bright colors and the baby as these beautiful ladies come down the hill, going to town.

 This is a bouquet we picked from our garden--we got flowers when first came and are slowly building up our garden--we are so encouraged and thankful for how beautiful Ugandan produce and flowers are.  This soil is super fertile and with the rainy season, things grow fast! For the first time ever, we have a garden.  It's amazing.  We grow so much, we have to give away a lot, which is really nice!

Last Day of School

I think everyone would agree that the best day of school was the last day of school.  After exams, the students spent the days doing some lessons and most of all preparing for the Christmas celebration on the last day of school.  It was also graduation for the Kindergarten (Top Class) to First Grade (or P1).  The parents are invited and the Bishop of Kigezi as well as other important people in the community attend.  It was amazing as you will see...

Notice the blonde Mukiga girl...

We liked this version of the Jesus story, because the Holy Family had tea and bananas with the shepherds--love it!

Georgia Hines going to her dance, I couldn't get it on film, but Beyonce' has nothing on these girls!!

 There were several funny plays, but this one made the biggest impression on the Hines/Morrows kids--we heard everyone's version of how Grandpa acted things out!!

 Mallory in thought.

 Didn't get very good pictures of Jesse and Micah, but if you look closely, they are there singing with their class :).

 The Middle Class (pre-school)--Mallory on one end, Tabea and Lucy are on the right.

 The Holy Family.

 The principal, Ishmael, making a speech at the end.

 The Bishop giving his blessing.

 The top class graduation.

Students perform a Rwandan dance--reminds me of Hawaiian music.

Mallory's teachers busted out--these were the most lively songs--the ones in Rukiga.  Again, we were moved about how passionate folks love to sing and dance in the mother tongue.  They did well in English, too, but there was a marked difference.

Emma Shae's class singing away...

The cafeteria ladies sang and danced--awesome!