This is also the first real time I had to get to know my team. My team is a lot younger than I expected. When I went to Cambodia, everyone was older than me by at least one decade; however, on this trip, I was about the middle of the pack. Also, my team was mostly girls, which was another change from Cambodia. I'm not going to lie, I had a hard time feeling like I could fit in anywhere that first day or two!
At 10a, we loaded up onto our buses and drove for about an hour to a village west of Kampala, called Wakiso. This drive was way better than our drive in from the airport because it was during the daytime so we could actually see the stuff surrounding us! The landscape reminded me of a cross between Austin, TX and Cambodia (my two favorite places); there are so many beautiful hills and vegetation. Mango trees, banana trees, flowers, and so much more cover every inch of ground! Everything was green and luscious! The weather was very pleasant; it was in the mid-eighties every day with medium humidity. The driving really caught me offguard! I forgot that people in different countries drive on the other side of the road. I also forgot that in those countries, the drivers sit on the right side of the car. I tried to get in the wrong side all the time. There is tons of traffic as well. There are very few traffic lights, but tons of roundabouts. There are also all different types of taxis; there are vans and boda-bodas, or motorcycles.
When we got to Wakiso, we met Pastor Patrick and saw his church. The actual church building is just a pole frame with a sheet metal roof. We worshiped with the body of believers there and it was awesome; those people have some serious rhythm! As a random side note, I really love the Ugandan style of singing in groups...One person sings something, and everyone else repeats it (with plenty of clapping, stomping, and dancing tossed into the mix as well).
Next, we walked to the water source of the people in that village. It was at least a half mile trek up and down steep hills along a narrow path. I am amazed that women and children can do it several times a day with a jerrycan on their head (an average jerrycan weighs 40lbs with water in it)! When we got to the source, I was amazed! The water was shared between people, fish and animals. It was very brown and murky; even after boiling, the water is still brown with solids in it.
We hiked back to the church, and began to distribute filters to the people. Our filters don't eliminate the need to go and get water from the source, but they do allow families to have clear, clean, safe water to drink without boiling! This is a huge thing for a few reasons. Boiling water takes a huge amount of time; this is time that the people could spend working to earn money, going to school, or doing other chores around the house. Boiling water is dangerous; we saw several children with burns from accidents with boiling water. Lastly, boiling water is expensive; it either requires coal or wood, and both are resources that cost money which could be used for school, food or medicine. So, these are a few reasons why clean, safe water is such a big deal here!
We distributed filters to over twenty families while we were there. We also got to meet a few of the families personally and go into their homes. They are so hospitable! Everyone greets you with a smile, a hello, and a long handshake.
When we got back to the hotel we played mafia for about an hour, which was an answered prayer for me because it really encouraged bonding with my team! Although, it was very exhausting to go from loving and serving people all day, back to your hotel to spend more time having to be intentional about building relationships. It was very emotionally exhausting for me.
Vulnerability time...I was also struggling at this point in the trip with my purpose for going on the trip in the first place. Things that the Lord has really been opening my eyes to before this trip even came up, is that the Lord doesn't need me to do his work. His work would be done whether I was a part of it or not. So, I was struggling to figure out why God had so clearly called me to go on this trip. God doesn't waste stuff, and I know He wouldn't just waste the $3500 it took to get me to Uganda, but I didn't see why He had called me to go on this trip yet. I knew that there had to be a bigger reason than being white and bringing water filters to people; but, more on that later!
We ended the day with a group debrief and worship time. Everyone said why they came and what they wanted to get out of the trip. I said I had been called by God, even though I never desired or planned on going to Africa, and I just wanted to glorify Him through my trip, whatever that looks like. That really was true; I had no expectations for what was going to come out of this trip, besides that!
Daniel, an employee of TivaWater, and his wife led us in worship for about an hour. It was easily my favorite part of the day. We sang modern American songs, Swahili songs, and old hymns. It was a beautiful time, and it was exactly what I needed at that moment!
We wrapped up our day, with some more mafia before everyone got too tired and went to bed. Thus concluded our third day of the trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment