The first week at EMI was pretty intense, but I learned a lot and met a lot of great people. We had training/orientation in Colorado Springs where EMI is based. They bring all the interns that will be serving in every EMI office(Uganda, India, Costa Rica, Colorado Springs, and Canada) together to learn about other cultures and being culturally sensitive, EMI as an organization, building practices in the developing world, team building, and theological teachings like what is a believers responsibility to help and serve the poor and to fight injustice. I met so many incredible people and was really encouraged hearing peoples stories.
Jeremy, Heather, Liz, Christoph, Greg,
Me, Jill, stephanie- Hope you are all ok that I posted this photo.
After the orientation in Colorado Springs we left for Uganda. We arrived Wednesday. The past few day have been mostly getting oriented with Kampala and the office, how things work here, and what projects we will be working on. On Saturday, for kind of a 'finished with orientation/new intern initiation' we went white water rafting on The Nile River. This was one of the coolest things I have ever done. The rapids were intense, and our raft flipped over many times. They have kyakers that follow the raft to pick up all the people who end up floating down the river after the raft flips over, so it's perfectly safe. For those who are thinking of coming over to visit, I will totally go again with you guys.
The rapid I almost died on (just kidding mom)
Sunday I went to church in a building with a dirt floor and just openings for windows. We sang and danced and then began to dance going in a circle to the beat of African drums and a keyboard(well, the Ugandans were dancing, I think you would call what I was doing was more shaking around.) Anyway, it was a great first experience of Ugandan church culture and to see people with not much more than salvation truly appreciate that that is reason enough to celebrate, worship, and enjoy life.
Sorry I haven't sent many personal emails out, but please keep in touch and I will do my best to respond.
I hope everyone is doing well, and I miss everyone a lot.
Zach
6 comments:
Sounds awesome Zach!
Suuure you miss all of us.;-) I'm glad you're having such a great time!!
chris and i so want to raft the nile now! and that church sounds great, how refreshing to your faith! we love you and are enjoying your blog and pictures!
OMG (that's how the kids say "oh my gosh"), that looks awesome!!! Bryce says to ask the locals about the giant Nile perch and how to catch them. They are the largest perch in the world, imagine a common bluegill that weighs 200 pounds, he says. Not sure if you have a lot of time to go fishing, what with your busy schedule of rafting, dancing, and team-building BS, but there you go...
Take care, and thanks for updating your blog. Miss you already!
Glad you enjoyed the rafting, Zach. It's definitely a rush to ride on class 5 rapids!
Shanthi
Neat, sorry this is a late comment, I just found this blog today.
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