Kids are pretty neat when you don't think about how dirty they are

I know the title of this blog is horrible, but if you read on I think I can redeem myself. Last week Some of us from EMI volunteered to do some activities with a school that is on an Island in Lake Victoria. Getting to the island was half the fun. We got into a narrow wooden boat and they gave us life jackets to put on. Some of the life jackets still had the straps and buckles. Mine didn't so I mostly just wore mine for style, since it was early 90's looking with fluorescent colors. When we got to the island, we took the kids outside and did what we thought would be simple games, but instructions got a little skewed during translation and we basically just ended up having kids run around. Then at the end, the kids brought out drums and sang and danced. If it didn't take 3 months to upload video from here, I would love to put it on my blog.

On kind of a bummer of a note, the old duplex that Jeremy and I stayed at when we were in Kampala, and where one of the EMI volunteers(Christoph) still lives was broken into this week. It actually happened in the middle of the night when Christoph was home. They took a laptop that belonged to EMI, a cellphone, and Christoph's shoes. What kind of hurts is we always joked about how if our house was ever broken into, it would be by our sketchy guard. To break into one of the houses in the compound, the guard made a long pole by attaching his baton to a stick with a hook at the end and poked that through a window to pick up keys that were sitting on a table. He left the pole apparatus with his baton behind, which made Christoph 50% sure it was the guard.

Now for a more uplifting story, Today I visited an orphanage to get ideas for the one we will be working on. There was an orphan who was found in a pit latrine around Christmas named Emmanuel. When the orphanage first received him, they put him on antibiotics, but he was taken off too soon. His brain started to swell and the doctors thought he was going to have brain damage. The people at the orphanage continued to take care of him and pray for him. He is now a healthy baby without any brain damage. The doctors were surprised at his condition. It was a pretty incredible feeling to just watch him sleep and to see him be at such peace. Kind of makes you wonder what plans God must have for him.

Not a picture of Emmanuel, but still precious

Ninja In Jinja

My time here in the Kampala office is coming to a close(actually within minutes, I am trying to get this blog out before I leave). Jeremy and I will be heading off to Jinja to finish our time here in Uganda. Kampala has been good, and I will miss working with the others in the Kampala office, but I am looking forward to what the Lord has planned for me in Jinja.

Jeremy and I will be helping out an organization called Arise Africa International, and I am pretty sure I will be working on an orphange. I am not exactly sure what the living situation will be or many of the details just yet; maybe I will be living in the bush hunting for food and wearing nothing but a loin cloth!! I'll be sure to send pics.

For the past few weeks I have been busy trying to finish my part of the theological school we are designing. Then Last week a good buddy of mine came to visit and we were able to do some touring of Uganda. It was a nice mid-point break and we met some great people who were working for other NGO's which was encouraging.

There is a lot I would like to write, especially since I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately after realizing that I have hit the mid-point of my time here in Africa. I have done a lot of reading about the condition of Africa and why it continues to be consumed with problems, and I would like to share some of what I have learned/thought about later. Actually I might have a few minutes for some thoughts, actually more of a rant. I know my title says that there would probably be some rants in my blog, and Chad in the office has been disapointed that I haven't had any yet. I usually rant about non important stuff, but this rant will probably be a little heavy. So here it goes.

It is so easy to get discouraged/angry/saddened/overwhelmed when studying about Africa and I can't imagine how anyone could possibly come here without having the hope that God restores lives. I know that there is nothing I can do in my own strength to make a dent in Africa's problems. The leadership in Africa is plagued with power hungry corrupt leaders who stay in office too long. What can I do? It is also hard to be so close to a genocide and not be able to do anything about it. They built a museum for the Jewish hollocaust so that people will remember and so that it hopefully won't happen again. They did the same for Rwanda. And soon there will be another museum in Darfur. It isn't until its too late and the dust settles and the photos of mass graves are printed that we are appauled. The world will embrace the olympics which have been built by China and corporate sponsors giving money for oil/energy to Sudan's government which in turn buys weapons with this money for the militia that has killed/is killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. Participation in the Olympics will be glorified, and the world will be glued to their tv's this summer having Nike and Coca Cola advertizing the beauty of the world coming 'together' and how this can all happen by playing sports, wearing Nike, and drinking Coke. It seems like there is a bigger cause we can all come together for, but then again, the Olympics makes money.