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.