When Leaving is Fashionable (UB#8)

I see a trend among my peers towards fixating on leaving home… we are confused when people do not have a plan to leave the place they grew up. There are so many issues leaving home has forced me to face that I wouldn’t take back… but I don’t think seeing more of the world will somehow make your life ‘better.’ It will probably force you to expand your mind and yes, travel will be a temporary escape from what might be eating you up, but you’re going to find more problems and then you’re going to go home to problems and you’re going to be carrying remnants of the problems you found along the way.  Those problems might be the fact that you have found out that your own worldview is not unquestionable or simply that in coming home you had to leave friends you love. Travel is not a cure to life’s problems and if I’m correct in thinking that that is how it is often portrayed something needs to change. We cannot go on lying to ourselves about how wonderful it is to travel. Being gone from home for a prolonged amount of time is incredibly difficult and sometimes even painful yet we continue to pass on the lie that it is all fun and games. It is easy to pass on funny stories about crazy places and unusual people-- it is harder to pass on the power of the emotions that will sometimes overwhelm you when you find yourself thousands of miles away from anyone that has known you longer than two months. We ache to be known by others. Leaving home means sacrificing the craving we have to experience love through being known. We should not go on trying to share the experience of leaving home if we are not willing to share both sides of the experience. It is lying when we are not willing to admit that our experiences away from home are not only positive.  

Rural Homestay (UB#7)

It is really difficult to know where to start writing about something that I haven’t even really begun to process. I spent the past week in rural Uganda. I stayed with a wonderful family, ate wonderful food (even if I never want to see another groundnut, peanut, or anything that in any way resembles either), and somehow I think my brain grew. I learned that a hut is a home, that making less than $2 a day does not mean you’re starving, and that I really don’t like ants/spiders/snakes/rats. I’m sure I’ll be blogging more in the next couple weeks, but for now, the thought of thinking about the past week makes me feel tired… so here is a poor quality video that is probably a better representation of the past week than anything I could say right now!

jokes. that video probs doesn't work. just gonna have to wait till the internet is stronger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXqtj36DqQs&feature=youtu.be

Compassion (UB#6)

This evening I watched 180° South with a friend. It was interesting to watch a documentary about adventure and then talk about adventures we’ve been on and want to go on, particularly in the context of talking about compassion in class. Since I became interested in hiking and traveling one of the dilemmas that has come up multiple times is the dilemma of whether or not these adventures are a good use of time and resources. I love a good day in the mountains, but if my time could be better spent elsewhere, what is the point of a day in the mountains? Compassion (a book we’re reading for class) talks a lot about relationships, this has prompted me to think about the relationships I have formed through adventure. In my experience adventures have created room for presence in a world that is not always open to presence. As part of one of my classes we read a book called Primal Vision. Primal Vision was basically a book about Christianity in African culture. One of the requirements of my class is that for every chapter and book we read we come up with a ‘takeaway’. Basically, a takeaway is a couple sentence summary that explains what we learned. Many of us found that our takeaway from this book was the importance of presence, the importance of simply being with people. Though the book is far to rich to sum up in a short quote, one of the things Taylor says is “The Christian, whoever he may be, has nothing to offer unless he offers to be present, really and totally present, really and totally in the present” (Taylor 136). Presence is the first step to compassion. In my experience, adventure has opened the door for presence and in turn compassion. I have had many a conversation about God while hiking with my coworkers. Those conversations would never have occurred with those people in the context of work, or even in our dorm. Being pushed to your limit mentally and physically in the context of grand adventures has helped me to learn more about my friends, not only through hearing their stories but through seeing the way they react to running out of food, or being hours away from the trailhead when the sun sets, or realizing that we didn’t bring enough water. Watching people watch beautiful sunsets and bask in the cool mist of a waterfall has not only grown my appreciation for sunsets and waterfalls, but for the creator of those things and in turn for my fellow appreciators of those things. Out of this appreciation compassion has come. Compassion for people whose stories are painful to the point that they don't even want to think about their pasts. When Jesus healed it was because he was moved with compassion, the miracles he performed revealed his solidarity with the suffering of humanity. The good news of Jesus is not found in the individual miracles he performed but in the fact that he suffered with us. Jesus, son of God, shared his presence with us. He relinquished his status as son of God. This was an act of compassion. If we are called to compassion (which I think we can probably all agree we are) then we are called to presence. True presence requires willingness to take on suffering. It requires that we carry other people’s darkest secrets. Full presence is in itself a form of compassion. For this reason, I will not abandon adventure. Adventure has allowed me to be to be present in the lives of so many people. If I really think that presence is the first step to compassion then adventure is something I cannot abandon until it ceases to provide this opportunity.

Comfortable (UB#5)

I struggle with is patience. I am constantly waiting for the next step in my life. Whether that is a semester abroad, a trip to Europe, graduation from Uni, or some other life event. The very fact that I am looking forward to these things is not bad in itself, however, the fact that this waiting comes out of a lack joy in the present. "Impatience is experiencing the moment as empty, useless, meaningless. It is wanting to escape from the here and now as soon as possible.” When I am constantly thinking about the future it reflects a lack of ability to appreciate the present.

This is the part of my ‘Uganda experience’ where my daily life is becoming routine.

I woke up this morning and thought to myself, 'wow, this feels normal.'

The roosters crowing outside my window. The soft noise of 70 girls in one hall waking up and preparing for the day. The cold shower that takes my breath away every morning. The fact that I walked into class just barely on time.

I've been here over seven weeks and this was probably the first day that I woke up just feeling comfortable. Since arriving here there has been marked progression towards feeling at home. I almost don’t want to be comfortable here because I don’t want to start focusing on the future. No matter where I am, I want to be patient in the way I view my time.

Below are a few photos that probably wont make it to fb... sorry for the poor quality. My camera battery died so my nikon is out of order right now :(

Salad Sunday (aka. What we do when we feel like we need veggies or we might die)

This is Johanna, my practicum supervisor's beautiful baby girl who I get to see every Tuesday and Thursday!

This is what happens when you try to use technology in a village that doesn't even have electricity. Part of my practicum involves engaging in community workshops on various topics including child sacrifice and health.

Sometimes we go to schools and while my supervisor has meetings about starting anti-child sacrifice clubs I 'teach' the kids... still not sure exactly what I'm supposed to be teaching. But whatevs... its fun :)

This is what community workshops usually look like... there were supposed to be 60+ people here. But it rained so... you know.

This is Rose. She helps with pretty much everything at EACO (Empower and Care Organization... the organization I'm interning with). She is super great.

Student led trip to Kampala... this is pretty much the only photo I took... but we went to an international festival, ate Indian food, and went to the American grocery store. It was a pretty great day.

This is Emmy (my practicum supervisor) and Johanna. I'll have spent over 100 hours with these beautiful ladies by the end of the semester.

Motivation (UB#4)

Motivation.

Living well in a different place requires sacrifice. Nothing necessarily monumental, but it means being the one who takes the first step. That doesn’t come naturally to me… it doesn’t come naturally to most people. Where does the motivation to do this come from? Where should it come from? Since being here I’ve found it difficult to step into friendships with Ugandans. I didn’t want to make the sacrifice that is required for ‘cross-cultural’ friendship because my only motivation was my own satisfaction. I wanted to leave here knowing I had friends here… but I didn’t want much more. I think that motivation is changing. A few of the on-campus American students have decided to read through Thessalonians over the course of our time here and yesterday as we were reading the first chapter this verse stuck out to me:

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

work produced by faith

labor prompted by love

endurance inspired by hope

I must put my own desires on the shelf and seek faith, love, and hope, that out of these things friendships are made and bridges built. My selfishness will not get me where I want to go… and it isn’t helping anybody else out either.