Did we miss the 'Love' boat?

As a Christian, I have been taught since I was a little kid that the greatest commandment was 'LOVE'.  Love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself.  How has this simple rule been so badly kept?  At my church this weekend, a very startling poll result was given to us.  When a large group of Americans were asked what word first came to mind when thinking of religion, love was not even on the list of 15 words.  It WASN'T EVEN ON THE LIST, our single greatest commandment did not make the list.  What a failure.

It set me back and made me think, how can this be possible, what is the reason(s).  I realize that I AM part of the problem also, I do NOT give myself a pass on this in anyway so this whole article is aimed at me as much as anyone else.  As I started looking back at the specific teachings, examples and expectations that I have seen or experienced a few ideas began to form. First, Christians (in the major branches I have been a part of are at War.  How can we love people when we have been taught that we are at war with them.   How can we love people who, we have been told, 'are out to get us'. We have to pull together and protect ourselves from all the bad stuff out there.  Be set apart from the world as it were.  We begin viewing non-Christians as possible sources of temptation, gateways to sin even.  We don't dare truly be a part of the world, we have to be 'set apart' from the world.  Much like when a herd forms up to protect itself from the lions, anyone on the outside is left to their own devices and when they fall we can sadly shake our heads and think, "they would have made it if they had been in the herd."  That is not love--it is not love if someone has to come to you to get it.  Love is given, it is given to you wherever you are, whoever you are AND whatever you have done.  We can be so busy defending ourselves from sin, or temptation that we begin looking at people AS being sin or temptation.

Here is another example; men in ministry or in Christian companies will have rules that they cannot be alone with women.  No meetings alone with a woman, no slightest possibility of the hint of impropriety with a woman, just stay away.  With this kind of attitude, how can you have women in leadership at this company or church?  How can you even view women as people? They become vessels of sin or gateways to sin or some other THING.  It is dehumanizing for them.  I know a professional woman that was helping organize a conference that included churches and Christian led companies.  She found out that a colleague was flying in to the city for the conference and was going to take a cab on to the convention area.  Her offer to pick him up and get him to the hotel he was staying at was met with serious hesitation.  Not by the man needing the ride but by one of his superiors. They had to take into consideration the possibility that someone thought it improper for a woman to be alone with a man in a car.  This woman, feeling slightly insulted, I might add is somehow, not a professional but a gateway to sin, whether she wants to be or not.  So this herd was made up of males and this woman was suddenly a lion prowling around looking for the weakest one in the herd. How absurd.

We MUST change how we treat everyone, how we view EVERYONE.  There cannot be a 'them' and an 'us' if  Love is our goal, there can only be an us.  I challenge all of us to enlarge our circle of us.  Not to view each other by race, sexual orientation or political persuasion.  We need to view each other as people, fallible, infuriating and needing love.  If we change how we view others in our own hearts it will change how we treat them and maybe one day Love can break the top 15 on the list.

Sometimes I dont like me

I saw 'Saving Mr. Banks' this weekend and while I enjoyed the movie a great deal (it was quite touching), I came away with this one idea. 

It is impossible to like others if you do not like yourself.

Now I do not want to give away to much of the movie, but suffice it to say that the main character spends most of the movie being insufferable to those around her and demanding that they not only accept it, but change to suit her in all facets.   She so disliked herself that she spent her life making everyone else pay for it.

This is not a new thought for me. There are times I have done the same.  I find when I don't like myself, I don't like anyone else either. The harder I judge myself, the more exacting my judgment of others.

Over time, I discovered an answer to this state of being.

Forgiveness. 

I had to forgive myself.  I could not find any other way.

All the shame, self-loathing, embarrassment, EVERYTHING will tend to pull you deeper and deeper into that dark place where all you can see is the black shadow of who you are.   Forgiving yourself is NOT easy. I didn't want to forgive. I didn't think I deserved it was very determined to hide, or suffer or just be as unhappy as possible.  How do you deal with being deeply disappointed in yourself? For me, I finally realized how hard I was making life on those around me, my wife, kids, siblings, friends...  I eventually got tired of seeing them tiptoeing around me, weighing their words or just avoiding me. 

My wife and I ventured into 'Marriage Bootcamp'.  This week long exercise put us on the road to marriage recovery, and taught me about the importance of forgiveness.  I needed this information in order to salvage a marriage that was dying.  In the process of trying to make it right for my wife I realized I had to make it right for me as well.

In life we impact each other, sometimes nicely but many times not so much.  If we do not forgive, the anger and pain stay with us, coloring our choices, our actions and our general feelings.  Forgiveness is for US, not for the one being forgiven--they don't even have to acknowledge the apology--you just have to do it and do it honestly.  Once I grabbed this idea I traveled WAY back in my life and began forgiving people...all those little (and Big) things that I had been holding onto.  Slowly, my outlook began to change.  I quit holding onto grievances (mostly) and began working on forgiving me.  In the end I realized that I wanted to be better...I wanted to change, but the only way was to forgive myself for past mistakes and move forward fresh.  Now, I have the lessons I learned without the baggage they came with.  It is a very freeing place to be. I like me a whole lot more...and so does everyone else.

The work of friendship

This is more observational than anything else.  I notice that close friendships require work.  This is much like marriage in that if you want to keep a very close relationship you have to do things to keep it.  Mostly small things are all that are required, but consistent things.  You have to commit to the friendship and accept the unwritten responsibilities that entails.

As examples, in college, I developed a very close friendship with a buddy.  We did stuff together multiple times a week, we lived in the same dorms for several years and we routinely sat up late at night fixing the worlds, schools or other friends problems.  We dove deeply into each others psyche and found that we had many similar ideas AND that we admired the way the other acted, cared and thought about things and people.   I also found another friend while stationed over-seas in the army and found the same things happening.  The couple of years we were both stationed together found us hanging out a lot, enjoying many of the same things and really appreciating having another person to share the rigors of military life away from home and loved ones. 

Over the years I found myself making sure that I connected with these two buddies (different sets of years), I called them once a month, remembered birthdays and planned opportunities to get together.  At some level I realized that friendships require work and that close friendships require more work than any except spouse and children.  I looked forward to the monthly chats, our various get togethers, I even took an entire week of my vacation to be my buddies best man and help make sure he was ready.  This went on for several years and eventually (to long) I realized that I was making all the plans, calls or attempts to sustain the friendships.  I pondered this a bit and then spoke to my friend to tell him what I had discovered, both of them said that they understood and appreciated the need and that they would also put forth the energy to continue the level of friendship we had attained.  I felt better and went on, but I had decided to see if they would follow through.  They did not, and at first it made me very angry and hurt to be honest.  I did not make very many close friends and that ones I did make I had invested a lot of time and energy in.  Eventually I grew up a bit and realized that life happens, keeping a friendship close when either hundreds of miles apart OR after such a huge life change like marriage can be difficult.  Your priorities change and sometimes old things/friends get moved down the list.  This can be difficult but it is truth and it is necessary.  I learned to be happy for my friends and adjust expectations.  Not a perfect solution but an acceptable one.

The stuff I find unacceptable are the friends you have that should be close, or could be close if only a little effort was given.  Friends that are close by but don't have the time to reply to a text, return a phone call or initiate a meeting.  This is frustrating also because you realize, 'they just aren't that into you'.  I also realize this sounds like a jilted or unrequited love reaction and it kind of is that.   I believe we are ALL looking for a relationship or two that you can completely count on.  People (outside of our spouses) who enjoy us as much as we enjoy them and when you think you found them it is very fulfilling.  Unfortunately,  I have also found that there are a lot of 'fools gold' friends out there.  You find a strong connection but it is not quite as strong the other way OR they are a bit lazy and want you to do all the relational work.

 I very much wish that folks would be more aware of the relationships that they have and the real gifts these things could be.  Don't take your close friends for granted, look at your friendships and see if you are giving them the time and attention they deserve.  Don't lose close friendships just due to being too busy, take the five minutes to respond, take the initiative on getting together, take responsibility of a little bit of another persons happiness.  I believe you will be well rewarded for it.

Fear

Fear is a funny thing at times. It can save your life if you are running from a bear or it can stunt your life if you are running from God. You see as a young man, in junior high, I had a wonderful conversion experience. I understood that God was out there, Jesus died for me and all I had to do for forgiveness was truly acknowledge this information. I did truly acknowledge it, in front of my family and the rest of the large(for New Mexico) church populace.

The God of my childhood was a very imposing figure, he was a great miracle worker but he was also scary. With Zeus like attributes portrayed at times and the teaching that many of our problems were brought on by God because we failed to meet his standards. How many times was it implied that this persons marital problems or another couple’s problem birth was because of some hidden sin in their lives. Even beyond these things there was the thought that God just might 'Call' you to be a minister or, even worse, a missionary going to Africa. This last one seemed to hang with me.


Fear kept me inside myself, I never learned how to love Jesus back, I never learned how to love anyone back. My parents divorced while I was in junior high and we moved around so much I never fit in to the small towns we lived in. I built up walls and barricades so that no one could ask anything of me that I did not want to do. I didn’t ever really put myself out there and allow relationships to grow beyond what I could handle and control. I went to church but that was about all, no small groups, no close Christian friends. Most of all no way for God to show me he was not scary, because I was not listening.

I got married after college, a truly wonderful Christian woman. We let the physical relationship go too far because she really loved me and was in-love with me. I did love her but really I was afraid to love too much, to love all the way. Our marriage was pretty good but I still had limits that I didn’t even know where there. I had walls up to protect my heart from pain and walls up to protect me from 'Gods plan'. The walls stayed up for nearly 20 years of marriage. I loved my wife, my kids and Jesus, but I was afraid to let them too close, . I mostly did what I wanted to do, many times to the detriment of my wife and kids and DEFINATELY to the exclusion of God in any real capacity. Eventually this led to mistakes that could not be overlooked. My personal fear was not touched by God or my wife in nice easy ways, no, it had to be broken. When, finally, my pornography problems and infidelity were brought out in the open the process began I saw that I was hurting others very, very badly. I had to watch the woman I love being TORN UP inside for nearly two years, I had to watch my daughter get nearly forgotten as we tried to repair the damage my fear of giving up control had caused. I had to come back to Jesus, ON MY KNEES asking him to help them with the pain I had caused. I had to beg Him to save my marriage and I had to beg Him to remake me into a good man. Slowly but surely it happened. My wife saw the changes, my relationship with my daughter was strengthened and my relationship with Jesus was rebuilt. I resolved to listen for what God wanted me to do and be willing to take on his work and YES he sent me to Africa.

Creation, Fall of Man and other Myths?

I am sitting in church today listening to a message about Creation.  I have always had an issue with the creation story; it has hampered my ability to be a Christian and to believe as one most of the time.  We are told that a perfect creation was made and Man was given charge of it.  In fact along with naming all the animals and keep order we were also told, "by the way, those two trees, you can't eat from them."  Man was setup to fail. Add to that in this perfect creation, the serpent.  Satan is present in this world and he is not limited by the 'all-powerful' God we are told about.  Satan wanders up to Eve and begins to tempt her (THIS IS THE ORIGINAL SIN), Eve is an innocent, she does not know good from bad, she does not suspect ulterior motives and is an easy mark.  Once she has eaten of this fruit Adam is just another mark for the carney, his fate is sealed.  God gets mad at Man, kicks him out of Eden and THEN puts up guardians to keep peopel away from the two trees. 

All of this seems to be either a MUCH less than perfect creation of a not quite all-powerful God or, perhaps, the plan from the beginning.  In any case it is NOT Man's fault that creation fell, original sin was created by Satan and man and the rest of creation was infected with it.  I can see where perhaps God's plan is also including a chance for even Satan's redemption but I am sick and tired of being told that the state of this world is Man's fault when the story just does not back it up.  If God is a Good God, then there is a lot that we are not seeing, misinterpreting or just ignoring.  The story our church is giving us about Creation is not aligning with the facts that we know.

It seems to me that Adam and Eve were created  with knowldge and maturity along with a childlike innocence.  This, as we all, know is a very easily shattered state when confronted with someone who is not innocent and has no consideration for  those who are.  Man, it seems, was DESTINED to fail.  Perhaps we were created to create some kind of path for redemption for Satan and the rest of the fallen angels, as well as ourselves in the end.  We live our 80 years in a hell of Satan creation.  A place where he rules but cannot quite control and a place were God dwells but does not quite control. All in order that everyone, including the fallen angels can, one day, dwell with God in heaven.

I am beginning to believe that our accepted religions have missed the mark from the very beginning and in so doing have spent a lot of time and energy telling the WRONG story.  Satan caused the fall but Man's job is to redeem it.



:: A thought that has occurred to me, has no grounds in the Bible or any teaching I have found BUT, consider the image of the Prodigal Son.  That ruler just wanted his child back, he was willing to forgive and willing to move mountains to make it so.  What if God and the original Prodigal, Satan, are put in this picture.  What if mankind was created to eventually be the tool that not only redeems themselves but redeems Satan because a being of perfect love may always want the lost sheep to have a way home.  I am not sure I believe this but it is an interesting thought.

PEEP WARS 2012

PEEP WARS!!!

With Easter nearly open my daughter and I decided to revive a family (sort o) tradition and have a peep war.  Giving her first choice she immediately went with the pink chicks and I took the remaining yellow ones.  Quickly we released the small soft warriors from the protective packages.  Next we each chose a toothpick weapon, looking at length, flexibilty and sharpness.  Eventually we both settled on the best available weapon and armed our fighters.  Once armed we slowly and carefully placed them on the protective fighting surface, positioning them with the utmost care.

Finally, we closed the chamber and stepped back to allow the fighters room to practice thier craft.  As the carousel began spinning they both began to puff themselves up in hopes of dishearening the opponent, but these were both TRUE warriors and neither backed down and the spears inched closer and closer until, finally, a winner was declared.  The yellow fighter barely got the touch in before the pink chick could finish him off, and that ended the first fight.

All in all, Peep Wars 2012 was won by Team Dad but it was a hard fought battle and the plucky daughter promised to be back in 2013 for another try.

The seldom seen 'Dark Side' of peep wars.







Steampunk Shelf- final product

I do think the shelves turned out very nicely, I enjoyed the end result and spent a good 10 minutes just sitting and looking at the whole thing, it is much like I envisioned. A simple parts list goes as follows: 1" Copper pipe 10', 3/4" Copper Pipe 15', 1" Cast aluminum threaded plates (2), 3/4" Cast Aluminum thread plates (8)[both painted copper], 1" XMale Adapters (2), 3/4" XMale Adapters (8)[threaded into the plates with the other end ready for pipe insertion], 1" Copper T (2), 3/4" Copper T (10), 1" Copper Elbow (2), 3/4" Copper Elbow (8), 1" to 3/4" adapter (2).

Each fitting needs a 1 1/2" piece of appropriate sized piped inside it to join to the next adapter (if the fittings are to touch), I also used clear liquid nails before connecting each piece together and I used sheet metal screws in a couple of places to make sure the pipes did not sag or twist. I tried to place the plates over studs so that they were anchored to wood in at least two screws and used sheet rock anchors in the other holes.

The whole thing cost about $240 and took me most of two days to finish. This is mostly because I dont do this very often and do not work efficiently as I should.

Phase 3

Phase 3 was for the DVD shelves. It was exactly the same dimensions as the other shelves with one exception. On the first shelves the middle point of the T adapter was pushed about 6 inches, to allow the large books a good seating. On the DVD shelves I connecte the T directly to the top of the X Male adapter that fit into the plate. This brought the shelf about 3 inches out. I did leave the top left corner of the shelf open, just in case I wanted to add more stuff later, but for now it is complete. Here are the pictures of Phase 3. My last post will have finished pictures and a parts list and rough diagram.

Steampunk Shelves, Phase 2

Phase 2 is different because this is where I introduced the stereo audio and HDMI cables into the pipes. This was done by creating a hole in the wall next to the PC and fishing the wires up to the hole in the center of the plate I used to anchor the shelves. My first real problem popped up at this point. I had been using 3/4 inch copper pipe and fittings, but, the HDMI cable would not make the turn through a 3/4 inch elbow, so, I took part of my copper back to the Depot and bought 1 inch pipe (10' piece $30). This took my project cost from $150 to $220. Once I had the new pipe I began building the next portion across the rest of one wall, and then, left, down the next wall to an anchor point and another plate. BTW, the plates I am using are actually floor plates of cast aluminum or iron and painted copper color. They have a hole in the center that allows me to go into the wall without showing the hole. In any case once I had my pipe to the proper spot on the second wall the cables were fished back into the wall and down. Then I pulled them out and hooked them back up to my TV and sound system.

Steampunk Shelves Project

I have remodeled my office. I am changing from the "Swords and Stuff" theme I have had for time immemorial to a mixture of classic scifi and steampunk. Recently I was at an art show put on by the Art, Love, Magic group. There I was inspired by the use of copper pipe to create interesting shapes and possibilities. I went home and withing a few days had put up my first attempt at these shelves. It was ok, but not very stable and would not hold up books without extra support.

I let it sit for a few weeks and then finished the design I would end with. It would server as a Hardback shelf, DVD shelf and audio/video cable run from my PC to the TV. The new Phase 1 looks like this.

Brussels

Friday found us in Brussels, Belgium at about 6:30am. We had to grab our bags and go through customs. Our flight did not leave until 10am the next morning so we went siteseeing. After checking in at the hotel we jumped on a double-decker tour bus and took a look at the city and it was very, very nice. The architecture is so different from any that we have in the US and certainly different than the look in Uganda. We had a great time, visiting shops and getting souveniors and eating food that is a little closer to our normal (but VERY expensive). We even had a chance to tour a beer museum and watch a video on Trapist monks making beer. All in all we had fun and it made all the difference on the return trip, we made it back home win about 16 hours none the worse for wear.

African Grackles

All of us in the Dallas area know about the grackles. Small black birds that just swarm all over the place and make a lot of noise and bird crap. I imagine every city has its version of these pest birds and I am going to tell you about Kampala's version. They are called Charles Birds, not sure why, if it is an implication that they look like an English Prince or whatever but that is what they have here. The biggest difference in these birds is that they are about 5 feet tall and bald. I do not think they make a lot of noise and since there are not hundreds of thousands of them the street are not covered in thier poop. They are just a big, ungainly, funny looking critter and I just wanted to share some pictures of them.

THis was supposed to go up several days ago, but my internet in Uganda was not up to the task

Paying fees for sponsored children

Today we got up bright and early (7:30am) and ate some breakfast, whined about not having Internet and then joined the rest of the team on the last section of our tasks here in Uganda. Now we begin paying the fees associated with all the children (287 or so) that the project directly supports. Evidently some of the schools allow the fees to be paid to the banks they use and others make you pay at the school. Our job was to pay all the bank fees.

Today and yesterday we hit about 10 banks and were paying for anywhere from one to 30 students at a time. We each had to fill out the forms for the students we were going to pay for, in quadruplicate, and not make mistakes or maybe have to go to the schools to get the forms again. The next thing is the WAD of cash we had to take with us to each bank. The lowest fee was about 40,000 shillings and the highest at 250000 shillings. Most of them where in the 130000 range. This meant that at any given time we could be walking around with 3 Million or more shillings as we went into the bank. Now the issue is probably not what you think, we were not all that worried about being mugged. We got out very near each bank and moved in at least pairs. No the problem is just logistically getting your head to count and comprehend 3 million in any currency. We had to check and recheck our counts because the biggest bills here are the 50,000's. This means we had a minimum of 20 bills per million dollars in our stacks. Add to this that the poor teller had to individually enter each students name into the computer one at a time and then stamp and initial each of the four copies and then log them into another system and you can begin to imagine this process. Thankfully, PD and the two Ugandans in our team have been doing this awhile and we had the forms filled out in advance, the money withdrawn from our bank before we needed it to pay AND we had a driver that knew his way around the crazy traffic. In any case it was kind of fun and definitely something I have not done before and for the most part the people at the banks were very nice and the lines were short.

In any case, we are back at the guest house, the Internet is back up and we are enjoying some downtime before we pick back up again tomorrow. Unfortunately I cannot upload photos still so I will have to put some up later, if possible.

An exhaustive survey

I have now traveled so extensively in this country I can give the government a fairly accurate count on the number of denizens. You might be inclined to think that I could not have been here long enough to do this. You might even think I have not seen enough of the countryside to justify my numbers. You might even think that I have nothing better to do than make something up. You would be entirely wrong...at least two out of three times. In any case, here are my numbers:

Chickens - 65 million
goats - 55 Million
Pigs - 45 million
Cattle - 10 million
Dogs - 9
Cats - 5
Ducks - 2

I don't know what the government of Uganda will do with these numbers but I wish them better luck than the dogs, cats and ducks have had

BTW, I was going to have pictures added but they wont upload today, not sure why, will try again. Now I need to stand at my window and listen to the latest propaganda for the elections coming up.

Lessons learned, eventually

Today we went to the 'Home' church for our organization here in Uganda. We saw most all of the sponsored children and gave out the shoes. Each sponsored child will get a pair of shoes, either today or later after we get some more of the correct sizes. It was a very joyous occasion and we were treated with a performance of a traditional African dance. We truly enjoyed the time there, speaking and giving shoes. Unfortunately this was not the biggest thing going on today.

During the festivites we received word that the folks running the hotel we stayed at needed us to move to another one of thier properties, today. We had left this morning,talking to all of the staff, making sure they knew we would be back for dinner tonight and that we had some laundry things to be taken care of. They offered no hint of the coming crisis. They needed us out by two o'clock because there was a group of 21 coming in today and they needed our rooms in order to keep them in one place. On the surface this does not seem to bad except that we could have packed our things this morning instead of rushing back and quickly throwing things into bags and leaving. Also, it was not clear whether or not the new facility had the same amenities as the old one (internet, individual bathrooms, fans, mosquito nets...) All of this, the horrible traffic, leaving comfortable and safe environs all meshed to make me rather angry. I knew that this was not a way you should treat guests in a hotel, suddenly springing something like this on them. I am sure the scowl on my face gave evidence to my great annoyance, even though a little voice was saying, "wait and see", I struggled with my anger and arrived at the new residence ready to dislike everything about it.

We drove in, the grounds were much smaller and the driveway was very small as well. After coming into the compound we went in to check out the rooms before we unloaded our bags. Walking in to what would be a huge three level house in the states. The floor was stone, the furnishings were very pretty and we could tell by the smartphones we had that they did have a wireless network. As we toured the place I began to feel better and better. The rooms were different, but nice, we had everything we needed and it is even better in many ways than the other place. Eventually I began to feel bad again, but this time because I had not let God handle it. I felt bad because I assumed it would be worse, site-unseen, and was totally wrong. I hope I can take this lesson forward and be more aware of why I am here and who really is in charge. In any case we do like it here and I will add some pictures to this post later on today.

Time can be subjective

Today was our longest trip; we visited the EPC church in Kassanda. This day started out like any other but soon, that would change. We headed into central Kampala from our hotel and turned left. I don’t know any other way to describe it. There are no street signs, very few traffic signs and three traffic signals in the whole city. This was definitely not modeled after the Romans grid system. After driving for about 15 minutes away from the Kampala the paved road ended and the worst road ever created in human history started. For the next two hours it was as if someone had mounted four jackhammers in place of our wheels and pointed us into a dust storm. The red dirt (especially on the return) was so prevalent we made mud pies in the showers. Anyway we drove for nearly two hours on the worst road in the world and then; we turned off the major highway onto a side road.

Eventually we found our way to the little village we were searching for and arrived at the church. Once there we were quickly dragged inside by the pastor. The whole building was packed with children. She quickly told us they had some musical numbers for us in store. We let her know that we were looking forward to the music but we were limited on our time. The choir quickly got on stage and began rejoicing as only Africans can, singing and dancing and smiling and truly worshiping, the songs were simple and on the same beat but they were a lot of fun. After twenty minutes of praise the pastor got up and said that we could not stay very long and that they would like us to hear one song from the Sunday school kids. These kids took the next six minutes singing their way onto the stage and then setup for their song. Once again the song was great, we clapped along with the rest of the crowd and after about 10 minutes they finished and we all clapped and cheered as they left the stage. The pastor again came on stage as we prepared to go up and begin handing out shoes. She said that the choir would now “present for our visitors two numbers.” As we settled back into our chairs the choir began singing their way up to the stage, after 10 minutes they were ready for their two numbers. The choir was great, we all clapped and at least swayed a little bit for the next twenty-five…. two songs. Eventually the second song ended and the choir left the stage, singing….and dancing….two steps forward one back and as the last member made it to the floor the pastor once again took the mic and introduced PD. He quickly jumped up on stage, introduced the rest of us and the shoe giving began.

This time was more confused that the others but the results were the same; we gave many shoes to many wonderful children, and still had more children that needed them. On the way out we waved and shook hands with many children. Then the road beckoned and the finish to our red coating of dust was begun. Our ride, while very dirty was uneventful, (we did get pulled over by he police on the way out, did I forget that part?) and we made our appointment back in town due to some very creative navigating by our driver Robert. Pictures from our day are included above.

Fun times??

I fell behind a day, it seems driving around the countryside is very tiring. I didn’t feel like doing it last night and this morning was too rushed so here I am. It is 8:30pm local time and we just returned from our second day of giving shoes. On day one we visited a school in Jinja and gave away about 150 pairs of shoes. The students were queued up outside and then funneled into a room where we helped each kid into a pair of shoes. The fun part is the looks of happiness and gratitude on the faces of the kids, the bad part; we don’t ever have enough shoes for everyone and that is always going to be the biggest takeaway from these visits. I saw, that day, a microcosm of how the world views Americans. It seems that the ones who got the shoes were very grateful and happy that we came. Others were happy we came because we were there, they were disappointed to not get shoes but they no worse off than when we arrived and they had had a lot of fun and excitement on top of it all. Then there was the last group, not a small group but they were very obvious in their feelings .These kids were either demanding we give them something (even to a plastic bag sitting empty on the table) or they were so contemptuous of us that they felt personally slighted by not getting shoes and would not even look at us with a sneer or look of disdain. We smiled and talked to all of them, promising to return when we could and hoping to give more shoes next time. Most laughed and ran along beside our van as we rumbled down the dirt road yelling, “Mzungu, Mzungu” (this is a Ugandan word for white man) as we drove away handing out small candy treats as we were able. It was very fulfilling and saddening at the same time.

Today we went to a church in Mpigi, there we handed out another 130 or so pairs of shoes, this time we were rewarded with a spontaneous worship session when a couple of the older boys and girls got up to sing and lead the rest of the children and adults in some African worship songs. It was a lot of fun and much dancing and clapping was done. Soon we began giving the shoes and getting the smiles and thanks that were so heart fully given. In fact it was a little disconcerting to see them suddenly kneel in front of you and say thank-you before they turned and hurried away. It was also very beautiful to see this genuine gesture of gratitude from the boys and girls there. Once again we did not have enough but the attitude was joyful and we left being very glad we had a chance to meet these kids.


The top picture is at Jinja and the bottom Mpigi
An hour back into town and we were at the local church we are based at, waiting for the rest of the shoes we had purchased to be delivered. All-in-all we will give out over 800 pairs of shoes over the 5 day period, travel much of the countryside within a couple hours of Kampala and meet some very amazing and sweet people in the bargain. So far it has been a great time here in Uganda

I think big business is the same everywhere. If they can make you wait a little bit or make you do a bit of their work for them they will do it in a heartbeat. Take, for instance, the bank we use here in Uganda. They have money transferred to them for our account. They will sit on this money for a while, drawing interest themselves and then if no one is in the mood to push the enter key and move the money, it stays there in limbo. The populace, thoroughly indoctrinated in the 'stand in line to do anything' policy, just waits and knows that eventually the money will be moved and life goes on. Unfortunately, we do not have that kind of time since this is a 2 week trip, not a two month trip. After driving through the whirling maelstrom that is Kampala traffic you finally arrive at the bank where our leader has to go in and politely remind them that they have our money AND that there is another bank across the circle that we could use just as easily. The person politely deigns to look into the issue and within a few hours we have access to our funds. All we had to do was ride for nearly 1.5 hours round trip risking life and limb just to get access to money we put in their bank to pay for shoes we will buy here in their country to give to kids. We don’t understand why this should be made more difficult but it is not personal, it is just the way things are done here. To be fair I also have to point out that we purchase our shoes from a Bata retailer and were quickly and effectively taken care of. Our 300 shoes were boxed and waiting to be picked up within a few hours of purchase, and the store helped us load the boxes in the van as well, very good service, we were very grateful to them.

The whole day was not spent on business; we did get an opportunity to visit the child that my wife and I sponsor here in Uganda. We have had the opportunity to give support so that his fees, uniforms, books and lunches are taken care of. It was great to get to meet this young man, his name is Isaac (pictured above). He is about 15 years old, nearly as tall as I am, very well spoken. His demeanor was very mature and very happy as well. I had picked up a soccer ball in the states for him and he was very pleased to receive it. We met the rest of his family and spent a while there sharing information and finding out more about each other. Very soon I believe that Uganda will have a new Engineer ready to work and they will be very lucky to have him.

and now the work begins

I think big business is the same everywhere. If they can make you wait a little bit or make you do a bit of their work for them they will do it in a heartbeat. Take, for instance, the bank we use here in Uganda. They have money transferred to them for our account. They will sit on this money for a while, drawing interest themselves and then if no one is in the mood to push the enter key and move the money, it stays there in limbo. The populace, thoroughly indoctrinated in the 'stand in line to do anything' policy, just waits and knows that eventually the money will be moved and life goes on. Unfortunately, we do not have that kind of time since this is a 2 week trip, not a two month trip. After driving through the whirling maelstrom that is Kampala traffic you finally arrive at the bank where our leader has to go in and politely remind them that they have our money AND that there is another bank across the circle that we could use just as easily. The person politely deigns to look into the issue and within a few hours we have access to our funds. All we had to do was ride for nearly 1.5 hours round trip risking life and limb just to get access to money we put in their bank to pay for shoes we will buy here in their country to give to kids. We don’t understand why this should be made more difficult but it is not personal, it is just the way things are done here. To be fair I also have to point out that we purchase our shoes from a Bata retailer and were quickly and effectively taken care of. Our 300 shoes were boxed and waiting to be picked up within a few hours of purchase, and the store helped us load the boxes in the van as well, very good service, we were very grateful to them.

The whole day was not spent on business; we did get an opportunity to visit the child that my wife and I sponsor here in Uganda. We have had the opportunity to give support so that his fees, uniforms, books and lunches are taken care of. It was great to get to meet this young man, his name is Isaac. He is about 15 years old, nearly as tall as I am, very well spoken. His demeanor was very mature and very happy as well. I had picked up a soccer ball in the states for him and he was very pleased to receive it. We met the rest of his family and spent a while there sharing information and finding out more about each other. Very soon I believe that Uganda will have a new Engineer ready to work and they will be very lucky to have him.

Cathedrals and Jungles

Yesterday was Monday for us. We spent the day running around the city and a little siteseeing. Our first stop was to convert our American dollars to Ugandan Schillings, a bit of a disconcerting transaction. The weirdness is because of the exchange rate. We decided that my daughter and I would combine and exchange 100 dollars, so when we arrive at the bank, PD bargains with the guy a bit and we get a rate of 1 to 2300. This means my 100 bucks is now 230000 schillings, quite a wad of cash, in fact the smallest denomination is a 1000 dollar bill, this gives new meaning to a 'pocket full of cash'(at least for me it does).

We then head out in the van again, heading about 40 kilometers out of the city to a patch of rainforest and some hikeing. The trees are amazingly huge, 200 feet up in the air. In fact they are so tall it is uncomfortable to look upwards as much as you want. We wandered the path for an hour or so, looking at butterflys and lizards and spiders. The air was very humid and we became sweaty within minutes of walking under the canopy. After a while the sky seemed to darken and the guides suggested we go back because a sudden rain storm would be bad for the cameras we had(yes I have a camera but the cable to transfer the pictures has disappeared). We had a lunch of granola bars, beef jerky and water then back in the van.

When we eventually made our way back into Kampala our guides took us first to the big Catholic church and we met a man who showed us around and explained about the history of the place and we took many pictures. This place had been there since the late 1700's and sits on top of a hill with an amazing view of the surrounding city and hills. I can imagine the original view was amazing, rainforest for as far as the eye could see and lush vegetation right up to the grounds. Now the city is sprawling all about but the view is still wonderful. We left there and went to the Anglican church built around the same time. It is also on top of a hill and has an amazing view but we could not go in and look around. It sounded like someone was inside torturing an organ, but we dont know that for sure. It did occur to me that the people who worshipped there, the early days, would have had to walk up this large hill each time they would come to worship. It would not have been a walk that I would have wanted to do.

In any case we eventually made our way back to the hotel (after an ice cream stop) and a nice beef stew meal. Bedtime was about 6:30 and that has finally put me on Ugandan time so now the days should be easier.