Sunday, November 17, 2013

Village Hospitality

Last week I was given the chance to visit Mityana again. It had been at least two months since my last visit, and I was excited to see some old friends. We went to go visit Mpagee (I doubt his name has a written form) and his family. He is the caretaker of the land I surveyed in September. It was good to see his family again only I wish the occasion for going could have been a more happier one. He lost his nine-month old daughter due to preventable illness. Healthcare just is that not readily available in the villages of Uganda. 

This just reminded me of something. There was a building on the master plan that did not get enough water pressure. We had to adjust some pipe sizes and heighten the water tower so that building could get enough water during peak times. That building is a proposed health clinic. The work I do here can sometimes become just math problems I'm solving behind my desk, but I need to realize that the work I do here can save lives. Maybe not in the way the doctor in that clinic would, but we all have different responsibilities in the body of Christ, and they are all important to furthering his kingdom.

I hope that little paragraph encouraged you, but let me tell you more about Mpagee and his family.

After we located some grave sites on the property (for engineering purposes) I got to see Mpagee's mother, who goes by the name "Jjajja" which means Granny. I gave her the portrait I took of her in September, which was such a blessing. She showed it to her entire family and they all got a good laugh when they saw it.
This was probably the first time anyone had seen her face on paper. This particular photo actually won a spot in the annual Engineering Ministries International magazine. I figured it only made sense to give her a copy.



This gave me the idea to take a family photo. There is not much I can do for this grieving family, but I wanted them to have a picture of each other while they are all still here together. I only wish that I could have gotten one sooner, before the tragic loss. John go the whole family to stand together in front of their house.


Quite a beautiful looking family, don't you think? I realize John is not officially a member of this family, but since he sponsors three of the kids for school fees, he might as well be. 

Did you notice Mpagee's wife in the picture? Probably not since she is trying her best to hide. I don't know why but she was very camera shy. Some Africans believe that a camera's steal your soul when you take a picture, but I'm pretty sure that was not her case. 

At any rate, I wanted to get a picture of Mpagee and his wife together. Judging by there current state of living it is not far fetched to think that they had never gotten their picture taken together. When John translated my request for me, she immediately laughed in embarrassment and proceeded to walk away. It took some convincing but after a little while Mpagee got his wife to sit down next to him. The moment I pull out my camera she hides her face in her hands, with a smile. Mpagee looks at her and says something in Luganda, at which she lifts her face for just moment for me to take a picture.



These people live in a level of poverty I can not describe. They had to bury their daughter only a week prior. Life is hard. But they have a hope in them that perseveres through any hardship.



After some good hangout time, we visited the village pastor. His family immediately recognized John and his two sons and led us into their house. We had a good time of catching up, since John knew the family well. We got to pray together in his house, while his kids went out back and picked like 20 fresh avocado's for us. After our goodbyes the family followed us for a bit and their daughter carried the bag of avocado's all the way back to the van.



Side note: There was a colony of weaver birds on the side of the road, which is pretty awesome.



 When we got back to the van, I came to truly understand village hospitality. Jjaja had cooked us food again (no pig nipple this time), and packed our van full with various goods. We placed the avocado's next to the Matoke (non-sweet bananas), Cassava (aka yucca root), and two chickens. All together it must have been 20 pounds. After the delicious meal of matoke and beans we say a last goodbye and head out.
We pass by another village family maybe 15 minutes down the road. John stops the van and parks it in someones "driveway" and we follow a dirt road on foot. At the end we meet an lady who looks to be in her late 20's. At the sight of us she pulls out a wooden bench and places on the red moist soil. John explains how this lady donated a pig to the ministry earlier in the year during a rally to proclaim the gospel. We were visiting her so we could thank her for the generous offering. Guess what her reaction was to us thanking her? She goes into the field with her son, and pulls 5 pounds of beans out of the ground for us. While we help her pods of the stalks her son pulls an additional 5 pounds of Cassava out of the ground.

Honestly, I could not help getting slightly emotional at the sight of this. To think that a village family living in a round mud hut deep in the African jungle with no clean water or health services around for miles, would simply give their livelihood to strangers and expect nothing in return? Such stark contrast from my last summer working a Jimmy Johns, in which throwing away 3 tomato slices would upset the manager. I can't help but think a variety of verses where Christians are called to be generous  and let strangers into our house (Romans 12). It's an example that is hard to follow.

So yeah it was a good day.

Allow me to leave with a picture of a village we drove by a few weeks ago near Gulu. This is where the LRA terrorized Uganda about 10 years ago. We spotted an Invisible Children truck which is something I'd never expected to see in my lifetime. Uganda is beautiful, and so are its people. I hope I was able to share that with you today.


In the dust of his feet,
-Alex

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Most Beautiful Thing

As announced, this last weekend I visited Murchison Falls National Park and got to see a new stunning side of God's creation that I will not likely see again. Even so, the real beauty I saw last weekend was not directly in his creation, but I will get to that later.

After 7 hours of travel in a safari van, we arrive in Murchison National Park. Our tents had already been setup with a view of the Nile and grazing hippos. After only short break and lunch we jumped back in the van, and headed for the savanna. These are the best pictures I took during that game drive.

These guys were chilling right outside the park. I guess that's what happens when you don't have fences.

Ms. Giraffe just stared at us like this for at least 10 minutes.


Here she is with her friends.


The Loser Buffalo, exiled from his herd. He was pretty aggressive and charged at us at one point.

After the game drive we got an early night sleep. We were exhausted from spending 10 hours in a car, and we needed to get up early before sunrise so that we would have enough time to visit the Falls, and see the eclipse. The sights were amazing, let me just show you:

\
*Insert Lion King opening soundtrack*

I love how the clouds bend in this shot, especially with the vibrant colors protruding from behind the palm trees.

The interns. From left to right: Christine, Meghan, Mark, Thomas, Me, Jacob.

Hippo Tracks on the banks of the Nile.

Jacob pondering if he could survive jumping into the waterfall.

That's me in front at the top of Murchison Falls.


Some people like to do Safari's in style. 

After the short visit to the Falls, we headed straight back to camp to meet up with Tunรง, our Turkish Astro-photographer friend. He managed to find a good spot to take photo's of the eclipse with a good view of the savanna. We spent the first 2 hours staring at the sun with our special eclipse glasses. It was quite a marvelous sight.


Geoffrey, our driver, fixes his glasses in preparation for the eclipse. 

About 20 minutes after first contact.

We found a cool way to "hold" the eclipse using a filter and flash photography.

Everyone was quite excited.

2 minutes till full contact. You could look at the sun without glasses at this point.

At this point we saw darkness cover the Congolese mountains. It rapidly spread across the savanna straight towards us. I look up at the sun and see that the only parts not yet covered are valleys on the moon. I look back over the savanna when the racing darkness hits us.

Full contact.
Cameras are rapidly firing all around me. I was conflicted as to look through  my camera and get a good picture or just to take it all in. In the heat of the moment I get this blurry picture and 16 seconds later it's over. The sun peeks out its face, the shadow disappears into the distance, and the sun's pink chromosphere fades.

It's over.

The astronomers and photographers that payed thousand of dollars to travel and even more on their equipment give a slight applause with smiles on their faces. Everyone looks at me saying: "Wasn't that awesome!"

I guess. As awesome as God's creation is, especially those 16 seconds, I did not share that same excitement. Honestly, it was was beautiful, but I just can't understand how people can literally chase these things all across the globe (some had seen at least 20 full eclipses). It almost felt like chasing the wind. We were not meant to worship the creation, but the creator. The beauty in the picture he painted reflects His beauty. I think of how our lives are like a vapor in the wind that is here today and gone tomorrow. I don't want to chase the wind with my short life, and I don't want to see others do it either.

The beauty that the Lord showed me that weekend was the beauty of his Gospel. I was raised a Christian and never really was brought to my knees in submission and confession of my sin. But for some reason the Lord spoke to me that weekend. Three days in a row I dreamed about sharing the gospel. I read the first half of "Mere Christianity" and the Lord shook me.

The love God has for us the most beautiful thing in this world, and you don't have to travel some remote African jungle to see it. It saddens me to see people in this world running so fast towards little things in this creation that seem to feel so good at the time. They need to know what is truly worth living for.

Listen. God loves you. You have probably heard that before but do you really understand what that means? The person who you are fighting against, the person you are rebelling against, loved you so much that he sent his only son. This son showed you how to lay your weapons down. Like a teacher he took your hand helped you form letters on a piece of paper. When you fought him he did not take up arms, but instead a cross, to show you what perfect submission truly looks like. And why? For the joy set before him. That's why. So lay your weapons down. He is in relentless pursuit of your life and your heart, and wants to take your life and give it purpose. Stop fighting. Stop chasing the wind. Let him take the vapor you call life and make it into something more beautiful and glorious than you could ever hope for.






"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

With Love,
-Alex