First few days back in Gulu

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

I think I fell asleep - in my sleep last night… I was more tired lat night than I remember being in a very long time…

Today was a day of re-connecting with Ivan and his family. As you have read in the past, Ivan is a friend I met the very first day I arrived in Uganda last year in April. Ivan and I have remained in very close contact since our initial meeting of one another throughout the last 15 months since we have seen each other last.

After waiting for some time to hear from a man I was supposed to have a meeting with, I decided to go ahead and spend the day with Ivan and re-visit his mother and father. They do not live together, so we first visited his father. This visit was short but fun to have the chance to re-connect with Ivan and his family.

This was my first visit with Ivan’s father. His father has dis-owned him as a son, but still speaks to him on a limited basis. This is the unfortunate result of his father being an alcoholic and making rash decisions that result in improper and disappointing circumstances. Ivan wanted me to speak visit with his father in order that I would show myself to him in person so that his father would believe that indeed, someone believes in him and is willing to support his efforts in school that he may accomplish his bigger dreams and visions. The visit was brief, but good.

After visiting Ivan’s father, Ivan took me to many different homes to visit the orphaned children that he has taken under his wing. I met six of the seven children that Ivan has taken under his wing. Last year, as most of you know, Ivan was taking care of little Julius – an orphaned boy in his village. Since arriving back to Kampala this year, Ivan has chosen to accept in 6 more children in addition to Julius. It was inspiring to see Ivan’s compassion for these orphaned children and his future desires for these kids. We took the opportunity to buy mattresses, blankets and food for the children in order that they can better survive in the conditions that they are currently in.

Following the meeting of these children, we went to Ivan’s mothers house. I did not know that she had been planning my arrival for days. When I arrived there was a feast prepared for me, Ivan’s mother had been preparing for 2 days the food we were about to eat. Ivan’s mother has been so delighted that his son was able to finish school among other things as a result of mine and others support in his life, and after not having seen her in over a year – she went all out and invited the neighborhood for a party in my honor. It was an honor. Ivan is a phenomenal singer and after partaking in the feast, we all gathered together to sing worship songs, Ivan the lead singer and his guitar teacher playing guitar. It was an emotionally and physically exhausting day – but rich in friendships, experiences and love.




Sunday, August 17th, 20

I have been working between the Anchorage East Rotary club in Alaska and the Kampala, Uganda Rotary club to see about working together to create a project to submit a Matching Grant request to the International Rotary. Today I met with Simon, the most recent president of Rotary Kampala at Hotel Namirembe for a three hour discussion. We had a great meeting, I very much enjoyed our interactions with one another and am encouraged as a result of the meeting. Simon is very interested in creating a proposal to work with ChildVoice International and is further investigating the next necessary steps and will be getting back to me soon. ChildVoice International having the opportunity to partner with Rotary International is a tremendous opportunity. I look forwards to providing updates for you when I learn more.

The rest of my day was spent in town doing last minute shopping for CVI as well as myself before heading up to Gulu in the morning.

Monday, August 18th, 2008

At 6 AM, Ivan and I arrived at the bus station to take the bus from Gulu to Kampala. I had invited Ivan to join me on the journey up to Gulu as he has never before even left Kampala. He was thrilled with the opportunity to see new parts of Uganda, go to the ‘north’ and see where all of this devastation of the Lords Resistance Army has been taking place. Also, Ivan was excited about seeing the ChildVoice facilities in Lukodi and having the chance to better understand where I work and with who. Having Ivan with me benefited me as well as I appreciated having an extra set of eyes on my luggage. It is always a risk to travel by the postal bus with luggage, as bystanders know which pieces of luggage belongs to the international passengers and assume there must be valuables in the bags - it is frequent that locals will have their eye on bags to steal when the opportunity arises.

A lovely surprise I learned of yesterday afternoon was that Richard, the Logistics co-ordinator for ChildVoice, whom I worked with last year, was in Kampala visiting his family and was headed back up to Gulu on the exact same bus as Ivan and I! This was exciting as Richard was the first man to escort me to Gulu last year. I sat between Ricahrd and Ivan near the back of the bus. We only had one somewhat minor interruption throughout the trip and that was that one of the four back tires blew out – we were sitting directly on top of that back tire and felt the furious forceful eruption. I had just fallen asleep when the tire blew. As I opened my eyes there was a thick black billow of dirt flying through the open window only to land in our eyes, down our shirts, in our laps… The eruption of the tire was so forceful that it peeled away the side of the bus. After inspecting the bus, the drivers decided to drive on the three back tires (rather then four) the 20 minutes to the next town to change the tire. As we drove to the next town, one woman had to hold a part of the bus from the inside where she sat in order to prevent the siding from dragging on the ground as we drove! It was an adventure nevertheless, we made it to the town to change the tire and managed to make it into Gulu just a few hours later then planned.

After arriving into the wet pouring rain of Gulu, we took boda boda’s to the Royal Inn where I am currently staying until I re-locate out to Lukodi. There I had the chance to re-unite with Jennifer and a few other staff members of the Royal Inn who are likened to my sisters. I spent nearly a month living at the Royal Inn last year and developed very good relationships with these women. As I arrived this time I was picked up, spun around and hugged and kissed repetitively. I felt like I was the recipient of a happy puppy’s loving… It was a lovely warm embrace.

From here we, Richard, Ivan and I walked over to the ChildVoice Uganda Headquarters office – WOW! Impressive! ChildVoice has a beautiful office in a highly convenient location that is very valuable for the management of CVI as a whole. This office is a very busy place. Seven main desks make up the office. Staff members utilizing these desks include the Program Director, Deputy Director, Deputy Director Assistant, Accountant, Logistics Manager, and the Income Generating Projects Manager. The grounds are gorgeous surrounding the office – this space is a true blessing for CVI.

I met the current interns, Kristin and Natalie, all of the office staff members, current visiting team members from New Hampshire including the secretary, Kevin. Kevin was my interpreter last year when I was here doing interviews – she now is hired through CVI and as the secretary, it was truly lovely to see her again. I am so proud of her opportunity to have this job!

After initial introductions, Richard, Kevin, Ivan and I rode out to Lukodi for a very quick turn around trip to drop off a generator to the clinic. I had less then 5 minutes at the clinic before having to leave – but it was great to at least get a quick preview of the developments since I was there last – AMAZING!

Following this the team from New Hampshire, Ivan, Kevin, and other staff members and I, all went out to dinner. It was great to have this opportunity to get to know everyone a little more and enjoy traditional Ugandan food.

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

This morning I met up with Ivan at the ChildVoice office where he was dropped off after returning from Lukodi. Ivan received the opportunity to sleep overnight in Lukodi at the Center. Here, he would sleep in a hut in a hammock. This would be the very first time for him to do either of those two things. I was proud of him when he accepted the offer. He was a little afraid, as he was now in the previous war – zone area of Gulu, that from Kampala, he had only heard horror stories of. When Ivan returned, he was gleaming. He really appreciated the opportunity and was excited to return home to family and friends to share of his experiences. Ivan and I returned walked back to the Royal Inn and we spent an hour together before taking his to the bus station to head back to Kampala today.

From the bus station I went back the ChildVoice office to meet up with deputy director, D’Andrea. D’Andrea is the most incredibly beautiful example to me of perseverance, compassion, motivation and commitment. D’Andrea has been with ChildVoice for over a year. D’Andrea arrived in Gulu to work as an intern through ChildVoice International last year with a few other interns from School of International Training in Vermont. When her official ‘internship’ was complete the other interns went back to America, while D’Andrea remained, as she had found her calling. D’Andrea is not only Deputy Director of the program, but ‘Mummy’ to all of the girls and their children in the ChildVoice Lukodi Rehabilition Center.

This morning D’Andrea was incredibly gracious to spend the morning over-viewing the ‘big picture’ of ChildVoice for me. This ‘big picture’ includes the ultimate goal of ChildVoice, major objectives, activities that fall underneath the objectives, means of verification and monitoring, assumptions etc.

Initially I thought that I would share with you more the great details of this master plan, and at some point I will. But today I think that there are some more important things to share with you: I want to share with you my heart, my experiences since being here in Gulu - my convictions, thoughts and feelings now that I have had the chance to see the ChildVoice Center and the women and children in the program for the first time in person.

This morning I woke up ready to face the day. I was excited about preparing to go to the office and meet with D’Andrea, hear of Ivan’s experiences in Lukodi and go out to Lukodi later in the afternoon to visit the Center and the women and children who live there. I made it as far as getting to the office (which is only a 10 minute walk from the Royal Inn where I am staying in Gulu), to pick up Ivan and I received a phone call from America.

You know how beautiful it is to hear the sweet voice of ones you love when you are far away… You know the security and comfort it brings, as well as how sometimes how, just that familiar voice, providing a moment of comfort can allow feelings/emotions to rise up…

The first question from my loving friend who called was, ‘how are you?’ I could barely respond. I did not know how to sum up all that I was feeling, seeing, thinking, experiencing, questioning, concerns, and things I was entirely delighted over… I became quite teary eyed at that moment, and found myself unable to even begin to share those details, some of which I had yet even fully processed within myself.

As I was in the middle of a quick meeting, I had to request my friend to call me back at a later time. I walked Ivan back to the Royal Inn and was able to get him set up with morning tea and some food for breakfast by the time I received my return phone call.

My passion for this program, ChildVoice International runs deep. It is imbedded in me and has been since I first began working on behalf of the organization and women and children in April of 2007.

The women, their children, their futures, the condition of their hearts… These are the things that I have pondered on, prayed over, shared with others about, and dreamed to see once again over the last fourteen months since I was in Uganda last year.

When I arrived yesterday it was quite a warm welcome. I was embraced with many hugs and welcomes from local Ugandan friends, as well as current interns, CVI staff members I had not met, other volunteers etc. This was lovely.

I received a chance to briefly see the Center in Lukodi yesterday – just a quick five-minute glance as the generator needed to be taken from the office in Gulu to the Center in Lukodi. We were given explicit direction to return the generator and quickly return back to the office to meet up with other interns/volunteers and staff member in order to head off to dinner.

When I arrived at the Center, I had only enough time to get out of the car, glance my eyes around at the development of the Center and get back in the car and leave again. To my surprise and delight, one woman was waiting right where we parked the car to return the generator – I did not even recognize her. Though I had shared her story and photos with hundreds of people in America, I did not recognize her upon seeing her in person. It was Concy and her little baby boy Chris (named after one of the men on the medical team from America who was staffing the medical clinic at the time she arrived soon after delivering her baby). The very first woman that I received the chance to hug in person at the Center was my precious friend Concy of whom I had the chance to work hand in hand with/for last year. This was extra special for me. ( I will explain about Concy in further details in another update for those of you unaware of her story). By now I had to get back in the car and leave to head back to Gulu for dinner. My time at the Center yesterday was short, but enriching.

Last year there was absolutely nothing in regards to an actual long-term rehabilitation center, nor where there even women yet chosen for the program. When I left last year my research partner, Brittany, and I had just completed the 300 surveys and narrowed them down to the most vulnerable 45 women eligible for the program. Specific women had not yet been chosen for the program, the old Lukodi Primary 7 school had not even been touched yet to begin the renovations to create the Center as it stands today. Many, many beautiful changes and developments have occurred over the last 14 months…

Today there is a gated Center where 29 women and their 38 children live. There are secure rooms for each mother and their child/children to live in. The woman are provided with education; basic education, early childhood development classes, baking/catering, income generating projects such as making and selling cards made out of paper that they themselves have made, tailoring etc. They have their own garden and have planted enough crops to provide vegetables for the Center for the next year. Some of the women are working in the community catering in local fancy dining facilities in Gulu. CVI has built a new school for the community of Lukodi where local children have the opportunity to attend, as well as the children of the child-mothers. This school is in sight and walking distance from the CVI Center.

I share all of this with you before explaining to you that after receiving my return phone call yesterday and I was once again asked how I was doing, I could not do anything but cry. Here I was on the front porch of my ‘home away from home’, (last year I lived for a month and the Royal Inn hotel in Gulu, a small guest house with very friendly staff who became my sisters – lovely little place, safe, comfortable and ‘home’) talking to a very special friend and can do nothing but weep.

As I began talking through my tears, I realized that I felt entirely overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with joy of the incredible progress of CVI as a whole; the development of the Center; the obvious changes in the physical, emotional, spiritual health of these young women whom a year ago had been living in the IDP camps from their time spent in the bush as child-soldiers of the Lords Resistance Army; the fact that there is so very much more yet to do; overwhelmed with wondering where my place in it all would be and other such things.

Through discussion on the phone this morning I was encouraged to remember that I do have a role and a place in this large vision of ChildVoice International, and that I do not have to choose to take on more then I can handle. God has the whole world in His hands and he is the one who will make all ends meet. It is only as CVI staff/volunteers/interns work together as a team, each putting our talents and experiences forward that we will accomplish the bigger picture of CVI.

Following the conversation on the phone, I finished visiting with Ivan before walking him to the bus station. From there I walked to the CVI office where I met with D’Andrea. When D’Andrea and I sat down to have a meeting together, she asked me, ‘so, how are you doing, Rebekah?’ It started all over again. I became teary eyed and choked up once again. I asked if we could pray together and we did. After spending time in prayer together we began over-viewing the large-scale mission of CVI – and breaking it down into sections ie. Long-term Self-sustainable Community, Rehabilitation, etc.. As a result of our conversation I learned a lot about where ChildVoice is currently and where they are headed; what the current needs are and how we may go about re-sourcing those needs. This time was well spent as I not only learned about CVI, but had a vital time of connection, sharing and learning with D’Andrea. We shared some common thoughts and feelings and connected on a level that helped me to understand why the tears were many.

ChildVoice International is the heart of God – to care for the children and orphaned, the widows and lonely. This vision of ChildVoice International, to restore the voices of children silenced by war, is huge – HUGE, but far from impossible. God desires to see the lives of these formerly abducted child soldiers be transformed; restored and revitalized, that His name would be glorified and that his power would be known. This is happening here at the ChildVoice Center in Lukodi, Uganda. These women who once could not look you in the eye, nor could they find a reason to smile or laugh, had poor physical health and injuries that would not heal, are now happy to look you in the eye, smile as they welcome you back to Uganda with a warm embrace, are very vibrant in personality, healthy, strong; learning, growing, thriving and no longer simply surviving.

The many tears I shed throughout the day have been an expression of joy for the work that has been done, changes revealed in the women’s lives, overwhelm for the work that has yet to be done, sadness for all of the thousands and thousands of other formerly abducted child soldiers who do not have the opportunity to be the ChildVoice Center rehabilitation program or other such programs to assist them in their physical, emotional, spiritual rehabilitation from times spent as a child soldier, and gratitude that in some small ways, I get the opportunity to be a part of this process; a part of ChildVoice International, but more importantly a part of Gods plan to not only be a resource to CVI and the woman and children, but be impacted and changed as a result of their influence in my life.

God is in the midst of doing great things all around us wherever we are. It is simply a matter of keeping our eyes open to see His hand at work, our hearts willing to be moldable and receptive and our ears able to hear His voice and walk in His ways. As we trust in Him, surrender our plans, agendas and ultimately our lives to Him; as we recognize that His ways really are higher then ours and that He can and will do things that we cannot even conceive at this moment, we can be encouraged knowing that those things which seem insurmountable are not only possible, but soon to be experienced. His promises are true and He never turns his back on his children who are seeking him and walking in obedience to his ways. This, I believe has been the reason CVI has experienced the success it has, the reason that the lives of the woman have been transformed as quickly and beautifully as they have – it is the power of living and operating from a foundation in Christ.

Later in the afternoon I had the chance to go out to Lukodi again. Here I was given a full tour of the facilities – bakery, school rooms, nursery, dorm rooms, staff housing, kitchen, vocational training classrooms, offices, playground, etc. I also had the chance to meet each woman individually. It was quite a beautiful and refreshing reunion. It was wonderful to have the chance to reunite with the girls and their children, observe how incredibly joyful and healthy that they are.

Kathy Mandsager, the founder/director of CVI’s wife led a team from New Hampshire to work in the Lukodi Center. I arrived on the tail-end of this teams trip. Today a ‘good-bye’ ceremony was held for the Kathy and the team by staff of the Center and by the women and children. The women sang some beautiful songs, staff members as well as each member of the team had a few moments to share their thoughts and then gifts were given to Kathy in leu of all she has done in starting ChildVoice from the ground up, supporting her husband in this endeavor and doing the ground breaking brunt work to make the center and CVI what it is today. It was a beautiful celebration, heavy rains on the tin roof and all…

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Last night I was in bed by 9:30 and awake by 4:30 – this is good for me, 7 hours of sleep, I am beginning to catch up again. At 8 am I met at the Acholi Inn with the team from NH, as well as D’Andrea, and Lona – a beautiful, talented women from South Africa who is now staff for CVI, in charge of the income generating projects for CVI. We first ate breakfast then had a small staff meeting concerning how to plan for prepare and execute international teams coming to CVI to do work projects etc. The remainder of my day was spent at the office working on various odds and ends. I finished up at the office around 6:30 and walked home to the Royal Inn. It took 2 hours to go the 10 minute walking distance as the word got out the 'Apiyo' was back back in town... I engaged in much conversation along the way home - it was fun to be so warmly embraced back into Gulu.