1:06 AM, Thursday, April 26th, 2007. Having been in Africa nearly 24 hours, it seems that I only just arrived moments ago. Since being here, despite not ever leaving the guesthouse grounds where I am staying, it has been quite a journey. From the beginning it has been a beautiful process of controlled chaos. Thankfully, from the get-go of the preparations for Africa, I have had the unconditional and obvious love and genuine support of my family and a few exceptionally great friends. This support has been the cause of my success thus far.

The decision to spend the summer in Africa came within just five days of learning about an organization called ChildVoice International which I ran across on the internet one afternoon while doing research for a college class. After reading through this website, I sent out a very brief inquiry to ChildVoice, asking of any possible volunteer opportunities available. It was less then 5 hours later that I received a response from the founder/director of ChildVoice, Conrad Mandsager. It was less then 5 days after that, that I made the decision in my heart that I was, indeed, going to Africa this summer.

In order to accomplish this desire, it became apparent rather quickly, that I would have a lot of work to do to make this dream become a reality. My travel dates were nearly just a month away. First and foremost, I would have to finish up my spring semester in college through Alaska Pacific University, which I was enrolled at the time, three weeks early. In addition to that, I would need to create a proposal for classes for the summer 2007 semester, allowing me to get college credit for the internship I would participate in through ChildVoice. This, in addition to writing up and sending out an informative newsletter sharing with friends and family what I will being doing throughout my three months in Africa, packing up my entire life (once again) and storing it in a friends basement, canceling car insurance, putting my cell phone on seasonal suspend, seeing my very valued friends once more before leaving Alaska, packing up my bags for three months of international travel, as well as tying up the many other frivolous but imperative loose ends, has created somewhat of a controlled chaos within my own being. Finally on the 21st of April I flew early in the morning on Alaska Airlines down to Sitka, Alaska where I was greeted by one of my most supportive and treasured friends, Victor Chen, a family practice medical doctor from California, as well as my two little sisters, Ahna and Maia.

Here in Sitka, I spent three days re-packing what I had once packed, but this time adding the many pertinent items I did not have time to gather together until arriving in Sitka. Throughout this process I squeezed in as many moments as possible to visit with my family – my parents, my brother Aaron and his daughter Hayley as well as his girlfriend Christie, my sisters Ahna and Maia, and Victor, (who flew up from California specifically to visit me before I left for Africa doing this as he knew he may not see me again for some time considering he is moving indefinitely to Central Asia). Granted I wanted to visit with my many special friends in Sitka, it was only those I received a chance to run into while downtown gathering last minute essentials that I had a chance to embrace.

Thanks to Pastor Paul and Pastor Steve of Grace Harbor Church, I was able to share with my church family in Sitka at both the Saturday night service as well as the Sunday morning service about this time I was about to embark upon in Africa.

As I boarded Alaska Airlines with Victor, to head to Seattle to make my connecting flight to Heathrow, London and onto Entebbe, Uganda 10 hours later, I was in a state of sedation. Not sleepy tired, but mellow. Granted I would only see Victor for the remaining time of our flight before parting ways for who knows how long, I ended up falling asleep just moments after take off. I awoke every once in awhile as my head would fall forward – Victor having to catch my head to prevent self-injury. It was only the last fifteen minutes of our flight that I awoke enough to receive words of encouragement and prayer from Victor before parting ways.

After landing in Seattle, I had to make a mad dash to retrieve my luggage from baggage claim and rush over to British Airway counter to check in for my next flight which was only and hour and a half away from departing. British Airway counter is at the other end of the terminal – with nearly 90 pounds of luggage, it was a good work out! Fortunatly I made it to my gate in time – not only did I make it in time, but I calculated the time on my ticket incorrectly and was not 10 minutes early to my boarding gate, but an hour and 10 minutes early! LOL! (it wasn’t so funny at the time!)

The flight to London was good. I sat next to a young fellow headed back to Iraq for his third rotation, learned a lot from him and enjoyed his company. After a couple of hours of conversation, I slept the remaining 8 hours until arriving in London.

I was shocked at the fanciness of the London airport. After purchasing a bottle of water for $3.50 American money, I quickly realized I would be waiting to eat food until I got back on the airplane – everything in London was so expensive! After scoping out every nook and cranny I could to fully experience this London International airport experience, I went to the designated ‘quiet area’ where I laid down on a reclined chair and slept for another 4.5 hours before boarding my next flight to Entebbe, Uganda.

This flight was the beginning of many confirmations that I am right where I am supposed to be. I sat next to a Korean man, approximately early fifties. I was careful to share my reasons for heading to Uganda when he inquired of the purpose of my trip, until he revealed to me what it is that he was heading from California to Uganda for. Long story short, Paul Kim is the founder of World Mission Frontier. He has established over 100 schools throughout 5 different countries in Africa (Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania) and soon will be expanding to a total of 7 countries, adding to the list, Chad and Sudan. Along with schools (kindergarten, elementary, high school, Universities and Seminaries) Paul Kim has established orphanages, medical facilities and provides opportunities for high school graduates to study overseas in Korea and America.

Through conversation with Kim, I was greatly encouraged and inspired in my own walk with God. I then expounded on my reasons for being in Uganda, sharing with Kim what I will be doing while in Gulu, in Northern Uganda. The more I shared, the larger his eyes got. After I finished sharing, Kim suggested we remain in touch with one another as he would like to use my experiences and knowledge to further establish his work. He spoke of the future possibilities of assisting him in his work around the different countries in Africa, dealing with the issue of child soldiers. Of the 7 countries that he is working in, 6 of them are dealing extensively with the issue o child soldiers.

Kim has an 18 year old daughter who has been in Tanzania teaching English at one of the schools her father Paul Kim founded. Last night Paul Kim flew to Tanzania for the graduation of 20 high school students who have completed their high school education as well as their education in the Korean language. This summer, thanks to Paul Kims work, these 20 African students will fly to Korea where they will begin attending college to become future leaders for the country of Africa.

On Sunday evening, Paul Kim and his daughter will be here in Kampala. They will drive up to the guesthouse where I am staying, pick me up and take me out to dinner with them and a few of the other staff members of his ministry. I am very much looking forwards to meeting with them all, and learning all that I can!

When I arrived in Entebbe, the only challenge I was presented with going through ‘customs’ (of which there really was none), was the man who stamped my passport. I handed him my passport, his serious looking face glanced at my photo and immediately his eyes brightened with a smile spreading across his face. He looked up at me and said, “funny cheesy smile!”, he stamped my passport and waved me on.

Thankfully all of my luggage arrived and from what I can tell, never was it even opened for inspection. It appears that everything I left America with arrived with me in Africa. I had a private hire awaiting me at the airport to transport me to the Namirembe House, “A million dollar view”. www.namirembe-guesthouse.com

I did not know where I would be staying my first few nights in Uganda. All I knew was that within the next three days I needed to find a young woman named Brittany, who would be my partner throughout this upcoming internship. Two days before leaving I chose to book a reservation through the Namirembe guesthouse as I found it on a Christian Uganda Missions website. Having no other suggested places to stay I could only assume this was an appropriately safe place to stay. I emailed the guesthouse, but did not hear back from them until my layover in London when I was able to access email. This was a relief to hear from them, at least now I knew I had someone awaiting me at the airport when I arrived into Entebbe.

Again, I slept another four hours on the flight from London to Entebbe, so when I arrived I felt well rested… I thought. The drive from the airport to the guesthouse was approximately 25 minutes. The scenery was beautiful, driving past the second largest lake in the world, Lake Victoria, observing the beautiful lush greenery surrounding city streets, the young children playing with small intertubes on the roadside, thatched roofs and bright pink flowers, mothers hauling water on their heads, a baby on their back and a few chickens under her arm. Simplicity, yes I am, back where I belong.
It was raining pretty intensely on the drive to my new home. It was beautiful, warm, humid. I was surprised of the lack of smells. Overall Entebbe and Kampala are relatively clean.

Upon arriving at Namirembe guesthouse, I was afraid I had made a rash decision to stay at this place. It is beautiful! I thought to myself that perhaps I had chosen a place too nice! It is not a 5 star hotel according to American standards, however, for Africa, it is gorgeous!

Because I did not yet know how I would find Brittany, or when she would arrive back in Kampala, I decided it would be wise to remain at this house until finding her. Therefore, I chose to stay in the least expensive room. It is small, but has a bed, desk, sink and front porch that overlooks the city. Still a little mansion compared to some fishing boat accommodations I have lived in!

This guesthouse is up high on a hill, surrounded by coconut, banana and mango trees as well as many differing brightly colored flowers. Directly in front of the guesthouse is a very nice brick hospital that blends in nicely to the scenery. Down the street is an orphanage for abandoned infants that I will visit later today. The views from my porch are of a small neighborhood with narrow dirt roads, many rolling hills, a little part of Lake Victoria, and many beautiful trees. Temperatures are in the low to mid 70’s this morning. In fact, last night it was cool enough that I slept under a couple of blankets, I enjoyed that! (this will change when I arrive in Gulu – very hot up there!)

After checking into my room, and receiving a tour of the guesthouse grounds, I went up the restaurant for breakfast. Here, at a small table sat five young Caucasians in their early to mid twenties. I politely interrupted them, introduced myself and asked what they were doing in Uganda. They explained they were here for an internship semester overseas through Food for the Hungry and had just returned that day from assignments throughout all of Africa. This was beginning to sound familiar, somewhat like what Brittany shared with me in the one email of correspondance that we had between one another before my arrival in Kampala. I inquired further for more information, but decided that this was not the group that Brittany was with. “How ironic”, I thought to myself, “ it would be if this had been the very group that Brittany was with, and she was actually here!” Twenty minutes later after listening the various stories of these college students’ experiences throughout Africa someone asked me what I was doing in here in Uganda. When I shared I was heading up to Gulu, Uganda to work with ex-child soldiers, someone piped up and nearly shouted,
“are you Rebekah?!”
I promptly replied back,
“Is Brittany here?!”
Needless to say, of all the places in Kampala to stay, I chose the exact guesthouse where Brittany and her current team are staying. We were united together for the first time last night and instantly felt the ‘soul sista’ connection…! I could go into the details of our meeting one another, but that is going to come in the posts to come – for now, if you imagine two long lost sisters (who really loved each other and had a deep bond between one another) re-united unexectently, you could visualize the scene and imagine the conversations… This was an incredibly unexpected surprise! Brittany is now finishing the last two days of her semester through Food for the Hungry and will be officially joining up with me come Monday. In the meantime I have been meeting other people from America who are staying here at the guesthouse, exploring Africa by boda boda and learning the customs and culture of this fantastic country!

This morning I met a man by the name of Don Herr and his wife Elaine at breakfast. Don is the P.E.A.C.E Relief Coordinator for Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. This is the church that Rick Warren pastors, author of the Purpose Driven Life. Donn and Elaine are working in various parts of Uganda doing some very interesting and impacting work. They have been able to give me some very important and pertinent contact information that will assist me in my time in northern Uganda.

A young woman named Heather who is from London has been here in Uganda for nearly two months now, spending her time in hospitals and refugee camps as a nurse. She is only 21 years old, but very intelligent and wise for her age. She and I went to the Friday market together this morning, before her departure back to London this afternoon. The Ugandan markets are so vibrant, with many different unique and beautiful items! The musical instruments were a blast to try out! The jewelry was so diverse and colorful, and even more impressive to me was how calm and patient the salesmen and women are. Unlike in SE Asia were I experienced continuous bombardment of people attempting to sell me things, the Africans are patient with you, laid back, but engaging in conversation if initiated.

After finishing up at the Friday craft market I went to grocery market where I bought a Ugandan SIM card for my American cell phone. I now have a phone number should anyone decide they want to call me in Uganda! The best way, (I have learned ) is to buy a calling card from www.nobelcom.com Apparently for the country of Uganda this company gives the very best rates. It is free for me to receive calls to my phone, but nine dollars a minute to call America from my phone.

Today I explored Kampala by foot, taxi and boda boda. I went to meet a little 4 year old boy that has been abandoned by his parents. He is not well, though being cared for by a couple of families in this community, is better off then if he were on his own. These families do not have money to purchase medicine for the worms he has in his belly, nor for the scabies on his skin or the lice in his hair. However, what they can do for him is love him, and feed him what little they can. This little guy is precious, and I must say, it was very difficult to walk away from him, without a definite solution to his problem. However, when I go to dinner on Sunday with Paul Kim, I will be referring to this little guy, and inquiring about the possibility to get him into one of Paul Kims orphanages. The families that are caring for this little guys would like to see him receive health care and proper nutrition that they are unable to provide him, in order to nourish him back to health. I do hope we can find a solution for this little guy…

I have many other stories from my exploration journey this morning/afternoon, however, I must post this email for those of you who are curious of my whereabouts, safety and experiences this far. I am afraid I could write another few hours and by then you would be sleeping due to length of this posting. I am going to take a little rest before dinner and then will write more. I know that I will not always have so much time to write, but will take advantage of the times available in order that I may share with you some of experiences that you have assisted me in making possible.

Africa summed up for me in these first 1.5 days is this: beauty.

I have much more to report, however I need to take a moment to rest. Looking forwards to sharing more with you soon!