Adventure in Africa

This week my sister and her husband left for Uganda. Lori and Matt will be away for the next four months teaching school in a small village called Lukojjo. Here is a snippet of the first impressions of their new home away from home:

We have a room attached to the girl's dormitory with a separate smaller room for the bucket shower. Rain water is collected in three big tanks at the school and we fill up two big jerry cans for washing every morning (it has been raining about half of the time). There is also a pit latrine just outside the room with several creepy crawlies to keep you company while you're squatting. I know it sounds basic, but we are actually really impressed with our accommodation as we were expecting far, far worse. I actually feel really guilty considering that the boy's dormitory is about the same size as our room and it will shelter 30+ kids (bunk beds stacked side by side) ...

...We will be teaching primary 5 and primary 6 English and science every morning (4 hours) and then also a one-hour physical education class every day. This is something brand new to the school (Matt's idea I'm sure you gathered) but they seemed really open to the idea. This will be quite challenging considering there are no balls, no sports equipment of any sort, no running shoes, no nice big flat field. But we'll manage I'm sure. As a muzungu girl, I'm also expected to hang out with the younger children, sing songs, teach them games, play with them, etc. which I'm looking forward to. We will also be participating in community outreach visits a couple times per week - not quite sure what this will entail, but probably some sort of HIV/AIDS awareness talk.

The culture shock hasn't really hit us yet. I'm not sure if it will. Being that we've been to Africa before, we weren't nearly as stunned by the poverty and filth as we were in Ghana. In fact, it was strangely comforting to be back in these conditions. Once you look beyond the garbage and poverty, you realize that the landscape is simply stunning. I guess the rains haven't stopped since May so it's very, very green and lush.



Our family will certainly miss Uncle Matt and Auntie Lori this fall. We're praying God will keep them healthy and safe.