Uganda Dispatch #5: Hodgepodge on Living Around the World
A lot of people say that days or weeks are a blur. I learned from Orwell, though, that it's better to relinquish oft-used terminology in favor of your own creative (and according to Orwell, simple) descriptions. So now I'm going to try to describe my blur.
My days are a routine injected with doses of wonder. Daily bodaboda rides to Koro IDP camp with an occasional thunderstorm falling like a drape in the distance. Tea and chapatti at Home Care Restaurant as trucks full of armed soldiers roll casually by. Different faces and names speaking the same inscrutable language and reacting with the same bemused excitement to my few words of Lwo.
Many of the subtle distinctions made thoughtlessly in our brains are a conscious effort here. New names, new facial forms, new mannerisms and behavioral nuances – all requiring conscious interpretation. Sometimes my tired mind is not up to the task and I walk through homogenous days of African color. People come and go and pass and smile and I will never know their faces, only that they are part of this wild Ugandan world.
But I'm learning. My brain is building its stock of forms and categories; my eyes are freer to course over the landscape; I greet a number of people by name. Soon the task will be different. Instead of trying to see the world through all of its wonder, I will work to maintain the wonder in what is becoming my world.
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Lately I've been reading a book called The Irresistible Revolution. It's written by a young guy who decided to take what Jesus said seriously. He moved to poorest parts of the inner city with some likeminded friends and they created a community like the Church in its first years in which they share everything and strive to love those around them. The book is a challenge to the American version of Christianity in its individualism, self-righteousness, and political stubbornness. It's been a challenge for me, as I realize where I am ignoring Jesus' teachings and using American Christianity as my justification. After all, millions of Americans can't be wrong, right?
Read it and tell me what you think.
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The Bracelet Program, for those of you who are interested, is going well. We are making over 6,000/week, and today I'm hiring 20 more people. I also get to pay salaries to the bracelet makers in Gulu today. I love doing that. I love giving these people money that they have earned, and then hearing about how they can now afford to feed their families and send their children to school. Let's just say that job satisfaction is high today, for them and for me.
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Thank you to all of you who read this and pray for me and for northern Uganda. And for all of you who write to express your interest and your encouragement. You are God's way of blessing me – the strong embrace of Jesus' body.
I've put some photos up on my website [ http://jamestravels.com ] and you can follow them to my flickr account, which has more. Hope you enjoy!
Yours,
James
My days are a routine injected with doses of wonder. Daily bodaboda rides to Koro IDP camp with an occasional thunderstorm falling like a drape in the distance. Tea and chapatti at Home Care Restaurant as trucks full of armed soldiers roll casually by. Different faces and names speaking the same inscrutable language and reacting with the same bemused excitement to my few words of Lwo.
Many of the subtle distinctions made thoughtlessly in our brains are a conscious effort here. New names, new facial forms, new mannerisms and behavioral nuances – all requiring conscious interpretation. Sometimes my tired mind is not up to the task and I walk through homogenous days of African color. People come and go and pass and smile and I will never know their faces, only that they are part of this wild Ugandan world.
But I'm learning. My brain is building its stock of forms and categories; my eyes are freer to course over the landscape; I greet a number of people by name. Soon the task will be different. Instead of trying to see the world through all of its wonder, I will work to maintain the wonder in what is becoming my world.
------------------------
Lately I've been reading a book called The Irresistible Revolution. It's written by a young guy who decided to take what Jesus said seriously. He moved to poorest parts of the inner city with some likeminded friends and they created a community like the Church in its first years in which they share everything and strive to love those around them. The book is a challenge to the American version of Christianity in its individualism, self-righteousness, and political stubbornness. It's been a challenge for me, as I realize where I am ignoring Jesus' teachings and using American Christianity as my justification. After all, millions of Americans can't be wrong, right?
Read it and tell me what you think.
------------------------
The Bracelet Program, for those of you who are interested, is going well. We are making over 6,000/week, and today I'm hiring 20 more people. I also get to pay salaries to the bracelet makers in Gulu today. I love doing that. I love giving these people money that they have earned, and then hearing about how they can now afford to feed their families and send their children to school. Let's just say that job satisfaction is high today, for them and for me.
------------------------
Thank you to all of you who read this and pray for me and for northern Uganda. And for all of you who write to express your interest and your encouragement. You are God's way of blessing me – the strong embrace of Jesus' body.
I've put some photos up on my website [ http://jamestravels.com ] and you can follow them to my flickr account, which has more. Hope you enjoy!
Yours,
James
posted by James at 00:11
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