Gulu Trip

June 17th

Today we woke up pretty early and got ready to go to Gulu. It took a while for us to get ready and load everything in the car. We also had to get our car serviced at two different places before we could go. We were supposed to leave at 9:00 am. We ended up leaving at around 11:30. This is Africa.

On the way up there, we ended up getting pulled over by the police twice, once for speeding and once for not having our license plate attached (it had fallen off and was in the window). We had to stop along the way and get the license re attached. We were able to pay off the police officer to get out of the speeding ticket, but not before he made us listen to a 20 minute story about why police officers will go to Heaven before everyone else. We also stopped and got some really good grilled goat along the way. With stops and all, it ended up taking us about 7 hours. We arrived in Gulu around 6:30.

Along the way we were able to cross over some really pretty water falls that are part of the Nile. We were all admiring the falls and the bridge until Colin told us things that had happened on the bridge during the war. The LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) used to block both sides of the bridge when people were on it. People then had to choose between getting shot or jumping off the bridge into the waterfalls. At a different bridge we were also able to see baboons hanging out near by. It was fun and a good distraction from the trip.

The house we are staying in has a main house and a hut in the backyard. It also has no electricity, running water, or regular bathrooms. The family that normally lives in the house is staying in the hut this week so that the girls in our group can stay in the house. I am always stunned by the generosity of the people in Africa.

The no regular bathrooms means that we are peeing in cement hole over a deep pit in the ground (the African version of the port o potty) all week. It should be interesting.

No electricity means that we went to bed at about 8 when it got dark. Emily, Brittany, Louise and I decided to sleep in a tent outside. It was too hot in the room we were supposed to sleep in, and we wanted to stay away from cockroaches. Sleeping in a tent for 5 days should be interesting to say the least!

June 18th

One thing that is good about sleeping in Gulu is that the stars are absolutely beautiful! Since Uganda is near the equator, we can see stars from both the northern and southern hemispheres. Also, the absence of lights anywhere means that the stars are so bright and beautiful. It was wonderful.

Pretty much everything else about sleeping in Gulu is not wonderful. It is freezing here at night. We slept on a slant, so my hands kept falling asleep. There are four of us in a three person tent, so you don’t have room to move around. We could also hear wild dogs, and at one point, a pig walking around outside our tent. I also refused to get up and go to the bathroom in the dark. All in all, I think I slept about 15 minutes. It was awesome.

As it turns out, sleeping inside would not have been much better. There are bugs everywhere and a few rats. One of the girls, Laura, got bit by a rat on the finger last night. She had to go to the clinic this morning to get checked out for rabies.

We got up at around 6:30 when the sun came up. We split into 4 groups for the week. My group went to work on the house today. The first thing on our list of things to do was to move clay bricks from the chairperson’s (like a mayor) house to the building site about a mile away. The truck that was supposed to move them never came, so we carried the bricks by hand. Close to 1,000 bricks, 2 to 8 bricks at a time depending on how strong the person was. Needless to say, it was a long morning.

After moving bricks, we started to dig the foundation. The house is going to be about 10 foot by 10 foot. The foundation needed to be about 4 feet deep. So, we worked on digging at 10 foot by 10 foot square. It wasn’t two bad until about foot 3 when we hit some kind of substance that was in between rock and clay.

After finishing the hole, we started laying bricks. We were only able to finish the bricks that made up the foundation; the walls should go up tomorrow. At first, the boys would only let me level and hand them bricks, but by the end of the day, I was spreading cement and placing bricks too. I’m pretty sure I could make a brick wall by myself now!

I can honestly say that I have never worked harder and been as dirty, tired, and sore as I was at the end of today. It did, however, feel really good to look at our hole and say, “I worked my butt off to get that done”.

When we got back, we played with some kids from around the neighborhood. People around here speak a tribal language called Acholi instead of Luganda and only two of the Ugandans in our group speak Acholi. It makes communicating with words almost impossible.

Despite all of this, I made friends with a little girl named Sarah. She appears to be about 8. I don’t know for sure because the only thing we can say in each other’s languages in “How are you?”, “Fine”, and “What is your name?”. Sarah also knows how to ask for sweets. Despite all of this, we spent a large majority of the evening together, laughing and playing. I love that language can’t get in the way of smile and laughter and fun. I know that sounds cheesy, but I don’t care.

Around sunset, Felix (the therapist) and I find a little girl living in the neighborhood who has hypotonic cerebral palsy. Hypotonic cerebral palsy is a type of cerebral palsy that causes the muscles to be really limp and floppy. Because of this, the little girl, Fiona, has been scooting around on her bottom. She also can not talk and drools often.

I showed her mom some oral motor exercises she can do for the drooling. Felix and I also designed a walker, took measurements, and found a local carpenter to construct it for us. He only wanted to charge us 2,000 shillings ($1) to make it. I wanted to make sure he had it done by Saturday, so I paid him 20,000 shillings ($10).

After dinner, we made a camp fire and had a huge dance party. Joseph drummed a bunch of different songs and tribal dances on the drum and we danced. The Ugandans danced the tribal dances and the Americans danced like retards, but it was still a good time.

I stayed up kind of late singing worship songs with Diana, Colin, Tommy, and Kevin. I wanted to make sure I was super tired so I would actually sleep through the night!

June 19th

Last night, it rained on and off throughout the night. Our tent was waterproof though, so it wasn’t so bad, only things right by the windows (like my feet) got wet.

My group went to a primary school this morning and gave a presentation. The headmaster didn’t know we were coming, so we had to wait a long time to finally go on. The headmaster also gave us a lecture about visiting Africa and not staying to change it. I am pretty sure he wanted all of us to sign 5 year teaching contracts right there. After the confusion with scheduling, we only had about 20 minutes left during announcement time, so we sang a song, did a skit, and then Ty spoke for about 3 minutes. All things considered, it went pretty well.

After the performance, we walked about 20 minutes to the site where we were building the house. There is a well nearby that is kind of dirty, so we slashed the grass with machetes and slashers and cleaned mud out of the water. The work gave me tons of blisters. While we were slashing, Brian accidently hit Erin in the face with a slasher. She had to go to the clinic to get stitches. I wonder if the people at the clinic are tired of seeing dumb Americans yet?

After we had cleaned up the well, we hung out around the site. A few of the boys worked on the walls of the house, but only 5 people could work at a time. Some of the boys also worked on digging a bathroom pit near the house. The rest of us sat around, talked, and ate mangos. We also played with some of the village children. It was a good time. One of the little boys, Jared, ended up taking a nap in my lap. It was so cute. I probably could have sat there all day.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Invisible Children. Invisible Children is a non profit organization that is working on rebuilding Uganda after the war. You may have seen an Invisible Children movie at a nearby college campus. The organization raises awareness and funds by showing a documentary the founders made on the effects the war in Uganda has had on its children. I’ve never seen it, but it is supposed to be really good.

One of the program directors talked to us about the different programs they are doing and gave us a tour of their offices. One program involves educating and mentoring local children. Another involves teaching child mothers (girls who were forced to have the children of LRA members) a craft and then selling the craft. The girls are then taught basic money management skills with their profits. They are also starting a similar program with cotton growers. The final program is called School to Schools and involves schools across the world doing fundraisers to help improve schools here in Uganda. It was a really interesting visit. You can check out everything Invisible Children is doing at their website:

After Invisible Children we went to a secondary school and gave another presentation. We sang songs, did a skit, Laura talked for a bit, and then we answered questions on faith and prayed with the students about their prayer requests. We also passed out stickers, small balls, and toothbrushes. In America, high school kids would have laughed at you for passing out that kind of stuff, here, the kids were so grateful. I am reminded on a daily basis how spoiled Americans really are.

Tonight after dinner we stayed up talking with the Ja Ja (grandmother) who owns the house that we are staying in. She told us a ton of stories about her child hood, meeting her husband, and the war. She even told us a story about her running away and barely surviving an attack from the LRA (all of her neighbors were killed). We also asked her about 3 graves that are in her backyard. As it turns out, they belong to people in her family who were killed by the LRA. One of the graves belongs to her 7 year old grandson. The other 2 belong to her sons. It was a very sobering and interesting evening.

June 20th

This morning the boys went and worked on the house more while the girls went to Noah’s Ark orphanage to play with children. Noah’s Ark is similar to Kids in Need, in that the children that stay there are older street children who need help, but have not yet been arrested. None of the kids spoke a word of English, but we still had fun playing Frisbee and soccer. We also sang songs, did a skit, and gave a short message with the help of an interpreter. I was able to teach the boys I played with, Felix and Richard, how to “pound it” with your fists. Overall, it was a productive morning.

After Noah’s Ark we went home and changed to go work on the house some more. We got lost trying to walk there without the boys, and when we finally made it, we discovered that they were out of bricks. So, we had to make the mile walk to move about 600 more bricks to the site. It was a tiring morning.

After moving the bricks, I cleaned up a few of the village kids who had some cuts- one of them had some sort of ringworm on his head. Everyone here expects me to be some sort of doctor or nurse. I don’t really mind until they expect me to diagnose stuff-I definitely didn’t go to school for that!

After leaving the site we went to a local IDP (internally displaced persons) camp. During and right after the war, approximately 2,800 people lived in this camp. The camp now has about 1,800.

Our guide, Franics, was actually one of the people abducted by the LRA. The LRA shot his father and brother in their beds and forced him to join their army. He spent 3 years with the LRA before he was able to escape and return home. He now is actively involved in improving his community. He showed us around the camp, which was actually a lot bigger than I expected it to be. It probably took us about 15 minutes to get from one side of the camp to the other.

During the tour we got to see the “clinic” which was really just a few beds with curtains around them. We also got to see where they used to pass out food to everyone. The organization that passes out the food now only has enough money to pass out food to vulnerable children and seniors. Another building we saw was a small building with no complete walls and a single chalkboard. It is where all the children had to stay during the day while there parents were working in the garden so they could be kept safe from LRA abductions. Some of the children had to walk as many as 4 miles to get to this building everyday.

After this, we saw the area where the soldiers stayed. The soldiers would stay on the outskirts of the camp and prevent anyone from entering or leaving after 4:30 in the afternoon. If you tried to enter the camp after 4:30, you could be arrested or killed, no questions asked.

Perhaps the saddest part of the tour was the huts. We got to go inside one of the huts. When I was standing inside, I could stand in the middle, lean over a bit, and touch the walls on either side with my finger tips. I’m 5 foot 3 inches, and my head almost touched the top of the roof. A woman lived there with her 3 children. This small spaced served as their closet, bedroom, kitchen, dining room, living room and everything else room. It was slightly bigger than my closet.

Peter, the Ugandan who took us to the camp, told us that during the war, many people would lock themselves in their huts for safety. The LRA would then throw torches over barriers onto one of the huts. The huts are made mostly of straw, and when one would catch on fire, hundreds of them could burn. The LRA burned alive literally thousands of people this way.

The woman whose hut we visited lost her husband in the war, and about a year ago, lost one of her daughters to some sort of infection. She has just recently checked another child into a hospital for sickle cell disease. The child won’t live long here with sickle cell. We prayed for her and sang some songs with her. She praised the Lord louder than anyone else in our group. The perseverance the people of Africa have is absolutely incredible.

While we were taking the tour, I had the opportunity to talk with Peter about some of his experiences. Peter came and shared the Gospel in Gulu when the LRA was still present and Gulu was still very dangerous. He has also been arrested and beaten in Sudan for sharing the Gospel. I am afraid of sharing the Gospel back home because it might be embarrassing. I am so lame.

While we were walking around, we got to meet a group of men who were abducted by the LRA and are now a part of a dance support group for men like them. It was interesting to talk to them, but I’ve found that people here who have been abducted by the LRA don’t want to share very much of their stories. To be honest, we probably couldn’t handle hearing it.

We also got to meet the camp Ja Ja who talked with us and prayed for us for a while.

While we were walking around, we accumulated a crowd of children who were interested in seeing all the white people. We played with them while we were walking. Peter said about 90% of them lost their dad in the war. They all wore dirty, torn clothes. They were all super skinny with pouched bellies from hunger. They all had huge smiles. It broke my heart.

One of the boys had an odd looking wound that you could fit your entire pinky tip in. It also had some necrotic tissue around it. We drove him into town so that it could get treated.

When we got back from that, I went and picked up the walker, ate dinner and spent the rest of the evening playing with Sarah.

June 21st

This morning, Felix and I woke up early to take the walker to Fiona. I’m going to be honest. I cried for the first time in Africa today. Fiona was able to walk by herself for the first time in her life. Her mom clapped and cheered and cried and I lost it. To know that I was a part of such a huge change in this little girl’s life and independence was so moving. I could go home tomorrow and feel like the trip was worth while.

When we got back, the boys went to finish the house and the girls cleaned and packed up the house and went to church. We went to one of the Watoto churches (there are 8 around Uganda). To be honest, I wasn’t a real fan. To me, it seemed like an Americanized service, which I don’t mind at home, but this is Africa. Give me an African drum and a Gospel choir any day. The message on unity was really good though, and I can’t criticize the organization too much. It gives literally hundreds of Ugandan orphans a place to call home. You can check out their website here:

After church, we went home and ate lunch and packed up the vans and waited on the boys to finish with the house. And waited, and waited, and waited. We were supposed to leave at 1, but we didn’t leave until 4:30 because the roof took longer to put on than the boys expected. The drive home involved a lot less stops, so it only took about 5 hours. This was good because I was crammed in the back seat with tools underneath my seat that prevented me from ever putting my foot on the floor completely.

On the way home I sat by John (our cook). He had me try g nuts (African peanuts), more goat, and fried cassava (my new favorite African food). He also tried to buy a few live chickens and make me ride home with them in my lap. I think he actually thought it was a good idea until he realized that both me and the chickens would have squealed the entire way home.

When we got home, I unpacked and showered for the first time in 5 days (I had only been wiping down with a wash cloth and camping wipes because I didn’t want to use the open shower at the house). I thought I had gotten a tan, but my “tan” ended up being layers of dirt. It was slightly disappointing.

I also changed my shaved my legs, plucked my eyebrows, clipped my nails, put on lotion, and changed my sheets. It felt good to act like a girl again. I know I am going to get good sleep tonight!