Learning to Learn; Learning to See

Looking Back.

2009-12-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hello to all...
I am not sure if anyone is reading this blog anymore but I thought I'd do one final update anyways.
So, it's December 28 and I arrived back to the Great White North about a week ago. Home has been wonderful, cold, but being with my whole family is such a blessing. I think of Uganda often, and of course I am constantly asked "How was Uganda?", so without a doubt the experience is still on my mind. So how do I answer such a question? I haven't really figured it out yet. At our debrief in Entebbe, Uganda, or leaders encouraged us to have a one hour spiel or a 2 minute spiel on our 3 and half month experience... but I still don't have either of these. I guess what's best to say is I learned a lot (vague I know..), but I learned a lot about myself, a lot about another culture, a lot of how I and others interact with another culture, and a lot about my calling... I wrote this poem in the middle of the semester in Uganda and it sums up my overall emotional thought process pretty well.

Existential Crisis

Here in lies my existential crisis
As I sleep and wake in bias
I gaze but don’t see
I am but fail to be
I was born into that
Absolute habitat.

I see steps skipped
As the west has them whipped.
They don’t see it but neither do we
Yet we are still trying to be a family.
So much of genuine globalization
Is twisted into weak westernization
What do we have that they desire?
“We are here to help” makes a liar.

Oh God what are we to do?
Are we to join in love because of You?
What is the purpose of this mismatched world?
When all hope of peace has been hurled.
So God here in lies my existential crisis
I just can’t connect the telos to the praxis
I interact, learn and really love them all
Yet I feel as if I have a hit a brick wall

So I ask are we here for an experience to savor?
Or do we long to see the fruits of our labor?
So where should I go and who should I be?
Simply keep to myself or live oversea?

So ya... self explanatory? Maybe not. Maybe this generates more questions, which is fine... I like questions that we don't know the answers to...
Anyways, after Uganda I spend 5 days in Holland with my mom's Oom Gerrit and my mom's cousin Dim and his family. It was so wonderful to see and meet some of my heritage, and to see this beautiful country of Holland glazed over with an early snow.
Here are some photos of that. And I just wanted to say thank-you to everyone who have been reading this and thank-you for your prayers! God bless you all in this upcoming New Year!

Last Day.

2009-12-11T01:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone.
So this is my last day here at the University and this blog post will be quite brief.
I am currently sitting in the Uganda Christian University Dinning Hall. The students here are all studying very hard for their many exams which are usually worth about 50 percent of their grades (so a lot of stressed students...). And I feel somewhat guilty as I had only 2 and then 3 final papers... last night all the USP students were given this wonderful farewell dinner.. and I felt so honored to be so recognized, almost undeserved.
When I look back on this semester, I honestly don't know what to think... there is no easy way of summing up what I have experienced here. But I can say I have learned a lot more about myself then expected. I have also learned a lot about how I relate to others, no matter what culture and God. And I would love to maybe talk to anyone about it face to face (although don't expect this big revelation).
We learn and change anywhere we go, and that is exactly what happened to me. I did learn that Uganda is a confusing, but very beautiful place. The people here are very open but very different then then the people I am use to at home (which is a given).
On another note, it does not feel Christmasy here at all... we hear Christmas music, it just doesn't seem right when it is so hot and birds are flying around. Last week the University had a 3 hour Christmas service like I have never experienced. There were a lot of special performances, a lot of dancing, and a lot of loud singing. In order to get somewhat of the essence of this service, I need to explain it to you in person, so we will do that eventually.
Anyways, I must go... tomorrow morning we leave for debrief in Entebbe and then we fly out Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I am going to Holland for five days. I am excited but I am going to miss it here.
Merry Christmas! I hope to see you all soon!
Love from Charissa

Everything Comes In Large Quantities

2009-11-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, it is hard to believe it is already November. 24, meaning I have been here for over three months. It is kind of at a strange point in the semester where I find myself really fighting the urge to check out emotionally and mentally from Uganda and start thinking about home. This is not to say that I am not still enjoying myself but we are continually being reminded that North Americans are a very future oriented culture, I am thinking of home out of habit and also the thoughts of family and friends I miss.

Anyways, recently I have been thinking a lot about how so much here in Uganda seems to come in big quantities. For example;

The other morning I went to take my daily cold shower and I look up in the shower to see approximately fifty or so (not an exaggeration… the pictures to prove it) grasshoppers. Grasshoppers are everywhere here right now, seeing as it is grasshopper season. But not only are there live grasshoppers everywhere you go but dead, cooked and edible ones as well. There are sold in big buckets on the streets and each grasshopper sells for about 300 shillings (which is around 15-20 cents in Canada). I tried a couple and they were crunchy, tasted a little like fish.

Also;
I have told some people that I have been training for the half marathon in Kamapala (a big city about 20 kms from the University). This marathon took place the past Sunday (November 22), and it was potentially one of my most bizarre experiences here yet. The race started at 7 am and there were people running in the 10km, the 21km (half marathon), and the 42 km (full marathon). You must know that altogether there were about 13,000 people there, apparently 3000 were white but mainly Africans. The race started and we somehow missed the starting for the half marathon and got caught up in the 10k crowd and ended up being directed in the wrong direction. So we ran the 10k instead of the half-marathon we were trained to run. It was pretty disappointing. My friend and I did a slow jog through the finish line with confused looks on our faces, not realizing we were finishing the race, we were ready to run another 11 km.

Anyways, it was so bizarre because as we ran, many times I thought I would get trampled (I will show pictures of that later..). There were so many runners, some who were well trained with the marathon build and others who were running in jeans and high heels. One girl who was running had a teddy bear hip-sack, a backpack, an open umbrella and she was eating something out of a paper bag when she was crossing the finish line.

For my first public run experience, it was absolutely epic. But I hope sometime I can do the 21 k I trained for without get trampled my hundreds of Ugandans.

Also, this Thursday I get to experience my first American Thanksgiving… in Uganda. It should be fun. I miss and love you guys and again hope life is wonderful.

Some Rural Homestay Photos.

2009-11-16T03:09:00.000-08:00

The Simple Life.

2009-11-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I am back at the University in Mukono after a 10-day trip to Soroti and Sipi Falls. It is hard getting back into the aspect of school as my mind is still loving my rural home stay and hiking up to the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen.

On Saturday Oct, 24, we were all dropped off at our different homestays to be there for five days. I was super nervous because I was thinking I was going to being away from people who spoke my language and knew my sense of humor. Sounds immature I know, but it’s the truth. In Soroti they mainly speak the Ateso language, which I am not fluent in at all but managed to pick up a few conversational words well I was there (I found out that just saying “Eh” in response to things either got a laugh or an “eh” back). But basically my family consisted of a Poppa Nathan who was 70 something, a Toto Joyce (which is mom in Ateso) who was 50 something, and Sister in law named Scovia who was 30 something and she had 3 young sons living with her. Scovia and Poppa Nathan spoke English, so that was kind of a relief.

Anyways, mostly, my days consisted of me getting up early (6ish) to garden sweet potatoes and casava with Scovia, then to help prepare breakfast which we usually did not have till noon. In the afternoons we would rest a lot, maybe visit other people around the village. I also did things like spread cow dung on a kitchen floor, cut of a chicken’s head and slept in a faulty mosquito net that resulted in numerous mosquitoes attacking me in the night and buzzing around my head. But overall the experience was amazing. I can’t explain how impressed I was with the community and self sustainability these people lived on. They basically ate everything they grew (which was delicious) and there was always so much to eat too (always enough for any number of visitors).

On this program we have been talking a lot about the definition of poverty. I feel in our North American stereotypical view, that these people I stayed with appeared to be impoverished. But in the way they take time for others, provide for others, and live these beautiful, simple, self sustainable lives, I feel as if I am the one who has been impoverished. I learned so much on this stay; about their education, agriculture, and traditions and I will perhaps share more when I return home. After the home stay we had a debrief at a place in the mountains called Sipi Falls and it was wonderful. We went for a hike to see three different waterfalls and this whole time a friend and I had Saeglopur by Sigur Ros playing in our heads; epic. It was so amazing to be in the quiet of the mountains and truly appreciate God’s creation.

Well that is it for now… I miss you all, it is hard to believe it is November already! I hope life is good wherever you are.

P.S. The internet here is very sporadic so I apologize if I have not responded to e-mails.

Hmmmm....

2009-10-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

So I feel it is time I update. I am sitting outside my dorm right now, at night, listening to the sounds of the crickets and frogs. I can also hear some drums and African singing in the distance. It’s pretty awesome. I have been told the today is the exact half waypoint of this Uganda stay. It’s weird to think that I have been here for almost two months, because it does not felt like it. But ironically today I was seriously asking myself questions like; why am I here? What do I really want to do with my life? What is the purpose of missions? What is the purpose of foreign aid? And are these things really helping, or making things worse?

I feel I am becoming more confused/critical of development assistance coming from foreign countries. But I am also really appreciating the aspect of forming relationships with people here. We are learning so much about Western influence in Africa, it is beginning to blow my mind. But it is fascinating but also ends in confusion in my head.

We recently have been learning a lot about “living simply so others can simply live”. And I wonder if we were all to live life to the simplest in our North American homes (meaning we would basically stop traveling to places like Africa for mission trips and such), that our income would go just to the necessities of life and the rest to either well researched organizations or local soup kitchens or any sort of community organizations. I don’t know, these are merely thoughts and maybe you all have some sort of opinion to this big question; is globalization a good thing for the world as a whole? Or is keeping to ourselves in a resourceful, simple way of life better for the world as a whole? Right now in one class Faith and Action we are reading “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger” by Ronald J. Sider. It’s a good book so far with good solutions, I just wonder how practical the solutions are.

Anyways, on a more positive note please know that I absolutely love it here. I am getting use to have rice and beans for lunch and supper, sometimes matooke and every so often some fresh fruit. But there is a canteen on campus called Canada Ice (the owner is this cool Canadian lady) that makes really good smoothies and sells chocolate, ha!

On Friday we leave for our Rural Homestays for 10 days. The village we are staying in is called Soroity (sp?). I am somewhat nervous but excited for this. It will be nice to get away from school for a while and perhaps participate in some Ugandan farming, we’ll see. Well this is all, sorry for the long post! Miss you all, and I miss Canada, love from Uganda!

P.S. I am training with some girls for a half marathon in Kampala, Uganda at the end of November!

Holidays - Independence to Thanksgiving.

2009-10-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was Independence Day in Uganda. I was kind of expecting a lot of excitement but no Ugandans I talked to seemed too excited. I went into Kampala to an International Trade Fair with some people and it was quite the experience. I was weird to see the most random and basic things for sale; tractors, vegetable oil, televisions, etc. not really the crafts I was looking for. But it was quite chaotic as I found myself getting stuck in crowds feeling as if people were trying to get their hands in my pockets for some money. Needless to say, it was quite an eventful Independence Day despite a lot of Ugandans informing me they do not even feel independent or any significance to it. I told them Canada Day is always a blast and they asked me how it is even relevant to me… and it went on…

Anyways, I am writing this post thinking that Canadian Thanksgiving is on Monday. I am sad that I cannot be experiencing the fall changes going on in Alberta, although I hear there is snow! There are a couple Canadians around campus here, and we are all hoping we can have some sort of feast that doesn’t include rice, beans, matooke (mashed green bananas… basically) or g-nut sauce…. perhaps we’ll have some turkey?!? We will see.

Tomorrow I have the opportunity of visiting my host brothers at their boarding schools with the rest of my host family. I am quite excited. Other then that, school is becoming strangely manageable and I am continuing to love living in the dorms with Americans and Ugandans, it is really a great combination. I also practice sometimes with a choir here called the Mustard Seed and it is so great. These people can sing and I am reminded of a lot of worship songs of my childhood, it is kind of crazy but wonderful.

I miss you all and if I have failed to respond to your e-mail or anything, I apologize. I really hope things there are going well and the snow isn’t too excessive. If it is; feel free to come visit here! Talk soon! Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Uganda Picture Update

2009-10-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

Not Knowing What to Say.

2009-10-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I apologize for the late post. I have been unusually busy with school. We have been talking a lot in school about expectations. And I feel the one expectations I had was for school to easy here but it has been very difficult. I feel kind of overwhelmed with doing good and school and interacting with the people here and enjoying it.

It’s also really hard for me to update you guys on everything because so much is happening, I don’t know where to start. Last weekend we went to a place called Jinja, Uganda and we got to know the students in the dorms here. We stayed at this resort that was really fancy and had a pool. It has really great getting to know the students here, they are very fun even though there are some cultural barriers and such.

This upcoming weekend our group is going Jinjah again to bungee jump and raft. I am excited for that. Otherwise I am really like being back in the dorms after my home stay. I have two American roommates and we have been getting along. Uganda is just beautiful, I love the hot weather, although we have been getting a lot of rain. I get a little sick of the dinning hall food as we have rice and beans for lunch and supper. Although the fruit here is amazing, so flavorful!

I guess it is quite the experience going to school here while adjusting to this culture. These people are very different in the way they think then we do, it always takes some adjusting every day. Another random thing is I really like milk tea, haha. This is all. Sorry for the somewhat shallow, boring post. I have been already writing papers so it’s hard to write blog posts as well. But I miss you all, I hope Canada life is wonderful!

Different Expectations...

2009-09-15T04:43:00.002-07:00

I am updating again on a beautifully sunny day in Uganda. I should be doing readings for classes and other things but this seems more appealing at the moment. So on Sunday, we started homestays in Mukono and in all honesty I was expecting a very rustic home with many children running around and my toilet source would be somewhat of a hole in the ground. Perhaps these are stereotypical expectations, but turns out my home is quite the opposite. Both my “parents” and “sister” work at the University, which means I have a ride to school every morning. My other “sister” lives in the same dorm as me when I am not on homestays. So I live with a University oriented family and their home is nice, with a normal toilet and a comfortable bed. I feel very spoiled actually and kind of guilty as I feel I am not being challenged as much as I should be. But also, I should see this as a blessing and that I am sure I will be challenged in other ways.

Also, classes have started and I have to continually remind myself that I am in school and that that requires work. My classes are: East African Politics, East African History, African Literature, Faith and Action, and Introduction of Ugandan Politics. So I am sure I will be having a lot of overlap in my classes, but hopefully still be challenged. But they are all with just my fellow American and one Canadian students and we have Ugandan professors. I am really loving it here, but still missing home. I also miss King’s but more so appreciate it’s small and size and awesome community. Nonetheless it is very nice to meet new students here and create community with the students in the dorms.

There is much more to share but I will simplify it with this list:
1. Ugandans bath a lot, and therefore I am learning to. (Apparently they consider Americans/Canadians dirty but that’s because were not use to the dirt and sweat here, haha.
2. Music: I am taking a lot of pride in Shania Twain and Celine Dion as a Canadian as a lot of Ugandans enjoy their music.
3. I am learning slowly how to do laundry by hand.
4. Ugandans are very good dancers, much better then I.
5. Ugandans are also the most hospitable people I have ever met.
6. I am not as overwhelmed as I thought I would be at this point.
7. I am seeing weird similarities in looks and personalities with either Ugandans or Americans to friends and family at home.
8. Most Ugandan days are sunny till about 2 or 3 and then there is a quick downpour, then sunny again.
9. Super at my home is normally around 9 at night, and for others even later.
10. A lot of people here like Spanish soap opera's that are dubbed into English (which is really funny), and a favorite is La Tormenta (meaning the Storm) which the main character is Marie Teresa and everyone likens the name Charissa. So whenever I introduce myself, my name is often laughed at.
11. I miss being able to talk to friends and family back at home any time, due to the time change.
12. I love you all very much and I hope life in Canada is wonderful!

Six Days in Rwanda

2009-09-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hello Finally!
I have safely returned from a wonderful trip to Rwanda. I actually don’t know how to sum it all up in a blog; but it’s best to say it was a wonderful yet overwhelming experience. We started off on Sunday, August 30, by going to a Rwandan church service, and that in itself is a story. Our small group (broken off of the large group of USP students) was treated like celebrities in this church service, they sang for us, fed us extremely well and thanked us for coming (which was really nothing in comparison to all they did for us).

The trip continued on from there by going through the week in succession of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. So at the beginning of the week we learned about and visited sites explaining what caused the genocide and what happened within the genocide. 1,117 000 Rwandans (mainly those of the Tutsi tribe) died within in the span of one hundred days. It was really interesting to see how far Rwanda has come within the fifteen years of the genocide as we drove through the capital city Kigali and heard from survivors of the genocide. Rwanda, under the leadership of Paul Kagame, is now much more clean and organized as well as peaceful.

Nevertheless Rwanda is still scarred. I just need to tell one story, hopefully without making this post too long. But one day in Kigali, Rwanda, we were driving in our big bus to this woman’s shelter which was on the top of a mountain. On our way up we saw a lot of men, who were all prisoner Hutus who had committed crimes in the genocide, working on the road. The farther we got up the mountain, the more workers there were, and the more scared I was getting. And all of the sudden our bus got stuck on this section of road they were working on. Everyone got silent and to be honest, I feared for my life as approximately sixty or so Hutu men surrounded our bus. But rather then just watching or anything, they pushed our bus out of the dirt. It was very surreal.

Anyways, there are many more stories of beautiful Rwanda, but I’ll have to save them for when I see you all again! I am now back at school and starting classes and getting use to going to a school with 6000 students (when I am use to a mere 750… if that) and be one of the 45 white students. I am joining a choir here and hopefully going to be playing volleyball. This upcoming Saturday we start our first homestay which will be for two weeks. It will be really neat to be living with a family and still going to school. Well I love and miss you all. I hope your lives are all going well! Thank-you for your thoughts and prayers and I really hope to stay in contact.

Learning to Listen

2009-08-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hello from Uganda!

I have safely arrived at the Ugandan University. I guess I kind of feel like I am not completely here yet. But the part of me that is here, loves it.

I am already kind of adjusting to being a minority which means being called muzungu (which is white person in Swahili) and stared at constantly. But nonetheless Uganda is a beautiful place with what seems very happy people. We just arrived last night and it’s weird, a lot of adjusting I guess as I just met about 40 Americans in the group a couple days ago in the airport. Then the rest of the trip just sped by and before I knew it I was in the Entebbe Airport.

Today we went for a walk around Mukono, Uganda and then later we went for a hike up Monkey Hill and I did see some monkeys. I guess I’ve been here a total of one day but it seems a lot has happened and I’m thinking about things a lot, about intercultural relations and communication. Also I am already learning a lot of the concept of time, that to the Ugandans I have met so far, that it does not really matter. I am learning, and I am really wanting to learn how to listen. Not talk so much, but listen because I feel I have a lot to learn from these people.

I have so many thoughts and so much to say, just from the first day. So I can’t imagine what I will be thinking after a couple months of being here. I am really looking forward to going to Rwanda which is in two days I believe, and we will be there for a week. It’s apparently 15 hours away. I hope to put pictures up throughout my blogging. Thank-you all for your prayers and support already! I miss you all already. Talk soon!

Leaving for Uganda...

2009-08-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!

Tomorrow at midnight (so I guess Monday)... I leave for Uganda for four months. For those of you who don't know exactly what I am doing, I will be attending the Uganda Christian University (UCU) through a program called Best Semester which is affiliated with CCCU (Council for Christian Colleges & Universities).

In short, I am traveling to Uganda from Dulles, Washington with about 42 other North Americans (mainly Americans) from various Christian Colleges. I will be participating in home stays near the University, while attending 5 classes at the University, as well as a trip to Rwanda and other weekend trips I'm sure.

I am very excited but very nervous. I am sad to be leaving this wonderful home I have and to be embarking on a trip of the unknown. I will miss the blessings of near by friends and family. I hope and pray that this experience will help me not only grow personally but emotionally, spiritually and educationally. I also hope this whole experience will somewhat give me clarification of my passion to help create self sustainability in the developing world, in particular, Africa. Please keep me in your prayers and minds in this journey.

I will try to update you as much as possible but I am told the internet connection at the University is sporadic. I will miss you all!