More Pictures!!

Brittany, I think those ducks we saw in Florida originated in Africa...I decided :)

The Tree of Life..

The view of Diebougou

MASHED POTATOES!!

Sunrise...right outside our gate...majestic.

Two kids just hanging out early in the morning

The view right outside our gate

Our follow-up clinic patients

This is a bridge... :) no cars here!

We cleaned glasses for a few days that we will be giving out starting next week to patients!

 Our garbage cleaning crew at the church

 Cuties!!

 More of our garbage cleaning crew

 This is a HUGE moth/butterfly hanging out on our neighbors porch

 Oh hello Africa humidity! What up?!

 Underneath the branches of the Tree of Life

Church crew!!

Tree of Life

   Every day Mari and I go on a walk. This is a time when we can get out beyond our "comfort-zone" of hanging out with Jesus in our personal time and perfecting our personal walk with Him. This is a time when we can share our love for our Jesus with the community that we live in. A time when we can talk about all the things that we are dealing with and a time away from the compound that confines us on a regular basis.
   On our walk we pass by what we call the "Tree of Life". At this tree there is a large portion of dirt because the kids use it to play futbol and gather and the adults gather with them as well at different times of the day. We call it the tree of life because no matter when you pass by it there is always life going on below its beautiful branches: young, old, and people in the middle.
  Today was a special day. We got to go beyond our gate and our compound that has unfortunately confined us for much too long of a time, partially because of circumstances beyond our control. But non-the-less today we got out for a long period of time! Every day we also stop to buy mangos and occasionally a loaf of bread. The people who run the store always know when we are coming that that is what we need! So we went to buy a loaf of bread. We have new Muslim neighbors that live behind us so we thought we should welcome them to our community (even if technically it isnt our community) so we gave them a loaf of bread to welcome them to their new home! After "conversing" for a bit (Mari did the talking as I know very VERY minimal French) we continued on our journey.
   It didnt take long and we were finally at the Tree of Life again. While there we ended up with a group of about 20 kids just hanging out with us. It was so so so much fun! We painted the little girls nails and then we played games. We also handed out little pieces of paper that said "Dieu et nous t'aime" which very simply says "God and we love you". We taught them ring around the rosie and "bef, bef, matonge" or cow, cow, goat. It was probably the best day and experience I have had since arriving here in Burkina. I love love LOVE kids and just hanging out with other people and making conversation. God truly blessed us with this experience.
   The best part of this experience though, isnt the "satisfaction" of going out beyond the gate and getting out of the compound or playing and hanging out with the kids. The satisfaction of this experience is getting to spread the love of our Jesus with those in our community. Even if we dont verbally tell everyone that Jesus loves them or that somebody died so that they could live, we can show it through our actions. Even if we cannot speak the Dagara or French language that our friends in Burkina do, we can communicate with them through His love and His grace. He lets us be in community with these beautiful children for just a little while so that He can reveal to them His love for their lives, talents, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses alike; just as He will reveal those things to you if only you ask Him to! How great is our God?! :) I hope and pray that He reveals his marvelous love and grace to you today!

Accidents of Birth

   Its an accident of birth. An accident of birth that I have white skin, a nice home, food to eat, an education, and a high life expectancy. An accident that I am literate, have access to clean water, and dont have to pick through piles of trash along the road in order to survive.
  Its an accident of birth that my friends struggle with education, dont have clean water, healthcare, or food to eat. An accident that they have physical back breaking labor, and have to struggle to survive every day.
  We woke up to watch the sunrise at 5:30am. As the colors just began to dance across the horizon, bikes began to pass as we sat on our chairs relaxing. We can take the time out of our day to wake up "early" and relax as they have to get up and work all day at the market to earn less than $1.00.
   We went to church to find it filled with small children. The small American child was kept quiet by raisins and cashew nuts. The other children had protruding and malnourished bellies as they filled the wooden benches. An accident of birth.
   The most beautiful part is that these children filling the benches with their protruding bellies and little bodies danced and sang their little hearts out for their Jesus. The sight was so beautiful to see somebody with what we would consider as "nothing" have everything they will actually ever NEED.

Lessons I Live With

What a great God it is that we serve. I have learned so much in the past month that I have been in Africa that I cannot help but to stand in awe of our creator. I have been keeping a list of some of the things that I have learned while on my adventures here. I will share just a few with you...

1.       I live in a “God” bubble in Fargo

2.       Regardless of where you are in the world, people are people

3.       Spending time getting to know people and build relationships is more important than getting pety things accomplished

4.       I genuinely love people and “touching” isnt so bad

5.       God is wonderful regardless of circumstances

6.       The people in Africa are smart in ways of the world, rich in love, and caring

7.       Dont JUDGE people!! Stupid idea..

8.       Have faith, He will protect you

9.       The devil, witchcraft, and “medicine men” are very real indeed

10.   People here with epilepsy are considered “unclean”, Jesus would touch them

11.   I have SO much its actually pathetic.

12.   Tell somebody their good attributes as it makes them stronger as a person and helps them grow

13.   God really does have a plan

14.   Life is an adventure, dont have too many expectations

15.   Things that we say will “never happen to me, thats somebody elses reality” actually can happen to you, we are not invinsible

16.   Let God fill you.

17.   God gives us “big dreams” and thats why we need to go when he says to go, regardless of circumstances.

The greatest thing I have had to learn this summer above any other lesson is trust. Many things are going on 10,000 miles away from me. Things I cannot experience, things I have no control over, things that keep on happening whether I am there or not. These things break my heart over and over on a daily basis, but I have learned to trust God with all that I am. He has become my sustaining love, even more than He ever has been. On a particular day that I was feeling sad I turned to my bible (as I usually do) and God had just the right words to say to me. “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10  God’s love is so unconditional and permanent that I can trust him with everything that I am, my whole heart, my whole life, and all of my troubles and pains. How incredibly gracious of Him! 

These are only a few of the lessons that I have learned in my short time here.  I still sometimes cannot believe that He has given me this opportunity to love on the people here and surround myself with new experiences and life. This summer God has ruined my life for his glory. This has been my prayer since I began to contemplate this trip and He has done just that.  I do not know how I will use all of this information He has bestowed upon me but in giving me this experience He has instilled in me that I will not be able to stand on the sidelines.  Having knowledge means having a responsibility, just as growing up comes with different responsibilities, so does having these experiences

Unreal.

   Before yesterday I had just been floating by on my African Adventure, enjoying every minute of what I was seeing and doing.  Not that yesterday was any different, but yesterday the brokenness of this place became even more real as the stories of the people we were with were not mere strangers but friends.
   We sat inside and waited for our first patient to come. Mari and I got to play "doctor" yesterday, but except real life. We were doing check-ups on malnourished children there were two that were our patients.  The first one was about 3 years old and we had to diagnose her with a staph infection. If you dont know anything about staph it is a very VERY dangerous disease and is hard to cure and can kill you even in the United States.  When I had been incorrectly diagnosed with staph previously and told them about the size of my sores I was told "leave work and come to the doctor right now" in a very urgent voice. But here in Burkina this is a normal senario and all we could treat it with was some anti-bacterial ointment as we are not doctors.
   The next patient was the cousin of our friend here in Burkina. She is severely malnourished..at 2 years of age she weighs 8.55kg, which Im not sure of the conversion but its very small for a two year old. She also had a severe fever of ~105 and we had to send her to the hospital. They sent her home with about 5 medications and a shot and we are unfortunately fearing we will have to test her for AIDS. This is someone who is very close to our friend, at the age of 18 she is caring for her as a mother.
  Today we saw one thing we NEVER thought was "real". Well, we knew it was real, but we had never witnessed it so it was more about stories and pictures than reality.  As we were sitting in church we saw a lady walk out and fall over, seizing and vomiting. The first thought in my mind was heat shock? No my friends, this was a demon. A real demon trying to go against all that God is in his place of worship. Luckily many were there to pray for her.  It was a very interesting event as we didnt even know what to do or how to handle it.
   But amidst all of this brokenness and different things we are seeing it brings me even closer to my creator. That he would love those children so much that he would bring them to us and we can try to find them rest. That we can smile at them and show them that we care even when they are so sick they barely even feel like moving.  That he would love that woman enough that only HE can set her free of what is inside of her. Just as He can set YOU free of all that is inside of you and holding you back from him! He loves so blindly and unconditionally.

Burkina

   I arrived safely in Burkina Faso yesterday afternoon on my flight! I was so happy to finally touch onto the ground as I really do not enjoy flying very much. Im sure when I finally get back to the states I will want to kiss the ground (even if thats weird). God was so present during my flight as I could just imagine his hand flying the plane like a little boy would hold on to his paper airplane toy.  I have been continually reminded of a song that says "The one the wind and waves obey is strong enough to save you". How powerful is that, that our great and powerful God can tell the wind to stop and the waves to calm down. And if he can do that of course He can save us, in so many more ways than one.  We are so blessed and I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed you are that you can even read this post. In America we have SO much I could throw up. Even if you are sick now, you have come this far and not been "deathly" ill.  Death here is an every day thing.  Everybody is affected by it in some way or another usually in their immediate family and we dont have to even think about it until we are old.  I was talking with one of my Ugandan friends before I left who is a nurse and only 25 years old. I told her "oh dont worry about it you still have about 60 years left" and at first she said "yea.." but then she paused and said "actually probably about 20, life expectancy here is only 45.  Wow. Talk about reality check.
   Burkina is a much poorer country, there are many more naked babies here (haha ellen) and even up to the age of 6 or 7 we have seen them without clothing.  It is also not even close to as densely populated as Uganda. The weather here is also so ridiculously HOT and HUMID! I will be having a fro every day from now on im sure of it!
   Hope you all are having a fantastic day, spending time in the word DAILY, and giving God your everything. Praying for you all! I love you!

Another Chapter..

   I'm getting increasingly sad as my time here in Uganda is coming to a close.  It doesn't seem real that I will be leaving in just over two days.  I'm legitamately disappointed about this.  I have found such amazing friends here and God has blessed me so much in my time here I cannot even begin to tell you the half of what has happened, only able to point out the big ideas. 
   I truly love it here. So much. There is no concept of "busy".  The days are totally and completely packed with agenda items but rarely do they all get carried out and if they do its in a relaxed manner.  None of the hussle and bustle and stress I deal with at home working two jobs and being a full time student. 
   I am very excited as 6 of my Ugandan friends will be coming to the US about the same time I will be arriving back in Fargo!  This is part of their masters program in international infectious disease management (IDM for short).  For this program the masters students from the US have to come to Uganda for a summer and the Ugandan students need to come to the US for, possibly, a year.
   On early Sunday morning I will be flying to Burkina Faso, luckily God has stopped me from fearing this I'm taking it as an adventure that will only bring me closer to him.  But that definately doesnt mean I still love flying, because I definately don't.  I'm very excited to see my good friend Mari and all that is going on in Burkina as I have been told numerous different things about East Africa vs. West Africa.

Church!!

   Today we got to go to church! This was my first time going to church in Africa as we have always had something for our class that we are required to attend on Sundays until this point.  I was so excited to go! All week I had been hoping to go but not really knowing if it was going to be possible, but last night Josh asked us if we wanted to go with him.
   Our God is so great. Really He is. If we give him our EVERYTHING (mind you, it has to be everything, you cant do this thing half heartedly) he will provide.  I have seen so many people who are so willing to do Gods work and give him glory here that it absolutely overwhelms me.  They will do the best that they can to give him all that they are. I pray to be able to do that with my life on a DAILY basis. I need to surrender to him all that I am so he can use me. I challenge you to do the same if you have not already been able to do that for yourself. He is everything to me. all that I need. just TRUST him!! :)

Pictures!!

You have asked...and now you shall recieve :)

We got to visit the Equator!!

ROOMIES!! Behind us is Kenya, yea we so went there!

Me and my good friend Agnes (from Uganda) doing what we do best, laughing.  She is also my singing partner, that is what we do together when we are bored in the car as we both share a passion for singing!

Unregulated milk production in rural areas....yummm??

I'm exteremely jealous of this warthog as it has a better view than I get, I only get a parking lot in my back yard!!

These are the Water Buffalo that we darted

Yea buddy, rollin like a big shot! These are the vehicles we did our safaris in...pure bliss.

The Elephants that greeted us as we came into Queen Elizabeth National Park, yes, that is how close we were to the elephants

Water: The source of life.  If you notice there are cattle to the left and people in the water

Backseat Brigade

GO BISON!! And maybe Washington State too....

I got to hold a bird!!

First Mosquito that I killed...it was a proud moment, had to capture it!

Children of Bududa

The smiles of the kids...in the back is the landslide, the onlookers as they are searching for bodies, and the backhoe they are using to dig.

Smiles..

   The other day we took a journey that was not in the schedule of our trip.  A journey that will stretch our hearts beyond what we can even tell you today.  It will not be forgotten by any of us...ever.  This is a story of utter destruction and pain hiding behind cute smiles and giggles.
   In a place called Bududa (lucky for us in the Eastern part of the country) there was a landslide on Monday July 2.  We went to Bududa on the 5 (Thursday) and they were still searching for bodies.  So many things crossed my mind in the short time that we were at the landslide site.  So many people were affected by this event.  Entire communities.  In this culture you dont marry far from your home where you grew up so your neighbors become your family.  These are the people you turn to in times of trouble and need.  Because of this some people have no place to go.  The pastor was killed along with 2 children and his wife.  Others are still buried and many homes have been lost, at least 20.  Also, mind you, understand that the birth rate here is much higher than in the US.  Many of these families have more than our average 2.1 children.  As we were told though, God does crazy things.  This landslide happened when it was least expected but at one of the best times it could possibly happen, if there is such a thing.  It happened on a Monday some time between 12 and 2 in the afternoon.  On Mondays there is a big market in town where many people residing there bring their goods to sell and the children were in school.  So the people left would have been the elderly, small children, or people who didnt have anything to bring to the market on that day.  Many came home to find their homes completely covered with dirt and totally gone.  Obviously, it is still a very serious tragedy and there is no way to possibly diminish that, but there could have been a much greater loss than there was. 
   As we were standing on the sidelines watching and listening to our friend speak about the occurance of the landslide there were children gathering around us as they ususally do.  This specific group of 3 kids were laughing and giggling to themselves about who knows what, but they were enjoying themselves.  They were making faces at one of my classmates camera as they were trying to take a picture of something else and did not even notice them.  So i took a picture of them with my camera, since the kids here LOVE that.  They absolutely love to see their faces on your screen after you take the picture and they just start laughing and laughing! So that is exactly what these three children did.  But I couldnt help to be reminded of myself in that very instance.  In how whenever something bad happens I always try to cover it up with a smile and thinking about other things.  It gets me to notice even more so that how when faced with the mountains placed in our lives no matter how great or how small we are all of the human race.  We are not different because we live in a first world country vs. a third world country. We are not different because we can afford "nice" things and they cannot.  Deep down inside we are the same, we may think we "need" nice things but we dont, not in the slightest way.  We have the same needs: love, understanding, and peace.  As I have always known these things, it sunk in even deeper in that moment.
   Walking back to the car I met a little girl.  She was the most adorable thing ever, probably about the age of 8 or 9 and had the most beautiful smile.  She had been following us so I decided to strike up conversation with her.  I asked her how she was and her name and I told her mine, as the normal conversation goes.  Then she began to ask me questions.  How was my home? I told her it was good, not even really thinking and not really understanding what she was asking.  I asked her how hers was and she said fine, I dont think she quite understood me.  As we were getting into the car, the lady that was showing us around asked her about her home.  She said it was buried when she was in school, her and her mother no longer had any place to go.  That is the only family she has left.  They are homeless.  I was already in the back of the car at this point and could not get out.  But her lip began to quiver.  I wanted so TERRIBLY badly to stay with her, and hug her, and tell her it would be ok, tell her that God loves her and I love her, and give her and her mother a place to stay.  But guess what, I couldnt do any of those things.  I cannot describe to you how my heart broke in that very moment...
   I will never forget that moment, not ever in my whole life.  Feeling so helpless and that only Gsod can help them and my hands are literally tied.  I have never had that feeling before.  I've always been able to provide for others and myself.

Between the Beauty and the Pain

   We have arrived in Eastern Uganda as of Sunday afternoon.  We are stationed in Mbale and travel daily to our sites which have been about an hour and a half to two hours of driving.  If we were on US roads we would be traveling for probably about half an hour to 45 minutes to get to these destinations.  The roads in this area are absolutely TERRIBLE.  It is beyond me.  You will not ever be able to imagine these roads unless you experience them for yourself.  The drivers have to drive off of the pavement onto the gravel "shoulders" because the pavement is so full of potholes. Potholes are dodged only to find a smaller and less damaging one to drive over.  We consistently are driving on the opposite side of the road for smoother pavement while dodging large trucks.  Here though, dodging isnt so terrible, the bigger vehicle ALWAYS has the right of way and they dont attempt to play chicken, ever. Our drivers are very skilled and safe drivers, dont worry :)
   Today was one of the best days of learning I have had so far here just because it has pertained most to my area of interests. We visited a place called Kumi Hospital.  This hospital is in DESPERATE need of help.  The most interesting part is that the people openly admit that they need the help, at home we are usually much too proud to admit something like this, but these people say it with the utmost dignity. I truly honor their humility.
   In its glory days there was a farm that had 2000 heads cattle that brought in 60% of its revenue.  The hospital sits on a little over 1000 hectors. But during the 1980s the farm during the war the farm was looted and lost most of its cattle in a matter of days.  Today they are left with only 73 heads of cattle. This cannot support this hospital.  Some of the problems they are facing are improper fencing, poor management, and not having the proper funds or education to support a farm of the necessary magnitude.
   Another issue was that they have a very well set up malnutrition unit, but they do not have the supplies in stock to help their people.  They do not have the funding to do so because the government says "the east doesnt have malnutrition issues".  It is very clear that this is not the case at all, especially considering they have an entire unit at the hospital devoted to the issue.  During the seasons where there is food available they do not usually have issues with malnutrition, but during the dry seasons when all a family can give to their child is potatoes there is a great amount of malnutrition.
   Yet one more issue is diagnostics. The lab they have at the hospital is very nicely set up and acomodating, but there are still large issues at hand.  For example, in order to test for TB they use a microscope.  Using a microscope gets results to a patient within 48 hours, so that is good, except, the technician can only determine if TB is present, not the strain. Knowing the strain makes it possible to treat the  patient with the correct medicine. It is important that the correct medicine is given to the patient as supplies are limited in this area.  The next best way to test is using culture, but that takes a minimum of 4 weeks, a time when the patient can be at home with family and friends living their normal life and spreading their infection.  The absolute BEST response to this is testing using DNA, when results can be diagnosed in 2-3 hours time.  Usually PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is used to do this, but unfortunately this is very expensive equipment to have and to run.  It is even expensive in the United States as I believe it costs ~$600 for 150 reactions.  There is only one of these pieces of equipment in all of Uganda and it is currently being used in the research setting.
   After we visited these places we went to a place where there is some cultural history.  While here there were about 35 school children just hanging out.  We climbed up these rocks, since the place we went had paintings (similar to those we hear about from the indians in Mexico and some parts of the US), and all of the kids followed.  I couldnt help but to notice their feet.  These children do not have shoes.  And if they do they are very broken and falling apart.  Walking in the dirt all I noticed were bare footprints.  This is not safe as they can pick up ringworm, infections, snake bites (luckily the people ahead of me saw the snake...), and any  other infection you can think of.  Their feet are all very swollen and sore looking.  After our trek through the rocks, we loaded up into our vans to head back to Mbale. Some of the people in the group gave the children their water bottles.  I cannot describe to you how incredibly ECSTATIC these children were, over a WATER BOTTLE.  We would call this trash.  One of the bottles had a bit of water left in it, and I saw a girl sharing it with her friends putting some into their empty bottles.  This is the life in the small villages we have been visiting.
   At home we take water so much for granted.  One day we were driving by a river of some sort and I just took a picture quickly not really looking outside closely and little did I know it was filled with people and cattle.  Water is the source of life here. If there is ANY body of water, dirty and disgusting or not, people gather there, especially in the evenings.
   God is challenging me so much.  My heart yearns to help every single person but that is literally not possible for me to do.  I just want to hold them all and tell them its ok and to educate them on nutrition, health, sanitization, and water wells. But guess what, I am only ONE person, but the body of Christ is so great and God is so powerful that if God places it on our heart to help the least of these He will provide the means and the people to do it.  There are many educated people here but their hands are tied to a certain extent.  They need others to partner with them and bring their skills to the table as well...will YOU be one of those people? This process begins with us, most of us are educated, even in the simplest of ways.  Will YOU  be the one to help the least of these? I pray to be.