Uganda in a week!

In exactly one week from today I will be in Uganda! It is hard to believe that this trip is finally here. I am finished with my 4th semester of seminary with 1 year (2 semesters) to go! The freshmen moved out of the 2 buildings that I supervise. Thank goodness. This year's group of students were a little loud and crazy. One thing is for sure, I will not forget some of the shenanigans that went down in Aycock. I flew home to Florida for a few days to get run some errands and get stuff done. Then, my Mom and I flew to Missouri for a quick visit with family. We had a great time talking, eating, watching my cousin Sarah perform improv, laughing, playing with my younger cousins, and watching my little cousin graduate from preschool. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to visit with everyone, but that just gives us another reason to visit again soon! Now I am back in Florida until this Sunday. I am busy making last minute preparations for my trip, packing, and spending time with as many friends as possible in these last 6 days. I fly out of Orlando on Sunday late afternoon for London-Gatwick. I arrive in London early Monday morning and I have to travel from the Gatwick airport to Heathrow for my flight to Uganda. Luckily my flight to Uganda does not leave until Monday night so I have plenty of time to make the airport transition. And maybe sightsee along the way. :-) I fly from London directly to Entebbe, Uganda. I arrive in Uganda on Tuesday morning. My supervisor, Father Joe, will pick me up from the airport on Tuesday morning. Father Joe (Father Joseph Kakooza) is our supervisor this summer. He is a Catholic priest who is serving in a Catholic parish in Luwero. We have communicated over email and I cannot wait to meet him in person. He sounds like such a joyful and kind person. I have been saying "I" a lot, but I am not by myself this summer. Another Duke Divinity School student, Tabitha, will be with me in Uganda. We had some difficulties trying to coordinate our travel plans so she will meet me in Uganda. Tabitha and I will live and work together this summer. I am excited to get to know her better over the course of our Ugandan adventure.

Speaking of Uganda, I thought I would provide a little more information about the country. I have attached a picture of Uganda so hopefully you can see where I will be this summer. The airport is in Entebbe which is in a city along the coast of Lake Victoria. The capital of Uganda is Kampala. I will be living and working in Luwero (Luweero) which is a city 47 miles north of Kampala. Luwero can be spelled with 1 "e" or with 2 "e's". Right now I am spelling it with 1, but that may change over the course of the summer. As you can see we will be in south central-ish part of the country. Hopefully we will take some side trips to see the beautiful lakes in Uganda as well as other parts of the country. Don't worry, this Florida girl who has grown up swimming in lakes will NOT be swimming in Uganda's lakes. Currently, the political situation in Uganda is pretty stable. To clear up confusion I want to say that Idi Amin is NOT in charge of Uganda. He was the dictator in Uganda during the 1970s, but he was ousted in 1979. The country has had a pretty stable government since 1986 which coincidentally is the same year I was born. Pretty good sign if I do say so myself. A stable government does not mean that Uganda does not have its share of issues. The country has faced severe economic issues. About half of the country lives on less that $1.25 (US) a day. Illiteracy is a problem in Uganda. During the late 1990s and the early part of the 2000s, the northern region of Uganda was not stable. Rebel groups were trying to gain control of the region in hopes of seizing control of the whole control. These rebel groups began using the strategy of kidnapping children from their homes in the middle of the night and forcing these children to be child soldiers. These children are brainwashed and threatened with beatings and potential death so that they will do what their commanders order. Often, these children would have to kill their own family members or friends in order to not die themselves. Both boys and girls were kidnapped. The boys were used as shields for the adult soldiers and the girls were taken as sex slaves. In order to prevent being taken by the rebel groups, children began to commute every afternoon to public places such as lighted parking lots, churches, and other public places. They wanted to be with lots of other people in these lighted or safe places before dark. The large numbers of witnesses as well as light detracted the rebels from kidnapping these children. Perhaps you have heard of the Invisible Children documentary and movement. Well, this campaign educates people of the horrors of child soldiering in hopes of stopping this atrocity. The use of child soldiers has decreased in Uganda, but it is still a common practice in southern Sudan and I am sure that it still occurs in northern Uganda. I have also attached a link to a Wikipedia article on Uganda. If want to read and learn more about Uganda, feel free. If not, no worries. I will not quiz you later. This will be my last post from the US. The next post will be the first chapter of my adventures in Uganda! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. I greatly appreciate them and I will be needing them over the course of the next 10-11 weeks. Lots of love to you.