Hot pink tinsel and the top reader

With one week of school remaining, the faculty of Mbale Mission School proudly presented our first graduate ever with her high school diploma. Leila Shelburne gladly received her diploma on Monday, 11 May at 3 pm on the front porch of the Shelburne home. Thanks to the coordination of our unofficial team event planner, Julie, we held a ceremonious graduation followed by a congratulatory party. Several of the staff—Phillip, Julie, Jennifer, and I—adorned the classic black caps and gowns along with our graduate. We tried to make the graduation very similar to something Leila would have experienced had she been graduating in the States. Our ceremony consisted of the following: the procession of the faculty and the graduating student accompanied by music, opening remarks given by Phillip, an awards ceremony, presentation of the diploma, prayer, and an exiting procession. (I must note that I am writing this over a month after the event and am very likely forgetting some things). While we tried to present an American feel, we do like in Uganda and therefore it had to have some Uganda flavouring as well. When Leila marched in the women ululated and friends ran forward to cover her with glimmering decorations such as tinsel, and when she received her diploma the children shot off noise poppers. All of this set in front of the beautiful backdrop of Mount Wanale. It was a very special day of celebrating Leila and all of her accomplishments. She will be attending Harding University in the fall.

I want to add that the ceremony caused me to realize just how short a time had passed since I had graduated. I was having flashbacks to my own recent graduation; it was a weird feeling. Also, this was my first graduation to participate in as a member of the faculty; it was fun.  Oh, you may have been wondering why we held the graduation before school was even out. Well, that was the only time we could get it scheduled into the chaos of our team’s schedule, and even then it wasn’t ideal. Thus is life on the mission field, especially just before furlough.

University Summit

In April our team hosted a University Summit for LivingStone International University. They had one in 2006 where they established goals and set steps to be taken before the next summit. Since LIU has now received the “go-ahead” from the Ugandan Counsel for Higher Education, there is much to be done. Some people flew in from the States to help out. Delegates from numerous countries in Africa showed up to offer their support and advice. The highlight for me was when Dr. Ntero spoke at our closing session. Dr. Ntero was the first East African woman to go to University. She has an incredible story! I could listen to her talk about her life for hours and not get bored. I wish that I could share her story with you, but I’d struggle to get it all right. Another really awesome thing that happened was when a surprise guest showed up during one of the sessions. A former Minister of Education happened to be in town and happened to be at the hotel where the conference was taking place. This man was quoted just the day before in a presentation by Shawn, and the next day he “happens” to be there to speak for himself. God is so good!
While there are many things I would like to tell you about the summit, I can’t because I was either in school teaching or helping run errands for it. The best way to get a better picture of the summit is to check out LIU’s website and read the blogs on the summit (you can also read more about LIU while on the site). A prayer point—please pray for LivingStone International University and the men and women working to establish it providing Christian education to this region of Uganda and East Africa.
http://livingstone.ac.ug/

Gulu

Leila and I took a really long detour on the way home from the ladies retreat. We tagged along with the Kampala women who were so kind in giving us a lift. From Kampala we took a bus to Gulu. The bus ride was not near as long as we had anticipated and the road was actually quite good. After arriving in Gulu, we were finally able to talk with Christine, Nathan and Lydia’s aunt, who we had been trying to contact for at least a week. We also stumbled across one of the 2 guest houses we were searching for just in time to reach our room before the rain down-poured. Saturday we walked around town exploring a bit. Sunday we went to church at the Watoto church in Gulu. That was a very weird experience for me. That church was so nice and had so much technological equipment that my mind had a really difficult time accepting that I was in a church in Gulu, Uganda. After church we talked with Christine a bit about what we wanted to do there. I told her I was very interested in education especially secondary. She told me that Invisible Children is the organization that I need to meet with because they are the only ones currently working on the secondary aspect. She told me that she would call Jolly and set up a meeting with us. We also came up with a few other things to do while there. First, I need to explain that my personality type is INFP, which is the “Idealist.” The idealist in me was uncontainable at lunch that day, as Leila can attest. I had so many ideas and so many possibilities that I couldn’t even express any of them. Monday morning Leila and I prepared for a trip to the Invisible Children office, but unfortunately Christine had several other things to do and couldn’t join us. She called Jolly and talked to her; then Christine called me to tell me who to ask for. I went in and really didn’t make such a good impression on the girl I was told to speak with so she passed me off on an intern who proceeded to tell me about the mission and history of Invisible Children. I could have done her job for her, with the exception of what’s been happening since I’ve been in Uganda. She did take me to meet with the Schools for Schools project director who very graciously took time to meet with us. Again, my idealist was still uncontainable and thus unexplainable. I couldn’t explain any of my ideas or intentions to him well at all. I wanted to talk with the director of the teacher exchange program, but she wasn’t in the country. It was really cool to see the office and learn some small bit more. But I was very frustrated with my experience; I was treated like some 18 year old who had hopped a plane to show up at the IC office expecting to work with them and who didn’t know anything about IC, Uganda, or East African culture. Needless to say, my ideas were quickly squelched. I understand why they treated me like they did, and don’t get me wrong, they weren’t rude at all. They have had many people like I described come into the office with such or similar expectations. They didn’t know anything more than I live in Mbale and had been there for 9 months (at the time). Despite my frustrations, Sam and I are going to go back when we go next week.
On a side note for anyone that has seen the bracelet videos, Innocent (he’s the one on the white bracelet DVD) came into the office while I was there. That was pretty cool. And, it seriously would have been way cool to meet with Jolly. But I still find it cool that a friend of mine called up her friend Jolly to talk about me.
After all of that, Leila and I went to Grace Christian Academy. Lydia and Nathan’s grandparents started this school and Christine now runs it. I talked with her a lot about the school and she asked me to walk through the classes and observe the teachers, look through their lesson plans, etc. Grace is a nursery and primary school with a clinic. Most of the children are orphans. I walked quickly through the lower primary classes saying hello to the teachers and students and absorbing the scenes of the classrooms. I was at first nervous about offering feedback about the teachers to Christine; but, things came naturally to me as I remembered my training. Leila must have been bored, but I was fascinated. After all of this, we had lunch with Christine and I offered my opinions and observations of the teachers. She is working with another woman in Gulu (an American missionary) to develop a much needed new curriculum to present to the government for use nationwide. They are very convicted about the need and they have had doors opening to them offering a window of opportunity. However, they need assistance from trained educators, particularly from those who have experience in curriculum writing and in cross-cultural work. I really want to work with them on this, but I don’t know that I am at a point where I can. I need more training and their window is limited. I left Gulu more convinced of my need to go for my master’s in international education. But what to do until then? I don’t know; I’m meeting with Christine again when I go back with Sam. It is definitely a prayer point, not just for my involvement, but for the whole thing.
I really liked Gulu. I liked the town size, the nearness of the villages, the Acholi people (who are very different from the tribes around Mbale), the land, the food… There is much restoration and much healing going on in Gulu—praise God! I wonder what my involvement in that will look like—another prayer point.

East Africa Ladies Retreat

On 14-17 of April the ladies on our team headed to Rondo in Kenya for the East Africa women’s retreat. Rondo is a retreat center in the rain forest, an absolutely beautiful place! The ladies of the Jinja team planned the retreat. We talked about misconceptions of God and of ourselves; the theme was “we are created in the image of God.” It was a really restful time, which was much needed. The discussions we had were very stirring as well. On the last night we had a masquerade and ended with a poster silent testimony when we removed our masks. To me that was very powerful. I really enjoyed getting to meet ladies from other areas of East Africa. There were women from the Mwanza, Tanzania team, 3 ladies from various parts of Kenya, and all of the Uganda teams. Also, two ladies who recently arrived in Tanzania were there. They’d been staying with the Mwanza team and were going to visit teams in Uganda and Rwanda after the trip. They were really nice, but what was really cool about meeting them was the connections we have from home. I had seen Christie Harrison and her husband at Gulf Coast Get Away in 2008 and met them very briefly. At the time they were planning and preparing to move to Tanzania. Among other things, hearing them talk about Tanzania stirred my mind and pulled my heart towards coming back sooner than I had planned at that time (which would have been a few years later). Also, Holly McNeal and her husband worked with the new University Christian Ministry campus minister Duane Dixon before he went to University Church. Holly told me that Duane had mentioned me to them, but the likelihood of us actually meeting seemed really slim. Guess Duane was right. I’m glad I got to meet them and all the other ladies there. There were a few other connections I had with them and others; it is amazing just how small the world can be (especially in the Church of Christ and within missions and then within missions in Africa)! I’m interested to visit the teams and see their ministries first-hand. I'd love to be able to travel around and do that in the future.

Jenny, Teachie-Weechie, and Ms. Crystal

This semester I have been super busy with school! I have, however, gotten into some sort of flow of things. I love teaching when I feel like I am actually teaching something. Using time to prepare ahead well, finding resources (which may be dependent upon power, internet, and printing options), figuring out the topics most in need of covering, learning how to use class time well… has been a challenge. It is a challenge to new teachers anyway, but here it is compacted by various conditions (inadequate curriculum, no text books, not enough copies of class novels, unreliable power, no set standards to follow, and in general life in a different culture…. I could go on). I must say that I am not complaining about these things; they have been challenges that I have faced and learned to deal with or found another way. I have and continue to learn from these and numerous other challenges of life here. Anyway, back to school. This semester I have also been teaching Life of Christ 2 to Leila and Lydia. The class has been a valuable sundry of discussions; I am enjoying studying the Gospels with them. I have seen much growth in the boys this semester, both academically and mentally. I am blessed to be a part of that growth. This semester we’ve mostly studied writing and recently moved into creative writing. I have been proud of them in the work they’ve done as they become better writers and explore avenues of written expression. Jennifer has been co-teaching grammar for Josiah with me and it has been really helpful and really great for him. Malachi is now my only student at that level. Sadly, Angela had to move and left the school. Malachi, however, has done really well in my class. He catches on to things very quickly and is rapidly progressing through his book. In British literature we recently finished reading John Milton’s Paradise Lost. We had some fascinating discussions on the text, Creation, and redemption. The girls each did an art project to culminate the unit. Both projects were very impressive! The rest of the semester they will be working on two different power point presentations. The first one they’ve been doing together on the history of Britain as it connects to the specific texts that we’ve read. The second they will do independently after the first is completed, and it is a thematic study power point. This semester we’ve been discussing the nature of man and eternal life as they connect to the pieces we’ve read. I didn’t set it up that way on purpose at first, but when I saw the themes threading through each work we began to focus on it more. Basically, each of my students is doing really well and I am very proud of each one!
This may be quite boring to many of you, but I thought that I ought to write a bit about what it is that I am teaching since that is my primary job here. We only have 4 weeks left of school (I can’t believe it!). There is still so much that I want to teach, and I feel overwhelmed. The middle school class has been doing a unit on poetry and I am about to focus more on poetry in my other 2 language arts classes as well. I’ve been busy and out of town often; hopefully, though, I will be able to sketch out my lesson plans for the rest of the year over the weekend. (Please pray that I do and that God guides me as I work out the plans). One big focus (of many) for me has been trying to prepare the Shelburne boys for a school year in the States next year. They will be on furlough for 1 year and will be going to public schools in Texas. The classroom environment here is a stark contrast to the classroom environment in the States. I am trying to help them prepare for that hoping that it will ease their move by providing a bit of a transitional classroom here. That is a very brief summary of my life as a teacher at MMS. Feel free to ask any questions about it. It is, after all, my job! :)
The title—the 3 teachers for the oldest students each have quite different names that we are called by the students: Jennifer is Jenny, I am Ms. Crystal, and Julie is Teachie-Weechie (or a variety of other names that come up while teaching history). Yes, we are each very different in our teaching methods and styles.

Short continuation of Spring Break

Wow I need to update…
Nairobi and Kitale--
We went to Nairobi from Masai Mara. Since we arrived in the late afternoon, we spent the night there. Julie and I really wished we could have stayed longer to really see the city, but we had plans to go to Kitale. After some confusion and a booked bus, we found a bus to take us to Kitale. That was a long bus ride. We arrived in Kitale late Sat. afternoon and went to the guest house to crash for the day. Sunday we went to the Children’s Home for church and spent the afternoon visiting with some of the house parents and playing with the children. I enjoy going there and having the chance to play with them. By Monday we were ready to get home! We got a private hire (taxi) to take us back to Mbale. We spent the day lying around and trying to get things together for the next week of school.

Eh! A leopard!

The 1st week of March we started our spring break with a team retreat at a missionary retreat place in Kenya. Mary Beth and I roomed together in the small cabin. It was a good, relaxing break. From there, Jennifer, Julie, and I went on to Nakuru to begin a safari. After some frustrations, confusion, and miscommunication we eventually arrived in Nakuru with an unspoken agreement to never hire that taxi driver again. He was and hour and a half late (even for Africans this is bad) and tried to rip us off once we arrived… in a somewhat distressed state we started out at Lake Nakuru National Park. Right away we saw monkeys, zebra, cape buffalo, all kinds of deer like animals (DLA), and TONS of birds that were mostly flamingoes and pelicans. The park and lake were beautiful! The van we traveled in had a pop top so that we could stand up inside and see better and take pictures. Later in the park we saw a giraffe, rhinos, and warthogs. On our second game drive there, the evening one, we passed a large herd of buffalo outside of our camp. Our driver said that you can only drive through there because they would attack you if you were walking. Nice to know. Then we saw a few baby baboons which we then realized were part of a really big troop of baboons. We watched them eat, groom, and play for a few minutes making up dialog to go along with it, especially while watching a small one and an even smaller one fight. Later we drove up by the lake and got out to take some pictures. That was really neat. There were birds all over the place near the water and in it and then there were DLAs, zebra, and buffalo all around the trees. George, our driver/guide, later saw the rhinos; which was way cool and way lucky. We saw one male lying beneath a tree far away from all other animals; he really looked sad. George later spotted a whole group of them, but they were far off the road, where we were not supposed to go. Being the great guide that he was, though, he took us over there anyway, but we had to be fast because he would’ve gotten a pretty hefty fine if he’d been caught. Later on we went back to our really nice tented cabin at a really nice lodge. Being there was a nice break. They’re used to people who travel to Africa to holiday. It’s hard to explain fully why it was such a nice change for us without sounding really negative towards the people here, so I won’t explain. It was just a nice change of atmosphere.
The next morning we set out for Masai Mara National Park, which borders Tanzania’s Serengheti National Park. A lot of the road there was really bad. It’s also the dry season there so it was also really, really dusty. Julie and I were often sliding our windows closed since we had to quickly shut them whenever another car would drive by slinging up lots of dust and it was way too hot to leave them shut. After a long drive and a questionable “road” to our lodge, we arrived at our lodge in Masai Mara for lunch. After lunch we set out on an evening game drive. There were many other vehicles then that really made it feel less like I was actually watching wild lions that really could’ve creamed one of the cars if they’d gotten annoyed enough, but they’re too lazy. We saw lots of animals there: elephants, zebra, wildebeest (which was neat because they are somewhat rare to see depending on the season since they migrate), giraffes, DLAs (it’s really difficult to say all of them that I saw since I don’t know many of the names), cheetah, lions (males and females two times for each), vultures, ostriches, a hyena, and a leopard. Because of the time of year, there were also a lot of young animals that were really cute. God is creative and his creation here is indescribably, breathtakingly, mesmerizingly beautiful! The sunset that evening in Masai Mara is one of the most awesome ones that I have ever seen. The green is greener and the blue is bluer and the sky is larger here. Sounds weird, but anyone who has been here will agree. It was such a wonderful experience to see the wild animals of the beautiful land of Africa. I had a lot of fun with my roommates as well; we bonded a lot over the trip and really enjoyed everything about safari. We were really excited about being lucky enough to see all the “big” animals. Usually people talk about “the big 5” but since we saw a leopard as well our guide said we saw “the big 6.” We saw all the big things we were looking for on our evening game drive except for a leopard. So that is what we searched for on our morning drive. After a while I spotted a small one. We were the only vehicle around, making it all the more special. In that regard, the number of other vehicles, the morning drive was more pleasant. Our wonderful driver got us really close to the lions, cheetahs, and leopard. One funny story—while watching the cheetahs on one side and the elephants on the other, one of the elephants got agitated and sounded his trunk in warning, startling my roommates. I wasn’t startled because my first thought (seriously, no exaggeration) was, “Roll Tide!!”… yeah… seems the sound effects UA uses are pretty good to evoke the same response while in the wild. Does that make me brainwashed?
All in all, our safari was an unforgettable, wonderful experience. We made many stories together, but we also spent a lot of time just soaking in God’s creation and silently worshipping Him.
To come: Nairobi, Kitale, school, and further observations on life in Uganda/ East Africa. Also, hopefully, I am going to Gulu with my students' family to visit family there. I am really excited about going up to Gulu to see some of the work going on there.