SCARED

Oh my gosh, I just had the all time scariest moment that I've had so far.  Let me preface this by saying I was not in mortal danger.

So, last weekend some of the security guards were showing me the "queen" of this type of ant that is here.  They're called white ants.  Don't be fooled though these are nothing like our ants.  They are as big as grasshoppers and have huge, loud wings.  Anyhow, the queen was absolutely disgusting because it was laying eggs.

Anyhow, I got past that.  Then tonight I was sitting with some of the girls here at the center.  It started getting dark and as I began to leave I noticed this bug flying near the light, one girl told me "white ants, they've very nice to eat."  No thanks, I chuckled and then kept walking.  So I get to my room and turn on the lights.  And there it was, one big white ant flying around my light.  "HELL  NO" I thought, and maybe said.  I turned on the light to the other room (my house is two rooms) and turned mine off.  I fooled it and it left.  Shut the door and took a shower.

So I get out of the shower and I'm pretty happy, it's been a good day.  I'm ready to go get dinner (it's almost 8pm) and I open the door... to find hundreds of white ants flying all around that room.  I slammed the door shut, mumbled some expletives like "oh golly this is bad" and "gee wiz, get me the heck out of here."  (it may not have been in those exact terms but you get the point)

But it didn't end there, they started coming into my room under the door!  Fluttering around making all kinds of terrible noises.  I hit the lights and dove for cover under my mosquito net (which I've never been as happy to have).  As I sat there trembling I heard these bugs everywhere around me.  I slowly heard the sounds diminish as they followed the light and left under the door at which point I jumped out of my hiding place, grabbed a blanket and threw it over the base of the door.

Whew, I think they're all out, except for the fact that above the door is a window type thing that you can't close. But they seem to like the light so I thought I was in the clear and that they'd stay in that room.  No.  Of course the power chose now to go out.  So that room is dark.

I am now writing this from under a big blanket to block the light of the computer although it must be 100 degrees in my room.

Oh my gosh.

Drunkeness

This morning's Bible study was focused around Romans 12:1-2 which led to the discussion about people in the local communities and if they are living to be sacrifices for God and following God's will.  It was brought up that in the two villages where the current group of women are from, there is a huge alcohol problem.  The man speaking spoke of a time he was in both the villages in the morning and the majority of men were drunk/drinking already and sitting around doing nothing.  These men leave the women to do all the work.  And it's true, the women are the ones who not only take care of the children, wash the clothes, clean the house but also earn all of the money for the family by digging in the fields all day while many of the husbands drink away the families food money.

This is so completely opposite of our masculine philosophy of men being the bread winners, being productive, providing for their family.  In single mother homes it's hard for the women to take on the role of both man and woman but here most women are like single mothers even if their husband is still married to them.

This is obviously not to say that there aren't good men here, there certainly are.  But what most of the women that come to the center are facing is this: either they have no husband, or their husband is unreliable to share the burden of taking care of the family.

Josephine looking through the photo album I brought of her and her kids.

Matthew receiving a book that Rachel sent for him.

This weekend was really great; since the women haven’t come to the center yet and the staff was gone I got to spend a lot of time with the two girls who motivated me to start this scholarship program.  On Saturday Josephine and I went into town and bought a bicycle (with money two of my friends from school gave me) for her so that she can travel to school (which is more than an hour’s walk) easier.  I also got to discuss with them the difficulties that are having with going to school, like not having enough food or money to buy things like soap and ways that we can fix that.

On Sunday I went to church, which isn’t called church here, it’s called “prayer.”  So it’s not “are you going to church?” but rather, “are you going to pray?”  The service is actually held in the pavilion on our compound so that’s convenient.  There is an organization here called “Far Reaching Ministries,” they work with orphanages, churches (including the one here) and other things.  Anyhow, there are always one or two Americans here in Kitgum with them; there is a new family since last time I was here, they have two biological kids and have adopted 7 or 8 Ugandan children.  I liked them immediately. 

On another note, if you were reading my blog last time you may remember that I lost my Bible here.  Well, guess what showed up this morning?  Yeah, my bible.  And better yet, I left my new Bible in Egypt so once again I was Bible-less in Kitgum.  It’s awesome to have it back, funny how those things work.

Also, it's rainy season now so it's rained a little bit about every other day.  Last time I think it rained once the whole time we were here!