Sept. 29 - Experiencing LRA and hot Shower

If you are in Uganda very long you will hear about the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army).  It would be more accurately called the SRA – Satan’s Resistance Army.  It began in 1986 with Joseph Koney leading it.  Supposedly his plan was to overthrow the government of Uganda but with no clear plan, working in multiple countries (Sudan, Uganda, Congo) and abhorrent tactics they are merely a really nasty terrorist organization.  They kill, rape, and loot indiscriminantly.  Their worst practice is that of abducting children to become slaves and soldiers.  The children are physically, emotionally and sexually abused, become addicted to drugs and alcohol and are often forced to kill their own parents as their first act of terror.  Currently Joseph Koney has been driven out of Uganda and Sudan and is hiding in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast, undeveloped and heavily forested country.  He will be difficult to apprehend there but at least there are few children being abducted currently.  Hopefully the LRA is near its end.

Today we were invited to go on a 25K bike ride with a group of missionaries and the LRA children they work with.  The purpose of the ride was to commemorate a mass grave that was started 4 years ago for people in a local area who were murdered by the LRA in 2003.  They have been gradually collecting remains as they are found.  Some are identified, some are not.  There are 365 buried there so far.  The LRA children were abducted as young as 6 and today are young adults attempting to assimilate back into society.  As you can imagine this can be very difficult for them and often their own people don’t want them as they as afraid of them.  We spent a couple of hours clearing the graves of overgrown weeds, brushing off the concrete grave markers and installing a commemorative plaque on the cross memorial marking the area.  We had a short service and encouraged the young people to forgive and go on.  It was very moving.  There were people in the US doing a similar 25K ride to raise awareness and funds for the LRA children.  Many have escaped from the LRA in recent years as the LRA has been pushed back by national and international forces.

Andy stayed ‘home’ at Val’s house today.  We (Liz and Melissa) returned to find Val had made it back from the board meeting and we had a working shower complete with hot water!

Sept. 28 - Birding at Moses' home

We had an early morning bird walk at the lake that had been arranged for us.  Took a short ride in a very tippy wooden boat that road very low in the water with 6 of us aboard!  Then we were off to the village where Moses grew up.  Moses is the Ugandan head of CLIDE.  Moses is an extremely popular name here.  Moses’ parents wanted us to visit and deworm some of their animals.  They of course had to give us tea before we worked and lunch after.  They like to feed their guests well here!  We had left overs for dinner when we got ‘home’ and joined the Graham’s for late night games again.  Yesterday we learned how to play Pandemic, today it was Settlers of Catan.

Sept. 27 - Batman in Soroti

This was a frustrating day for Liz and a very productive day for Andy.  There were about 12 surgeries scheduled for today and by 11:00 no one had showed up.  We finally got a ‘tumor case’ (turned out to be flea bite allergy!) and a cat abscess in the afternoon.  Later found out this was a special market day and everyone had gone to the market without bothering to tell us.  Guess God thought Liz needed more instruction in patience.

Liz did pick up some more interesting facts about Uganda in conversations today.  There is a nurse here, Jennifer, who comes to CLIDE in the morning for devotions and brought us animals to work on.  Uganda has the highest AIDS rate of any African country and AIDS started in Uganda.  It is perpetuated by misconceptions about how it is spread and by an attitude of acceptance that it is a normal part of life.  The culture is still highly influenced by witchcraft which contributes to misunderstandings about AIDS, even in the church.  One in 13 women die in childbirth, primarily from bleeding complications and the death rate in infants is even higher.  The primary means of birth control for many people is still abortion although we have noticed many billboards advertising and encouraging family planning and various means of birth control methods.  At lunch Liz and Melissa stopped by a local craft store and upon talking with the proprietor discovered it is run as a fund raiser for Silent Voices, a Christian organization that seeks to educate about the dangers of abortion and encourage women to keep their babies.  They are allowed into all the local schools to educate the students.  They have been focusing on secondary schools but see the need to begin education in primary schools.

Andy began the day with batman (alias Paul) finishing the ladder so they could access the bat attic.  They were short on nails so made the ladder rungs 16” instead of 12” apart.  Andy continued to work on plumbing while batman disposed of bats and cleaned bat guano out of the attic.  Last count was 14 boxes of bat guano and counting!  Liz had the cleaning lady clean the room we are sleeping in as a fine mist of bat guano had covered everything.  As for Andy’s progress we now have a leak proof sink with running water, a shower that works that should have hot water by tomorrow and a toilet that does not flood the bathroom every time it is flushed.

Tonight we will join the Grahams for fried fish and chips and a game night.  The fish here is tilapia and you can get is filleted and breaded or the Ugandan way in which the entire fish is just dropped in hot oil and fried till crisp.  No breading or anything.  It is delicious.

Sept. 26 - Surgeries at CLIDE

We went to the CLIDE office early for devotions then had a full day of surgeries, 4 cats and 5 dogs.  Melissa, the Aussie vet student, worked with Liz all day.   Melissa is very enthusiastic about doing everything, especially surgeries, so Liz enjoyed mentoring her through several procedures.  She also installed all the IV catheters.  Good thing Liz brought her trusty headlamp as the power went out for a while during the thunder and lightening storm.  The rain and wind brought much appreciated cooling as it has been very hot and humid here.

We are staying in Val’s house is Soroti which is in much need of many repairs.  Andy is going to start on the plumbing as neither sink, tub, shower or hot water heater work and most of what does work leaks.   We have been taking cold ‘cup’ showers in the wash room.  His first project today, after diagnosing some of the problems, is to build a ladder so he can get into the attic where some of the plumbing is located.  Beware of bat guano and ticks!!!!  Dr. Val told us a great tick horror story tonight.  Many bats live in the attic and harbor large numbers of ticks.  When she arrived here back from the states in May she noticed as soon as the dogs entered the house that they had a lot of ticks on them.  Then she noticed ticks all over the floor around the dogs.  She thought “that is really quickly for the ticks to fall off the dogs.”  Then she sat on the sofa and noticed movement on the walls.  There were thousands of ticks pouring out of the attic and down the walls in search of the warm bodies they sensed in the house.  She tried sweeping up the ticks but they just kept coming.  She sprayed the walls with insecticide and they kept coming.  Finally she had to abandon the house for a period of time till the ‘tick bloom’ was over.  Tomorrow batman is coming to help Andy deal with the problem.

Sept. 25 - Waking up in Soroti

Awoke at 6;00 am to the sounds of roosters crowing and the maintenance man “mowing” the lawn with a machete.  That is how it is done here!

Had a low key day today; errand running and organizing supplies for the start of tomorrow’s surgeries.  Dr. Val will unfortunately be leaving us for a few days as the CLIDE (Community Livestock Integrated Development) organization she works with is having their annual board meeting in a town 2 hours away on Thursday and Friday.

We rode our first boda boda today, a single person taxi.  They come in motorized (motorcycle) and non-motorized (bicycle) versions.  We rented the later as it was cheaper and safer!

Sept 24 - Kampala to Soroti

The morning was errand running.  We had lunch at the mall in Kampaal.  Liz got her first salad since arriving in Uganda, complete with lettuce and everything!  It will likely be her last salad for the next 3 weeks.  We set off for the 8 hour drive to Soroti at 4:00.  At dusk the torrential rains began, at times blowing horizontally and flooding the road.  Liz was wishing she were not in the front seat where she could see, or rather not see, the road ahead.  Visibility for her was 1 to 3 feet!  The blessings were: Christian music was playing helping her concentrate on praying we would stay on the road and survive; Val assured her Africans can see better in the dark than muzungus due to more rods and cones on their retina; the almost continuous lightening frequently lit the road in front of us.  We finally arrived, exhausted, at midnight.  We being Val, Andy, Liz, Melissa (an Australian vet student here for a year), Daniel and Rachel (a vet and his wife just arrived for a 3 year term in Soroti), and their new puppy, Lolli.  Lolli is a black and white fluff ball that had 2 of her toes amputated by Dr. Daniel due to a dog bite.  She is named after the Australian term for hard candy.  We don’t think she’ll be much of a watch dog but she is adorable.

Ugandanisms:

-         lines on the road, when paved, are merely suggestions

-         Di Sexual Saloon = beauty salon for both sexes

-         Your Welcome = a greeting, not a reply to thank you

-         It is OK to answer your cell phone at any time, including lectures, but is considered rude to verbally interrupt someone while they are eating.

-         Pure glucose is advertised as ‘what energizes Uganda’, kind of like health food.

Sept. 23 - Sunday Worship and Travel

Today is Sunday.  One of our team members, Kathy, and the vet students returned to Kampala early this morning as Kathy had to catch a plane to Kenya this afternoon.  The rest of the team stayed in Namayingo to share at 2 local churches.  We were the guest pastors for the services.  Andy, Liz, Sara and, Hillary went to a small church that had recently formed.  There were about 40 people in service.  The praise and singing is amazing.  Africans really know how to worship.  The only musical instrument was a drum but they are great singers and the ladies love to ululate (a noise made with the tongue, kind of like a war cry).  A couple of people gave their testimony about how God was working in their lives.  We all shared our testimonies and something from God’s Word.  Andy and I did a devotion on how marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship with the church.  It was really fun and well received.  Next they had us pray over 2 ladies who were sick and all the school children so they would do well in their studies.  It was a great time of fellowship.

In the afternoon we took a very short boat ride on Lake Victoria as it was very windy with whitecaps on the water.  Then we drove the 5 hour trip back to Kampala.  Tomorrow the other 2 members of our team, Sara and Hilary, leave. Several other missionaries and we head to Soroti with Dr. Val to start work there.

I am sorry you are receiving the last few days late but we have again had no internet access for 4 days. 

Sept 22 - Second day in the villages around Namayingo

Another day in which God kept us very busy.  We got up early for Morning Glory.  Andy had the privilege of giving the devotion today, “Communing With the Creator Through the Creation”.  Then we were off to another 5 sites to treat many cows, goats, sheep, pigs, dogs and a few cats.  Liz is getting more comfortable diagnosing exotic cow diseases such as anaplasmosis, trypanosomiasis, East Coast Fever and, her favorite, lumpy skin disease (yes it’s really called that).  We shared the Gospel at each site and many made decisions for Christ. 

Sept 21 - First day in the field

Sept 21^st:  Up early for ‘Morning Glory”, a time of worship and praise.  Liz had the privilege of leading the devotion ‘Living in Anticipation of Heaven”.  Then we were off to the outreach sites.  We split into groups and visited 5 sites where we treated several hundred cows, goats, sheep, pigs and dogs.  We had lots of opportunity to share God’s Word.  One group met next to the primary school.  Apparently the students were so distracted the teachers finally brought them out and the team preached to all 900 of them for an hour.  Many made decisions for Christ.  The place we went to in the afternoon was at first not welcoming.  They had had a bad experience 2 years previous when some government vets vaccinated their animals with a bad vaccine and many of them died.  We spent a long time talking with them and finally they began to bring the animals.  We are sure God orchestrated that one too as with not so many animals to treat half our group went through town to evangelize.  Several made decisions for Christ and a number of Muslims were present and heard the Word of God.  We had another wonderful time of praise and worship in the evening, a late dinner, and yes, to bed late again!

Prayer Request:

-         praise for the Christian community God provided for us here.

-         praise for the many people who made decisions for Christ today.  Pray they will be discipled by the local church and body of believers.

-         Continue to pray for repair of Val’s car.

-         Continue to pray for the flooding and mud conditions in Karamoja.

Sept 20 - On the Road to Namayingo

This morning we packed supplies for the outreach clinics and Dr. Val gave us 2 hours of instruction on tropical diseases we might see.  In the afternoon about 40 of us set off for the 5 ½ hour drive to Namayingo.  About half were students and the rest   national vets and us Muzungos (what white people are called}.  The last 1 ½ hours of the drive was over an incredibly bad dirt road.  We were told it was really only 30 KM but it sure seemed like more!  Praise – God provided us with a welcoming church for the students to sleep in.  They had a wonderful dinner prepared when we arrived and we had a great time of worship.  Again, to bed late.

Sept 19 - Symposium, Last day of Lectures and Labs

Sept. 19^th:  This was our last day of lectures and labs with the students.  Dr. Gibson presented on opthalmology, Dr. Sara presented on parasites and Liz got to do 2 short lectures, the first on minor surgical procedures.  The second was her favorite lecture, Our Biblical Responsibility to Animals.  It uses lots of Scripture and goes over mans responsibility to care for the animals and how God uses animals throughout the Biblical stories.  It also brings in the new heaven and earth and the animals present there and why Jesus is represented by both a lamb and a lion.  The students really liked it and several asked for copies.  Pray that it would speak to the hearts of those who are not saved and be used as a witnessing tool by those taking a copy.

In the afternoon we did labs again.  Our group did 4 cat surgeries and installed lots of IV catheters in dogs.  Most of the students had never done any hands on procedures and they loved it and thanked us profusely.  It was very humbling as to us the procedures were very basic but to them they were exciting.  We again got done late, 8pm, had a late dinner and went to bed very tired but glad we had a productive day and opportunities to share Scripture and prayer with the students.

Prayer Requests:

-         Val’s car

-         Tomorrow we travel to a village to do outreach.  There are some problems with accommodations and the partnership with the local church.  Please pray that these issues will be resolved before we get there, that Satan will be rebuked as we are sure he is behind it, and for good relations with the local community of believers.

Sept 18 - Symposium Day 2

Today was our second day of lectures and labs.  This morning Sara presented on gastrointestinal surgery, Liz did spay and neuter and Hillary did fluid therapy.  In the afternoon we split the 30 students into 3 groups for the practical labs.  Liz took a group to practice spay and neuter.  We only did 1 neuter as the spay turned out to be already spayed but it had a huge hematoma on its ear.  The students had never seen that repaired before and were quite excited about it.  A client brought in a dog with double rear dewclaws that needed removal so the students got to do that also.  We practiced surgical knots, putting in IV catheters and injecting in the rear leg vein.  We got done at 7:30pm, had a late dinner and retired exhausted but satisfied with what the students learned.

Prayer Requests:

-         The Muslim students did come back! 

-         Continue to pray for Val’s car to get fixed.

-         The flooding situation in Karamoja is continuing and it is destroying a lot of their crops so there will be a food shortage this winter.

Sept 17 - First day of UCVM Symposium

Today was the first day of the UCVM (Ugandan Christian Veterinary Mission) Symposium.  We spent the morning getting to know everyone, being oriented to UCVM and finishing details of the flow of lectures.  In the afternoon Liz presented a lecture, Communicating With Clients, and Dr. Sara Phipps presented on urinary tract surgery.  Both lectures were well received and the students asked lots of questions.  Liz was able to introduce herself and share a little about why she accepted Jesus while in university. There are no restrictions on sharing the Gospel here.  She noted there were several Muslim students there among the 40 or so total students.  There were also some students from Sudan and Somalia.  We closed out our evening after dinner with a short lesson in Lugandan greetings.  English and Lugandan are the most common languages here in the capitol city of Kampala.

Prayer Requests: 

• continue to pray for Val’s Jeep to get fixed
• continue to pray for the rains and road conditions in Karamoja, that we would be able to get out there when we need to in about 2 weeks.-         Pray for the non-Christian students we are lecturing to, that we would have many opportunities to share the Gospel with them.  Pray especially that the Muslim students would continue to attend.
• Pray that the Christian students will be strengthened in their faith and be bold to witness for Jesus.

Unfortunately we do not always have internet service so we post on the Blog when we can!

Sept 15 -16 - Rafting the Nile

Spent 2 days rafting the Nile with the 3 other US vets who came.  It was fun, exciting, challenging and at times a little heart throbbing!  The surface of the Nile ranged from flat and smooth to grade 5 heart pounding rapids. The weather ranged from 80F and sunny to driving wind and rain and so cold some of us could not stop shaking.  The solution was to get out of the boat and swim along in the water as Nile water was warmer than the air!  Never thought you could be cold in equatorial Africa!  We will post some photos.  We spent the night at a small, rustic ‘resort’ on an island in the middle of the Nile.  That was really cool.  At the end of the second day we spent 2 ½ hours on the bus ride back to Kampala.

Sept. 14 - Of to Jinja and the "Source of the Nile"

Got up early and just the 2 of us set out for Jinja where the Nile begins at Lake Victoria. This was a belated anniversary get away.  We had our 32^nd anniversary on August 30^th but were too busy to do anything special.  We stopped on the way to Jinja at Mabira Forest preserve and hired a birding guide to find the little critters for us in the thick rain forest.  Then we went to the Nile and hired a boat for an hour tour of the Nile.  The birding was great and the guide very helpful.  We saw some magnificent kingfishers along with a host of other water and shore birds.  Our favorite is the little Malachite Kingfisher which is an almost unbelievable brilliant blue on its back and head, a great example of God’s creativity and sense of beauty. We did note that the other crewman had to bale out the bottom of the aged wooden craft every so often.  They gave us life vests to wear that did not buckle up.  Guess they’re required but don’t specify they have to function!  Good news is the Nile is warm and we both know how to swim which is good as tomorrow we raft the Nile.  The 3 other women vets from America will join us for a time of getting to know each other and bonding before the conference (and just plain old fun).

Prayer requests:

-         Val’s jeep is broken down in the remote NE and it is hard to find a reliable mechanic there.  Could take weeks to order parts and fix it.  Pray for a speedy and correct fix both for her and us.  It was to be our transport to and around the remote northeastern area where Val works

-         Rest and refreshment for Val.  She has had continual visitors lately, had to take public transportation from Karamoja to Kampala (a very uncomfortabl,e long day trip) and has been dealing with difficult conditions in Karamoja.

-         The difficult conditions are flooding and mud. All the roads are unpaved.  They are having unusually heavy rains here but especially in Karaamoja.  At one point they ended up in waist high water in a hired vehicle and had to make their way out on foot and leave the vehicle.  Pray we will be able to make it out to Karamoja for the 2 ½ weeks we planned to spend working there with Val.  Pray for the people in that area as it is making their lives even more difficult.

 

Sept 10–12 = Travel Days

Sept. 10^th – 12^th were travel days.  After an uneventful flight to Houston, Texas, we had a wonderful overnight visit with our friends, Rosemary and Greg Przybyszewski.  We got to lounge in their pool and eat really good food! 

The afternoon of the 11^th we left on the long flight to Entebbe, Uganda.  The first 2 legs went smoothly.  In Nairobi we had to change to a different airlines which required getting a ‘passing through’ VISA ($), collecting our luggage, going through customs, checking our luggage and catching our last flight.  We had 2 hours to accomplish all that.  Thank you all for praying, we certainly needed it.  We were praying the whole time.  VISA getting went OK, customs was fast, luggage retrieval was slow, finding the ticket counter was confusing (we finally had a lady offer to take us there, for a tip of course but it was well worth it!).  When we got to the ticket counter to check our bags we were told the flight had already closed (by a matter of minutes) and they could not get our bags aboard.  We must have looked really forlorn at the prospect of spending the night in the airport so the agent went and talked to her supervisor and he OK’d loading our luggage late.   Also discovered Kenya Air does not have the same baggage allowance as most other airlines (more $$).  With a few minutes to spare we made it aboard – praise God!  We arrived in Entebbe at 11:45pm.