Once again it has been awhile since my last post. I had meant to do this final blog much sooner but as soon as I got into a somewhat regular schedule with work and just being back at home, before I knew it two weeks had flown by.
I'm going to go back and talk about those last three weeks in the village. There isn't much I can say about the teaching except that it continued to be an amazing experience. The children there are so eager to learn and it made teaching almost an easy thing to do. I say almost because there were definitely those days when language was a barrier or the kids just wouldn't concentrate on the lesson. I think teaching really taught me how to be a lot more outgoing and to worry less about what people think of what I'm saying or doing. God really worked in me through that and I think in a lot of ways got rid of my spirit of timidity. Not to say that I don't still get nervous when speaking in front of large groups of people but I have a knew idea of what it means to do things in the name of Christ and not be concerned with how the world views it. The lesson plans worked out perfectly because I finished up P4, P5, and P6's lessons about a week before I left. That gave me a week to help them prepare for their term 2 final exams. It was frustrating to leave before the exams and not be there to help them until the very end. I wish I could have been there to encourage them and to see how they did but I also know that God had a purpose in me not being there, whatever that may have been.
On the day that Vicky left, a married couple from Canada came and stayed for about a week. They were both a lot of fun and a strong Christian couple. Alaina, the wife, and I had a lot of fun joking around about all of the funny stuff that happens in a normal day in the village. Everything from having to use the squat toilet to the longhorn that could lick pretty much any part of its body. A thing I experienced on this trip and really enjoyed was meeting new people from all over the world. I can honestly say that I very much enjoyed every other volunteer I met on this trip but more importantly that God put the right people in my life right when I needed them. Those first two weekends I was there and met the two girls from Canada, who gave me such good advice and helped me get through those first few weeks, having Vicky there for three weeks and having someone so close to my age to relate my experience to, the Australian team which brought a lot of noise and fun, Gina who was older but a great person to talk to and had the nickname mama Gina for most of the trip, and then the Canadian couple, Joe and Alaina, who were very supportive and had a lot of great insights about the corruption that came to surface those last few weeks. I can see how God used all of those people to help me get through and make this trip amazing.
As I mentioned in my last blog, a lot of really shady things came about in the last few weeks I was in Uganda. My feelings of mistrust with the founder, Jim and his wife, Sarah, started off early in my trip. From the beginning I felt as if they were taking advantage of me. It wasn't anything huge just stuff like charging me 9,000 shillings to use the internet for an hour when I could use it at an internet cafe for 3,000 shillings for an hour and then telling me that to use it at the house was much less expensive and easier. They charged 20,000 shillings to use the washing machine, which is about $13. I just really felt like I was being lied to or tricked into believing something just so that they could make a little extra money on the side. When I first got there, Sarah kept saying how this was going to be my family for the next six weeks but I would never expect my family or anyone who invited me into their family to use me for the money they think I have just because I'm a westerner.
Eventually that feeling of being lied to grew stronger and more apparent as the weeks went by. Just looking around the village you can see that there are a lot of unfinished projects. So I started to wonder where the money really goes. I found out that a lot of the things Jim had said the money was going to it really wasn't. He told me that none of the children pay schools fees and I found out later that only the orphans don't pay school fees. That isn't a bad thing, but I didn't want to be lied to about it. Jim told me that all of the teachers are paid on a monthly basis and I found out later from the teachers that they are not being paid and that Jim considers them volunteers as well. It felt like every explanation we could come up with, as far as where the money was going, was found to not be what was really happening. I felt like I was constantly being lied to about what was going on.
It's a hard situation to be in because I can see where the money isn't going but I can only assume, and really have no proof, of where the money is going. The most obvious to me was the fact that Jim has 5 biological children and 13 adopted children and somehow they are all in boarding schools and living away from home. The question I had was how does this man, who had no real source of income, pay for 18 children to be sent to boarding schools? Again, I can only assume or make a guess based off of what I see, so this really is all speculation. There was also an incident with some clothes that the Australian team had left in Kampala and asked me to helped get to the village and distribute in the village. Well the clothes never ended up coming. Sarah had told Gina that the Australians had wanted Sarah to give those clothes to her children and then whatever they didn't want she would give to the kids in the village. Well I had spoken directly with a few girls on the team when they had asked me to help them and they said they wanted all of the clothes to be given to people in the village. So not only did I have my speculations but I also had small proof that they are taking things that are suppose to be given to the village and using it to support their own children. To me its as simple as stealing from the poor.
This kind of situation isn't uncommon for Uganda. It is a very power hungry country filled with a lot of corruption. Because the country is so corrupt, people often use that as an excuse for the theft and stealing that does go on, saying well its Uganda, thats how things are done. In a situation where Jim could be an example of doing what is right, he chooses to take the easy road and continue the cycle of corruption in that country. I do believe he has a good heart and a great vision for ACF but so much of what he is doing is off track and eventually its going to come back to him. The sad thing is that the people its going to hurt the most are the children in the village, who really have no idea of what they are being cheated of. It's not as though their needs aren't being met. Jim does just enough to get on the bare minimum.
Jim has also made his niece, Irene, and his nephew, Robert, involuntary servants in the village. These are two people I spent a lot of my time with and got to know both of them pretty well. Irene does the cooking and cleaning in the little house, with the help of a paid employee, Annett. Robert is what we would consider the handy man of ACF. He took care of all of the volunteers and made sure everyone was safe and well taken care of. Jim left basically all of the responsibility of the volunteers in the hands of Irene and Robert and yet doesn't pay them for what they do. They both came to Jim about 3 years ago. Jim told them both that he would be able to pay for their education. He ended up sending Irene to one semester of school and then told the both of them he didn't have the money to pay the fees. They have been working for Jim ever since. Irene is not allowed to leave the compound or to contact her family or friends. She hadn't spoken to anyone in her family for three years until recently when she was able to contact her father and tell him what was going on. Robert is kept in the village and expected to look after everything. The are both capable of leaving but what keeps them their is the fact that Jim is giving them food and a place to stay and if they were to go back to their families they would be a burden to them as far as another mouth to feed and body to find room for. Jim and Sarah also hinder them both from making money and Irene has to sell things in secret to save up money for tuition.
The most frustrating part of realizing all of that and now after being home for awhile is realizing that I have so many idea's of ways to help but no one in Uganda that I trust to be my liaison. I could raise money to send to the organization but I don't trust Jim that he would use the money for what it was raised for. A thing I am able to do is pray for this country and the people I do know specifically. I can put a face to the issue and I know specific things the country, village, people and issues I was involved with. Prayer is a powerful thing and its one of the few things I know I can do to help the people I've met.
It was very sad to realize that all of this was going on and definitely a huge challenge to still be friendly and loving towards both Jim and Sarah, but that situation in no way overshadowed the amazing experience I had with the children and teaching. Getting to know those kids was so wonderful and having that connection in Uganda has changed my life for the better. The people I met are ones I will never forget. Gina and I have had a few phone call conversations and I find myself happy just to hear her voice. I can see how God used my time in Uganda for His purpose. I now know the faces and names of children who are in need and I can pray for them specifically. I've also realized that I have the freedom to speak up and use my voice to bring awareness to what is going on in the village and to be a voice for those people that can't be a voice for themselves. That the reason anyone has anything, whether it be money or power, is to help those who don't have it. God has given each of us so many talents and blessings and He calls us to help those who don't have those blessings. Even if you aren't a Christian, the basic idea of it is a good humanitarian thing to do. God doesn't help those who help themselves, He gives those who help others the strength and courage to do so.
The plane ride home was uneventful. The eight hour layover in Amsterdam was VERY long but the flights went by quickly and before I knew it I was walking off the plane in Minnesota looking for my family. It's been wonderful being back home and getting back into the routine of working, seeing my family, and hanging out with my friends but I have also missed the kids and the work I was doing in Uganda. It's hard to see the excess that I live in and how most of what I experience everyday here would be a mind blowing experience for pretty much all of the people I met. I wonder often what the kids would think of a video game or how Robert or Irene would react to Target. It's fun to imagine what their reactions would be and humbling to realize how blessed I am to have more than I could ever need.
I hope this final blog was conclusive and thorough. I feel like I only touched the surface of what God did in my life during this trip and how what I experienced isn't like anything I've ever experienced before. When I tell people about my trip a question I often get asked is would I go back. Absolutely, yes I would go back and I've promised 120 children that I will be coming back someday and that I will not forget them. So someday, yes, I will be back and the whole experience is not going to be forgotten. I hope you enjoy the pictures I attached to the email. In case you have lost that link I will give it again: http://picasaweb.google.com/leabean22
Feel free to send me an email and share any comments, questions, concerns, or ideas you have about this blog and anything in it. I can not say thank you enough for all of the support, love, and prayers I have received from all of you. I could not have done this trip without it.
Love always,
Lea
