Two Goals

I really have two main objectives with this blog. The first is to tell you I have updated the "Photos" link on the left hand side of this blog. Ok, that was easy enough.

Goal number two is to convey to everyone back in the US what a Ugandan pothole is. It seems most people, including myself, get frustrated when MoDOT is resurfacing Interstate 44 or repairing potholes on Highway 40 near 141. I hope to never again be ungrateful for the US highway system. See Exhibit A:


I took this photo in downtown Kampala, the Washington DC of Uganda. This monster wouldn't have been that noticeable were it not for the Land Rover driving through it on three wheels. That I hadn't seen yet. It's common to hear scrapes and bumps as cars try to navigate the roads, but for a Land Rover to have difficulty is somewhat momentous.

There are two basic roads in Uganda, paved and dirt. Some of the dirt roads are actually quite nice because they can be regraded every couple of years once they become heavily rutted. Paved roads are nice for a while but deteriorate within a couple of years I am told. I'm guessing the reason they go bad so quickly is because the pavement is about 2-3 cm thick. Seriously. A road is being paved within walking distance from our house. And let's just say there isn't really a strong rock base under the pavement layer. So, after a couple of years of cars, SUVs, livestock, and petrol tankers, the roads eventually give way. Unfortunately, because the road is paved, the pothole has much steeper sides than a regular, unpaved ditch/pothole, which makes them more difficult to navigate.

Brent, if you want a job over here when you finish your masters, there's plenty of opportunity!

Our House

It seems to me that a big part of knowing someone is visiting their home and seeing where they spend a sizeable chunk of their day. So since we can’t have you over, I thought you might like to see some pictures of our house instead. And, for all of my engineering-minded friends, I’ve included a floor plan from AutoCAD as well (a previous intern drew the plans). FYI, if you click on the pictures, they should pop up full-size in a new window.

Amanda and I live in the EMI office compound. This picture shows the front of the house, which faces northeast. The house construction is typical of larger buildings in Uganda: concrete strip footing, concrete block walls, concrete floors, and a clay tile roof. The tan parts of the exterior are actually a sprayed on sand-mixture that is quite sharp. On the inside, the floors are ceramic tile and the walls/ceilings are smooth, white, plaster. The house is big but seems poorly planned because there is a lot of wasted space, like in the center of the kitchens. The utilities in Uganda are plagued with problems. The 240 volt electricity is on a 24 hour on/off rotation for Kampala, although we are quite fortunate on our side of “the hill” because our power is on more frequently than it is supposed to be. The water that comes out of the tap is “poison water” according to Amanda, but I think it tastes fine after we run it through ceramic filters and remove all of the bacteria.

It is very common for many people to live in one room that is approximately 2.5m x 2.5m. And by many people, I mean 5-8 people, a mom, dad, kids, babies, uncles, whoever (this is first-hand information, by the way). So Amanda and I are quite blessed to have our own bedroom and bathroom, even if we have to walk outside to go between them. The first picture shows the exterior of our “complex.” From left to right, the doors are for our living room, bedroom, and bathroom (we don’t really use the living room much). The second picture is of our bedroom. Right now we’re sleeping on two twin beds that are pushed together. It’s kind of a bummer because we can feel the sideboards but we’ll be getting a full size mattress soon. The mosquito net is for real, too. The first night we didn’t tuck it in and Amanda got bit seven times, so now we tuck it in every night after we both climb into bed. The shelf is nice and very useful. Yeah, not much else to say about that. And to the right of the shelf is our clothes rack, even though it’s not visible in the picture. We both keep our underwear (called “pants” in Uganda), t-shirts, socks, etc, in our carry-on bags underneath the bed. The bathroom looks quite a bit different than what you and I are used to, but it feels luxurious from my perspective. It has a flush toilet and a hot water heater for the shower. We keep our “sink” stuff in a purple shelf on the left hand side and our “shower” stuff in the shelf on the right. It’s kind of important that you keep the toilet seat cover down when you shower or else it looks like a young male with poor aim tried to go to the bathroom. We were a bit paranoid taking our first few showers because we really tried to avoid getting the water in our mouth. We would blow air out of our mouths in an attempt to keep the water from getting in, but I think that's mostly stopped now. The only other comment I would like to make regards the toilets. So in America, toilet manufacturers have to design toilets to use as little water as possible. I remember reading a story about people going to estate sales specifically to buy toilets that used more water becuase they provided a more powerful flush. Well, here in Uganda, there is no apparent effort to conserve the amount of water that is flushed down the commode. However, these toilets routinely don't flush everything away. Fortunately, I'm passed the point of embarassment now because the same problem seems to affect everyone.

Ok, so here are AutoCAD drawings as promised. The first picture here is of the ground floor. The Hoyt family (Steve is the eMi EA architect) lives in the dotted area. Amanda and I live in the area that is diagonally hatched. The other interns live in the other outside dorm area. The second floor is primarily eMi offices, with the exception of Janet’s bedroom suite. Amanda and I have also moved all of our cooking stuff (which is basically bread, peanut butter, and bananas) to this upstairs kitchen as well. I’ll take some pictures of the office area in a couple of weeks once the orientation activities are finished.

Thanks for dropping by!

My First Week of School

School is wonderful! I enjoy the beautiful setting, my coworkers’ diverse personalities, and my inquisitive fifth graders. If you’ve seen the Heritage website (see sidebar), it looks just like the pictures. It’s a tropical, resort-like campus, with palm trees and beautiful flowers growing throughout. Stone walkways and water channels flow through the main courtyard (David said he felt like he was at a miniature golf course). My classroom is approximately 9 m by 12 m and has cement walls and a tile floor. I packed my suitcases full of school supplies and some decorations so I spiced it up a little bit. There aren’t any hallways at Heritage, just sidewalks connecting classrooms that are accessed like motel rooms. My door and windows remain open during the day to let the breeze blow through. The windows along the back wall provide a view of nearby houses and hills (Kampala is called the “City of Seven Hills”). There’s no AC, but the weather has been quite pleasant.

Of course, having a classroom open to the outdoors allows all sorts of interesting critters to come wandering in. I can handle the small spiders and ants, and so far the wasps have not stung me or a student. I don’t mind the harmless geckos (they eat mosquitoes!) but the bats are rather unnerving. I’ve only had two and fortunately they were lying on the floor, barely alive. The room has been sprayed but I still see droppings. My morning routine involves me swinging the door open like I’m on a police raid and checking the room for perpetrators. I also keep watch for snakes, particularly cobras, since one was found last December. Fortunately, Josh, a reptile expert and our eMi intern coordinator, was called in to “take care” of it. (He showed me the skin of a different six foot cobra he found. But no worries, Sharon gave me a snakebite kit.)

Currently, I have one boy and five girls in my fifth grade class. It’s so neat to have such a variety of ethnicities in my class-one Ugandan, two girls from Korea, one Ugandan/Canadian, a Ugandan/American raised in Uganda, another Indian/American raised in Uganda. And of course it’s been amazing to only have six students! It’s a teachers dream! I have time to edit their writing, to grade papers on the spot, and to give each one the individual attention they need. The room is silent when they work; it’s almost eerie after teaching first graders!

I have a lot of planning time and I love it. The children have a 15 min. morning recess, 45 min. for lunch and recess, and a 15 min. afternoon recess. They also have two 45 min. specials a day! We are quite pressed for time when they’re in class-I teach Bible, Language Arts, Grammar, Spelling, Science, Social Studies, Math and Health! Needless to say, we don’t get to all these in one day so I alternate Grammar/Spelling and Science/SS/Health. The students have homework each night and are actually excited about it! (I didn’t give homework on the first day of school and they were disappointed!)

It’s freeing to be able to openly share my relationship with Christ to my students and to pray together as a class. My students are curious and have asked questions about suffering, dying, heaven, end times, and the origin of the earth, all within the first four days of school! I’m excited to restudy and teach how God’s redemptive plan is shown in the Old Testament. A verse I read recently illustrated this: “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” Nehemiah 9:17b I’m also looking forward to studying the geography, history and culture of Africa. We have a whole text book devoted to it.

Because of all my planning time I don’t need to work too late. It’s nice having energy when I come home and not being completely exhausted! David works until five so I’ve started tutoring several Ugandan children after school. One of our guards here lost both of his parents and is now raising his 4 brothers and sisters. School fees are quite expensive so his youngest brother missed a few terms. I’m working with him and his two friends, who speak a little English, as much as I can. Most Ugandans speak Luganda or Swahili (or another one of 45 languages depending on their tribe). English is usually a second language so you have to speak slowly, enunciate clearly, and listen carefully.

Not having a car has its downsides but we’re making do. In reality, I would never want to drive here anyway. School is about a 35 min. walk--up a big hill, down a big hill, flat for a bit, and then down a smaller hill (David has been trekking along with me). On this walk we see chickens and chicks, cows, pigs and piglets, and goats. My favorite part of the walk is seeing all of the kids. They usually chant and scream “Mzungu! How are you?” which is probably the only English they know. If we say anything other than “I am fine. How are you?” they usually run away laughing and screaming. The cutest thing was when this little boy in a blue school uniform ran up to David and just started hugging his leg. I wanted to cry it was so precious. I started off walking but now that school has started I catch rides in the morning and pay for a boda boda ride home. Riding a boda is nuts because I never even rode a motorcycle in the States (not even David’s!) and now I’m riding them here without a helmet on bumpy, hilly roads. How ironic!

Well, that’s all for now. Thank you for the encouraging emails, prayers and support! We love you and miss you all. We are grateful for you sending us here.

-Amanda

I’ve come across this Psalms several times recently and wanted to share it with you:

Psalms 18

I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. 1-3

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of the deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought my out of a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. 16-19

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. 30-33

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! 46
Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.49

Greetings from Africa!

Amanda and I have been in Uganda for almost a week now and are excited to share an update now that life is becoming a bit more consistent. This post is rather long since there have been so many new experiences since we arrived. In the future we hope to provide more regular, shorter posts.

Our journey to Africa began on Wednesday, August 2, when we left St. Louis at 12:30 PM. We flew to New York (JFK), through London (Heathrow), and arrived at Entebbe about 6 AM local time. The only major problem with the trip occurred when we were checking in at the American Airlines counter in St. Louis. We were supposed to have a baggage waiver for Amanda to take an extra piece of luggage filled with school supplies, but the waiver did not show up in the computer system. Neither the check-in guy nor his boss was willing to budge after 25 minutes of discussions that eventually included the travel agent. So, if anyone wants to borrow my acoustic guitar for the next 10 months and you’re in the St. Louis area, go ahead, because it's still there. After that fiasco, we spent the second and third legs of our trip aboard the luxurious British Airways. These people were awesome. The flight attendants had cool British accents, we got to fly in a huge 747-400, and there were individual TV screens where I could constantly monitor our altitude, location, speed, and outside temperature or watch a movie. They served dinner, breakfast, and even had complimentary beer for others who may not have signed their “no-drinking” clause yet. During our 12 hour layover in London, Amanda and I met up with Justin and Jenny (Elliott) Alexander and took a whirlwind tour of the city, taking in Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Big Ben, and the Thames river.

In Entebbe, we stepped off the plane and walked across the tarmac into the airport. Amanda commented on how weird it was to fly into a mostly dark airport and her disappointment that no giraffes were on the premise. (This is related to the awful movie “Out of Africa” where Robert Redford flies around and sees various forms of wildlife from his bi-plane.) We passed through immigration very quickly because we already obtained our visas from the Ugandan Embassy in Washington, DC. We were also very thankful all of our luggage arrived because other EMI people’s luggage has been lost for days. Josh, the intern coordinator, arrived minutes after we walked to the pick-up area and helped us get loaded up into a Mitsubishi Pajero. (In the future, I hope to describe the transportation system in Uganda in more detail.)

The trip from Entebbe to Kampala only took an hour but provided a more informative experience than everything else I read on the internet or saw in a book prior to landing. Leaving the airport, the road was well paved and nearly vacant, except for a sporadic guard walking with their shotgun or rifle over their shoulder on the way home from their night shift. Ugandan retail buildings, or what Americans would call shacks, became more prevalent just kilometers (metric!) from the airport. Amanda and I enjoyed the fresh air and lush scenery until we neared Kampala.

Kampala was mayhem. Potholes are so large and frequent that it may be more accurate to think of the remaining asphalt as islands in the middle of a red clay/sand sea. The smog and pollution emitted from the tailpipes of the taxis (vans here) made me laugh at the red air quality warnings in St. Louis. Bodas (50-90 cc motorcycle taxis) dart in and out of traffic. I think the drivers view larger vehicles as objects to bump off of, like when little kids go bowling, not fear. People are walking everywhere. Others ride 70’s-era Schwinn style bicycles with skinny tires, despite conditions that are similar to a mountain bike trail. Some people use their bike as a wheelbarrow or cart. So far, we’ve seen bikes loaded down with twenty 1” x 8” x 14’ boards (Ugandans still use the standard system for lumber), an eighty pound bag of charcoal, cases of Coke, and trays of eggs. Now imagine all of these people and vehicles traveling on these roads and competing for position without any traffic signals, lanes, or rules. It's crazy.
We eventually made it to the EMI office in the “suburbs” of Kampala. The outskirts of Kampala aren't like Ladue or Chesterfield or the country club in Rolla. Our neighborhood, Muyenga, is a maze of twisted, rutted roads lined with some homes made of scrap lumber, cardboard, tarps, and corrugated metal and others made of concrete, glass, and clay-tile roofs. There’s not much in between. We arrived at the office early enough to see the sun coming up. After a quick tour of the office, we met some of the staff and summer interns before having a time of worship at 8:30 AM. One of the four summer interns was departing that day, so the group prayed for him.

Since then we’ve done many other things that will probably comprise entire blog posts later, but hopefully this short list will suffice until then: we took a 14-passenger van/taxi to the city of Kampala, we’ve eaten by candlelight once and lost power many times (5?), we worshipped at a local church with Ugandans 8 hours before our church services in the central time zone, we met a former PCA pastor teaching at the Westminster Theological College (EMI will be doing a master plan for them this fall!), we ate using our hands at an Ethiopian restaurant, Amanda has prepared her “Grade 5” classroom, we played soccer with local kids, I’ve begun to acquaint myself with the office and past projects, Amanda rode her first boda (much to the pleasure of the other male interns and myself), and I drove my first boda (Seriously! The driver, Tony, stopped the bike after 100 meters, got off, and said, “Mzungu, you drive?!” So helmet-less, license-less, insurance-less, and protective clothing-less, I drove myself home with Tony on the back).

Amanda wrote a paragraph in an email that I want to include so you can “hear” her voice on Uganda…“Getting to church was no easy thing however. James, an intern who just left, took David and me on our first ‘taxi’ experience. We had to walk a half-mile in the rain to catch the taxi. I was wearing a long skirt and flip flops, walking on the hilly, muddy red dirt road, trying not to step in one of the gazillion ‘craters’ filled with water. It was slippery and I had to hold David's arm to prevent myself from falling. (We're not supposed to hold hands here--it means you’re sleeping together.) We finally caught a taxi, which was an old, beat up, Toyta Hiacz with about 4 rows of beat up seats, with rust and mud all over the floor. Driving here is NUTS; most of the roads are awful! Drivers are very aggressive and boda-boda (motorcycle) drivers whiz all around. You are constantly bouncing up and down from the huge potholes in the road. It's rather unnerving but I guess you get used to it!”

As a quick note, some people have had problems calling us here in the office using calling cards. I will work to figure out the procedure you can use to call us and post or email the information as soon as possible. We love and miss you!

Love,
David and Amanda

*Since I can't figure out how to insert a photo caption, EMI intern James Dudt took the picture of Amanda eating the Ethiopian food (redboxuganda.blogspot.com)

Hello! I'm glad you found us!

Many of you may remember that on this day two years ago (July 31, 2004), Amanda and I were facing each other at Chesterfield Presbyterian Church beginning our life as a husband and wife. Since then, Amanda taught two years of school and I finished two degrees at UMR. Of course, that sentence doesn't capture the joys and difficulties we encountered, but that will have to do for now, as we're leaving for Uganda in less than 48 hours!

Because everyone seems to love pictures and I need to figure out how to use Flickr, click the link labeled "Pictures" for some recent photos from Rolla and St. Louis.

David