Just a Quick Note

It is midnight on Monday, and in the morning I will surrender the computer to Chris in the St. Kizito office. I want to offer one last message before I head home, but it will be brief since I have to be up very early.

Today I left Gulu and traveled with Chris, George Mike,and Nelly from our staff, along with my friend Teddy, to a small town called Nebbi. It is in the northwestern part of Uganda, near the Nile River and the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the region surrounding Nebbi, there are about 20 St. Kizito students, along wtih a staff member named Cissy.

The journey here was a bit long - about 3 hours. But it was a relatively smooth and comfortable trip, on roads that were thankfully not so bad. Viewing more of the Ugandan countryside was a real treat, as usual. And I will never cease to find amusement in the many vendors who crowd the windows of vehicles that stop in Pakwatch and other trading centers. We were offered (somewhat forcefully, I might add) everything from salt cured fish to groundnuts to carved toys and small stools. I have often been told that it is best to ignore these people selling what they can to make a meager living. But it's really hard to ignore someone who is reaching through the window insisting that you buy their offerings. I was rather pround of myself for getting away with only a small packet of groundnuts.

We arrived in Nebbi in the afternoon and went to Nebbitown Senior Secondary School where Cissy had gathered and fed most of our students in this region. I feel compelled to say that Cissy is quite a wonderful woman. It is so very obvious that she really cares about the students and spends time with them. For the second year in a row, the gathering was well planned and the students were prepared to offer songs, poems, and other creative things. One of the guardians, Jane, offered beautiful opening and closing prayers for the event, and in between them we talked, shared, and heard words of encouragement from our own staff and Caesar, the Deputy Headmaster of the school.

Caesar was a very interesting man, and offered some wonderful ideas about working with the students and the parents to help improve their educations and performance, as well as to help them deal with some of their struggles. In fact, it has really impressed me how willing schools and government education officials are to work in partnership in the northern part of Uganda to help rebuild education and stability for the youth in school. But she is now in school, and had a wonderful bright smile today that she was not shy about using. I pray that she is able to continue to move past her pain and difficulties to find a strong future. I think I am still in shock over hger age. My own daughter is 13 years old, and the thought of her giving birth is as absurd as I can imagine. How sad that there are young girls experiencing such horror so soon in their lives.

For as long as I continue visiting Uganda, I will never be able to understand how life can be so different, so precarious, here in Africa. I have withnessed and heard of so many hardships and conditions that just should not be. But even more amazing to me is the fact that people here manage to rebound from these struggles and keep their faith alive and strong. And they also manage to be welcoming, community minded, and basically happy. I hope that I can absorb and learn some of their resilience.

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