Figuring Stuff Out

It has been a month since my last post. So what have I been doing in the past month? Well, I haven’t done anything to give gorilla tracking a run for its’s money, and I don’t have any thrilling stories about a boda-boda accident or freak run in with my neighbor’s pet monkey (my neighbor doesn’t really have a monkey). Life has just been life.

Although low-key, this past month has been a period of some serious reflection. At the beginning of the month I became quite frustrated with my life in Uganda, leading me to believe that I wanted nothing more than to give up and go home. But with the encouragement of a couple of great friends, prayer, and a change of heart, my contentment has multiplied and I am happy to be here for now.

If you’re interested, a few things I have learned in the past month are:

- Loneliness isn’t that bad. There’s more time for chatting with friends online, reading, exercising, and taking naps. And who am I kidding? I’m an introvert—I no longer need an excuse to be a recluse—the excuse is built right into my life!

- Making friends outside of college is very different than making friends in college. Friends here come in all ages and professions. I have friends who are my parents’ age, some who are in high school, some who are Ugandan, and many who are American. Some guard a gate and others are attorneys. Each brings something unique to my life and to our friendship, for which I am grateful. Diversity is truly a blessing—we have so much to learn from others!

- Some of the greatest gifts are the “little” things in life. When I was younger and quite worried about my vertically challenged stature, my Grammy always used to tell me that the best gifts in life came in small packages. While I’d brush it off and think, “yeah, she has to say that—I’m her only granddaughter,” now I know that there are amazing blessings in the seemingly small things. I have been so encouraged by a fun filing-cabinet-organizing session with my boss, an ultimate Frisbee game with a bunch of Ugandans, and outings I initiate with new friends. Even things like coming home to clean laundry, electricity, and slow-but-working internet have become major uppers.

- I have to be myself. I can’t be someone I’m not. Seems straight-forward enough but I have found myself trying to be someone I’m not. This is not only exhausting, it’s impossible to fit in! I think I was worried about pleasing people (“I think”? Come on Megan, you’re a major people pleaser…), but trying to be someone I believe others will like better than the real me has been fruitless and frustrating. I am still figuring out what it looks like to “just be myself” in Uganda, but at least I know that it’s ok to be me, and probably the best way to go.

That’s it for now. I don’t want to get preachy or sentimental. I don’t pretend that these are insightful nuggets of wisdom, nor do I pretend that I haven’t ever heard them before. But if you wanted to know what I’ve been re-learning this month, those are some of the lessons that have helped me become more content here and get through a phase where I really started to despise life away from the comforts of best friends, family, and fast internet.

I realized that I have used the word “I” way too many times in this passage. I do not think that my time in Uganda is all about me. I hope that in applying the above lessons a better version of me will develop and be used for loving and serving more people. I can only pray that this would be the case.

You know you've been living in Uganda for a while when...

...You have the opportunity to eat anything you want for lunch and you don't hesitate to choose Matoke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matoke), rice, beans, and sweet potatoes.

...The thought of riding a motorcycle side-saddle doesn't even phase you.

...Your roommate spots a cockroach in your apartment and you don't even flinch.

...You tell someone you'll be somewhere in 5 minutes and you and the other person both know it'll be at least an hour.

...You loathe the nights spent anywhere outside the protection of your mosquito net.

...Red clay invades your wardrobe and is designated the official color scheme for the clothes and shoes which used to be all different colors.

...You eliminate prepositions from your sentences like they're going out of style: "I'll pick you from the airport and drop you at your apartment."

...You put on a jacket when it's 80 degrees outside.

Judith*

Many of you may be wondering what IJM Uganda's work really looks like. IJM recently published an article on their website about a case on which our office is currently working. The case is of an elderly widow named Judith and the article in the link below celebrates a very significant conviction of one of her persecutors. If you'd like to read the story and get one example of what IJM Uganda does, please follow this link:

http://www.ijm.org/newsfromthefield/milestonesentenceinugandanpropertyseizurecase

I have met Judith, and I am very impressed by her hope, joy, and faith. I have been so encouraged by her, and hope you enjoy reading her story.

*Name has been changed to protect the client's identity.

Gorillas!

To see more photos of my gorilla tracking adventue, click on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/megangarn/GorillaTracking

Enjoy!

"And Daddy, they took my boot!"

For those of you who recognize the line in my title: yes, it is from Disney’s Tarzan and no, I haven’t started quoting random movie lines. Last week I took a little trip to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in western Uganda, to go gorilla tracking. As I hiked into the forest with seven other “trackers,” six bag-bearing porters, and a guide with an AK47 in hand, I just couldn’t help feeling a connection with Jane from Tarzan as I anticipated my meeting with a family of gorillas. It was a really cool trip. We hiked for an hour and a half through banana plantations and dense forest. It was such a beautiful, sunny day. We started hiking around 9 a.m. after being given strict gorilla-tracking rules (wash hands before leaving, don’t sneeze or cough in their direction, don’t get too close, etc.) and headed up a mountain. The gorilla-tracking business is actually pretty efficient: as it is so darn expensive to spend one hour with gorillas, there pretty much has to be a guarantee you’ll find them. Every morning professional trackers head into the forest to start looking for the gorillas well before the tourists show up, and by the time our hike commenced, the trackers were hot on the gorilla’s tails and guiding us to them via walkie-talkie.

After a fun climb up the mountain (which I honestly wish was longer—I could have hiked all day) I got to spend one hour with nine gorillas: a silver back (the big guy you don’t want to mess with), his three wives, three teenage sons, a daughter, and his littlest son who was under a year old. Unfortunately, the gorillas were asleep most of the time, but we still enjoyed watching them stretch, scratch themselves, fart (there was a lot of gas passing) and groom. The baby gorilla was adorable—toddling around between mom and dad, and curiously peeking over his mother to check out the weird creatures staring at him. The mom wasn’t too keen on the paparazzi taking photos of her little one and kept trying to remove him from our sight, but he was a stubborn little thing and to our enjoyment, continued to peek at us. We also watched one of the teenage sons eat lunch, tearing down branches and small trees for his meal. It was a great time, and we were literally 10 feet away from the mother and baby and perhaps a mere 15-20 feet from the silverback. I was amazed to discover, just like Jane did, that the gorillas really do travel, eat, sleep, and live in family groups. And they are so powerful—their hands alone are things from which to respectfully distance yourself. They are truly awesome creatures. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as lucky as Jane was, to find both gorillas and a gorgeous, wild man in the forest, but as my permit was solely for gorillas, I feel I got my money’s worth (and I came back with both boots).

The rest of my Easter weekend was pretty low-key. We spent two nights in the forest, at a small retreat center with large, private canvas tents. It was a real vacation, too, as I took full advantage of every opportunity I had to sit on our tent’s porch with a book and cup of coffee. The eight-hour ride to and from Bwindi, although long, was so beautiful that I would take that drive any day of the week, even just to relax. On Easter I went to the Anglican church again and really enjoyed the service. It was wonderful to worship in that church again, and I have a feeling I will attend it on a regular basis. The service was very upbeat, and I was overwhelmed by the joy of the congregation as we celebrated Christ’s resurrection. The rest of the weekend was rather uninspiring, spent mostly watching movies and finishing my book. But as it rained all day Sunday, and I simply desired to relax, reading and watching movies turned out to be a real blessing. Apparently we’re headed into the rainy season. Now, I saw the intense rain during the dry season, and am a little hesitant to experience the rainy season….Any thoughts on how to air-dry laundry when it’s always damp and rainy?

~ ~ ~

People have asked me how I like living in Kampala. I can’t help but say that it’s an emotional roller-coaster. I genuinely fluctuate between love and hate for this place in a matter of seconds, and my feelings can change multiple times a day. I definitely have a love-hate relationship with Uganda. But a friend of mine, who has spent a good amount of his life living outside of the U.S., recently told me that such a relationship is ideal when living in a new place, and I think that’s true. Although the disgust I have for this country can be overwhelming at times, the love I have for it is equally violent. And if I have to experience great frustration in order to see beauty in its people and to love other parts about it, I’ll take the frustration.

One of the most beautiful people I have met here is a young girl, not more than 10 or 11, whose name I unfortunately do not know. She lives in my apartment complex, but way at the other end of the complex from me. I have only met her twice and I’ve tried learning her name but didn’t understand it (I’ll have her write it down for me when I see her again). But I met her both times as I was walking home from work. Granted, both times I was coming home from work an hour later than I should, so I wasn’t in the best mood. As I caught up with her the first time, I immediately noticed that her right eyelid hardly opens. But she looked at me out of her left eye and smiled, and as I smiled back, her grin grew into the brightest greeting I have ever received. Her whole face lit up; she’s just beautiful. I quickly said hello, and began to ask her about herself; where she goes to school, her grade, her name, and her family. She and I chatted the few minutes it takes to walk home, and I left her feeling so joyful (her smile was so contagious I couldn’t help but smile myself!). Meeting her the second time was a reminder that there are blessings everywhere—even in my walk home from work. And if I hadn’t stayed at work an hour longer both times, I wouldn’t have gotten to walk home with her. She is so sweet, and so eager to practice her English and make friends—just like me. She has taught me a lot about being thankful, finding joy in the small things in life, and connecting with people. She’ll never know what a gift it has been to walk home from work with her, but I hope to run into her again—even if it means staying late.

That is all for now, dear friends! Lots of love to you all!

P.S. Pictures to come soon! I wanted to post this entry as soon as possible and didn’t have time to get pictures up before bed. Check back in a couple of days!

Oh, Uganda...

A couple of stories from the past week.

Risky Business:
After dinner this evening my roommate and I happened to choose a boda-boda driver who clearly had very little regard for his or our safety. How do I know? Because when traffic came to a standstill and quickly backed up in front of us, our boda nearly became a new layer of paint on the van ahead of us. Our driver’s response after slamming on the brakes? “Oops…”

Let me ask you this:
Why do people party on weeknights?
Why do people invite 100 of their closest friends to party with them, just outside their populous apartment building, on a weeknight?
Why do people think that their neighbors would prefer to listen to singing rather than sleep?
Why do people think that one hundred voices singing one song over and over again, at the top of their lungs, for seven hours, is something I want to listen to on a weeknight?
My boss says I should have just joined the party. I felt more inclined to throw rocks. I didn’t, but I wanted to.

Sunrise over the river.












We are just a little excited about seeing animals.





























I hope you enjoyed the photos! If you want to see more, check out this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/megangarn/Safari