Change Your Perspective

So I don't have much time to post...the coffee shop I like writing at is closed on Mondays. As I was reading my first blog I feel like I idolized Africa....probably because I was still in awe of the fact I was here.
Africa is hot. Sometimes I just want to sit in a cold shower all day. Sometimes drinking something cold doesn't help because it just makes you realize how hot you actually are. I feel sorry for those babies wrapped in blankets and long sleeves and winter beanies...
Today I visited a lady named Betty. Betty's husband works in Kampala only to come home every few weekends. Betty has a son named Emmanuel (she calls him Emma). He's 3 months old. She calls him her miracle baby because she thought she couldn't get pregnant. She says in her culture if a women has not conceived a year after being married it is shameful. She has been married 6 years. But Betty got pregnant last year. 3 months into her pregnancy she almost miscarried. She was on bedrest after that. When she went into labor something was blocking the birth canal and so the doctors did an emergency c-section. Betty called it "a ceaser." She has a long vertical incision down her belly that is still healing 3 months after the surgery. She has trouble moving and bending over because of it.
Betty takes care of 2 girls who aren't hers: Linda and Monday. Linda is a bright, energetic young girl who is missing her childhood because she helps Betty with cooking, cleaning, taking care of Emma and making Suubi necklaces. Monday has some type of tumor or disease growing inside her nose. She needs surgery her parents can't afford. Actually her parents can't even afford to feed her hence she lives with Betty. The tumor is growing. You can see it inside one of her nostrils. Its painful and is starting to give her brain damage. And you want to know how much this surgery is? This life saving surgery? 300,000 shilling. About 150 dollars. That's all. Sometimes the poverty...the needs Africa has make me cry...make my stomach ache.
But even though on days like today when all I can see is the negitive, God changes my perspective. Betty considers herself blessed because God gave her a baby. Because she is able to take care of Linda and Monday better than their parents can. She has 3 chickens. Well only 2 now because we ate one today. She's thankful for the tree in her yard that gives her shade and the fact that she has a good solid front door. God's teaching me to be thankful for the small things. I am thankful that I have enough clothes to wear something clean everyday. I'm thankful that the house I live in has running water and electricity. I'm thankful that even thought the boda drivers rip me off I can afford to pay them. I'm thankful.

...And I think I'm only starting to scratch the surface at what I'm going to learn in the next 2 months.

First Impressions

So if you were to look at a picture of me right now it might looks pretty normal. Me, sitting on the porch listening to my Ipod, reading my Bible and journaling while drinking my french press coffee. But as I look up from my journal, I feel the humidity on my skin and see the red dirt on my sandals. Toto…I don't think we’re in Colorado anymore. I am here…in Jinja, Uganda. It has been a long wait and now I am here. I see cranes fly over my head and look across the yard at this crazy-cool bright purple and green aloe vera looking plant with Betty's chickens pecking at the ground beneth and I am content. I hear the students across the street at Magwa Primary School playing in schoolyard. I see my clothes drying on the bushes and watch Betty carry her naked 2-year-old Kymbi on her back. In the early morning I hear the Muslims praying. At night I feel the African rain on my skin...lots of African rain. I'm here...finally. In Jinja...in Uganda...in Africa. It feels normal but strange. Comfortable but also incredibly scary. Here I am called “muzungu lady.” I am “white lady”. Here I might be charged double for my vegetables because I am muzungu. But I can also make a child's day by asking "How are you?" (Which the response always is "I am fine. How are you?") On Saturday at the market I bought 5 passion fruit for 500 shillings. 25 cents. A nickel per fruit. My whole bag of veggies was 2500 shillings. $1.25....and that was way over priced. Then I rode on a piki or boda (a motorcycle) in the dark of a city I don't know and for some reason riding behind a stranger on a small-fragile looking motorcycle was less scary than going around the block with my Daddy on his motorcycle. Sorry Dad...no offense. I live with 7 amazing people...whose blogs you should go read by the way and we work with 91 women who make paper bead necklaces for a living. Their stories are incredible...their lives miracles. I have only been here 6 days but I already know I am falling in love with Uganda. Falling in love with the Suubi women. I love seeing the smiles on their faces even though their lives are far from easy. Monday, I learned to roll beads with Agnes. I held baby Adam-Christopher at Christine and Jennifer's house as I learned about their lives. Yesterday, JaJa Margret gave me a necklace just because I was there and Florence fed the 5 of us that visited her. Today I watched as Adam and Alex played futbol with the village kids and the Suubi women sat and learned English. These women already amaze me. I know the next three months are going to be challanging but life-changing.
Today Adam and I decided people are always viewing life as some far off distant event but the truth is today is your life. Life is happening right now. And right now I am here. Here in Jinja working with Suubi and I am ready.