Life in Liberia!

Flying over Africa was an adventure, but I have made it safely to Liberia. Moments before we were supposed to land, the pilot announced that the runway was closed in the Monrovia airport. What? There was no explanation offered and we began circling low and swinging violently over the water. Just when everyone was getting a little panicky to the point of holding hands with strangers in the next seat, we landed the plane in the opposite way that all other air traffic lands and somehow arrived in one piece. None of the crew blinked an eye, but ushered us off the plane as normal. Welcome to Monrovia, people!

It's been great to hang out with my parents and our dear Liberian friends, Emmanuel and Ramona and to get to spend time at the orphanages. Mama Kay had her birthday last week, so celebrating her in Liberia took on a different flavor than central Illinois. (let's just say there isn't usually African dancing at Kay's birthday parties. dark chocolate, yes. booty shaking, no.)

 The reality of life here has been shocking in a different way than the village in Uganda. It has been 10 years since the civil war has ended, and the city is still trying to rebuild after a 14 year period of violence. Life is hard here. Yet it has been amazing to see the joy in the kids and what there lives are like compared to what they could be if they weren't living in the orphanage. This picture above is a girl named Nelly, one of the deaf kids that lives in the orphanage. In this culture, she is considered cursed, and may be a slave or living on the streets if she wasn't in the home. It is devastating to think about how her sweet spirit would be so different if she wasn't protected. 

It has been an intense time, yet filled with laughter and hope. I am amazed at the tenacity of the people and especially the grit and perseverance of those working day after day to make Liberia a better place. 

Life in Uganda: Update Ten

Hi friends! Have made it safely to Liberia - will post about that soon! For now, here's a story from my small group Bible Study in Uganda. Over the course of the last ten years, I have led an absurd number of small groups. When these groups go well, it is one of my favorite parts of life. There have been some ridiculous groups, one when a girl put Vick's Vapor Rub right under her eyes and spent the rest of the group time running her head under the shower. In a few others, a few of the girls weren't speaking to each other, so the group turned into full on conflict resolution and many tears. 

With a decade of this madness under my belt, I thought I could handle any strange small group situations. If I have learned anything about Africa, it is just when you get cocky about not being easily shocked, She will throw another punch in your direction and knock you out if you aren't paying attention. It's not for the faint of heart. 

For the past few months, my friend Esther and I walked a few miles to a little mud hut on Tuesday afternoons to teach Bible Study. It is a beautiful path through the jungle, with a great view of the hills and scare-monkeys (instead of scare-crows) dotting the fields. 

inside the house - see the toothbrushes?

One day, we barely made it to the house before a huge rainstorm blew into the village. We squeezed inside the tiny mud hut and lit the kerosene lamp so we could continue the 
study. During the next hour, all kinds of critters wandered inside. Edith, who lives at the house, kept throwing a cat onto a big pile of stuff, trying to keep her two year old away from the cat. A chicken and her chick ran in squawking to get out of the rain. A variety of children were in and out and I kept bumping into the toothbrushes that were wedged between the mud bricks supporting the house. The metal door kept slamming shut,and at times the rain was coming down so hard we could not hear each other talk. Not exactly the ideal situation for a profound spiritual discussion. 

The women did not seem phased by any of this, so I attempted to proceed as if all of it was normal. I was doing a decent job keeping my cool until the next course of events. The two year old was not impressed that the kitty was being thrown away from him, and started screaming. His mom whipped out her boob and tried nursing him but he wasn't having it. Without skipping a beat, her friend took the child and also began nursing him, all while looking at me for the next question. This shed some new light on the phrase "it takes a whole village to raise a child." I attempted not to stare, but I'm not sure how successful I was. I was just hoping they got the memo that I didn't have any nursing babies, lest I be expected to join in on the circle of fun. 

Despite the crazy, it actually turned out to be one of the best discussions we had during my time there. Over the rushing sounds of the downpour, we talked about Psalm thirty-four, how the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, how He rescues us from our afflictions, and most importantly how He redeems our lives. As we all shared ways that God has changed us, it became a sweet time of friendship and sharing; talking about forgiveness and family conflict and war and hope. Although these women live in great poverty according to our standards, they were filled with joy and thankfulness to God as they named the ways He has changed them and provided for their families. 

As we walked back on the muddy path, I was laughing imagining the look on my face as I absorbed the menagerie of life happening in that tiny room. I was also humbled thinking of these wonderful people who were so eager to study their Bibles and so willing to learn. I was reminded once again that it isn't about how much we have that makes life worthwhile, it isn't our stuff that makes us happy, and that joy come easiest when we are focused on how much we have been forgiven. 

Edith and I on our last week together. She gave me this beautiful handmade basket and attempted to teach me how to be an African woman. I was mediocre at best. 

The whole crazy group on our last day. So much laughter.....will miss these women. 

Life in Uganda: Update Nine

Last week we got to go on a little getaway and do a safari. It was pretty surreal and I may have squealed when I saw the first giraffe! One of the highlights was seeing this guy and his friend about fifteen feet from our van. 

 Our crazy guide, Farouck, had amazing eyes and found the lions for us. In this picture, he is standing between the lions and the water buffalo, and was actually more scared of the buffalo. He kept yelling "mind the buffalo"!! (not a phrase you hear every day) 

 

Trying to recreate the into the wild cover photo....we also pretended we were national geographic photographers. 

It was a pretty epic trip overall...couldn't quite believe I was really experiencing it. I am heading to Liberia this weekend, meeting my mama and starting another part of this adventure. I have many more stories and photos, and I'll try post those soon. 

Here's the link to an article I wrote for the gospel coalition while I was here: How God Changes Us While We 'Change' the World

much love! 

Life in Uganda: Update Eight

It's been a crazy few weeks around here.... these are a few pictures from the hoopla! 

 Visiting our friends in the village. It's been so fun to know the area and the people as we take walks. It's the time for bean harvest here, so there is lots of activity in the gardens. (I'm pretending that it feels like fall in the midwest, what I wouldn't give for a walk through the leaves with a scarf and a pumpkin spice latte!) 

 This happy guy is Ezra, one of the best reminders of joy. He has severe disabilities and was discovered alone in a corner of a house after his caretakers passed away, basically left to die. Since he has been cared for from some community church members, he is one of the happiest guys around. 

 Meet Esther, who has become a dear friend. She has recently begun a choir at school and has led a fascinating life. She grew up as an orphan and sang in the African Children's Choir from age 4-10. When she was done, she went to live with her very poor grandmother. Although she has the pipes to headline on Broadway (The Lion King is her dream show), she has chosen to provide a home for eight orphans and make them a part of her family. One of my favorite parts of life here is getting to hang out with her and learn from her. 

 Celebrating four years of the church with a huge feast and baptisms last Sunday. What began as a small gathering in a living room has turned into hundreds of believers and a transformed community. There is still much to be done, and much growth needed, but it is evident that God is at work here. 

 Since moving into our house, the kids had been begging for a party.....so a party we gave them. It was a "No Parents Party: Superhero Edition." Everyone had to come dressed as his own superhero. Above is Nate, or Underwear Man, whose superpower was to fling underwear at his enemies. 

 I thought my days of face painting were over, but I'm realizing I don't ever want to be too old for a little face painting. We ate dessert first, put a movie on during dinner and screamed our heads off. Not a bad night for anyone. 

 My time is rapidly coming to an end, and if you know me at all, you know what a basketcase I will be as I try to say good-bye to my new friends. I'm so thankful for my time here and a chance to love these people. 

Life in Uganda: Update Seven

It’s been a long time coming, but I am finally reading Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life by Henri Nouwen. My brother and sister have highly recommended this book to help me think about community development, poverty and life in general. And since they are both doing amazing work along these lines, I figured I should listen to them.

Needless to say, I didn’t get much further than the first pages without needing to pause and think. He talks about the definition of compassion; to suffer with.

Often it feels like the entire point of life in America is to avoid suffering. This is particularly evident in the SkyMall catalog, which I usually end up spending a lot of time looking at on flights. (It's strangely addicting, and I am obsessed with the wall-size map!) But overall, it's full of completely unnecessary things. For a mere $400, you can buy a window cleaning robot. $160 will get you a touchless sensor toilet seat. We love gadgets and anything that will make life more convenient. But what we don't like is when life is hard, when it turns out that all of the appliances in the world don't erase the difficulties. 

Nouwen talks about how we often take this anti-suffering mentality into relationships.  “We want to forge our identities by carving out for ourselves niches in life where we can maintain a safe distance from others. We do not aspire to suffer with others. On the contrary, we develop methods and techniques that allow us to stay away from the pain.”

I have never liked suffering or pain. By nature, I am the girl who wants everyone to be happy, hates conflict, and refuses to go to the Holocaust museum or watch Hotel Rwanda. I have always wished life was a continuous party filled with glitter and balloons.

One of the hardest lessons of the last decade has been to come to grips that I live in a broken world. Although there shall be a time where there are no more tears or suffering or pain, we do not live in that time. God has walked gently with me, pulling me down the path of suffering, sometimes my own, and sometimes entering the pain of others through counseling and relationships. It hasn’t been an easy road, but I am now much less afraid of suffering and much less shocked when problems appear.

Being in a tiny village here has awakened me to an entirely new kind of suffering than I was used to seeing at home. The general living conditions here are different than anything I've ever seen, and this isn't nearly the worst of Africa. I’m learning that confronting poverty in a community, corruption in a country, and endless amounts of seriously messed up situations in an entire continent is another way I need deal with suffering, instead of avoiding it and pretending it isn’t here. 

I have found I have more questions than answers and I’m not sure how to really suffer with people when I will get on an airplane in a few months and fly away. I promised some of my friends that I would not be the person that would move to a third-world country and lay on the guilt trips about how much we have and how little these people have, etc... So I maintain that promise, this is not a guilt trip.

But I see how it is easy to want to have quick answers to make me feel like I am fixing problems. I also see the temptation to want to throw money at the situation in order to temporarily relieve pain.

Although quick action might make me feel like I am really doing something, I know it isn't sustainable or helpful in the long term. For now, I’m hoping to keep thinking about what it is to be truly compassionate, to sit with some questions, and to be thankful I have had this chance to live here and learn to love these incredible people. 

I would love to hear your thoughts. 

love, jackie