14/5/12
Our last week in Nabilituk, Karamoja, before heading
down to Jinja city for the Pioneers International conference next Monday.
The week was really fun and full, busy with many
moments of joy to wrap up the last month we've been without Tom and Jean. It
involved visiting friends in villages every second day; praying all together
squished in a mud hut (so great), storying as much as we could (our last
burst), continuing to study language at every opportunity and doing another animal
health training day - the second one I have lead now, it was a fantastic day of
teaching things like how to do a physical exam on an animal, about common
diseases here (how they occur, how to prevent and how to treat them, etc.),
about correct methods of drug administration and the biggie of not underdosing
animals with antibiotics, which seems to be an epidemic here. It was really
great to see the lessons learnt from the previous training had stuck as we
discussed all these things and the group was really interactive in discussing
through everything which was cool.
Tick-spraying on Wednesday of course which is always
an experience and treating animals during the weekdays too.
Visiting the villages in these last days, I cannot
properly describe how awesome it was. To be so warmly welcomed and cared for,
to share in their activities and just be with them. We were so blessed by the
hospitality of the women in the village who fed us morning tea (eshai) and
boiled eggs (from the chickens KACHEP had distributed to them) which was
actually a really generous offering to us considering that this is a village
who are constantly raided by enemy villages; have their animals taken from them
and so who struggle to feed themselves. We also received lunch too which we
weren't expecting but the main woman we were meeting with was so happy to have
us there we stayed until late in the afternoon with her.
Part of the day was giving out Ivermectin for mange
to 40 of their goats free of charge as a gift from us. We wanted to help in a
way that they would most appreciate during this time of insecurity and it was
just crazy great to be able to do such a small thing but which went so far for
them. It was also another great training opportunity and I got a local guy who
has just started working with KACHEP and has been attending the trainings and
everything, to be in charge of the weight tape and then we calculated the
dosage for each goat together and then I showed him how to administer it. It
soon became a fun community affair :)
The other village we visited, Okutoot, is an hour
drive from where we live and we went with three Karamajong friends to help us
with some language translation and the day was in one word... interesting.
I am beginning to see that every day I wake up here I should just expect it to
be a crazy day full of the unexpected. I've always been someone who loves a
challenge and even seeks them but being here I feel like I didn't know the
meaning of the word before now. There are so many layers to that statement that
is too much to try and write now so it'll have to be another time. Suffice to
say, it will be nice to be on holidays even though I'll miss this land of
Karamoja and everything that it is.
Packing up to leave for 4weeks (2 for conference and
2 for personal holidays) was exciting but also bittersweet to think of leaving.
I'll miss my girls, my dog (not really mine but I like to call her mine :), the
incredible night sky of 2 hemispheres combined that you can only get in
Karamoja, the crazy and sometimes frustrating animal owners (ok so I may not
miss them that much), the animals!, the funny looking billy-goats with their
beards, the beautiful, sweet, gentle & just plain cute cows who put up with
so much from the people here during ploughing season haha, the donkeys who have
now become my new alarm clock, now that ploughing season has come and our
kittens which have kept me awake by jumping on my toes during the night just
for funsies but who are soooo cute you just can't be annoyed.
I won't miss being stared at though :) Well stared
at less anyway and I am so looking forward to the conference, meeting new
people and going on holidays yewwwwww!!!
In two weeks I am off to Kenya for some time on the
coast in Mombasa (such a great African
name- reminds me of Mufasa from the Lion King!) and then some random jaunts
here and there until the team meets back together to go back to the land of
pain and toil for the simplest things but yet satisfaction and joy because you
have to work so hard to get what you want.
Things have been difficult of recent with the
abscence of Tom and Jean and of hearing that they will not return for at least
another 3 months. This leaves our team of three girls in a tricky situation as
we were planning to head to Lotim in north Karamoja and now there lies a huge
question mark over what the next few months will look like. There are many
factors and confusions to deal with at this time and worry over the future so
please join me in praying to God who is in control of all things and who knows
the future to give peace, wisdom and understanding on the difficult road ahead.
For me I am just asking for patience in not knowing
the details of the rest of my time here in Africa and that I can grow in the
love of Christ in this time, trusting and knowing that God has the blueprint of
my life and just because I don't know what is coming next doesn't mean it is
not going to be amazing.
All my love,
Mel
No comments:
Post a Comment