On to the orphanage

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  Gulu, Uganda
Sunday, June 29, 2008

Yay for sleeping in! Today I woke up at get this....9 am. That
may not sound that late. Especially if you are Will and sleep in until 1 pm.
However, for me, it was late. Eleven hours of sleep does the body good! I woke
up on Cloud Nine. A night full of dancing, and a morning fully refreshed. J I showered with cold
water. Let me tell you something about showering Ugandan style. Well I
described earlier a Ugandan shower, but that was with warm water. Try a Ugandan
shower with cold water! So everybody has been in a really cold pool before
right? The strategy I found best is to jump in head first- in order to expose
your body to the dramatic temperature change all at once

Adoption?

. Not so easy with a
Ugandan shower! Here, you must pour small cups of water over your body one
small section at a time. Therefore, you experience excruciating cold over and over
again.

One positive of the showers: They wake you up! Feeling fully
refreshed we headed over to the IC house where the agenda included first a
discussion of our yesterday's events, and next, a response to the required
reading. Yesterday's most notable event was the controversial speaker I alluded
to earlier. He made some remarks that could be offensive to both women and
homosexuals. Most people put the prejudices into context- explaining how such
practices were never outlawed until the British came. With the British came a
harsh system of rules and guidelines adhering strictly to Christian faith

Caught in mid- air

. I
believe this to be only part of the truth. Values are an accumulation of
attitudes both embedded in tradition and learned behavior. To me the Acholi
attitude is no different. It stems from fear. Society has always been dictated
by the most powerful people. These people were always men who generally had several
wives. Therefore, women and homosexuality were naturally degraded since they
were denounced by those most powerful. People in power feared such groups from
gaining pride since it may have meant a transference of power.

All in all, I explained that I completely understand the
Acholi's position on homosexuality and women. However, I also believe that for
progress to take place, they have to be careful in dictating these values onto
others. Just as we as Americans have no right dictating our culture and values
onto the Acholi

Creepy kids

. In other words, keep you cultural tradition and attitude
towards homosexuality and women if you like; but don't profess it as an
ultimate value and ideal. J

We also discussed the required reading "Economic Hitman."
This book detailed the exploitation of indigenous people in order to build
empires. Most groups were in agreement of the assertions that John Perkins
makes: For example, empire building is beneficial in the short term, but
ultimately destructive in the long run. Or, any leader who stands in the way of
global empire is killed. However, our concern as a group lied in the
authenticity of John Perkin's account. After researching Perkins we learned
that he is now hosting tours in Ecuador to promote an unusual form of mysticism.
This would be fine if he was using the profits to filter back into Ecuador's
economy

Doll?

. Yet, he is doing this only to promote his own self- actualization. How
different is his line of work than the exploitation of indigenous cultures at
the hands of "economic hit men?" Also, if he felt so convinced that what he was
doing was wrong, why did it take him so long to quit? The man is so self-
glorifying. He blames himself as the sole cause for 9/11!

Understanding the use of propaganda here helps us better
assess the validity of Perkin's arguments. Most of what he says is probably
true, however it has been skewed to boost his image while devaluing that of
MAIN (his employer).

Ok enough of the boring stuff! You are wondering what I
ACTUALLY DID today! Well, I will tell you. After our discussions we had 2 hours
in town at Gulu

Goal!

. It was in Gulu that I e-mailed all of you telling you how I
have been. I hope the e-mail directed you here, and you are now enjoying the
exploits of my writing. After sending the e-mail we ate the scariest food of
our lives. I will explain. We go into this Arabic restaurant where they served
us fish....only a minute after ordering. Scary! The fish looked like it was still
alive! Did they catch the fish out back in an artificial pond? Did they zap it
in the microwave? How the hell was it ready in a minute. It also didn't help
that Sarah was in a tank top only 10 feet away from a Muslim women in full on
VEIL! We sized things up. Nobody eating there. Sarah in a tank top. Food
prepared in 1 minute. Woman in Veil. Solution: Eat as fast as the food came.
One minute later we jammed out of there (me of course paying for the meal since
that seemed more customary in Arabic culture)

Introduction game

. ...

 

I will finish this entry later!

As promised, here is the rest of the entry. Be understanding, as I am over a month removed from these events.

Following our obscure, unsettling lunch we boda'd back to the IC house. Here, we met with the rest of the group and left for St. Jude's Orphanage. Amy asked us to prepare emotionally for what we would certainly encounter. I conjured up images of half naked children, malnourished, fly infested, dirty and desperate. In essence I braced myself for the worst.

The kids were in reality quite happy. While their physical appearance was systemic of the perpetual poverty existing in the area, their overall attitude was not. I quickly organized a soccer game, as this seemed to be one of the prominent interests among the children. These kids were amazingly talented. They would emulate any move I attempted, except they would perfect it. Without video games or TV to distract them, they had become abundantly affective in perfecting their past times

Orphanage

. There was one trick however that they could not perfect. In fact, they didn't boast even one success. It's the move where you throw a leg over the ball as it descends to the ground- the foot below sends it back to the spot from which it came, at which point you begin juggling again.

While I was preoccupied with the soccer match, others were intrigued by the younger children. It was clear we all wanted to be parents. The way we held these random Acholi kids in our arms, wrought with desire to bring them the love and care they so desparately needed. I would shutter to say it was beautiful, but rather dissapointing. There was no way we could bring these kids home with us. God knows it would lift a burden off of the over- worked caretakers (of which there were 4 and 82 kids).

The pictures will do more justice to this entry. I will leave you with only a small plea. If you want to adopt, do so in Northern Uganda. These kids are desperate for love and affection. More importantly they are desperate for the basic necesseties they can in no way obtain in this small orphanage.

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