It has been quite some time since I last blogged and for that I am sorry. I am not going to try and catch you up on everything that has been happening over the last two months as I would normally feel inclined to do…instead I am going to try and write out the 8 or so different blogs that have been floating in my head and try to get them posted sometime before this crazy trip is over. So bear with the next bunch of blogs as they may be extremely out of order.
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Currently we reside in a town called Pader in northern Uganda. We live in a small cement room. There is no electricity and no water. We share a pit latrine (aka squatty potty) and outside shower closet with all of our neighbors. It’s hard to sleep at night because it is so hot and our bodies just aren’t used to sleeping in such conditions. The temperature is at least a 100 degree most days. It’s the dry season, so its dusty. Very dusty.
It’s hard; we aren’t used to the conditions. We are sweaty, dirty, sunburned, and tired most of the time…but it’s also good. And I feel I have no room to complain. Seriously.
We are living on land that not 5 years ago was war occupied.
The town is ravaged after 20 years of continuous war.
There is little to no economic activity, people are stuck in survival mode.
If it weren’t for the NGO’s (non government organizations) that flooded Pader I’m not sure if there would be cars, or electricity, or permanent buildings. And while these things can be seen, they are not available to any of the natives of Pader.
People live in huts with thatched roofs and spend their days literally trying to put food on the table in the evening. We see kids with huge bellies from malnourishment. Trash is everywhere because there is nowhere to put it. People haul 5 gallon jugs of water miles to their homes for necessities like cooking and drinking. We have to bus in necessities like water and rice and beans. There are no farms, no stores.
It’s a hard place to live.
There is nothing.
And the word that runs through my head repeatedly is rebuilding.
And I don’t know why it runs through my head without ceasing, why it’s all I can think about. I have no expertise in an area even close to planning a city or even know what that means yet I am left with the weight of this.
The idea of rebuilding, it lives on.
