A day of snorkeling...

While in Tanzania, Bethany and I went snorkeling near a small natural island off the coast of Dar es Salaam in the Indian Ocean. These pictures don't even do it justice...it was absolutely beautiful! While snorkeling we saw tons of beautfiul tropical fish and coral reef. It felt like I was swimming in a huge aquarium....I kept thinking of Finding Nemo and the Discovery Channel. I wished I had had an underwater camera so bad. Can you believe it was my first experience snorkeling as much as I LOVE the water?! The water was just perfect as you can see.... crystal clear water and white sandy beaches. It was like paradise....

Fun Times with volunteers....

A couple weeks ago volunteers from the Wilks' (family on my team) home church in Chattanooga TN came to Mbarara to help our team. It was a great time of fellowship and encouragment for us who live here. They helped in several villages where we have Bible storying/churches established as well as doing home visits and evangelism. We did some medical teaching and distribution of vitamins in one of the villages. Here are some pictures from their time here. We worked hard, played a lot of cards, ate some good food (thanks to Scarlett :), shot some hoops, enjoyed the new power outage schedule of off 24 hours/on 24 hours, and even visited a game park. It was a fun week....it's always sad to see volunteers go. Thanks Jim, Mike, Chuck, Andy, Niki, and Vicki for all your hard work :)

University Student Retreat

Ok I think I am finally going to finish posting pictures from the University student retreat our church had back in January. Here's the whole gang. We had about 35 people come to Lake Navugabo (about 2 hours from here) to learn about what it means to be a true follower of Christ based on Luke 9:23. I taught a session on servanthood and the students modeled Jesus' example of washing the disciples' feet by washing each other's feet. I got to celebrate my 24th birthday camping :) and for those of you who know me you know how much I love camping! :( Sally, Dr. Pepper's wife made me a cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. It was another memorable birthday in Africa. I can't believe I'm 24...I'm getting old! :) Here I am with some of my girl friends (Lillian, Brenda, Cathy, Mildred, and Cynthia). I don't get to spend as much time with these guys as I would like to sometimes cause my ministry focuses on home visits, but I enjoy hanging out with them when I can. Remember these students as they try to to be a light for the Lord on their campus. Pray that they will follow Him no matter the cost!

Here I am with some students doing some 'political sign' that I don't know what it means (it's like an 'ok' sign). I just did whatever they told me to do. Then here I am rolling out dough for kabalagala. It's these flat pancakes we ate make out of cassava flour and kabalagala (small sweet bananas) and they are deep fried. They're ok, but not as good as American pancakes :)

Random facts about me

I've been tagged by Christy to answer these random questions.....

Four jobs you've had in your life:
1. Gleaner Jr. writer (hometown newspaper section about youth/area schools)
2. Head lifeguard/swimming instructor
3. nursing assistant
4. Admissions nurse

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (during the holidays)
3. Meet the Parents
4. Ace Ventura Pet Detective (don't know if I still could but I have watched it many times)

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Amazing Race!
2. ER (the old ones)
3. Seinfield
4. Lost (my new fave)

Four places you have been on vacation (ranked according to preference):
1. Destin, FL (the beach is the best)
2. New York City (love the musicals)
3. San Francisco CA/Lake Tahoe
4. Out West (Montana, Wyoming, Canada visiting Yellowstone NP, Glacier NP, and Banff in Canada)
**So far all my international travels have not been for vacation, but I have a feeling Zanzibar Tanzania will be my new #1 in a couple of weeks :)

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Amy in Mexico
2. Kim in Asia
3. Christy to see what's going on in the big city
4. The Spence (to see what he's saying about me since he's on my team)
**Actually I visit too many blogs to count daily...yeah it's an obsession

Four of Your Favorite Foods:
1. Peanut M&M's
2. Mom's Chicken Spaghetti
3. Mexican
4. Peanut Butter (i don't think I can live without it)

Four bloggers you are tagging:
1. Kim
2. Spencer
3. my bro, Kaleb (my space is close enough)
4. Lindsey in Haiti
** Amy you were already tagged by Christy in case you didn't know

So if you've been tagged...it's your turn to answer these questions and I'll be checking to make sure you do.... :)

Camping in Africa sure is different than it is in the States! I never had to worry about monkeys eating our bananas before. There were tons of monkeys at Lake Navugabo where the University Student retreat was held last weekend. After a meal they would jump up on the table to eat the left-overs. (Don't worry Jeff...these guys were used to being around people and didn't try to hurt us). This little family of monkeys was so cute. The baby was tiny!


I saw one of the most beautiful sunrises of my life while camping... of course I guess I really haven't actually seen a lot of sunrises since I am rarely up at that time of morning :) But wow...it was beautiful coming up across the lake Sunday morning.

Little friends.....

These are two of my friends that live near me. Victor (the one on the left) is one of my most favorite kids here. He has the cutest smile, but I couldn't get him to smile (typically Ugandans don't smile for pictures). He always runs up to my gate when I come home and greets me....then usually asks for candy. Now this other little boy has caught on and also comes to get 'sweets' as they call them. They must be about 4 years old...aren't they cute? :)

New Group....Byafura

The Kiyanja Bible storying group that had started back in June wasn't doing very well. It was mostly just children coming and sometimes a couple of women. We could tell there wasn't much interest there for a 'church' and the group really wasn't progressing so they suggested we go to another area very near them called Byafura where a former member of the group lived, Jolly. Jolly was very excited about having fellowship near her home.

Byafura is a very 'rough' area of town...very poor, with lots of bars, and 'thugs' (as they say). Drunk people like to come and see what is going on. But what better place to meet people? Jolly got permission from the Local Chairman and organized the place to meet. The first week we had around 70 people including children! We've had a great response here and last week there were even 10 men (which is a huge deal to get men here to have anything to do with God). Please remember this group that meets each Thursday at 3pm (that's 6am Thursday morning CST). Pray that people will be 'on fire' to learn about God and study the Bible. We are taking a different approach by doing more of a church service which seems to be effective....Ugandans love to come when there is music and drums involved. But our problem is leadership as usual. Pray that God will raise up this group to be His church and provide a man to guide them in truth!

Napoleon Dynamite has made it to Uganda

Last night at church a guy came to Bible Study with a T-shirt that quoted Napoleon Dynamite! It said "Gimme some of your tots...I'm freakin' starvin" with a picture of some tater tots. He said he bought it in the village. I wish I had had my camera...that's crazy. I'm on the look out now for a ND shirt in the villages, but Spencer (our new teammate) informed me that the producers of ND were Mormans? Is that true? Are we supporting a cult by supporting Napoleon Dynamite? Fellow fans, I need some feedback on this one....

Bushara Island

Before Mom left, we went down to Kabale (about 2 1/2 hours SW of here one the Rwandan border) to Bushara Island which is on Lake Bunyonyi. Kabale is Uganda's highest town at 2000 meters. It was so beatutiful, probably the most beautiful place I have been to in Uganda. We camped in these nice tents that had beds in them and everything. This is my kind of camping :) Bushara Island is a 'resort', but we were the only tourists on the island. There were tons of beautiful birds to look at and it was nice to just relax. It is actually kind of cold there too! That was really exciting to me...to sit by a fire place and drink hot chocolate. I had to sleep in long pants and shirt with two big blankets on me...it was wonderful for a change.

There are about 35 islands in Lake Bunyonyi so people who live on the islands use these dugout canoes for transport. We rode in a canoe back to the mainland, thankfully with a guide....those people have to have a lot of upper body strength! The people are mostly farmers and they even farm up on the sides of these terraced mountains. Pictures don't really do it justice, but it is just beautiful!

Have you ever been hit by a bus?

I know you are thinking, "What? Kari had another wreck!" Yes, again I have been involved in an accident in Uganda. This time my Mom was here to prove that it was NOT my fault. Last Thursday my Mom and I were traveling to one of my teammates' house. I turned on my blinker (you can see in the picture my right blinker is on) to turn right and proceeded to turn down the dirt road. However there were tree limbs all around the road (this usually means 'caution' there is an accident or something ahead) so I turned slowly. Thank the Lord, because as I was turning this huge bus came around me trying to pass me even though I clearly had my blinker on! The bus was driving too fast (like all buses here), but thankfully since the tree limbs were in road I was driving so slowly I was able to stop quickly. It looked like the bus tried to slow down, but was unable to avoid me and hit the front right side of my car and then tore off my bumper. I think the scariest thing was knowing that if I had turned faster or the bus had been traveling faster we probably would have been killed! 

Accidents in Africa draw huge crowds so within a few seconds there were already hundreds of people crowded around the scene. Men were yelling at me to move my car so the bus could continue its journey and people were trying to open my car doors! I immediately locked my doors and called my teammates who arrived in minutes. Barry's face in this picture shows the confusion. A friend serving with another organization happened to drive by soon after and offered help, so I sent him to go get the police. There's no 911 here! Thinking like an American, I knew that I shouldn't move my car until the police came to 'write a report.' People who knew NOTHING about driving tried to yell at me that I was in the wrong. I just knew a riot was going to break out at any minute, but thankfully it didn't. Finally the police arrived. They didn't check on me or Mom to see if we were alive or ask us what happened or anything! After some time they just told us to drive to the police station. So we did and were under the impression that the policeman and bus driver would follow. After once again waiting for some time at the police station (there's NO hurry in Africa!) the policeman arrived without the bus driver (who was allowed to go after 'giving a statement'). I was taken in the police station to write a statement of what occurred (not in duplicate). They looked at my Uganda driving permit but did not make a copy of it. Then at that time my supervisor Dr. Pepper arrived. I was given a form with about 12 different possible accounts I could be charged with (i.e. reckless driving) and was told to sign it. Nowhere on the form did it mention 'no fault'. I asked if the bus driver also signed one of these forms and they said 'no' that since there were no injuries the bus was allowed to go! Can you imagine?! They said the bus driver would report to the station the next day...yeah, right! So I told them that I didn't want to sign this form (basically accusing me of being at fault) until the bus driver also reported to sign the form. Dr. Pepper agreed with me on this and gave them his phone number, however, the policemen were NOT happy with us. They threatened to put Dr. Pepper in jail, for which he gladly agreed, however, they would have been holding him without proper grounds. Finally I was so frustrated and upset, my Mom and I just went outside. Shortly after Dr. Pepper and my teammate Barry came out. The police took down all our license plates, what they were going to do I don't know. Barry and Dr. Pepper heard them saying that I was trying to do a 'U-turn' which caused the accident! Corruption is a huge problem in Africa and there is almost no enforcement of laws especially among driving. However, this was my first experience dealing with the police in an accident, and I learned that really there is no point in contacting them. Can you imagine not being able to trust the police? Be thankful that our policemen in America actually try to obey the laws and protect our people and that we can usually trust them to help us! 

I was very upset for a couple of days, but one of our Ugandan friends really reminded us how grateful we should be of the Lord's protection over us. Why He chooses to have grace and mercy with us I will never know. We deserve death, but out of His love He gives us life! Our life on Earth is in His hands alone. He must have a reason for me and my Mom to be alive for another day....Praise Him! Mom pointed out this verse to me at church Sunday, "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!" Ps. 37: 7 (By the way, so far we have not heard from the police anymore concerning the accident. My car has been repaired at mission expense and we just Praise God it wasn't worse!)

Happy New Year...

Before my Dad and brother headed back to the airport we met up with james and ryan, some friends serving in Southern Sudan for New Year's and visited Jinja. Here I am with the guys at Bujagali Falls on the River Nile. We didn't raft the Nile, but Ryan did pay this local guy about $5 to risk his life going down this rapid on a big plastic jug! Thankfully he survived. Here I am with my family at the Source of the Nile. The Nile River begins in Jinja, Uganda at Lake Victoria and travels 4,000 miles in 3 months to reach the Mediterranean Sea.

A Christmas to Remember...

Mom, Dad, and Kaleb arrived December 23rd to spend the holidays with me (actually Mom is still with me for another week). No white Christmas this year! It was the warmest Christmas my family had ever experienced. It was great to see them after over a year...and to meet on African soil was pretty amazing. Here we are sweating in front of our Christmas tree :) We got to travel around and see some of Uganda's beauty. We went to some game parks to see wildlife (picutres in a previous post), the equator (I live in the southern hemisphere in case you didn't know), spent time in Kampala (the capital), and visited Jinja to see the Nile River. My family also got to see what I do, by making home visits, touring the hospital/clinic, going to Bible studies, and meeting many of my friends. It was great to share this part of my life with them!

Almost America....

What a Christmas! For those of you who think food commonly eaten in America is a funny Christmas present it means the world to an American living in Uganda. Thanks FBC First Kids staff, FBC GA's, Aunt Diane, Aunt Julie, Aunt Sandra, and Grandmommy...and this isn't even half of it! I have to say I almost cried after tasting Diet Dr Pepper for the first time in over a year. You guys are great. Thanks Mom for bringing all this and much more over. (Looking forward to your box Mammaw Bobbie...it will come, I know it will.)

**(Disclaimer) Anyone who does not see their food in this picture know that I have either already joyfully consumed it or due to space we left it out. If I left anyone out of the list of thank you's, I'm sorry.**

Sights and Sounds of Ugandan Life

The experiences we encountered as we traveled these rough roads were too numerous to share, but here are a few of my family's favorite pictures courtesy of Kathy and Kaleb...

More pics by Mom and Kaleb...

The kids here loved my family. They got to help me some and see what ministry is like here. Kaleb helped lead a Bible study in the village, and Mom told a Bible story to these kids at one of our storying groups. All the Ugandans thought my brother was very tall, my mother (Mamma Kari as they said) was young and resembled me, and my dad received great respect due to his gray hair as they called him 'omuzei'.

Christmas Worship

While my family was here we all got to participate in worship on Christmas Day at our church here in Mbarara. Kaleb played the guitar for worship and then mom, Kaleb, and I sang Silent Night for the offertory. Dad preached while Enoch, one of our helpers in ministry, translated for him. We had a joint Runyankore/English service for Christmas.

African Wildlife

We had the chance to go to a couple of game parks and see some animals. Here's my brother Kaleb and I on the boat ride at sunset at Queen Elizabeth National Park where we saw tons of hippos, crocodiles, buffaloes, and birds (and when I say birds...I mean birds I think there are more birds here than in any other country in the world; there are more than 600 species in this park alone!). Then we got up for a morning game drive an saw this beautiful sunrise. These are baboons we saw on the side of the road before entering Queen Elizabeth. We saw the zebras at Lake Mburo National Park near my home.

Village Celebration....

During December I had the chance to go to two friends' introduction ceremonies. When Ugandan's get engaged they have to have a big ceremony in the bride-to-be's home village where she introduces her fiancee to her family and friends. Here I am with the groom-to-be, Benon (one of our national pastors in Kampala) and some other co-workers from Kampala (Claudia, Rebekah, and Christy). We are all wearing 'African wear'....I am wearing my traditional Banyankore (the people here in Southwest Uganda) dress. It was definitely an experience traveling to the DEEP village. At one point we were driving inbetween people's mud huts and on little dirt paths. And of course any village experience is not complete until you partake of traditional food, which unfortunately I paid for the next night. I awoke the next night the sickest I have been since I came to Uganda with some bad food poisioning! Thankfuly after a few days and a round of antibiotics I was back to normal. Unfortunately food-borne illnesses is just a part of living in a 3rd world country....but I think it will be a while before I eat local food again!