hours to depart

I leave Uganda in a few hours. It’s strange that my count down moved from a vague realization that I would one day leave to my departure only being hours away. I have mixed feelings about leaving. I am excited to see everyone and be back in the structured and orderly world I am from but I will miss so many things about Uganda. Not knowing what is next makes it worse. The other night I was talking to one of my friends. We were talking about the strange turns in our lives and she said you know it’s weird that Africa is like your other home. It is weird, who would have thought that my life would take so many strange turns? Who would have thought that I would live in two worlds? Equally comfortable in small villages or the streets of Paris. Life is strange.

Sick Again

I have been sick again. I am not sure if it is the stomach flu or food poisoning but for awhile I wanted to die. I am on the up and up but am still a little bit scared to actually eat food beyond crackers. Tonight I will try.

Mubende Bible Distributions

Time flies by even in Uganda. A while back I traveled to the Mubende district to deliver Bibles to a couple of schools. I love visiting projects. Project visitation reminders me of my reasons for temporarily giving up my life in the states for a life in Uganda. Seeing the work of so many dedicated Ugandans striving towards developing the next generation is always an inspiration to me.

We arrived at the first school just as classes stopping for break time.

I wandered around taking photos and hanging out with the kids while Abbey, the head of Education at

Africa Renewal, and Beth met with some of the teachers in the open air thatched roof “staff room”.

Then boxes of bibles were delivered to each classroom and handed out to each of the children.

Now seeing that I am probably the world’s worst missionary when it comes to passing along all things “Christian” and cynicism, I was completely blown away by the response of the kids. They were bouncing in their seats with excitement. Every kid in the classroom received a copy and they eagerly opened their own copy of the book I try to read daily. I realized then this how precious

and important that book was to each of them. It was the only book in the school that they did not have to share with each other and it gives

them the opportunity to read what the word of God says on their own without someone interpreting it and telling what it says. I would have scoffed at this gift at their age and am repeatedly challenged by African children to be content with what I have and to express happiness for the things I am given.

I am so Proud

A few months ago I was asked by the Child Sponsorship Department to teach all of their field staff some photography basics. It was a lot of fun and they asked really interesting questions but I didn’t really expect to ever see results or to hear feedback from the projects.

Then I went to visit a project about 4 hours away. When the project director saw me he was really excited. He said “Renee! Thank you for finally coming to visit us we are so happy to have you here. We have been taking so many pictures of our projects come and see!!!” He took me to the office and handed me a six inch stack of photographs. Most of them told a story and most of them were really great. When I was talking to them about photography I told them that I wanted them to be able to capture their projects as they are, my hope for them is that they do not have to depend on outside visitors to provide the photos used to promote the work at their sites. Anyone who has spent time here knows that everyday life is drastically altered when foreigners are visiting and that they have the opportunity to show life as it is through their eyes.

I am so happy that at least one project has better photos today than they did last year.

Software Training

I am really excited. For months I have been trying to work with the girl in Human Resources here to get computer training off the ground. Someone from my church sent training software. Its great because it does not depend on me to be here. HR girl has been dragging her feet. She wanted me to do everything and I only wanted to empower her to do it herself. What good is a one time training when they have the power to train themselves and anyone new that they hire?

Every time someone in the office asks me for help I have been telling them about this software we have. They finally demanded it from me and I have made copies for all of the departments! The accounting off just came to me and said they installed it and are going to start using it tomorrow!!! I am so excited!

We bypassed the HR bottle neck and they are on their way to self computer training! I created a buzz to get the staff interested and an assignment to really test their knowledge. I will of course help them when they need it. Knowing MS office will help ease the work load they are under!

It has only taken 6 months for things to finally come together!

Yes I can

Today is Renee can you help me with my computer it's __________ (fill in the blank) day. So far today I have tried to:

1. Fix an external drive that fell off of a desk. Sadly I think it is dead
2. Scanned three computers for viruses, worms etc.
3. Set up an email account on gmail for a village worker of mercy network. So far i have tried to load gmail.com 5 times. It still will not load.
4. Fixed one Kodak camera and cleared its SD chip
5. Working on fixing a laptop that has been infected with some virus that has disabled the anti virus that is loaded and was apparently turned all the characters into Chinese writing and displayed porn. Although I did not witness the "Porn" or Chinese characters so it could have been an advertisement for a company that makes bras in china.
6. Loaded and attempting to update the Norton virus onto laptop

I have been doing all of this while burning Cd's and working on my database for a child sponsorship program.

I'm tired and want to take a nap

My Last Update with photos

I have hundreds of people on my update list. They are my family, friends, supporters or mere strangers that I have met in passing. The following is the last update that I sent only this time I have included some photos.

You can see more of my photos at reneealina.com

Sad Eyes in Africa

I remember as a child seeing images of starvation from Ethiopia. I clearly remember seeing the skeleton of a child draped in paper thin dry and dirty skin, with a protruding belly, to sick to chase away the flies landing on their faces. Although these images impacted my life, they are not “that” common the capitol of Uganda. I am not in a refugee camp that has run out of food and I don’t see people dying on the streets, at least at first glance. What I have come to realize is the reality of hunger looks much different than the extremes I remember watching on TV as a child.

Forgotten people all over the world have that same dark and distant look in their eyes, often filled with emptiness and pain.

I see it in the eyes of children whose parents make them beg along the main road. My heart breaks whenever I see them looking like fragile mannequins dressed in rags. Their heads nodding from sleep deprivation while their tiny hands are outstretched looking fragile the mother sitting a few feet away. Handing them change is like putting a band aid on a bullet wound.

I see the emptiness in the eyes of the man whose limbs are broken and he is forced to scoot along the road.

I saw it in the eyes of a little girl who I passed along the way to work, these eyes made me stop and think about innocence and first impressions. Not hers, but mine. She was adorable her head smooth, her only clothes and pink and blue princess skirt her belly sticking over the elastic waist and she skipped across the road in front of me. Quickly my mind processed the situation. She was playing and having a blast but her eyes had that desperation in them and I realized that her belly wasn’t from food it was from the lack of food. Her head might have been shaved to keep the lice away but most likely bare from malnutrition. During my time here I have learned that first impressions can be wrong and my innocence from “stupid poverty” is forever lost

At first glance so many of the children I see on the streets here look like they could be “normal” kids. They are full of smiles and always ready to laugh and play. When I remember where I am I realize that they are anything but. They are the statistics that you read about. They are the reasons that we come to places like this attempting to slightly alter the course of their lives, hopefully toward self sufficiency. They are the next generation and we have a choice to unite together and make some changes or to pass by the unseen without a glance. When I get frustrated with my work here I try to remember that I am working on a database that will help this organization impact the lives of these children. I try to remind myself that we are all working towards one goal and that the people I am working along side used to be these children.