Well, it’s been 2 days since we arrived back into NYC and I still have jet lag! Hopefully I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow; I had no clue the kind of effect it has on you.  

So far my response, when asked about Uganda, is simply that I have experienced so much mentally and emotionally that I cannot even process it at this point.  I think that it will take time to explain in words the impact that this trip has had on me.  I cannot grasp the fact that it’s the year 2010 and running water still has not made it around the world.  I don’t understand why Sarah, Sanyu, and Joseph lost their parents to HIV and I just talked to my Mom on the phone yesterday and thanked her for her financial support for this incredible journey; or why I went to Africa and back completely healthy and Sarah was in the hospital for three days with malaria, while I was faithfully spraying my Off every day and taking my malaria prevention medication, which was readily available to me here in the US.

It’s things like that, things that I cannot wrap my head around and may never will. As soon as I am able to write something more adequate, I will be sending out an in depth letter to all of my donors so that they can fully understand the impact that their financial contribution has made in my life.  Until then, I will be praying for a way to explain in words what I experienced.  Thank you for your patience :)

I think I speak on behalf of the entire team when I say it was truly an amazing and life changing trip.  I know all of us are still processing what exactly it means for each of us: how we are going to be different, what God is asking from us, how we spend our time and resources, and so on…

I am confident that pictures and maybe even a few video are forthcoming.  We would love to share our experience with you.

Thanks so much to those of you who financially contributed to this trip.  We could not have done it without your partnership in the ministry of Jesus Christ.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Or as the say in Uganda, wabale (pronounced: way’ba’lay). 

Now I just have to gentle remind the team that they should each post with some reflections about the trip… or else make me into a liar.

blessings,

Jacob Lange

African tea, red plum jam and chapatti roll with egg for breakfast. (Video will be updated when I’m at the Amsterdam airport) I held a chicken yesterday and dug out some weeds around a sweet potato plant and picked some eggplants. Seeing the villages where the kids come from and watching them do their daily routine puts a lot of things in perspective. (Lots of pictures to follow). I am continually amazed at what we’ve seen and experienced thus far.

The Nile River between Mbale and Kampala was an awesome sight to see. A local was given $5 to go down the white water at the Nile with just a jerry-can and some shorts. RIDICULOUS———> It’s only day 9 here and it feels like I’ve been here for about a month. The things that we fill our days with include home visits in small rural areas and learning more and more about how LEAD Uganda is affecting the lives of these wonderful children. We finished the seminars only a couple of days ago and some of my students come up to me and ask if I can watch them do what I taught them (Warrior poses and suzuki marches). It’s amazing to be a part of such a great organization that empowers former child soldiers and AIDS orphans. I never thought I would be teaching children of that background/caliber but I realize that it’s more than that. I can really be an active participant in their education so I decided to partner up with one of my team members to sponsor an 11 year old boy named Mpande Brian. I fell in love with him during the 4-hour play when he stops in the middle of the whole thing, comes over to me and whispers, “thanks for buying” after having some popcorn and a blackcurrant and peach juice box. He was severely mal-nutritioned so he’s a bit small for his age. I got a chance to see where he lives (3 small huts) and meet his parents and siblings. He has a great chance of getting into the best primary school in Kampala and I am really excited to be a part of that.

There are countless hours of priceless moments captured and I can’t wait to really take the time and post them all…until then, you will have to rely on my words.

Thank you so much for the continued prayers and positive light coming our way. They are greatly appreciated!!!

Hello everyone!

This will most likely be my last post as we are leaving for a Safari tomorrow and will be without internet access for the remainder of the trip. 

The last 2 days we have been traveling around Uganda in a bus with some of the L.E.A.D. Uganda children.  We visited some of their huts in the villages and saw how they really live while they are not in school.  It was eye-opening to watch a 12 year old boy pump water from a well and carry it back to his family as part of his morning chores. 

The highlight of this trip was when myself and another team member decided to partner together to sponsor an 11 year old boy named Brian.  We went to his village, met his family, and saw the tiny hut that he sleeps in and the bananas and other fruits that are grown in their garden.  He is the sweetest boy I’ve ever met and I’d been praying about him since I first met him a week ago.  He told me that he has been asking God to send him a sponsor and my friend and I knew that we were supposed to step up to the plate and pay for his tuition and fees so that he can experience the best education that Uganda has to offer.

Getting to know these children and beginning to understand how unique L.E.A.D. Uganda is from other organizations such as World Vision and Compassion, I am definitely sold on their vision to turn the state of this country around by producing successful leaders and business people.  If you are interested in learning more about these kids, take a minute and read their war-torn stories here http://www.leaduganda.org/our-students/.

Thank you again for your continued prayers for our safety and our health.  I am truly grateful for your support that allowed me to experience something so few people will ever experience.

We have just returned from a village near Entebe where some of the newest children in the program have come from. We were able to see the abject poverty from which they came. Parents are desperate to help their children, but they have no options for paying school fees. They are so grateful that LEAD Uganda has stepped in to fill in the gap. We were greeted with a tribal song and dance and a generous lunch. Driving along the dirt roads and seeing the countless children who still need help was heartbreaking, but motivating as well.

The last of the seminars went very well. The kids seemed to enjoy them very much and I, for one, was thoroughly impressed with the thought, creativity, and heart that went into each lesson.

We are spending one last day here in Kampala with the kids. We have a pizza/cake/ice cream party planned for the kids later tonight and then we will have to say some very hard good-byes. We are struggling with the good-bye part. You just can’t help but hand over your heart when you meet these kids. It’s been a very emotional week for us all.

For some comic relief, I’d like to share some things I am learning about Uganda:

1. Loosing power and/or water is a non-event.

2. That smell following me around…is me.

3. Traffic lights are optional, as are driving lanes.

4. If there is a nightclub close to your hotel, pick a room at the opposite end of the property.

5. That’s not a great tan, you’re just very, very dirty.

6. Everything in Uganda takes 4 hours…the commute, a meal, a play…

Love, Angela

Here I am again, in the middle of Africa, on the internet….technology is amazing.  Yesterday we went to a Ugandan church and it reminded me that every Sunday morning, all over the world, people are singing the same praise songs and worshiping the same God…it was awesome.

Today was a fantastic day of seminars.  My morning began with breakfast at the hotel sipping the most incredible coffee I’ve ever tasted, alongside my team members.  At 10 am our seminars began.  Today we had the younger group, ages K-5, I believe.  My topic was goal setting and I was super nervous that I wouldn’t have enough exciting material to keep 25 kids interested for an hour.  I forgot that I was teaching the smartest kids in Uganda, and what games and activities that I thought would last 20 minutes took up an hour and a half!  It was a hit!!!  My team is great and we each had a successful seminar.

Later we ate more delicious African food, accompanied by a Coca-cola (it really is a world wide empire).  Following lunch I was blessed to teach 20 of Uganda’s brightest high school students the basics of finance.  I introduced the most basic of Dave Ramsey’s principals such as budgeting and saving.  We talked a lot about living a debt-free life after they finish college and the importance of having an emergency savings for unexpected life events.  It’s very challenging because most Ugandans live on 1-2 dollars per day, so the mere concept of saving is incomprehensible.  I simply wanted to give them basic tools so that one day, when they are the business men and women of Uganda, they will be equipped to manage their finances, big or small, in the most effective way.

A few of the students who had read Robert Kiwosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad asked some very challenging questions and asked for further explanation on other financial topics, so I definitely had my work cut out for me.  Fortunately, I was prepared and I was able to answer them confidently.

Dave Ramsey’s assistant was gracious enough to donate his best selling books for the L.E.A.D. Uganda library and the kids were reading the books before I could even take them back and show them to the staff!  I have never met a group of students who value education more than these kids.  It makes me wish that I’d taken my own education more seriously :)

Tonight the team is going out to eat at one of the local restaurants, so that should be fun.

If you are led to continue praying for us, please pray for our health.  A lot of us have been sick, myself included, and it’s challenging to continue each day when your body is not cooperating. 

Thank you again for your ongoing prayers and support.  Our time is flying by and I am trying to value each moment that I am here.