Rubanga kene

July 18th, 2010. Published under Fun Stuff, Life in Uganda, Students. No Comments.

Check out this video from Pros for Africa. These guys came out in March of this year and we spent a good part of a week with them. This video features several shots of our students dancing, singing, playing football, drilling wells etc. There might be a quick shot of me in there too.. All the kids in blue uniforms are from Restore!!

Pros for Africa News 9 Special from Derek Watson on Vimeo.

Mark Cuban in Africa

April 4th, 2010. Published under Fun Stuff, Life in Uganda. 2 Comments.

But I’m finding myself in his shoes.  Here in Gulu, I’m kinda like the Mark Cuban of secondary school football (soccer).  We have some legit athletes in our school and have amazing boys and girls football teams.  I go to as many games as I can, sit with all the players, teachers and students, complain to the refs, yell, cheer etc.  I find my competitive athletic nature come out as I spectate.  I’m hurt if we lose, excited if we win, concerned if a key player is hurt or if we played poorly etc.  I take offense when the refs are biased (which happens a lot here, we’ve experienced both sides of the biasy and its never fun).  But being the only white guy around, I stick out.  Everyone at the games know I’m with Restore.  No other head teacher, school director or teachers go to the games and sit with the students and cheer.  They sit in the shade somewhere and watch from afar.  But we do.  We’d rather be with the players and students.     

Recently we played in the annual district football tournament.  The school that wins for each district get to represent the district at the national tournament.  Amuru is so poorly developed that the norm here is to stack your team with as many outsiders as you think you can get away with.  AKA mercenaries.  Anyone who you think can pass as a high school student.  Make them a school ID, forge their documents and have them play for your team.  The team that won the district last year had half of their team disqualified at nationals for being mercenaries.  That same team had guys as old as 27 playing against teenagers this year.  We know because our teachers went to highschool with some of the other team’s players.  But we took a hard stance on this and would not allow a single outsider play for us.  Each player had to be a current student.  We wanted to make a point that winning wasn’t everything, but being honest and playing by the rules was the best way.  If we lost, as least we lost knowing we played fair.  I prayed so hard that God would reward us for playing fairly!    

 And he did.  Both our girls and boys won the district tournament!!!  In style too, the girls didn’t allow a single goal in three games and the boys allowed 2 goals in four games, both of them on penalty kicks!  Combined the two teams outscored their opponents 19-2.  The other schools had some more talented mercenaries than our players, but we came with a team.  They had been playing together and collectively were much better because of it.  One opposing coach who was very frustrated asked how we could represent the district, being only two years old.  Representing the district was only for the big, established schools with 1000+ students, not us with just over 200.  That same coach by the way is the one who had half his team DQ’d for being mercenaries last year   So now our students are preparing for exams and then for the national tournament at the end of the month.  The boys will travel to southern Uganda and the girls tournament is here in Gulu.  For most of these boys it will be their first time out of the Gulu/Amuru area.  

RLA girl footballers before the finals

Corner kick during girls championship game

RLA championship footballers after girls game

Beckham being carried off field after semis

Praying over the boys before the finals

Striker Beckham during championship game

Me and my gang

October 17th, 2009. Published under Fun Stuff, Life in Uganda. No Comments.

I’m in a gang. A bike gang to be exact. We’re not so much a gang though, really. Its more just a bunch of guys who are getting into dirt bikes and planning an epic adventure around East Africa.

So here’s the deal. In lieu of spending a bunch of money and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, something everyone here wants to do, a few friends decided to buy dirt bikes and take a trip over Christmas. One of them, Eric, sent an email, trying to talk me into it.  It read, “We will break down a lot. We won’t know what to do. We will get lost. We will screw things up. We will figure things out somehow… it will be awesome.” I was quickly convinced to join.

I was convinced, but it actually took me some time to agree. You see, I had already promised the parents that I’d be home for Christmas. I desire to be a man of my word so I hated the thought of telling them I wasn’t coming home. But this is a once in a lifetime experience. Well, now that I think about it, hopefully it won’t be a once in a lifetime thing. I’m hoping when all is said and done this is in my top 20 life experiences, but for now it definitely has the potential to be in the top 2 or 3 for my life so far. But secondly, I’m a pretty injury prone guy. A few friends who know me well, upon hearing our plans, basically told me this was the craziest idea for the most injury prone guy they knew. Haha. But to ease things over with my parents I came home for a quick trip right now and got a bunch of safety gear in case of an accident. Boom, problems solved.

But I’m doing it. And right after deciding to officially do it, a beautiful bike came into my life. My buddy Jared, after buying his bike, was riding through town and saw his bike’s twin parked on the side of the road.  He stopped, found the owner and asked if he’d be willing to sell.  He said yes. Two days later I owned it.  I like to call her Veronica. A mechanic I know called her, “The best bike I’ve seen in Gulu” which might not mean a lot, but it does to me.  So I bought it and am trying to learn to ride it.. and how to repair it.

What excites me most about this trip is that we’re doing it together. Its the group of guys I’m “doing life” with, walking, learning, struggling and sharing experiences with in Uganda. It won’t be easy, we will get hurt, lost, in trouble etc. But we’ll be doing it together, striving towards the same goal of a) surviving and b) creating a memory and a story worth telling.

So here’s the route: Leave Kampala around December 13th, head to eastern Uganda and go over Mount Elgon into Kenya. Beautiful. Then head to Mombasa, on the coast of Kenya, and stay in a beach house with Eric’s family who will be there the week before Christmas. Classy. Then down the coast of Kenya into Tanzania and put the bikes on boats and hang out in Zanzibar for a few days. Awesome. Then back to the mainland, and down across Tanzania to Lake Malawi. Legendary. Spend a few days on the lake, then start the journey north, stopping at Lake Tanganyikain Burundi, seeing friends in Rwanda, then back to Uganda, about a month after leaving.

Epic.

PS I tried and failed at posting pictures of all of us, the bikes etc.  So here’s a link to all my pictures from this year

Trials and tribulations

August 20th, 2009. Published under Life in Uganda, thoughts and questions. No Comments.

You know you’ve been in Uganda a long time when…

April 14th, 2009. Published under Fun Stuff, Life in Uganda. 4 Comments.

This was forwarded to me, makes me laugh at how true it is…

…driving, you find yourself using your turn signals as means of
communication….’the road is too thin’, ‘don’t overtake (pass me)
there is a BUS coming’, ‘No I’m NOT going to turn here’, ‘traffic police are ahead!’

…you no longer get annoyed when people lie to you and make promises
they can’t possibly keep

…seeing someone speeding towards you in the wrong lane seems completely normal

…Your phone rings and it is a wrong number and you can keep the Hello?
Hello? Hello? Hello’s going back and forth like a tennis match until
eventually the caller realises you are the wrong number and abruptly
hangs up, after spending at least 2 minutes worth of airtime!

…You find yourself pointing with your lips and saying “yes” by raising
both eyebrows.

…You can masterfully employ a variety of “Eh!” and “Eh eh!” noises to
convey a range of meanings

…You know “Come back tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.” means whatever you’re
trying to get done is NEVER going to happen

…You start using the words “even” and “ever” in places you never would
have (“Even me, I’m feeling hungry,” or “I have ever done that”)

…You start referring to people as “this one” or “that one”

…You know you’ve what? been in Uganda a long time….when you what?
Start each sentence as a question and proceed to what? Answer it
yourself!

…someone asks you “How is there?” You reply “It is there…

…You willingly drive into oncoming traffic just to avoid the potholes

…A car isn’t full unless it has at least 7 people in it

…you can speak Uganglish so well that – you talk with a Ugandan
accent; use words like ’shocked,’ ‘fearing,’ ‘extend,’ ‘balance,’
‘’somehow,’ ‘even me,’ and ‘can you imagine’ and ‘are you sure?’ far
too often…

…someone “flashes” your phone you just flash them back and wait for
them to flash you back and then you flash them back and then they
flash you back and….

…you keep a jerry can full of water around, just in case…

…you feel exposed without bars on your windows

…When you come back from being out of the country and conversations go as:
Them: “you have been lost!!” and your response: “I have been found!”
Them: “how is there?” and you: “there is fine!”
Them: “you have gone fat!!!” and you are lost for words cause you are
not used to be told so with such frankness!!

…You emphasize how you like something and they say: “Are you sure?”

…you are asked how you are and your response is: “Me I am fine, how are you?”

…you end the conversation with “ok please!”

…your knees ache from squatting over a long drop 4 times a day as a
result of a parasite living in your intestines

…it’s 80 degrees outside and there are people wearing jackets and beanies

…You ask for someone, and you know the answer “He’s within” means
everything from “He’s within the building” to “He’s within the city”
or even “He’s within the country”.

….you refer to others as ‘you people’ and don’t intend to be rude

…you start sentences with ‘As for me, I ….’

…you stop using those little ‘off’ or ‘up’ bits of verbs. You pick
people. And you drop them.

…you get ‘Fine’ as a reply to your ‘hello’.

…’nownow’ means sometime soon, possibly in the next day or two,
whereas ‘now’ means anytime in the next month.

….’moving’ becomes ’shifting’ (but you move with people rather than
hang out with them)

…you stand in a line and feel something is very wrong because it is
orderly and the person behind you respects your personal space…

…”ok” punctuates,modifies, tags and answers almost every sentence.

…”Bambi”, said with that humble look, becomes your standard expression
of sympathy.

…you use the term “just there” to mean on the other side of the city

…”first let me come” or “first wait” makes perfect sense to you

…at the end of a meeting, people say, “Ok Please” as opposed to good
bye or have a nice one.

…your stories always have an “eh?” to make sure the people are listening

…you say SORRY! when someone hurts themselves through no fault of yours

…you call white people “muzungu” and forget that you yourself are white….

…you go to a restaurant and order something off the menu and the
waiter/waitress looks you right in the eye and says “We don’t have
that one”

…walking by a uniformed officer carrying an assault rifle is completely normal

…Clothes becomes a two-syllable word. Clo – thes.

…You know the man asking for Lose actually refers to Rose.  And when
someone says “let’s play” you should stay seated.

…you don’t get confused even though the person you’re talking to keeps
mixing up ‘he’ and ’she’ in the same sentence talking about the same
person.

…you are reluctant to let go of a new, CLEAN 1000 shilling note.

…your home does not have an address.

…your handshakes last an entire conversation

…next to a public phone at the bottom of the call cost there is a
charge for beeping

…marriage proposals become a normal and almost expected thing from strangers.

…you have time to grab lunch while the bank teller cashes your check.

…you stop noticing how ugly marabou storks actually are

…you think the taxi you’re about to enter is too full but the
conductor will squeeze you in and let you sit where he was sitting but
then he will be standing over you with his bad body odor.

…You have 9 x 10,000UGX bills and you wrap the 10th one around it and
put it in your wallet.

…being given a “push” has nothing to do with “push and shove”, but
being escorted to your car after a visit….

…You lie on the phone that you are about to arrive for a meeting…yet
you’ve not yet left you’re home, forgetting that someone can do the
mathematics and be able to tell that you lied!

…You have constant power supply at your house for a week. It leaves u
thinking Umeme is not doing its work rite. Supplying darkness instead
of light.

…people walk into your house and you say “You are all most welcome!”

…you are making a verbal list and trail off saying “what, what..”

…you start calling inanimate objects “stubborn” when they don’t work well

…you always use your big notes despite the fact that you have the exact change.

…you think “eh” in a high pitch tone is the correct way to respond
when a boda drivers price suggestion is too high.

…umbrellas are not for rain but for the shunshine

pro missions athiest??

January 15th, 2009. Published under Life in Uganda, religion, thoughts and questions. 1 Comment.

I was recently emailed this very interesting article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece 

An athiest wrote it on his observations of aid and missions in Africa.. and comes to a conclusion that Africa needs Jesus more than they need money.  Pretty cool coming from an athiest.

But… having lived there and seeing the brand of “Christianity” that is in Africa, I don’t fully agree.  I obviously agree that everyone needs Jesus, but I don’t agree with the Jesus that is being preached.  Most of the Christianity that is preached and brought over from the West is the prosperity gospel, telling the people that God will bless them if they give… and if they aren’t blessed with wealth than they are doing something wrong.  The most commonly watched TV programs (apart from soccer of course) are televangelists asking for money.  Ask any local Ugandan who has access to a TV and he’ll name off several megapastors from the US, mostly guys I’ve never even heard of.  But I have seen these guys on TV there and it makes me sick… seeing a # on the bottom of the screen to call to donate money so one can be blessed by God.

I’ve heard it said that in Africa if you want to be rich you pursue one of two professions… You become a politician or a pastor.  And the pastors in Uganda at least, are just as corrupt as the next person.  The pastors of the two largest churches are currently in legal trouble.  One of them is being investigated by the FBI for molesting a young girl while in the US this summer.  The other was just arrested (for at least the third time) for stealing cars in Uganda and selling them in the Congo.  This pastor heads a 40,000 member church and in the newspaper said something along the lines of, “Stealing is a sin.  I’ve sinned but God forgives me.  If you are sinning come to Miracle church on Sundays to get saved.”  But this guy has been arrested over three times for stealing cars… I assume because of his wealth he constantly is let go.

While I ultimately agree with the author of this article, I believe the Christianity that is being brought over and being preached is wrong.  The people need something to believe in, and I agree that the Christians are different/happier than the next person in Uganda… but my Jesus didn’t steal or ask the poor for money.

Community

November 9th, 2008. Published under Life in Uganda, TIA, religion, thoughts and questions. 1 Comment.

I’m in the middle of the first funeral I can remember.  I honestly cannot remember going to any funeral.  I know I went to some as a little kid, but I have no vivid memories of any. 

My best friend here and head teacher of Restore Academy, Peter, lost his “mzee” Friday night.  He had throat cancer and went to Kampala for surgery on Wednesday, but died Friday night from complications to the surgery (this is no Seattle Grace).  It is really sad, Peter lost his biological father two years ago, and now he’s lost his uncle, who stepped in to take his father’s place as head of the family.  The funeral process here in Uganda is much different than back home.  Saturday they transported the body back up to Gulu.  We drove with Peter and by the time we got to Gulu people had already gathered at his house to help mourn.  Saturday afternoon/night probably 50 or so friends and family had shown up at the family compound to pay their respects and help mourn.  Many of them traveled from pretty far and are staying on the compound, wherever they can find a place to sleep.  This will go on until at least Monday or Tuesday, with the actual burial on Monday.  But this custom of paying respect and helping the family mourn is really cool.  Virtually all family members drop what they are doing and come mourn until after the burial.  Friends come and join them for as long as they are able, many staying the whole time.  Its literally a 3-4 day event.

Wanting to respect this norm, I went and sat at the house for several hours last night.  As tired as I was, it was an amazing experience.  There were about 3 small bonfires with people sitting around talking into the wee hours of the night.  There were a few fires for the women and girls and a fire for the old Acholi men.  I sat with Peter and five Cornerstone OB’s (alumni) nearby and just enjoyed great conversation.  In no particular order, it went from death to life to Jesus to current events to astronomy to Obama to morality to football.  But as I sat there listening I just absorbed my surroundings and what was taking place.

I realized I was in the midst of community.  Someone that each of us around the fire loved was hurting, and we came together to mourn with him and bring him back up.  I take no personal credit for intentionaly doing this, I just knew it was a cultural norm so I wanted to go and sit at the house.  But I realized how great that norm is.  It reminds me of Luke 6:20-26 and what my buddy James has to say here:  http://jamestravels.com/2008/02/blessings-and-woes-2.php.  The Acholi culture says that when one of you is mourning, all of you mourn and together (after the burial) you celebrate and life goes on.  I’m personally getting a first hand experience of how great that is. 

As screwed up as some things are here in Uganda, the sense of family and community is something we all should be envious of. 

Basketball Gulu style

October 25th, 2008. Published under Fun Stuff, Life in Uganda, TIA. No Comments.

Ever heard of a “professional” basketball game getting rained out?  Neither have I.  But that’s exactly what should have happened today.  I’ve been playing with the Gulu Hawks, a team in the Federation of Uganda Basketball Association, or FUBA.  Every game I’ve played thus far has been outdoors on sketchy courts.  There are mini potholes on the courts, one rim might be six inches or a full foot shorter than the other, or the rim is slanted 30 degrees to the side.  This actually describes our court in Gulu to the T.

So today we had a game.  At the start of the game, everyone could tell a storm was brewing.  Lightning was flashing in the distance, the wind was picking up and the sky was growing dark.  Luckily it didn’t start raining until halftime, when it came down in buckets.  There was an abandoned building not too far away from the courts, so players, refs and fans all ran inside to take cover and wait out the storm.  It was actually fun, just joking around with guys from our team and the other team and getting to know some “fans.”

I should mention we do have a loyal support group of fans… that always show up drunk and harass the other team or referees.  Its pretty sad and embarrassing, but they are hilarious when not trying to intimidate others.  Today was no different, they actually brought a case of like 24 beers for the few of them.  They were in a jovial mood today though and our halftime show involved them debating members of the opposing team about Jesus and drunkenness.  It was hilarious and luckily everyone stayed friendly throughout.

Anyways, after about an hour of waiting in this abandoned house, the lightning and torrential downpour had passed, but it was still raining.  People slowly came outside and stood in the rain, then made their way back to the court.  The court literally had to be drained by digging miniature canals to divert water and once the small lakes were cleared the second half began.  In the rain.  The entire second half was played in increasingly harder rain on a very slippery court.  At one point, standing there soaking wet, I literally pinched myself and remember thinking, “Is this a dream?!  Am I really playing “professional” basketball, in Uganda, in the rain, on a court like this?” 

I have to admit, I’m a pretty lucky guy. 

Home visits

September 3rd, 2008. Published under Life in Uganda, TIA, thoughts and questions. No Comments.

Monday I went with my buddy Kyle, who got here a week ago, to take one of our youth corps girl’s home.  School isn’t in session right now and the kids go home for as long as they can.  One of the boys wanted to accompany us, so while we waited for him I sat and talked with this particular girl.  Usually I’m with a group of the kids and never ask them personal questions, but seeing as we were about to go to her home I asked her about her family and her past.  Her mom died of AIDS two years ago and her dad lives in the village working as a farmer.  He is really poor so for at least the past 10 years (she’s 14) she has lived with one of her aunts or uncles near town, so she could go to school.  She had a fairly big scar on her arm and after asking about it she got a little quiet.  She said it came from a stick.  After further probing she told us the stick happened to be in the hands of her uncle while he beat her.  Then she showed us a scar on her other arm and another just below her collarbone, all from her uncle.  I didn’t really know how to respond.  I love this girl to death and I just couldn’t comprehend why or how someone could beat a little kid to this end.  I asked a little more about this uncle and the others she had lived with.  I had to make sure we weren’t going to this particular uncle’s house because honestly I did not want to meet him and definitely didn’t want to leave her back in his care.  Luckily she now lives with her grandma when not at the y.c. home.

After a while we found the boy who wanted to go and the four of us hopped on bodas and took off for her home.  We had a great time visiting with her aunt who was there but soon after arriving we went walking to find another one of the y.c. kids who lived nearby.  After a good hour of walking (we asked how far it was and initially we were told no more than 1 km.  It was a good 3 miles or so, but it was beautiful and through small villages by way of footpaths.), we found another one of the girls’ sister.  She told us where to find this other girl… in a rock quarry.  I cannot accurately describe the scene at the quarry… but it felt a little like the diamond mining in the movie Blood Diamond, sans the guards with guns.  There were men, women and children everywhere “beating the rock” as the call it.  The men had huge sledgehammers and chisels, breaking big chunks off and hauling them to their wives and children to beat into smaller rocks.  Our girl saw us from afar and came running.  She joyfully showed us around and introduced us to her step-mom and others.  She took us to her home nearby and bought us water and sodas while we talked with her father.  It was a bit disheartening though.  Her father, obviously drunk (at 3 pm), talked us into the ground.  He capped off our time there by somewhat making fun of Kyle.  There were about 10 of us sitting in the hut, 4 of them being really little kids.  Kyle was playing with them most of the time while the dad, the boy and I “talked”, more like he talked in circles and we nodded.  But when I told him we needed to go he said no and, turning to Kyle basically said, “Why haven’t you talked.  You come into my home, I need to get to know you.”  Then proceeded to tell us why Kyle needed to get him a passport so he could come to the US and on and on.  I sat there laughing as Kyle looked around for help not knowing what to say.  It was pretty funny…

But as I look back on this day I’m left with a few lingering thoughts.  One is the hospitality that we were shown.  At both girls homes they went and bought sodas for us.  That doesn’t sound like much, but these families are poor.  It’s a big deal to buy sodas for three people, but it wasn’t an option.  We were guests and they had to give us something, even with us trying our best to refuse the drinks.  It was probably the equivalent of an average US citizen giving an unexpected visitor a $30-$40 gift upon arrival in their home.

The second thing I’m left with is how horrible these kids’ backgrounds really are.  Both of these girls come from alcoholic, abusive families and both of their moms died of AIDS.  Both had to, for up to five years, walk into town each night and sleep with thousands of other kids in shelters and then walk back home each morning, thankful that they weren’t abducted the night before.  My mind cannot grasp this.  I cannot imagine being 13 or 14 again and already have experienced all that they have.  To not have a loving mother or father, to work in a rock quarry, or to flee home each night in search of a safe place to sleep.  I can’t even imagine what I would be like now, at 23, if this had been a part of my recent past.  It is amazing how strong they are and how joyful and happy they can be.  I am constantly in awe of them and daily learn more from them than I ever imagined.

Restore Academy’s first born

August 15th, 2008. Published under Life in Uganda. 3 Comments.

Today I was able to hold a newborn… only 6 days old!  One of our students, only 17, became pregnant earlier this year and just gave birth on Sunday.  She was one of our brightest and best students and once we heard the news, we’ve done our best to stay in touch with her and ensure she was doing alright.  A few weeks ago I saw her on the road and she said the doctors told her her fallopian tubes were too small and she would lose the baby any day.  We were all extremely sad… But God had a different plan for that baby and we were incredibly joyous to hear just yesterday that she had given birth on Sunday, a full month and a half early.  Today several of us went to see the new mom and her beautiful baby girl.  The girl comes from a very poor family and had nothing for the baby but one set of clothes.  Peter, our head teacher, had her make a wish list of things she needed or wanted for the baby and we took one of our female staff members on a shopping spree, then presented the girl with them later this afternoon.  We can only praise God that the baby was born safely (I’ve heard horror stories about pregnant women going to the hospital here) and we pray that she stays healthy.

What’s so special about this though?  What we’re trying to create as a school is revolutionary for northern Uganda and different than the status quo here.  Virtually every other school would kick a pregnant girl out and pretty much never think of it again.  We’ve done about opposite of what people would expect and have extended as much grace and help to this girl as we can.  Her dream, and ours, is to get her back into school as soon as she can.  We’ve tried our best to get her notes from all the classes and sort of do a “homeschool” on her own this last term and plan to continue to do so for the beginning of the next term.  She made a mistake and has to live with the consequences… but our hope is to not add anything to that.  Our aim is to just love her and assist in any way we can.  My prayer is that God will be glorified through this, that all our students will see the love we have for them through this situation and that this beautiful baby girl will grow up in a community of love.

My first meeting with “Restore Academy’s firstborn child” as Peter calls her.