January musings

The time has come, yet again for me to write and update my dear friends, and whomever else might be interested in the adventures and misadventures of a young lady and her friend in Africa.
I preface the following with this: Please excuse grammar, punctuation or completely nonsensical strings of words, if they indeed be found, the elves sometimes get on the computer whilst the downloading is taking place, thus making it all go awry.
2009 is indeed at hand, all around us here in Africa. The immense dust clouds issuing from the tail end of our vehicles tell of the dry season we have been experiencing. The dry/summer months are culminating. As the black thundering skies roll in, bursting their contents onto the parched soil and vegetation, storm spillage converts the roadways into rivers of chocolate milk and cinnamon pudding, leaving behind irregular, Martian-esque, chasms to traverse in their stead. The communities are stirring in preparation for the New Year of school, which begins in just one week. Many parents and relatives send off their students in anticipation of their prosperity and bringing back the skills and new ideas for a bright future.
Change is in the air, no doubt, even for me. My time as the camp orchestrator at the orphanage is coming to a close, as the kids prepare for their transition into a new class and growing in knowledge and understanding. Our time together was precious and the essence of invaluable. Eight hours a day together, with emotions covering the spectrum from joy to tears, one could say we have become close. They call me Auntie Sadie (often pronounced Say-lee or Say-bee) and I have a few nick names for them as well. One morning I slipped, not quite intentionally, into a thick Spanish accent and, to my delight, captured the kid’s attention in such a way as to make them smile, laugh AND attentively carry out whatever I had to say! Since this amazing discovery I have been Senorita Sadie whenever chaos pays us a visit, inciting riotous behavior into the lovely children, and this, coupled closely with prayer, gives chaos the boot! I think of these words: “Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above …” “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose”: God knew that I needed something to get these Kid’s attention and He gave it!
As we all transition, we are also having a blast for the last weeks of camp. We went to the zoo on Wednesday in Entebbe with the 4-10 year olds and 4 of the older teenagers as helpers. We were blessed with safe travel and no rain while we were walking around the zoo. We had a tour guide who gave interesting facts about the animals and saved us from mal-navigation amongst the botanical, animal labyrinth. Having grown up with the San Diego zoo and Wild Animal Park a regular part of family outings, this was a change indeed. The thick, pestering fog of Nile lake flies was one contrast, but the most noted difference was the lack of substantial barriers between animal and persons. Separated by a chain link fence we enjoyed ganders at, a lion, hyenas, Serval cats, and monkeys. With only a concrete half wall and a small hedge of shrubbery between the Rhino, and a moat for the chimpanzees. Excited squeals and hand squeezes together with the beauty of God’s Creation were all worth the trip. We were not five minutes on the road back toward home, when the lighting flashed and the *boda men got a shower.
Speaking of Boda men, (who, by the way, are mo-ped taxis), Megan and I have been having a fun time with this cultural experience of public transportation. Last weekend we took a boda ride several kilometers out of town to spend the day with some missionary friends. Usually Megan and I ride together on one boda in order to save time, but we decided to ride separate this time in order to provide evidence for you all that we did indeed have fun adventures while we were in Africa. Megan took pictures of me and I of her. As I sat on the back I suddenly realized that there lie 18 speed bumps between me and my desired destination. Then I realized that we were going to have to traverse these, in the same manner I had seen countless bodas do so in the past; that is with their lives, no doubt, flashing before their eyes as they sail up into the air whilst their passenger goes for an unintentional rodeo ride while balancing a basket on their head. As we neared the first speed bump I imagined a crowd cheering for me, the amazing ‘Bodeo’ champion, with my imaginary fruit basket delicately balancing on my head as I landed with grace and charisma on the other side of the humps. We hardly even hit the humps in reality, we just skirted in between the curb in the three inches of space provided, my fans would have to wait for another hump. Several klicks(kilometers) down the, now dirt, road we came into the last set of speed bumps. This time I would make my debut! We had met up with our friends on the way, who were also riding bodas, now I had a real live audience. As we hit the bump Ann turned around with the camera, ’look no hands!’ and I put my hands in the air just as the boda man read my mind a popped a ten foot wheelie. We pulled a tandem superman, never before done! We swapped spots in the air, landing me driving with the fruit basket still on my head! Ok, ok, so we didn’t do the wheelie (though it was invigorating pretending to soar through the air) but I did do the no hands part! We made it safely, all of us, and spent a lovely day together. In fact, on that day we had several opportunities to share about our faith with some business people and also meet people from five different missionary groups.
It has been enlightening (in the non new-agey sense of the word) seeing how God is working in so many facets and lives throughout Africa. There are as many different ministry opportunities as there individuals (all over the world). One may think they have come to Africa to help the orphans and end up leading a tour guide to Christ, or helping a missionary through a hard time. We, or at least I, tend to put parameters on what God’s plan is, but He never fits into the plans I have, as it says “His thoughts are higher than my thoughts and His ways higher than my ways”, I think He wants to do this, be He ends up using me for something completely different. Life with Christ is the most amazing adventure anyone could ever have! Wherever He leads He always has something planned, even in the smallest, seemingly insignificant encounter, He is doing something. For that reason I am striving to take full advantage of every relationship that God brings my way while I am here, in order to cultivate and assimilate that attitude into my lifestyle permanently and walk in the ‘good works He has prepared’ for me.
I must conclude this update for fear of carrying on too long, therefore risking the boredom of my dear reader. There is so much going on, of which I cannot completely grasp nor comprehend, nor communicate. I do hope that you have some glimpse of life on this side of the world for me at the time being. I know that there are equally amazing things going on in each individual life that reads or does not read this posting. I pray that God will continue to enlighten your heart with more and more knowledge of His power, understanding of His love and the reality of the hope that is found in Christ (c.f. Eph. 1:18) Until next time… your friend, sister and random rambler, Sadie