Going North

This week we had some people from Sudan stay with us, they are volunteers at an orphanage in southern Sudan and came through Jinja to visit and do some fun stuff like bungee jumping and rafting. There were three of them, two guys and one girl. It was refreshing to have them around because they are really theological, philosophical and passionate. We stayed up late with them talking and debating, which I loved because stuff like that gets me motivated and fired up. They were really great guests too, they definitely emulated Christ in their service because they cleaned our kitchen, they cooked us dinner and when they left they gave us a bunch of groceries to replenish anything they had used. I had never had better and/or more thoughtful guests. The second night they were there, they invited two twin boys over for dinner, whom they had met rafting earlier that day. The twins were from Israel and had saved up for a year to come to Africa to travel together. They will have traveled for almost a year when they are finished. They are going to several different countries within Africa with no schedule and no contacts wherever they reach. So, they just make friends wherever they go and always end up having a place to stay. It’s actually really neat to see how they were living their lives with such spontaneity and trust, not in the Lord because they are atheists, but I know it was God’s plan to bring them into a home full of believers for an evening. I must say that I admire how they are living, I would love to say that I could travel like that, but I think I’m too much of a coward.
Anyways, after they left, Courtney and I headed up to Gulu and Kitgum up in northern Uganda. This is where the majority of the Suubi women lived before the Rebels came. It was good to see their homeland and see how they used to do life before they were forced to flee south. Their villages are beautiful up there, so peaceful, so green, and so simple.
We were able to see one of the several IDP camps, which are camp areas that were formed by the government to protect the village people from the Rebels. There had been a mass flood of people leaving their homes and going into town to seek safety, but this caused a lot of chaos so the government arranged camps for them to stay at while the Rebels were a threat. They built thousands of mud huts very close together as a refuge for the northerners. However, this was not always a safe haven, because the Rebels still came at night and burned the huts, killed people, and abducted children. The fires spread really fast because the roofs are made of grass and the huts are so close together that even a slight breeze would cause the flames to jump to the neighboring hut. It was so sad to be there and imagine all the horror that had gone on even just two years ago. Right next to several of the huts were graves of family members that had been burned to death or mudered.
We met a really old man that had been in the IDP camp since the Rebels began their attacks 22 years ago. He was running from the Rebels with some of his family and friends and fell into a ditch dislocating his hip. He could not move, but he was hidden from the Rebels in that ditch while his friends and family were killed. He has been crippled ever since then and expressed the struggles of trying to get food being a crippled man. He was still quick to smile, however, he was very kind and gentle and exuded the wisdom and life experience only really old men can.
The next day, in Kitgum, we went around the village meeting people and seeing all that was around. We ate food that was prepared by a friend of a friend, they had cooked us peas, greens (I think it was spinach), and sogum, which is a plant they grind up really finely and make into a solid paste-like substance. It wasn’t until after we ate it all that we were warned of some major digestive problems from the sorgum (thanks for the prewarn huh?)
Later that night, a girl named Scovia took us to the only store in town, they gave us sodas (we had three each and felt like our stomachs might pop right then and there). They were very kind and very friendly, perhaps a little too much whiskey for some of them. They make their own alcohol in the villages and it smells like trash, poop, and sour beer all rolled into one. I almost vomit every time I smell it. Anyways, I whipped out my camcorder (thanks again Kelly and Willie!), and got them all to get up and dance for a while, it was the highlight of the trip to Gulu. We had fun that night!
We slept in Scovia’s hut with a gagillion spiders and perhaps some mice or rats, we heard something scuttling around, but it was pitch black and we couldn’t see a thing. We were wide-awake because of our 3 sodas and so we talked for a while and laughed about some of the strange things we had experienced on our trip. As we were talking, we heard a pig making noise outside the hut. We just laid there and listened as it was oinking, but then it started to scream, then it screamed even louder, by this time I was freaking out thinking perhaps a bigger animal was devouring it right outside our hut and we were going to be the next course. After what seemed like a couple minutes of screaming, we heard gargling and bubbly noises, like it was choking on it’s own blood or something (okay I’m sorry….I’m getting way too graphic). So, then the screaming stopped and we just laid there in complete silence, then started laughing hysterically, mostly comic relief I’m sure. Eventually we fell asleep, quite the miracle so thanks for that God! The next morning we asked Scovia what had happened and apparently one of the village people had slaughtered the pig, and yes, it was right outside our hut…. someone had a serious craving for a midnight snack.
So, then that morning we headed back to Jinja, a 12 hour bus ride with no pit stops. Court and I had to prepare our bodies by not eating or drinking anything until we got home. There are no bathrooms on the buses here like there are in America and no one is going to stop the bus for a mozungu to do her business. So, the bus was quite crammed, hot & dirty, and a girl puked next to us (she failed to puke out the window which was beyond me), which made Court and I want to puke, along with the sweaty smell of everyone else around us, including ourselves because we had not showered for the fourth day in a row. Also, three hours into the trip I had to go to the bathroom, but held it for the remainder of the trip, that’s 8 hours, I didn’t know my body was capable of such things, I was miserable but halfway impressed with myself. Anyways, we finally reached Jinja and headed straight for the showers and then the kitchen, a good end to a crazy time in up north.