Kate's Posts

We made it. Not sure what to say about being home. Strange.

Look for details on our team recap night–Saturday, October 13th 7pm–to come. We’re excited to share in person.

Will add pictures, though we have several thousand to process through. For now–a couple favorites:  

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hey all.

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Today is not my “blogging day”….but here I am, blogging. Wanted to share some stories of the day that are weighing pretty heavily on my heart. Working in Mafubira, heartbreaking stories become all too common as I spend much of the day reading, laughing, playing, and singing with children of which most have experienced unfathomable losses of parents, siblings, and friends. Today I was reminded that there is so much here that can never be planned for or expected. Though, it is these raw, heart-wrenching, unexpected situations that perhaps need the most prayer.

Two young boys came to live at STAO last week because they had been identified as a child-headed household (kids who live on their own when the parents or other family die and there is no one to care for them). Today, we found out that the boys had been hiding serious parasite infections in their feet and legs, not wanting to be teased by the other STAO kids. Medically, it’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen firsthand. Thousands of small parasitic worms embedded in their toes, feet, legs, and even arms. I won’t go into too much detail about how they are removed, but it is truly horrible and unimaginably painful. Being that I am not good with anything medical, I am extremely grateful for our healthcare team that is spending another long day at the clinic with the boys. Please pray for them, as well as the boys, as they are currently still at the clinic dealing with the removal of the parasites.

Later in the day, young woman walked onto the STAO property with a young baby on her back. Hearing her story, we learned that she is 22 years old, with 3 children—ages 5, 3, and 1. Her husband died of AIDS only 3 weeks ago, and she has now been left to care for her 3 children as well as find work to support their family. She could not afford the 8,000ush (about 5$ US) monthly rent, and today was forced out of their home by the owner. Having nowhere to go, she came to STAO. After talking and praying with her, the team chose to support her for a couple months until she can start earning income. Hopefully, with STAO planning to put in a small community center in the new building with sewing machines to be shared by widows in the village, she will be able to learn sewing skills and make an income.

Please pray for the boys, the young woman, and the team as we are pretty tired after a long, busy week. We will rest tomorrow, as we take Saturdays off—and then get geared up for another vibrant Sunday at church and dive into another whirlwind week of work.

with peace,

kate

PS–For parents: we have a team cell phone—though it’s much cheaper to have us call you than the other way around….some of the team will probably call home this weekend, if you need to call us, the best time is between 7-11pm our time (10 hours ahead of Seattle).

The number: 0256-773-422-614.

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Our second full day spent at STAO today. Coming in to meet Sandra (see Sam’s post), and then diving into sorting out the dozen boxes of donated clothes and books we brought with us proved interesting….eventually, the team emerged from underneath a mountain of clothing intact and we were able to give new outfits to around 25 kids. Their huge smiles were definitely worth the chaos of clothes sorting.

Our afternoon was spent in an orientation meeting with Pastors Nelson, Ivan and David. It was great to hear some of the plans for the rest of our time here. The rest of this week will be spent taking a few sick kids (including Sandra) into Jinja for treatment, visiting homes throughout Mafubira conducting needs assessments of families and child-headed households, and working on building a pigsty (no joke) so that STAO can start a sustainable income generation project of raising pigs. Jamie, Sam, and Brandon will be hard at work on that the next couple days–please pray for strength for them!

We’re so grateful for the prayers and support. We are learning and wrestling, culture shock is intense, but know that we are encouraged that so many are alongside us, half a world away.

with peace,

kate

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Thanks to all who came out last night—seriously an amazing, powerful way for us to leave! We really appreciate the support.

here is our flight itinerary, parents! expect to hear from us sometime around thursday evening US time. If not, it’s probably due to no electricity in Jinja when we get there. Some internet cafes have generators, but they get backed up. We’ll send the team cell number out once we get it in Uganda (only for emergencies to reach us though–best bet would be to email one of us asking us to call you—much, much cheaper).

FYI–Dale made it safely to Uganda, is staying near the airport for a couple days, and will meet up with us and the STAO staff at the airport when we arrive.

with peace and excitement,

kate

BRITISH AIRWAYS       21AUG
SEATTLE WA  TO   LONDON HEATHROW    
Depart 640PM    Arrive 1145AM
Flight # BA 48              
 L ECONOMY/TERMINAL 4/MEAL/NON STOP/RESERVATION CONFIRMED
9:05 DURATION
AIRCRAFT: BOEING 747-400  

BRITISH AIRWAYS       22AUG
LONDON HEATHROW TO ENTEBBE       
Depart 915PM Arrive 745AM
Flight # BA 63            
L ECONOMY/TERMINAL 4/MEAL/NON STOP/RESERVATION CONFIRMED        
8:30 DURATION
AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-200/300

 
BRITISH AIRWAYS    17SEP
ENTEBBE  TO   LONDON HEATHROW      
Depart 900AM    Arrive 345PM
Flight # BA 62
 L ECONOMY/TERMINAL 4/MEAL/NON STOP/RESERVATION CONFIRMED        
8:45 DURATION
AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-200/300 
BRITISH AIRWAYS       17SEP
LONDON HEATHROW TO SEATTLE WA    
Depart 535PM    Arrive 710PM
Flight # BA 53
L ECONOMY/TERMINAL 4/MEAL/NON STOP/RESERVATION CONFIRMED       
9:35 DURATION
AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/300

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hey all,

this is something I wrote months ago, and has been shared with the team moreso in conversations than on paper. each of us has a story of why we are on this trip, but I thought I’d share some of my personal visions for the trip. who knows where He will take it from here….

TRIP VISION

My hope, first and foremost, for this trip is that we would see and experience God in new and very different ways. That we would learn from immersing ourselves in an entirely foreign culture, and expand our own views of the world and what God is doing in it. I want us to see the joy of the children, the strength of the widows, the love of the STAO pastors, and the suffering of all three.

Beyond that, I want our team to be an immense blessing to the village of Mafubira, a place that experiences death on a daily basis and has seen its working generation nearly entirely wiped out by preventable diseases and other issues of poverty. In Uganda, visitors are seen as a sign of hope.  Coming from such a task-oriented society, it’s hard to understand the effects of what simply being among people, building relationships, can do. Nevertheless, I want us to be challenged in understanding and interacting with a culture so valiantly different from our own.

From a practical standpoint, I want our goal to be in equipping STAO to do their work in Mafubira. That is what Tusubira is designed to do, and one of the things I feel most passionate about. This will include increasing our knowledge of the most immediate needs in the village, and how we can work with STAO to implement lasting solutions. At the same time, I want our trip to be designed to use the talents of the team that is going—whether that is photography skill, medical knowledge, education interest, or anything else that we feel passionate about working on.

Our goal should not be “fix” Mafubira. This is unrealistic and impossible. I do hope, however, that our team can unite under the common goal of showing the love of Christ to the people of this village and ultimately, bring those we come in contact with in Uganda, as well as each other, a little closer to Him.

with peace,
kate

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After weeks of number crunching and sorting out trip finance issues, we’ve arrived at a rough figure of money we’ll have to work with while in Uganda. While I’m not going to share the rough figure publicly at this point, let me just say that both Sam and my’s jaws dropped. People have been so incredibly generous in giving towards the trip, and I’m not quite sure there are words to explain how excited I am to be able to bless the community of Mafubira with the generosity of our friends, family, and communities.

As a team, we’re committed to using the money carefully and wisely. As of now, we’ve committed $1,000 to go towards the work that the healthcare team will be doing with testing the children living at STAO, as well as neighboring villages, for HIV. Additionally, we’ve committed $2,000 to help finish the children’s housing building that Tusubira has been raising money for throughout the past year. It’s getting extremely close to being finished, and soon about 60 more children orphaned by AIDS in Mafubira will have a new home to live in. So exciting! I should mention that both of the aforementioned projects have been requests of the STAO staff, and we’ll continue to work closely with the staff in Uganda to discern where the remaining project budget will be most effective. We’ll keep you updated.

Most of all, THANK YOU, for being so incredibly supportive of the trip. We are so grateful.

with peace,

kate

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Welcome to the Tusubira Vision Team’s blog for Summer 2007. 

We’re excited, nervous, and hopeful as preparation continues for our trip to Uganda.  We’ve been busy  getting passports, visas, immunizations, and a handful of other things together as we are at about 2 months from our leave date.

Members of the team will be rotating posting on this blog, so hopefully you’ll get to hear from all of us at one point or another!  For now, please see the links along the top to read more about our team, our trip, and Tusubira, the organization we’re going under, as well as more information on Uganda and the HIV/AIDS crisis there.

Here are the essentials:

Trip Dates: August 21^st (leave Seattle)-September 18^th.

Location: the village of Mafubira, Uganda.  Mafubira is a village roughly 2 miles outside the town of Jinja, in Southeastern Uganda, on the shores of Lake Victoria and the Nile River. Though we hope to spend a few days in the Northern Ugandan town of Gulu visiting IDP camps and meeting with children affected by the civil war there, we will be based primarily in Mafubira for the majority of our trip, working with STAO.

Current prayer requests:

-logistical (that we would get all visas/passports/prescriptions processed without problems or delays)

-spiritual (that we would be prayerful in our preparation in the time before our departure, that God would be constantly guiding us individually and collectively as a team)

-financial (we still have fundraising to do!)

Thanks so much for reading, I hope you’ll continue to check in as we get ready and once we’re in-country as well. We’re so grateful for the support!

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