Uganda Trip - Day 5

Today's notes from my girls...

Saturday, Dec. 4 -

This morning we drove out to a village to meet another one of our orphans. Her name was Elizabeth and was about four years old. Her aunt was temporarily taking care of her and she did not want to leave her side. She seemed very scared of us and never smiled or said a word the entire time we were there. :-(

After hearing her story, I now know why...

Elizabeth comes from a very war-torn area. Her community was torn apart by the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) when it was at its height. Many of the women were abducted and raped, and many of the men were maimed and mutilated with machetes. These attacks by the LRA lasted for over 3 decades, displacing millions of people in Northern and Eastern Uganda into refugee camps, and caused great suffering. Elizabeth’s father, a teacher by trade, died at the hand of the LRA while he was walking to school. Elizabeth’s mother was 3 months pregnant when the tragedy occurred. Her mother named Elizabeth “Alinga”, meaning the last of the family line.

Her mother nursed her for only 1 month before she died. Elizabeth was left in her grandmother’s care, but she was not able to support the child. She mixed sugar in water to feed her, since she had no money to buy milk.

After some time the LRA raided the camp they were living in and took all of the food and supplies. Elizabeth and her community had nothing but water for 4 days.

She is a free spirited girl who loves people, but she does not like going to crowded places. She and her older sister do as much as they can to help their grandparents. They live in a very isolated village with few residents because many of them were killed. Many people in the village resort to drinking as a way to escape from their troubles. They named the trading center “Kongo Tye Centre Pe” meaning, “there is beer but no money for it”, and brewers are encouraged to allow people to drink on credit and pay later. This has had a crippling effect on the community.

This village was very different from the others we visited in that it sat upon a rocky hill. It was actually really pretty, yet still poverty-stricken. I met a sweet elderly lady there named "Grace". She only had a few teeth but welcomed everyone with a huge grin. Her smile was so big and she kept saying over and over to everyone she met, "God is good! All the time! I am so very happy! Amen!" Grace had so few personal belongings. If only Americans could be that happy, satisfied and content in life with what we have!

After we visited this village, we went back to our hotel to eat lunch and rest a little. These huge billboards are everywhere in the main part of Lira. Kinda funny - notice President Obama? He's "the man" here ;-)

And this is a "traveling amusement park". The line to ride those swings were so long! No, we did not partake ;-)

Ha! I thought this was funny. It's a restroom at our hotel. And yes, you squat to use it ;-)

That afternoon, Kelley, Jimmy and I went to the main market in Lira. Although we had to be on guard, it was actually pretty fun looking around and seeing everything they had for sale.

Lots of colorful fabrics - you could even choose one you like and a seamstress would sew you a dress or skirt right there on the spot!

The market was so huge - it was almost overwhelming! It just seemed to go on forever! You could buy everything from flip-flops to fish (just laying on tables - dry, no ice!) to jewelry to T.V.'s and computers that looked like they were straight from the 80's!

Ahhh - the "Rastaman"! We bought some jewelry and bags from him. Passed on the marijuana t-shirts. ;-)

We saw lots of these baggies laying around on the ground. What's sad is that they are filled with alcohol then kids poke a hole in the sack with a straw and they drink it. Sadly, alcoholism is a huge problem here.

When we got back to our hotel, a wedding reception was taking place. This family must have had some "serious" money. I saw nothing like this before in Uganda. Of course, I had to take a few pics ;-)

After staying at this hotel for several days and putting up with a trickle of water for a shower, no air conditioning, a very noisy ceiling fan and LOUD music was played until 3 or 4 in the morning at a "Christian Crusade" directly behind our hotel - we decided we had enough. One person even found a rodent in their toilet and another found a worm in their salad. Yuck! Yuck! Double yuck! So, we decided to check into another place that was recommended to us.

Our next hotel was called 291 Suites. The lobby area was pretty modern and they "advertised" that they had internet service so we thought it must be pretty nice! (Found out later there was no internet service but they plan to get it "someday".) It was very suitable for our stay and after we moved in, I kind of felt a little guilty for staying there just knowing about the poverty that was just outside our doors. Made me thankful I had a roof over my head, a mosquito net, a fan and running water! Here's a few pics of our hotel...

Today was a busy day and I got to see lots of interesting things! Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!