Learning Together

It’s hard to believe that our team has been together here for a week now. All of us have been commenting that time moves much slower here as we are a world away from all the normal things that occupy our thoughts and time.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent our days traveling to some different churches in the Adjumani district. It has been an odd tension going to these churches and being treated as dignified guests when we are all just normal people. It’s hard for us to get our heads around the way that just a Westerners presence is seen as an encouragement and sense of hope for the people here. Wednesday was Michelle’s birthday, so we surprised her with a birthday cake made by Michael Idha, one of the individuals we’ve connected with doing community development.

We’ve been engaging in good dialogues about the role of a short-term team on trips like this. We each bring our own lens and perspective, seeing as Jeff and Michelle are here long-term, Rick and Faye are mid-term and our team is short-term. Our activities and experiences thus far have given all of us a lot to discuss, so that we can learn from each other about the effectiveness of different roles in the mission field.

Yesterday we played “choose your own adventure”. We all went separate ways that allowed us to be able to interact with things that are important to us. Alyssa, being a nurse, had interest in the local hospital and wanted to see what health care looks like here. Cosmos, a pentecostal pastor, came over to visit in the morning and he became our guide in the Adjumani hospital. Jared, Adam and I tagged along with her. It was good to tour the hospital. I think we were encouraged to see what a good job they are doing with the amount of resources that they have. They are sorely understaffed. When we were there yesterday, there was one nurse covering about 40 patients in all different wards of the hospital. The maternity ward was the busiest ward, and considering all the little kids running around, that is no surprise.

While we were at the hospital, Brandi spent time here at the house, hanging out with the house help staff. Relationships are tough here. Westerners are seen as people that have money and that can solve everyone's problems, so it's tough to have friendships with people that are not motivated by money. Jared and Adam had a good talk with Michael Idha yesterday afternoon. They listened as he explained his business plan for the pumpkin cake business. It is good to see such an motivated entrepreneur that is helping his own community.

To all of the moms reading this, know that we are being spoiled by Michelle and Faye...we're all eating very well. And despite Alyssa not feeling well yesterday, Brandi with a cold, and Adam with a tick bite, we are all healthy.

[Sarah]