A new perspective

Last weekend I had the chance to go to Gulu to visit the Abaana schools there. I had been wanting to go to Gulu for many years and was excited to get the chance. For those who do not know, Gulu was at the center of the war with the LRA in Uganda. In 2005 or 2006 I learned about everything going on in the northern region through an organization called Invisible Children. IC told the story of thousands of children who would walk for miles to come to Gulu each night to escape the abductions of children in the villages. Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, would abduct children and force them to become child soldiers by any and all means. Millions of people were forced from their homes and lived in displacement camps in the Gulu area. Many of you may have heard in the last two weeks that President Obama has sent 100 US advisors to help train the Ugandans in an attempt to finally catch Kony for good. This is very exciting as the LRA has been terrorizing Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, and the Congo for over 20 years. So, I have always wanted to visit Gulu ever since.
The trip from Kampala takes around 5 hours if you don’t have much traffic. Gulu, itself, is quite worn down from the years of war and from living in fear. Within the last 3 years, as the LRA has been forced into parts of the Congo, people have returned to try to begin their lives again. Still, many of the buildings in town are empty. We arrived around 4 on Sunday afternoon and had a meeting with Robert, who is the Abaana staff member who work in Gulu. After eating dinner and talking about our plans for the next day we headed to a café. It is odd to find this place tucked away on the streets of Gulu. It was opened by a European and has that type of feel to it. We enjoy the internet while passing time before going to our hotel. During the night, the rains came.
The nest morning was quite cool, probably mid to lower 60’s, to start the day. Everything was soaked including the dirt/mud road we would be using. We headed out to the north to go and visit the two schools Abaana has and another they are in talks with about building. This is the main road that leads to southern Sudan and it was packed with people walking about. A few miles outside of the city we passed the hospital made famous by IC where the thousands of children would pour into each night to try to feel safe. As we continued to drive, I kept thinking about seeing the movie so many years ago. As we passed by so many people I kept thinking of how hard their lives had been and still are. It took about 45 minutes for us to reach the turn off to head through the bush to the first school. I do mean through the bush. The pathway or “road “ was no larger than the truck at its widest points. We shifted into 4 wheel drive to get through the mud and basically skied our way through until we popped out at the school. Dr Andrew McCovy was one of the first schools in the area to be built after people began to return. It was finished in 2009. Abaana wanted the school to be self sustaining and so it is built on 10 acres of land. They have fields of corn, potatoes, ground nuts, and lots of other crops that I could not name. The Gulu area has more of a grassland/savannah type of feel to it and standing on the soccer field looking in all directions, I felt like I should see herds of elephants or giraffes going by. While we were there we checked on the progress of the roof repair, damaged in a storm, and the construction of the new sleeping quarters for the teachers. I of course went into the classes and stirred up the kids until the teachers wondered back in to find out what the noise was from. After we delivered a health kit we were on our way. The school is very nice and organized and I am looking forward to coming back to stay in three months to run camp.
After our drive back through the bush and onto the main road, we continued north to head to our next school, Ayila. The funds to build Ayila were raised strictly through 5 pound donations of people in the UK. The goal was to find 10000 people to give 5 pounds. Therefore, Ayila is also known as the 5 pound school. As we were driving we came to a gulley in the road as it crossed over a stream. The opposite hill was especially muddy. As we shifted to 4 wheel drive and headed up, the truck continued its slide to the right and eventually off the road. We were stuck. We decided the only way out was to try to push it back down the hill to where we had come because at least the tires might get back on the road. After 30 minutes of pushing, collecting rocks, rocking the truck back and forth, and trying everything we could, we had succeeded in moving the tuck 15 feet and now both right side tires more than halfway in holes. We laughed as every other vehicle, whether they had four wheel drive or not, slid back and forth and made it up the hill. Trucks and NGO’s and everyone just drove right passed us, until finally a truck from the United Nations stopped. Another NGO stopped behind them, but it think it was because they couldn’t pass. Eventually there were 20 men out arguing about how to get the truck out. After telling us we should get a lift back to town and buy rope, we eventually convinced them to let us use the rope they had had with them for the last 10 minutes. We tied the “rope,” it wasn’t much more than string, up to the truck and prayed it wouldn’t break. After two of the four strands broke we were finally out and able to continue our journey.
Ayila has around 500 students and they are still meeting under their straw roofs and under trees until the first half of the build is complete. Again, I had the chance to run around and stir up trouble in the classrooms. One of our purposes on the trip was to give an entire village mosquito nets, and this is the village that was chosen. We had all the children come out of class and I gave them a talk about Malaria, what its effects were, and how important it was not only to them but to the community that everyone sleep under a net. Ryan finished by showing them the proper way to put one up and how to sleep under it. We gave nets out to 188 families. As the kids ran back to put their nets up at home some more of the villagers came to receive their nets. We walked over to one of the huts to make sure it was being done properly and scarred all the infants who had not seen white men before. Soon we were back in the truck and on our way. We decided to not stop in on the other school in order to make it back to Kampala at a reasonable hour. As we drove back I thought about the differences of opinions we faced within the same country. Many of the people in Kampala don’t believe that catching Joseph Kony is a big deal. They don’t think what happened in the north is that important. Some believe the troops the US is sending are coming to spy in Uganda because oil was just discovered. However, in the north their lives revolve around what has happened. They frequently mention the LRA. They are trying to put the pieces back together and start a new life, one that is not lived in fear. It made me think about how quickly I can blow off someone else’s struggles as no big deal. Don’t we all do that sometimes. Since, we ourselves are not going through the hardships we don’t understand why they are struggling so much. Sometimes it’s the passing away of a family member or friend. Other times it might be the loss of a job or a struggle with an addiction. Maybe all of us should slow down and give a little more patience to those who are going through things. Maybe we should see things from their perspective. Jesus was the ultimate example of coming and walking in someone’s shoes. Isn’t he our example too. I encourage you to be patient with those who are struggling. Consider seeing things from a new perspective. I know I will try.