So I’ve been in Africa for about a month now, which is weird when I stop to think
about it. It has definitely flown by, and it’s crazy to go back and think about all I have
experienced in just four short weeks. Again I’m just overwhelmed with an utter
feeling of blessing for this opportunity.

These last few weeks have been really amazing, and really hard at the same time.
I’ve definitely settled in and gotten into the flow of life here in Uganda. My schedule
has become a little more consistent. (I mean comparatively you still never really
know in Africa ha) During the weeks just kind of been doing the same stuff I talked
about in my last post. And on Wednesdays me and the boys have been riding the
cattle truck into town, which is easily one of the highlights of my week. Just picture
four white guys riding through sugarcane country in Eastern Africa, sitting high atop
a rusty white old cattle truck, (of whose year is anyone’s guess) passing through
beautiful mud hut villages, quaint almost old‐time western looking ‘towns’, and
humble tea and maze farms. Needless to say it’s an amazing ride, and quite
entertaining for the locals haha. And some days if we miss the truck, or are just
feeling idk adventurous, we catch a ride on back of a bota bota. (motorcycle, p.s. I
really want a motorcycle now… I guess that I’ll have to charm that one over with the
parents come fall)

Being in Africa during the world cup has been awesome! We’ve had the opportunity
to watch all of the U.S. games, and most of the other big games in the tournament
and almost all of them have been quite the adventure. Probably the most exciting of
which was when me and the boys were frantically trying to find a place to watch the
U.S. Algeria game in Jinja one Wednesday, and the only place that was playing it
turned out to be an underground Muslim movie theater. Needless to say we were
the only white people there, and seeing as how Algeria is an African Muslim nation,
we were definitely the only people there cheering for America. At one point I looked
back in like the 92nd minute of the game and there were at least fifty angry Africans
between the door and us. Had it not been for some Kenyan truckers we befriended,
and the fact that Lee was wearing an Obama shirt… I’m not sure we’d of made it out
in piece. Some of the other experiences have included crowding into a gas station to
watch and watching at a Ugandan restaurant full of angry Germans.

Recently we had some visitors come that were quite a blessing to GSF while they were here.
The Pittman family and a friend came to visit the Greer’s and to do a VBS amongst
other things. They lived in the other half of the guesthouse with us, and brought a lot
of life to this place. It was sad to see them leave last week, however since then we’ve
had a young couple move in, they’re here to work with the handicap children, so I’m
excited to get to know them better.

So I said the last few weeks have been good, and they have! However in some ways
they have also been quite difficult. We had some pretty serious team problems that
arose amongst the eight of us interns, however after a while we talked it out, and it
went really good. Every since then I feel like we’ve been able to work a lot better
together. Other then that, I’ve been going through some personal stuff lately that has
been for lack of a better word a burden. For starters it’s always hard for my heart to
see poverty. I thought I had gone through this whole process during my three
months in Cambodia, however unfortunately that thought was far from the truth. I
really don’t know how to describe it. It’s just crazy to look at the way of life these
beautiful people live through my upbringing and middle‐class lens. In so many ways
it just doesn’t seem at all right or ‘just’. I know the Lord is good, and that it’s our
responsibility to take are of this world (‘rule and reign w/e’) but it’s just hard to try
and comprehend why God would let things become so dire, unjust, and unfair… it
just doesn’t seem right. Like what did I do to deserve anything I have? Why was my
soul/spirit born into a middle class American family in Greensboro NC and why was
little Phillip born with HIV into a village in southern Uganda, only to be completely
abandoned by his mom? Ahhh I don’t know, I could go on and on. Questions like this
plague my comprehension daily. It’s just hard for me to see white people in town,
and some missionaries who live with this since of entitlement, as if when it comes
down to it they are better than the Africans… but never stop and ask the question
why? how?

I was told yesterday that 90% of Uganda’s yearly income is made up of aid from
other countries. There’s very much a survival mentality here. The living situations
here are dire. For example: last week me and a few others had the opportunity to tag
along with the Pittmans when they went to distribute some bags of resources in a
nearby village. The first house we went to, we gave this women who is a Ja Ja
(Grandmother who takes care of the house and all the kids while the parents work)
a mosquito net, and a relatively small bag containing just some of the bare
necessities, including soap, sugar, salt, flour, and rice. This 80 year old woman was
so taken back, and so appreciative that she danced for joy (and yes shook her booty)
and then proceeded to cry and get down on her knees in utter thanksgiving to us
and to the Lord. It just blew my mind. This bag of simple resources that cost about
11,000 shillings (roughly 5 dollars) was enough to bring this woman to tears as she
fell to the ground... I can’t think of any physical gift that would make me do that?
Ahhh. When it comes down to it, I’m starting to truly feel that when Jesus implored
us to ‘love our neighbor’ and treat/love everyone as ourselves he meant it. Now I’ve
always known he meant it… but sometimes I fall into the tempting thought (like
most western churchgoers) that he literally means my neighbor. So maybe I should
go take fresh sweet tea and cookies over to my neighbor Peppermint’s, or even go as far to ask to mow her lawn?!? But my heart is learning that what Jesus really meant, as Kent Annan
explains: (I’m reading his book Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle, and it
has really helped me work through a lot of these questions and problems)

‘Jesus redefines family, and he’s also making citizenship basically irrelevant and telling us we
should hear statistics differently. Two billion people who are my family are hungry. How many
brothers and sisters in Africa have AIDS? Mosquito‐borne diseases will kill how many cousins
because they’re poor?.., How many of my aunts and uncles are homeless, clinically depressed, or
addicted to drugs?

The way Jesus tells it, though closes any escape routes when he disallows defining the world as
Us/Then or as American/Foreigner… shared life and Jesus reveal profound unity in which we’re
all transformed into Us, and all into Them. This doesn’t allow the problems to be Theirs, which
We will help if We are able. The way Jesus tells it, the essential statistics end up reading
something like this: I have a sister out there who is being whittled away, from life to death, by
AIDS. I have a daughter who lives in a neighborhood where a random bullet might pierce here
body. I have a son who is without parents and is a two‐mile walk away from water that will keep
him alive so diarrhea might kill him. I have a brother who was kidnapped as a thirteen‐year‐old
and then forced to murder as part of a wandering army as we awaits being killed himself. (here
he’s talking about the LRA in northern Uganda) I have a mother who never learned to read and
never got to enjoy or share with the world all the talents she could have had.

This redefined family‐ like realizing that I deserve nothing‐ is a needed antidote this ‘entitlement’
and to many of the problems mentioned.’

Earlier this week I had the opportunity of going with some of the orphans to the HIV
clinic. It was one of the harder things I’ve done since I’ve been here.. but also one I
wouldn’t trade for anything. It was almost unreal to see the hospital system here.
(and we were easily at one of the nicer ones around) I can’t even begin to describe it.
The hardest part of that experience, and the most beautiful as well, was when two of
the orphans who have HIV, Phillip and Henry, (before I say this remember I that I
HATE country music haha) so anyways my friend Kelli that was with me gave into
their demands and allowed them to listen to her ipod. She took this as an
opportunity to pollute their minds, and ideally in her mind the continent, with
country music. Naturally I was giving her a hard time, however being stubborn she
wouldn’t let me show them ‘real music,’ so I gave up. About that same time a
beautiful thing happened. Phillip and Henry, while waiting to go for their monthly
HIV checkup and to get their meds, began singing the popular country song Live Like
You are Dying. Come to find out they had been listening to this over and over a gain,
to the point where they were able to sing it in its entirety. Even now I still don’t
know exactly what emotions I felt in that moment when those two little boys whom
I love, started to sing that song in their precious Ugandan/English, it’s almost as if
words aren’t adequate. I was overwhelmed with feelings of sadness and
compassion, joy and jealousy all at the same time, and all I could
do was watch as they happily sang their little hearts out tp words which my
soul will never fully be able to understand.

So I’ve been here in Uganda for a little over four weeks now, thus marking the
‘halfwayish’ point of my African adventure. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long,
and equally hard to believe that I’ve got about a month left. I’m really looking
forward to the rest of my time in Africa. I’ve got some really awesome opportunities
coming up in the next few weeks! This coming Friday we’re going white water
rafting on the infamous Nile river… which supposedly has class six rapids!? Then
sometime In the next little while for a few days we are going to go to these really
impoverished islands out in the middle of lake Victoria, which house people exiled
because of poverty, and mostly AIDS and other diseases. I can’t wait! When I heard
about it… all I could think about was how it sounds exactly like a place where Jesus
would live. There’s also a lot of other cool things coming up, and I’m starting to get
really excited about spending a week in Ethiopia at the end with Lee and the
Robinson girls!

I don’t know if the bombing in Kampala Uganda made U.S. news or not… but rest
assured I am safe and sound, and so is everyone else I know. Some Somali militants,
alleged to connected to Al Qaeda, set off simultaneous bombs at a soccer club where
people were watching the World Cup finals. As of now something like 72 people
have been confirmed dead, including one America, with multiple others seriously
injured. Kampala is the biggest city in Uganda, and is located roughly thirty miles
from where we’re located. So it was a ways away, however seeing as how we were
watching the game at a similar type place in the second biggest city in Uganda, it was
a little unnerving. Just a somber reminder that East Africa is a crazy place, and that I
need to be careful. But everything’s perfectly fine, no worries.

I could go on and on, but this post is overly long as it is hah. I dearly miss ole
North Carolina, and all my family, friends, and foods it’s home to haha. Take care of
the state for me! I can’t thank you enough for all the encouraging emails I’ve
received from you all, I truly feel truly blessed. Well my goal is to post my next blog
sooner so it doesn’t have to be this long… buttt we’ll see how that goes hah.

Peace and Love!
Jordan

P.S. I had some pictures and videos I really wanted to post... however due to the awful internet and lack of technology I was unable... so I'm hoping to post them when I go into town on Wednesday!