Lessons Learned

I’ve finally returned to the land of yoga pants and dressed-up pocket dogs. I’m back in the world of stores with more books than one could read in several lifetimes, artificial beauty, Starbucks, and food that comes within an hour of ordering. I’m sure my longing for Africa will hit me very soon, but right now I’m just excited to be home.

My last week in Uganda was full and busy. On Friday, we brought 40 of the graduates of ChildVoice back to the Lukodi Centre to gain critical information about their lives after ChildVoice. Fortunately I was able to run one of my experiments with many of them, more than doubling my sample size.

On my way back, we spent a night at Murchison Falls for a good old African safari! Of the many times I’ve been to Africa, I’ve never done a safari… until now. Supposedly, there weren’t many animals out compared to the usual sprawling herds of elephants and giraffes, but it was thrilling for me. After driving for a while without seeing any animals, we spotted a leopard running across the road. We stopped by where it jumped into the bush, hoping to catch a glimpse before it ran off. Instead, we found it sitting about 10 feet away, staring at us from behind the leaves and branches. It was beautiful! Despite the fact that it probably could have jumped to where I was sitting before I could blink, I clicked as many pictures as I could before Richard felt it was time to stop pushing our luck and drive off. Aside from our spectacular leopard siting, we saw elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, and many many antelope. When we parked our car by the river, baboons were surrounding the riverbank. They jumped on the cars, trying to open the doors and rip open any packages in the bed of the truck. They even stole some bread from Gary! So cute! We stayed the night at the park and drove to Kampala the next day. After a visit to the medical clinic (I made it out without any weird parasites... thank you, God) and an authentic Chinese dinner, I headed to the airport for the 32 hour journey home.

I’m finally back in Los Angeles, and naturally, this will be my last blog. I can’t thank all of you enough for your encouragement, prayers, and simply for reading about my experiences, thoughts, and ramblings. I have been truly blessed this summer, and I hope that God taught some of you through my failures and struggles. Lastly, thank you so much to everyone who supported me financially and spiritually. I am so honored that you would sacrifice of yourselves to allow me to have this experience and help these people.

I thought I’d finish up with some of the things I’ve learned on this trip—the good, the bad, the funny, the serious, and the trivial.

I’ve learned:

• To pronunciate. Those who know me well know that I tend to mumble. That doesn’t work well when there’s already a language/accent barrier.
• How to ride sidesaddle on a boda.
• That egg rolls in Uganda are very different than egg rolls in the US. A Ugandan egg roll is literally a hard-boiled egg wrapped in fried potato.
• I now feel extremely uncomfortable putting my toothbrush under the faucet.
• How to conduct semi-successful research in Africa. (Learned this one the hard way.)
• Always carry a roll of toilet paper with you. (Also learned this one the hard way.)
• When the power goes out, look up. To say the stars at night are beautiful doesn’t capture the magnificence of it.
• If your name is more than 2 syllables, change it when you come to Africa. Otherwise you won’t realize that people have been calling you Samaki (fish) for the past 2 months.
• Sometimes it’s better to wait out the rain. In heavy African showers, even an umbrella can’t keep you dry. Also, wearing Rainbows in the mud = slipping in the mud repeatedly. I can’t count how many times I had to wash the mud off my skirt, because I slipped and fell.
• No matter what I thought before, I do not walk a lot in Boston.
• How to make pork fried rice on a charcoal stove
• The world is oh so small.
• When in Africa, get used to upset stomachs/bacterial infections… or don’t eat. Also, Cipro is my best friend.
• Always keep a flashlight or lantern close by. When the lights go out, it’s DARK.
• Watch out for rocks in your rice unless you want a chipped tooth… It happens.
• Bring at least 2 pairs of sandals with different cuts, or you’ll end up with a major Rainbow tan.
• MIT wifi is unreal. I, several times, said “wow, the internet is so fast right now!” when bandwidth reached 20kb/s.

And finally, some quotes from Kisses from Katie that have resonated with me and helped me through the hard times:

 “Always, on the other side is something beautiful, because He has used the hard place to increase my sense of urgency and to align my desires with His. I realize that it was there that He was closest to me, even in the times when I didn’t see Him. I realize that the hard places are good because it is there that I gained more wisdom, and though with wisdom comes sorrow, on the other side of sorrow is joy…I was learning that the powerless, broken, dependent place was actually the place where the Lord was closest to me.”

 “I am blown away that my God, who could do this all by Himself, would choose to let me be a little part of it.”

“You are Peter. God already knows that you will make a mess, but His plan for you is great. Go. Feed His sheep.”

“I believe that God totally, absolutely, intentionally gives us more than we can handle. Because this is when we surrender to Him and He takes over, proving Himself by doing the impossible in our lives.”

 “God really does have the whole world sitting in the palm of His hand. All of us are, literally, neighbors.”

 “I am so thankful that I serve this kind of God. He loves to love us. He delights in surprising us… And even in the middle of a storm, even when I can’t see the good yet, He can. And He is looking at me with that twinkle in His eye, just waiting to surprise.”

“Help me to hurt, not just a little, but the way you hurt when your children are overlooked and perishing. Help me to never be too busy or too comfortable to remember the people who suffer. Help me to never stop desiring to do something about it. Lord, help us to remember that as the body of Christ, this is our responsibility. Thank you for loving us, even when we forget.”