Last Patongo glimpse

Going through my last pictures of Patongo area, I found these which show a bit more of the area and work that I was part of with Medair up until July.
My favourite tree outside of Patongo IDP camp where I would ride my bicycle to in the evenings to relax and watch sunsets. I would be alone for a few minutes, then a dozen children would run through the grass to the tree to sit and stand watching me, as I watch them with the sun streaked clouds in the background.
Staying in another IDP camp, called Adilang, these 2 siblings are very characteristic for this area of Uganda; young ones watching even younger ones.
Riding back from the giant tree one evening, I came across many people carrying their food distributions from the WFP, World Food Programme. This elderly woman was balancing hers on her head and is reflected in the mirror of my bicycle. She was starting the walk back to her hut through the grasses and we stopped to greet each other. This is on the Community Action Planning workshops that the team I was managing would facilitate. 3 days of meeting with community leaders and elected women, men and elders, listening to what their environmental health issues are in their camp. From the issues, they would prioritize, come up with solutions and create action plans to take steps to solving them. This method was impressive because when the community took ownership and did the work themselves; changes actually happened.

These school girls were lined up at the borehole gathering clean water in their jerrycans. I loved the morning air mist behind them in this photo. The three Patongo children, Rose, Dominic and Nancy were stars in the film WAR DANCE, an amazing documentary about the situation, struggles and resilience that Northern Uganda has faced. ShineGlobal, the producers of the film came to Patongo to show the documentary to the community; both a therapeutic and wound-opening night, and glimpse at how far they have come in returning to a peaceful life. Gathering with thousands of Acholi under the stars to watch the film in an open field was incredibly meaningful and touching being my last week in Patongo. For those that haven't seen the moving film, you can watch the trailer at http://www.shineglobal.org/

It may be hard to tell from the photo, but this is a 1 inch webbing rope that is pulled tight between two trees, called 'slacklining' in America. I've recently learned how to set up this very portable balancing act that requires a lot of patience, balance and focus to steadily walk on with bare feet. Great for meditation and personal challenges that mimic life situations in many ways. It simply requires effort; and language barriers are no issue in this straight-forward yet thrilling task. What a great thing to bring to an IDP camp, right? turned out to be perfect, with many trees, many children with not much to do; they flocked to the trees and after a few examples of what to do, were trying while holding my hand nervously, jumping up cautiously with their dirt covered feet. With confidence building each time, young girls were even trying and soon they were supporting each other with their own hands, balance and encouragement and I stepped back to watch.
Lake Oswego High School Spanish club spent last spring collecting soccer balls for kids in the IDP camp and there were joyous shouts when they received them !This was at my Medair goodbye party at our house in Patongo; filled with Medair friends and all the children I would visit with each day after work. They came dressed to the nines, joyfully ate chicken, rice and beans and danced til their bed time.

Changing moons...

It's been awhile, a long absence from sharing here; a flashback through several months;

February; taking some of holiday time in Tanzanzia, Kafero and I hiked Mt. Meru, overlooking

Mt. Kiliminjaro with impeccable timing, in amazement hiking during the night to reach the summit by sunrise, we were lit by the full moon, and guided by the southern cross above the summit. Winds howled, rocky ledges, alpine temperatures, the full moon was whisked away by the lunar eclipse, and as we reached nearly 16,000 foot summit, the sun rose over Mt. Kiliminjaro as if it was rejoicing in the triumph of making the journey.
March; Lake Bunynoni near the border of DRCongo and Rwanda on our R/R (rest/relaxation) week from the field, bordering. Relaxing tents with views overlooking the water and mountains, boat rides, wonderful fruit salads, coffee and chats. A decadent week of breathing and reflecting.
March 14th, departed for the US to return for my second thyroid cancer surgery, a much anticipated return, which was expected to only be several weeks at home proved to reveal more medical attention that any of us anticipated. Time with family and friends was just lovely and I’ve learned much more about asking for support when feeling the need for it. April; The medical world feels overwhelming and intimidating when every day you are faced with more information, studies, recommendations, treatment plans, percentages of this and that, sign this, take this pill, surgery here, body scan for this, lymph node uptake, other cancer risks. It felt like a full time job, that I didn’t apply for, nor wanted. However, I must show up for this job every day, and for the 2 months of medical mayhem, I learned how to make the most out of it. After the tears of frustration and fear are dried up, what do you do next? Maybe yoga in the backyard with Jason? Paint portraits with Amanda? Write poems? Draw? Call friends? Pray? Make a cancer documentary ? Try experiments with your radioactive treatment beams ? Laugh about it ? Giggle with baby Eli ? Ask my dad how he coped with his cancer ? Watch 1950 films with mom? Cook African soup with Jill ? call Kafero to feel how life and love is nurturing? Support from Alissa with social stories? Listen to Annas encouragement about prayer ? Open up a letter from Katy? A book of poems from Lovella ? Analyze life with Garee and realize through the power of question, what my future path may hold through clarity and learning with art? Connect with others that have cancer? Read about nutrition and make changes to what I’m putting in my body ? Also, through the contemplation of life and choices of how we spend our time, refined a bit of my focus perhaps. Connecting with people and sharing moments has always been dear to my heart, but had a new sense of what that meant. I still feel blessed, and somewhat guilty about having the choices, to have the choices in this medical care; because I realize some of us are of the few percentage in the world who have access to medical care, insurance, and options for treatment. When finishing my treatments, scans, bloodtests and maximizing what could be done in those moments, I organized a Creative Healing Celebration at the Joy Center in Ishpeming, which was a touching evening of family and friends sharing stories of hope and healing. It was such a positive ending to this part of the cancer journey at home; and realizing that the support around us is so meaningful and necessary at times like this. We gather for many reasons in life; graduation, birthdays, births, weddings, deaths, baby showers....what about healing? It was a lovely time; and a sense of closure.

A short time after that ceremony in May, came shock to our family. My maternal Grandpa Withers, passed away on the morning of 15 May, and my paternal Grandpa Sheridan passed away 24 hours later, on my dad's birthday. So, as I was thankful I was not back in Africa when this happened, with mourning also comes family connecting; and with both funerals the following week came both tears of sadness, and joy of having a deeper understanding of their lives, not just as Grandpas, but in the eyes of childhood friends, husbands, fathers, and loved ones. As they are greatly missed; they touched so many lives here; and that will live on.
June; Being back in Patongo IDP camp now for about 4 weeks has been a joyous time of reconnecting with my work team here, community people and friends. It also means so much to be able to come back to Uganda in the healing process, because it represents 1) my life to share with others is continuing and 2) I am healthy to come back to the calling and purpose I feel ; refining that calling and what I'm putting energy into is changing though. I have felt this is the right time to move into psycho-social work with children in Northern Uganda; so I will be leaving Medair July, and connecting with some organizations around that I can contribute with the children of this area. I feel so enthused about this, and am looking forward to the transition and keeping my heart in Uganda.

a few more views of Patongo

Morning tea in Patongo





















local school girls taking a rest

















befriending our goat before the slaughter
(I'm still vegetarian)

Emotion

Take some time to look at the emotion on the faces of some youth.

What are you feeling today?

Smiles

Children always brightening a walk with their smiles.
It's been 4 weeks in Patongo IDP camp; and I feel I'm finally getting a bigger grasp of the programs being implemented here through Medair; the needs and the response to them. It feels like home now; walking through the camp every day, seeing the same familiar faces, the beautiful mother sitting with her daughter under her thatched roof, the men sanding wood in the shade of a mango tree, the excited children that give 'high 5's' on the walk home now, the same three cows tied near the burning rubbish pit, the pregnant pig that's always snorting in the mud, the mother with baby Rosie who always welcomes me to cuddle the baby on my way home from work. I'm enjoying being here with the Acholi people, and with the team we are working and living with.

Visiting the smaller settlements of displaced people outside of Patongo, we are meeting with communities to listen to their assessment of the public health issues they are facing. Most of the time they prioritize the issues as not having a place to go the bathroom--resulting in faeces out in the open--increasing the spread of diarrhoeal diseases, lack of bathing shelters, no hand washing facilities in the community, no access to clean drinking water, schools that 1,500 students and have no bathrooms or handwashing facilities. We are helping support action plans to address these in about 40 different camps in the area through the Water Sanitation portion of our program. I'm managing part of that sector, with a team of 5 national Ugandan staff. There is also a psycho-social program to support the vulnerable children who are orphans, returned LRA rebels, people with disabilities, and cases of abuse. As you may have seen in the news, there have been recent talks between the LRA rebel leaders and the Ugandan President; which has created some anticipation for the Acholi who are displaced and living in cramped, unnatural ways in the camps. The result of the peace talks may encourage or discourage people to move back 'home'. Our Medair team has a 1 week break currently and are resting and relaxing currently; and I'll have the chance to see different areas of the country. Already the difference of the 'war' region and the rest of the country is starkly obvious.

Patongo IDP camp; a few reflections

Kampala to Patongo Quentin from the UK, and I flying up to the north together on this tiny plane ! We'll be working closely together, as our programs with Medair are funded together with USAID/OFDA.

Patongo,

morning walks lit by the rising sun over the mountains

women gather by the water points with a line of yellow jerry cans

smiles, waves, greetings,

a family greeting on my morning walk

men on bicycles, dusty trails follow them

children wandering about, torn clothes, smiles, yelling 'mono, mono!' *white person!*

life here is simple, we are only visitors here, to the people living here, this has been their 'home' for 20 years now

some have moved half-way home , to satellite camps, in hopes of a peace deal being signed,

but 30,000 remain here, in Patongo, waiting for an actual deal to hopefully signify a situation that would allow them and their families to return to what was home.

some of their faces reveal hope, others trauma,

2 young kids at a local IDP camp, giggling as they ran around the corner of the building and back several times; seeing their smiles is encouraging !

children who are orphans, and raising their brothers and sisters have perhaps the hardest day to day survival

school is important, tattered uniforms, all barefoot, in the mornings as I ask where they are going, they are proud to say 'I'm fine and today I'm going to school'.

I feel this is the place I'm supposed to be; happy and content ! Alot of work in front of me, learning from the team that's been here will be most exciting. Yesterday, visiting another camp with my hygiene team, made up of 5 Ugandans; I saw their talents shine with these communities; interactions, mobilisation, planning, questions, faciliatation, supplies. As there are 4 of us ex/pats here living with our team of 18 or so Ugandans in 1 compound; it's very lively in the evenings.

Alfred and George, 2 of our team, finishing up facilitating a community meeting in a IDP camp outside of Patongo

I slept under the stars last night, with a mosquito net over me, it was lovely, peaceful and a good space to reflect.