Part Two

TRAVELING MERCIES!!!

We have said goodbye to Bukoba and now have said goodbye to half of our team. According to Gordon, our team leader, after we leave Nairobi we will be saying goodbye to most comforts as well and saying hello to some mud huts, tents, hiking and rough roads as we prepare to head into South Sudan.

If the last twenty hours on the road are any indication of what we will be traveling on, please pray for my motion sickness. The main highway between Nairobi and Kampala was one of the roughest "paved roads" I have been on in a while. A large portion of it is under construction and is now dirt, though it was hard to tell when you left the pavement anyways. The trip was supposed to take 12 hours but, due to the mix of construction and a bad rain storm, a few big trucks got a little stuck and blocked the highway for about 3 hours. It also took another hour to squeeze past the line of trucks and buses on the other side of the mess. Wow.

To top this off, the border between Uganda and Kenya was closed when we arrived four hours late. So our bus driver took the back way around to the gate, passed across into Kenya, dropped us off and told us to walk back into Uganda to the closed immigration office and wait for the "man with the keys" to stamp us out of Uganda so that the open office on the Kenyan side could stamp us into Kenya.

It brings back memories of sleeping on the side of a mountain in China because of a broken down truck and the lack of space between the truck and a seemingly endless cliff. Last night there were no cliffs but I am pretty sure that if I dropped something the thickness of a quarter between the mirrors or bumpers of these trucks going opposite directions the quarter would get stuck. These drivers truly leave no room for error.

THOUGHTS ON BUKOBA
As I think back to my time in Bukoba, the things that stand out the most are the people and the friendships we made. Then I think about missions and what our role is, as the "Rich North American" (because, in comparison to the Africans we have met, we are all loaded, even in our own North American context). Those involved in ministry and the friends we made do not want us simply to send them a cheque. Yes, they do want our money, but they want more than that. They want to be in relationship with us. This is largely because, in African mindset, friends and finances go hand in hand.

When I compare our individualistic culture with their community mentality I do not understand Africans as much as they do not understand me. How they deal with money and how we handle money are as far apart as our countries are physically. The question remains, what is the best way to close that gap? You cannot spend a lot of time in Africa (though two months is not really a lot of time) and not begin to question what is the best use of money. Are we right in our western, time-oriented "save save save" world ? Are the Africans right in their "respond to what you see is the most pressing need?" I know we as North Americans think we are right! But I am learning it is about what we perceive as needs.

Here are three needs. You can only pick one; what would you pick?

Buying a TV
Having running water
Helping a friend

I know my answer. Having running water! (Though helping my friends are pretty high, I want to pay my bills)

In Africa, it seems having a TV or helping a friend often comes before having running water. Since this seems to be the order they get it. I can't count how many times I went to turn the taps on and nothing came out. Yet they all had cable!

Our perceived needs are different. Who's right?

The two things I am looking forward to most:
One on one with Gordon and Carole and Crystal and I
And visiting a leadership training center that is in its second year of becoming a reality

Stay tuned!