Flower Princess

A few days ago my friend Lauren and I spent the afternoon at Home Again and became the subjects of a flower decorating contest. I'm not even sure where all of these beautiful flowers came from, because I have certainly never seen roses growing in Kaihura, but while the kids were forbidden from picking flowers from the Home Again garden, they would run off and magically appear with handfuls of beautiful flowers. Creating these looks took over an hour, but I'm sure you would agree it was time well spent.

2013 in Review

Hey, Everybody!

2013 has been quite an interesting year, filled with new places and

experiences. The biggest, most obvious thing that happened to me this

year is that I moved to Uganda, but I’d like to start at the beginning.

2013 started off with Dad in the hospital. That was a pretty scary

ordeal, but praise God, he recovered well, and is back to pastoring,

beekeeping, and being awesome.

Meanwhile, in December of 2012, I had started looking into opportunities

to do mission work in another country. In February, God opened a door

for me to go to Kaihura, Uganda, and work with the organization,

Know.Think.Act, and the Ugandan non-governmental organization,

Bringing Hope to the Family. BHTF works in the Kaihura, Uganda, area to

improve the local standard of living. By March, I had decided to move to Uganda

and began preparing to move halfway around the world.

On June 1, armed with my passport and a really overweight bag, I

headed to Uganda. About 24 hours later, I arrived at the Entebbe

airport outside the capital city of Kampala. June was a crazy month

of trying to get adjusted to life in Uganda, helping with volunteer

teams, and saying goodbye to the wonderful Sasser family (the

family that lived and worked in Kaihura before me for five years).

What I’m not sure I expected about living in Africa, and what most

people don’t seem to realize, is that life is life anywhere you live.

You fall into a routine. Days, weeks, and months pass. Of

course, exciting, out-of-the-ordinary things happen, but usually days

here are just regular days, like they would be anywhere, and that’s

okay. I’m perfectly happy for most of my days to be filled with work,

friends, and food.

However, everyday days aren’t very exciting to write about. So, I’ll

give you the highlight reel. The first two weeks of July a team of

four girls about my age came to Kaihura and we had a blast! We spent

our days working and a lot of evenings laughing and playing cards. Also, during

the summer, a team from Duke University was in Kaihura volunteering. They

unexpectedly blessed me with a much-needed computer (long story, but

amazing)!

In August, I was able to go on my first safari with my pastor’s family

(the Calhoons) and my friend, Alexa. Queen Elizabeth National Park,

the nearest safari park, is about three hours from where I live.

The roads to get there are horrible, but it is totally worth it! Queen

Elizabeth is home to lions, elephants, warthogs, cob (a type of antelope),

Cape buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, hyenas, leopards, as well as lots

of birds and lizards. (Uganda also has zebra and giraffe, but the giraffe live

farther north, and the zebra live farther south.) While on our safari,

we were able to see almost every type of animal in Queen Elizabeth,

except leopards. It was amazing to see the beauty of God’s

awesome creation.

September 1 was a sad day for me; it was the day my friend,

Alexa, left Uganda to go home to the States. My biggest fear

before coming to Uganda was that I wouldn’t make any good friends

or connect with the people around me. Thank God, my prayers for

friends were answered, and I have been blessed with many good friends.

Alexa was my first good friend in Uganda, and one of my best friends.

We had a great time my first three months here, running around together,

talking for hours, watching movies, and doing a little traveling.

The day after Alexa flew out of the Entebbe airport, a volunteer team

of nurses from UCLA flew in. This team stayed very busy, holding six

medical outreaches, and one mosquito net outreach. It was so great to

see Ugandan people who hadn’t received medical treatment in years

come to the clinics and receive care.

While September and October in North Carolina bring cooler weather and

falling leaves, in Uganda they bring rain, lots of rain.  Rainy season

peaks in the middle of October, with heavy rains every day that turn

the roads to mud. So when, in the middle of October, my pastor’s family

asked if I wanted to travel with them to the neighboring country of Rwanda,

I was happy to get away from the rain that plagued Kaihura. We spent a few

days on the banks of Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, Rwanda, taking time to rest.

I never expected how tiring it can be to live in a different culture, so it was

great to be able to take a few days to relax.

November brought more rain and a trip to Kampala. Faith Kunihira, the

founder of Bringing Hope to the Family, left for a month-long visit to the

US on November 13. We counted the days until she recently returned!

Also, in November I spent Thanksgiving with my pastor’s family and other

friends in Fort Portal, Uganda. Thanksgiving is not a Ugandan holiday, of

course, but my friend, Destiny Calhoon, made it a special holiday with an

amazing “American Thanksgiving” meal!

Now, it’s December, one year after I first began exploring mission opportunities.

What a difference a year can make! I’m now looking forward to a Ugandan

Christmas and all the festivities that come with it, as well as whatever exciting things God has in store for 2014.

Kate Aukerman

P.S. Although the focus of this newsletter is my personal life in 2013, there are

also many exciting things happening with Know.Think.Act and Bringing Hope

to the Family. To keep up with what is going on with KTA and BHTF, check out

the blog I write at knowthinkact.com. You can also subscribe to regular emails

from KTA by visiting knowthinkact.com.

Snail Mail

Ever since I was a kid I have loved getting mail, and now I love it even more! Getting a letter is like getting a little piece of home delivered to you in the post office box.

So, if you feel so inclined, send me a letter, a post card, a package! 

My address is:

Kate Aukerman

P.O. Box 965

Fort Portal, Uganda

East Africa 

Hope to hear from you soon! 

Thank You!

I want to say thank you to everyone who has made my life in Uganda possible! Thank you to everyone who has so generously given me financial support. Thank you everyone who has supported me with your prayers. Thank you everyone who has been an encourager to me while I live, and minister in Uganda. I could not do what I do without you.

Dance Moves

Me and some friends have been trying to teach Josiah how to dance. So far he has been a pretty quick learner, I caught him here in the midst of showing off one of his new moves.

Meet Adolf!

Adolf always looks a little annoyed, but despite his grumpy appearance he loves to be held and picking him up is a free arm workout (just look at that belly), so win-win.

Meet Everest!

A few months ago I was contacted by an organization called CA Bikes that provides special bikes and wheelchairs for young people in Uganda who need assistance walking. They had found a boy named Everest who was paralyzed from the chest down and was suffering from horrible bedsores all over his legs, so bad that at night the rats would come and chew on his legs. CA Bikes had taken the boy to the hospital, but didn’t have any way to support his future. When Faith went to visit Everest in the hospital, his sores were beginning to heal, but he was still extremely physically weak. Once Everest was able to travel he was brought to Hope Again Medical Center, where his sores fully healed.

Because Everest has never been able to walk, he has developed a love for making handcrafts. He can make beautiful baskets and other woven crafts. When BHTF learned what a talent Everest has for craftwork, Faith decided to offer his a job working in the craft shop at Village Art.

It is so exciting to see a young man come from a horrible, dirty, disease filled situation to a place where he is recovering and working towards becoming self-sustaining! 

You Can't Have It All

One thing I have learned about living in Uganda is that you can’t have it all, at least not at the same time.

Last night around 11:30 I noticed that the power had gone out, I was in bed so it wasn’t that big of a deal. This morning the power remained out with I got to the BHTF office, fortunately it came back on soon after I arrived. However, we soon discovered that although the power was back our Internet router had a bad wire, so we can’t use the internet.

Right now there are four girls from the UK staying at our house, and we all decided to treat ourselves and make some jello, but once it came time to eat said jello there were no spoons to be found. But we were determined to enjoy that jello, so we all sat in a circle and ate the jelllo with a shared ladle, and it was delicious!

The milk here is pretty non appetizing, it’s raw so I’m sure it’s super healthy and what-not, but non pasteurized milk just does not appeal to me. It is especially unappealing when you see it delivered fresh to your door ever morning, with udder hairs floating on top. All that to say, I finally found a brand of bagged milk that is processed enough for me to drink it, still not by itself, but on cereal and such. I was at a grocery store out of town when I stumbled upon said milk (the brand is Jessa just in case you were wondering), I quickly grabbed a bag and rushed to the cereal shelf to see what I could get to go with my milk, only to discover that the only delicious cereal there was $10 a box! I sadly returned my milk knowing I could not justify spending $10 on a box of coco puffs. (It wasn’t even a family size box!)

This happens all of the time with food a grocery stores, I found a store the next town over that was selling mac and cheese, I have never seen mac and cheese sold anywhere else in Uganda, not even in Kampala, so I quickly bought around six boxes. I am down to my last box, and am saving it for a special occasion because that grocery store has since stopped stocking mac and cheese for no apparent reason; it’s just not there any more. This also happened with gummies, although I think the country ran out of gummy candy because I cannot find them anywhere! I found a store that has started selling bbq sauce, and you had better believe that this weekend I’m going to stock up, because who knows how long it will be there? Stores, however NEVER run out of gross things like, posho flour, and cakes that have the moisture content of sawdust. Shopping side note: There are no stores here where you can find all of the food you might need/want in one place. So a typical grocery run (for me) usually consists of visiting two different grocery stores and a gas station, sometimes the open-air market if I need veggies.

Basically I have learned that when things are good you had better take advantage of it. Also, if you ever find mac and cheese or gummy bears in a store, buy it all out, no questions asked.

Update From Uganda!

Dear Friends,

Hello from Uganda! Thank you for your prayers, communication and financial support during my time in Africa. I hope you have been able to follow me through www.Know.Think.Act.com and through my personal social media.

I absolutely love being here! I have formed many wonderful relationships, and have experienced so many new things. Of course, life it not without its rough times, but one of the biggest things God is teaching me is that He is in control and life is so much better if I totally trust Him.

While here I have had the pleasure of working with an amazing organization, Bringing Hope to the Family (Know.Think.Act’s partner in Uganda). Seeing communities receive clean drinking water; watching children come from abusive homes into a loving children’s home environment; helping remote villages receive medical care; and working with people who care about their community and are laboring to make a difference is rewarding and humbling.

Currently my days are filled with:
• Producing all the social media for KTA from Uganda (blogs, twitters, Instagram, photography, etc.);
• Publicizing the BHTF needs;
• Facilitating arrangements for any KTA volunteer teams that come to Uganda;
• Helping launch the new crisis pregnancy program implemented by BHTF;
• Giving computer lessons to the BHTF staff
• Working on any number of small things that fill my agenda.

The Lord has now opened another door for me. Know.Think.Act has asked me to continue working in Uganda through the summer of 2014. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have this opportunity! I thought my original departure date of January 2014 was distant, but the time is flying by.

Because KTA is a small organization, they are unable to pay for my living expenses. Fortunately, living in the village of Kaihura is relatively cheap. I need around $600 a month to cover my room and board, all my food, my transportation costs, Internet and cell phone bills, and some extra for incidentals. Staying an extra six months at $600 a month is $3,600 total.  If 10 people give $60 a month, I will be able to stay here and continue to serve.

I ask first for your prayer support. I need your prayers to help me minister effectively to those in need.

Also, I ask you to prayerfully consider offering financial support. I know God, who has opened this door, is able to supply my needs. If you are unable to give financially, please know that I understand.
 
I cannot express how grateful I am for your prayers and your financial support. By partnering together, we can help bring Light to a people needing hope.

If you would like to give financial support, please send your contributions to one of the following:
a. Kate Aukerman
1010 Coulwood Dr.
Charlotte NC 28214
b. Know.Think.Act. online;*
globalsupportmission.com/donate/give-volunteer.
c. Know.Think.Act.*
305 Lutie St.
Nashville, TN 37210.
*NOTE:
All contributions given through Know.Think.Act. are tax-deductible.
If you give through Know.Think.Act., you must put my volunteer ID number in the comments’ section of the donation form. My ID number is 10150.

If you have any questions or thoughts, please e-mail me at katieaukerman1@gmail.com.

Coram Deo,
Kate Aukerman

Fooooood!!!

As most of you know, I am a pretty hard-core foodie, I used to plan out my meals, and loved going to new restaurants and trying new things. Ugandan food is very unique. There seem to be several staple foods, and not much else that Ugandans eat. I’ll break down the foods that I eat on a regular basis to try and give you a flavor for the food here.

Posho: Made from maize flour posho is white, and tasteless with the consistency of VERY thick mashed potatoes. I eat posho almost every day for lunch.

Matooke: I helped make matooke once, so I know exactly what this dish consists of. Matooke is made from green bananas almost like plantains, but not as sweet. After you have peeled these bananas with a knife (they are too hard to peel by hand), you squish them up and cook them in a pot for a long time. For me, matooke is actually less appetizing than posho, it’s like gluey banana-ish paste.

Beans: We eat a lot of beans here. While beans require no explanation, it should be noted that they are usually spiced up to be pretty delicious.

Cabbage: Shredded cabbage, often cooked with tomatoes is served with most meals.

Irish Potatoes: That’s what they call regular white potatoes here (as opposed to sweet potatoes). These are cooked many ways, mashed, steamed, but my favorite is fried! I found this little store in Kaihura that sells a whole bag of deep fried Irish potatoes for 1,000 UGS! That’s about $0.40. Chips (french fries) are served often too.

Eggplant: Eggplant is served sautéed a lot, or if you’re lucky deep fried. Chapatti: Kind of like indian nan bread but waaaaaaay more delicious! I could eat chapatti with every meal.

G-nuts: they are basically peanuts, that get turned into a sauce or are boiled or eaten raw.

Meat: Meat is eaten sparingly, and it’s usually not cut very well, so it’s fatty and stringy.

Avocado: The avocados here are great! They are twice the size of the avocados in America and much more flavorful.

Fruits: Uganda has tropical fruits in abundance: bananas, passion fruits, guava, jack fruit, mango, pineapple etc. Passion fruit is my absolute favorite! While tropical fruit abounds, not many other fruits are imported, you can buy apples and oranges at the grocery store, but I think they are rather pricy.

Tea: Loose leaf African tea, is a big thing to drink with breakfast, with milk, or sugar, or just by itself. Tea and bread are what is most often eaten for breakfast.

Soda: Soft drinks are much better here, I think it’s because they are made with real sugar, and they have more of a variety. Sodas are also cheap to drink, 1,000 UGS for a glass bottle.

The above foods are most of the staples that are eaten on a daily or bi-daily basis. There are also other things that people snack on like sugar cane, corn, fried baked goods etc. There are also some pretty decent restaurants close-ish by, if I ever really get sick of posho.

Ugandan Peculiaritie

Not that the people in Uganda are peculiar, but every culture has quirks unique to them that outsiders find interesting. So this week I will be sharing some of the cultural quirks I have observed about the people in western Uganda.

Eye Language: Ugandan’s answer with their eyes/eyebrows a lot. Instead of actually saying “yes” a lot of times you will get a quick raise of the eyebrows.

Mmmmmm: “Mmmmm” is a speech filler here, and is used a lot when you are listening to someone else speak. I actually really like this and have caught myself adopting it, it’s a really not rude noncommittal reply to use when I can’t understand someone or don’t have any other reply.

Staring: It is not impolite to stare at people here, even people you don’t know…especially people you don’t know.

Greeting: It’s very important to people to greet each other and inquire how they are doing. Even if you have already seen a person earlier that day, it’s just considered polite.

Timeliness: People are always late. Always. Time is viewed much more fluidly, they saying “time is money” would make no sense here. This isn’t really a horrible thing; it just takes getting used to. This same rule applies to food at restaurants.

Hand Holding: Guys hold other guys hands here all the time, talking, walking down the street, it’s just a sign of friendship. Ladies do it sometimes, but not as much as guys do.

Pet Names

Uganda is broken up in the kingdoms like America is divided into states or counties; Kaihura is part of the Tooro kingdom, the people of the Toro kingdom speak Rutooro (a language only used in western Uganda) and they have pet names. 

Pet names differ from nicknames in that there are only twelve possible pet names:

Bbala

Abbooki

Abwooli

Acaali

Adyeeri

Akiiki

Amooti,

Apuuli

Araali

Ateenyi

Atwooki

Okaali (Okaali is only used for the king)

You can only have one of these twelve pet names, which means you will share your pet name with many other people, most likely you will share your pet names with many people you interact with daily. Pet names are used much more often than nicknames, and by a wider group of people. My family gives and uses nicknames frequently, but most of my nicknames are only used by my family, and sometimes close friends. Your entire community uses pet names, and pet names are often used more frequently than a person’s actual name.

A pet name is sometimes given to a child so they can share a pet name with a family member, and sometimes they are given at random. Pet names have insignificant meanings, for instance Araali means thunder and Akiiki means braid, but they aren’t given because of any special meaning.

Pet names, while somewhat confusing at first, add to the charm and uniqueness of Uganda and Kaihura in particular.

-Abwooli

Week One!

Hello everyone!
Today is the one week anniversary of my leaving North Carolina for Uganda. It has been a crazy, tiring, good, exciting week. I've written two blog posts over on the Know Think Act blog about my first week in Uganda, check them out to see what's been going on. I very much hope you will keep involved and in touch with me while I'm here in Uganda!

Keeping in Touch

Yesterday my very first blog post when up on the Know Think Act blog! While I am in Uganda I will be blogging for Know Think Act over there as well as blogging here, on my personal blog.

I am really excited to be working with Know Think Act! This week I am at their offices in Nashville for training, and it has been so great getting to know everyone. 

I am also really looking forward to sharing my daily life with you while I am in Uganda. So if you are looking for more ways to stay in touch please stay tuned for updates on this blog as well as at KnowThinkAct.com.

You can also follow me on Instagram: @katybeth89 or @knowthinkact

or on Twitter @katieaukerman1 or @knowthinkact. 

This Is Love Banquet

Know Think Act is proudly presents their 6th Annual This Is Love Banquet on May 2! We would be honored to have you join us.
For more information click here.

Welcome

Friends and Family,

I am thankful and excited to share with you how I will be spending the rest of 2013! For the past few years, I have been privileged to go on Christian mission trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala. Because of my experiences there, I have been looking into and praying about working with overseas missions.

Recently, God opened doors for me to work with a Christian organization in Uganda called Know.Think.Act. This organization connects the world to the needs of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world that seek to end the cycle of poverty in their communities. I have been offered and accepted a seven-month position as the Know.Think.Act. Program Coordinator in Kaihura,Uganda.

From June 2013 to January 2014, I will be working in western Uganda with Know.Think.Act. and its local affiliate organization, Bringing Hope to the Family. While there, I will coordinate international volunteer service teams and keep the social media updated about Bringing Hope to the Family.

While in Uganda, I'll be keeping everyone updated on my life via my personal blog, (katieaukerman.blogspot.com). You can also check out Know.Think.Act. at knowthinkact.com. To read more about Bringing Hope to the Family, visit bringinghope.org. 

What can you do to help? Most importantly, pray. Please pray for me, for the ministries I work with, and for the people I meet.

If you would like to give financial support, please send your contributions to one of the following: 

a. Katie Aukerman

1010 Coulwood Dr. 

Charlotte NC 28214

b. Know.Think.Act. online;*

globalsupportmission.com/donate/give-volunteer.

c. Know.Think.Act.*

305 Lutie St.

Nashville, TN 37210.

            *NOTE:

• All contributions given through Know.Think.Act. are tax-deductible.
• If you give through Know.Think.Act., you must put my volunteer ID number in the comments’ section of the donation form. My ID number is 10150.

If you have any questions or thoughts, please e-mail me at katieaukerman1@gmail.com.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Katie Aukerman