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.