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.