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.
