Some Friends of Mine

I've made quite a few friends since I've been here: my house mates, expat wanderers, and local people. Here are a few...

James: James is from CA, and he works for Invisible Children. He's been in charge of the IC bracelet campaign for awhile. If you know my friend Brett, then picture Brett, and you will have a general idea of James. He's thoughtful, kind, intelligent, and he's searching. Kerry and I stayed up through half of Sunday night talking with him about life in general, and I'm already sure it will be one of my favorite memories.

Jamie: Is in his thirties. He's a world traveler. My understanding of his story is that he was working in a corporate office in America and was told to fire a friend of his. He was sitting in the room and said, "You know what, let him keep his job." And he walked out of corporate life forever. Some things are more important than job security.
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Fizer: I'm not sure how to spell his name, but Fizer is a young boy who lives at an orphanage located next to Lake Victoria. Fizer lived around an area called Jinja, but his parents beat him often so when he was VERY young he walked away from his home and walked the 80 km to Kampala, where he slept under the clock tower in the heart of downtown. I believe he was arrested but somehow ended up at the Mercy Home orphanage. He is bright, calm, and hopeful, and his eyes belie a soul much older than his years. Can you look up to a child? I suppose you can.

Fizer is just one of the more than 130 amazing people living at the Mercy Home orphanage. I know about Mercy Home because a non-profit that I work for, Isiah Project International, is working to improve the children's' dorms and build a permanent school for the orphans and the many children of the surrounding area. They had a temporary school, but it blew down in a recent storm. We hope to have the temporary building up again by the end of next week, and we hope to break ground on the permanent school very soon. Currently we are making sure that we have competent people of integrity at every level of the building and financing process. It's rather arrogant and reckless to spend a few months in a place and believe you know what is best. We aren't interested in that messy road. Too much hurt comes from it.

Speaking of hurt, I must confess to you that when I first heard about the new school building, I thought it sounded like a good project. I thought it was a good way to help and make a difference. Once I met Fizer and hung out with the children of Mercy Home, though, "project" meant nothing to me. "Making a difference" sounded so silly. I was just spending time with some friends of mine.

If you'd like to meet my friends at Mercy Home, send me an email and I'll tell you what you can do.

Vocabulary of the day:
There are dirtbikes and motorcycles for hire all over Kampala. The drivers will take you anywhere you want to go for a very reasonable price. The bikes are called "boda bodas." Someone told me this came from "border to border." That seems right. Anyway the drivers have crazy names like Scorpion and they wreck all the time. I rode a boda boda once and that was enough to prove to me that they are unsafe and crazy. I rode one again just to make sure. Don't worry, friends, I take taxis now.

Although it is impossible to reduce a diverse amalgam of cultures into a word, I feel like I can point you in the right direction of understanding the people of Uganda. Uganda is Brexico. Brexico is a mix if Britain and Mexico. Since Uganda was a colony until 1962, it has retained much of the vocabulary and practices of the UK. Examples are driving on the left side of the road and "topping up" cell phone minutes. The people are very Mexican in their diet, attitude, and spirit. Rice, beans, tortillas are very popular here, although the tortillas have different names. Even though people may not have much, they are more than generous in sharing what they do have. They are a warm and friendly despite what we in the US would consider hard times. Brexico.

I finally found a reliable internet cafe so expect two posts a week on here.

Cheers,
Joey