Call me Israel.

After two and a half weeks at the mission compound, I am in a slightly better position to begin describing my life and work here. Since I have been working mostly with Karamoja Education Outreach (KEO), I'll start there. As its name suggests, "KEO is a ministry Orthodox Presbyterian Uganda Mission providing basic literacy instruction and a support system for local public schools." For a concise and informative description of KEO, please refer to KEO's Facebook page.  

On our (i.e. Angela, Rachel, and me) first day of working with KEO, Leah, who directs the community health education program, escorted us the three-quarters of a kilometer from the mission compound to "The Preschool." Neighboring the clinic, the Preschool is a one-and-a-half room concrete building that serves as HQ for KEO.  When we arrived outside the preschool, we greeted and shook hands with a handful of Karamajong KEO staff and about a dozen three- to ten-year-old kids. Martha, our missionary of oversight and the director of KEO, oriented us quickly to the inside of the preschool: the number corner, the letter corner, the blackboard, bookshelf, and story-room.  

The Preschool

From 8:00 to 11:00, our job was to "actively observe." The first order of business was hand and face washing, which the teachers help the children with outside, using a basin and pitcher of water. There were probably around 30 kids when George, one of the head teachers, called for everyone's attention and began enthusiastically relating the story of Joseph in Egypt. At least, I think that was the story. It was all in Ngakaramajong, so I didn't follow much more than the occasion "Yosef." From where I was sitting, I couldn't see the A-Beka Flash-A-Card pictures. At the conclusion of the story, George led everyone in prayer, and then turned the student's attention to the memory verse on the wall...also in Ngakaramajong. And then it was time for rotations. The KEO teachers divided the children into four groups and took them through a sequence of four activities/subjects: numbers, letter, story, and playing outside. 

If the the previous paragraph makes it sound like the goings-on at the Preschool are nice, neat, and orderly, please do not be misled. In all fairness, I don't know that the words "preschool" and  "nice, neat, and orderly" ever belong in a sentence together. However, on that first day, despite the hand-drawn, color-coded chart on the wall, I could not follow the movement of the students and teachers. I volunteered to "actively observe" in the story room, which meant that I read a picture book in English for one of the KEO teachers to translate to a group of eight or so children. For another rotation, I went outside and played catch with a couple kids. As for the other two rotations, which I presume happened, I was unaware of their transpiring.

KEO teachers and students in the Math Corner during free time

Near the end of the morning, the teachers herded the children back to the floor of the main room for more story/preaching time with George and singing. Many of the kids watched as I and my compatriots clapped along with the singing but, for obvious reasons, did not join in. And then they sang "This is the Day." In English! In the midst of so much that was unfamiliar, that simple song was delightful. Although I now almost know one of the Karamajong songs, I still think "This is the Day" is my favorite, and I can even sing the Ngakaramajong version.

After school, there was the weekly staff meeting for KEO which takes place back on the mission compound. Roughly 20 staff members gathered on a tarp under "the Ministry Bonda." Martha led the meeting, speaking mostly in English with George translating, although she did break into Ngakaramajong several times. Martha has a PhD in linguistics and has been here for about 15 years. Interestingly, most Ugandan's in this part of the country find American English hard to understand. However, if one adopts a Ugandan English accent, the process of communication is often much smoother. 

On Friday, we joined one of the village outreaches. In addition to the Preschool, KEO also sends teachers to two local villages: Moru Asia and Kopetatum. The village outreach is a modified version of the program run at the Preschool and includes Bible story, picture book story, numbers, and letters. However, the "building" that we use in Kopetatum is a roofless stick-walled structure under a tree, so "rotations" that day consisted of divided the 30-some children into two groups in two opposite corners. Before starting, I "actively observed" some of the KEO teachers "mobilize," which means we walked through some of the village telling any children we saw to come to school. Mobilizing gave me a closer and hard view of the village. Circular, mud huts with thatch roofs, thorn-bush fences forming a corral for livestock, goats and cows sometimes meandering or lying right next to houses, hard-packed open spaces for drying and threshing sourgum. 

That is a breif snap shot of my first two days with KEO. To be honest, it was a little overwhelming and I couldn't help but wonder how on earth I could be helpful when I don't even speak the language. In fact, that first week I prayed a number of times, "Dear Lord, what am I doing here?" I wondered if maybe I didn't really come because I thought God wanted me to but simply because I wanted to. I reminded myself numerous times that my prayer during the whole decision-making and preparation process was, "Lord, if you open the door, I'll go." And then, sometime last week, while walking back from Kopetatum after teaching the story of the Israelites in the wilderness (with a translator), I was struck by the Israelites' pattern of doubting God's good plan for them. Of course He didn't lead them into the wilderness to die! How absurd for them to think so. And yet, when things got difficult or were more challenging that expect, they doubted. Well, I am Israel, doubting that God actually wants me to be here just because (shockingly!) transitioning to life on the missionary compound in Karamoja in Uganda is hard. As my dad reminded me, how many college freshman wonder in those first few weeks of classes if they made the right decision? I think it safe to say that moving to Karamoja is a bigger transition than the average college experience. I always try not to think too harshly the Israelites in the Old Testament because I know that their story is my story. Yep, call me Israel.

After two and a half plus weeks, I am happy to be able to honestly report that I feel much more comfortable here. I think I am starting to figure out my role and how I can be helpful to Martha and the work of KEO. More on that later though, as this blog post is already rather long. Let me leave you with a few prayer requests.

- Health and swift recovery for the several people (including yours truly) who have been hit by some kind of stomach bug in the past week.

- Safety and smooth conections for all the mission folks who are traveling over the next few weeks

- Angela, Rachel, and me that we would continue to adjust and learn how to assist the work of KEO.