Through the almost five months that I've been living in Uganda I've come to realize that Uganda is not at all what I thought it was. Surely there are children begging on the roads, orphans, a lack of access to education, and frequent deaths. And Uganda may have been through some tough times, and still go through them on a daily basis, but there's more to this country than that.
Uganda is red dirt roads filled with children jumping up and down to say hello. It's children caring for their younger siblings while their parents are hard at work. Uganda is sharing the little food you have, because that's the right thing to do.
I won't deny that Uganda is pretty filthy. But what can you expect? It is a third world country after all. They have not made advances as America and other first world countries have, but surely they beat us all when it comes down to survival.
And as I'm sat here at the kitchen table with my cup of tea, Mama Grace comes to speak to me in her gentle voice, asking how she can help me with the dinner I'll be cooking this evening. This woman cares for people in a way I've never had someone care for me. This woman who is older than me, with a child, looks up to me. She comes to me to learn about child development and educating children. I feel valued by this wonderful woman of God.
I was told by one of the medical clinic team members that when she asked a student from the school I teach at, what they wanted to be when they grew up, they told her they wanted to be a missionary teacher like Teacher Kelsey.
Margret Mae calls me her best friend, and would literally wear the shirt and skirt I handed down to her every day if she could. Her hugs warm my heart.
My students squeeze through the aisles, and smoosh past people in church just to come and shake my hand. Anna even usually forces everyone to move down a seat so that she can sit next to me; borrowing my highlighter to highlight verses in the Bible as I do.
Leaving home again was very difficult. I miss my friends and family dearly. Sometimes I wish to walk out of my bedroom to find my brother blaring his music, while sitting at his desk. And to find my mom checking her emails at the family computer, and my dad working on something or other. I wish to wake up to head over to watch Cain and Rhielle and to spend the remainder of my day with my nose pressed in a book or down the street with my cousins.
But, I've also been fortunate enough to have been blessed with endless love here in Uganda. I left my one brother back in California and gained five more here who are a lot pestier than my own. I gained 12 little sisters...which is crazy to even think about. That's a lot of little sisters to set a good example for. And I know they love spending time with me, so even if I'm tired of playing their favorite Taylor Swift song on the guitar, I always play it once more.
People ask me where I think I will be in five years. We all seem to have that question asked. And it's hard to answer. I don't know where I will be five years from today. Five years ago from today, I was on Winter Break from my first semester in college. A semester full of hospital and doctors visits, and a time in my life where I was not happy. In the past five years I have grown tremendously. I went through a mess of a relationship, made new friends, found a church I love, found a job that accepted me for who I was and allowed me to grow, I had a boss who cared about me more than I could have ever imagined, who helped me to get to where I am today.
I never in a million years thought I would have four tattoos and be living in Uganda.
My life takes twists and turns on a daily basis, but life's a roller coaster, and God is controlling it.
I've been covered with great heaps of love and cherish all God has brought into my life. I have the keys to the doors that God provides, and I'm choosing to open them. The hardest decisions are sometimes the most difficult to make, but I've learned that that's how we grow into who God desires for us to be.
Lawarence, Mercy, Margret Mae, Teddy and I at a medical clinic last week.
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