Although TOMS shoes is a great idea I do agree with with this article.  Especially by living and studying in East Africa for a semester I could see the problems of an organization like this.

http://www.okayafrica.com/stories/the-trouble-with-toms/

I don’t have to be gay to be pissed off.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/02/scotus.westboro.church/index.html

All I can say is that Uganda is in my prayers at the moment.  Election time is finally here.  I’m worried, nervous, but excited for Uganda’s future.  I hope the election process will go smooth and nothing all like what has happened in Egypt.  My mind is racing back to the time in Gulu when we went to see the current President Museveni speak at the park.  All I can say it was quite the experience, especially getting within 30 feet of the man.  I couldn’t but help to feel frustrated with his speech, but again it’s not up to me to decide who should be in office.  I certainly have an opinion but this is Uganda’s future.  All I ask is this will be a fair and peaceful process and that this will be a good stepping stone in Uganda’s future.

Sometimes I wish I could do this kind of stuff:  

            Sometimes I just don’t know where to begin.  I think I’ve avoided my emotions and have bottled them up somewhere.   I thought coming back home would be insanely difficult at times.  In some ways it has.  But in other ways it’s been strangely easy.  I’ve not been the best at conveying my feelings from coming back after a four month long journey through Africa, and I apologize to those who are trying to understand me.  Reverse culture shock hit me in a quiet way.  There was a period of about three days or so where I just felt depressed not knowing exactly what was causing this, but I continued to ignore these feelings.  Instead I turned to working out a whole bunch with my down time.  This isn’t exactly a bad deal since I had been terribly out of shape and my crew season is just creeping around the corner.  I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better transition with my J-Term class.  I decided to take Travel Writing.  I’ve had the chance to visit Portland and San Francisco during this month of adventuring and I’ll share that at a different time.  However these distractions are nice but ultimately I’m left to think about Africa.  It’s been a home for me and I’ll always look at it as a second home from the life and people that I love here.  There are people that I miss terribly but without a doubt I know that I’ll see them again.  If there is a will there is a way.

            Sometimes listening to the radio can be hard because when certain songs are played I just shake my head, laugh, and think about all of the times I spent perfecting my Acholi running in place man dance.  The dance is literally how it sounds and I’ll probably be doing that dance until I die even when people will look at me funny.  I don’t care.  Or I’ll think about the time we spent dancing until 4 in the morning at a club in downtown Kampala.  I’m working on a video that will summarize our experience in Uganda, but it’ll take me some time. There are a lot of other things that are going on in my life at the moment and it’ll be on African time, fittingly.  I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to watch violent action films because it might trigger some kind of emotional response from the memorial sites we visited.  Nothing has changed and it doesn’t affect me because I know it’s just a movie.  However if I ever watch movies like Hotel Rwanda or any documentary’s of any kind of genocide/war I know I’ll probably have to leave the room, cry and vomit because I’ll be reminded of Murambi.  I’ve realized that I’m changed and then I’m not.  It’s almost hard to describe.  There’s definitely a cynical part of me now.  Poverty is a whole other issue that my mind can’t process.  When I see people here in poverty I just feel different.  I try to still put myself in their shoes but as Caitlyn described it in her blog the word “heartless,” comes to mind.  I feel awful that I feel this way because a poor person is still a poor person and has to live in extremities that we privileged people don’t.  The first thing that comes to mind is that they don’t have to deal with conflict or consequences of conflict like Rwanda or Uganda.  I hate that this feeling comes to mind but it does and it’s something that I have to work on because people are still people and we all deserve a better life.  Yes it’s harsh and I am truly sorry.  I’m working on it.  However what I do know through all of this confusing mess is that I’m stronger for it.  I’m stronger for being able to look at cultures and put my life into a bit of perspective.  It’s been one hell of a journey and I couldn’t be more thankful for family and friends who have supported and helped me along the way.

            I’m still taking my malaria meds, I should’ve been done about now but I stopped taking them for a while, and well I guess it’s better to just get them over with and deal with doxy’s side affects.  I have weird stuff growing on my legs that almost look like another staph infection.  Who knows what is, I’ll be getting it checked out soon.  Basically I’d describe my life put together but very disorganized.  This trip really has put my life into perspective and now I’m almost positively unsure of what I want to do with my life after college.  But that’s okay because sometimes the best part is not knowing and letting things take their course.  Scared?  Hell yeah.  Excited?  Yes.  For now all I know is that I have to study hard, enjoy the company of family/friends, keep my head down/in the sky, and enjoy the ride.

Coming back was an adventure of it’s own.  The flights were going smoothly.  Caitlyn and I had reached Addis Ababa on time and our flight to Frankfurt was on schedule.  However when we reached Frankfurt and our plane was circling the city, the captain of the plane told us that the airport was closed so we had to head back down south to Munich.  We were grounded in Munich for a couple of hours and then able to fly back to Frankfurt but only to see that our flight to Seattle was cancelled.  The airport was in complete chaos with so many flights cancelled.  We had to find the Lufthansa line and wait.  We waited and waited.  At one point the police started shouting in German to which I had no idea what was going on until finally someone explained that there was an unidentified bag that was left in the hallway next to us.  So we had to move and then hop in another line.  The whole time our airline was providing everyone with sandwiches, candy bars, and water, which is something that impressed me and made me appreciate Lufthansa more.  We waited a couple more hours until we got to the check in counter.  The airline put me on the wait list for Seattle, Caitlyn for Denver, and put us up in the Sheraton hotel, which is about a ten to fifteen minute drive from the airport.  We were both mad at the unfortunate events because we could’ve been home that day but also excited that we were actually in Germany outside of the airport.  Germany is one country that I want to take time and visit.  It’s beautiful.  Our hotel was awesome; the beds were comfortable, hot shower with water pressure, tv, and internet.  We were going to go down for dinner but both of us were too tired and comfortable to move and ended up falling asleep.  We woke up the next morning, ate some breakfast, and got a taxi back to the airport.  My flight was scheduled to leave at around ten.  Caitlyn and I departed each other, although we would see each other a couple more times as her gate was moved towards my end of the airport.  Upon waiting at the gate I met quite a few people who were supposed to be on my flight the day before and were in the same boat as me.  I started talking to a couple of girls around my age who live in the northwest, and were just in Egypt.  They told me they registered at around 6 pm the night before where I registered at around 4:30.  Somehow they both made that flight so I wasn’t exactly sure the wait list thing worked.  Well if you couldn’t have guessed I did not make this flight and went back to the check in line (which was not as long and took me a total of how about fifteen minutes to get through) to be put on the wait list for Seattle the following day.  They only fly to Seattle once a day.  I asked if I could change cities and was told to go upstairs to wait.

Upstairs you had to grab a ticket number.  I was number 420 and there was still a ways to go for me.  I grabbed a sandwich, water, and a few candy bars and began eating.  I started eating to try to help calm my nerves.  The time that I was waiting I believe became the most depressed I’ve ever felt this whole trip.  I had split up with my travel buddy (which I had thought Caitlyn had made the Denver flight but I was wrong) so there was no one to talk to and at this point I was really thinking that I wouldn’t make it home in time for the holidays.  In other circumstances (meaning haven’t seen my family and friends in four months, not being the holiday season, or being exhausted from traveling and waiting in lines) I would have been completely happy that I was stuck in Germany.  It’s a country that I’ve always wanted the chance to see.  I did rally myself and became completely hopeful but only to have that happy thought shoved back down the drain a few hours later when I was finally able to talk to someone.

The lady that  I was talking to was desperately trying to find something for me but every flight was booked for the next few days as seeing everyone was trying to get out.  She told me that they were trying to get an extra Washington D.C. flight out the next day that I could have a seat on if they got the plane, be kept on the Seattle waiting list, and she also put me on the waiting list for the flight leaving for JFK that very evening but she didn’t look too confident that I would make that flight either.  I didn’t leave the counter as a very happy camper.

I went downstairs and found an international phone that I could call my parents on because they wanted to know about my situation.  I’m pretty sure they could tell that I wasn’t doing well because at this point I just wanted to get home.  We agreed that I would call them if I wouldn’t make the flight and to let them know that the airline would put me up in a hotel again but if I did make it then they wouldn’t hear from me and they would assume that I made the flight.  By the way that call cost $41.

So I went to the gate and was surprised to see my name at number five of the waiting list.  The airline called my name including another family who had been through the same ordeal that I was in to tell me that I had made the flight and would be given a seat.  I couldn’t have been more happier.  I would be in New York just a little closer to home.

I arrived in New York at around 9:00 p.m.  Of course my checked luggage wasn’t there something that I wasn’t really expecting.  So I made my way towards the office of Lufthansa to claim missing luggage.  The line starts outside the door and when a person is finished then then the next person can enter (there were about four or five desks in there).  So I was right next to this door when I heard this couple who were probably around my parents age.  These people annoyed me from the start.  The woman was complaining about missing her luggage numbers but she was doing it in a way that made it seem like her husbands fault.  This woman went in front of me to open the door only to realize that she had to wait outside.  The door opened as one person exited and I entered and started to talk to the guy behind the desk, but only shortly to be interrupted by the husband who rudely snapped at me, “Excuse me I think my wife was in front of you.”  At this point I was too tired to care smiled kindly at the man and said “I don’t think so but whatever,” and then said a few choice words underneath my breath.  Welcome to America I thought.  The land where people can be rude and care for only themselves.  I guess in Africa it’s a bit different.  People there don’t really follow the system of lines and will do anything to cut in front of you, sometimes pushing their way past you, but no one gets really angry about it.  Looking back on it I wish I stood up for myself and scold the couple for seeming to be really uppity.  From how they acted it felt like they just come from some expensive vacation in Europe, but I really shouldn’t assume.  Anyway the person that I talked to told me that I have to claim at my final destination so that matter was taken care of.

I went to the Lufthansa check in to see if I could get a receipt for my next flight because I dropped it in Frankfurt and to get a hotel room.  After I waited in line for a bit and hearing this girl who had come all the way from Beirut and had apparently missed her final flight to Houston get in a shouting match and then tears started flowing.  This whole flight cancellations has really put a toll on the fliers as well as the people who work for the airlines and I’m sure everyone is excited for this all to be over.  I was able to talk to my parents via iChat video conference as Skype was down.  I came to the conclusion that I would not go to the hotel because it was a train and bus ride away and I wasn’t feeling confident in myself waking up in time to catch both of these back to the airport at five in the morning because my flight was supposed to leave at 7 am.  After all the terminals were seeming to close I found the right one (Terminal 4 at JFK is open 24 hours) to spend the night at.  For a while I thought I was going to be one of the only ones to stay at the airport but then I made my way downstairs and to my surprise found a 24 hour cafe an outlet for my computer, and a floor to lay on.  I decided not to fall asleep but stay up and watch shows (including The Office) on Hulu something that I haven’t been able to do in the last 4 months.  I got a chocolate milk and a blueberry muffin and started to watch.  I talked to Caitlyn.  She was still stuck in Frankfurt but she would make her flight that morning and we would arrive around the same time.  I would also talk to my parents ever so often until they went to bed.  I left the terminal at around 4:15 a.m to check into my gate which only saw my flight was delayed.

That last flight seemed like the longest one out of all of them, even though it was only nearly six hours.  I couldn’t really sleep but I watched Eat, Pray, Love and listened to music anticipating the touchdown.  Finally we arrived in rainy Seattle and I quickly made my way towards baggage claim to meet my parents. 

This has been an incredible journey.  Some people may say that a trip like this wouldn’t change much of their lives and that may be so.  However with everything that we saw or did I can say to the least it is an experience without regrets.   It is an experience that has certainly modified my learning.  I’ve come to meet some of the most wonderful people and it is something that I will always look back on.  Coming back from a study abroad program is supposed to change or alter you in some big way.  And yes, for most people it does and others it doesn’t.  But it’s not the big life altering changes that seem to make a difference.  Maybe it’s the lack of sleep that has made me talk in this nonsensical way.  After all I have spent the last few days traveling, getting stuck at airports, waiting in lines, and trying to find my way back home.  I believe in the little things.  We can state the obvious life changing experiences such as living in poverty, seeing the dead bodies at the Murambi Genocide Memorial, witnessing how conflict can turn a whole world upside down, and so on.  These obvious things will make us change.  For example trying to use less water or striving for world peace to not let conflicts as the ones that we learned about happen again.  Anyone can point these things out and talk about how this has completely changed them.  However the things that we can’t see up close are the ones that have a greater impact on our lives.  It’s not always about looking for ways to change the world for a better tomorrow that opens our eyes but it’s rather the actual experience.  Whether we liked it or not it still has the greater impact. The act of traveling or adventuring to places that are unknown, unfamiliar, or uncomfortable to us is what truly lets ourselves become more open.  It’s not what we learned in the classroom but of what we learn outside of it

There is only so much that we can take away from books and lectures but it becomes so much more when we go beyond that.  I’m not classifying this to just the study abroad experience, because it can happen just two feet outside of our front door.  I guess what I’m trying to get at is that although I am grateful for having the opportunity to learn about the Rwandan Genocide and the conflict in northern Uganda in these countries, I think that I’m more thankful for the act of being able to live outside of my comfort zones.

The reverse culture shock hasn’t quite hit me as hard as I had expected.  There are moments here and there which can be a bit overwhelming.  When we were in Germany I didn’t have time to think about these things since we were always on the move trying to find a way back home. Although the culture shock hasn’t hit me as hard as I would’ve thought I know there will be pockets here and there.  Now that I’m home though I couldn’t be more grateful.  I already miss the friends that I made on this trip terribly already.  These friends are both people that were in the program with me and the friends who have shown me great hospitality to their country in both Rwanda and Uganda.  These people have made my experience into an even better one.  I talked to my church about my experiences and everyone seems really interested in what I was doing there.  I guess it’s not often that people hear enough about Rwanda, Uganda, or east Africa in general.  This only excites me that much more that now I have a story to tell wherever I go.

I’ve missed my family and friends so much and I feel that I’m incredibly lucky to have these people in my life.  These people have supported me along the way and I couldn’t be more appreciative towards.  I couldn’t have thanked my Mom and Dad (Debbie and Mark) and my sister Elizabeth enough for giving me the courage to pick up and go.  Everyone in my family, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins have all been there for me.  I can’t discount my friends either.  I’m not trying make this sound over the top emotional but after going on an adventure such as this one it’s hard not to be appreciative of the people who have helped me become the person that I am (that saying someone who appreciates life, wants to adventure, and create a story-definitely not saying that I’m perfect because I’m not).  I couldn’t be more happier with the people in my life.  I’ll reiterate this again.  This has been an incredible adventure.

I have to say it’s been a great and relaxing weekend in Kampala.  However before the start to this great weekend it’s been a little weird watching everyone leave.  I was one of the first one’s to arrive and now one of the last to leave Uganda.  It’s been sad to leave the people that I’ve basically been spending the last 4 months around the clock with.  Although there have been times where we have been absolutely sick of each other you become close with some of the people that you travel with.  You experience certain things together and it’s been a roller coaster.  (I will post a blog later about the people of whom I’ve been traveling with for this last semester).

This past weekend has been spent at the hostel called Backpackers (basically where all of the white people come to stay or hang out).  Caitlyn, Erin, and I are staying in a double room (to reduce the price).  We’ve been hanging out with our good friend Freddie who I have to say is one of the most amazing people I’ve met and become friends with.  So let’s see where this weekend has taken us.  Friday we spent the day shopping in one of Kampala’s craziest markets, people every where about.  It was insane!! And then that night (last night) we went to a club called Iguana.  We got there probably around 12ish in the morning and stayed there until 4 am (the party went on way after we had left).  Today Freddie helped Caitlyn get a tailor to make some dresses out of her fabric and helped me get a new suitcase (because I have a large gaping hole in mine).  Then this afternoon we went to This Is Uganda Music Festival (which I have to say to the least was awesome!).  Destreet’s art was up and I bought a couple of t-shirts.  (Destreet is an artist in Kampala, which Caitlyn had met when she was here in January, needless to say a few people in our group have come to be friends with him).

However I’m off to bed seeing it’s 1 in the morning and there is lots to do in my last day in Uganda.  Some posts that I still need to put up are the time when we went bunjee jumping/rafting down the Nile River, seeing President Museveni speak in Gulu (and getting within 30 feet of him), and ect…

            I have to say I was a little surprised to find out that we would be leaving Gulu on a short notice.  I got the call from Dr. William to inform the rest of the people in the house that we would be picked up from our home in Cabari Opong (our neighborhood in Gulu) to leave for Kampala at 11 in the morning.  This past week we’ve been a little on edge about this mystery illness that has struck the northern region of Uganda.  My real Dad informed me that he read about a hemorrhagic fever in a few of the northern districts in Uganda but excluding Gulu.  A couple of weeks after I received this email the news seemed to strike Uganda, or at least Gulu.  Apparently what happened was that there were to people who had this mystery illness and were being transferred from the Kitgum (about 30 km north of Gulu) to a hospital in Gulu.  One died on the way and the other was put in quarantine.  The symptoms of this illness are vomiting, bloody stool, high fever and that the first signs of this illness just feel like a normal fever or malaria (which is treatable).  There was a possibility that this could have been Ebola or that Ebola is present at the moment.  Uganda does have a history of Ebola.  There was an outbreak of Ebola back in the year 2000.  If you don’t know what Ebola is well I can summarize in a few short words.  Basically it is a virus derived from bats or monkey’s usually, and what happens when you get this virus is a bit bloody.  In short you start to vomit uncontrollably and start bleeding from your pours and eyes until you die.  Ebola is not treatable.  There are some types of practices that can delay the violent strain.  This virus doesn’t exactly spread fast, but when it hits it’s a bit deadly.

            I haven’t been concerned that it was Ebola or that this mystery illness spread easily due from the reports that I’ve been hearing about it.  Our program/group have been taking precautions ever since we’ve heard about it, and it looked like we were going to go about our program normally.

            Well here I am.  I’m leaving Gulu, Uganda after spending about a little more than two months.  I’m not exactly ready to say goodbye.  I thought I had another week to do that.  It’s frustrating and sad.  Tomorrow morning I have a bunch of errands to run including saying goodbye to my host family.  I was going to spend the night tomorrow night as sort of a farewell.  I had just met my host brother for the first time this week because he just got back from school in Kampala.  He seems really cool.  He’s 17 and really loves basketball and his favorite team is the Lakers (that sucks).  My family has been incredibly gracious to me these last two months.  I have to say bye to the staff at Coffee Hut because they know me so well after spending pretty much every day in.  And I have to also say bye to our house and neighborhood.  I’ve grown to really like the house and where it’s located.  Also it’s been fun playing with the kids next door.  Thursday morning two boys were lined up watching us, so I decided to play peek-a-boo with them.  After about three minutes of this game, one of the boys through a stick at me through the fence.  The rest of the kids came up to the fence to play.  So I decided to make faces at them and they made faces back.  Then I would run to the fence and making them scattering laughing and making fun of the white person.  One little guy started to do karate moves on the fence, which resulted him falling down.  I had even starting shouting nonsense words and they would repeat them back.  Ever since that morning whenever we see the kids we always have a face-making contest.

            I have to travel at an unfortunate time, rushing the goodbye’s and abandoning any hope of interviewing a few more students for my ISP.  I’ve been able to interview four students so far, but three of which hardly spoke English and I hadn’t prepared a translator.  I’ve been calling one of the schools of where I’ve already interviewed the headmaster and have been trying to go in to talk to a couple of students, but there has been a lot of miscommunication and it’s fallen through about three times now.

            Although these disappointments do come up I have to be grateful for the research that I have been able to do here in Gulu.  I’ve learned a lot and I’m happy that I chose the research that I did.  And who knows maybe one day I’ll be back spending more time in the schools seeing the development in Uganda’s post-conflict society.

            It’s an interesting feeling that we’re being evacuated.  The situation with this mystery illness feels more real, although I’m sure that the reason we’re leaving is more for precautions.  It also feels more real that I’m leaving Africa in just a couple of weeks.  Whenever we’ve been packing up on this trip it feels that I’m closer to home.

ISP is over!!!!!!

            I’m incredibly happy that I’ve been able to conduct my research project.  It’s been a time of frustrations but a great learning experience to say nonetheless.  My project concerned of the educational institutions and programs for trauma of how they are, the challenges, and possible solutions during this post-conflict society.  Ultimately my findings lead to that time is still too young to tell.  The conflict ended only just a few years ago.  I feel that these places have the right ideas but only time will tell if they will work in the end.  I do wish that I was able to visit some nongovernmental funded schools but perhaps on a return trip some day down the road I will be able to. The last week of our ISP period was intense.  I never had a reason to leave the hotel because our program paid for the hotel and they include breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  My schedule was basically wake up, eat breakfast, work on my paper, lunch, paper, dinner, paper, and then sleep.  My paper turned out to be 48 pages 1.5 spacing.  I know that all of our papers could have been over 100 pages just because there is so much information that we gather from our research. 

            I have to say I’m starting to find a lot of weird emotions coming up.  I have nine days left in Africa after spending 3.5-4 months here.  Chase and Robbie left last night to go on their European adventure and the majority of the group has about five days here.  After spending countless hours putting together my Independent Research Project, I now have nine days to galvanize around Africa.  Our program is ending earlier because we won’t be going on our two-day safari due to the plague outbreak in the north.  We are desperately trying to organize an excursion to the east, but it may be looking bleak. On Thursday we spent the whole day presenting our projects and I have to say I’m very proud of our group.  Everyone’s project seemed really interesting and I know we’ve all put in a lot of work into it.  Yesterday the day was mostly spent going over our emotions of leaving, coming back home, and what not.  The process was long.  We talked about our anticipations what we’re most fearful of returning home.

            We’ve all changed in some way.  Everyone does when they go abroad for a few months.  It doesn’t matter where you go.  I know for one that I might be more cynical especially towards most non-governmental organizations.  Many of the NGO’s that I’ve seen in Gulu aren’t exactly helping.  They’re helping in providing for the people but in terms of dependency or pulling out of northern Uganda aren’t helping anyone.  When you establish dependency and then your NGO pulls out it’s not doing anyone any good.  My outlook upon humanity has remained the same, I’m hopeful, but at the same time there is a long way for us.  I feel that my return home will be interesting.  Although I was able to have a lifetime experience here in Africa, I’ve also missed out on 4 months of my family and friends life (as one of my friends here put it).  I know that some things will be different when I come home.  My third grade Sunday school teacher just passed away and may he rest in peace.  He’s been an inspiration to our community and I’m forever grateful that he’s been in my life.  Also my crew team is a bit different.  Checking the roster there are about thirty people that I have no idea who they are.  I’m incredibly excited to meet them and hopefully it won’t be too awkward when I meet them.  I think that first coming back to school will be a bit weird.  It’s just different now.  Upon my arrival home there will be many different emotions that I’ll have and hopefully I won’t be too hard to understand.  It’s weird leaving. Weird is really the only word that I can describe it.  It’s a bunch of emotions wrapped up into one feeling.

            It’s been an exciting trip and emotional trip.  Hospitalized in Rwanda, getting chased out of Gulu because of the plague, and getting a staff infection are some of the things I probably could have done without, but overall it’s been an incredible journey.  I’m leaving in 9 days, just a bit more than a week left, and I better live it to the fullest.  This has been by far one of the best life decisions that I have made.

I’m not too worried of how cold it is when I get home, but after talking to Whitney about our first meals when we get home, I’ve decided that I will get out the grill even in the snow.  It’s not that the food is terrible here, it’s rather great.  However the one thing that it sometime lacks is a little bit of diversity.  After living on the same starchy or fried dishes for the past few months, it might be time for a bit of change. There are some great Indian restaurants or a select choice of an American dish up in Gulu, but these places are rather expensive.  Mostly I settle on rice, beans, and chapati for dinner every night.  I even go to the same place to take my food home.  The woman who runs that store even offered me a job to work at her restaurant, which unfortunately I had to turn down.  I’m not necessarily looking forward to particular American dishes but rather the diversity of foods that our country has.  Thai, Mexican, Italian are some of the bigger things that I miss.  Even a nice simple salad would suffice.  I’m not trying to sound stuck up or pretentious, but it’s just something that you think about when you’ve been gone from home.

            Today a few of my friends and I decided to run in the Gulu Marathon.  We made this decision yesterday and was more on a whim.  We were told that it was only a 10k (roughly a little more than 6 miles).  I’m not exactly in shape for even 6 miles and not even the biggest fan of distance running, but why not?  I need to get into shape and I feel better that I did it.  This morning I woke up at 5:50 for no reason but to look at the Gulu sunrise and stretch.  We left the house at around 7:15 and walked to the Acholi Inn (the start point, the race supposedly was to start at 8).  Hannah, Ali, Chase, and I met up with David and Robbie to register.  Finally the race started at around 8:30 and we were off in the African sun.  Robbie took off because he was here to compete, while the rest of us kept an even pace starting in the back of the runners.  David, Chase, and I stayed together and we counted twenty-four people that we passed.  The winner of this race would receive a 1 million shilling prize (approx. $500).  So there was quite a bit of incentive to win this race.

            The course was marked with ash and showed up surprisingly well on the red dirt roads we were mostly running on.  We kept an even pace, hit the water stand marks, and kept running.  Many of the Acholi people would watch us along the way.  They would cheer us on, tell us to run faster, or some of the kids would run with us. The three of us ran through a group of children who were running around screaming in excitement and we would chase them and make faces.  About an hour into the race we met up with a nice guy named Patrick and we ran with him for the rest of the way. He laughed at us when we had asked him if this was a 10k race, because we were starting to get doubts about how long the race was supposed to be.  He told us that this was more of a 15k race and that there were even international runners competing.  The race was really neat because the course was just outside of town for the most part.  We ran on the main roads or through small pathways that took us through the bush and past villages.  By the end of the race the sun started to heat up and it became very hot.  David, Chase, and I along with our new friend Patrick finished the race at around 10 am.  Upon talking to one of the officials he told this race was actually a half-marathon (21 k)…so about double the distance of what we were told.  Nevertheless we finished, although we did end up walking about a total of 10 minutes of the race, none of us being in the best of shape.  I was able to get a free t-shirt, however they didn’t print enough of the Gulu Corporate Marathon shirts so instead I got an Orange (the company that sells internet modems) shirt.  Overall the decision to run in the Gulu marathon was a good one.  A little bit sore but I think it was a win.

            After we showered all of us came back into town to Coffee Hut (a cafe that has free internet and where most of the white people hang out) and grabbed a milkshake.  Today at the cafe there was a large church group from L.A. who were going to be here for another week or two.  They seemed really nice and I’m sure they are.  One thing that did stick out was their kindness.  David saw them giving a free t-shirt to one of the local children and took a picture of him in it.  One you’re really not supposed to take pictures of people unless you have permission (maybe they did).  This act of small kindness is great…well sort of.  And I’m sure their intentions were great.  But you see, one of the bigger issues that our group has experienced while we’ve been in Africa is this thing called dependency.  When we visited the Internally Displaced People’s Camps about a month ago we learned that giving stuff to people doesn’t exactly help all the time.  The people who we talked to at the IDP camps asked us what we were going to give them.  They asked us so many questions of how we would benefit them.  We are just students.  That basically translates into us having nothing to give them that would help them in the long run.  There have been many NGOs or church organizations that come through Gulu who just give away free stuff to the people, which causes them to become dependent over time.  The people that we talked to at the IDP camps didn’t really know any other way of getting food or help because they have remained dependent on our help for so long.

            There’s a certain line that you can be respectful of trying to help out a person.  But when people keep handing you free shirts that mindset will be, “oh these white people are here to give me free stuff.”  And I know it’s hard to not give stuff away.  When you see a child in rags begging for money your heart just goes out to them and you immediately want to help.  Make things better.  Sometimes you just want to feel good about helping the world.  Believe me this threshold of where the line is absolutely sucks.  But that’s how it is.  We can certainly help someone who is in need and guide them to be able to live a happier life.  It’s like how the old saying goes…”You teach a man how to fish, he’ll be able to fish for life.”  At times we can’t always help.  We certainly can’t help the world overnight.  That’s the hard truth.  It’s just something that we have to be mindful of and how we utilize our resources to helping people that need it the most.