Rafting the Nile

February 25,2004

I would just like to take a few minutes to tell you about the adventure I just went on Monday. Two of the singles from Kampala decided to go rafting last Monday. They were taking two girls from the states who were working in the hospital in Kampala for a month. They invited me and Ashley to go with them, and we of course jumped at the opportunity.

We left for Kingfisher on Sunday morning. It is about a two-hour drive from Mbale, and just outside the town of Jinja (1 hour East of Kampala.) Kingfisher is a gorgeous resort with great missionary discounts. Sandi, our other single girl here in Mbale, decided to go with us to Kingfisher and spend Monday in Jinja while we rafted. When we got there, we hung out in this beautiful pool all afternoon. It has a small water slide, and a bride going over it with vines growing over the bridge.

All of the "rooms" are really separate Bandahs, which are the little round houses with thatched roofs that most people here live in. These Bondahs looked the same on the outside, but the thatching of the roof was actually covering a concrete roof. I was very relieved about this because of the things that live in real thatched roofs.

We stayed in the honeymoon sweet, which had one huge bed, so Ashley and Sandi slept there, and I slept on the couch. That was not a good decision on my part because I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is. There was no reason for me to volunteer for the most uncomfortable place in the whole Bandah to sleep. I finally fell asleep at about 2am, and woke up to Ashley's alarm at 6:30am.

apparently because I had a dream about the guide telling us statistics on how many teachers. yes teachers. not people, get eaten a year by the crocs. Then. while we were driving to the drop point on Monday morning, one of the guys in a rescue kayak pointed out a croc close to the bridge we were driving over. I think he was just messing with us though. When I had mentioned to Sandi earlier about the crocs, she said that they didn't live in this part of the Nile. Also, when I told Mark. the single guy from Kampala who went with us, about it, he said the same thing. Then, before we got in the water. the guide jokingly told us how to fight off a croc. I felt much better once I realized that it was all in jest.

I was getting really nervous by the time we got to the water. Once we got in though, I was okay. The guide told us that before every rapid, we would stop and he would tell us all of the instructions that we would need for that particular rapid. He would tell us what direction to swim if we fell out. He would tell us if the water was shallow and we needed to float on our backs so as not to injure ourselves. He would tell us if we needed to get back to the raft as quickly as possible. He also taught us all of the commands that we would use for the day, and we practiced carrying them out. Rapid measurements go up to a grade 6. Guides do not take groups down any grade 6's on the Nile. Our biggest ones were grade 5's. We had 4 grade 5's today.

Then, we went down the first of 11 rapids. It was a grade 1. It was not too bad, and I was thinking, "Maybe I can do this." As we continued for a while and went down a few more rapids, my confidence grew. We had managed to make it down the longest rapid of the day, which happened to also be a grade 5, without flipping the raft. By that point, I thought that we might make it through the whole day without ending up in the water. At one point, after our second rapid, the guide flipped the raft on purpose to teach us how to hold on and breath under it. I ended up in the air pocket under the raft, so I could breath just fine. There was one other person under there with me. We each got out one at a time. Then, he sent in the others who had not managed to get stuck under the raft. After that experience, I didn't think that getting trapped would be too bad. Then it happened.

We were coming up on our next grade 5 rapid. It was named Silver Back, and rightfully so. If you fell out of the raft, it felt like a Silver Back Gorilla was stepping on your head. As we began down this rapid, our raft flipped immediately at the top. I got trapped under the raft, but there was no air pocket because my head was caught on one of the seat looking things that helped make the air pockets. When I got out from under that part, I was still under the raft. Now, this would normally be good except that we were still in the middle of the rapid. Unfortunately, in being under the raft, you can not see when you need to take a breath. Every time I went to breathe in, I sucked in the Nile instead. I started panicking. My common sense never kicked in, and I thought I was going to drown right there in the middle of the Nile. Eventually, probably within 30 seconds, the rapid was over. The guide, who was standing on top of the overturned raft ready to flip it back over, called to see if anyone was under there. I screamed out yes, and all of a sudden a hand reached in and pulled me out. Before I knew it, the guide was back on top of the raft and ready to flip it. (We all had to be on one side of the raft. He flipped it towards us. It looked like it was going to flip on top of us, but really, we just dunked our heads underwater as it came over us and we ended upon the outside of the raft.) Then, we began being pulled into the raft. That rapid really took it out of me. I was not really looking forward to the rest of the day. We still had two grade 5 rapids left, and quite a few grade 4s.

At that point, we stopped at a long stretch of still water and we ate pineapple and watermelon. Since it was all natural foods, we just threw what we didn't eat into the Nile. I was ready for a break by then. Eventually our rescue raft and kayaks caught up to us and attached themselves to us to eat.

About those rescue kayaks and the raft, when we fell out of the raft, they knew where everyone was. We had at least two kayaks and one raft specifically for that purpose. They were very efficient and had people who had fallen out back to the raft before we could even do a head count to see who was missing. This did make me feel a little better about the whole flying out to who knows where part of the experience.

After "lunch", we began again. On one of our harder rapids, it happened again, or so I thought. We were going through this one, and I literally mean through. All of a sudden things went wrong. I hit my lower lip on something hard, but there was so much water everywhere that I had no idea what it was. Then, all I could see was water, so I thought that we had flipped. I decided right then and there not to get trapped under the raft again, so I let go. The next thing I knew. I was out in the water a few meters from the boat, and Ashley was right beside me. I found someone's paddle on my way back and actually had the presence of mind to bring it in with me. That time out of the raft was actually quite exciting. I just got to enjoy the movement of the water and knew exactly when to breath, so it was fun.

When I got back in the raft, I saw Ellen, a single girl from Kampala, with blood all over the bottom half of her face. We had no idea where the blood was coming from until she got cleaned up. Then we realized that she had busted her lip open, we still had no idea what hit her.

One rapid we went down was making me kind of nervous. We were actually having to straddle two rapids. One was a grade 6 that a man had died on, the other was a very dangerous grade 5. We had to pay close attention to the guide when he said to paddle, and when he said to stop and get down. Otherwise, we would have ended up on one of the other rapids, and that could have been costly. Luckily, not only were we a group that worked well together and made it down the correct rapid, we actually all stayed in the raft for the whole thing. I was very pleased about that one.


The next to the last rapid was a grade 4. It was kind of a hard one, and we flipped the raft again. Luckily, I ended up on the outside of this one. I was still hanging on, as we had been taught, so the guide had me move to the other side where the rest of the group was so that he could re-flip our raft. Once that one was over, we had to go near our last rapid and get out of the raft. The last rapid began as a grade six. We were having to walk up a cliff over the grade 6 and get in somewhere else where it was safer to finish the rapid on a grade 5. This last rapid was an option because it was right by the place where we finished. To get to it, we had to walk up the cliff barefoot because they had taken our shoes at the beginning of the trip. I had every intention of going down the last rapid until I saw that you actually started in the middle of the grade 6 rapid. I got very nervous about having to move the raft from the edge of the cliff, over to the middle of the river to finish the rapid. Especially since in doing so, you had to go between two large rocks. I opted out of the last one, and instead walked with two of the other girls down the cliff to watch our group do it.

They flipped very early into the rapid. and it looked very harsh. I was glad I didn't go down it. Then, I had to hike back up the cliff, still barefoot, with the other two girls to the meeting area. There, we got our shoes and ate dinner before leaving. Our rides happened to be there waiting on us, so we didn't have to ride in the truck back to the rafting place. We just got to go straight home.

I gave Mark money to go buy me a video of the trip. Some of us had decided to hire the guy who came out to film the day. I will pick it up this weekend when I am back in Jinja for the Adventure Race.

Sandi and Darla, another single girl from Kampala who had also opted out of rafting, brought us some white ants (termites) to try. We got the cameraman over there and lined up while he filmed each of us eating our white ants. They actually weren't bad. They just tasted like burnt meat.

Well, that's all about my day of rafting. I hope you enjoyed it.

(Ellen offered the guide sunscreen as a joke because you burn so easily out there, and he laughed and then told us that he used to be Mazungu (white) before he became a guide. We all got a good laugh out of that one.)

Back by Popular Demand...

or maybe just the demand of the only person who has actually read any of these...it's all for you now Steve.

February 17, 2004

I know that most of you have never heard of SonScape. It is a nonprofit, christian organization based out of Winter Park Colorado. Their focus for many years has been on bringing in ministers and their wives and doing intensive counseling sessions with up to five couples at a time. These couples do not know eachother, but spend much of their time in a group setting. They each have their own one-on-one time, which is actually two-on-two (each couple with the facilitators, Larry and Barb Magnusen.) They talk about the couples' score on the Myers-Briggs Test, and the Taylor-Johnson Test, and help couples cope with things from their past, and how to deal with old feelings in the furure. Phillip and Laura Shero, one of the missonary couple in Mbale, went to SonScape to go through a counseling session a few years ago. They had been in Uganda for two years, and the life here was really eating at them emotionally. They were contemplating leaving the mission field until they went to SonScape. The Sheros had such a positive experiencethere that they have been trying to bring the SonScape team to Mbale ever since.

Last week, they finally succeeded. Larry and Barb, and their two youngest children, Luke (20) and Hillary (17), were here in Mbale to work with our team. It was the organizations first trip on the mission field. The man who ran it before Larry took over, talked about doing this for 10 years, but never took the initiative. Larry decided to try it out to see if it would work on the field. Kind of a "field test" if you will. They spent a week in Mbarara, Western Uganda, before making the 8 hour trip East to see us. Before they arrived, we all took the Myers-Briggs, and the Taylor-Johnson. It was very interesting to find out about our personalities on the MB test. Not only were we the first missionary group to go through this counseling, but we were the first "group" ever. Like I already stated, they work with individual ministers and their wives. They do not work with actual church groups.

As soon as they got here, we dove right on into one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and Long Ranger meetings. (Long Rangers are the team members other than teachers and interns. THey are the ones who are here for the long haul.) My first one-on-one meeting came right before our second team meeting. I already knew my score from the MB test. That one you score yourself. The TJ test however was still a mystery. We talked about how I was feeling about my stay here so far, and what it was like to pick up and move on such short notice. Upon seeing the results of my MB test, they were not surprised by how comfortable I felt here, and with the quick nature of my decision to come. In fact, on their first night here, they knew that one of us had only been here for a few weeks. (By one of us, I mean one of the two teachers.) THey expected to be able to tell right away which one of us was the newby. Much to their surprise, I had already hit it off so well with the kids, and felt so comfortable with the group, that they had no idea which one of us had only been here for 6 weeks, and which had been here for 6 months.

I was very impressed during my session at how closely the could pinpoint the cause of so many negative scores on the TJ test. When they found a couple of areas that concerned them, as they do on every TJ, they knew exactly what questions to ask to get me talking about what they wanted me to. For example, there were places on my test that they thought needed improvement, and they asked what it was like growing up, what was school like, and, tell us about your life. All of these questions were very generic, but I somehow ended up on the subject that explained why I scored so low on the test. This was so amazing and insightful to me. It really opened up my eyes to why I react to things the way that I do, and why other people don't see things the way that I do.

I will share a few parts of my test score with you guys. The first letter of the MB test is either an E or an I (extravert or intravert). I'm sure that you guys will all be shocked to find out that I scored 100% Extrovert. I did not answer one single question introvertly. (Is that a word?) The second letter of the test is either S or N (sensing or intuitive). I again scored very much an N. I only answered 2 out of 24 questions with an S. This means that I look far into the future. I like to come up with the idea, but I don't like to be the one to carry them out. I'm the Big Idea person. Ns are usually the daydreamers, the people who have a hard time sitting still and who can't concentrate for long periods of time. (There's a shocker huh?!? I mean, whoever knew me to be the type of person who couldn't sit still or concentrate? I mean really!!!) The third letter is either T of F (thinking or feeling). This letter has to do with the way you make decisions. THinking would be based on facts, feeling would be based on how it will effect you and others around you. Anyone care to guess what I scored? I'm sure you will be surprised to find out that I scored 100% F. The last letters are J and P (judging and perceiving). These scores of mine were a lot closer than the rest, almost even with eachother in fact. Judging means that you plan everything, and follow a strict schedule. Perceiving is more spontaneous, fly by the seat of your pants.

As I talked to Larry and Barb over the course of the week, it became more and more clear to me as to what my personality is, and how it effects the people around me. In the Long Ranger sessions, they talked more about group dynamics and how each personality type thinks. This helped me to understand why communication was off between certain individuals, and why sometimes it seems to take so long to make what should be a simple decision. When half of your group goes purely on facts, and the other half has to determine how it will effect the whole community, it makes it hard to get anything done. I can see a real change in the way people communicate now, and they understand their own personalities more in relation to that of the other people on the team. This has really helped the team dynamic.

SonScape is not a Church of CHrist organization. It is simply a Christian organization. THey aim to minister to ministers. These poeple spend their whole lives helping other poeple, and rarely get the chance to be rejuvinated. That's what SonScape does. 4 out of 10 of the poeple they help would not have returned to the ministry without this experience. I recommend it to anyone who spends their life serving others. I think it is a great opportunity to not only better group dunamics, but to also help you understand yourself a little bit better.

This is me and Ashley, the other teacher after a session with SonScape.

My first days in Mbale

January 1, 2004

Mike and Judy dropped me off at Ian and Danetta Shelburne’s house. They have converted their garage into a guest room with a bathroom, so I have my own space out here. I have to tell you about this family. There are six children so far. Leila is 12. She is one of the 7th graders I’ll be teaching and is one of their natural born children. Then there is Jessiah. He is 10 and has cerebral palsy. He is African, but they adopted him before they ever moved here. Nathaniel is 8 or 9 and he is Hispanic and something else. He too looks African and he was adopted from Christian Homes of Abilene. There there’s Jonathan 7 and Luke 5. They are also the Shelburne’s natural born children. The newest addition to the family is Emily. She was born here in Mbale and just turned 1. When they got her, she was so thin because she never got fed. She has really fattened up since then. Now you can understand why it is important to have my own space!

January 8, 2004

Today is Thursday, January 8, and it’s my birthday. My mom always calls me on my birthday and wakes me up singing Happy Birthday. Last night I realized after everyone was already in bed, that I had left my phone in the dining room. Now in the states, this would not be a problem. You just get out of bed and go into the dining room and get your phone. It is just not that simple here. You see on all of the windows we have bars to keep people out. The exterior doors are two doors thick—one is usually wood and the second is metal. Then there are a series of doors leading into the bedroom halls. In this particular house, there is a wooden door from the dining room into the bedroom hallway that locks with a dead bolt. Then there is a metal door that uses large padlocks. Now this does make you feel extremely safe, however it is very inconvenient when someone else has the key! For this reason, I set my alarm for 6 a.m. so I could come out and get my phone. I figured my mom would call at 7 a.m. Unfortunately I woke up at 5:30 instead and just lay in bed listening for Ashley to get up. Finally at 6:30 she came out and I was able to get my phone. Mom did call at 7:00, of course, which made my day!

Mondays at the Mbale Resort Hotel

February 10, 2004

“Well, Monday was just another typical day at the resort. Oh…wait…maybe not. Well, I’ve been having water wars with Mike Shero since I got here. For some reason on my first Monday here, I found it necessary to go and give him a big hug after getting out of the pool. (He and Judy never get in the water.) Two weeks later, Mike was sitting at a table close to the water’s edge with his back facing us. I lined up all of the kids around the side of the pool very close to him. They all cannon-balled together and got him pretty wet. When he got to the Resort this week, I had already been trying to figure out what to do to top that. Well, he showed up in a suit and I just couldn’t decide whether or not I was going to pull him in. I decided not to, but he pushed me into the pool while I was still wearing the only t-shirt I had with me at the Resort. When I got out, I came up behind him and gave him a huge bear hug. Let me tell you, t-shirts hold a lot of water. I got the back of his suit soaked. When he came after me to throw me in, I jumped in before he could touch me. Much to my surprise, Mike took a running head start, and lunged into the pool after me, suit, tie and all. I was so shocked, all I could do was look at him and laugh in amazement. He had actually planned it that way. He wore the suit for no other reason other than to get me. When he got out of the pool, his oldest grandson, Malachi (2 years) asked him, “Papa, is that you swimming tie?’ We all just about fell into the pool again laughing.

“As if this weren’t wild enough, when Judy ordered her food, she asked for fish and chips. Unfortunately, she forgot to specify fish fingers. What she ended up with was A FISH, and chips. Yes, you read that correctly. A FISH!!! The whole thing. The head, eyes, bones and all. Judy covered his head with a napkin and proceeded to eat it. I was very impressed with her. When she had eaten all that she could stand, Mike began to pick at the bones. When he was done, he played with it. It was truly sick! Boy I’m glad that I don’t like fish!

“Let this be a lesson to all who travel in foreign countries. BE SPECIFIC!”

It's the past, but it was my life!

Ok, so I've been back from Africa for nearly 2 years. I miss it though, and thought that I'd share some of my experiences from while I was over there. I have journal letters I sent home every few days that covered a variety of topics, from my first jet lagged day there, to my first visit to a village, to rafting the Nile River, to repelling down a waterfall. I still remember many of these experiences vividly, and hope that you enjoy them too.