Kigali

Here in Kigali- I have a new homestay family. They are awesome! My mom and dad are in their 20's and they have a little one year old. Actually the one year old is huge because they feed babies so much here! It is awesome because my family is so young that we are more like friends hanging out!
Weird observations:
-everyone eats breakfast in their towels ( not just my family)
-everyone tries to marry you off to someone
-children make a game out of touching your white skin- because they are afraid of you!

Kigali is awesome. I love it. It is much more developed here than Uganda and it is just beautiful! It is called the land of 1000 hills, and it is just breathtaking. I have been loving it here.- but it the educational part is much harder. It is just harder material that we are studying- a genocide.

We have been visiting memorials and churches. At the churches, there are skulls in rows and bones laying out. Blood soaked clothing hangs from the walls and covers the floors. It is extremely emotional. These people sought safety in churches and instead were slaughtered.

We went to the Kigali Memorial Center yesterday and here are a few things that I read:

"A militia man came up to kill me. I was astonished because he was a friend. He used to come to our house everyday. He worked for my father and played with us. He was like a brother. I asked him why he wanted to kill me when I had done nothing to hurt him. I begged him to take pity on me. He said nothing but just hit me on the head with a machete. He had bits of wood in his hand which he stuck into my face. When he thought I was dead, he left."
Uwayisenga, age 7
- literally in this situation, friends turned on friends and family turned on family. It was a mass killing craze.

'Women and children were a direct target of the genocidaires for murder,rape and mutilation. The killers were determined to ensure that a new generation of Tutsis would never emerge."

Torture Used-- cut tendons so they could not run away and had to wait to be beaten, family members had to watch each other get raped-beaten-killed, people were thrown into latrines and rocks were thrown at them one at a time until the screaming subsided, people were buried alive.

So- I have not been sleeping well. It has been very emotionally draining to be here. But it is the most wonderful thing in the world to be traveling and learning about the place that you are in while you are in it. It is SO much more real.

Love Lauren

Back in Kampala

We spent ten days in Gulu at a homestay with ugandan families.  I learned so much and had a wonderful time! It was sooo incredibly hot though! Constantly sweating-- and now in Kampala-- i am actually wearing a sweatshirt as I write this. (but its a really random cold day).

I have really been missing american clothing and food.  African food is really good, but the comfort of american food is just.. ahh :)

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately.  We visited IDP camps (internally displaced persons).  The conditions are horrible, the people are hungry and unable to work for a living- because they are in the camps.  They are completely dependent on NGO's. the government made them move to the camps twenty years ago.  people have started to go back home- but it is so bad so crazy.  I can't stop thinking about the differences in the life I live back home compared to here.  It is uncomparable. My biggest fear is to go back to America and not change the way I live my life.  Im not sure how I could change specifically- but my life is joke compared to this.

Africa is better than i ever imagined! I am learning a lot about myself and growing in who i am.  Some of it is really rough, but I am so thankful to be here, and I have made wonderful friends.  Hope you are all doing well!

Greetings from Gulu!

Hey !

So I am very sorry I have not updated yet! I was unable to get to my blog from the internet cafes around Uganda for some reason. So here is a long update!
We spent 4 days in Kampala - explored the city- ate wonderful food- met many people and grew close with my group here. On moday we all got in the vans/taxis and traveled 5 hours to Gulu which is in Northern Uganda. Gulu is one of the places that the Lord's Resistance Army terrorized a few years ago. Children were abducted, huts were burned, and many people were killed. I am living with a family here and it is amazing! They take you in just like a family memebr, and I am now their daughter. I have two sisters and one brother. I have my own room which is nice- (but I think the rest of my family is sleeping in one room becuase of this) they are such servants. The first morning I woke up, and there was a dead rat on my floor, and I am constantly jumped out from under my mosquito net at night to smack big red cockroaches to death! haha so it is an adventure!
I have been taking a boda boda (motorcyle thing0 you ride on the back side saddle as a girl) and they take you to school. We have speakers every day and we walk around the town and converse with the people. The people here are the nicest that I have ever met. Everyone loves you and wants to get to know you better. Their faith in God is astounding, especially after all that has happned to them. They are also the happiest people I have ever met. It is just amazing.
I have been in Gulu for 6 days now and have 3 days left before we pack up and go to Lira. In Lira there are IDP camps- for people that were displaced during the conflict. Thousands upon thousands lived and still live in these camps while government soliders protect them (or try to) froim the LRA. Disease, rape, and death is rampant in the camps. After we visit Lira, we will go back to Kampala for 3 days and then travel to Rwanda, where we will stay with families in Kigali.
My classmate group is just awesome, and we get along very well.

I am sooo thankful to be here, and at times, I never want to leave. It is just the most amazing experience I have ever had. The culture is so different here- so selfless, so loving, and never busy. I really love it:)

I love you all and hope that you are doing well. God Bless and enjoy your summer months!

-Love Lauren

Arrived Safely!

Arrived wed. night Ugandan time 8:15. After 24 hours of traveling I was completely exhausted. I was able to meet up with about ten of my group members in Amsterdam so that was reassuring as we flew together to Entebbe.

It is wonderful here. Incredibly laid back and never busy. My group members are wonderful and I cannot wait to explore Uganda! I think tomorrow night we will be able to leave the hotel on our own. We are planning to go to a concert by a guy we met on the plane- That should be fun. Until then- we are driving around in vans, doing orientation, and eating wonderful (weird) but wonderful food.

Praise God for the safe arrival and more excitement to come!

God Bless

Leaving Tomorrow!

Leaving tomorrow! Can't wait! Thank you all for your support and prayers!  Love you all and have a wonderful summer!!

Love Lauren