Ugandans Arrive!

Here is a video my friend Jacob made about the Ugandans arriving on Friday. ENJOY!

"Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call"

I have never been happier.

Who would've thought that stress could also be translated as happiness. I'll be honest it's hard. Sitting in the office at my computer sometimes 12 hours a day, coming in on Saturdays, having people hanging up on me, sleeping maybe 6 hours each night, living off of Ramen and coffee, knowing that some people have no desire to listen to you talk about the conflict in Central Africa. But then moments happen like Friday Morning and you are reminded:

Last Saturday we came into work and were all pretty bummed but then they told us we were going to find out who our Ugandan teammate is. Well that quickly perked us up. Little did our bosses know, my teammate had already facebooked us haha. His name is Roy and he is 22 years old. His mother gave birth to him at the age of 13 and he was raised by his grandmother. As a child he was a night commuter which meant every day he walked for miles to the nearest city and slept at the bus station with thousands of other children to keep safe from being abducted. That afternoon after everyone had found out their teammates and we had been told they would be here less than a week, my teammate Kim turned to me and simply asked "Can you believe it?" which I quickly responded with "THIS IS SO OVERWHELMING!" bursting into a laugh/cry. My emotions exploded out of me.

So then we reach Friday morning. If anyone was at the San Diego airport two days ago they would have thought that SD was filled with crazy people. The scene was ridiculous. There were 80 of us waiting there with signs by the baggage claim waiting.

Then we see them....and a roar louder than fans at a Justin Bieber concert let out. I promptly started to cry with happiness. You would've thought we were being united with family members who we haven't seen in years. We were that happy. Our Ugandan teammates were probably scared out of their mind. But we didn't care, we ran at them and attacked them with hugs and smiles and questions.

It has been uphill since. Friday we had dinner with our teammates and today we all came together to play at the park. Roy is fantastic. He is apparently the jokester of the group with is perfect for our team. I warned him that I am a crier and that I cry when I am happy, sad, tired, hungry, stressed, laughing, etc. He said that because of that if I am crying he is just going to stare at me and not know what to do. It is going to be great.

I will say though it's weird knowing that all of my friends back home are coming together for school and I am not there. It is now hitting me that I am not going to be at Loyola this year. I will be missing out on Halloween on Frenchmen, Fall Awakening, Freshmen retreat, Sneux at Loyola, and so much more. Know my Loyola family that I miss you dearly and will be there in spirit. Despite that I wanted want to be anywhere else right now. I know that I am where I belong.

As I read in Ephesians 4 "Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your one call."

Invisible Children is my hope for the one call of my heart - Peace in Central Africa, the Rescue of Joseph Kony's child soldiers, and the restoration of the broken families.

During my one on one with my Regional Manager Jess, she asked me what it is that is keeping me going. What is my encouragement? For everyone here it is something different. For some it is the fact that women are being used as sex slaves. For others it's the political corruption. For some its just the fact that children are being used as weapons. And for me its what its doing to the families of Central Africa. In Central Africa family is everything. Even if your parents die you are not taken to an orphanage. Your aunt or cousin or grandparents take care of you. You will have one woman who may have 7 dependents but only 4 of them are their actually children. With that being said when a child is being abducted is devastating. There was a video we watched of two brothers talking about how they escaped from the LRA but their sister could not get away. They have no idea where she is or whether or not she is alive.

I would do anything for my brothers and sister. And I know they would do the same for me. We would protect each other till the end. I don't know what I would do if I didn't know if they were safe. You could see in these brothers' eyes the sadness and distress for their sister. Knowing that families are being torn apart and Invisible Children along with others have helped reunite these families but there are millions more, that is what keeps me going.

"As activist we are supporters, not saviours."

Today was definitely the toughest. The lack of sleep has caught up with me and I woke up this morning with a sore throat. BUT despite that my mind was once again blown. Today we got to have a training session with Adam Finch who is in charge of the development on ground in Congo, CAR, and Uganda.

We had an interesting discussion on the "Single Story of Africa". We were really challenged to check ourselves referring to Africa as a country and not recognizing the individuality of each country. Each training session has forced me to be more conscious of my actions as an "activist". Are my efforts creating positive change or am I bringing a ignorant Western view into everything I do?

Thursday Fourth Estate starts! I encourage everyone to look it up on the Invisible Children website. It is going to be amazing. over 600 passionate young people are gathering in San Diego. I have 9 of the participants who I am a mentor to. Let me just tell you that these girls blow my mind.

One of them has created a program for teachers to initiate in their classrooms social justice actions. She has different activities for students as young as elementary age. Then another one is a part of a group who started a clothing line called IAMPILGRIM, where the women who make the shirts live in Cambodia and have been rescued from sex trafficking. IAMPILGRIM allows them to have a salary and get back on their feet.

Anyways this internship has proven to constantly be mind blowing.

After Fourth Estate we are going to start booking screenings and I am a little nervous. There is tons more that is going own but honestly it is so hard to put into words the experience I am having.