A Christmas Chameleon!

Actually one chameleon, a beautiful little green and yellow guy who appeared on a bush right outside the MAF guest house where we are staying during this Christmas season. Joe was absolutely delighted with this early gift, and between making bread and various cookies we have been "hunting" flies for him. It is pretty neat to watch his eyes roll all around and then focus on his prey. He curls slighty, does some weird thing with his jaw that pokes two small bones out near his mouth and then "ZAP" his tongue comes flying out a good three inches to snag a fly. He really likes the black and blue ones, but in their absence he will go after the bigger stripped ones. This morning he ate a huge fly, as he took a bite in the middle, you'll never guess... maggots squirted right out! Such the amazing thing to watch this exotic little colorful lizard chew a huge fly, wings and all, with tiny white worms crawling all over his face and mouth as he slowly and methodically licked them up. Right now he is crawling up Joe's shirt, blending in amazingly well to the the Yu-Gi-Oh design. His favorite thing is to climb on the string of Christmas lights we have strung up on the porch.
Thank you for praying for us this season. Although we miss home and are busy figuring out how to make things work for the three plus families living under one roof, we feel immensely grateful for this beautiful house, and the fact that we are all together to celebrate. Scott and Pat fly in from Bundbugyo this morning. Wahoo! Once they arrive our team here in Uganda will be complete and the festivities and celebration will start in earnest.
Much Love to our team and family abroad and to all of you...

Snowflakes and UTIs

We often joke that we age in dog years in Bundibugyo... every year tends to feel like seven. I have to admit that these last two weeks have felt exactly that way. Dr. Jonah's death was a real blow emotionally. Most of us were numb for days unable to believe that he was really gone. That ebola was so serious, so brutal, so non-discriminating. We were all shaky and worried for our team mates who had stayed to take care of patients and help with the enormous increase of ex-pats in BGO at the height of the epidemic. A few days later we arrived in Kampala and began to look for appropriate housing for the 8 kids and 6 adults who had evacuated from our homes but were not leaving for America. That's when Savannah started having diarrhea and vomiting. Since she had been swimming and is known for drinking vasts amounts of pool water I was concerned but not panicky. However, that changed later in the afternoon when she began to spike a fever. Even though there was no possible way she had contracted Ebola, my heart kept freaking out. Jennifer reassured me that she was not infected and her malaria test was negative. But she was obviously sick, very. UGH.
We weren't at home, Ebola was the front page headline in both national papers. Every clinic in Kampala had big signs warning about the symptoms, especially for those traveling to or from our district. By the next day her fever was high and that afternoon she had her second febrile seizure. Even with ibuprofen and Tylenol on board her fever hovered around 103. She and I spent a lot of time in the shower, but she still seized again the next day. We finally took her to the hospital. The diagnosis... a UTI (urinary tract infection). Nothing exotic, nothing unfamiliar, thank you, Lord.
Today, was her fifth and last day of injections. She is up running around, (fever free) playing games with her brother Nate as they pretend to be either "Rocket" from The Little Einsteins or "Max and Emmie" from Dragon Tales. The rest of us are busy making the MAF guest house our Christmas Home. A live tree in the corner, nativity sets from home on the shelves, Christmas music blaring from Ashley's I-Pod, all we need is snow! So this morning we set out to make a blizzard. For hours we folded and cut paper snowflakes and attached them to the ceilings. I must admit, it doesn't make the temperature change much, but it does make our hearts sing.
Thank you for continuing to pray for us during this time of turmoil and yet celebration. Like so much of our life here, it is an odd mish-mash of emotions. Gratitude, concern, anxiety, out-right panic, love, and joy. Although I do admit I could do without the panic and the seizures!

Weary but out...

Thank you to the many of you who prayed for us yesterday. It was a long, weary drive full of emotional "What ifs..." for us. We arrived at the Chedester's house late yesterday afternoon, burst into tears, and spent the evening trying to process through the shock and surreality of the past four days. We are headed back on the road again this morning across the country to rejoin the others on our team who evacuated yesterday by plane. We will spend several days out of internet contact while we process and relax a bit together. Please continue to pray for the folks in Bundibugyo, especially the ones who stayed behind to provide medical care and leadership... Scott and Jennifer Myhre and Scott Will. The Myhre's children, Jack, Julia and Caleb will be with us and the other single women on the team in Jinja. While we won't post again until the weekend, Jennifer's blog is being updated daily with news and information. Again, many many thanks and please continue to pray.

Susan Kiguli

As we end our time in Bundibugyo this year in chaos and fear, I was comforted by, of all things, section 3 of the A-Level Literature Exam. The following poem by Susan Kiguli, while talking of the atrocities in Rwanda, somehow made sense even to this situation today. As we pack up our home, close school, and leave this place…

Because I Love this Land

I hold a thousand tears
In the cup of my skinny hand.

I carry ten thousand wails
In the deep hollows of my ears.

I host a million bloated babies
In the deep brown of my eyes.

I house ten million graves
In the curls of my thinning hair.

I have stored pouches upon pouches of pus
In the blisters of my heart.

So we do not talk about them
Those others wrapped in rebel and state cross fire.
We do not sing about them.
How can we sing of things we do not know?
How will we sing about old men’s guts eaten out by hunger,
Old men’s eyes closed for fear of watching axes tear the heads
Off their grandchildren?
How can we explain missing ears, lips, noses,
Lone limbs traversing the land
Without their owners?
How can we ever talk about these things
Without tumours of bitterness
Teeming on our hearts?
No wonder we are silent.

I will not talk about them
I will talk of other things
Of the man who hung naked
On the tree and sweated sorrow for us.
I will sing only of water and blood
Flowing out of a side and a voice
That whispered “it is finished”.
I can think about glory
Wrapping darkness in a shroud
And storing it in an eternal grave.
I will think on love of a heavenly prince
Clothed in earthly tatters fighting
Swindlers in the temple of God.
I will think of a little child talking
To bearded men about his Father’s Love.
I will sing about a risen Son
And transcending peace.
I will sing of the victory
Of love embracing love
That is the only way I can ever walk upright.

Susan Kigali

Furiously Packing

Dear Friends and Family,

The situation here remains tense. MSF is arriving today with personnel, tents, fences and medical supplies. There is talk of setting up their own testing center, which would help things. As for us, we will officially close CSB tomorrow, Monday, and depart by road, hopefully by mid-morning. Most of our staff are from outside of the district, and really want to be out of here as soon as possible. Kev has been holding meeting after meeting trying to wrap things up so that the students and staff can be released by early morning. Exams are all finished and our staff have worked around the clock to get their grades finished in record time. Many of the staff wives have come by to debrief and to share their concerns and rising panic... most of them have little ones just like us and want to be anywhere but here. In between juggling the somewhat normal business of keeping everyone fed, I am packing up for an extended time out of the district. We have had our Christmas decorations up for awhile now and so we are taking them all down and praying that there would be an apartment or house where we could stay for the next several weeks. Please pray for our children in the midst of all the rushing around and packing. Like all children they are eagerly awaiting Christmas in a familiar place and now we have no idea where we will be. Please continue to pray for Jennifer and Scott Myhre, who are praying through how to juggle the needs of their family and the very real needs of the district.

Much Love and Gratitude,
JD