Shickel Family

Here are some photos of life lately since we have been back in Uganda for the last 2 weeks - after going home for a quick trip to celebrate the wedding of friends, Ben and Kate.  A burial we attended last Monday for the sister of Ike's friend - this was our first time attending a burial here.   Crossing a river to get to the burial...   With about 500+ Ugandans   Some of our younger friends with their new backpacks (provided by my sweet friend in the US) - a few of them are returning to school after not being able to attend for a few terms due to financial lack.   A mom with her twin 10 month olds - both walking quite well for their age, the girl on the right is enrolled in the nutrition program, the boy on the left is not (can you tell the size difference in the cheeks?)   Giving school hair cuts... the kids asked for money to go get haircuits and I happily said I'll give you one myself! It's hard to mess up a shaving a head r...

Recently our team (currently only a few of us here in Bundi) started listening to a sermon series together by a pastor in Virginia about the character of Jesus. This week we listened to Christ the Teacher and read John 3:1-17 where Jesus is speaking with Nicodemus. In brief the sermon was less about the focus of Jesus being our teacher and more about our posture as believers - are we coming to Christ with a burning desire to know more, an appetite to ask questions, to seek Him as the good and trustworthy teacher? And when we do come near to Him with questions, are we content with just his nearness and trusting his sovereignty? We often won’t be told the answers -just as Nicodemus was only presented with more questions from Jesus - but we can rest in his company and that is ENOUGH. Wow - what a precious reminder that growth comes from humility and recognizing that we don’t have all the answers and we NEED Jesus. How sweet that we serve a God that doesn’t ask us to be uber intelli...

Work here is so so very different than what I was doing in America. Not only in regards to the type of patients I am encountering but also the pace and methods of how facilities function here.  In America, I spent the last 7 months counseling patients one on one - mostly patients desiring weight loss, most with diabetes, and a few GI complications or underweight patients. I was working alone in an office, seeing one patient after the other, often not enough time to finish lunch or run to the restroom because I would finish with one patient and another was already waiting (that was most days, there was always the few days a month when no one showed up). I was managing other dietitians, attempting to check in daily and make sure they felt cared for and had issues resolved, and hired 4 new dietitians during that 7 month period to fill gaps after others left. I was using clinical skills I learned in school or from inpatient work from the past 2 years and some motivational interviewing ...

   Life has been in full swing the last few weeks here. Two weeks ago we went to Kampala for five days in order to get our work visas and drivers licenses, bathroom renovation supplies, some home items and restock food. We were able to spend a day at the pool and relax and decompress together and that was wonderful. Since then we have been busy, back in the flow of life here in Bundibugyo.    Ike finished the concrete stoves for Christ School last week and they look awesome (below)! He is learning and be challenged by the slower pace of accomplishing tasks here. He works efficiently (which I am so grateful for) but here completing tasks takes more time, getting materials (the right ones) is hard, working without too many interuptions is hard, working in the heat for many hours is hard, you get the idea.    This past week Ike started work on our bathroom. Our house is the last in the mission without tile (not that tile is an absolute necessity but it doe...

We have been in Bundibugyo for four weeks now. Slowly we are getting comfortable with our schedules and slowly we are learning more about this culture and the way this place functions. As we see and experience and ask questions, we realize that there is so much new to us. New language, new way that people interact, new way of “banking,” new foods, and probably more than I haven’t even processed. I’ll start with language - lubwisi is spoken here, by the bubwisi people. Ike and I are doing language lessons with our friend Clovis (who also works for the nutrition program and as a night guard on our compound). Interestingly there is a phrase that means “sorry” and “slowly slowly,” it is “bouquet bouquet.” We have learned greetings, numbers and some foods so far. Greeting is so very important here. Technically when visiting someone the greeting occurs  once you are seated however it is used anytime you pass by a new person and most people here are so pleased to hear us greet them in Lu...

Last Monday, Jan 21, we left Kampala around 9am and headed west to Bundibugyo. At this point, all we had seen of Uganda was Kampala (lots and lots of cars and bodas) and a short ride of forest/open areas between Kampala and Entebbe (which we drove on the new bypass road and that felt like we were on an American Highway for a hot second!). So getting out of such a densely populated area sort of felt like leaving Harrisonburg on the Friday after JMU finished for thankgiving break - awful traffic getting on 81 and then finally you get to a point on the highway where there are very few cars around and you can breathe again! The view was breath taking - rolling hills of banana trees or eucalyptus or cassava. Of course the occasional matatu (taxi van with 20+ passengers and way too much luggage on top) or boda would pass by....or we would pass a herd of cattle. But overall, it was an open road. We got to Bundi on Monday evening, greeted by the Carrigan kids (another family on the mission...

We arrived on Saturday evening, the 12th. All but one bag made it to Entebbe (five out of six is pretty good) and the last bag arrived a few days later via boda boda (motorcycle). It was dark when we flew in so we did not get to see much of anything (besides the loud clubs and street vendors) until we woke up on Sunday morning and the view was beautiful! Actually we were up at 4am (jet lag) but when the sun came up it was quite peaceful. It was a cool morning, we ate breakfast at our guest house and sat on the porch and watched birds - so peaceful!  We have spent this week in Kampala and two nights in Entebbe, getting adjusted to the time difference, visiting places we will come back to during our resupply trips, and having time to do some culture and Serge orientation before we get to Bundibugyo.  Guest House #1 - Adonai House  Guest House #2 - Guinea Fowl   Dinner at Faze 3 overlooking Lake Victoria - where we celebrated Malac...