Sports, Races, IChooseYou, and Namesakes

March 16, 2009

Sports, Races, IChooseYou, and Namesakes

It seems like this weekend was surrounded by a lot of fun and memory making.

SPORTS:

The day had finally arrived. The kids had been laboring in the hot equatorial sun, practicing for the past 2.5 weeks and it was time for them to shine! Friday was the day of sports competitions against other schools. We had run the uneven fields and jumped the high jump, marked by twigs in banana stalks—all with bear feet. Now we were meeting up with 15 other schools in the local area to see who would take the lead to go to the district competitions. This was the first major outing where our kids were interacting with other children their age (besides the Good Neighbor Program). We had about 12 children participate, while the others stood ready if called upon or were on the sidelines to cheer. It was such a fun and exciting day. To our surprise, some of the girls did really well in shot-put. But, in my opinion, the star of the day was Ivan Kuloba, who came in second in both and 100 meter and 200 meter and 4^th in the high jump. We were all so proud. At the end of the day, four of our LCH kids will be going to district competitions this Friday at a school in Mbale town: Emma O, Ivan K, Sylvia L, and Fiona. Although I wasn’t there when the children arrived back home, I heard there was much celebrating and dancing. Truly, it is awesome to see some of the kids shine outside of the classroom and on the playing field.

RACES:

Who knew that I would ever have the opportunity to run in a 10K in Uganda. But they are there. So, this Sunday I gatherer with about 500 other people to compete in what they called the “MTN Marathon.” MTN is a local telecommunication company but the title “Marathon” was a bit off (probably by at least 30 km). But it was a 10K=6.2 miles. It was fun to see many familiar faces of people that I know or have met or see on a daily basis at different businesses. The route was fairly challenging as there were 2 major hill and one extremely long-steady-sloped hill. We ran most of the race on a marum (dirt) road and went through a village called Moni. I loved getting to run past all the local little shops and seeing all the people on the streets dressed up and walking to church. I started the race keeping pace with only Glenn (and this was his first fun-run so he got to see why I enjoy them so much) but towards the end of the race it was the two of us and about 5 other guys that we were with for the whole second half of the race. As always, I was not in it to win but rather to finish and that I did! Our time was 1 hour 7 minutes, so I feel like that was a fairly good pace. It at least allowed us to finish, make it back home to shower, and then get to church on time. So, I will definitely do it again!!

ICHOOSEYOU:

Also this weekend I was reminded of the Lord’s faithfulness in caring for His children. You might have heard me talk about a ministry that has newly formed called IChooseYou. The kids in this sponsorship program go to my church and I have somewhat become a photographer for the ministry (seeing as I am here). So, we (mostly Mama and a Karamojong man) had a great meeting with the children that are in the program and their parental unit. We urged them to recognize this opportunity as God’s blessing and to make sure they help their children in getting the best education that they can. I love what God is doing among this underprivileged group of people and am excited to see what He has in store next!

NAMESAKE:

My final story and arguably the most exciting one to me is a continuation of the story I posted about my friend Mike- who works at LCH and had his first trip to Kampala when he picked me up from the airport a month ago (see the blog post if you don’t know this story). Well, since we arrived back in Mbale, over a month ago, there are still times that I catch him telling stories about Kampala. Ha, so funny. Seeing as this trip to the capital city of Uganda was a momentous opportunity for him, he told a group of us last week, “My wife is soon producing. I think it will be on Sunday. And if it is a baby boy I will name it Glenn and if it is a baby girl I will name it Natalie. That way I will always remember my trip to Kampala.” In all honesty, I wasn’t so sure if he was serious or not. But this morning when I went up to the Home during break, Dyanna (the new nurse) asked me, “So I hear you are the new proud aunt of Baby Natalie?!” YES it is true!! I have a namesake, and one that is truly named after me- not just conveniently the same name as me! So fun and what an honor. Of course I couldn’t wait to see this baby, so Mike took me to his home, which was about a 10 minute walk from LCH. Seeing as black babies are born very pale and then their skin darkens as they get older, when I arrived at Mike’s home, his kids ran to tell their mom, “Another Mzungu is here.” They think their parents produced a Mzungu because she is so fair. Ha. I got to hold baby Natalie (pronounce Na—talie) for a few minutes until she got fussy for some food. So, I prayed blessings over her life and am eager for when she is a bit older and I hear the kids at LCH shouting her name to come to them! I really feel so honored to have my first ever namesake (and probably my only).