Ron and Sally Jo Blog

After our meetings were over we needed to spend 2 nights in Arusha, Tanzania, waiting for our return flight to Entebbe / Kampala.  Arusha is in a beautiful setting next to Mt Meru.  During our full day there we used an MCC car to visit Arusha National Park.

Just inside the park gate we were soon surrounded by zebra and giraffes, and nearby was a herd of buffalo. We continued down a gravel road in the direction of the extinct volcanic cone of Mt Meru. Near the other side of the park we hired an armed ranger to escort us on a game-viewing hike. We passed another large herd of buffalo and were able to get quite close to several giraffes. Eventually we found our way to a nice waterfall. On our return we spotted a little dikdik under some brush. After our hike we drove to a lake filled with flamingos. On our way out of the park we passed a small group of zebra next to some acacia trees with misty rain in the background.  It was a very enjoyable day!

We recently flew two hours on a 50-seater modern turboprop plane from Entebbe (near Kampala) to Arusha, Tanzania for several days of meetings with other East Africa MCC Representatives. In addition to us from Uganda, there were representatives from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and South Sudan as well as our “bosses” who represent all of this region.

We stayed in a beautiful mountain lodge and enjoyed the surroundings and amenities such as the pool. We had time for formal and informal conversation, worship, and entertainment.  On our last evening together we were treated to an outdoor barbecue and some traditional dances.

We made a 3-hour road trip to Hoima to visit an MCC service worker and his partner organization, the Anglican diocese in that area. The program that they run is called “Living with Shalom.” Once a year it brings together young people from all over Uganda for a 3-week training in peace building, health issues, and environmental issues and helps to break down stereotypes and fears that different ethnic groups have of each other. During the remainder of the year there are follow-up visits to the participants in their home areas, and reciprocal visits are arranged between groups from different ethnic areas.

We travelled on a very nice newly paved road through fertile and lush countryside. However, some of the usual hazards were also encountered along the way!

We recently took a small plane to the northeast corner of Uganda to visit MCC partners and attend a special celebration for the education project among the Ik, a small marginalized ethnic group who live in close proximity to the Karamajong. The Ik subsist by hunting and gathering their food whereas the Karamajong are pastoralists with large herds of cattle. The MCC project helps to pay for school fees and other necessities for over 60 Ik children from Kamion who attend secondary school in Kaabong.

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We have been here in Kampala one week.  We have settled in to the house, learned to drive (on the left) to the office, worked with the MCC staff, and met a number of persons connected with various MCC projects.  We have visited two MCC partners – Hope Prison Foundation and Mengo Hospital.  “Partners” are organizations (usually local) with which MCC works here in Uganda. If a local organization is working on projects that  match MCC’s philosophy, we feel it is better to work through them rather than create another project.  Hope Prison Foundation provides educational and economic assistance to families of prisoners and Mengo Hospital has programs for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. More about this later.

We are excited, apprehensive, and a bit sad.  We are excited to return to East Africa, the area of the world where we first worked with MCC.  We are apprehensive in that we don’t know what is ahead for us.  And we are sad to leave family and friends even as we anticipate making many new friends. 

We have accepted an assignment with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) as interim MCC representatives for Uganda.  We will be in Uganda for 12 to 18 months.  As we write this blog we will introduce you to the people, projects, and scenery that becomes our new world.

In preparation for our leaving, we spent 2 weeks in Akron, PA, at the US MCC headquarters with a group of other persons preparing for various places in the world – Sudan, Tanzania, South Africa, Guatamala, Haiti, North Korea.