Goals for Uganda.

I started this blog to communicate some and also to maybe process some of the issues and moments in Uganda. Partly because I know they will be memorable but also because it is a way for people to keep in touch with me and my family while I am there. I called it dreams and nightmares because in my western thinking this is what I was projecting onto Uganda. But as life continued and my trip was delayed and delayed again, I thought to myself, "who am I kidding, Uganda is not the nightmare, this, here right now is the nightmare."

And so I began to write about the here and the now--in the U.S.

Some have asked about what my goals are in going to Uganda.

1. I will be going to reunite with my husband and the father of my twins. The girls will be seeing Daddy for the first time in person.

2. I will be assessing the over-all situation in Uganda. I was there in 2011. I have no idea what has changed. I am more than willing to entertain the possibility of living there long term. Some of the details that I will have to work out is how we are going to live there, if we are.

3. What will I be doing there? First, I will rest. I haven't rested or taken a break or a vacation, since 2009. Then I will look around. I will look for job opportunities for an individual like me. I will look for situations and organizations where I can be of service. I will help my husband in his efforts to run his business and build an institute. We may be looking into doing some large scale farming. Uganda has tons of needs but it also has a multitude of organizations intending to make a difference. I intend to first establish my own existence there, if it is possible, as I look around and try for improving and enriching the lives of others around me. Perhaps. Just maybe, I might be able to make a huge impact for the better. I'll shoot for it. But I know that I'm not that awesome or that big of a mover and a shaker.

4. My husband will make sure I have unlimited internet access for the first month. That will cost about $100 and it may not necessarily be unlimited because if the power goes out, I will be limited. I will use the internet to do some research and to keep in touch with friends and family in the U.S.

5. I intend to live like a Ugandan in as many ways as possible. I will work on learning the language. I will work on building local friendships. I won't be going there to live like an American in a foreign place. I won't have a car. I won't have any plumbing in my house unless I build a system myself. My husband and I will farm and grow our own food. We don't have a refrigerator. We don't have the multitude of conveniences we have here. But that is okay. People who are close to me, as well as the Water Company and the Electric Company, we know that I have tried living like that here. It's interesting and it is doable.