Diary of a Ugandan Woman

An unknown Loss

2011-11-30T04:12:00.001-08:00

A few days ago i called my former work place to talk to one of my favourite woman and i was told that she died of Throat Cancer and they buried her 2 months ago. This left me wondering how such a thing could happen and i was never told and then it dawned on me that not every one can acess a phone and then i thought may be if i had gone to visit regularly , I would have known , so for now i intend to visit all my friends who do not own phones regularly.

The New year

2011-01-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

Happy new year ! to my self and to every one. I guess every new year comes with hope and the yearning to do something new and different. what do i want to do different? A lot but i know all depends on God and what he wants you to do, so this year am going to be the one he desires me to be. The last year has been a hard one for me and some times i have had to make very difficult decisions but what to do when a lot is at stake. I will have to come up with more solutions to very cross- cutting issues both at work and outside work. Sometimes when a lot is going on , you wonder whether you alone are in the world. Guess some people have it easy, so i hope i h ave it easy this year.

updates

2009-08-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Guess i have spent like months with out writting anything at all, why i do not have a particular reason but i have just been busy. A lot has happened in the past few months , i might not even remember everything, but it is almost the rainy season and all the farmers are getting ready to plant their crops.

Work is going on with my women that i work withand i will meet them again the end of this month. We have a village bank and it is amazing to see these women come to the bank all the time to get loans, they are farmers but they are not afraid to get the loans and i have seen lives improve so much. Guess if we want change in africa, we should empower the women first , that is the way to go.

Last time i went to an HIV clinic and i saw 100 children who were positive and they had already started taking their Antiretrovial medicine , i wondered at what was happening in this country , such is a big number and they all looked calm and had accepted what ever life had given them.It hurt me so much i just did not know what to do, God we surely need a miracle , i pray that you heal all those children.

what should i say!

2009-07-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

blogging, its been a long time! why! i dont know! life has been a little bit upside down, got sick with malaria, had busy days and had fun working with women and children, thats what i do for life. Amazing how small things change people's lives and how they appreciate the little things that you do for them, i have been busy selling baskets made by women here and at the end of the day, i will give them back the money, you should see the smiles on their faces and the questions they will ask, is this my money and you go , yes! , what are you going to do with the money , she replies , i will take my child to school or i will take them to hospital or buy them a cup of milk, these are things that we take for granted at times, but they matter a lot.
Or the smile of a child when you tell them that you now have some one to help pay school fees for you, the relief they get is not imaginable any where else, those are the things that matter most in life.
am now in masaka full time and i surely miss my friends, church and family but i have a family here that love me and cares about me a lot.

God's ways and life frustrations

2009-06-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have not been that easy for me, my friend lost a son and he died in his sleep. life is so short you never know whats coming next, that makes me wonder why we spend so much time working and yet we will leave everything. God rest his soul in eternal peace , hope to see you again some day and may he strengthen us your mums so much and may he bless us with other children that look like you. we love and miss you so much.

This week not good at all, a lot happening, have you ever wanted to say something so much but then you can not say it because when you tell people you are scared they will not keep it to them selves, thats the life i live right now, God knows how long this will have to be .
Have you ever wanted things t to change so much in life but then they do not? what would you do?
God keeps on blessing me with new friends everyday and they are really interesting people. i have a room mate who is actually not my room mate but i do not like calling her name, i have AK 47 who is so interesting and the list goes on and on

Thoughts

2009-05-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

i usually take long to write , i dont know why, i guess i got no reason not to. ihave spent the past few days wondering why we do not appreciate the little things in life or the fact that we are that person who we are. Here am praying to God to give me a miracle about something a friedn might think is so obvious but thats life.
Too much has been happening and it makes me question why we human beings do not accept that things are wrong at time and them instead we become over protective, eventually it costs us so much that we later regret in life. people do make mistakes in life but if we dont forgive them , them why do we want to be forgiven, funny how we pray forgive us to God and we do not forgive others.
Am a kind of person who deosnot like being too dependant and too me if that happens it sucks! so i think with time to come will have to figure out some things

Life

2009-04-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

i know i have taken so long without . sometimes you just dont know what to say to people and you wonder what you should say but then you have no answer.
it is the rainy season and oh God! there are soldier ants everywhere i just hate those tiny creatures they really suck!
i was able to spend time at church with my kids and my family at church and it was the best time i have ever spent in my life. You just cant imagine what joy i have seeing my kids move form another class and then when they see you they still remember you and say they have missed you, to me thats worth living for and loving people every day.
Life has been good and God too, he has done great things ! am singing !

Reflections

2009-04-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

i have not written for the past weeks not because i do not want but sometimes you have to give up on somethings to gain others.
i have been busy with the women empowerment project and we are trying to set up some project that are sustainable . Very soon they are going to start a micro-lending initiative of their own, call it a small Grameen Bank. You dont know how a bank intimidates a rural woman and the fear of borrowing money from the bank but they are so excited with this idea and i cant wait to get it running.
I have been thinking of what drives me to do certain things for people and i realized its not because of me but it is the passion and compassion that God put inside me.
i have seen how love can even change the hardest of people and yah! some times it frustrating especially when you can not accept the facts about life .
i have also realized that i have responsibilities now and yah! its time to grow up , thats the way things run in africa, we grow up so early and the troubles of life wear you out so much but am not complaining .

God's amazing work in me

2009-03-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

i know i have taken so long with out writting, not because i have nothing to write about but because i have had alot happening in my life. A m also trying to deal with some of my friends leaving which is hard becuase i will never see them again.
Lat week i had a very distrubing incident and one thing i have learnt in life is that things do not happend the way you want them to and that sometimes silence is the best answer becuase it means you do not have to regret anything.
It has also made me realise that God is doing a great job in my life and i have seen that he has answered some of my prayers. I asked him to teach me to forgive people easily and forget about somethings and he has done that , i realized that even when people hurt me so badly that they make me cry , at the end of the day i will forgive them and still love them. Thats an achievement for me .
To my blogs friends , God bless you so much this year and to my small sisters and brothers who have new families , one day remember that we did not choose for you to leave because we do not like you here but because God had willed and because you needed love and care and those families were the ones that choose. We still love you and be good kids.
Moreen
Uganda

2009-02-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

its been long since i last wrote , a lot has been happening and i have done some soul searching about my life and what i want to happen the next years. i have tried to understand every one and what they want in life and i realized we are not the same all the time, but i think thats what God wants ,me top realise.
i have busy this past week trying to visit all the women and trying to understand their needs while respecting them at the same time. Its hard working with women that are older than you, one time you are thinking about what to tell them and them you think about it and you realize that they have probably seem more in life that you have but they sit and listen to you all the same .
Its going to take me so long to accept that they are things that i can not change in life but God help me accept these.
Am also trying to see if they is a place that i can get free formula milk cos they are kids who need it badly.

2009-01-29T23:41:00.000-08:00

i know i have takenlike ages with out writing . A lot has happened like me graduating , something i though i would never be able to do bu trust God and his ways , he helped me do that thats why i just cant stop thanking him so much.
Am sick with malaria right now but i think he is already making me better and there are days when i feel like dying cos of what is happening in the world, it just makes me sick that people are busy taking other's lives something they are not supposed to do cos no one ever created a person on this earth. Oh God open our eyes and give us wisdom to think before we do anything

2009-01-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Today as i sat watching a movie called war dance, i could not help it but cry, its do hard when u listend to stories form some one else's life especially times when you are thinking that you have been through alot more than them , and then you realise that you still have everything and they lost everything. Some times as i pray to God deeep in the night and as i meditate about his works, so many questions run thorough my head, why do we have to suffer so much, and here am struggling with faith and making faces at God because i did not get what i asked from but they are people who have gone thorough a lot yet they still trust in him , even when they feel they can not do it any more.
To the children of war , dont ever let anyone put you down, you are wonderfully and fearfully made by God and he knows the placs he has for you. God bless you so much and we love you everyday.

2009-01-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

i have so far spent three days in this place. but i will say it is the best reception i have recieved so far, sometimes i fail to understand how people would be so nice to a total stranger they have never known, feed them , protect them and talk to them. its something that i fail to understand but i guess God made it that way. i know they will never know but am so grateful. God bless.

there are thing that we do in life with out thinking about how such things will hurt the other people. When we have achieved what we wanted then we think of how mean we have been. God save me that i never have to reach that extent.

To my blog friends that i pray for every day , have a blessed new year. always read phillipians 4:6. it really encourages me a lot.

2009-01-02T01:54:00.000-08:00

chrismas was such a joyous time for me but yet reflecting. many time we forget why we celebrate chrismas and we conncetrate more on the gitfs and the food. Thank God its not a gift culture in uganda , so we concetrate more on the food. As i celebrated chrismas and new's day i took time oof to reflect and thank God for the past years. Its possible with him that i assure you.
i will be leaving for masaka on the 5th and apparently i do not see to have mixed feelings about leaving away from home for sometime.
For all my blog friends , happy new years and May God bless you and your families to the fullest.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. This is the verse that God has put on my heart for this year.
God bless you

2008-12-21T06:15:00.000-08:00

Today i went for the chrismas cantata, if you are in uganda , its something you should not miss.
its the best production i have seen in ages , i was seated at home, i wondered how the year was going to end with out me ever going to any of the social gatherings at church and somewhere. so today i decide to spend the all dayin town attending everything.

2008-12-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we do not get the best families in the world but God says he knew us before we were born and he knows the plans he has for us. i have a poem that i read and loved. Here it goes.

Family

God places the solidarity in families, comforting words from the bible....families by blood, by obligation,by neccesity,by desire...and sometimes, if one is very lucky , by love. It is a worh that implies solidarity, a rock-solid foundation, a place to go home to....to grow out of...to grow away from and yet to remember and hang onto.....the echoes never leaving ones's ears or ones heart, the memoris carved like painted ivory, from a single task, delicately colored in brilliant hues, and softer ones, faded sometimes. So dim as to be almost forgotten.....and yet never to be totally forgotten or left behind. The place where one begins and hopes to end...the thing one works to build on ones own...the pieces like building blocks reaching high into the sky...family...what images that conjures...the memories..what dreams.

2008-12-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day at this work place. My feelings right now? just feel i want to move on, ever felt like you are int eh wrong place? Thats how i felt, so i think thats a signal for me to move on, a friend of mine was askign me why i do not settle in one place for so long, to that i have no answer but guess its God way of telling me you are int he wrong place.
There is a song that i like listening to so much but i failed to get the artist who sung it but today int eh morning i wrote down the lyrics , ever felt like you can not move on any more , this song just blesses my heart. Here are lyrics, hope you feel blessed like i do:

Pray for me and i will pray for you
dont you worry, God will see you through
Sometimes i know it rough
Sometimes i know its tough
Sometimes i fell like giving up and running away
From this wicked and dreadful world

But together we walk, Together we talk
Togethere we wash one another's feet
When you cry ,i cry
When you dance, i dance
When you shout, i shout
When you praise, i praise
When you dont know the words to say
Just groan in your spirit
God will us through.....

2008-12-18T03:31:00.000-08:00

Try this website , it offers great african hair style.
http://www.afrisonet.net/Braids2.html.
Have fun as you try out these styles . Done forget to use hair additions

2008-12-18T03:17:00.000-08:00

Step By Step Instructions for French Braiding
1. Take a somewhat small section of hair starting at the top of the person's head, whether it begins behind the bangs or the forehead.
2. Separate the section of hair into three new sections. Braid these three sections of hair together.
3. Collect two more sections of hair. The sections should be on opposite sides of the section that you have just braided together, one from the left and the other from the right. Now, braid these sections together.
4. Continue this entire process until you have finished braiding the entire head.
5. Use a ponytail holder or any other type of tie to hold the French braid together at the end.

Please note that before you can begin to learn how to create a French braid hairstyle, you will need to know how to braid. There are many online tutorials about the process, but here is a very simplified version:
1. Grab three sections of hair. 2. Place the section furthest to the left over the middle section. 3. Place the section further to the right over the middle section. 4. Continue the process. Be sure to keep in mind that the middle section is going to constantly be replaced with the hair that you are placing over top of it as you continue the braiding process.

2008-12-18T03:14:00.000-08:00

Steps to make Twist and Braid Hairstyle
Take a small section of hair on one side of your head, just above your ear, and divide it into two equal strands. Start twisting the two strands of hair together. Continue twisting downwards, towards the end of the hair.
Secure the twist with a hair pin at the nape of the neck, then repeat these two steps on the other side.
Next, incorporate the twisted sections into a basic three-stranded braid. To braid, simply split the hair into three equal strands, taking the twisted sections into left and right strands. Then bring the right strand ove rthe centre, and then the right over the centre again. Continuee in this manner to the end. Finally, secure the end with a covered band and decorate with a clip bow.

2008-12-18T03:09:00.000-08:00

Tips for keeping black hair beautiful
If you have relaxed curly hair, then make sure you use a wide-toother comb. Combing will help spread the natural oils through the hair, making it look shinier and healthier. Use intensive pre-shampoo treatments.
Massage the scalp regularly to encourage oil production.
Shampoo as oftena s you feel necessary but only lather once, using a small amount of shampoo. Rinse thoroughly. Towel-blot, don't rub hair.
Once a month try a hot oil treatment, which will lubricate dry scalp conditions as well as moisturize brittle hair.
Gels are good for moulding black hair into shape, choose non-greasy formulas that give hair a healthy sheen.
Braided hair needs a softening shampoo that maintains the moisture balance and helps eliminate a dry scalp.

2008-12-18T02:42:00.000-08:00

The other day , a friend of mine was asking me how she should braid her daughters 's hair. She was adopted and she definately has the african hair texture. Here are some fews ideas i came up with.
The easiest would be using Hair additions (extensions) . Just portion the hair with a comb into small parts and then twist the hair additions onto the small portions and separate the extensions into three bits and twist. You can put beads if u have them.
You can comb the hair and add coconut oil ,it softens it and you can twist it into one braid. Coconut oil is good for african hair , it softens it.
You can also french twist the hair , just portion it into two bits and then braid twist it.
Hope this helps you

2008-12-17T21:59:00.000-08:00

To the people i have lived and worked with for some time (sarah shah). though you are very far away from me, i still think of you every day and the funny times we had when you were here, listening to loud morning music at the guesthouse, eating jackfruit, playing spoons, taking turns while cooking (though i dont exacly remember what you cooked that day with mary), being roomies and our bodaboda rides . Those are moment i feel i should not forget. love u lots

2008-12-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

To erin and scott. it feels me with admiration and happiness when ever i read about your works and your lives and what you have decided to do for God. God bless you and i will surely add you on my prayer list.
One thing i have realised that there are days when we as christians spend a lot of time praying for our selves and forget to pray for other people.
So every day as i sit in a taxi going to work, i make it a point to pray silently for all those who are seated in it and for every one who is on my prayer list and all the world. There are people who would appreciate a simple prayer .

2008-12-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was asking me, why ugandans do not adopt children, yet they are so many of the who need love and care . When i though about it later , i realized it was true but here is what i found out.

We as a country base so much on culture and evry one has a tribe where they come from, and a clan that they belong to. When one adopts a child, you will not know what tribe or clan they belonged to , the problem comes when it is time to introduce that child to your clan members , it is a taboo to introduce a child in a clan they do not belong to, so most people fear to do that.

We come from extended families , By the time one is a grown up, you will probably have dependants already.

If its in my baganda culture, every child belongs to a clan , these means if you adopted a boy, when they grow up they will want to estabilish their own family line , problem is they will not know where to start from.

BUT one answer i have for my friend with Jesus everything is possible . Its high time we tried to change things around and give everyone a home to belong to.

Reflections

2008-12-17T04:33:00.000-08:00

Why i have written so much today? i have spend a lot of time getting to use the internet while it lasts. One thing am sure of that people are not going to like the decisions that i make all the time, but they are things that i have decided on and am going to make sure they do happen. i think i have passed the stage of trying to make people happy, so am making my self happy, after all, if God is happy with what am about to do , thats enough for me. Huh!

2008-12-17T03:19:00.000-08:00

The rest fo your life is a long time and whether , you know it or not its being shaped right now. You can choose to blame your cirumstances on ate or bad luck or bad choices, or you can fight back. Things aren't always going to be fair in the real world, thats just the way it is, but for the most part you get what you give. The rest of your life is being shaped by the dreams you chase, the choices you make and the person you decide to be. The rest of your life is a longtime and the rest of your life starts right now.
Tragedies happen. what are you going to do, give up? quit? No, i realize now that when your heart breaks, you have to fight like hell to amke sure you're still alive. Because you are. And that pain you feel? That's life. The confusion and fear? That's there to remind you, that somewhere out there is something better, and that something is worth fighting for.
Haley James Scott

2008-12-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

To the follower that has just registered , i love u so much.
steph (prounce it the way i did when i was cheering you!)
miss u lots and i love you so much.

Another phase of life

2008-12-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

As i prepare to go home for chrismas and celebrate with my family. its going to be so sad knowing that i will never come back to this place may be if God wishes , i dont know .
As the year draws to an end , i ponder on what i have accomplishe as a person and whether i have lived worthy of God 's calling , as christian what does it profit me to say am one and am living my life differently.
but like the bible says All of us have fallen short of God's glory but there is forgiveness. This i ask for every day.

Perspective on my life with God

2008-12-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

Some times when we experience so much grief in our lives and then we live in such a dreadful world, you get the feeling that God has some how forgotten you. No, he has not but we need to fix our eyes on him and trust in him at all times.
when Job was going through the hard times, he said Blessed be the name of the lord, he gives and takes away. i love listening to the song praise you in the storm by casting crown.
Am now getting ready to move on with another phase of my life and hopeing that am not in the wrong place and that thats where God wants me to be.

God's calling

2008-12-16T06:04:00.000-08:00

The more i think about it, the more am convinced God wants me to spend my life working with children