Displace Me

Saturday afternoon I went up to Phoenix with some friends from church for "Displace Me". Displace Me events happened in major cities all over the country on April 28th; there were a total of 67,871 people across the country who participated, 1,700 of which were in Phoenix. The event was to spread awareness of what is going on in Northern Uganda. In 1996, many Ugandans were given 48 hours to seek refuge in displacement camps. They have now been there for over 10 years, living in horrible conditions and only getting little food and contaminated water. The conditions have been getting worse and worse and the rations smaller and smaller because of foreign aid being cut. "Displace Me" tried to simulate the experience of what it is like to live in a displacement camp. Participants were asked to bring enough cardboard to build themselves protection to sleep out over night, one box of saltines, and one 1.5 liter bottle of water. Upon checking in, I had to hand over my saltines and water, so that they could be later re-distributed during the night, and then I got to work building my shelter.

There was lots of creativity when it came to building shelters...


Our friends, Matt and Abby, building their home...Matt came with a plan of how he wanted to build it, but unfortunately didn't have as much cardboard as he had hoped for..


Throughout the night they would show a film clip of what is going on in Northern Uganda, and then they would direct us toward doing different things: writing a letter to our senator, writing a letter to the Ugandan President, taking 21 minutes of silence to represent the 21 years that this war has been going on, etc.
Here's the screen that they would show clips on..


In the morning, we woke up to African drummers and dancers...

Blue Skies

So, I've been home from Jamaica for 3 weeks now and I haven't been able to think of what to write to sum up my experience. I think the pictures probably do the best job of describing what it was like. I still don't how to reconcile the fact that I'm back in the united states living in our own house, with the opportunity to work and make money to buy food and other things that we need; While I now know so many in
Harmons, Jamaica that aren't given even those 'simple' opportunities. While I'm here in the U.S., I know that I can look around me and pour out that same kind of love to neighbors, friends, family, and strangers that live nearby and are needing in different ways.

My mom and dad were in Tucson visiting when I returned from Jamaica. Ryan picked me up from the airport and we drove home to eat my favorite meal by my mom on our back patio. Their visit was very relaxing and nice. We planted some produce in the garden (squash, zucchini, strawberries, cilantro and basil), we played card games, and we went out to some favorite restaurants. One afternoon, we drove up Mt. Lemon (it takes 45 minutes to get to the top from our house). It's a beautiful scenic drive and about 20 degrees cooler at the top (something you learn to love when you live in the dessert). We had a picnic along the way and then stopped at the famous pie shop at the top.





On Easter morning we participated in a sunrise service at our friend's ranch. It was a pretty magical way to start the day watching the sun rise over the mountains. Ryan played guitar for worship, and our friend Ben led the service. Afterwards, everyone joined in a potluck breakfast.