Big News

The big news is that I will be staying in Uganda through December (instead of returning home in July)!  I have decided to stay on for the "fall semester."  I have really enjoyed being here.  There are certainly hard and frustrating times, just like anywhere, but something about being here in Uganda just feels "right."  I've been waiting to move to Africa for six years, and now that I'm here, I know it's exactly where God wants me to be, at least for now.  I think it definitely helps that I did "the US non-profit thing" for four years.  I absolutely loved it, I loved my position and my organization and co-workers, yet I never felt completely satisfied because I felt a draw toward being in developing countries.  So, unlike most of the interns here who are recently out of college, I don't need to go back to the US and see what it's like to work there.  I've been there.  Done that.  And even though I feel less confident in the technical work that I'm doing here (still trying to learn how to be an engineer), I still feel more satisfied here.  I know it's not just a "feeling" created by being here.  I know this is the direction in which God has been molding my passions and heart desires.  (For example, one of our other interns has also always wanted to come work in Africa, and after being here, she knows that she DOESN'T need to be here, as she feels drawn to continue this type of work from the US.) 

I still have no idea what my future holds, but I'm glad be here for 11 months.  It will also give me more experience in civil engineering in developing countries, as I still feel like I'm just getting my feet wet (especially since I had an a-typical eMi project experience this semester).  Megan will also be staying for the fall, although she'll be doing construction management in Jinja, about 2 hours away.  And Rachel has decided to serve with eMi in the fall, but in the Colorado Springs office.  I'm also hoping that these extra few months will give me more of a chance to explore other non-profits in the area, and continue to seek God about what to do in 2011 and beyond!  It will also give me more of a feel for what it's really like to be at eMi and in Kampala, since much of my "community" that I've had these last several months will be gone, as a new set of interns and housemates will be here in the fall.

In other news, two of our interns and two of our staff families have just left/will be leaving in May, and we have a new staff family that just arrived, and two new interns that will be joining us for the summer, so lots of changeover around here!  We're all sad about the folks who are leaving, but I guess that's the way of life.  Hopefully I'll get to see some of them again at some point in the states.  The six interns really have become a family and have gone through so many life-changing experiences together, so I'm sure we'll always be able to keep in touch in some manner.

This week, I went on a short 2-day "project trip" to an organization in Jinja (Good Shepherd's Fold), which houses 90 orphans and has a primary school, a church, and a small clinic.  The organization was really cool, and the setting was absolutely beautiful!  We're helping design a few new buildings for them (a new larger clinic, a staff house, and a children's duplex), and I got to experience the typical work that the civil engineers do on an eMi trip: the perc test!  We dug a 9-ft deep hole (don't worry, it was only 3 inches wide), then filled it with water, and waited to see how fast the water was absorbed in to the soil.  This will help us calculate how to design the septic system for each of these buildings.  (Yep, the architects get to design cool-looking buildings, while the civil engineers get to figure out how to dispose of the waste!)  =)  This is the project that Megan will be construction-managing in the fall, so it's exciting to know that our designs will actually get built, and soon!  (Sometimes you have to wait for several years while an organization raises money then gets around to building a building before you can see the product of what you worked on.)