"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

Saturday, December 12, 2009

getting ready

We members of Change the Truth Team 3 are starting to pack our bags. Those of us who've been to Uganda before are recalling faces, sounds, smells and the connections we've made in the past. Those who are making their first journey to the "Pearl of Africa" are a jumble of excitement and nerves. It's one thing to see pictures, to watch a movie, to hear stories...it's an entirely different matter when a five-year-old sidles up next to you on your first day there and slips her hand into yours FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. Or when, at the end of the day, as the sun dips low, you hear a group of teenaged girls singing together as they sit together on the ground peeling potatoes for dinner. Or when a new young friend presents you with a small sculpture he has fashioned from a piece of red earthen clay as a way of simply saying "thank you for being here."

It's a feast for the senses, being in Uganda. Yes, there are some highly questionable things going on in that country right now. It's easy to feel hatred and disgust toward those who have little regard for human rights (regardless of their motives.) Each time I find myself feeling uncertain about the social or political goings on there, my mind's eye and my heart drift back to the reason we go there in the first place: to offer friendship, help, healing and hope to the children at the orphanage.










Follow along with the ten of us here on the blog as we make our journey to Uganda.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking of you and the rest of the team. I hope you accomplish more than you thought possible this year and I look forward to reading about the trip and seeing the images as they unfold. - S.

Anonymous said...

Safe travels!

-JM

Suzanne said...

Safe travels to Team 3 and may your hands be open to hold and your hearts open to love ~