jumping in the river #bloghope

In January, I went to the Center for Infectious Disease in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood (if you're a local, you'll know this area is called Pill Hill for its number of hospitals and clinics.) The doctor sat me down and handed me a packet thick with information -- 15 pages detailing all of the things that I could catch, everything I should be aware of.

We went through it page by page and I left my hour-long visit with a little bit of fear of Uganda and everything there that could make me really sick -- or even kill me. 

When we landed in Uganda, I was prepared with a list of do nots: Don't drink the water. Don't touch the Nile River. Don't touch the dirt. Don't eat any fruit. Don't get mosquito bites. 

Yet Uganda is not quite as scary as I thought, as Americans might think. Yes, you really shouldn't drink the water, but it's okay to shower with or cook with. If you get a bug bite, you won't die instantly. The fruit here is incredible. I have a few mosquito bites -- so far, no malaria. And my stomach is surprisingly happy to eat rice and beans and chipatti. 

If I let it, a fear of getting sick, getting dirty or infected, could have ruined my experience. It's not that I completely threw caution to the wind, (husband, don't worry), but I engaged in life here. I held kids -- sometimes very sick kids --  I washed feet, I ate Ugandan food, and my apologies to the doctor -- because I also went in the Nile River. 

It was a once-in-a-lifetime type thing -- swinging from a heavy rope out into one of the world's largest rivers. Splashing deep down into water that flows all the way to Egypt, a river figuring strongly in history, a river nearly everyone has heard of.

I think I am called more often to jump in the river, to forgo some well-intentioned advice and just let go -- even if the path I'm following is not the route everyone would suggest or do themselves. With prayer and boldness in God, I want to live life without inhibitions, without worry.

"Since we have such a hope, we are very bold..." 2 Corinthians 3:12

community

I've learned a lot in Uganda: Rain can make the power go out, wine tastes delicious in a coffee cup, bodas will not stop for pedestrians, and things are better in community. 

I'm going to focus on the community part. 

Honestly, it's easy to do our own thing in this world.

We're taught to just look out for ourselves -- to care about number one -- to do our best and climb the ladder, forgetting what or who is behind us. 

Committing to someone and walking alongside them is not glamorous or fun. It's messy. But, if we are going to do anything well in this world, we need the support of others. 

I will be the first to admit that I am terrible at asking for help. If I do it myself, I can control it -- I know what the finished product will look like. Or if I'm desperate for support, I wouldn't want to ask-- people should know to help me. 

But, but, but I know I was made for community; we were made for relationships. 

I know this is true because watching Sole Hope work, I realize that yes, they treat infected feet, they educate children to prevent infestation, and they provide jobs. More than that, however, they have created a community committed to the belief that God calls us to care for each other, including the very least of us. 

This week I have found community with women I just met -- women who sat next to me in 32D and 32C for several, several hours. Women who talk different from me and make me laugh -- women I have prayed with and smelled really (really, really) rank with. 

I have witnessed community in the families that take on school children that are not theirs. Community in how Dru and Asher's (Sole Hope founders) kids play with Ugandan children who speak a language they can't understand. 

There is community in the wine I'm drinking out of a tin mug. There is community in scrubbing children's feet. There is community here and I am praying to bring it home. 

I am a member of the #blogHOPE team, a group of 8 bloggers here in Jinja, Uganda to share about jiggers, the stories of the kids suffering from jiggers, the teams here making a difference and the communities being transformed.

follow our trip on bloghope.org & connect with sole hope on facebook.
read the posts of the other bloggers on the trip: wynne | mo | carey | cara | logan | melissa 

shoe cutting party

I am going to Africa in less than a week.

I keep saying that and despite the repetition, it has yet to sink in. I think right now what I'm focusing on is all the little things I need to wrap up before I head out the door for the airport. Maybe, when I'm in the air, watching Seattle disappear from beneath me, then it will be real.

The only moment it became just a teeny, tiny part more real was this past weekend when I held a Sole Hope shoe cutting party. Sole Hope provides shoes for kids after they're treated for foot-related diseases. The shoes are made in Africa, but they're constructed out of recycled pieces collected and cut out in the U.S.

I love this. I love the tangible connection that we can have here in the U.S. with Africa, a place thousands upon thousands of miles away. On Friday night, my mom's friends and some of my friends, gathered and ate really good food and sipped really good wine, and cut out shoe materials from old jeans. It was so simple yet these are the pieces that I will be bringing with me when I go to Uganda. These pieces will be turned into shoes and I will see them be placed upon the feet of kids. Simple but so impactful.

You can follow along with my trip here on my blog, or on the trip website -- bloghope.org -- and on instagram with the hashtage #bloghope.

You can also contribute to Sole Hope by hosting your own shoe cutting party. Learn more about what they do and buy a kit here.

xo, erika

a little (africa) announcement

 via solehope.org

In March, I’m going to Africa.

(When thinking about how to start this post, I decided to go the dramatic route. How did it work for you?)

But before I explain how I’m going to Africa in March, let me explain what happened when I went to Indiana in September.

I spent a September weekend at the Influence Conference in Indianapolis. It was a span of days that felt like a months’ worth of content. Even now, I feel like I’m still processing everything. 

Two things that I have continually processed:  one—Sole Hope, an incredible non-profit and two—my ability to do much of the talents I have been given. 

Sole Hope was started by Asher Collie to provide shoes for those in Africa who suffer from the chigoe flea, or jigger. The jigger is a nasty little bug that burrows into feet and creates painful sores, and can lead to complications—especially when they aren’t taken care of properly. 

Anywhere else, this wouldn’t be a problem, but many kids don’t have closed toe shoes to prevent jiggers and if they do get a jigger infection, they often don’t have access to health care. 

Sole Hope not only provides shoes and treatment for those affected by jiggers, but also provides jobs in the region. In Jinje, they have a small workspace where the shoes are constructed by Ugandans, who are paid a living wage for what they do. 

So why should this matter to me? I live in Seattle, where I have access to healthcare, clean water, higher education, great jobs, and there are lots of shoes in my closet. Africa is a world away in so many senses of the word. 

But I couldn’t help but thinking that “to whom much was given, of them much will be required.” When a tweet popped up in my timeline, asking for bloggers to go on a trip with Sole Hope, a little something told me to sign up. 

I don’t have a lot to offer; I've never done something like this before. But I am a story-teller, a (barely) decent photographer and Sole Hope was asking for people to come—bloggers—to tell the story of what they do in Africa. I thought, this is something I can do. I get paid to do this in my day job, I do this on my blog—I can write and share and help Sole Hope make an even bigger impact. 

I had long talks with the husband. And lots of prayer time and then I said yes. 

And now I’m going! I’m going to Africa. And I’m scared out of mind and unprepared and I am just praying that God does His work through me, because if it’s up to just me, I know I will fail. 

I need to raise money—turns out going to Africa from Seattle (!!) is expensive. I will host a fundraiser so if you want (no pressure) you can help out. 

For now—I’m not asking too much of you. I just wanted to share my crazy, awesome, cannot-believe-it- news and ask for your prayers and support.

And if you’re looking for a more tangible way to help—I would love any donations of items for a fundraiser auction. (you can email/tweet me about that, too.)

But even easier than those two options, is Sole Hope’s partnership with Cultivate Wine.

 Cultivate Wines is giving $1 for every Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook post of their image and following a few guidelines up to $100,000.

It's simple-- just include the image below, and the tags #CultivateGives and #SoleHope. 

There's a number of us going on this trip -- go say hi!

Wynne | Carey | Cara | Mo | Logan | Dru and Asher