Acholi Photos

These photos are from our visit to Acholi Quarters. Of all the donated items we brought, we took a bit to give to kids of two families to whom we were assigned, 40 families total. Each family also received a bag each of sugar, beans, and flour. When we asked Seane who payed for it all, she said, "You did," thanks to all our fundraising, we can help these severely impoverished people, also victims of war. The two families above I went to and delivered gifts. The mothers are so young and have so many children to take car of. The children are so adorable and everyone is really friendly.

Upon visiting and helping these people I was actually quite nervous. These people have gone through so much suffering, I almost felt undeserving of being in their presence, having the luxuries and privileges of American life. They so appreciated every little gift.

I also felt uncomfortable at times, feeling the stigma of "oh here I am a white girl helping these poor people of Africa, oh so heroic of me"....but what do I really know? Nothing of the trauma they have experienced. After exploring this feeling, I realized this was my own perspective, and if I were an Acholi, having a group like us come in to provide such gifts would be wonderful. I did not want to feel like I was helping them out of "American guilt" as many do. I also didn't want to be seen as some kind of hero, but when we in America see people doing such service, it may come across that way, with arrogance. That was uncomfortable to me, and the only thing I could do was remind myself that I can only do the best I can right now with what I have and hopefully inspire others to reach out more. I really wanted to do more for them, but having pity only exhausts us as sevas, so in order to help I need to work through whatever emotions arise, to cleanse and stay strong in this place that has experienced so much corruption and war. Seeing the smiling faces of the children lit me up though, who know nothing else other than their present experience. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But it made me realize my own ignorance, in only being exposed to the American life, bigger is better, more and always more. If only we could destroy our own ignorance and see the experience of the rest of the world, we might really find our purpose of service and love, we might really find meaning then in our lives rather than searching for it in money, cars, homes, stuff.......I think the economy crash was meant to be, to give us Americans a wake-up call, to see what's really going on. To simplify our lives and as Gandhi said, find ourselves by losing ourselves in the service of others. I'll have to work with this feeling and see what continues to arise.