Culture Shock, a Land of Paradoxes and Beauty

 

At Kijabe waiting to be shown the site

Before I came to Uganda I was warned about the culture shock and I felt quite prepared as I got to Kampala. The thing that I had forgotten is that even in Africa there are large differences between cities. I arrived in Nairobi on Friday and I almost forgot that I was in Africa the person picking us up drove a very new, power everything, van and the highway was wide and had streetlights and then we had to stop because there were some goats standing in the middle of the highway. My view of Nairobi is definitely not complete as I am staying at the African International University(AIU) which is located in outskirts of the city in one of the most affluent areas of the city.

Our work for AIU was to a work with a Kenyan Architecture firm, that had already done some preliminary design, to design the campus master plan and campus center building. This was my first full project as we had a group of 10 that included structural, civil, electrical engineers and architects. It is not too often that sort of group of professionals would work alongside each other for more than just a meeting. We stuck it out and no architects were hurt during the making of the master plan. Jason it this part is for you, one of the challenges during this trip is the fact that the skills I used most on this project were the ones I learned through summer work that was not related to mechanical engineering. It was pretty easy to get over that because all the awesome people there, people from all over Africa that are working towards masters and doctorates in biblical studies and theology, but were not too busy to stop and talk.

Stephen(healthy again!) and I with the EMI CMs(The Taubitz)

Late in the week myself and another intern, Stephen, headed to Kijabe Hospital to do some surveying for a new wastewater treatment system. The old one was not doing it job partially because it was undersized and partially because the thin sewer pipes had broke and farmers were diverting the wastewater to water their crops. The survey went poor straight from the start with the data collector battery being dead because it had not been charging properly, then lately the day I turned something I shouldn’t have and ruined part of the survey overall a frustrating day. The good always seems to come with the bad because we had a great dinner at the home of the EMI Construction Managers’(CM) and then I had the best shower since I had come to Africa. It is weird that I, a person of mediocre hygiene, would love a nice hot shower with good pressure so much. The next morning we were up before dawn so we could ensure we finished the survey. As we were getting ready I asked Stephen how his sleep was and he replied “not good” and went into some details that I will not mention here. He was a real trooper and stuck it out until about half an hour before we had planned to leave when he couldn’t continue. One of the CMs stepped in and we decided to stay a second night there and allow Stephen to get better. It is interesting how God works because we would have not finished the survey if Stephen had not been sick and for some reason the place we were staying had us booked for 2 nights. Also it worked out that the team would come past Kijabe on way out to where we would debrief.

Baby Hippo on mom's back

The debrief was amazing we went on a boat ride saw hippos and on a walking safari (Pictures will be posted on Facebook) I did not expect to get to do all that but a little relaxation was required after the long hours of the week of work. It was sad to see everyone go but we all left know that we had used the gifts that God had given us to bless others and bring glory to him.


"Oh, Hi there!"

There are lots things that can be prayed about so I will make a list:

-A team member David who has been sick since last week and is now on high dose penicillin.
-The EMI disaster relief teams that are and will be working in Kenya doing drought relief work.
-Good communication and relationship between EMI and the Kenyan Architecture firm.
-The other project trip that I will be going on (more details to come, maybe).
-God’s leading for what I am to do in December.
-That I get to know more Ugandans and learn more of the language.
Aaron