A Ripple

If you have a minute, and if you don’t already know them, I would like to introduce you to the Hmong,

While here in Laos, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting many Hmong, an ethnic group here in Asia that have been persecuted for years, and are one of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples in our world. 

Nothing better than being in a new place. Nothing.  

Sure, familiarity has its advantages but not nearly as exciting as the new and unknown.  We know most South East Asian countries like Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and parts of Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. So to volunteer and try our best to help, it’s great to be in a new land. 

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH THE CONGO? I AM. AND SO ARE YOU. During the month of August, Suzanne and I volunteered in Uganda, trying our best to help with the influx of Congolese refugees that are spilling over the border. Why are they fleeing their homeland? Ebola? Some. But the vast vast majority are fleeing because of extreme unrest, violence, and torture, caused by competing militias (governmental and rogue) who will stop at nothing for control over something you and I take for granted and are using right this very second. Our phones. Yep, you read that correctly.

With over 100,000 refugees spilling over borders into Kyaka 2, a remote refugee settlement in western Uganda, it’s inevitable to have some bad. And there is bad. And the bad is a very different bad than what you know.

No matter where, there’s always good things. Even in a refugee settlement. Such as the Ugandan people, the host community of millions of refugees and for us, who are so kind and welcoming. They’re as pleasant as the rural countryside, and as hospitable as the weather, which was perfect.

A gift that opens doors. As Western countries become more nationalistic, insular, and stop helping their neighbours who are truly in need, it’s good to remember this. The foreign aid our Western countries give is such a small small portion of our national budget that we don’t even notice it.

Hi, We hope you’re well. Suzanne and I are in western Uganda volunteering in Kayka 2, Africa’s fastest growing refugee settlement. Daily, the Congolese have been arriving from the border, fleeing conflict and Ebola, to be greeted here with peace but with the scare of cholera and little safe water and even scarier latrines. Suzanne has been working in a small hospital, trying to help with as she said, “malaria, malaria, malaria.”

Hi, We’re on a flight. The Mediterranean Sea is down below. I wonder if that little dot I see is a raft full of refugees? Like it’s been said, “some cross it for pleasure, some for pain.” As we say goodbye to Lebanon and two months of trying to help refugees, and now start thinking of home, a song comes to mind.