Uganda – Page 6 – FindYourBuriedTreasure

A Ugandan dance troupe is coming to heat up Minnesota’s winter

Question: What do you get when you take a few dozen people who live just a bit north of the equator, and drop them off in Minnesota in the middle of January – and a January of record cold to boot? Answer: We’re about to find out. That may sound like the premise for a new reality show or the latest fish-out-of-water movie or sitcom, but it’s not. It’s what is going to happen tomorrow when around 20 members of the Uganda-based Kika Troupe visit [...]

By bettyliedtke|January 17th, 2014|Columns, Travel, Uganda|Comments Off

Put Your “Brave Mask” On

It was early on a Saturday morning, and I was getting frustrated. I was working on the book I’m writing about my first trip to Uganda, and I was on the very last section of the book. I had planned to spend the whole morning writing, and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. But the words just weren’t coming together. This actually happens to me a lot when I’m writing, and I’ve learned through experience that the best way to handle it is [...]

By bettyliedtke|October 11th, 2013|Columns, Toastmasters, Uganda, Writing|Comments Off

A few simple words have a powerful effect

I talked with Grace this week. Ever so briefly, and ever so gently. She has been on my mind constantly since I first met her a month and a half ago, and she’s been in many of my conversations and a fair amount of the writing I’ve done since then. Sharing a few words with her on the phone, however, was something totally new, and it absolutely made my day. Never mind that we don’t speak the same language and can’t understand a word of [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 13th, 2013|Columns, Uganda|Comments Off

Ugandan Martyrs Brought Faith to Life

Whenever I hear the word “martyr,” I automatically think of the stories I learned – in religion classes at the Catholic school I attended – of the holy men and women who gave up their lives for Christ. They were ordered to renounce their faith, but refused to do so, and were killed because of it – often painfully and publicly. Stoned, beheaded, or fed to the lions. The mental images I have of martyrs are of people in togas and sandals or monks’ robes [...]

By bettyliedtke|September 6th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Uganda|Comments Off

Amazing Grace is alive and getting better

I got a phone call last week from my friend Tabitha, who’s still in Uganda. She had been in the hospital visiting Grace, who was having surgery the following day. Grace is the young mother I wrote about in my column two weeks ago. She’s from Gulu, in Northern Uganda, and I met her when I was there to speak with a group of women who have formed a farming co-op and are now rebuilding their lives after years spent living in refugee camps. Grace [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 30th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Uganda, Values|2 Comments

Meet the girls who are changing their lives – and mine

One of the girls is named Betty. She could pass for a teenager, but she’s actually 28 years old and has five children. One of the girls is named Ramula. We call her Lumla, and she is so shy that if you look at her and smile, she just giggles and turns away. Shamira is beautiful, truly beautiful. But she is timid, insecure, and self-conscious, because throughout her life, the people closest to her kept telling her how ugly she was. Sadly, but understandably, she [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 23rd, 2013|Columns, Uganda|Comments Off

A Lesson from Star Trek

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” Die-hard Star Trek fans will remember that line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It’s what Spock tells Kirk after exposing himself to deadly radiation while repairing the damaged Starship Enterprise in order to save the ship and the rest of the crew. The flip side comes in the next Star Trek movie, when Kirk and crew violate orders so they can find and rescue Spock. When Spock asks [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 16th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Travel, Uganda, Values|6 Comments

Learning and relearning fills the time in Uganda

Some of the things I learned during this trip to Uganda: How to say “How are you?” “I’m fine,” and “Thank you” in Luo, the language of the Acholi tribe in Northern Uganda; What crocodile meat tastes like (better than boiled goat, in my opinion, but not as good as an ostrich burger); That wading in the Nile River is both humbling and refreshing; That a puppet waving from a bus window can make even stoic police and armed guards smile. Some of the things [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 9th, 2013|Columns, Faith, Family, Travel, Uganda|Comments Off

UGANDA TIME

Note: While I'm in Uganda, the Chanhassen Villager is publishing excerpts from my upcoming book about my first trip to Uganda, in October, 2011. Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 8:10 a.m. I really am getting used to Uganda time. By that I don’t mean that my body has finally recovered from jet lag and gotten used to the 8-hour time difference – although it has. Instead I mean that my mind is getting used to the Ugandan way of life. None of our programs have been [...]

By bettyliedtke|August 2nd, 2013|Columns, Faith, Travel, Uganda, Writing|Comments Off

That’s Entertainment!

Note: While I am in Uganda, the Chanhassen Villager is publishing excerpts from my upcoming book about my first trip to Uganda, in October, 2011. Sunday, October 16, 2011 5:45 p.m. I wish I could capture the sound of the music and the feel of this moment. There’s a light, cool breeze. It’s early evening, and we’re in a lovely outdoor arena, seated at colorfully-covered tables nestled up into the hills like seats in a theatre. Which is exactly what this is. Tribal drums are [...]

By bettyliedtke|July 28th, 2013|Columns, Music/Singing, Uganda, Uncategorized, Writing|Comments Off

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