life as of today...

Oh my goodness life is bliss right now. I just love it. Not that everything is perfect or even sorted, haha but I'm just so loved and in love that I just can't help but giggle.
Right now I'm in a place called Tororo, a village in Uganda that hugs the border of Kenya. It's amazing minus some crazy bugs -half wasp half beast.
But before Tororo I have a fun story about the UN.

As many of you know I have this thing where... I believe in walking as his favourite... and through that going into strange places expecting to have locked doors open before me cause, well, I'm his favourite. lol... So this was another one of those moments. To lay a foundation- without contacts it's hard to go anywhere. Almost impossible unless Jesus specifically says to do it that way. So last week, while in Kampala I decided the UN would be a good place to get contacts and I left to pay them a visit and possibly speak with someone about the Sudan.It was neat though as lately I've been so stirred about Ugandan IDP camps and working and learning in them before heading up to Darfur, Sudan, to launch things in IDP camps there. (sorry, I'm leaving wholes, hope you understand)
So Monday afternoon I headed out to OCHA wearing my most professional clothes (considering I'd been living in the bush for a month) and my NGO hat (not a fashion statement just the card that I was choosing to play that day). I started with the front desk and at first was informed that there was nobody around to chat about the Sudan so I left. Half way down the street feeling a little lost I hear someone calling for me and I turn around to see a woman RUNNING after me! She said they didn't have anybody from Sudan but would I like to talk to the man in charge of the LRA affected areas? lol "Sure"... I was sent to his secretary who told me he was out and when he's in he's normally really busy. But we got chatting and off came the NGO hat and out came the giggle and the smile and she booked me an appointment! This was the start of a spiral of interviews with various UN directors of refugees and IDP's as they were giving me contacts and advce on how to get into the camps and what to say when inside and oh if I need a lift call this lady cause it's beter then the bus! I don't know if it's always that easy but I was pumped.

How I got to Tororo and what I'm doing here is another story that once again involves less then 24 hours notice before I was on a bus to work in the a place that I had never heard of before. But I don't feel like writing details now. Know that I"m safe and happy still living day to day.

I'm heading to Kenya next week for a GCM semi-annual woman's staff retreat (hahaha) and IDP camps the week after.

Juba is still a process but one we're still working on and Wudu is still sort of on the mind as the guys call me a couple times a day with "We miss you! Come back!" Haha. Such goofs.

hitting the height of boredom on a saturday night in kampala

Life is such a trip. I left Sudan early the other morning. A rushed exit in a Land Rover full of people thinking we're a taxi, a baby on my lap, luggage to the roof, heading to Moyo to catch a flight to kampala, Uganda. With no idea what's next I wonder, Is this what it feels like to be refugee? Probably not, but i'm homeless with my life on my back, that's gotta be close. ;)
I'm now safely in Kampala chillin out before heading to the next destination.

It's great to be back in a city. I had a HOT SHOWER today..haha oh yes. It felt like pure luxury. I went to a mall and ate a shawarma (which i had been CRAVING) and ice cream...I found Haribos (!!!!) It's been lush.
However at the end of the day, I miss Wudu. =( The little village in bush country Sudan that I called home for the last month. It always completely surprises me how I fall in love with those places. No electricity, running water, stores -they barely had a market, just a hut that I shared with a million and a half spiders... shudder... Yet it was great. I'll never forget walking down the dirt path into..."town" and having a few dozen kids emerge from their houses calling "Sandra, Sandra, how aw you!?" They're so considerate ;)
(Private joke for those of you who have lived in Africa)
The first couple weeks were great with a team from California there with me. Travelling around to schools and doing open air meetings, miracles, signs, wonders, lotsa fun. The last couple weeks there was 'independent' living on a ACC base just working under GCM getting to experience jesus showing up in crazy ways.

It's always so neat seeing him heal hearts, minds and bodies. I'm still amazed when his love comes and people are instantly healed. Healed! Like really. (?) I can't do that! It's just amazing. About a dozen people were healed of pains -headaches, backaches, arthritis...ulcers, just on the side of the road or in the market. In the pediatrics ward babies were SENT HOME after being healed of malaria. People were coming up to me saying how they tried praying to Jesus and he was nice and He answered so now they were surrendering their whole selves to him. It was fabulous.

Last week I was sick with the flu too. That part wasn't so fabulous.

And it's Saturday night and I'm in a strange city with nothing to do. That part, not so fabulous either. lol.

Blogs are always so bizarre. It's like the stories that don't make the newsletter, stuff that doesn't go to Grandma...

Tomorrow I'm gonna start writing "untold stories of Sudan'. Just weird things that happen that...don't normally make the cut, haha, but still have value to me so they get the blog! ;)

Please continue to send me your updates. Dates, mates, babies and everything in between!

Also if you want my personal updates that explain what i'm actually doing (lol more than just trying to "love a nation to life" haha) then just send me an email
->cass.basnett@gmail.com.

Miss you all!! ....Seriously... =)

It smells like Africa! (Phase...three?)

So I wrote this big long blog yesterday and right before it published my internet cut off. C'est la vie je quoi.

Well, after around 72 hours of travel on maybe 10 hours of sleep we finally arrived in Kenya!

I was more than extatic to say the least. We spent the night in Nairobi and the next day flew to Eldorate and then drove to Bungoma. We're here checking things out and having meetings about GCM's up and coming Rescue Center and then tomorrow we head off again.
A 6 hour drive across the Kenya-Uganda border to Kampala and then an early morning flight up north, followed by another long drive across another border to end in Sudan.

I'm so pumped to be back in Africa. My body not so much as my skin and stomach are still acclimatizing but...other then that! I've been taking lots of pictures and hugging all the babies. My swahili is slow but give me another day or two ;)

To step back a little... my time in LA was great. It was soo good seeing people again and eating all my old favourite Californian food, that and a few expression58 mettings and I had a blast.

We went from California to London where we had a great OVERNIGHT layover! It felt like such a gift to be back 'home' in England with one of my favourite friends, sad to have only been there a night tho!

Anyway, I'm sorry this is so scatter brained, or at least it feels scatter brained.

We still don't have a concrete plan for after the team leaves. I have some things that have been on my heart in the last couple days but right now they're pretty far out there so unless God shows up... they won't happen. So please keep praying as we decide what country I'll heading to after July 18th.

I hope everyone is doing fabulous, internet will be more scarce in the upcoming days so please understand my lack of communication is not my lack of desire to chat. I will be getting a Kenyan number today so hopefully I can use that in transit as well. I'll have that number out soon!
big hugs to all!

Phase One:

Interesting fact of the day - Turns out it takes longer to fly from small town Saskatchewan to LA as it does to fly from TO to London. Ok, maybe not that interesting, but my journey thus far.

I made to LA in one piece. I arrived and was instantly whisked away to the beach to tan on the hot sand. I was told this was probably the only time i'd see the ocean this trip so enjoy! I'm now chilling in my friends flat for the day before I'm handed off to the GCM crew and we try figuring out the latest details on the Sudan set up.
It's been quite an adventure trying to plan this trip. With our contacts speckled throughout the world everything has been done via phone and has been quite confusing at times. Just three days before I was suppose to move our main contacts on the ground in Sudan told us there was miscommunication and they are not able to partner with our work. Not good considering we leave in less than two weeks... So i'm glad i'm here and maybe we can collaborate better, i dunno. Anyway, that's sort of the latest.

LA is hot. We're in the low 100F's here and you can definitely tell. I've been a little emotional since my arrival as well. Well...actually for the last week before I left to. I always forget how much moving takes out of you. Especially when you don't know where you're moving to or really where you're moving from... lol. It's good though. Life is an adventure and I am loving it.
Will be able to do a little email before I head out on July 3rd so if anyone wants to take advantage of that, now would be the time. :) Big loves to all.

Dining for Darfur

Hey Guys!!

I'm back in Canada, rested and recovered from Thailand (will try to have email updates and pics out SOON!)
While I'm back I'm trying to focus on getting ready for what's next.
I'll be moving to Sudan July 1st. A team from California will be traveling to Africa and then July 20th they'll be traveling out of Africa. Leaving me behind. =) I'm so excited, and will have more details out via email.

One thing I am doing while back is a dinner for Sudan. In the province of darfur, genocide has been pronounced and it's the first time in history it's ever been named while it is still going on. I'll be living in the south but all ticket proceeds will go to aiding those hit the hardest in the west, Darfur.

Random ramblings after another trip to the district

Day two in the red light district. I'm not quite sure how to word everything that's zooming around in my head. I keep replaying every conversation every smile, every stare.

My friends and I headed to the district just after dark. I was more nervous this time as I knew what to expect and the heart strings it would pull. The bar I sat at was pretty packed this time but somehow I was still able to talk to one of the girls after buying her a coke. She was incredibly sweet. She spoke english really well and told me her story of how she had to start work in the industry after her husband died. Before that she and her husband had been world travelers and had even lived in Europe for a while. She told me about some of her old dreams and aspirations but how now none of it will probably happen. She said all she has time for is working, sleeping and cleaning. That's right, most girls only get about two days off a month and "you can imagine all the spider webs that come after a few weeks!" (lol yes she too had a deep loathing for spiders) My heart went out to her as she recalled the pain of her husbands death, and said her only friends now are at the bar. It's like what can you do? How can you show her how much she's loved? We talked for just under an hour and when I left we hugged and she asked if I would come back. "Nobody talks to us. Well, they talk but they don't want to hear us talk" All I could do was tell her that our conversation meant a lot to me and just how valuable she was, hoping she caught it.
It's so frustrating. They do their job and you see them dancing and working the guys but when you actually look in their eyes you wonder how people can't see the pain oozing out of them. "It's their choice, they like it" can be the debate but really, most of them are working in the bars because in Thai culture the women must support the family and when it's not them paying the bill the families can work up massive dept. One girl was 19 and had only been working five days. This was her story as she had a nine month old baby at home and her parents dept to pay off. In desperation she turned to her last resort as most of the girls do.

Uh. Everything inside me wants to cry out for justice for the girls, how long will we let this issue go on, why the heck are we all so silent!
lol. I was planning on just saying some stories and leave out my emotions but haha, I guess i'm not there yet. We're heading out again tonight and probably every night until we go. lol my apologies for the randomness of it all, guess that's the nature of a blog.

Everything else is going great. I'm in love with Thai food even though my mouth hasn't stopped burning since I got here (slight exaggeration but it's still very spicy) My team is also amazing and we're having a blast everywhere we go. Oh! Please continue to pray for the kids. They're amazing and were totally blown away when we told them our God was nice and really liked them. However...translation has been quite the challenge. Only a few days left with this batch so please keep us in your prayers!

Thailand!

Hey guys, I made it to Thailand. Things are going really well I love the people and the culture, I'm melting in the weather but i like the heat so it works.
Yesterday was quite the day as we jumped right into working with the "working girls".
How to describe it I'm not really sure. I feel my emotions are still a little fragile and as I search for the words to describe what I saw.
The day began with worship as we joined all the women from the ministry we're working with. (They help women get out of prostitution and rehabilitate them into 'normal life') As about 70 women sang their hearts out praising God for his goodness, you could hardly guess that some of them walked the streets just 4 weeks before. After we were shown around the center seeing where the women now work, learn basic life skills and get healed and whole from their old lives of abuse.
Following lunch, we got a thorough orientation from the director and did a little tourist outing by the river side then proceeded to do a 180 from the morning and headed to the bars.
Honestly, I still just feel speechless. Part of me didn't know whether to weep or be sick or just feel numb. I'm still processing so please forgive the randomness but in short, here was our night.

In teams of four, along with the other ministry, we entered various bars at one of the districts here. All around were men of all ages, all nationalities and girls. All half naked, all fully abused. We entered cautiously, I've been researching this scene for a few years now but nothing ever fully prepares for seeing it. We barely stepped in and the air felt x10 thicker and you suddenly just want a shower on the inside. In the Buddhist religion they believe you're a woman because you didn't do enough good in your previous life to be a man. Women must obey and no matter what do whatever the man asks. When you look into the eyes of the women you see the pain and brokenness of that theory, poorly masked by make up and a string thong.
We sat in a corner and ordered some cokes. (Usually ordering non-alcoholic drinks spurs such curiosity that the girls come talk with you) Well it worked and a few girls came and sat down with us. They kept smiling saying how much they liked us, that there was something in our eyes. In their broken english and my four words of Thai we spoke about their kids, Canada, and attempted a Thai lesson (unsuccessful but they loved it) They were extremely sweet and even knowing I was surely not a client it was interesting seeing them rotate through me all wanting to ask my name and me attempt to ask theirs in Thai. The smiles on their faces were the only thing that kept me from bawling my eyes out.
After a while we went to a middle eastern hotel. When we arrived my team was confused as we thought we were going to keep working with the girls that night. Little did we know this 'normal' hotel lounge was bustling with trafficked girls. It was worse then the Red light as it appeared so normal but when you stop and start paying attention it was so corrupt. Here the women sat at tables waiting for a man to walk over and "chose them" to come "dine" with him. A friend and I got a chance to speak with a girl from eastern europe who was twenty two. She had just received a degree with computers and had been in here a month. Our hearts were completely shattered as she recalled her favourite things from home and her desire to return. She was so hard yet so open. I still feel nauseous thinking about her story and the other girls. Just the way the men entered the hotel restaurant scouting out a girl like they're buying meat at a grocery store. After spotting her they'd nod and wave and on command the girl would get up and head to their side. I was taken aback as I sat beside our girl and had a man summon me. I pretended I didn't see him until we were heading out the door and again and again he motioned asking if I would like to come sit. I was so annoyed and want to just blurt out "I'm not for sale and neither should these girls be" but instead just shook my head No and stuck to my girlfriends side. (Not wanting to draw attention to myself or the team)
With that said some of you might be a little annoyed also, but to think, is there any difference if the injustice happens to me or to someone else? Your daughter or theirs? (don't worry dad, I'm being safe)

So yes, there was our night to the bars. I still feel like emotionally I'm walking on eggshells with the matter. As weird as it is though, every time I'm faced with radical injustices like war, famine, poverty and now the sex trade, every time I feel I fall more in love with Jesus. It's like I feel every morsel in my heart shatters at the sights but I know that as much as it hurts me it tears him up even more. I witness their horror for a couple hours he sees it day in and day out. I love them in that place and he wants to take their place. It's unfathomable to me how good he really is yes, even in the Red Light.