#did i delay answering this ask until the 10th anniversary day???

[serendertothesquad]

Favorite OS fanfics? If you read them

Oooooh well do I got some for you, anon! Shame a lot of my favorites are restricted to Google Docs and aren't publicly published anywhere, but I'll give some a shoutout anyway.

Ships Ahoy!: An absolute classic. Lilac's entire slate OS-wise, really, but Ships Ahoy will always be a favorite. Beautifully crafted with great character dynamics, big old lore, and lots of gut punches that make me go "oof" and then sob eternally. There is also...

Full Circle: An unofficial sequel to Ships Ahoy that focuses on Olive and Oscar's relationship, with Otto, Otis, Oona, Oprah and Olympia all playing matchmaker to try and get them back together. Holy shit is it one of the funniest Odd Squad fics I've read, especially as far as Otis not knowing what shipping is and Olympia and Oona's shipping war is concerned. The A/N at the end is also something that resonates with me a lot, and as someone who writes OS fanfic, I like to look back on it every once in a while because it's very true.

Forever and a Mile: This one is a bittersweet and adorable one-shot that focuses on Octavia in the time she was tube-blocked by O'Brian and was confined to Precinct 13579's HQ, as well as Opie, the mysterious ballpit agent. I love this one because it gives a lot of depth to the ballpit and shows off some of the levels within it, while also making me feel sympathy for Octavia for all that she's going through.

OSMU: Fanfiction Friction: I'm putting this one here mainly because it's one of the few OSMU fics I've seen. It follows the Mobile Unit as they realize that, well, there are no fics written about them, and they do all this wild and crazy stuff in an effort to get a story out of it. There are an absolute fuckton of jabs to various things -- Elon Musk, ABBA, the comic book industry, and even the author himself, among others. There's even a bit where the author makes a jab at someone who was a bit of a pervert who liked to make up stories about agents naked and/or in bathing suits (key word is "was"; they got banned from Deviantart twice and AFAIK they are not around anymore), but you might not know that without context. If you're uncomfortable with that, though, the rest of the story is just as enjoyable if you skip it.

Viva La Vida: Villain Olive is a popular concept in the fandom. This is one of the earlier instances of it! The winner of a trivia contest held by Lilac, the idea for this one was conceived by Joshua Kilimnik and the story was written by Lilac. It features Olive slowly turning to the odd side due to a rapidly declining sanity with Odd Todd giving her all the pushes she needs. I like Olive's internal struggle throughout the story, as well as the (bad) ending which caps things off perfectly. (There's also a good ending, added for those who don't like to see Olly-child suffer. Just as beautiful!)

Icing: Fuck your two-sentence horror stories. All my homies hate two-sentence horror stories. Have a 91-word horror story that's one hell of a flashfic and puts a terrifying spin on what was already a pretty terrifying line in-series.

Through Frostbitten Stone: There is another fic I read a long time ago where Olympia manages to get hypothermia while trying to save Otis. (That's the gist of it. The full context would derail this bit.) This fic takes a bit of a different turn from that, with Otis getting hypothermia instead of Olympia, and is also one of the longest Odd Squad fics I've ever seen (and that is barring my own, thank you). It's a hefty read at nearly 30k words, but it's a beautiful read that showcases the Otis-Olympia partner dynamic perfectly.

...Okay fine. FINE. Two more and then that's it. God there are way too many good ones.

Star Agents: This was one that was Google-Docs-exclusive and has now been published onto AO3. And thank God, because it is incredibly good for an AU story where Otto and Todd are partners while Olive is on the villains' side. There are more chapters that are buried in Google Docs currently, but I recommend keeping an eye on this one for updates.

From The Desk of Doctor O: I like the format of this one. Dr. O trying to reform Odd Todd through court-mandated therapy sessions is also a really neat concept. Mainly because, if Odd Squad's judicial system were more realistic, I can 100% see court-mandated therapy being a thing. Definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes.

---------------------

This isn't an exhaustive list by any means, but there ya go, my list of favorites. I do like how the fic scene is still going strong with this fandom 10 years later lol.

Of course, I'm also nominating my own stories: my FiMFic catalog of crossover stories, and my AO3 collection of stories. Enjoy!

[holysmotez]

Jealous Tifa in AC

Please pardon my delay on this, RL work tied me up this afternoon a bit, but it did give me time to think on this question @magicalchemist asked me: 

"Why do you think the devs decided to point out so specifically in an Ultimania about Advent Children Tifa's jealousy of Aerith and have Cloud hiding that he went to the church from her. To push the LTD? Or to highlight communication issues? I would love your take on that"

My short answer is that I think it’s some of column A, and some of column B.  My full reply is under the cut due to length (I’m sorry) and for spoilers

The following is the section I believe you are referencing from the 10th Anniversary Ultimania (credit: https://thelifestream.net/lifestream-projects/translations/66/the-compilation-of-final-fantasy-vii-ultimania-translations/):

A close friend as well as rival? The complicated emotions she feels towards Aerith.

「Both of them share feelings for Cloud 」 — Tifa was close to Aerith, who can also be called a love rival. With that point in mind, they were also good friends. Nevertheless, it is not hard to imagine that she carries complex feelings as a woman toward Aerith, who had built up a special bond with Cloud that was different from Tifa’s.

Tifa’s complicated feelings continue even in AC, two years after Aerith had departed the world. This was due to the fact that Cloud, succumbing to the notion that Aerith’s death was his fault and condemning himself, construed that Denzel was “the child which Aerith brought here” and took care of him. In addition, Cloud had also gone away to the church that Aerith had been in. The thing which she is unable to hide in her irritation towards Cloud is the fact that he isn’t merely dragging the past around, but because that reason might perhaps be related to Aerith.

[FFVII] Seeing Cloud and Aerith developing their world together before her eyes, she inadvertently lets slip her peevish feelings. [AC] Upon knowing that Cloud had been residing in Aerith’s church after leaving the place they had been living in together, her expression becomes complex. 

From a marketing perspective, I do tend to think bringing up Tifa's jealousy is partly to ladle on some soap opera-inspired drama.  I think SE is well aware that the perception of there being a LTD, regardless of the reality, is one of FF7′s biggest hooks.  

However, I also don't think the jealousy angle is totally without basis, either, but I also tend to think that Cloud was actually the one more worried about her feelings of jealousy than Tifa herself was.  He was the one who acted like going to the church and finding Denzel was on the level of having an affair:

From Case of Tifa:

"Well..." Cloud looked like a kid that about to be scolded as usual. "Tell me. I'll decide whether I'm angry or not after I listen." Cloud nodded and continued. "Denzel had collapsed in front of the church where Aerith used to be. That's why I thought Aerith lead him to "my place"". Saying all that in one breathe, Cloud looked away. "You went to the church." "I wasn't planning to hide there." "You were hiding." "I'm sorry." "I didn't say you couldn't go. But next time, I'll go together with you."

Meanwhile, I get the impression at this point that Tifa’s just trying to understand what the hell is going on.  She wants him to feel comfortable being vulnerable with her, and where her anger comes out when he doesn’t seem to get that, culminating when she tells him earlier in the text, “Then drink in your room.”   I think she sincerely regrets doing that, and knows it’s not the right approach, and so her response to him above isn’t that of a jealous, forgotten wife who just found a different shade of lipstick on his shirt.  It’s a partner who wants to understand so that she can help.

But when you're scared for your partner and your relationship, rational thinking tends to go out the window.  The situation feels out of control, so you slip out of control.  You might question everything and blow stuff out of proportion that would otherwise be ridiculous to you in normal circumstances-- and I think in Tifa’s case, it's reasonable that some of her irrational thinking could also include dredged up memories of jealousy concerning Aerith.  After all, that also aligns with her biggest fear: losing Cloud.  It’s also understandable that she might feel jealous of the fact that the succor Cloud is looking for is something he thinks she can't help him with, but Aerith can.  But the problem is Tifa doesn’t know whether anything she is feeling is ridiculous or what’s on Cloud’s mind at all because Cloud’s not communicating well enough.  And at the end of CoT, Cloud’s just plain ol’ gone after she thought she made a breakthrough with him.

So then Tifa, when she finally has an opportunity in AC, lets him have it.  Whether her emotions are fueled partially by jealousy is debatable, but it’s definitely fueled by her very human feelings of hurt and insecurity.  Which, I might add, is not an ideal communication pattern...ideally, you shouldn't let your grievances build until you blow up, and neither should you avoid your partner until they feel they have no other recourse. 

BUT!   The good news, though, is that AC is meant to show Cloud & Tifa both demonstrating change as they come to understand and trust each other much better.  The experience reaffirms for both of them that they do cherish what they have together, and I think it nurtured a stronger faith in each other.  Yes, even Tifa changes, because despite her saying that Cloud needs to accept help and let others in, SHE is the one to identify that Kadaj is Cloud’s fight alone and holds back the cavalry.  She demonstrates an understanding that his decision to go without her isn’t him saying “I don’t care” or “Aerith is bae”, but rather it was a way of saying, really badly, “this is my fight.”

And at the end of the day, it works out because they do know they are each other's biggest supporters.  When both partners are committed - as I think Cloud & Tifa are - when the hurts heal, they tend to heal back stronger.

Lastly, before I exhaust you all completely, I think this caption to this pic from the quoted Ultimania should not go unmentioned:

Tifa, smiling towards Aerith’s presence. Cherishing Aerith is Tifa’s honest feeling.

Let's repeat that again.  Cherishing Aerith is Tifa’s honest feeling...not jealousy.  So yeah.  Despite the jealousy blurb, the Ultimania is also rather quick to set us straight on that.

Edit: my dumbass forgot to credit the Case of Tifa text, it’s from Final Fantasy Kingdom

[livethinking]

When the Wall fell: history of the Fall of Berlin Wall

It was the night between 9th and 10th November 1989 and something epochal was happening. At 11pm the Wall which had divided Berlin for 28 years fell apart. It was the frontier lieutenant colonel Harald Jäger who, by his own initiative, gave the order to open a passage between East Berlin and West Berlin. It was the 9th November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the world started to change. A country started to be reunited with tears of joy, hugs and presents that German citizens gave each other; a reborn of a whole people and the sign that hoping is still possible.

Sighting history while it’s being made is not always possible, historians are those who individuate what was the events that made an era but in this case it was obvious that an epoch was at an end and one another was beginning. The 1989 was the end, or rather, the begin of the end of “The Short Twentieth Century” (as Eric J, Hobsbawm will have called in 1995 in an essay with the same title). Historians, the witness of the Fall and who participated in the destruction of the Wall had already understood it. All those astonished people who were watching the pictures of that memorable night, broadcasted by tv stations from all around the world had already known it. We’re sure about it today, after thirty years; we who have lived and known the consequences; because who has lived it remember these pictures that one can watch from TV or from YouTube.

Prior events

«[..] I think the Fall of Berlin Wall [...] happended especially due to Mikhail Gorbachëv’s politics of reformation that was announced during the 27th Congress of Comunist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU) and, in particular, due to Gorbachëv’s bad relations with German Democratic Republic (DDR)». If we should reconstruct a genealogy of the Fall of Berlin Wall, we could consider the Perestroika, that series of reforms aimed at the reorganisation of politics and social structure and the acceleration of economic development of Russia, wanted by the then General Secretary of the CSPU Mikhail S. Gorbachëv, carried out since the middle of the 80s but which started to fail by the end of the decade. This reforming politics was what made possible the huge manifestation in Leipzig in October 1898, raised after the substitution of the former leader of GDR Erich Honecker with Egon Krenz due to his reluctance to Perestroika, which Gorbachëv wanted to extend to other Satellite States of USSR between 1986-1989. Indeed, it was because of a declaration made by the CSPU leader after he could see himself GDR leader’s perplexities during celebration for the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik that Hocker was ousted.

Leipzig manifestation inflamed due to the substitution of Hocker but, in virtue of Perestroika principles, the USSR didn’t send the army to stifle the riot. Still on the basis of the same principles, which aimed to a relaxation of the control on Soviet Union territories, Hungary could open its frontiers with Austria in 1989. That helped the migration of German citizens from East Berlin to West Berlin: the rise of the Wall, happened between 12th and 13th August 1961, was decided to contain the moving of German people, especially of the most educated and specialised workers, to the more democratic and wealthy West Berlin. That was another reason behind Leipzig manifestation. Thus, on 7th November 1989, SED general secretary, Krenz, and the minister of Foreign Affair, Oskar Fischer, informed the USSR ambassador, Vyakheslov Kakhamosov, about the new expatriation laws which included the creation of a new special checkpoint. Moscow authorities gave their permission on November 9th and Günter Schabowski, an official of the SED, organised a press conference for the same night, whose purpose was to communicate the new norms in terms of expatriation. Therefore, Günter Schabowski didn’t attend the Politubüro council concerning the new law.

The fact

«The fall of the Berlin Wall [...] was one of the few turning points in history that journalists not only witnessed but helped the cause». Indeed, Günter Schabowski was stumped by three journalists in particular, who asked him questions to which he couldn’t know the answers or pull information from that incomplete press communication he was given. Those journalists were Peter Brinkmann from the German Bild, Krzysztof Janowski from the American television network Voice of America, who asked him if the new legislation allowed or not travels between East and West Berlin, from which derived a positive answer from an even more confused Schabowski, and the Italian Riccardo Herman, who asked him from when these new norms were effective and Schabowski answered «as far as I know… effective immediately, without delay».

According to Schabowski’s declaration, it was possible to cross the Walk from that moment: a huge crowd poured out to the border.

Working in service was the lieutenant colonel Harald Jäger. When he saw all these people, he rushed to his supervisors, who gave him the order to let pass only those who had the right documentation. At 20 pm the news broadcast went on the air which delivered the news about the new norms and about the possibility of crossing the border. This news went so viral that further people added to those who were already there waiting; so that Jäger called his supervisors again: the orders were to let pass who were creating disorder but the people there understood what was happening and started to riot. At 11 pm, the situation was disastrous and Lieutenant Colonel’s supervisors didn’t know what to do. Then Jäger gave the order to open a gate on the Wall that divided the German capital and citizens joined the soldiers. The Berlin Wall fell: opened the gate, relatives and friends met for the first time in 30 years. With a great emotion was made the history.

After 25 years that night, Harald Jäger will have told to the British newspaper The Indipendent: «We stood there and watched our citizens leaving en masse. These were our people. We cried. We felt betrayed by our superiors. It was the terrible realisation that not only the system and our leaders had failed. We had too[...] The crowds won us over with their euphoria, we realised that they were overjoyed and our tears of frustration turned to those of joy.»

No one in Russia expected what could have happened that night, Gorbachëv neither, who chose to do nothing to prevent the Fall, nor to do something later. Often, in his memoir and interviews, he remembers that they «had taken every possible step to ensure that the process was peaceful, did not go against our country’s interest or threaten European peace in any way» and to the Russian magazine Russkaya Gazeta, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fall, he told In the summer of 1989, neither Helmut Kohl nor I anticipated, of course, that everything would happen so fast. [...] This happens in history: it accelerates its progress. It punishes those who are late. But it has an even harsher punishment for those who try to stand in its way. It would have been a big mistake to hold onto the Iron Curtain. That is why we didn’t put any pressure on the government of the GDR When events started to develop at a speed that no one expected, the Soviet leadership unanimously [... ] decided not to interfere in the internal processes that were under way in the GDR, not to let our troops leave their garrisons under any circumstances. I am confident to this day that it was the right decision».

Actually, the then General Secretary of the CPSU wasn’t immediately informed on what was happening in Berlin on the night of 9th November, as his spokesman, Andrey Gartsov, confirmed later, because «As the situation in Berlin was developing chaotically, no one in his circle resolved to wake the General Secretary and inform him of the event, which on the face of it did not present any threat to national security. When he was finally told that a street demonstration had forced the East German authorities to open the border checkpoints with West Berlin during the night, he said, “They did the right thing.”»

The consequences

The Fall of Berlin Wall shook up the assets of European territories of those years: if it was set out towards preserving the identities of Germany and Warsaw Treaty at first, with the support of François Mitterand’s France and Margaret Tatcher’s UK, things went differently and Germany got back to being an united nation. Above all, it was for the contribution of the chancellor of West Germany, Helmut Kohl, that the unifications happened. Kohl managed to persuade the Deutsche Bundesbank to equiparate the value of the Deutsche Mark of East Berlin to that of West Berlin, so that was possible to promulgate a Treaty on Monetary, Economic and Social Union, that came into effect on July 1st: that was the first step to German unification.

Negotiations between the States kept going until the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed by two Germany and by France, UK, USA and USSR. Germany is now a united nation with full independence. The German unification, moreover, became the basis for a new European Union.

On the other side, in Soviet Union, the Fall of Berlin Wall was the exploit of an already saturated system: by the begin of 1989, economic reforms of Perestroika were to fail, since then shortly after the rationing system was introduced and the Congress of People Deputies divided into communists and radical reformists in June, consequently the party-state lost the control on events; crisis intensified in August with the fall of Warsaw Pact: the Fall of Berlin Wall was the exploit and accelerated the process of crisis of the Soviet Union, already begun by the behaviours Gorbachëv kept at the end of his mandatory. At the end of 1991, the USSR fell apart, as well its ideology and cultural schemes that had kept united the Soviet Union since that moment,

If the Fall of Berlin Wall was a starting point for Europe, it started a period of political, social, economic and identity crisis and important transformation in Russia and in the former countries of Soviet Union. A sense of loss and chaos expanded, which swept over the culture as well, already on the way of post-modernism and of the crisis of the central role of literature.

Viviana Rizzo @livethinking

Article in Italian language here

Source

CAMPANELLI, Federica, “La caduta del Muro di Berlino: caduta di un simbolo” in Focus Italia, web, 11.08.2019, https://www.focus.it/amp/cultura/storia/il-muro-di-berlino-caduta-di-un-simbolo (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

GRACHEV, Andrei, “The world without the Wall” in Russia Beyond, web, 11.19.2020, https://www.rbth.com/literature/2014/11/19/the_world_without_the_wall_41515.html (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

KÒRSHUNOV, Maxim,“Mikhail Gorbachev: I am against all walls” in Russia Beyond, web, 10.16.2014, https://www.rbth.com/international/2014/10/16/mikhail_gorbachev_i_am_against_all_walls_40673.html (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

IL POST, “La caduta del Muro di Berlino, 30 anni fa” in Il Post, 11.09.2020, https://www.ilpost.it/2019/11/09/la-caduta-del-muro-di-berlino/amp/ (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

PANIEV, Yuri, "Quel nove novembre che cambiò la storia" in Russia Beyond, web, 11.09.2014, https://it.rbth.com/societa/2014/11/07/la_caduta_del_muro_33343 (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

PATERSON, Tony, “Fall of the Berlin Wall: the guard who opened the gate -and made history” in The Indipendent, web, 11.07.2014 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fall-of-the-berlin-wall-the-guard-who-opened-the-gate-and-made-history-9847750.html (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

ROMANO, Sergio, “La caduta del Muro di Berlino e le sue conseguenze” in ISPI. Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, web, 11.08.2020, https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/la-caduta-del-muro-di-berlino-e-le-sue-conseguenze-24323 (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

WALKER, Marcus, “The fourth man: who prompted the Fall of the Berlin Wall?” In Wall Street Journal, web, 11.05.2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2014/11/05/the-fourth-man-who-prompted-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=brussels (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

YEGOROV, Oleg, “How did the Soviets react to the fall of the Berlin Wall?” in Russia Beyond, web, 11.09.2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/331253-berlin-wall-fall-gorbachev-ussr (retrieved on 9th November 2020)

Credit pictures to their respective authors

[jnfcanada]

Part Nine 10th Anniversary – Message from Geoff and Leanne Stokes

This is the last post in the series celebrating JNFC’s 10th anniversary.  It’s pretty hard to highlight ten years but we trust you have a better understanding of what we have been involved in over all this time.  All the photographs were taken by Geoff Stokes, Jill Stokes, Leanne Stokes or someone we designated on our behalf.  Here are just a few more photos out of the thousands we have taken.

On our daily walk to the school in 2010.

This was our first time meeting this little girl in 2008. We have been sponsoring her for all these years and now she has grown into a beautiful young woman we love, and is preparing to finish primary school and enter secondary school.

Photo Taken 2016

2010 at Kyanja

Jill has always loved animals and likes to get up-close and personal!

Geoff Stokes – Treasurer

I have been on the Board and Treasurer for the Jolly Nyeko Foundation Canada since the beginning.  Although my formal role in the organization has not changed over the past 10 years, I have.

I first met Jolly in 2006 when she started to come to our house, almost weekly, for dinner.  This is where Leanne and I got to know her and understand the work that she had been doing in Uganda to help under privileged children.  We could see her passion and commitment every time we met.

Geoff walking to the school 2012

Beehives we passed one day

In earlier posts Leanne has described the process of the creation of JNFC and the process that we went through to launch the society and register (qualify) as a charity with Revenue Canada.  I was very much involved in the administrative procedures, applications, financial communication with Action For Children and reporting to Revenue Canada.  I thought that this administrative role was my place in the organization.  Well it is still part of my role, but the richness, learning, and life experience outweighs what I thought my roll was at the outset.    

Teachers in 2016 standing in front of the original grass hut where it all began in 2006.

In a nutshell here are the major highlights of my experience over the past ten years:

·      Working with an eleven hour time change and 14,000 km separation, poor and unreliable networks and 3-5 second delays for voice communication.  

·      Working with a different culture, both business and social.  There have been some bumps along the way.  

·      Seeing the children both at the school and in their village, meeting them and their families.

·      Spending time with Jolly, her family and AFC staff in Uganda: working, touring and socializing

·      Developing a trust based relationship with the staff and Board of Action for Children.

·      Really improving my photography skills (out of necessity).

·      Communicating with JNFC’s supporters and interested individuals in Canada about what we do, and what it is like for the people living in Uganda.

·      Working closely with Leanne on a project that we are both passionate about both here in Canada and when we are in Uganda.

The children all help with chores at the school - collecting water being an important one.

All in all an amazing and humbling experience.  I had always wanted to travel to sub-Saharan Africa, to see the country and the amazing wildlife.  I never dreamed that I would be part of an organization that would impact the lives of children the way that JNFC does.

Leanne Stokes - President

It’s hard to believe that ten years has gone by.  It has been an incredible journey and one that I could never have envisioned before meeting Jolly.  From the time I was young, I always wanted to visit Africa but I thought I would go to Egypt first to see the pyramids.  However, a different plan was in the making. Until I met Jolly, I knew little of Uganda; it was somewhere in Africa and I had heard of Adi Amin, a brutal leader.

When I first met Jolly I remember thinking that I needed to get to know her better to learn more about her far-reaching work in Uganda, and as I did I felt a deep respect and compassion for who she was.  Her father was a polygamist, and she had experienced a very difficult childhood in poverty which she overcame.   I have admired her tenacity to help other vulnerable children and model how to overcome circumstances through her strong faith in God.  This was one of those special moments!

Meeting Jolly again in 2012 at AFC head office

Since the inception of JNFC in 2007, I have filled the role of President which encompasses many aspects.  In Canada there is a lot of administration in record keeping, meetings with the Board of Directors, planning, fundraising, networking, organizing fundraising and information events, organizing volunteers, newsletters, policy making, website and PR maintenance to name a few, and for the last six years I have maintained the Child Sponsorship program.  

Geoff and I work as a team in all aspects of JNFC, and when we travel to Uganda Geoff is the primary photographer and I am the primary note taker as we visit the sponsored children in their homes and take in the life of the school.  We love visiting all the projects that JNFC has funded to see the progress being made and what needs to be accomplished next. Each trip to Uganda is a working trip with a few days reserved for fun, usually  visiting a National Park or different Districts.

On the boat to Murchison Falls 2008

Feeling refreshed coming back from the Falls 2012

“Outlook”

Photo taken 2010

I wish I could remember what was so funny!

Recess and tossing water balloons in 2012. All the children loved Jill (being the younger one) and followed her everywhere!

 We’ve gone through amazing experiences, and we’ve met remarkable people both here in Canada and in Uganda.  We have learned about Ugandan culture, business practices, and government structures which are all very different to Canada.  We have experienced both city and rural Ugandan hospitality.  Jolly, her husband George and her family have all welcomed us with open arms each time we visit Uganda and we feel that they have become part of our family.  

One of the main challenges we’ve experienced along the way has been communication between Canada and Uganda.  An eleven hour time change presents difficulties with telephone and Skype, so email is the best method, even with unscheduled power outages in Uganda. Communication is the major reason why it has been important to travel to Uganda regularly; to meet the people face to face and gain a better understanding.

The Crane Performers at Jolly’s daughter’s wedding in 2013 - amazing!

We’ve learned about culture, language, food, bargaining in the markets, driving on slippery red mud rural roads, pit latrines, dodging Boda Boda’s, Tribal life, a very hot climate, and “jams” in the very large city of Kampala which supports several million people.  We’ve learned to be patient, learned to appreciate running water and flush toilets, and we’ve learned to love and appreciate the Ugandan people. We in the West might think we have all the answers but we can also learn from other cultures.

Kampala City Centre 

We were purchasing bicycles looking down at a central marketplace in Kampala

People have asked me why I do this and my answer is “I am compelled”; it’s a force within me that is sure and strong because God placed it there ten years ago with a purpose that went far beyond me and what I did.  Here in the west there is a song called:  “Walk a mile in my shoes” and, we sometimes use the expression “he or she really went the extra mile”.   Well, there is a scripture in Matthew that says “when someone compels you to go with him one mile, go with him two.”  And when an opportunity arises, that is the moment to respond – will I go the extra mile or not?  How do you respond to endless poverty anywhere, let alone in a far off country with a vastly different culture?  I’ve seen poverty where I live, and have participated as a volunteer my entire life to bring a little love and hope where I live.  To travel to Uganda to deliver love with hope of a better future takes a level of faith and perseverance beyond just me that comes straight from the heart of God.  I look forward to the next phase so stayed tuned.

If I could be you, if you could be me

For just one hour, if we could find a way

To get inside each other's mind,

If you could see you through my eyes Instead your own ego,

I believe you'd be surprised to see That you've been blind.

Walk a mile in my shoes

just walk a mile in my shoes,

Before you abuse, criticize and accuse Walk a mile in my shoes

(Lyrics by Joe South 1969)

To support the work of JNFC please consider supporting us through the Child Sponsorship program or making a donation.  Please visit our website for additional program and contact information:  www.JNFCanada.org