Brandon Twp.- Courtney Jenko snapped more than 5,000 photographs during a six-week stay in Africa, but it still wasn’t enough.
‘I took my camera and thought I could capture Africa, but you can’t,? said the 21-year-old member of Seymour Lake United Methodist Church. ‘You have to go and experience it.?
The senior at Rochester College is studying Christian ministry and left the United States on June 23 for Jinja, Uganda in east Africa to serve a summer mission internship and learn whether missions were a part of her calling. She was accompanied by nine other students from her school, as well as four students from a college in Texas and one from Oklahoma.
‘Last year, two female students from Uganda were here and told me stories and that I would love it,? Jenko recalled. ‘I had to get a lot of shots and immunizations and we had team meetings to learn the culture and a little of the language and prepare us for what we would see over there.?
Jenko and her fellow classmates spent two days in airports, as their flights were changed and delayed, but ultimately flew from Detroit to Newark, NJ, then to London, Nairobi, Kenya, and finally, Entebbe, Uganda. From there, missionaries drove them two hours to Jinja.
What she saw wasn’t as different as she thought it would be. Jenko notes that people often imagine Africa as full of deserts and starving children and many of her acquaintances were advising her to wear shoes all the time and to be careful of what she drank. However, she found Uganda to be green and lush, a very beautiful country. Jinja, the town where she stayed, is located right on Lake Victoria and is at the source of the Nile River, which she was able to raft on not long after her arrival.
?(Uganda) wasn’t so strange and crazy or anything you need to freak out about,? Jenko said. ‘This is how people live and we don’t need to make such a big deal about it. I think I embraced the entire experience. This was where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do.?
What Jenko spent much of her time doing was shadowing missionaries in the nation that is slightly smaller than Oregon in size and has a population of more than 31 million people, 35 percent of whom live below the poverty line. The average life expectancy in Uganda is 52 years of age.
Jenko said there was no typical day in Jinja, where she worked in the library, one of the biggest in Uganda with more than a thousand books, helping them switch to the Library of Congress system. She also worked on the Mvule Tree Project, a reforestation project in which the goal is to bring 100 trees to each village, giving money to citizens in exchange for their care of the trees. The residents can then use the money for schools or other community improvements, such as building a water well.
Jenko also gave a few lessons about personal hygiene, talking to the Ugandans about the importance of washing their hands and using soap. She helped present a health clinic where the missionaries talked about malaria, building proper latrines and the spacing of children. Jenko notes the average Ugandan woman has about seven children. During the clinic, they advised them about the rhythm method of birth control.
‘We told them it’s OK to have a couple children, that they’ll be able to provide better for them and they’ll be healthier,? she said.
But the highlight of Jenko’s trip was what the missionaries called bonding. She spent three days with a host family in their hut in a village outside Jinja, without anyone from her team. Only one person in the family spoke English (the standard language in the area is Lusoga), and she communicated non-verbally much of the time.
‘That was really experiencing the culture,? Jenko remembered, noting that she walked two miles to church with them, helped them in their garden by planting potatoes, and helped the wife with the cooking and carrying water from the well.
What she also saw while in Uganda was that the people there face the same problems as people in the U.S.? issues with marriages, finances, where to send their children to school and how to come up with the money to send them there.
The biggest cultural difference between Ugandans and Americans, Jenko says, is the concept of time.
‘We (the missionaries) say, ‘There’s always time in Africa,?? she says, laughing, noting that greeting a person, which can take up to 20 minutes, is a large part of culture. ‘They will be late to work, because they had guests. Sometimes it’s frustrating, because they say they will meet you at 2, but don’t show up until 5. You embrace the fact that it takes you awhile to do things and it forces you to slow down and interact with the people a lot more.?
Jenko noted that singing and dancing are popular activities and Ugandan woman spend most of their day cooking.
‘As soon as they’re done with breakfast, they start cooking lunch and then tea and dinner,? she said. ‘Their whole life is built around food. The kids attend school, based on the British school system. The men that aren’t church leaders sit around a lot and talk with other men or drink. It was very frustrating, but there’s always an exception. I met a man who worked very hard to build a garden to provide for his family and community.?
Jenko describes the people she met on her trip as amazing and said she has many friends now. Uganda to her is no longer just a place on the map.
‘It’s great to see they’re real people and raising their children over there and it works,? she said. ‘I think they’re making progress, but it can’t be measured on paper. It’s not about the number of people baptized or how many churches are built. It’s all about helping them grow in their faith and their love for one another and making their community a better place to live.?