White Girls Can't Camp

I probably should just skip over this next part but I'm not going to.

We left for camp on Tuesday the 28th of December. The camp was held at a university campus about an hour from our house in Kampala. Not hosted by EAC, we were guests at this retreat for sponsored kids from all over Uganda. Several church groups and other organizations attended and "kids" ranged in age from 13 to 25. Our handful of Mzungus were the only white folk in attendance and so our celebrity status rose to a new height. We weren't asked to sign any autographs this time (although technically we weren't asked the last time either) but as soon as we hopped out of our van we were greeted and stared at and smiled at quite profusely.
The campus was gorgeous. The simple brick and concrete buildings were large and spread out and the trees that dotted the property were breathtaking. Our courtyard (snicker, snicker) was even landscaped with bushes and looked quite American. There were cows grazing randomly on one side of the property, along with a few goats and sheep. The entire campus was fenced in as is Ugandan style. Barbed wire runs along the top of every fence you see around towns and in the city so this campus was no exception.
We registered and then waited while other kids arrived and registered. Strangely enough, our glaringly white group was overlooked during bed assignments and we waited for the rest of the day to be assigned to a room. In the evening we finally volunteered to stay in a large empty room that was being used as a store. In one tiny corner there were stacks of snack supplies for sale and the rest of the room was filled with our stuff. We were granted permission and we brought in our mattresses and set up camp.
The theme for the program was "Solidarity with Purpose." We had received name tags and schedules for the five-day camp and had only the vaguest idea of what we were in for.
To make a very, very long story a little less boring and shameful, not all of us lasted the five days.
Our only white male had been ill since before my arrival in Uganda and wasn't as well as he wanted to be. He left early on the third day to head back to the EAC house. In the span of those two days we had tried our hand at small groups, workshops and the various worship services. I was very moved at how dedicated to the Gospel and to "Solida" my fellow campers were. All of the kids were also incredibly friendly. The problem some of us white girls had was with the basics.
By day three we had relocated from the store to a vacant classroom and were skipping meals we didn't think we could stomach. Three of us were bed ridden. Ashley had stomach pains. Ivan, our group leader offered us a ride home and we took it. We debated, but we took it. Four of us did the walk of shame to the van and made the escape back to plumbing and food.
But as God would have it our time at camp was not a waste. We did meet several of the kids and really learned from them. These kids came from villages and cities all over Uganda and were united in one thing: Christ. Our solidarity message was an important one and the camp theme song that went with it really spoke to me about our need to acknowledge that. As a (wannabe) missionary I need to remember that I am only one unit in the full body of Christ. Knowing that the bible-believing churches in Uganda are established well enough to come together for an annual camping retreat was an incredible encouragement.
We were blessed to have a white girl representative stay behind. I'm sure she was disappointed that we left, as were we, but she stuck it out until the end. As for me, I had never been happier to see a shower. I had a lot to think about and I had to come to terms with what, essentially, was quitting. While we were comparing our experience to jail and concentration camps it really wasn't anywhere near as bad as that. It was shocking and pretty surreal, but we were one in Christ. Solidarity with a purpose. We weren't there for ourselves and even though we couldn't get past physical circumstances enough to see that during our camp stay, the lessons of this experience are definitely something I will know and remember for the rest of my life.