Final Day at Awere--Thank You, Shona

Final Day at Awere

Well, it has ended, and I know of all the people I have met and all those that I have helped, and all of those that Invisible Children has helped—I know who was helped the most. His name is John Magee. There is an episode of SportsNight called “The Quality of Mercy at 29K” it is twenty-two minutes long and most of my older classes have scene it. But the actress Felicity Huffman comes barging into the office of Robert Guillame after she is talked into seeing “Lion King” because she thinks the theatre is not good and not worth anything. Her line is “Thank You, Isaac. Thank you for opening up my eyes to heretofore unspeakable beauty that I never would have scene. Thank You, Isaac and she runs on with sentence of more superlatives, and then another sentence of superlatives. Where Isaac stops her, and he says I know. And then she says Thank you Isaac.

So here is my homage to that scene. (Shona Clarkson is the student who brought the Invisible Children DVD into my classroom, and on the same day, the day of the deadline I applied for this program).

Thank You, Shona for opening my eyes to people and a culture I never would have met. Thank You for allowing me into the hearts of the most generous culture I have ever met in my life, the Acholi people. Thank You, Shona for getting me to take a risk I talk about a lot, but do not follow through as much as I should. Thank You, Shona for showing me the world is really as close as an e-mail and there is a world of new friends out there that want to meet us. Thank You, Shona for introducing me to my responsibility as an American, so many on this planet look up to us with admiration and respect. Shouldn’t we at least give them back a small fraction (say 7/1000). Thank You, for opening up my mind to the possibilities of wanting to come back to Gulu with students, and also to bring students of Gulu to St. Louis. Thank You, Shona.

Alanis Morrisette, said that when she wrote her song Thank You she wrote is as a prayer and if she could she often thinks about performing it on her knees. So when I say Thank You know that I am also thanking God for you, and will think a special thought for you tonight. Thank you, family for all of your support and kindness, and thanks Mary, Tom, and Katie for a wonderful camera where you will get to share so much of my experience. Thanks to Mike Barry and Cathy Barry for welcoming me into your house and for all the old and dear friends that contributed to this trip. Thank you Tim and Terri Gaffney for just be the everyday people that you are, and always welcoming strangers to your house like they have been friends for years. And all the people that came that day, and contributed so much I was and still am humbled by your generosity. Thanks to all my students, current and former, who inspire me each and every day to be a better teacher and man. Thanks to the 43 students and crew that went to Biloxi this year and of course the original crew last year. You started this summer out with a spirit of can-do and a wonderful sense of caring and sharing. Thanks to my professional colleagues, who I feel are so close right now with all of your special words of encouragement. And Thank You to all my friends who have touched my life, if you are proud of me and what I have done this summer you should know that I only took the best parts from each one of you to bring to Gulu to represent St. Louis and our village. I am known in parts of Gulu as the tallest man in the village. I also know that I am the most blessed.

Although this passage sounds like the end of a journey, those of you who know me know this is only the start. We can end hunger and extreme poverty by the year 2025. It will be accomplished in three simple and attainable ways. (1) There is an extraordinary group of people who are ready to disrupt their lives, use pit latrines, shower in cold water, and never miss the luxuries of home in order to change the world in the most remote spots of the world. I have met at least 50 of them here, and have scene the trucks of Action Hunger, Medicines Sans Frontieres, and many more here in Uganda. (2) For each one of those wonderful giving people here there are probably at least 100 people at home supporting them through gifts, resources, and prayers. There are also people buying bracelets, wristbands, mosquito nets, and supporting groups that will change the world, and (3) We live in the world’s only superpower who can change villages and thousands of lives with a wink or a nod, and it is time we understood and make our leaders understand that we have no task greater than helping those without learn how to learn, how to sustain, and how to save. We also need to contribute just a small fraction of our dollars to make sure this is working.

If my crusading before annoyed you---get ready because I will come back to America carrying the kindness and the dignity of the Acholi people with me. And in my heart I will hold the hearts of 800 Awere S.S. students.

Peace

John


p.s. I may write again about the beauty of the Nile or of seeing animals on safari, but I have already seen the smiles of the children of Gulu, and their words, “Mu nuu bye, Mu nuu bye, bye, bye, BYE, BYE, bye, bye…….The scream louder as you walk away, then all of sudden you hear a big laugh, and then you don’t hear them anymore as you are now too far away. I think God would have to make the Nile really, really, really special to beat that.