We have completed the first leg of our JustJourney. It has been a profoundly moving trip, rich with testimony of deep and previous wrongs as well as rebuilding, repairing, and envisioning an empowered future.

We have learned firsthand about the atrocities committed in northern Uganda and listened to heartbreaking testimonies of abductions, years of subsistence living in the bush, and deaths of mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives. We have felt the shame of having been part of this long-forgotten conflict.

But peace in northern Uganda is now at hand. Families have returned to their villages, schools are being built, children are beginning to feel safe again, and people are starting to earn their own livelihoods again. We visited villages which are alive with the energy of optimism, moving from owning one goat to five, one ox to two oxen and a plow — all indications of growth and rebirth.

We have spoken with villagers, government representatives, and university and school teachers, and each conveys a singularly consistent message: we believe in ourselves and the future of Uganda. The times of handouts and foreign aid are winding down, and Ugandans are ready to steer their own future.

So we leave humbled and hopeful — humbled by what the people of northern Uganda have endured and hopeful because we know their future is in their very capable hands.

On Friday, November 5, Constance Kane, UUSC's vice president and COO as well as a participant on the Uganda JustJourney, reported in with a quick update on the beginning of their travels.

We are just beginning our Uganda JustJourney and have spent the morning with the Refugee Law Project, an ally working on post-conflict reconciliation. Among other things, they have just sponsored the National Reconstruction Bill, designed to foster dialogue and forgiveness throughout the country.

Tomorrow, we are heading up north, where we will meet with UUSC partner Caritas in Gulu and Pader. There we have been working to help families return to their villages and help regain livelihoods and local support services.

One of the unique aspects of this trip is that it is being jointly led by the UUA and UUSC. It's a rich and unique partnership and a model for the future.

UUSC's Patricia Jones with La Gotita, at GA. Listen to an exclusive interview with La Gotita, by Krissa Palmer for the UUA.

UUSC President Charlie Clements spoke to a packed audience during the plenary session on Saturday, the third day of UUA General Assembly 2009. Highlighting the work of UUSC, he focused on the role we continue to play in social justice and human rights.

Citing our role in calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, he further pushed for a bipartisan inquiry into the actions that have taken place there under the watch of the U.S. government. Reminding the audience of the range of social justice activities we are involved in, he cited the right to water in California and the progress of the state bill guaranteeing all Californians the right to safe, drinkable water, the expansion of our work on gender-based violence in Darfur in training the police on gender-protection strategies and expanding income generating activities for women, and more recent activities with UUs and Arab and Muslim Americans, building interfaith and multicultural understanding.

The day concluded with the Ware lecture, delivered by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. A signature event at G.A., the lecture was established "in honor of the distinguished services of three generations of the Ware family to the cause of Pure Christianity." Former Ware lecturers are Jane Addams, Reinhold Neibuhr, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Saul Alinsky.

Harris-Lacewell had the hall spellbound as she spoke of how both faith and reason can guide us in the political process for greater justice. Her dynamism, humor, and wisdom carried the crowd forward on a wave of optimism. The lecture is available online for viewing by anyone who did not attend.

UUSC's President's Brunch closed our activities at GA. Together, we celebrated our loyal supporters and profiled the right-to-water work that is so central to our human-rights mission. We recognized the volunteer contributions of Giles Holt, who received the 2009 Mary-Ella Holst Youth Activist Award, and participated in a Taizé water ritual, led by Environmental Justice Program Manager Patricia Jones.

At UUSC's GA booth, people can purchase hand-made baskets from Darfur.

Since joining UUSC as the vice president and chief operating officer (in January 2009) I have been following the build up to the Unitarian Universalist Association's General Assembly with interest. Having participated in many such large conferences, I couldn't imagine how this one could be so special and so unlike others I have attended. I quickly started to find out.

On entering the massive meeting space today, Day One, everyone smiled at me! They didn't even know me, but assumed a fellowship and solidarity, which felt both welcoming and embracing, casting into stark relief the vast and impersonal dimensions of the conference space.

Bolstered by this good cheer, I attended a session called "Confronting the Top Heavy Distribution of U.S. Wealth," at the suggestion of UUA Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery. She steered me in the right direction. Chuck Collins, the presenter, made it crystal clear what the problems of wealth distribution have been over the past 30 years and what we need to do about them. Far from feeling gloomy, I felt uplifted and eager for action.

Now, with a smiling welcome and the "seven steps to restoring progressivity," I was ready for the next session on immigration reform. Here again, I was met with uplifting stories and information about how to address these heartbreaking challenges, including developing partnerships with local police and involving them in advocacy campaigns.

As if that weren't enough goodness for one day, I visited the UUSC booth (#718). What a job the team has done! It has pride of place right inside the main door and handsomely displays products representing the four key UUSC focus areas. There were shawls and woven pillows, fair trade items, pecans, and the newest item, the UUSC water bottle. They were flying off the shelves! Playing in the background was our Gulf Coast video, enticing shoppers to linger and learn more about our work.

What a day! Tomorrow promises to be as equally fulfilling. I'm wondering what the workshop "Greed, Fear, Values and Investments" is all about. Stay tuned!