Wow is all I can say. This week went from really bad to really great! Let me back track a bit.
There have been some things going on with the director of EAC that I don't agree with. I didn't have any intentions of mentioning this on my blog, but it has been one of the big frustrations a lot of us here have struggled with. As someone noted, it is obvious that the organization is run by young people (Wilson, the director, is 28). Abbreviated version: There has been LOTS of lying and dishonesty. Suggestions have been asked for and given and none have been taken. I mean lets get real here, I am very honest and have a big mouth so my opinions have been voiced based on my experiences. Hannah told me she loved my black and white boldness. I took that as a compliment, but I can hear my mother thinking out loud about how my mouth gets me in trouble. It's ok mom, I get it from my dad, blame him for being a lawyer and for me wanting to be just like him for so long. Anwyays, I had all intentions of sponsoring a child that I had gotten to know through the organization. Unfortunately, I don't trust sending my money through EAC and when I do decide to sponsor a child it will be through Compassion. I just had to remind myself and those around me that I did not come here to be caught up in this childish drama and I would not let myself lose sight of why I came here.
So between all of those issues and the passing of my grandfather, it made my week a little more complicated than normal. Saturday we had planned our Thanksgiving here. We invited all of the volunteers and then the Morris', who are a missionary family living here that Meredith knows. The Morris', Dan and Loring, have 3 kids, Aiden (9), Hannah (6) and Ben (4). They were such an awesome family and we really enjoyed having them around. The Ugandan volunteers loved learning about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and how basically its just a day to give thanks, eat lots of food and sleep. Meredith cooked the turkey. When I say we had a turkey, I mean we had to buy a live turkey from the market and then it chilled in the backyard for the night and was slaughtered the next day. No joke. Meredith signed up for the turkey acting like she had done it before. Well as we are both cooking away in the kitchen she confides in me that this is her very first turkey and stuffing. It turned out to be really good though. Dan said the only reason he knew that it was her first time was because she cooked the turkey the wrong way in the oven! I made macaroni and cheese casserole (of course!) and I must give props to myself because I think it was one of the best I have ever made. Either that or I was just really hungry. I also made fresh green beans with bacon and onion. The Americans were all ecstatic for real bacon. Hannah made mashed potatoes, Tara made apple pie and pecan pie and Loring brough this incredible apple and cranberry gilett. I am not usually a fan of Thanksgiving food (other than my aunts Reese's pie), but this year was definitely a success. It was also interesting because this was my 3rd year away from home for Turkey Day.
Monday we went down to the beach for the day. And by beach I really mean lake with about 10 feet of beach. We went down to Lake Victoria, which is about 15 minutes from the Entebbe Airport where we had to take Hannah. We ate fresh mangos and guavas and just hung around and chatted for a while. Then it was time to send Hannah on her way. It was sad to see her go, but she had been here for 3 months and was ready to get back. She really had a passion for what she was doing here and put all of her heart into the projects that we did. I definitely enjoyed getting to know her over the past few weeks.
Tuesday was our last day at Victory Primary School because the kids are breaking for the term until February. The kids there are cute and love when we are there. It is nice to realize how much we are needed at all of the projects that we go to each week. As tiring, hot, smelly and gross as some of them can be, at the end of the day I always remind myself of how much the little things we do really impact them in greater ways than we realize.
Charlie and Daniel are 2 American guys traveling through Africa with an organization called Mocha Club and they have spent the past week with us. Mocha Club is a really cool organization focused toward college kids, but anyone can join. The idea behind it is to give up 2 mochas a month and give $7 to Mocha Club per month. The money goes to 20 organizations throughout 7 countries in Africa: Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They are traveling around checking on all of the projects and how they are being run, how they are doing, etc. They are creating videos and a blog that are being published on their website. I encourage you to visit MochaClub.org to learn more. If anyone is interested in being on my team let me know and I would love to invite you. Oh yeah and you get a free t-shirt when you join!
Anyways, then coming here was like a gift from God. Miracles really can happen. Meredith and I had really been praying for a change around this trash bin I call EAC, I mean not that I'm complaining or anything, and what do you know? We got two really awesome guys. Nothing beats some needed comic relief. We have spent the past 5 days together and you would think we had all known each other forever. Charlie has already taken to calling us the 'Fab 4'.
Brace yourself for the story you are about to hear. EAC has been looking to purchase land to build a new training center. Well after searching and searching that have finally found it. To some that sounds exciting, to me it says hmm this current organization is spiraling downhill so starting on a new project that will be much bigger sounds extremely idiotic. I mean what do I know though? SO. We go to Luwero, which is about an hour and a half from here. EAC got a little carried away and purchased 34 acres. Yep, 34. So we went out there to pray over the land. We were told we didn't have to do if we "weren't ready" or thought we might be the weak links of the team. I tried to talk Meredith into saying we were weak links. Let's just say I am glad we didn't though because this was a once in a lifetime experience. We were told to wear "jungle boots", whatever those are. SO we tromped through the jungle, while Meredith is screaming about hating nature, there are massive rain clouds over our head about to burst, cows are roaming freely, Charlie is playing the guitar and Daniel and I are re-wording songs with lyrics about the 34 acre jungle. Lovely. So we have been told that in the center of the land there is a thicket that is ruled by witchcraft. Witchcraft in Luwero is apparently a big thing and is widely practiced. Odd. Then again, TIA. So we have been told that people have tried to cut this area down, but when they went in with their machines they never came back out. Ok this is a small area, like I could run around this little circle in less than 30 seconds. We have been told that we should not try to take this area down when we begin building, but I assure you that will be the first thing Wilson does. EAC will then be haunted by these crazy witches and their nonsense. So anyways we get here and all the Ugandans start screaming at the demon possessed thicket. Of course I burst into laughter because I thought everyone was joking. Oh no, they were so serious. So we, the fab 4, are walking around this place like what in the world is happening? Is this even slightly serious? Well it starts raining. Just great. People are on their knees, CRYING and SCREAMING to these demons. As their chants get louder, the rain comes down harder. The 4 of us are laughing uncontrollably. Everyone is giving us mean looks because we are apparently being rude. I mean who knew people really ran demons out like this?? Part of the laughter was coming from the fact that we are drenched from the rain and it wasn't even worth trying to keep dry. I wish one of us had taken off running into the thicket as a joke, but I feel that no one would have appreciated that very much. This was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen in my entire life, hands down!
OK SO it is getting late and this post is getting long. I still have a lot to say so stay tuned to hear about how I have had 2 brownie sundaes, a fabulous milkshake, a bacon cheeseburger, a calzone and a chicken burrito in 72 hours. Plus Thanksgiving round 2 at the Morris', dragging Daniel to the markets while Mer and I shopped, babysitting the Morris kids and an interesting day in a very African church. TIA. Life is so good!!
One last thing, I won't be putting up any of my pictures until I get home because it takes too long, but promise I will do it!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
TIA. This is Africa.
Things around here have been very.....hmm. African. We lose power sometimes at night, always while we are cooking dinner. We have to function by lanterns and flashlights. Guess what? I forgot my flashlight. Not even a flashlight, I have a snazzy headlight (yeah the ones that go around your head and you feel like you should be caving). We lose water on a regular basis in the kitchen. It's so fun when you have dishes from 12 people, plus whatever you used for cooking. We have a place outside where we have a water reserve so we always have water, but let me just tell you that taking a cold bucket shower is not my idea of fun. I would rather just not shower all together. Is that gross? TIA.
You don't really find public toilets anywhere. In fact they are just about non-existent. However, what you do find are things called squatty potties. They have them some places in Europe, but let me just assure you that they are dirtier here. It's literally just a semi toilet/basically a cut out square on the ground that is swarming with flys. I try not to drink anything on days when I know there won't be real toilets for fear of having to use these nasty things. TIA.
A couple weeks ago we had a girls night at the pork joint. Well it was supposed to be a girls night, but a couple guys showed up. Want to know their names?? Wait for it....wait for it.....Stalker and Cockroach. Of course those aren't their real names and they aren't creepy like they sound! Anyways, when I say pork joint I mean you go up to the counter and order how many kilos of meat you want for your table and which part of the body. They have a tree stump back there and they just butcher the meat up. Looks a little raunchy. When your food is almost ready they come around with a water pitcher, soap and a basin. They go around to each person and you wash your hands. They put the meat in the middle of the table and everyone just digs in. No plates, no silverwear. They cook the meat with seasoning, tomatoes and onions and then you get sides of cabbage and mootoke (sp?). Mootoke/Matoke (no idea on the proper spelling, but will find out) is one of he 4 types of bananas here and basically it tastes like potatoes. It' a huge staple in the Ugandan diet. The meat was sooo good. I was a little skeptical because they eat the fat here, but we asked them to trim it for us and they did just that. After dinner they come back around and you wash your hands again. Pork joint. TIA.
Homosexuality here is illegal. However, guys always hold hands with guys and girls hold hands with girls walking down the street. It's like a sign of friendship. find this a little odd, but have gotten used to someone wanting to hold my hand as we mosey the crowded streets of Uganda. TIA.
I have many more TIA moments, but am at a loss right now. Other recent events:
We had our EAC sponsor children over to write Christmas letters to their sponsors. We had about 80 kids show up, which is a pretty decent number. Especially since some of the families were told it was Sunday instead of the correct day, Saturday. Communication in Africa= huge fail. The kids had breakfast, music, wrote their letters and had a big lunch. I had the Primary 4 and 5, which is 4th and 5th grade. A few of them had really good English, but a couple not so much. It was fun to see all the kids that the organization supports.
I went on a SAFARI in Murchison Falls, which is about 4 hours from here in northwestern Uganda. We could see the mountains of the Congo from the national park. We got to see tons of giraffes, a male lion, a couple leopards, lots of buffalo, tons of hippopatomous'/hippopotomi (which ever is even slightly correct), some elephants, red tailed monkeys, baboons tons of random birds that I didn't pay attention to their names, antelope, crocs and warthogs. There were actually warthogs hanging out at our campsite. I got some reallt great pictures so I will try to get those up soon. the weather was really nice for us. Overcast and cool in the morning for the game drive. We got to sit on top of the safari van in these luggage looking racks on top of the car. Our guide was extremely helpful and told us a lot about the park and the animals, none of which I remember other than the fact that this national park is 4000 sqaure kilometers. WHOA. It took us over an hour once we entered the park just to get to the campsite. In the afternoon we went on the boat ride where we saw all the hippos. We went all the way down to the bottom of Murchison Falls. The day before on our way in we had gone to the top of the waterfall so it was cool to see it from both angles. The food at the campsite was really good too, best I have had. On the way back to Kampala we had lunch through the window. Literally. There are certain areas where you can stop and people surround you offering you all kinds of food. We got goat on a stick (incredible), grilled corn and grilled bananas. It was my favorite meal of the whole trip so far! SOO good.
I have a lot more to say, but I have to run because we will be leaving soon. I will try to finish catching up in the next couple days. Happy Turkey Day to you all!
You don't really find public toilets anywhere. In fact they are just about non-existent. However, what you do find are things called squatty potties. They have them some places in Europe, but let me just assure you that they are dirtier here. It's literally just a semi toilet/basically a cut out square on the ground that is swarming with flys. I try not to drink anything on days when I know there won't be real toilets for fear of having to use these nasty things. TIA.
A couple weeks ago we had a girls night at the pork joint. Well it was supposed to be a girls night, but a couple guys showed up. Want to know their names?? Wait for it....wait for it.....Stalker and Cockroach. Of course those aren't their real names and they aren't creepy like they sound! Anyways, when I say pork joint I mean you go up to the counter and order how many kilos of meat you want for your table and which part of the body. They have a tree stump back there and they just butcher the meat up. Looks a little raunchy. When your food is almost ready they come around with a water pitcher, soap and a basin. They go around to each person and you wash your hands. They put the meat in the middle of the table and everyone just digs in. No plates, no silverwear. They cook the meat with seasoning, tomatoes and onions and then you get sides of cabbage and mootoke (sp?). Mootoke/Matoke (no idea on the proper spelling, but will find out) is one of he 4 types of bananas here and basically it tastes like potatoes. It' a huge staple in the Ugandan diet. The meat was sooo good. I was a little skeptical because they eat the fat here, but we asked them to trim it for us and they did just that. After dinner they come back around and you wash your hands again. Pork joint. TIA.
Homosexuality here is illegal. However, guys always hold hands with guys and girls hold hands with girls walking down the street. It's like a sign of friendship. find this a little odd, but have gotten used to someone wanting to hold my hand as we mosey the crowded streets of Uganda. TIA.
I have many more TIA moments, but am at a loss right now. Other recent events:
We had our EAC sponsor children over to write Christmas letters to their sponsors. We had about 80 kids show up, which is a pretty decent number. Especially since some of the families were told it was Sunday instead of the correct day, Saturday. Communication in Africa= huge fail. The kids had breakfast, music, wrote their letters and had a big lunch. I had the Primary 4 and 5, which is 4th and 5th grade. A few of them had really good English, but a couple not so much. It was fun to see all the kids that the organization supports.
I went on a SAFARI in Murchison Falls, which is about 4 hours from here in northwestern Uganda. We could see the mountains of the Congo from the national park. We got to see tons of giraffes, a male lion, a couple leopards, lots of buffalo, tons of hippopatomous'/hippopotomi (which ever is even slightly correct), some elephants, red tailed monkeys, baboons tons of random birds that I didn't pay attention to their names, antelope, crocs and warthogs. There were actually warthogs hanging out at our campsite. I got some reallt great pictures so I will try to get those up soon. the weather was really nice for us. Overcast and cool in the morning for the game drive. We got to sit on top of the safari van in these luggage looking racks on top of the car. Our guide was extremely helpful and told us a lot about the park and the animals, none of which I remember other than the fact that this national park is 4000 sqaure kilometers. WHOA. It took us over an hour once we entered the park just to get to the campsite. In the afternoon we went on the boat ride where we saw all the hippos. We went all the way down to the bottom of Murchison Falls. The day before on our way in we had gone to the top of the waterfall so it was cool to see it from both angles. The food at the campsite was really good too, best I have had. On the way back to Kampala we had lunch through the window. Literally. There are certain areas where you can stop and people surround you offering you all kinds of food. We got goat on a stick (incredible), grilled corn and grilled bananas. It was my favorite meal of the whole trip so far! SOO good.
I have a lot more to say, but I have to run because we will be leaving soon. I will try to finish catching up in the next couple days. Happy Turkey Day to you all!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Apology!
I know I have been behind on my blogm but I have a good excuse! We have had horrible luck with the internet. It has been in and out all week and when it works it is beyond slow. I promise that I will have it updated within the next 24 hours...as long as there is power! Hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for Turkey Day!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Pictures
Sanyu Babies Home
Felix (the greatest volunteer at EAC) and his little sister, Precious
Precious, Felix, Me, Meredith and Rachel
Ivan, Hannah singing and Tara
Kids at New Style Primary School
Me and Kalema at New Style Primary School
Kids at New Style P/S
Meredith and the kids after eating porridge
The little girl on the right is one of the cutest little kids!
Behind the fence is Victory Primary School, where we go on Tuesdays
The kids at Victory singing and dancing with Felix (in the middle)
My favorite little girl from Nsambya, Christine
Hannah and Emma at Nsambya Babies Home
Kids at Nsambya Babies Home
Felix (the greatest volunteer at EAC) and his little sister, Precious
Precious, Felix, Me, Meredith and Rachel
Ivan, Hannah singing and Tara
Kids at New Style Primary School
Me and Kalema at New Style Primary School
Kids at New Style P/S
Meredith and the kids after eating porridge
The little girl on the right is one of the cutest little kids!
Behind the fence is Victory Primary School, where we go on Tuesdays
The kids at Victory singing and dancing with Felix (in the middle)
My favorite little girl from Nsambya, Christine
Hannah and Emma at Nsambya Babies Home
Kids at Nsambya Babies Home
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Week 2
I have officially been here for a week! It feels like a lot longer because I have already done so much. I did not get to post on Monday, but I wanted to point out that Monday was a big day. It was the 20 year celebration of the Berlin Wall coming down! I wish I could have still been in Berlin to celebrate such a great day in history. Speaking of Berlin, I woke up the other morning with a great surprise in my email. The Leibigers new aupair sent me an email Hannah wrote. It said, 'Catherine, I have so much love for you, kisses, Hannah'. A couple weeks before I left to come here I looked through my photos from my year in Germany and realized how much I really missed my kids. Hannah started Kindergarten in September. I Skyped with Linda the other day and got to see some pics from her first day. Too cute. If I can I will try to upload one on here.
Anyways, back to Uganda. Week 2. Monday morning we went to Nsambya Babies Home. It is much different from the other babies home we visit on Thursday's, Sanyu. This one is a little bit smaller and much less organized. However, I really liked it because the kids have a big playground so they run around outside all morning. The problem is that these kids don't wear diapers. The baby babies where cloth diapers, but the 2 and 3 year olds do not. They don't even wear underwear because really there is no point. They try to teach the kids to go to the bathroom in the grass. Some of them are pretty good, others not so much. I was warned to wear my dirtiest clothes this day because kids would pee on me. I love kids, but the one thing I don't love is smelling like their urine. Anytime I was holding a child that acted slightly like they might have to go I sent them to the yard. I was not going to take my chances. This one little girl, Christine, came and sat in my lap when I got there and didn't let go until the time I left. She was the cutest little thing. One of the cool things for Hannah was when she got here 2 months ago these kids weren't talking. On Monday they were singing songs and saying little words. Christine has learned to say 'I love you', but instead she says 'I love Lou'. Every once in a while she would get the you part right. They learned a song that goes 'Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus, I love you, I love you, You are my saviour,You are my saviour, Everyday, Everyday'. It's a little hard without the tune, but hearing these itty bitty kids sing it was extremely cute. It's pretty amazing how once a kid starts to speak it just never stops.
Monday afternoons we have our planning meetings. This week went on forever because there was a lot to cover for the upcoming week. We plan out who has which duties for the week for household duties, cooking and who teaches what at each of our outreach programs. On Saturday we are having an EAC Sponsor day, which is where the 101 kids sponsored by EAC come to our house. We are making Christmas cards for the families that sponsor them. I know it will be a lot of fun to get to spend time with these kids, but at the same time 101 kids at this house will be mass chaos. Hannah and I are in charge of tea and toast for the kids breakfast and then I will be working with the 4th and 5th graders writing their letters. Should be fun, exciting and interesting! Sunday Hannah, Meredith, Jayan and I leave for our SAFARI! We will be gone until Tuesday. I cannot wait!! As long as I see lots of giraffes, zebras, lions, monkeys and elephants I will be golden. My dad thinks he is quite the character and asked if I had never been to the zoo. Oh Pete. So this week will be busy, but there is a lot to look forward to!
Monday night Hannah was asked to sing at a Bible study that our friend Rachel goes to. I got to take my first 'boda' ride, which is like a motorcycle taxi. They are everywhere here and much faster than the normal taxis. Don't think yellow cab, this is a van that holds about 14 people. The problem is you have to wait for the whole van to fill up before it will leave, so if there aren't any people around then it can take forever. The bodas are also faster because they are small and they weave in and out of traffic. Sounds safe right? Anyways, Rachel just moved out of the EAC house and in with a Ugandan family she has become close with. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I feel like I keep saying that about people I have met, but the people here are so incredibly friendly. The kids love to run to you even when you are walking down the street and they don't know you. They yell 'Mzugu' which means 'white' in Luganda. It is not a bad thing when they say this. We joke about it though because in the US you would never run up to a little black kid and yell hey black! Anyways, everyone that we have met has been more than friendly and done everything to try to make us feel welcome here in Uganda. People will always ask if this is my first time here, how I like it and will then say well Welcome to Uganda! I love this place.
Currently Meredith and Sarah are both sick. They went to the doctor on Monday and Meredith has the flu and Sarah has malaria. An interesting fact from the doctor was that no American has been diagnosed with malaria in the past 3 years. I was glad to know that with all the money spent on those expensive malaria pills, I really didn't have a lot to worry about. Many people come to Uganda without the medicine because if you get malaria here they have the proper treatment for it here. You will feel rough for about a week, but then you are fine. The one thing you do not want to happen is to end up with malaria when you get back to the US since it is not common because they do not have the proper treatment. Sarah is from Uganda though so she knows what to do and has basically just been sleeping it off. I have been joking with her all week about how she is not allowed to leave her room because she may kill us all. She chases me every time she sees me. The punchline of the joke is that malaria is not contagious.
Tuesday we went to Victory Primary School. This is for kids who are too poor to pay to go to school. The school has walls created from reed and dirt floors. They are always short on teachers so we always help teach. I had a 3rd grade classroom this week. They just completed the chapter on Safety. It was about accidents, poisoning, not to play in traffic, things of that nature. All of the kids said they knew it really well so I was instructed to give them the test from the end of the chapter. Terrible. They were all cheating. Apparently they thought I was stupid because they were flipping through their notebooks looking for the answers. What they didn't realize was I wasn't afraid to snatch those notebooks up. The first one I took from this little girl and she was so caught off guard and looked up at me with these big bug eyes. All of the kids yell 'OHHHHH' sort of like haha busted. Once I graded their tests I realized I should have allowed them to keep cheating though because their results were depressing. Some of them got all 12 answers wrong. The schools do everything in English, but a lot of the kids don't speak any other English other than at school so I think a lot of it had to do with them not understanding what the questions were asking. After they finished their tests they were allowed to go outside and play. We make porridge for them because otherwise they wouldn't eat anything until they got home, assuming that they will even get to do that. We sing songs with them and they go wild. After that it is back to their classrooms for the afternoon.
We came back to the house and had lunch, which was fried bananas with genot sauce, which is like a peanut sauce. Let's just say I opted for my Cheez It's instead. I planned on savoring each cheez it so they would last, but I have succeeded in polishing off both boxes. I am down to a few more granola bars.
Tuesday afternoon we went to the School for the Deaf. We took tattoos and jump ropes. The kids went CRAZY with it all. They absolutely loved the tattoos that were hearts and flowers and such with glitter in them. We took 300 and ran out before all of the kids had gotten one. Several of the kids took more than they were supposed to. They just swarm you and start grabbing. There is no way you can get them to back up and get in line or to do something orderly like that. The kids all fought over the jump ropes too. It is overwhelming, but when you leave you realize what an impact you made on them because you realize things like that never happen. Jayan's 15 year old brother Maurice is deaf and is in school there, so we got to spend some time with him and his friends. The hardest thing is obviously the communication barrier. Really the only thing I know in sign language is the alphabet and when people start spelling words I have to quickly run through the alphabet to remember what's what. Hannah has done a really good job of picking up some signs over the last couple months. I really hate to see her go in a couple weeks because she really loves all of the projects here. We have a friend Jenny, from the UK, who teaches at the school and it was fun to watch her communicate with the kids. There is also a church for the deaf that is next to the school. Hannah and I caught a glimpse of the service on our walk home from church on Sunday.
Of course I still have more to say, but I need to get moving because people will start waking up shortly. Let me also apologize for any grammatical errors, I don't ever proof read these before I hit post! Hopefully pictures will be coming this afternoon!
Anyways, back to Uganda. Week 2. Monday morning we went to Nsambya Babies Home. It is much different from the other babies home we visit on Thursday's, Sanyu. This one is a little bit smaller and much less organized. However, I really liked it because the kids have a big playground so they run around outside all morning. The problem is that these kids don't wear diapers. The baby babies where cloth diapers, but the 2 and 3 year olds do not. They don't even wear underwear because really there is no point. They try to teach the kids to go to the bathroom in the grass. Some of them are pretty good, others not so much. I was warned to wear my dirtiest clothes this day because kids would pee on me. I love kids, but the one thing I don't love is smelling like their urine. Anytime I was holding a child that acted slightly like they might have to go I sent them to the yard. I was not going to take my chances. This one little girl, Christine, came and sat in my lap when I got there and didn't let go until the time I left. She was the cutest little thing. One of the cool things for Hannah was when she got here 2 months ago these kids weren't talking. On Monday they were singing songs and saying little words. Christine has learned to say 'I love you', but instead she says 'I love Lou'. Every once in a while she would get the you part right. They learned a song that goes 'Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus, I love you, I love you, You are my saviour,You are my saviour, Everyday, Everyday'. It's a little hard without the tune, but hearing these itty bitty kids sing it was extremely cute. It's pretty amazing how once a kid starts to speak it just never stops.
Monday afternoons we have our planning meetings. This week went on forever because there was a lot to cover for the upcoming week. We plan out who has which duties for the week for household duties, cooking and who teaches what at each of our outreach programs. On Saturday we are having an EAC Sponsor day, which is where the 101 kids sponsored by EAC come to our house. We are making Christmas cards for the families that sponsor them. I know it will be a lot of fun to get to spend time with these kids, but at the same time 101 kids at this house will be mass chaos. Hannah and I are in charge of tea and toast for the kids breakfast and then I will be working with the 4th and 5th graders writing their letters. Should be fun, exciting and interesting! Sunday Hannah, Meredith, Jayan and I leave for our SAFARI! We will be gone until Tuesday. I cannot wait!! As long as I see lots of giraffes, zebras, lions, monkeys and elephants I will be golden. My dad thinks he is quite the character and asked if I had never been to the zoo. Oh Pete. So this week will be busy, but there is a lot to look forward to!
Monday night Hannah was asked to sing at a Bible study that our friend Rachel goes to. I got to take my first 'boda' ride, which is like a motorcycle taxi. They are everywhere here and much faster than the normal taxis. Don't think yellow cab, this is a van that holds about 14 people. The problem is you have to wait for the whole van to fill up before it will leave, so if there aren't any people around then it can take forever. The bodas are also faster because they are small and they weave in and out of traffic. Sounds safe right? Anyways, Rachel just moved out of the EAC house and in with a Ugandan family she has become close with. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I feel like I keep saying that about people I have met, but the people here are so incredibly friendly. The kids love to run to you even when you are walking down the street and they don't know you. They yell 'Mzugu' which means 'white' in Luganda. It is not a bad thing when they say this. We joke about it though because in the US you would never run up to a little black kid and yell hey black! Anyways, everyone that we have met has been more than friendly and done everything to try to make us feel welcome here in Uganda. People will always ask if this is my first time here, how I like it and will then say well Welcome to Uganda! I love this place.
Currently Meredith and Sarah are both sick. They went to the doctor on Monday and Meredith has the flu and Sarah has malaria. An interesting fact from the doctor was that no American has been diagnosed with malaria in the past 3 years. I was glad to know that with all the money spent on those expensive malaria pills, I really didn't have a lot to worry about. Many people come to Uganda without the medicine because if you get malaria here they have the proper treatment for it here. You will feel rough for about a week, but then you are fine. The one thing you do not want to happen is to end up with malaria when you get back to the US since it is not common because they do not have the proper treatment. Sarah is from Uganda though so she knows what to do and has basically just been sleeping it off. I have been joking with her all week about how she is not allowed to leave her room because she may kill us all. She chases me every time she sees me. The punchline of the joke is that malaria is not contagious.
Tuesday we went to Victory Primary School. This is for kids who are too poor to pay to go to school. The school has walls created from reed and dirt floors. They are always short on teachers so we always help teach. I had a 3rd grade classroom this week. They just completed the chapter on Safety. It was about accidents, poisoning, not to play in traffic, things of that nature. All of the kids said they knew it really well so I was instructed to give them the test from the end of the chapter. Terrible. They were all cheating. Apparently they thought I was stupid because they were flipping through their notebooks looking for the answers. What they didn't realize was I wasn't afraid to snatch those notebooks up. The first one I took from this little girl and she was so caught off guard and looked up at me with these big bug eyes. All of the kids yell 'OHHHHH' sort of like haha busted. Once I graded their tests I realized I should have allowed them to keep cheating though because their results were depressing. Some of them got all 12 answers wrong. The schools do everything in English, but a lot of the kids don't speak any other English other than at school so I think a lot of it had to do with them not understanding what the questions were asking. After they finished their tests they were allowed to go outside and play. We make porridge for them because otherwise they wouldn't eat anything until they got home, assuming that they will even get to do that. We sing songs with them and they go wild. After that it is back to their classrooms for the afternoon.
We came back to the house and had lunch, which was fried bananas with genot sauce, which is like a peanut sauce. Let's just say I opted for my Cheez It's instead. I planned on savoring each cheez it so they would last, but I have succeeded in polishing off both boxes. I am down to a few more granola bars.
Tuesday afternoon we went to the School for the Deaf. We took tattoos and jump ropes. The kids went CRAZY with it all. They absolutely loved the tattoos that were hearts and flowers and such with glitter in them. We took 300 and ran out before all of the kids had gotten one. Several of the kids took more than they were supposed to. They just swarm you and start grabbing. There is no way you can get them to back up and get in line or to do something orderly like that. The kids all fought over the jump ropes too. It is overwhelming, but when you leave you realize what an impact you made on them because you realize things like that never happen. Jayan's 15 year old brother Maurice is deaf and is in school there, so we got to spend some time with him and his friends. The hardest thing is obviously the communication barrier. Really the only thing I know in sign language is the alphabet and when people start spelling words I have to quickly run through the alphabet to remember what's what. Hannah has done a really good job of picking up some signs over the last couple months. I really hate to see her go in a couple weeks because she really loves all of the projects here. We have a friend Jenny, from the UK, who teaches at the school and it was fun to watch her communicate with the kids. There is also a church for the deaf that is next to the school. Hannah and I caught a glimpse of the service on our walk home from church on Sunday.
Of course I still have more to say, but I need to get moving because people will start waking up shortly. Let me also apologize for any grammatical errors, I don't ever proof read these before I hit post! Hopefully pictures will be coming this afternoon!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Prepare Yourself for the Lengthiness
I started drinking coffee when I was in Germany. Why, I don't know. I would drink coffee and talk to Hannes while he ate breakfast and then I began doing it everyday. Well I have now gone about a week and half without caffeine. Today I felt it necessary to drink a cappuccino at 3pm. Let's just say bad move. Not only did it give me the worst shakes of my life all afternoon, but I am not awake after midnight because I thought of so many things I wanted to say. If you ever need your house cleaned, just invite me over early for coffee.
So I will give you a few random facts about Uganda that I learned after quizzing Patrick (one of our EAC Ugandan volunteers) tonight. Uganda has 30 million people. That is more than all of Australia combined. I could be wrong, but I think they have about 20 million. Kampala, where I am, has 2 million people. This explains why everyday feels like there must be a big event taking place. 1 out of 10 people in Uganda is infected with HIV/AIDS. I forgot to ask how many kids are orphaned due to HIV related deaths, but I will find that out.
The food here is not what I expected. Put it this way, the 12 meals that were consumed between the Houston airport, Amsterdam and 3 plane rides was quite unnecessary. I feared eating rice and beans everyday for the next month. That fear quickly vanished when I walked in the supermarket the first day to see3 flavors of Doritos. However, I am going to try to control my eating habits because I feel a little bad that what I eat in one day is probably more than a Ugandan family eats in a week. I have had a few Ugandan meals and a few westernized meals. Chapati is like a pancake/crepe type thing that replaces tortillas. Also, Pea Samosas which are little fried bundles of joy. Apparently they make all kinds, but the place we went the other night only had pea stuffed in some form of fried bread. Of course I immediately said no for fear of nasty little green peas. I was assured that they were not like that and that I would enjoy it. Well hence the fact that I described them as little bundles of joy, I most definitely enjoyed them and look forward to the next 100 times I will eat them before leaving.
Our house is nicer than the typical Ugandan home. Our house is surrounded by a huge stone wall and there is barbed wire on top. We have a gate keeper, named Friday, who is always around to open the doors for our van and kind of keeps an eye out. In all honesty, I feel 10 times safer here than I do in the US. I have felt that way everywhere I have ever traveled. There are crazy people and crime everywhere, but whoever says the United States is safest is far from correct. I don't have the constant fear that someone may mug me in broad day light or pull a gun on me in the grocery store parking lot. Don't get me wrong, there is crime here, but as long as you are smart about your actions you will be ok. Anyways, our house has running water and electricity. We boil all of our water each morning before filling jugs for the freezer. We hand wash all of our dishes and buy groceries for the day on that day, not for the week. We have no air condition, but we don't need it. We leave the windows and doors open. We do lose power on occasion, but we have lanterns that will suffice. We hand wash our clothes, which I will attempt to do tomorrow. No dryer, which I learned to love in Germany and we get to hang everything on lines in the yard. All the kids here are raised to be very independent. Kids wash their own laundry, do the dishes, clean the house, etc. This morning we asked our neighbor Jovan why he wasn't at church and his response was he had not finished his laundry. Kids will be late for school or anything if they don't get their chores done. My poor kids will hate me, but they will be doing the same thing!
I really like the girls that are here with me, Hannah and Meredith. My one fear upon arrival was what the people would be like I would around every day. I am SO thankful that I really like them. Over the weekend we spent a lot of time around each other and talked and I really got to know them much better. I also need to say that I did not create this really snazzy background, Meredith did. I of course am still not very tech or blog savvy. All 3 of us went for African Tea yesterday and sat around talking for a couple hours. African tea is basically milk, tea and spices like ginger and cinnamon. Very good. Last night we went to a program called 'Prime Time'. I'm not really sure how to describe it other than really terrible music and bad skits. We went because Hannah was asked to sing at it. She blew everyone out of the water. She played the guitar while she sang. She has an incredible voice. We all got in the van afterwards in awe and commenting on how we would buy a cd if she had one. She has been asked to sing at a Bible study tomorrow night so if I can video it I will.
Today Hannah and I went to St. Luke's church with our neighbor Javon. Javon is 14 and probably one of the funniest little kids. He is always smiling and has this hysterical little giggle. Tonight I asked him if he had a girlfriend and he said yea. When I asked who she was he pointed to me and said you and did his little giggle. He loves to come hang out here and it is fun to have the little neighborhood kids around. After church Hannah and I went to a little restaurant to spend our $2 lunch allowance. We got a Kabap which was some random meat. I didn't ask because it was good and I knew I might be sick if I knew what it was. It took forever to get our food though because french fries (chips) come with it and they actually peel, chop and cook the fries, no frozen bagged fries.
This afternoon Hannah and I went downtown to the craft market and the '1000 Cups' Coffee shop. The craft markets are INCREDIBLE. Hannah kept talking about the bazillions of things she had bought and I was thinking hmm since I am not a souvenir shopper. She bought a ridiculous amount of these little 'batiqs' for everyone that sent money in to EAC to sponsor her on her trip, which was extremely thoughtful. I couldn't blame her after I had been. They are these cool little painted canvas squares, African themed of course. I think I had serious anxiety because there was so much I wanted. They have tons of art work, jewelry, wooden bowls, handmade drums, sandals, clothes, you name it. I came home with tons of gifts and quality purchases. I love buying gifts and really go overboard. I only took a little money, but plan on going back to purchase some more gifts and art. I just made the comment to my mom yesterday that I didn't think I would be spending much money because everything is so cheap. I had to tell her today that I now retract that statement. This is the first time since I made homemade gifts for my family that I know what I am getting my dad. Very exciting! Christmas is so easy this year. Although, it will be coming December 5th instead of the 25th because I won't be able contain my excitement for 3 weeks after I get home.
I have a whole bulleted list of things not to forget to mention, but I just realized it is extremely late and I will never be able to get up if I don't go to sleep. I will finish up soon. Tomorrow morning we head off to the babies home. I have been told to wear my least favorite clothes because I will be peed on frequently. Heaven forbid the baby wear a diaper. I can only imagine the stories I will have.
So I will give you a few random facts about Uganda that I learned after quizzing Patrick (one of our EAC Ugandan volunteers) tonight. Uganda has 30 million people. That is more than all of Australia combined. I could be wrong, but I think they have about 20 million. Kampala, where I am, has 2 million people. This explains why everyday feels like there must be a big event taking place. 1 out of 10 people in Uganda is infected with HIV/AIDS. I forgot to ask how many kids are orphaned due to HIV related deaths, but I will find that out.
The food here is not what I expected. Put it this way, the 12 meals that were consumed between the Houston airport, Amsterdam and 3 plane rides was quite unnecessary. I feared eating rice and beans everyday for the next month. That fear quickly vanished when I walked in the supermarket the first day to see3 flavors of Doritos. However, I am going to try to control my eating habits because I feel a little bad that what I eat in one day is probably more than a Ugandan family eats in a week. I have had a few Ugandan meals and a few westernized meals. Chapati is like a pancake/crepe type thing that replaces tortillas. Also, Pea Samosas which are little fried bundles of joy. Apparently they make all kinds, but the place we went the other night only had pea stuffed in some form of fried bread. Of course I immediately said no for fear of nasty little green peas. I was assured that they were not like that and that I would enjoy it. Well hence the fact that I described them as little bundles of joy, I most definitely enjoyed them and look forward to the next 100 times I will eat them before leaving.
Our house is nicer than the typical Ugandan home. Our house is surrounded by a huge stone wall and there is barbed wire on top. We have a gate keeper, named Friday, who is always around to open the doors for our van and kind of keeps an eye out. In all honesty, I feel 10 times safer here than I do in the US. I have felt that way everywhere I have ever traveled. There are crazy people and crime everywhere, but whoever says the United States is safest is far from correct. I don't have the constant fear that someone may mug me in broad day light or pull a gun on me in the grocery store parking lot. Don't get me wrong, there is crime here, but as long as you are smart about your actions you will be ok. Anyways, our house has running water and electricity. We boil all of our water each morning before filling jugs for the freezer. We hand wash all of our dishes and buy groceries for the day on that day, not for the week. We have no air condition, but we don't need it. We leave the windows and doors open. We do lose power on occasion, but we have lanterns that will suffice. We hand wash our clothes, which I will attempt to do tomorrow. No dryer, which I learned to love in Germany and we get to hang everything on lines in the yard. All the kids here are raised to be very independent. Kids wash their own laundry, do the dishes, clean the house, etc. This morning we asked our neighbor Jovan why he wasn't at church and his response was he had not finished his laundry. Kids will be late for school or anything if they don't get their chores done. My poor kids will hate me, but they will be doing the same thing!
I really like the girls that are here with me, Hannah and Meredith. My one fear upon arrival was what the people would be like I would around every day. I am SO thankful that I really like them. Over the weekend we spent a lot of time around each other and talked and I really got to know them much better. I also need to say that I did not create this really snazzy background, Meredith did. I of course am still not very tech or blog savvy. All 3 of us went for African Tea yesterday and sat around talking for a couple hours. African tea is basically milk, tea and spices like ginger and cinnamon. Very good. Last night we went to a program called 'Prime Time'. I'm not really sure how to describe it other than really terrible music and bad skits. We went because Hannah was asked to sing at it. She blew everyone out of the water. She played the guitar while she sang. She has an incredible voice. We all got in the van afterwards in awe and commenting on how we would buy a cd if she had one. She has been asked to sing at a Bible study tomorrow night so if I can video it I will.
Today Hannah and I went to St. Luke's church with our neighbor Javon. Javon is 14 and probably one of the funniest little kids. He is always smiling and has this hysterical little giggle. Tonight I asked him if he had a girlfriend and he said yea. When I asked who she was he pointed to me and said you and did his little giggle. He loves to come hang out here and it is fun to have the little neighborhood kids around. After church Hannah and I went to a little restaurant to spend our $2 lunch allowance. We got a Kabap which was some random meat. I didn't ask because it was good and I knew I might be sick if I knew what it was. It took forever to get our food though because french fries (chips) come with it and they actually peel, chop and cook the fries, no frozen bagged fries.
This afternoon Hannah and I went downtown to the craft market and the '1000 Cups' Coffee shop. The craft markets are INCREDIBLE. Hannah kept talking about the bazillions of things she had bought and I was thinking hmm since I am not a souvenir shopper. She bought a ridiculous amount of these little 'batiqs' for everyone that sent money in to EAC to sponsor her on her trip, which was extremely thoughtful. I couldn't blame her after I had been. They are these cool little painted canvas squares, African themed of course. I think I had serious anxiety because there was so much I wanted. They have tons of art work, jewelry, wooden bowls, handmade drums, sandals, clothes, you name it. I came home with tons of gifts and quality purchases. I love buying gifts and really go overboard. I only took a little money, but plan on going back to purchase some more gifts and art. I just made the comment to my mom yesterday that I didn't think I would be spending much money because everything is so cheap. I had to tell her today that I now retract that statement. This is the first time since I made homemade gifts for my family that I know what I am getting my dad. Very exciting! Christmas is so easy this year. Although, it will be coming December 5th instead of the 25th because I won't be able contain my excitement for 3 weeks after I get home.
I have a whole bulleted list of things not to forget to mention, but I just realized it is extremely late and I will never be able to get up if I don't go to sleep. I will finish up soon. Tomorrow morning we head off to the babies home. I have been told to wear my least favorite clothes because I will be peed on frequently. Heaven forbid the baby wear a diaper. I can only imagine the stories I will have.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Empower A Child
So I am going to try blogging again. As you all know, I am terrible at this and always give up after about a month. Hopefully it will work perfectly though since my stay is short! Hopefully since I am the only one in this house that wakes up at 5am I will blog in the mornings since I have plenty of time.
Where to begin.....Sanyu in Uganda! Sanyu means Joy in Luganda, which is the language here. There are over 52 languages in Uganda. Most of the people around here speak Luganda, but several don't so it is pretty important to know English. That also makes it nice for people like me who speak no form of an African language!
Africa is amazing. I don't really know how to describe the amazing-ness of it since the picture I paint describes the stereotypes of Africa. There is trash everywhere. We were riding down the street the other day and one of the guys in our van threw something plastic out the window and I freaked out. I was like whoa buddy that is not being very eco-friendly. However, I am almost positive eco-friendly is not even part of the vocabulary here. The pollution here is terrible, it is overpopulated, living conditions for most are pretty poor, the kids go to school in dirty raggedy uniforms, street vendors galore and the list goes on. After all of those things it makes Uganda sound like a terrible place, but in all honesty it's quite the opposite. I have decided one reason I like it so much is because of the fact that it is so underdeveloped. Kids still run all over the place. They know what outdoors means. They aren't sitting inside watching mind numbing tv shows or playing video games. They don't play with fisher price, their toys are things that they make. They don't eat junk food and candy and they sure don't eat fast food. There isn't a McDonald's or a Starbucks on every corner. Everything is local. The other day we bough 4 avocados, that were2-3 times the size of ours, for $1. Everything is cheap. I can eat lunch for $1. Someone that makes minimum wage in the US would be living large here. Materialism doesn't even cross their minds. As far as the landscape goes, everything is so lush and green and lively and you see goats and cows on the streets of some of the neighborhoods.
Our weekly schedule keeps us busy, but also allows us plenty of free time so I can nap, explore or spend time to myself, all of which I LOVE. This is a typical week:
Monday: In the morning we go to a babies home, which I have not been to yet. In the afternoon we have a planning meeting with everyone from Empower A Child and we plan out the week and decide on chores like dishes, dinner, etc.
Tuesday: In the morning we go to a primary school, which I also have not been to yet. Our afternoons are free. Normally it would be spent at the high school, but they are just finishing exams so we are off.
Wednesday: In the morning we go to a hospital for children with disabilities. Really in this sense disabilities means more like severe injuries that need attention or something that prohibits them from being in a real school. There are a few kids where one leg is shorter than the other so they have thick shoes or a stilt like structure under their shoe. Kids that have hip problems or pins in their legs. Kids in wheel chairs and full leg braces. Many of the problems that I saw here were things that wouldn't be seen in the US because they would have been fixed with immediate surgery. This is one areas where the under-development of Africa is not such a good thing. The afternoons are also free this day so we can choose to go back to one of our favorite projects or just have free time.
Thursday: In the morning we go to Sanyu Babies Home. This is a home for babies anywhere from a week old to 3 years. They have either been abandoned, neglected or orphaned. Many of the parents have died due to Aids, which is the case with several of the street kids throughout the country. In the afternoon we go to Remand Home, which is a juvenile detention center. Some of the kids are in there for serious crimes such a theft, rape and murder. Some have just been street kids picked up by the police and there was nowhere else to take them. Some have been sent their by their parents for disciplinary reasons. One of the problems though is all of the kids are one group. They aren't separated by why they are there, which could be a positive or a negative depending which way you look at it. More than likely a negative though. The other problem I found was that I think many of these kids have been falsely accused. I could be wrong, but some of the stories I have heard and the actions of these kids makes it hard for me to believe they did some of the things they have been accused of. As time goes I will explain more. I did meet a great kid there named Simon who is not from around here. He speaks excellent English. The kids at the home aren't very nice to him because he doesn't speak their language. He speaks his language and English. The kids there want him to learn Luganda if he wants to talk to them. I don't have any idea yet why he is there, how long he has been there or how long he has to stay, but I plan on finding out all these things next week and hope to be able to visit him a bit more. When I was leaving he asked me when I was coming back and gave me a big hug. When I learn more I will get back to you.
Friday: Busy day. In the mornings we go to 2 primary schools. The first school was one of the most incredible things of my life. I don't even know how to explain it, but the kids were singing and dancing and the bongos were playing and it was just one of those moments where I said WOW. This.is.AFRICA! Next week I am going to take my video camera so I can put it on here. The teacher asked the kids if they had any messages to share. This is the only place where young kids have had great English. One kid came to the front and said 'Boys and girls, keep yourselves clean'. Another one said 'Boys and girls, don't get aids'. When the teacher asked how to avoid getting aids one kid answered to not share sharp objects, razors or needles. Africa is fascinating. In the afternoons we go to a place called Kids in Need. However, this week we showed up and the kids had been taken to the beach for the day. We were bummed that we got all the way there, but this was a huge deal for them because they never do things like that.
Saturday and Sunday: FREE! We can do what we want. This Saturday we went to the pool for a while and then hung around the house.
So that is my week in a large nutshell. One thing I have failed to mention are the people I live with. Right now there are currently 3 of us that are here as volunteers and 2 that are working for EAC. Meredith is from North Carolina and is here for 4 months and Hannah is from Oregon and will be leaving in 2 weeks. Tara is doing office work here, she is from LA and she has been here since January. She is dating a guy from Uganda that works with EAC so she plans on staying for as long as possible. Sarah is in charge of the administration here and is from Uganda. She is living in the house, but will be moving out in December after she gets married. There are tons of volunteers that come everyday but don't live here. Our typical program at each place we go to (other than the babies homes) begins with music. When I say music I mean BONGOS and the guitar. Awesome! Then we usually play games and close with a lesson. The kids everywhere we go absolutely love it. The music really gets them riled up and they get so into it. It's so awesome. I know that when my time here comes close to an end I will not be ready to go.
I have a couple pictures that Meredith took at the babies home and that's about it.
Now that I have kind of adjusted to the places we go I will be taking my camera everywhere with me and will hopefully be able to upload them on here. Our computer isn't the fastest, but I will see what I can do. This post is getting ridiculously long. Of course I am thinking of a million more things I want to say and to answer so many questions I have been asked. Tomorrow morning I will update another post! Hope everyone had a great weekend and ROLL TIDE!!!
Where to begin.....Sanyu in Uganda! Sanyu means Joy in Luganda, which is the language here. There are over 52 languages in Uganda. Most of the people around here speak Luganda, but several don't so it is pretty important to know English. That also makes it nice for people like me who speak no form of an African language!
Africa is amazing. I don't really know how to describe the amazing-ness of it since the picture I paint describes the stereotypes of Africa. There is trash everywhere. We were riding down the street the other day and one of the guys in our van threw something plastic out the window and I freaked out. I was like whoa buddy that is not being very eco-friendly. However, I am almost positive eco-friendly is not even part of the vocabulary here. The pollution here is terrible, it is overpopulated, living conditions for most are pretty poor, the kids go to school in dirty raggedy uniforms, street vendors galore and the list goes on. After all of those things it makes Uganda sound like a terrible place, but in all honesty it's quite the opposite. I have decided one reason I like it so much is because of the fact that it is so underdeveloped. Kids still run all over the place. They know what outdoors means. They aren't sitting inside watching mind numbing tv shows or playing video games. They don't play with fisher price, their toys are things that they make. They don't eat junk food and candy and they sure don't eat fast food. There isn't a McDonald's or a Starbucks on every corner. Everything is local. The other day we bough 4 avocados, that were2-3 times the size of ours, for $1. Everything is cheap. I can eat lunch for $1. Someone that makes minimum wage in the US would be living large here. Materialism doesn't even cross their minds. As far as the landscape goes, everything is so lush and green and lively and you see goats and cows on the streets of some of the neighborhoods.
Our weekly schedule keeps us busy, but also allows us plenty of free time so I can nap, explore or spend time to myself, all of which I LOVE. This is a typical week:
Monday: In the morning we go to a babies home, which I have not been to yet. In the afternoon we have a planning meeting with everyone from Empower A Child and we plan out the week and decide on chores like dishes, dinner, etc.
Tuesday: In the morning we go to a primary school, which I also have not been to yet. Our afternoons are free. Normally it would be spent at the high school, but they are just finishing exams so we are off.
Wednesday: In the morning we go to a hospital for children with disabilities. Really in this sense disabilities means more like severe injuries that need attention or something that prohibits them from being in a real school. There are a few kids where one leg is shorter than the other so they have thick shoes or a stilt like structure under their shoe. Kids that have hip problems or pins in their legs. Kids in wheel chairs and full leg braces. Many of the problems that I saw here were things that wouldn't be seen in the US because they would have been fixed with immediate surgery. This is one areas where the under-development of Africa is not such a good thing. The afternoons are also free this day so we can choose to go back to one of our favorite projects or just have free time.
Thursday: In the morning we go to Sanyu Babies Home. This is a home for babies anywhere from a week old to 3 years. They have either been abandoned, neglected or orphaned. Many of the parents have died due to Aids, which is the case with several of the street kids throughout the country. In the afternoon we go to Remand Home, which is a juvenile detention center. Some of the kids are in there for serious crimes such a theft, rape and murder. Some have just been street kids picked up by the police and there was nowhere else to take them. Some have been sent their by their parents for disciplinary reasons. One of the problems though is all of the kids are one group. They aren't separated by why they are there, which could be a positive or a negative depending which way you look at it. More than likely a negative though. The other problem I found was that I think many of these kids have been falsely accused. I could be wrong, but some of the stories I have heard and the actions of these kids makes it hard for me to believe they did some of the things they have been accused of. As time goes I will explain more. I did meet a great kid there named Simon who is not from around here. He speaks excellent English. The kids at the home aren't very nice to him because he doesn't speak their language. He speaks his language and English. The kids there want him to learn Luganda if he wants to talk to them. I don't have any idea yet why he is there, how long he has been there or how long he has to stay, but I plan on finding out all these things next week and hope to be able to visit him a bit more. When I was leaving he asked me when I was coming back and gave me a big hug. When I learn more I will get back to you.
Friday: Busy day. In the mornings we go to 2 primary schools. The first school was one of the most incredible things of my life. I don't even know how to explain it, but the kids were singing and dancing and the bongos were playing and it was just one of those moments where I said WOW. This.is.AFRICA! Next week I am going to take my video camera so I can put it on here. The teacher asked the kids if they had any messages to share. This is the only place where young kids have had great English. One kid came to the front and said 'Boys and girls, keep yourselves clean'. Another one said 'Boys and girls, don't get aids'. When the teacher asked how to avoid getting aids one kid answered to not share sharp objects, razors or needles. Africa is fascinating. In the afternoons we go to a place called Kids in Need. However, this week we showed up and the kids had been taken to the beach for the day. We were bummed that we got all the way there, but this was a huge deal for them because they never do things like that.
Saturday and Sunday: FREE! We can do what we want. This Saturday we went to the pool for a while and then hung around the house.
So that is my week in a large nutshell. One thing I have failed to mention are the people I live with. Right now there are currently 3 of us that are here as volunteers and 2 that are working for EAC. Meredith is from North Carolina and is here for 4 months and Hannah is from Oregon and will be leaving in 2 weeks. Tara is doing office work here, she is from LA and she has been here since January. She is dating a guy from Uganda that works with EAC so she plans on staying for as long as possible. Sarah is in charge of the administration here and is from Uganda. She is living in the house, but will be moving out in December after she gets married. There are tons of volunteers that come everyday but don't live here. Our typical program at each place we go to (other than the babies homes) begins with music. When I say music I mean BONGOS and the guitar. Awesome! Then we usually play games and close with a lesson. The kids everywhere we go absolutely love it. The music really gets them riled up and they get so into it. It's so awesome. I know that when my time here comes close to an end I will not be ready to go.
I have a couple pictures that Meredith took at the babies home and that's about it.
Now that I have kind of adjusted to the places we go I will be taking my camera everywhere with me and will hopefully be able to upload them on here. Our computer isn't the fastest, but I will see what I can do. This post is getting ridiculously long. Of course I am thinking of a million more things I want to say and to answer so many questions I have been asked. Tomorrow morning I will update another post! Hope everyone had a great weekend and ROLL TIDE!!!
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