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!!!