More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About My Africa Experience

Wednesday-May 14^th:

We started off the day going to Seya. There wasn’t a ton for all of us to do because now they are working on specific construction things, so a group of us played with the kids and brought out the huge parachute. The kids went wild playing cat and mouse and every other game we thought of. It reminded me so much of my elementary days at H.C. Storm. I still love playing ‘parachute.’ Then Jackie, Lessi, me, and the new volunteers headed home early because the new volunteers needed to get acquainted with the town and Jackie, Les, and I needed to go to Kampala to get supplies and I had a meeting with my contact, David and Jamie McKenzie. We took a taxi into Kampala which took about an hour and a half. Again, it felt like a roller coaster ride and was quite ridiculous. We made our way to the mall in Kampala which is where my meeting was. Lessi and I had the bright idea to wear matching long dresses which is fine in Lugazi and culturally acceptable, but in Kampala we looked like polygamist wives—awkwardddd. So we met up with my contact and oh my goodness they are the most incredible people I have ever met. They kind of ‘inherited’ this school they are re-building and in charge of, and they are truly making a difference here in Uganda. They have a school and they also just purchased acres and acres of land so that the kids at there school and local community can learn how to farm and make a living from a type of ‘God’s Farming.’ They are also taking all of their students to get HIV tested and have numerous other projects and plans for the kids. They are amazing. If you want to know more about them go to www.orphanchildrensfund.org .Anyways, during out meeting they brought up several good points to think about and definitely relayed the truth about issues in Uganda that we had never thought of. They opened our eyes and quite honestly, scared us a little. Developing nations are not easy places to help. There is much corruption and it is very hard to trust people. It’s sad, but true. We also were informed that many a time we hear that AIDS in Uganda is declining and that they are getting a hold on it—NOT TRUE. It is increasing. AIDS is everywhere. Also, maybe you all knew this, but I didn’t…Often a man is carrying the HIV NEGATIVE gene. This means he does not have AIDs. However, by having sex with someone he will give them AIDS because he carries the gene even though it is negative in his body it will become positive in theirs. UGH. Also, often when NGO groups come in to help and they aren’t affiliated with larger organizations politicians and lawyers will go ‘under cover’ to figure out ways to sue the NGO and get money from the white people. There is a lot of corruption we never even realized or understood. This directly related to our brilliant idea to gather up the orphans and create a Learning type Center for them a couple times a week. The liability is too large so we had to reevaluate our projects (pretty much ALL the projects I am involved in and was getting excited about). It was a great meeting, but hard also. I left feeling like I was very inadequate and nothing I had to give would be helpful. We were all feeling a little discouraged. We do however plan on working with their various projects which are very worthwhile and sustainable. Also, they invited all 16 of us to their house and Jamie said she cooks American food so I am definitely planning on taking her up on that offer. Anyways, after the meeting with them we headed to our travel agent place to discuss different traveling options for the summer. We still had all our errands to run so he sent us with one of his employers, Brian, to go to the market and find all the random things we needed: 5 pillows, blender, a fan, birthday present for Ashley. To say that Kampala was intense and crazy would be an understatement. I feel that if we had gone to Kampala in the morning to early afternoon we would have been fine and calm and embraced it more. However, it was dusk and we HAD to get on a taxi before night or else we were doomed. Thank goodness brian was there helping us around the town/market (it was huge! And crazy! ) We would not have made it without him and I mean that quite literally. Les got the huge fan and was lugging it around hitting people which created ridiculous moments and I had five huge pillows that I couldn’t see over and we were weaving in and out of people and things and puddles. (I kept thinking to myself: I am so grateful for all my hepatitis shots..)Then we had to find a taxi and they are all in this huge parking lot and we had to go up to several different ones looking for one that was going to Lugazi. Thanks again to Brian. I will never forget that man! We finally got into the taxi van and then it was dark and all the taxi were heading out at the exact same time and again, there was mass chaos. Seriously, they have no concept of traffic flow or traffic laws or courtesy for that matter. Then our taxi driver decided that the main road was too busy so he cut through town up some very NON-roads and traveled for about an hour or so on dirt with huge pot holes. It was better than a roller coaster ride and I am not exaggerating. (Except of course that our lives were being endangered.) The whole Kampala experience was intense and a little disheartening. It was cool to see the city and eat chocolate at the mall, but after the meeting and then driving through the poor, poor, villages seeing the things we saw on the ridiculous roller coaster taxi ride home---I became exhausted emotionally, physically, and mentally. Jackie called the house and asked that a boy meet us where the taxi was dropping us off. We pulled up right when FOUR of our boys came to meet us. Corbin, Trent, Jeff, and David were there ready to greet us and help us. I could have cried. I was so, so happy to see them. I’m not sure they will ever understand how grateful we were to see their faces. So that night we talked with one another and realized our game plan was not going to be successful or sustainable. I went to bed discouraged, but trying to think of new ways to go about our projects.

Thursday May 15—Ashley’s Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our Country Director, Ashley Rogers

We started our day with a town council meeting about children’s rights. The meeting was 3 ½ HOURS LONG. It was the longest meeting of our lives. The problem was that nothing was accomplished in the meeting. Truly, there were no solutions, no action plans, nothing at all that would help the children. I remember bits and pieces like severely abusing children is bad. . Ashley asked what severely meant and the lady said , ‘it is okay to grab their ears and nose and cane them, but once there are bruises, that is severe.’ Umm, ok? And how do you measure that with every family? There were some good points, but honestly we all were confused at their objectives and goals…They fed us lunch—I didn’t eat anything, but it wasn’t rude because it was buffet style and no one could tell that I had not. My stomach was a bit queasy and the food offered I knew would not help that. There was meat and this odd looking chuck of something that looked like beef fat that had been out too long. The boys ate the meat and I heard the rice was okay, but overall Dan (the Canadian) ate a lot of people’s food. Seriously though, that meeting was sooo long. We then had different contacts and meetings to go to so we dispersed. It was awesome because I went with the orphanage group and we went up to St. Edwards school. There was a room full of at least 60+ kids and parents who had come to meet the muzungu and see what program we had for them. Unfortunately we had decided the night before to reevaluate the program so we ended up only promising them that Wednesdays at 5pm we will come to talk, counsel, and play games with them. We all went outside and got in a HUGE circle and they introduced some songs and games to us that we played, and then we did the Macarena and “ride that pony.” They LOVED it. We also did the “Hokie Pokie.” The kids were so adorable. I started to feel useful/productive/needed again and the feeling of discouragement was diminishing as the kids wanted to talk to us and learn about us. We got home and had a feast of a dinner for Ashley’s birthday and then the family in the back had decorated the back area and made a cake and we celebrated Ashley’s birthday some more with presents and food. It was awesome with streamers and candy and cake and dancing. Corbin even performed a Backstreet Boy song for us all. It was a great night of relaxing and bonding after a rough few days.

Friday-May 16^th Happy Birthday Aaron!

Today we woke up to go to Seya and Ashley and Jackie suggested that Les, Rylee, and I stay back and work on project proposals. I thought I could do some social work things with Rylee, but she pretty much had everything covered and I was still having problems figuring out choir things and whether I wanted to start a community choir or work with schools. I’m not sure why, but Friday morning was a struggle for me. I couldn’t find my focus and I was just mad at myself and couldn’t figure out what I needed to do or where to start. David (he’s project lead for primary schools) was asked to speak at some presentation about goals and keeping a focus ( he was asked about 20 min beforehand) and the pastor asked him to speak for 40min. Some of the girls and I decided to go with him and support this. So we met at Ssanya primary school to tour it and learn about them and there we found the music director for their school which became a great contact. We talked to him for a long while about music and what he is doing with the kids there. I will be working with him and his students so that was nice to find that contact and have that to look forward to. We then walked to the taxis and then hopped onto a boda-boda and headed into the middle of no where to this random church/school. We then found out that this was some type of church service/motivational meeting (no one informs us of anything, seriously). Pastor Francis started speaking and introduced David. David’s theme was goals/ accomplishing goals/finding a focus and being successful. He did absolutely AMAZING. We were all praying for him and he was definitely blessed and was totally guided by the Spirit. He sang a song for them which he wasn’t planning on doing at all and it was beautiful. He discussed SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goals which are what HELP has us do every week. The pastor also invited Seren and me to speak (last min, of course). I spoke about AMPS-which is my own little program/goal setting thing that Bianca and I do before each semester. It stands for Academic, Mental, Physical, and Spiritual goals. I also talked about how as you complete goals you discover more about yourself as well as more opportunity to find new goals that are bigger and will lead you to new places (Africa for me..) and new people that will enrich your life. We then split up into different groups and I was in charge of the women’s group. We set goals and shared them, and I expanded more on AMPS. It was a great meeting and it seriously was what I needed. Sounds kind of lame, but I felt like I was doing something important and meaningful after a couple days of feeling like I couldn’t do anything to help. We got back and toured some orphanages and got some more contacts. We had dinner and discussed our day and the project ideas we were rethinking. We watched Meet the Parents and allll of us fell asleep.

SATURDAY May 17^th- Life stops, but the Mzunugus press forward.

So we all woke up early to get ready to RAFT THE NILE. We packed our bags and then realized during all our busyness that it was a torrential downpour outside. And please note I am not exaggerating in any way. So we put on our backpacks and I put on my rain jacket and then my poncho over that and headed out. We had to walk across town in the storm and the roads were pretty much non-existent. It was saaweet. Needless to say, we were drenched. The taxi actually showed up to pick us up (we were worried it wouldn’t come) and all 16 of us crammed inside. We got to the Rafting place and it started lighting up which was good news for us. They fed us a delicious breakfast of pineapple, toast and jam, chipati, boiled eggs. We got all of our instructions and then got our life jackets and helmets on and got on the trucks. They took us to the river and Jeff, Dan, Seren, Les, Rylee, David, and our guide, Peter were all on one raft. We got the best raft for sure. We did some training in the river and they tipped the raft and then we were supposed to swim under it to the other side. Um, yeah, I couldn’t even do that. As most of you know I do not like swimming ( I can swim, I just don’t like it very much..) and I looked quite awkward trying to get under water with my oar and life jacket…sooo I just swam around. That scared me because I realized if I couldn’t swim under the raft then I was probably in big trouble when we actually got onto rapids…and I was..

So the terms to remember when our guide yelled were, “Get DOWN! Get down!” and “Hold on!” and “Forward, forward hard.” And “Back! Back!” The first rapids we conquered were a level three and we were all feeling pretty good about it. I was loving it! Then Peter said the next one was a three but more intense and it was called the 50/50. I was feeling pretty confident because we just did a three and I figured I could handle this one as well…WRONG. This one was more of a water fall not just rapids and in my opinion it was not just a class three. Well we started going forward, forward and he yelled GET DOWN, GET DOWN and I was down and holding on and then it hit us hard and our boat went up in the air and all of us went flying! I swear I got the brunt of it all and went the furthest and got caught in the intense rapids and was up and under the water and up and then under the water. Yes, I started freaking out a little cause I couldn’t breathe. Thank goodness Jeff was around and had an oar and yelled at me to grab on. I pretty much owe him my life—no big deal. Then the kayak man came and helped me back to the raft. That was intense and scary for me. But I was alive and okay so we pressed forward. We then hit Bugajeli Falls which were the falls we went to last Saturday and I couldn’t believe we were going over them! So scary, but we didn’t flip! Then the most intense one was the Silver Back. We went over and there was a HUGGGE wall of water coming at us. OH MY GOSH scariest time of our lives. Don’t worry I bought the dvd to show all of you. Fortunately, our raft didn’t flip and in fact we dominated all of the rapids and waterfalls and didn’t flip the whole rest of the time. EVERY one else did though. The other boat with our volunteers took a horrible hit at the very last one and they literally felt that their lives were over. They were all shaking and so scared. It was quite intense and we were all so grateful to see each other when it was all over. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that it started pouring while we were on the Nile and it was freezing…FREEZING. So we all jumped in the river because it was super warm compared to the freezing air and huge freezing rain drops. At the end our raft guide said get off and swim to shore which we thought would be just fine except that the current was so strong and we were right by the water fall and rapids we had just come through AND we couldn’t get to shore because the rocks were seriously huge and so slippery. We all looked ridiculous trying to get to shore and it literally was such a struggle and took much longer than we anticipated. We all cut our selves as well and I got a nice cut at the most tender part of my foot that still hurts. We were all so exhausted and then had to hike barefoot for a bit to go back to the trucks. There they had potato chips (they were actually real ones) and juice for us. We started driving down the roads and had been going a long way when we had to back up because there was a car stuck in the road. We diverted to another road that was the worse road (if you can even call it that) ever. Well, we got back and had a pretty delicious dinner and hung out for a while and then watched the dvd from the day. Then we all headed to bed in the dorm type rooms they had for us. I am so glad and proud that I rafted the Nile!!! I will never do it again, but I have no regrets! It was so awesome. Seren slept in my bed with me because she could not get the spiders out of hers. It was so hot that we slept on top of the covers but I remember waking up and thinking the rats are going to get my feet (just like in The Other Side of Heaven) and I tried to get under the covers but couldn’t cause I was half asleep. After waking up four times I finally figured out how to get under the covers. We woke up around 8 and discovered that there were in fact rats in our rooms and I mysteriously had little cuts on my toes, but I am going with the theory that they are from the rocks in the river and I just didn’t notice them the night before rather than let my imagination run with the theory that rats were nibbling on them. Jackie’s purse got eaten through and corbin had some incidents with them as well. Isn’t that cool?? (not.) We then rushed onto the truck back to Jinja and got some breakfast at the rafting headquarters and then headed to church at the Jinja branch. It was SO awesome to be in a familiar setting and to be in a branch of people who were so excited about the gospel. We all seriously loved it so much. It was also cool to talk to the elders and sisters and funny to hear them speak English because they talk with an accent so that the people can understand them..(we talk like that too now…okay please. Okay byee byee. Thank you come again.) Then half of us headed home and half of us explored the town of Jinja. We ate at a café that had real food. REAL food. I had a bagel that tasted like Einsteins w/ avocado, tomato, and basil on it. SO good. We also all got smoothies. Jinja is a more modern town and it was nice to be there. We then jumped on a taxi and headed back to Lugazi and when we got there Edith said some of her friends wanted us to come to their performance. We were slightly confused but went to this little school and this group called Mmamatoto performed for us. They are a group of kids trying to teach AIDS awareness through song and dance. Oh my goodness they were amazing and so fun and talented and motivated. Seren and I talked with the director of the group and we have decided that this is where we would like to put our focus this summer. This group already has the drive and commitment and will be sustainable and now we can implement our skills and knowledge about music to help increase their successes on educating the community about AIDS. We also will have this group perform at the primary schools that we are in contact with and increase AIDS awareness in that regard. We are so excited about this project because if fulfills all of our objectives and exceeds our expectations for sustainability. The kids are so awesome and so talented.

MONDAY MAY 19^th—

On Monday I went with Rylee to the Persons With Disabilities meeting. Personally, people with mental disabilities make me uncomfortable a little and I think mostly it is because I haven’t been around them much in my life. However, we went to one of the homes and one little girl Fiona latched onto me and wouldn’t let go for two hours. She was so adorable. I got over my “uncomfortableness” quite quickly. She was so strong and she would not let me put her down ever. She was like a little monkey squirming and that was difficult because my legs are so burned from rafting the nile that they are purple with blisters and she kept moving back and forth on them, but she seriously would not let me move her onto the chair and was holding on so tight the entire meeting. When her mom came to pull her off of me she started flaying and screaming and all the women started laughing at me… Oh well. The meeting went really well and I’m excited to be a part of that project. Then we came back and I took a nap and then we all headed to the park for FHE. It was awesome because some of us played soccer and some of us played basketball all with the Africans. Then the boys started a game and Trent, Jeff, and Dan totally held there own out on the court. We were so proud. We came back and had a nice dinner of ginger rice, passion fruit, beans, cabbage and then had more project meetings. Dan was sick all Monday and he got even worse Monday night with a fever of 100.7. He took some medicine, but was still achey and extremely warm and had the symptoms of Malaria. We took his temperature again an hour later and it was increasing to 102.5 . He didn’t sleep all night and today he still has a temperature. He is going to the hospital in an hour or so. We don’t think he has malaria even though he has all the symptoms….or maybe we are just hoping he doesn’t. He is on the same medication as me. Please keep praying for our health and safety. Dan is the lead for construction and a very important asset to our projects here. I have not gotten sick except for today my stomach is hurting, but I should be just fine. In regards to projects that I am involved with:

Orphanages

Secondary schools—I am in charge of drug awareness. Opium and weed are a huge problem in this area so Rylee and I are doing research on it as well as getting in contact with locals about the drug problem in the youth. We will be doing that lesson plan in the after school clubs. I am also in charge of the first day activities and games for “Getting to know you.”

Primary Schools

Construction/Adobe stoves

Clinics

Womens Groups

Business

Persons with Disabilities- I am in charge of the lesson for socialization and including your disabled children in your every day life. Often the disabled here are shunned and kept hidden in homes. I am also in charge of the Talent Show.

Choir- I am the project lead for choir. We will be working with two primary schools as well as the Mmatoto Aids awareness group. Its going to be amazing.

Tuesday May 20^th-

Today we are getting our project proposals done to turn into HELP and I have a lot of research to do for my different projects. We also have to present at Town Council and to the mayor the different ideas we have for each project. Lots to do always here in Africa. Keep praying for us! We need it.

Love,

TOR