Torrential Downpour and then some

So, when they say it's rainy season that is probably the biggest understatement in Uganda. No big deal though we tromp around in it anyways.

Here is a quick, jumbled update from me to you:

We went to church in Mukono today and stayed after for a baptism. It was pouring rain and hailing so we stayed even longer.

Yesterday (saturday) we all went into the forest for a hike that lasted about 3 hours. It was beautiful and fun and funnY because we got split into three different groups and got a little bit lost and somehow made it back, miraculously. Believe me, we looked real quick in our basketball shorts and t-shirts stumbling out of the forest and onto a random road that took us into town. The great citizens here MUST believe mzungus are insane and often quite dirty as we strolled around with mud and clay up to our knees. Gosh, we're cool.

We then took our taxi van into Jinja where we ate at a most delicious little cafe place. I had a BAGEL w/ avocado, tomato and basil, and i asked for butter instead of cheese and they put three HUGE slabs of butter on it which was rather hilarious. I also splurged and got a milkshake (b/c anywhere else you can't drink the milk here) and even a fanta. DELICIOUS. We all decided we could last another week after eating that meal. We then went around town to all the awesome shops and i brought the girls to the shop where i got this super cool purse and headwrap. It was a fun day in Jinja for sure.

Then, we got home and had a meal and realized that our electricity was out and had been out alll day and continues to be out and will most likely continue to be out til monday. At least we have water. Well, we had water when we left for church this morning anyways. Last night because the power was out we decided to play, "Murder in the dark." Scariest game ever. Quite literally. We played for a very long time and i got so scared at one point that i probably had the most embarrassing moment of the trip thus far, however i am well aware of my awesomeness so i conclude that it was no big deal...other than the fact that i will now be made fun of um, lets say maybe...m, forever. Awesome, awesome.

Also, we all feel like we have been in africa for months, not just weeks and we also feel like we have been friends for years, not days. Isn't it cool what AFrica and a small little house full of 16 people and no electricity/water will do to you? I think it is.

In all seriousness though we are having a good time with one another and our projects are coming along. As one of my favorite songs quite eloquently states, "Life is beautiful, but complicated." And being in a third world developing country only emphasizes that times one million.

WEll, hope all is amazing back in the US of A. Have a marvelous memorial day weekend friends and loved ones.

Please keep praying for us. WE need it! :)
LOVE,
tor

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

Once Upon a Time I Lived in Africa

Olyatya (OH-li-o-tee-ah) friends and family! (MAY 11—Happy mothers day, URS!)

So it is the beginning of DAY 4 and that is absolutely ridiculous because it feels like we have been here for months already. I will try and remember all the amazing events of the past few days. Man, I really need to write everyday because I am beginning to forget things. I definitely won’t be able to keep up a journal and a blog soooo the blog/mass email will have to be every detail of my day that I can remember so I can use it as a journal. I knew this experience would be amazing, but it is beyond the amazing expectations I had set back in America. Okay, so DAY 1 night we were all so exhausted. Rylee, Corbin, Natalie, and I went into the village to get tons of nails and chicken wire for our project on Friday. Corbin and I carried the nails all the way home and they were poking through the bag and gashing my leg. The little children were following us and laughing at the silly Muzungu. Later in the evening we were all falling asleep during the important meeting our Country Directors (CDs) had explaining even more things to us. Then we woke up when they kept saying, “Prepare for initiation!” So they gave us all candles and we got in a line and walked outside and they lit the candle. Edith our amazing friend who lives down the road was also there initiating the muzungu. They had a little phrase we had to say, “ My name is Victoria Ruth and I am from Chicago, IL , USA. I am part of the Muzungi Tribe. And now I have spoken.” After we did that our country directors said, “And now Muzungi Tribe you will kill a nncocoa, cook, and eat it.” WHAT??????????! WE ALL starting freaking out. What is an nncocoa? Cockroach? Chicken? Well, the family that lives behind us brought out two chickens for us to KILL, and pluck, and clean, and cook, and eat!!!! When I say we freaked out that is not an exaggeration. Les started crying, I started gagging, people were yelling, and it was total mass chaos. The two Canadians in our group took the machete (it wasn’t very sharp by the way and took a while) and cut the two heads off the chickens. . .(GROSS) I will spare you all the details, but the chickens did in fact keep walking around after their heads were cut off. When they were completely dead people started plucking out all the feathers ( I HELPED! –pictures to prove!!) and then we cleaned out all the intestines and took lots of gross pictures and then cooked it and ate it! It was chewier than normal and not great, but some people really liked it. It was hilarious because we all couldn’t believe it and refused to do it, but then we just got over it and did it. The family who lives with us (behind us) couldn’t believe that we had never killed a chicken.

We went to bed and again, I had a marvelous night sleep. Good thing I can sleep anywhere because it is working out great for me, but others are having a hard time. So Friday we woke up again to the roosters (no need for an alarm clock!) around 6:30, and got ready to go to the orphanage. Fred our amazing driving took us in a crazy motorcycle w/ a cart thing attached to it. It was so much fun! The orphanage was about a half hour -45min away and literally in the middle of the jungle/sugar cane. Africa is the most beautiful place on earth. Literally. I need to get pictures up so you can see, but I’m sure they will not do it justice. We got to the orphanage and the children ran up to us and kept saying, “tank you muzungu for coming. Welcome muzungu. Tank you. Tank you.” The children are mostly 6-12 with a few little, little kids. Wow, sometimes I can’t believe my life. We all became fast friends. We had to get the bricks for the chicken coop from one side of the yard to the other so we created a very efficient assembly line of volunteers and little kids. We started singing and dancing in the line. We taught them Old McDonald, the Hokie Pokie, If you’re happy and you know it, Broom-chica broom. The kids got a kick out of it. It was incredible. Then we had to go down the road ( A REALLY LONG WAY) and went down the hill to the clay hole. We got buckets and wheel barrels of clay and the children and us carried it all the way back. I’m going to be so buff when I come home. It was really, really strenuous, but also fun because the kids are so cute and so helpful and way stronger than me! (On the way down the hill Isaac was running and looked back and didn’t see me in front of him and totally collided into me. He was so embarrassed, but because of it we are best friends. He was so helpful and at dinner washed my hands and he also cut a jackfruit from a tree and brought it to me to eat. AMAZING.) I was exhausted and dehydrated so I had to sit for a bit, well all the muzungus did.. ( sidenote: someone just used our microwave for the first time and it sounds like a space ship.) Anyways, we got back to the orphanage and laid in the glass for a bit. We had a few projects going on: a chicken coop and an adobe stove. The clay was for the adobe stove. We got to play games with the kids and taught them red light/green light, duck duck goose, the Macarena. It was so cute and fun. Then we got to work on the Adobe Stove which was a huge project because we had to mix the mud, clay, fiber, and water together to a specific consistency. We shoveled and then we took our shoes off and mixed it all for a long, long while. Christine ( the mother at the orphanage) cooked us a dinner of beans, rice, cabbage, and posha (flour and water). It was MUCH better than the nasty stuff we ate at the restaurant. Rylee and I decided we could probably handle this food if it tasted like this though it is nothing like a Café Rio Salad or icecream from Cold Stone that is for sure.. After dinner we worked more on the stove and played with the children. Our day of work was from 8:30am to 6pm of hard labor. It was awesome. We rode back on the motorcycle/cart thing and had to push it up the hill for a bit. We got back into town and if we thought we were exhausted the day before, we were not in comparison because we could barely walk now. We all showered (which was quite the experience and cold!) and then we realized that unfortunately we had told the local club that we would probably come Friday night so “Big Daddy” ( the manager) was expecting us to come so we all got ready to go out to “African Paradise” for some dancing and fun. Jeff, Trent, Corbin, Me, Leslie, Ash, Jackie, and Emily went. Big Daddy escorted us in and it is a pretty sweet set up. It has an open ceiling, a stage, area for pool and darts, and food area. The music was older American stuff and some Africa stuff. A Justin timberlake song was played as well as a Shania twain song that sounded like the chipmunks singing. The club got pretty full and well, there were sooo many drunk Africans. Let me just say I am thankful for jeff, corbin, and trent. It was really fun though and I’m glad I went. We stayed for a couple hours and then came home and chilled and talked. Saturday we got to sleep in—I woke up around 10ish. We went to the market and then got a sweet deal on a taxi and all of us got to ride together to Bujagali Falls right on the Nile. Beautiful and breathtaking. There was a little restaurant place too so we all drank our sodas and took naps next to the Nile—no big deal. Then we went on a boat ride (in a little boat) and traveled to different islands and hiked around. It was cool because there was a witch doctor in his little hut on one and Ashley started talking to him…kinda creepy as well because we have heard serious stories from the natives about witch doctors…um, yes, they kill people and take their organs. Anyways, it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen or imagined. Sadly, they are building a dam in four years on the Nile so all the white water will be gone and there will be little to no white water rafting ever again on the Nile so good thing we are going next Saturday! We then told our drive to take us to a swimming place and he misunderstood and took us to this super posh resort with a swimming pool. I wouldn’t mind coming back on a honeymoon or something at this place—Kiera you would love it there! We then went to the forest and walked around until we found four random people; two Americans, two Englishmen. They are living in Uganda indefinitely working in an orphanage with HIV positive children. Uganda is full of incredible people. We then came home to an amazing dinner because we finally got our cook hired for dinner!!! Irene is incredibleeeeeeeeeeee. We were starving and literally were shoving food in our mouths and no one was talking just eating, eating, eating. We had beans, squash—my favorite!, pineapple, chipati—my absolute fav! (like a tortilla), cabbage (also delicious!), potatoes!!!! It was heaven.

After dinner we all watched a movie w/ the big projector I was in charge of bringing over. Thank goodness it didn’t break. We are planning on using the projector at the hospital and in the schools as well. We were all so tired though that we could barely stay awake and most of us passed out watching A Beautiful Mind. Sunday we got to sleep in til about 10 and we decided to go to Bills church. Bill is an American pastor who has dedicated his life to service here. He has been a ridiculously amazing contact and through him we found other contacts and orphanages, etc. He is going back to America for a few months so we decided to go to his last Sunday service. It was crazy and fun. It was about half an hour of standing up, yelling, dancing, whooping, hollering, clapping, laughing, and then they talked and then bill had a really long message (but good) and then the people talked more. It was very hot and very fun. The people were so gracious and called us angels. They said look we pray everyday and these muzungus have come to help us and our community. It was very kind, but a little uncomfortable. (Sidenote: the little kids who live by our house and climb the wall and gate are yelling our names to come out side and play. It is so cute when I walk down the street and they yell “Victoria. Heloooo. Victoria come play.” I was the first name they knew. Haha, they are so cute, and sassy!) Then we had our own Sacrament service with permission from the branch president in Mukono. It was a great service. Afterwards we all chilled and I tried to get on the internet but it was down. Monday we got up early again to go to the children’s orphanage. We got there and it just poured and poured and poured so we ended up staying inside with the kids teaching them more games and songs and playing with them. After four hours of rain we finally got out in the mud and hauled bricks and worked on the pig pen. We then had to head back for our meeting with the town council. We all dressed up and looked “Smart” and took ‘boda-bodas’ (they are like motorcycles/mopeds) there. They are kinda intense and scary, but overall super fun. The meeting started 45 minutes late because that is just how it is here. We had a pretty good meeting but intense as we discussed projects and presented our ideas and discussed needs of the community. We all got our contacts and numbers and were very productive. After the meeting we went to the internet café, came home and ate a dinner of rice, beans, and chipati. We then had an amazingly fun FHE and a project planning meeting. We all went to bed pretty early. Tuesday we got to sleep in and basically went around town all day to our different meetings with our contacts with the town council. We are pretty freaking excited about the projects. We met with the headmaster of the secondary school called St. Edward. The teachers need training and ideas, and we are going to start up clubs for kids to learn about AIDS/Health, work with the choir, do career day and have clubs for the kids to learn about doctors/lawyers/engineers. It is an awesome program we are going to start. The orphanage project is going to be amazing as well because the plan is to go to the different wards and villages and round up the orphanages and basically evaluate their situation. Then we will start a school for them, and we will be able to create our own curriculum and program for them as well which means not only will we be doing school subjects like math and science but also art and a choir. It’s going to be hard and awesome all in one. This week we will be creating curriculum and planning projects. I also will be planning some things to do with social work as this is very essential in the area as well. Oh, and it definitely poured on us as we were walking home from our meetings so we were running home in the rain with everyone laughing at us. It was great. OH, and I showered (which is quite the cold experience) and I realized that I smell even though I showered. The smell is in the air, in the people, and in the water. Isn’t that awesssoome? I think so. We got the rest of the volunteers tonight too-heidi, seren, and amber.

I still can't believe i'm in Africa...I must be in DE-NILE.

Who loves my joke??

Questions my mom emailed me…thought others would be interested as well:

What does the village look like?

Our village is nice. The way it works is that lugazi is the town and there are different wards and then different villages within the wards. There is so much garbage everywhere. There are trenches along the street. The market is fun to go to. Lots and lots of little stands for food and selling various things. It looks pretty much like what you would imagine a third world country… except oh my gosh it is beautiful. The town is surrounded by sugar cane fields. A man from India came years ago (his name is meta) and created all the sugar cane fields. He is freaking rich now.

Have you learned of any unusual custom?

Customs? Ummm, nothing really. They are so funny when they talk. I talk like them now too. Thank you come again.
Do most of the houses look like the one you live in?

We are in a nice house compared to most in the area. A verrry nice house. Most of the houses are huts or rundown buildings. Except there are two on our road that are very nice as well.

Are there paved roads, or just dirt?

The roads are red dirt with one main road paved and one round about at the end of town . Most of it is dirt, dirt, dirt, mixed with garbage and a lot of it.

How far are you from the store?

We are in a village so we just go out of the village up the road to the Simple Market. It is about a 5 minute walk. What kind of stores are there? The only store is the simple market and the rest of it is basically open market or little holes in the walls. How many? There are many markets and people selling things everywhere.

How many people in your town? So my country director says 35,000 are considered for lugazi but that includes a lot more than what we see. It is very very spread out.

What do they do for a living? The people here do whatever they can to survive. Many are boda-boda drivers/ taxi drivers, many work in the sugar cane fields, many many grow food and sell it in the market.

How do they like white people? They LOVE muzungus. We are like Hollywood stars here. They like us a lot. The US? Everything I’ve heard is positive.

What kind of furniture is in your house?

We have one couch and two arm chairs. We also have 5 or 6 lawn chair type things. We have bunk buds. What kind of flooring? The flooring is vinayl flooring I think. What are your house rules? The house rules are pretty chill except we do have a cleaning chart. We also have days when different people cook breakfast. If you make something you have to clean it up. Mostly all of our rules are being clean so we don’t get bugs. Also, now we have to keep our shoes inside or in the back b/c three of the boys got their really expensive tevas stolen. Oh yes, and no dating. Do you have a curfew? We have to be home before dark, but then we can go out again after dark , but we basically have to regroup at the house for dinner so everyone is accounted for. Actually, I have to update this part (may 15^th) we now no longer can go out at dark. If we have to then we must have at least two boys with us. . . kind of a long story w / that , but we are fine. Keep praying for safety and no more thieves! J

Who cleans your house? We clean our house, but this good friend of ours Edith who lives down the road cleans up after us also. How do you do laundry? Edith does our laundry, but we clean our underwear, because it is offensive to give it to her to wash.

Do you think you took everything you need? No, I didn’t take everything I need. I wish we could have found more skirts that were longer. I dunno where, but everyone has long skirts and I wish I did too. Leggings suck (yes, you were right. urs.) I think I will need more deet. I wish sooooooo much that I would have brought more granola bars for every single day. And fruit snacks. And mixed nuts. I wish I would have brought knee length shorts. ( I left them on my bed) I wish I would have brought more capris. I wish I would have brought more shirts-I sweat a lot. I wish I would have brought CANDY.

Where do the country directors live?

Our country directors live in the house with us. Do you they go with you on your projects? They so far have gone with us with the projects but it will be different when we have different projects

You have a cook for dinner?????

Yes, HELP provides a cook for dinner. Which is stinking nice otherwise we would rarely have a meal.

How many guys are going to show up? We have five boys right now. And they are all so incredibly awesome. Seriously. How many more girls? We are expecting three more girls tonight.

Some pictures of our journey so far

Lugazi, UGANDA

Hello Everyone!
I have safely arrived in AFRICA! This has been an absolute incredible experience and we have only been here for one day. The plane rides were a little ridiculous at times, but for the most part okay because we got to watch movies and tv. We arrived in Uganda and the first thought I had was that it smelled like the reptile house at the zoo. Is that weird? Anyways, everyone was so kind and helpful. We got our visas and BOTH of my ridiculously heavy and awkwardly huge bags made it safely. One girl in our group is missing a bag but its okay. We got picked up by a bus ( the nicest bus I’ve seen here) and a driver that our Country Directors had found. It was so so good to see our directors. They told us all about their experiences here the past week during the two hour ride from the airport to our village. I fell asleep for about an hour of it. Our village is AMAZING. We are all so happy we moved locations. The village is called Lugazi and they do not have Muzugus (white people) here. We are like stars walking down the street (or a freak show). It is hilarious. Anyways, we got to our house and we were all soooooooooooo happy about it! The people living in our house gave up their home for us and live right behind us in their 2nd house now. We have a living room, a freezer, a microwave (don’t know if it works..), a toaster, 4 bedrooms, and one bathroom and one kind of random shower hole in the wall. Seriously, our house is so nice compared to everything else, and we love it. There is electricity too, except ten minutes after we got home the power died for the rest of the night. Not the best because we couldn’t see anything and right before the electricity died we saw a cockroach. So we all busted out our flashlights and had to kill about five cockroaches in the dark; barefoot. It was pretty hilarious. We all chilled for the night and headed to bed around 1am. I slept really well, but woke up when everyone else did around 6am. The roosters and screaming baby across the dirt road woke us up. I had a great night sleep, but I guess other people struggled. We then had a magnificent breakfast of mangos, pineapple, boiled eggs, bananas, and even toast. Then we headed out to explore the town. We got a tour of the town and people were just staring and saying hello. Ah! So much to say but I need to go to town right now…Okay, really quick my favorite part of the day was when we went into the hospital. They took us into EVERY SINGLE room. Womens ward, mens ward, maternity ward, children’s ward….it was a lot to handle, but by far my very very favorite part. I couldn’t believe they let us go into literally every room, but every one wanted us to come and say hello even though they were just had surgery or something. And they call the operation room ‘the big theatre.’ Strange, I thought. Well, right now Rylee and I have to go into town and buy supplies for our project tomorrow which is building a couple schools, adobe stoves, chicken pen, and a pig pen. It’s going to be pretty intense. And having me and rylee go into town is going to be ridiculous because we don’t know where anything is at all. AT ALL. And the people will laugh at us a lot because we are the only muzungu around. Anyways, it is so awesome so far!!! And it is pretty much what you would imagine a 3rd world country…absolutely unbelievable and overwhelming. Hope all is well back in America!
Love,
TOR
p.s. we have an armed guard from 7pm to 7am and our house is gated…anddddd, there are children all the time just standing at our gate waiting for us to come and talk to them/bring them candy. They are super funny. Please keep praying for us! We need it. J
p.p.s. I forgot to say that it downpoured and hailed for a bit while we were all walking home. Oh yes, and the humidity and weather last night was a lot like Chicago so that was cool. The Utah people are having a hard time, but this humidity is like home for me! Oh yeah, and we ate at a restaurant today (one of the nicest ones) annnnnnd, let me just say I am very glad I brought granola bars. I thought it wouldn’t be any big deal eating beans and makoote ( green banana before it is ripened…the texture is like mashed potatoes/squash.) but umm, I guess I’ll have to get used to it.

The Time Has FINALLY Arrived...

To Love
To Serve
To Learn
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also." 1 John 4: 18-21

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."--Mosiah 2:17

"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." --Proverbs 9:9

I leave for Africa in about 24 hours. My "to-do" list is still quite long and it has become a very obvious reality that I will not be able to sleep until I am on some aircraft because 1)sooo much to do and 2) soooo much to do.

I am incredibly excited and frantically preparing. My friend Rylee who is also going to be a volunteer with me this summer had a "Good-bye Party" last night and I was able to go and talk about Africa all night which only made me more excited.

My country directors are already there getting housing and contacts ready for us and my team and I are extremely ready to get there as well.

What a marvelous time to be alive and have opportunities to fly across the world and serve the people there.

I am however a little concerned about the weight of my luggage. My supply suitcase is getting quite heavy and my bank account quite light as I made last minute purchases thinking of what the children there might enjoy.

My duffel bag full of clothes for me, bug spray, soap, hand sanitizer, journal, camera, more bug spray, rain gear, shoes, bug spray, sunscreen, mosquito net, and a flea collar is also significantly heavier than the maximum weight of 50pounds. I'm not quite sure how I am going to get myself out of that problem. I need all of those things!

And last, but most importantly, I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for your incredible support. I reached the goal amount of money I needed and it is because of your generous donations and kind support. The fundraised amount even went over what I was required and because of that those funds go directly into the Uganda, Africa project fund. This means that money goes directly to the projects and activities we will be doing there which is VERY VERY helpful because we are now able to do even more in Africa than we ever thought possible. Again, thank you for helping make this a reality for me and for caring about the people of Uganda.

I will try my very hardest to update this blog while I am there.
I will also be sending out a mass email. If you would like to be a part of that, email me your email address to toriruth6@gmail.com .

ALSO, please note on the right hand side I have our TEAM UGANDA MISSION STATEMENT as well as a link to our TEAM's blog. Please look at it! If this blog isn't updated that one should be for sure.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR EVERYTHING.
LOVE,
TORI BLONQUIST