oli otya! its been a very good week here in lugazi, uganda. let me tell you about it! by the way this keyboard doesn't have a button to capitalize letters... ? haha

so i spent all day tuesday and thursday out with ally, suzanne, and wilson of the outreach mission. we went to probably thirteen schools and promoted the writing contest. oh my it is so much work! i had no idea. just all the little details take so much time and meetings to figure it out. it's crazy! and i always think how much easier it would be to start something like this in america where there are emails and communication is so fast. but then again, it always surprises me how easy it is to just walk into a school and explain the contest, and the headmasters always accept and give us time to speak in an assembly. is it because the contest is such a good idea? or is it because we are giving out prizes? or is it simply because we are white and people always listen to what the mzungus have to say? unfortunately it is probably a combination including the latter. but, we just have to remember to put our white skin to good use, as unfair as it is that we have credibility from it. i'm never going to get used to that or like it while i'm here. on the one hand, its fun to have the little kids yell to us and run up and give us "bongas", which is like pounding fists. but on the other hand, sometimes i wonder what certain peoples intentions are for working with us. do they even like us, or are they just playing nice because they know we have money? its a very conflicting situation, one that i still don't feel comfortable with. but i'm learning a lot by living it, that is for sure. we have a lot to do with the contest. there are over 100 schools in the buikwe district competing.... which is going to be absolutely i n s a n e to try and judge entries! i'm already stressed out. oh man! and in the mukono district, we have a much more doable number of 15 schools because we limited the number. we are going to have a winning boy and girl from each school. and the two grand prize winners are going to get to read their piece at the annual aids extravaganza festival at norah's complex on july 10th. it is an aids awareness festival where students and people in the community entertain through music dance and drama. it was a great success last year and i'm excited to be a part of it again.

on wednesday i spent the day giving an aids lesson at a school. we taught with the youth outreach mission guys. they are all our age, going to a university, and volunteering a lot of time helping their community. we taught about sexuality, hiv prevention, and just general information on hiv contraction and symptoms. there is such a lack of knowledge about it here!! it frightens me. we were teaching a secondary school so the kids were ages 13 and up. at the end of the lesson we had them write questions on papers and give them back and we'd answer them. oh my goodness. the questions we got! you wouldn't believe it. they ranged from weird, to completely obvious. the misconceptions are still there. many still think you can get hiv from kissing. many think if you have sex and then abstain for a few years, that you can become a virgin again. it was very interesting and unlike annnyyyy health lesson you would hear in america! the kids learned a lot though. very productive day!

so next! i am soooo excited about this! i am going to help katelynn and ally start a choir for disabled children here in lugazi! yaa! i am so pumped. the writing contest has been very draining and i'm excited to have this to focus on as well. we went with sandra today, who is awesome! i love her! she is my age, going to the university and studying child development. she is so smart and so motivated! we went to several different churches to spread news about it. many expressed interest, we just have to work out a lot of the logistics to get it organized. we are also planning on starting one in provo when we move back in the fall! we're calling it the kids ability choir. and we're going to name the one in provo the same thing! can't wait.

well thats the update for now... i tripped on a rock today walking up the street in my flip flops and cut my big toe open. ouch! thats what i get for not wearing my chaco shoes that are invincible! my right foot is just having issues in general haha. have i mentioned that ever since the plane ride from kenya to uganda, my right pinky toe has been completely numb??? i have no idea why, and it is the joke of the team because its the weirdest thing ever! my clumsiness never ceases to amaze.

okay thats it folks! its friday and i have no idea what were doing tomorrow! maybe going into jinja, visiting bujagali falls, splurging and getting a cold milkshake... who knows! later friends!
-ashley/nampijja

African Paradise and SIPI FALLS> (AKA HEAVEN)

Hola family and friends! I have so much to write about that I am having trouble even knowing where to begin. Here goes!

Wednesday June 2:I went to volunteer at Kawolo Hospital for the morning. I initially brought children's books to read but all the children in the ward had parents there so that didn't work out. Some girls went to observe a surgery or examination of an expecting mother, but that wasn't quite up my ally haha. In Africa, by the way, the hospitals are run a little differently. There are no restricted areas. You can perform any kind of medical thing you want. Well, if you are mzungus like us i guess. Of course we didn't though. It's just crazy how we could go anywhere we wanted in the hospital. I ended up going to the premature babies and held a little boy while the mother rested. It was soooo tiny. Honestly the most precious thing I have ever seen. It probably weighed three pounds at most. He had a headful of dark black hair and was just perfect. Ah I just loved him so much. If he was an orphan I would take him home with me. Such a special experience. That's about all we did there.

Thursday June 3: Martyrs day!! National holiday! Awesome awesome day. So, here's a little history of Uganda for ya. On June 3, 1886, King Mwanga ordered the killing of 26 of his pages, 13 Anglicans and 12 Roman Catholics. 25 of these Christian converts were killed after a week long torture at Namugongo. The 26th martyr was killed at a later time. They were burned for rejecting the executioner's persuasion to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Now, people walk from all over the country to commemorate the sacrifice and strong faith of the martyrs. People even come from Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda! People literally walk for days in advance to make it to Namugongo. We woke up at 6 am and had our trusted driver Godfrey take us! It was so cool, people were EVERYWHERE! I've never seen so many people lining the streets and in this huge open field area. Church choirs were singing, people selling religious things, etc. We went to the site and had a great history tour. It was so fun to celebrate with the Ugandans at a place that was so sacred to their religion.

Friday June 4: Hmm what did I do this day. Oh! I had a meeting with Wilson and we worked out all the kinks of the Annual Help Writing Contest we are sponsoring! Wilson is THE MAN. Have I written about him?? We all love him. Seriously, too much. He's 22 and started his own non profit organization called The Youth Outreach Mission(TYOM). It's been going for three years and he does SO MUCH for this community. He doesn't get money for doing it either. I spent all day with him but I'll write about it later. The meeting went great, then we did another teacher training at Skyway Primary School. Oh it was so cramped!! It was raining and so there wasn't an extra room for us to go with all the teachers. We squished into this tiny little dark room with about ten teachers and i wrote on the chalkboard. It was fun though! They skyway teachers need you to be a little overenthusiastic about everything, which was kind of fun for me in all honesty. Every group of teachers is different, and they just needed a little more encouragement to participate haha. They love it though. Our cultures are just different!
Oh yes!~! Friday night we went dancing at AFRICAN PARADISE!!! Hahaha it is a local dance club right by our house. We had Wilson, who I previously mentioned, as well as Godfrey, (not our driver, he's one of Wilson's friends who helps us alot and we love) and some of their other friends escorted us there! Actually, in Uganda they don't say escort. They say "PUSH". As in, "We are here to push you to the club." hahaha. Anyways it was quite the experience. We had a strategic circle of our African friends surrounding us the entire time we danced. When the other men at the club tried to dance with us, our "bodyguards" if you will, would talk to them and they'd back off. We had the best time! NOthing like an outdoor dance club/hut in Africa with a sweet DJ. Awesome night.

Saturday June 5: SIPI FALLS!!!!!!!!!! Okay, I cannot even begin to describe the amazingness of this place. WOWOWOWOW! So we left around 6 am saturday morning to catch a taxi to Sipi. It's about 4 hours away from Lugazi, my town. The best way I can describe it is HEAVEN ON EARTH. I'm completely convinced there is no place more beautiful on this earth. I thought Lugazi was green and tropical?? Sipi falls is up in the mountains, which was so awesome to be in! More like a plateau of jungle, but still a mountain nonetheless. Driving up this windy jungle road it overlooked a huge cliff. On this cliff we could see three GINOURMOUS waterfalls and it was honestly the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to put pictures on this blog when i get home and show you. ahhhh! it gets better. We drive up to our campsite and picture this: it is on the cliff's edge, trees everywhere, waterfalls within sight, the main lodge is a bamboo hut with a thatched stick roof with a huge deck to look out over the valley. Then they showed us our sleeping corridors and guess what they were? Our OWN tiny little bamboo stick/mud/thatched roof huts!!! We were dying. SOOOO AWESOME!!! I am feeling giddy with joy just remembering it. Did I mention there were monkeys just wandering around the campground? Yep. Tons. So mom and dad, I think I found my future place of residence=Moses's Campground?? haha coolest thing i've ever done! We proceeded to eat some beans for lunch, then head out with our trusty tour/weekend planner man Fred!! He was soo nice to us. He totally could have tried to rip us off but he was so helpful. He arranged all the meals, walked us around at night to make sure we were safe, took us on hikes, set up repelling, and just did it all. Love him! People are so friendly in Uganda. Honestly, they are the best people I know. Most of the help he did for us wasn't because he was getting paid. However, he did propose to Katelynn so there could have been underlying motivations there hahahaha. The hike was so beautiful (that word doesn't do it justice one bit) and we took tons of pictures and saw three huge awesome waterfalls. After hours of hiking up and down and all around cliffs and waterfalls, Fred took us to another huge hut lodge with a deck and we ate a candlelit dinner outside watching the sun go down. The day could not have been more perfect. It was delicious too, not 100% African which was a nice change. After dinner Fred walked us home in the dark, and the guys running Moses' campsite had started a bonfire for us on the edge of the cliff by the lodge. Moses is one of the guys uncle and they all were working there. They were so fun! All our age and we had a blast. We told stories, laughed, and the boys even sang songs for us. Don't worry that they were all sappy love songs they wrote themselves.. hahaha. It was great. We even talked to a girl from Italy who was volunteering in Gulu. Sweet!

Sunday June 6: I accomplished something that I never thought I would have the guts to do. Ready? I repelled down a 300 FOOT WATERFALL. IN AFRICA!! Yep, I did! I promise! I have pictures to prove it. Now, I will admit I have never been so scared in my life. My entire life! At the top I was panicking and the other 7 girls were just laughing away at me. I couldn't believe how high up we were, just on the edge of this straight down cliff with the waterfall crashing over the edge 30 feet away. But after watching Carrie go over the edge first, I knew I better go now or I'd chicken out! So off I went! I walked backwards over the edge of the tallest cliff ever with just some rope saving me from death! Haha it was so scary. Oh man. But once that initial over the edge moment happened, it was awesome! Looking down and seeing my little rope dangling with no one at the bottom, looking to my left and seeing this massive waterfall cascading next to me and hitting the mossy boulders below was the sweetest moment of my life and one that I'll not soon forget!! We had a blast and it was completely worth the 50 bucks I spent risking my life to do it. YES!
So that was my incredible weekend in Sipi. We got home at 8 sunday night, had a team meeting, and welcomed Mike from HELP in America! He is staying with us this week to see how things are going. We pretty much love him because he brought us a bag of chocolate. Yep. Good good weekend.

Monday.. Today! Me suzanne and ally spent all day with Wilson (lucky us) going around to schools and promoting our writing contest. Students are so excited about it! Which makes me so happy! I can't wait to read all the entries!! Ah! We're going to turn the winning pieces into a book and publish it back at home because Suzanne has connections. It's gonna rock. Wilson is such a good person. His heart is so big! He goes goes goes all day long to help his community and doesn't take breaks or do anything for himself! I made him stop and eat my crackers and had to buy him water because he didn't have any money. Oh wilson. We love you! We couldn't do it without him.

This week's gonna be a good one! Oh and I've hit my one month mark of living in Africa!! Here are some things you should know :)
-It smells like burning trash multiple times a day
-People wear puffy winter coats if it gets below 75 degrees. sooo funny!
-there are huge storks/cranes/freaky pteradactyl birds that sit on buildings and freak me out
-ugandans say "mmm" instead of "uh huh". we all do it now
-"please" is tacked onto random phrases like "thank you please". or "yes please" when asked if they like something
-pedestrians do NOT have the right of way! cars/bodas speed up and honk at you!
-for every five people, three are named godfrey
-women should sit sideways on bodas. we dont, therefore boda drivers think we are crazy
-the water and power go out all the time. as in, almost every day hahaha
-Ugandns laugh at you when you walk out in the rain
-cows, chickens and goats roam freely in streets and yards. ugandans are scared of cows and i know why! when they are charging at you it is terrifying!

Thats all for now! I love my life! It is honestly too good to be true. Welaba!

Hello friends! It has been quite the weekend for me! Seriously only minutes after i was writing my blog entry on friday, i started to feel lightheaded and nauseated. this happens fairly often in the mornings after i take my malaria medication so i didn't think much of it. wellll it wasn't from the medication. i proceeded to have a headache, fever, nausea, throwing up and body aches for the rest of the day until about 9 pm. it was pretty miserable and i haven't felt that sick in.... a long time if ever. at one point i was sure i had malaria and was dying a slow and painful death! another volunteer, alex, was violently ill as well that night. it was a rough day for our team! well no worries,i don't have malaria and as of yesterday i am back to normal! i am pretty sure i had some sort of heat exhaustion/dehydration because i had all the symptoms and had spent all of the previous few days in the intense sun. so yep, i've been guzzling the water like a camel the last few days and will make sure that never happens again! my team went out to jinja on saturday but i wasn't able to go. i spent a lot of time sleeping on a little dirty foam mattress in the corner of our kitchen. oh i am so grateful for my health after that!! and the comforts of america when you are sick! it made me sympathize a lot more with all the sick patients in the hospitals, were comforts are few and far between.

So! yesterday i went and did my first teacher training! i missed the actual first one on friday, but heard it went fantastically! yesterday we went to Seya primary school to teach and it was so great. we taught about the different learning styles students have and how teachers can adapt lesson plans to be more creative and teach in a variety of ways. for instance, we can teach to the musical, verbal, logical, visual, interpersonal and intrapersonal learning styles all in one lesson! they had great feedback for us and it was very successful.

This morning i went to do an HIV screening at Lugazi University. I finally got to meet Emmanuel, who i have been hearing about forever! And he is THE BEST! Seriously the funniest, coolest guy. He is 24 years old and a clinition at the university. He wants to get his masters degree at a school in america. He's So smart. So me, Molly, Becca, Alex, and Cecilly took boda bodas over to the university early this morning. can i just say how much i love bodas?? yes, its true that often i think i might die from a head on collision, but mostly they are just so fun! we were laughing the other day about how normal it is for us to just walk up to a group of africans on motorcycles and ask them to take us somewhere. only in africa! anyways, we got there and he showed us how to do the testing, and told us how to give the pre and post interviews with the people being tested. At first we helped with sanitizing peoples fingers, giving Emmanuel the needles, recording names and such. Then, I went in and listened to him give a few of the results. He called the person into a little room and had him sit on a chair in front of us. He proceeded to essentially grill the person about their sexual behaviors, when they were last tested, if they knew the status of their partner, how many partners they have, etc. It was very intense. He asked what they would do with their life if they found out if they were negative and what they'd do if they were positive as well. Emmanuel told us that when it was our turn to interview, we have to be very careful to gage the person and if they give any answers that seem suicidal, to not tell them their status yet. The point of all the intense questioning is to really make people aware of how their unsafe behaviors could affect the rest of their life. Everyone in the clinic today tested negative, and i can tell that many people are going to change their behavior after seeing how scared and nervous they were before finding out they were negative. It was a very interesting experience to say the least.

Well then! We were done testing people for a bit and Emmanuel asked if we knew our status. So we all decided to get tested! I am proud to say that I am HIV negative! Whoooo! Haha oh man. *Don't worry dad, we used a new needle for each of us and it was all very safe. I promise :)Emmanuel even conducted an interview with each of us about any risky behaviors and what we will do now that we know we are HIV negative. It was pretty great. He is seriously my favorite. We had a lot of fun with him today, too much probably!

So ya thats a little update on my weekend! It wasn't the most eventful one but I'm just grateful to be up and able to work! Bye!

Just call me NAMPIJJA

hello again! njagela uganda! i love uganda! so it has been a very emotionally draining, productive, and englightening week for me. i have learned so much about development in the last few days and the role that i play in it here.
*oh sidenote; my mom informed me that my blog has many spelling and grammatical errors haha. so my fellow readers, just so you know, i do know how to write better than this, but many keys dont work and the delete button sticks :)
well i will catch up on the beginning of the week first. we went to the uganda vs kenya football game!! it was so much fun. it was also kind of a weird day because we drove to the capital, kampala, to gte there, and stopped at dominoes pizza. i felt a little guilty because it was so easy and cheap for us to go and get normal food. i just thought about the people in our little neighborhood who don't have that ability. its hard to explain, but it was just an eye opening experience for me. but the game was really fun! we got there early so we sat on the front row! instead of cheerleaders, they had tribal dancers who did the coolest things like play huge drums on their heads and even kick it while on their heads! uganda even won the game! also, have i mentioned that i'm never goign to get used to the strangers that just walk up to us and take our pictures? they dont try to sneak it either. its a little uncomfortable sometimes hahaha.
me and suzanne visited about ten schools this week and we are doing our first teacher training later this afternoon! i am so excited. so on wednesday, we took a taxi out to the buikwe district to meet with many schools. we were escorted by a teacher in the area we have been in contact with. well, there was a miscommunication of sorts, because we were expecting a meeting and each school put on a presentation for us and gave us time to speak to the entire school. we have realy been gettingput on the spot here. my public speaking is definitely improving! whether i want the practice or not! it was hard because each school saw us as their saviors. the ones who could give them funds to fix all their problems. as an organization, we dont just hand out money. we work with different partners to create projects with them that will be sustainable. so we couldn't make any promises, especially without talking to the rest of our team first. it was a difficult situation. the schools in this area literally have nothing. no materials, not enough teachers, and one school didn't even have a structure. it was a stick roof and the children sat in the dirt underneath it. it was so draining to see so much need and know that we can't fix everything and help everyone. i wish we had enuogh resources, but the truth is that we don't. the more i'm learning about development, the more my mindset is changing. when i came here, i was so excited because i thought i was going to change so many lives and help so many people. and i will. but not in the way i expected. the only difference between the people here and myself is that i was born into a family and country that has education and resources. ugandans are not less capable, hard working, motivated, or intelligent than we are. they simply lack the knowledge of how to improve their circumstances, and dont have resources available to help them suceed. its very heartbreaking, and i was getting discouraged this week. but we are doing our best. i can't help everyone, but i can make a difference so someone every day. and since i have been trying to do that, i have felt more hopeful and optimistic.
well, off of that serious note- i rode my first boda boda this week! they are motorcycles for anyone that doesn't know, and they take you wherever you want to go! me and ally took one through the sugarcane fields to get to seya school. it was the most beautiful ride i have ever been on! just miles of rolling green fields as far as you can see. ahhh i was in heaven. just fyi, women ride bodas sitting sideways. however, us americans prefer the safer alternative! haha the other day i was getting on one again, and the drivre said to me- you have never sat like a woman before?? he was quite shocked, it was pretty funny!
oh and at seya school, one of the head teachers i met with gave me a ugandan name! yes! i've been so excited for someone to give me one! it is........ NAMPIJJA! haha i love it. i now belong to the cow clan! meaning i respect the cow clan. each clan respects an animal, and it means you cannot eat it. the woman that gave me the name also respects this clan so i asked her if she doesn't eat cow meat. she just smiled and said that they made a rule that they only don't eat cows without tails. when i asked why, she burst out laughing and said that there aren't many cows without tails so it is good because then they can eat cow meat! ah i love uganadans :) until next week! thanks family and friends for all the support and emails! its so fun to hear from everyone! mwelaba!! bye!

i bless the rains down in africa!

hello! today marks two weeks that i have been living in africa. i can't believe it! it feels like i have been here so much longer! it is great. first of all, i received several emails from family members in response to an email my dad sent. thank you so much!! it was so great to hear from you all and feel the support from everyone. i am so blessed to be here. every day i wake up and try to soak it all in. every day has been an adventure!
well, i'm sitting here at hope internet cafe, which is about a twenty minute walk from my house. i want to tell you a little more about lugazi. i already mentioned that every time we walk through the streets in our neighborhood it is a parade of children running and screaming after us and holding onto our arms. well, i am happy to report that this hasn't died down one bit! i am convinced they will sing bye mzungu bye mzungu and run after us all summer long. they are adorable. we've made many friends and know a lot of their names. there is a main road about ten minutes from our house called jinja highway. now, it is not really a highway, but i'd say its just about as dangerous as one! traffic here is insane! boda bodas, motorcycles, come flying out of nowhere all the time. and taxis are everywhere. pedestrians defnintely don't have the right of way in africa haha. so its an adventure crossing the streets. also, ugandans have a really cool handshake that they do when they meet you. i'll show you when i get home haha. and it can last for an uncomfortably long amount of time too! its so funny. also, women and little girls carry anything from huge gallons of water, to baskets of fruit on their head as they walk around. it is incredible!! i have no idea how they do it without dropping anything.

this week has been extremely successful as far as projects go for our team! everyone is making contacts and setting up things and its fantastic. me and suzanne have over twenty schools to work with through the summer for our teacher training and writing/art contest and workshops. i am so excited! its taken a lot of preparation to get things ready to go, but we've had a lot of help and enthusiasm that has made it a productive week. we will be using the iol, inside out learning, manual to do teacher training here in uganda. the other day, the director of iol called me from kenya and said she would be willing to come to uganda and hold a teacher training meeting with us because help international has been such a helpful partner in the past. it is so exciting! so many doors are being opened to help us get thigns going.
we were supposed to meet with the mayor again yesterday... but when we showed up at the town council he was in another city. haha oh uganda. we've learned very quickly that it is normal to not show up for meetings and not answer phone calls. yet, at the same time, people will drop whatever they are doing to meet with us or help us with something. its funny. the people here are so great! it is my favorite thing about uganda. more than the beautiful scenery, cheap prices, touristy excursions- it is the people that i meet that has made the biggest impact on me already. i've met people with the purest hearts and serve others so unselfishly. it is really inspiring. it makes us want to do our best by finding out their greatest needs and doing all we can to facilitate change. because they know much more than we do about what their community needs. the only difference between them and us is that we have the resources available to improve their situations.

it's friday! yesterday i was feeling pretty sick to my stomach, but today it has been better. i've just been living on a diet of bananas and rice for the last few days haha. at least half of our volunteers have sore throats and bad head colds as well. hopefully i don't pick that up too. we are planning on going to african paradise tonight! it is a local dance club within walking distance to our house. and tomorrow!! we are going to a soccer game between kenya and uganda!! i am soo excited. it is going to be sweet! on monday me and suzanne will start meeting with schools about the writing/art contest and continue setting up contacts and meeting with the headmasters of each school. i love being here! i miss you all but honestly i am nowhere near ready to come home :)

KATIE LIDDIARD! if you read this, i need to email you about project/packing information. but i don't have your email because i can't access my address book here. so email me at ashleyalder15@gmail.com okay? asap! can't wait for you to get here!

bye!!

Jinja!

hello all! it's been a very productive and fun weekend. we've had many many meetings with partners we are going to work with over the summer. suzanne and i have met with pastor frances to talk about educational needs and starting a writing contest while we have writing workshops in the schools. he is giving us some great ideas and we are very excited. today we met with chairman livingston, he is like the senator of uganda. its kind of awesome, we get to meet with all these people in high positions basically because help international has built such a respectable reputation in the country. he talked with us about developmental needs and specifically answered our questions. i am becoming more interested in developing a program in the schools for special needs students. the teachers dont know how to deal with them so they are essentially kicked out of school. we want to train teachers on how to adapt lesson plans for these students. we want to pick five schools and do teacher trainings in the evenings each day for a couple hours. in the mornings we are setting up workshops to do directly with students. another commitee is focusing on public health, and we are going to combine with them to teach hiv/aids awareness and sanitation in the classrooms. i love all of the projects our team is doing! our five main areas are
1.education/schools(that me and suzanne are leading-teacher training, writing workshops, high school service clubs, teaching creativity and life skills)
2.public health(hiv/aids, hand washing, basic health, nutrition)
3.construction(adove stoves, mushroom houses, square foot gardening)
4.business(training, savings and loans groups, womens group)
5.volunteering(orphanages, elderly, soccer with street kids, hospital help)
yep! our projects are coming along! i'm excited to work witht all of the groups at some point througout the summer.
so on saturday we went to jinja to spend the day being tourists! it was so fun to go around to all the souvenier shops and see all the handmade crafts. i loved it! and it was crazy because everything is ridiculously cheap. i bought a really nice drum for about 7 bucks it is so sweet. our guard morris was jamming out on it with me the other day haha. after we went around to some shops, we went swimming at the triangle resort. it was sweet! it felt sooo nice to swim in a cold pool when it has been so hot and sticky. we had a blast. have i mentioned how many indian people live in uganda? i was very surprised! we felt like we were in india at the resort haha. but ya life here is sweet! i have to tell you about the drive thru's here! our taxi's pull off teh side of the road and i kid you not, at least 20 ugandans run up to the windows and nearly get run over. they stick poles with chicken, samosas, water bottles, fried bananas, etc INTO the car and ask you to buy them. it is chaos! very fun though. well i'm off! i hope all is well in the states! what is this i hear about the volcanoe erupting like crazy in iceland? am i going to be stuck in africa forever? at this point, it sounds pretty sweet to me! bye!

I never would have done that in America...

Hello family and friends! time for a little update on how the week has been! it's only thursday and so much has happened! we have spent time this week meeting with parter organizations and influential people that will help us with projects and make them productive. tuesday was quite the adventurous day for me. so we went with kizza, pronounced like chizza, and saw a mushroom house. about 15 people share them and provides a great income for the families because the market is so high for them right now. BUT! i have to tell you. the mushroom house wasn't in use because it's not in season right now, so they were dark and full of cobwebs!! it was seriously a spider shack. i never never never would have gone inside in america. but i was brave! and went inside! there wasn't much to see but kizza showed us how to grow them and build it. next we went to a woman's group that runs a business called Musana Jewelry. they are awesome. the local women make beads and necklaces out of paper and wood and all sorts of random things. they make beautiful things, its really cool. anyways, it is a great way for them to make money and we want to start more projects like that.
well, we got our first rolex's today! they are literally, rolled eggs, but the way ugandans talk it sounds like rolex. they are delicious! just eggs, tomatoes, onions all rolled up in a chipatti. they are 900 shillings so like 45 cents in us dollars. everything is so cheap here. its crazy!
after lunch nicole, our country director (cd) needed someone to go with her to meet with robert about buying a fridge. i went with her and it was quite the experience! i had been to roberts house before, his aunties are so funny and loud. well we were meeting in their living room discussing the cost and one of the aunts brought out a huge plate of..... GRASSHOPPERS!! yes my friends, i ate multiple grasshoppers. my eyes went wide because i knew i could not refuse them. we looked at each other, and dug right in! we had to pull off the legs first. they really weren't that bad! i was surprised. you could not pay me enough to do that in america. i feel like i keep saying that, but its true! we had a good time laughing about it and brought home the extras for the other volunteers to try.
I had yet another first that day, i hand washed all my clothes. let me tell you, that is not an easy task! especially when they are stained red from all the muddy clay all over everything. they still aren't dry, and the colors leaked so i have blue spots on all my shirts haha. oh well!
by the way, our water was off from saturday until tuesday! amazing how much you can't do without water. we didn't have any reserve yet either so we all got pretty smelly in those four days! we had the hugest thunderstorm ever that night too! the power went out for a while whch was kind of fun. oh uganda!
yesterday we built adove stove number 2 for a family. it turned out great! we're getting good at building them. they take about 4 hours to build.
then we went to Kowola hospital and met sister josephine. she is incredible. she's decidated her life to promoting public health and has worked at the hospital for 39 years. she took us around to every part of it and introduced us to all the main doctors and head workers. this was one of the nicer hospitals in uganda. that is so scary to me. dad, you wouldn't believe how unsanitary it is. oh my. we all felt like we were going to get a disease in the few hours we were there. the worst was when they took us to the mens unit and we went into a room of sick patients. as we stood in the middle, the nurse pointed out that the area to our left was the tuberculosis section. there was no distinction from the other areas and we all instantly held our breathe. it was a little scary. it makes me appreciate healthcare in america so much though. i can't imagine having to go to a hospital like that wehn you are sick. it was very sad. we visited the maternity ward too and that was fun. we got ot talk to the mtohers with their newborn babies. they were just beautiful. so much hair and they were just perfect.
today we went to ssanyu school and met with pastor francis. he told us all about the problems that the teachers and locals in general deal with. we are getting so many ideas for projects that will help these people. we are all so excited. me and suzanne, another volunteer, have been brainstorming about a teacher training project we can do. we are both english majors so it's something we are really interested in and the teachers are eager for training. we also want to sponsor a writing contest to get the students interested in writing. it will also help improve their english skills. we want to capture their stories about their culture, because none of it is written down. we were thinking we could find a way to publish a book out of it and create an income for them to buy more books. we have a lot of planning to do and need to meet with more of the teachers to make sure we can create a sustainable project for them. that is what i have learned the most since coming here. we need to start or refine projects that the people want and need. we saw how a few projects from last year fell through after the volunteers left and we don't want that to happen again. its been really cool to go aruond meeting people and thinking of projects to do.
well everyone, thats it for now! i don't know if anyone besides my family is reading this haha. if so, feel free to leave me a little comment! sharon, i would like to thank you for your fantastic email the other day! it was great to hear from ya! guess what, cows and goats and chickens run wild here and it reminds me of you. a cow circled us today... it may or may not have totally freaked me out! oh, and i caught a chicken! ya! i took pictures, don't worry.
katie liddiard- will you call my parents and pick up the books i didn't have room to bring over? we are definitely going to want them! actually we have a list of a million things we want you to bring so get ready for that haha.
mom and dad- it was great talking to you on sunday! so fun, i look forward to talking to you again next week! i love you all, goodbye!