I refuse to say the "G" word

Today was so much harder than I anticipated. I guess it didn't really hit me until today that I would actually be leaving. I have been dreading going home. It's not that I will hate America, it's that I won't like that I am no longer in Africa. Life is so simple here. I have worn the same clothes for 3 months. It takes me 15 minutes to roll out of bed and get ready. Everyone is so kind and loving and they don't care what you wear, look like, or smell like. They just love. REALLY love you and accept you just the way you are.The thought of taking an hour to get ready seems so foreign and unnecessary . It felt like it was just another day, going to lunch at Kapkwata's (our favorite little restaurant) Going to Mbale Shoppers (our favorite grocery store) but as the day progressed, I realized more that this is not just another day, it is my last in Uganda.  I may or may not have had a breakdown in Mbale Shoppers...... don't judge. Then we went to Namatala and I bought a necklace from sweet Martha. The children surrounded me saying "Safe journey, Safe Journey"  I stopped by and said goodbye to my little friend Deborah, as she hung on my arm and said "Let me go with you, let me go with you!" my heart was breaking! I teared up looking around Namatala from the back of a boda, listening to the children saying " Muzungu Muzungu" and waving for the last time. This place has changed me so much in ways that are hard to describe. As I watched the town pass me by on the way back I tried to soak it in and take a mental picture of the moment. Then we came back and I had my last meal made by Sam. And then of course had to say goodbye to him as he left. With every goodbye of the day, my heart got a little heavier and it hit me that I am really leaving. I am a different person than I was when I came. I can't explain it. I just hope that I will not fall back in to the old me when I get home and forget what I have learned and experienced here. I would like to thank the makers of cadbury chocolate for giving me chocolate hope for the long days, Pringles for giving me a taste of home, and of baby wipes for providing me with a small version of a shower when I didn't have time or energy for one.The people I have met, the things I have seen and experienced here have changed my life. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have this experience getting to serve His children, even in small ways. I feel selfish, because I have definitely gotten much more from the people of Uganda than I ever could have given them. This is not goodbye (I hate that word!) it is see you later. As much as I am looking forward to having cereal and my other favorite foods back in my life, I can't wait to come back to Uganda someday, see my friends, and maybe do some more volunteer work. God be with you till we meet again

Last Sunday in Uganda

Today was my last Sunday in Uganda. It was obviously very emotional and hard for me to realize that I will not see these people for a very long time, if ever. I have grown to truly love these faithful saints over the past 12 weeks. They are so strong, incredibly knowledgeable and trying so hard to do God's will. The circumstances in which they live are incredibly humbling. They rely on the Lord for EVERYTHING. I realize that my life is so easy compared to theirs. I sometimes take God for granted in my life when it is running smoothly. I have food, shelter, clothing, education and it becomes easy to forget Him. But these people who have so little, they rely on god EVERYDAY for EVERYTHING. And that makes them so close to Him.

Anyway... they are incredible people and I will miss them terribly! I gave out my email address to lots of ward members and I hope through email and Facebook we can keep in contact.

The cute Branch President- what a sweet man! And he has only been a member of the church for 1 year and branch president for 6 months of that year!! He is doing a great job. 

Tyrell and Emma. What a hoot! They are going to be great missionaries. 

Esther is so cute! Love her

Oh Reagan. Looks very serious in this pictures but he is a crack up. 

God be with you till we meet again! 

Just call me Moses- Rafting the Nile!

NO big deal or whatever... I just RAFTED the NILE this weekend with Carlee and Yeko... and it was AWESOME! It was incredible to be in a place with so much ancient history. And not just at the river... IN the river!

We took a taxi to Jinja on Thursday night. When we checked in that night they said that the dorms (a room with bunkbeds you share with 10 random other people for $5 a night) were full, so they upgraded us to the Safari tent ( a super nice fancy tent with two really soft beds that is usually $50 a night) for free. So great! They had American food at the bar and we shared a pizza. Haven't had one of those for a while! The next day we got up early and watched about 10 people bungee jump over the Nile. It looked way scary to jump but the bouncing around after that looked really fun. The sunrise over the Nile was incredible. Then we left for rafting. The company we went with was great and fed us a breakfast of fried boiled eggs, sausage, and amazing fresh pineapple. The temperature of the water and the weather were both perfect. Chris, our guide did some safety training when we first got in the water, teaching us how to protect ourselves and how to better hold an oar, including how to hold the oar when we hit a rapid in order to not hurt the people around us (He said "HOLD ON THE MOTHER FLIPPIN T-GRIP" many times!) I learned that the Nile is very safe to raft, because even though they are class 5 rapids (the most intense) the river is so deep that you will not hit a rock. You will just get thrown around in a whirlpool for a second and then surface again. So our guide was from Australia, we had three people from Singapore, Yeko was Ugandan, and then Carlee and I were American. It was fun to get to know each other in the stretches between rapids. We had about 30 minutes of calm water between every rapid and the weather was perfect for swimming. I was still very nervous about swimming though, because they said they had never seen a crocodile in this area of the Nile because the water moves so fast, and there are villages along the banks. But... let's be real.. this is the NILE river.. I was still scared! We didn't see any though, thankfully. We were on the river for about 5-6 hours. At the end, we all got out and they fed us a tasty BBQ. SOOoo good! That night we walked around Jinja (a really big tourist town) for a while, and that night they had room for us in the dorms (unfortunately) because there were a room full of very drunk Australians in the room next to us... who were very loud and I heard them yelling and screaming and throwing up all through the night. Lovely. Not as lovely as waking up the next day with vomit all over the porch. TMI? Sorry... Ha ha. 


The next day we watched the sunrise over the Nile (so beautiful) and walked around the souvineer shops in Jinja for a while then caught a Taxi home. Then Carlee and I went to Chat and Chino's and got some good American comfort food (French Fries and a Burger- SO good!) Then we all went out dancing at a place called Thatch Gardens. (Don't worry Mom, we were in a big group and it was very safe) It was so fun to let loose and have fun! What a great way to spend my weekend in Uganda.

Sunset on the Nile- INCREDIBLE!

Chillin outside our awesome Safari tent!

Riding the bus to get to the source of the Nile

This is my "OhmygosharewereallygoingtodothisIamgoingtodie" face

These awesome monkeys were wandering all over the Adrift resort where we were staying. So cute!

Insider our Safari tent! It was soooo nice!

The rafting company took all these cool professional pictures but they were charging $10 for a copy of each. Ridiculous, right? So the Singaporians and I split the cost for 1 photo. And that was all I was willing to pay.

Anyways we rafted the Nile and survived!

Installing Water Filters in the Namatala Slum

I think I can speak for the team when I say this has been one of the most rewarding experiences of the summer. Cami and Kara are the team leads on this project, but they have been kind enough to let all of us be involved. We have raised money for about 30 water filters we are installing throughout the Namatala slum. The people at Child of Hope know the community really well so they have been helping us get the best sites for the filters. Every Wednesday and Friday we go to areas and teach. The first week is a basic sanitation class, the second week is about nutrition/first aid (and talking about the water filters), and the third week is actually bringing in the Water Filter and training the "manager" on how to use it and keep it up. This is always an incredible experience, seeing the joy on the faces of the people in the community who are so grateful to have clean water. I couldn't agree more with Cami when we were riding a boda-boda back from Namatala on Friday (after installing a water filter) and she said "If I could do this everyday I would be happy for the rest of my life"

 Dancing with the kids :) 

Teacher Training

Here in Uganda a lot of teachers do not have formal training that they go through to become a teacher, and they don't really know about effective teaching methods, so a lot of them rely on "chalk and talk" which is basically writing notes on the board and having the kids copying it down. This isn't necessarily the best way for kids to learn. So last weekend we taught about 50 teachers of a Secondary and Primary Schools in the Manafa district on classroom management, teaching strategies, and assessment! I felt the pressure writing the curriculum because my course was on Classroom Management and I took that class last semester. It was harder than I though remembering the most important parts without my textbook! But I hope (with the help of the internet) Holly and I got the basics.

So the time management isn't a strong point of a lot of Africans..... The teacher training workshop was supposed to be an all day thing from like 8am to 5pm. We figured that nobody would show up until 9:30 because African time is usually an hour behind. We were way off and nobody showed up until 11am! This totally threw off our schedule but we managed to plan accordingly! Holly and I ended up only teaching 2 classes before lunch, instead of 4. Then we were monitoring the other classes after lunch. But after the morning sessions, we suddenly had a "guest speaker" that nobody really knew about and we ended up listening to this man speak about who knows what for a good 90 minutes. (Half of  it being in Lugisu so we didn't understand it..)

That's me leaning over to Holly saying "What is going on??" and all of the other teachers and parents.. sleeping.

Just waiting for teachers to come!

Getting our lessons ready

Us with some of the teachers at the end of the day!

Overall it was a great day and the teachers were really receptive, interested, and participatory in class. It was awesome. We hope they can implement some of the things we taught them in the workshops. And after lunch, we also had a parent meeting where they were taught about ways to be involved in their childrens education and the importance of it. What a great day!

Power OUTTT

Sorry about the lack of blogging lately... 

the power has been on for only a few hours a day for the past four days. 

Don't worry everything in our fridge rotted and it was nasty. Ha ha. 

Anyhoo, the power has been on for a while today so hopefully by the end of the day I can get some blogging in and get some pictures uploaded! 

P.S I am going to raft the Nile on Friday. Yes. Let's hope that I don't get eaten by a crocodile. 

Come Come Ye Saints

This is one of the favorite hymns of our ward in Uganda. I have heard this hymn many times throughout my life, especially at Trek. I have always thought this song was about the faith, strength and courage of pioneers crossing the plains in North America in the 1800's. Hearing the members sing it here, however has given me a new perspective on the hymn. It is almost like it was written about saints in Uganda in 2012. Now I will think of the faithful saints in Uganda whenever I hear this hymn. It will remind me of their strength and courage as modern day pioneers. It will remind me of their strength and courage in the face of trials and their humble life circumstances. The saints here are incredibly faithful and strong, even only having been members of the church for a short time. If they can say "Why should we morn, or think our lot is hard? Tis not so, all is well" then I definitely can. 

"Come, come ye saints

No toil nor labor fear

But with joy, wend your way

Though hard to you,

This journey may appear,

Grace shall be as your day,

Tis better far for us to strive

Our useless cares from us to drive

Do this and joy, your hearts will swell

All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn?

Or think our lot is hard?

Tis not so, all is bright

Why we think to earn a great reward?

If we now shun the fight

Gird up your loins

Fresh courage take

Our god will never us forsake

And soon we'll have this tale to tell

All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place

Which God for us prepared

Far away, in the West

Where none shall come

To hurt of make afraid

There the saints, will be blessed

We'll make the air, with music ring,

Shout praises to, our god and king,

Above the rest these words we'll tell

All is well! All is well! "

My favorite part of church....



St. Kizito's Orphanage

Cami and I read about an orphanage last year's team partnered with in town. They had good reviews of it, so we went to check it out! It was awesome and I am excited to volunteer there. Normally our organization is focused on sustainability, and making projects that will last long term. But in this case, just care of children at an orphanage, we will use it as a time filler and supplement to our other projects. The kids at the orphanage/preschool were well taken care of, it is clean and the workers there are awesome people. I just want to take all the kids home. Ha if I was married and had means of supporting them, I would. Ha ha I guess for now I will just bring a few for Dave and Jenn!

 

Eating posho and beans for lunch!

Adorable. I am bringing some home, that is final.

4th of July in Uganda

We and all of our white friends in Mbale (the missionaries and the people who used to live in our house...)

and some of our Ugandan friends and partners (which ended up being like 25 people!)

had an AWESOME Fourth of July. 

The FEAST!! So good.

The missionaries playing volleyball in the front yard!

It was a fun night full of American music, food, good friends and nice weather. The feast was complete with hamburgers, potato salad, sweet potato fries, a greek salad, corn on the cob, watermelon ( one of my favorite items), a pineapple and banana salad, and for dessert a friend brought brownies, pineapple upside down cakeand we made rice krispies. We played lots of volleyball, listened to American Music, and had tons of fun. At the end of the night, we realized we had a TON of leftover food. Which normally wouldn't be a problem in America, but our problem is our fridge is tiny and can't hold much. We were figuring out what to do, and Freddie (our Ugandan friend) said "better not waste any, there are starving children in Africa!" We laughed and told him that people say that a lot at home. And then Alexis said something like, well, since we are here how do we get the food to the starving children?... She said it sarcastically but Freddy took it seriously. And thats when the greatest idea began. Freddy said that last year he had gone with the other HELP team once a month to LITERALLY feed the starving children in Africa.They actually gave their extra food to what they call the "street children" (orphans on the street in a certain part of town) You hear stories here about people going out and giving food to people and the people getting very aggressive in getting their food and fights happenings. So  I was a little nervous about going, and it was getting late at night, but I trusted Freddy. When we got to where we were going to give out the food it was so great! Freddy told the children to get in a line and they immediately formed into a line. And then we gave them a paper plate and then they went down the line and we gave them food. The faces of these sweet sweet children. I don't know how to describe it. They would just stand there with they plates and stare at the food as we put in on. Then once their plate was full they ran and sat down on the ground and just started eating. It was so overwhelming to see just how many kids there were that were living on the street. Who literally have no one to look after them. Most of them had runaway from home because of abuse or other reasons.

There was a few of the boys that came up to us after they had eaten their food and in the most sincere voice said  "Thank You". These boys live on the streets, they don't go to school, and I just recently saw them riding in the back of a truck that was literally full of garbage that they rummage through to find any food that they can get. They don't have a mother to tuck them in at night, they don't even have a place to sleep that is protected. BUT they were grateful for the food that we were able to give them and came back and said Thank You. I wanted to take them all home and tuck them into bed, and give them the care that they need, and sent them to school and give them food so that they will be healthy. It was a great experience. It definitely was a great end to the Fourth of July and put the holiday in perspective!

This week in pictures

I can't resist showing you pictures of the kids in the Namatala Slum. This cute baby is one of the kids who will be benefiting from our water filters!

This is Annette and she is way better than me at beading!

Beading with the women in the Namatala Slum as an income generating activity

Leadership and Women's Empowerment Classes at St. Stephens Secondary School 

Almost done with construction on the Health Clinic!

Some of the girls from the village. SO cute.

Videos!

These are some of the kids at St. Stephens, they have a Christian student union that meets for prayers and scripture reading during lunch.

These are the women in Sula's village welcoming us the first time we went 

This is underneath Sipi Falls!

These are the cute kids at Sula's school for orphans. 

This is what Uganda looks like, I took this video out of a window of a taxi 

Overwhelmed.

Just a post about random thoughts and feelings........ Be warned...

With first wave leaving this week, and my time being halfway over, I have been reflecting about my experience so far. It has definitely been life changing. I have realized and experienced so much. I guess the biggest thing I have been overwhelmed with is how blessed I really am. And how much we as westerners take for granted. Of course realized before that I was blessed, but it intensifies and really hits home when you experience a different culture in a third world country. Before, my mother (as yours I am sure) used to tell me "Eat your food because there are starving children in Africa who would love to eat it." and I never really thought twice about it. But the other day I was on Skype with my brother and his kids who were eating lunch and he said "Landon, Jenny is with the starving kids in Africa who don't have food, you need to eat yours" I don't just think of Africa or Uganda as a random place far away with poor people anymore, I think of it as a part of my heart and I know those children and people who are so destitute. I have faces and names for them now, not just an idea of a distant land. I have realized just how much opportunity we have as Westerners that is taken for granted. Like education. It really is the key to success, but so many people do not have the funds to finish primary school (elementary) let alone secondary school (high school) and University is simply our of the question. Yet for me, as for many of you I am sure, education was something I literally never considered as an option. College, even was not optional in my mind. And even though I have to take out student loans and be a "starving student" and maybe live paycheck to paycheck at times, I STILL am getting a University education that will pay itself off someday. And I now realize how precious it is. Another thing that I believe that is taken for granted by Westerners overall ties in, but is opportunity for women. Some volunteers were teaching a family planning class to women in the Namatala slum. They taught about contraceptives and birth control. One of the questions they asked was about what to do if their husband refused to wear a condom, and would beat them if they refused to have sex.  The other women laughed and were joking about this. It broke my heart to hear this, and it was crazy that it really isn't ever an option for them to leave their husbands. This is really a problem all overthe world, but in America at least there are definitely resources for battered and abused women. I believe our culture would promote, sustain, and advocate for women to leave an abusive relationship. And there will be opportunity for a better life for them when they do. But really, abuse is a huge problem in this culture, and there are no resources, support, or empowerment of any sort for women to leave an abusive relationship. It is accepted as normal because they probably have never seen or know they have a right to a normal, healthy relationship. I believe these women literally believe there is nothing better for them.    And that breaks my heart. Ryan has a hard time "defending his gender" in this country as he puts it. At St. Stephens school in his classes with the boys, he gets asked several times a day how he can marry a muzungu. We all assumed that they asked because of the exotic appeal or they think that we have money. But one boy after class was asking Ryan about it and Ryan asked him why he would want a muzungu so bad, what it is about one that is so appealing. And he said "Muzungu women have such strong personalities and opinions" He asked him why he thinks that is, and the student said "because you let them" Ryan said "It's not about letting them, it's about having a culture that provides equal opportunities for them to be themselves" That took us all aback when he told us about it. It's true though, in my experience women are so limited in their opportunities that their personalities may be stifled from fully developing, and their potential as women is not realized because they literally know no different. That is hard to swallow. I believe that if women were given the opportunity to vote, work, and have an education that would help the economy and the society in general in so many aspects. How can a society function if only HALF of the population is allowed to vote, receive and education, and be a part of the work force? When I see such complicated and deep problems, it is hard to find the line between trying to help solve an issue, and accepting that it is so deeply engrained that it is impossible for one person to change. But I believe if you don't find that balance, you will have a hard time finding success in development work.

Anyway, this post was not meant to be a downer. It is just some observations and thoughts that I have had. I realize that development work is so complicated, and nobody has all of the right answers. I realize that no matter how much I want to, I cannot fix every problem I see.

I cannot do everything or I would not have come, but I am here because I can do something. 

Endings and New Beginnings

Random Updates and Ramblings.....

• Well, one sad thing is that first wave ended so Josh, Jan and Jennilyn left this week. We definitely miss them and it's weird to have less people at the house. 

• Went to St. Stephens on Monday and Tuesday and helped teach Sex Education. Ha ha it went a lot better than expected actually. I love the kids at the school, they are so sweet. The children at Namatala and Bunabeyoka are adorable of course, but with teenagers it's awesome to be able to really get to know them and establish a friendship. The girls are so sweet. At the school we are also starting a student union so the things we are teaching are sustainable. The teachers have already picked the leaders and had a first meeting. We don't want to be involved too much because we want the mission and purpose of the club to be from the students, but it's going to be great!

• On Thursday I went with the beading team to Child of Hope. This project is so great and I loved being able to go. There is a group of mothers who are learning to make necklaces that we will eventually help them sell on a website. These women are hilariously funny and full of life. They have had incredibly hard lives and I am so humbled by the way they live. They are the strongest women I have ever met and I love spending time with them. 

• Friday I was able to go back to the trade show in the afternoon and get a lot of awesome souvenirs that I can't wait to show everyone when I get home. Then we went to Namatala to teach sanitation classes at different locations throughout the slum. We have been teaching sanitation and health classes for a few weeks now because we are going to eventually install water filters throughout the slum and we want the people in the community to know what to do with the water (bath regularly, brush their teeth, wash their hands) This week at the end of class we were able to tell them that they were getting a water filter in their community. It was touching to see how happy and grateful they were. 

• I legitimately love every person on my team. We all work well together and things are going great. We love to watch chick flicks (minus Ryan), experiment with deserts on the stovetop (we do not have an oven...), do P90X with bricks, go to eat at Chat N Chino's, ride in sketchy taxi's,    bargain with boda boda drivers to get reasonable prices when they try to rip us off, and go to the grocery store to get American comfort foods. I love my life. My time is halfway over and I am trying to make the most out of every moment I have left. Sometimes, when watching a beautiful sunset, playing with children (every African child is beautiful by the way. I have yet to meet one that is anything less) looking out the window of a taxi, on a Boda Boda, or while at the Namatala slum I get those "Wow..I actually live in Africa"moments. My time is halfway over and I am trying to make the most out of every day. 

• I went with Kelsey to get her hair braided today, and I got the sides of my hair braided. Pictures to come. And tonight, we are going to the "Miss Mbale" pageant. I have never been to a beauty pageant in the US, let alone in Africa so this should be interesting. I'm sure it'll be an experience and I'll be sure to take pictures.

Picture Update

Going to the Uganda Cranes game! It was awesome! It was 4 hours away, but it was worth the bus ride. It was crazy, loud and so fun. Even if on the way back our bus got rented out and we had to go on a taxi.. cough cough...If you don't know what an African taxi is like... Indiana Jones...10 times faster.. with no safety belt.....30 people shoved in a scooby doo van... with chicken under your feet. It's grand. 

SOOO stoked that I got to see Ashley Larsen (my good friend from BYU) at conference. I loved being able to see her and catch up with her! She's doing amazing research but she lives like 4 hours away so I'm really glad I got to see her while we are both here!




I got to go up to David (our guard's) house in a village a few hours away. We built him a piggery last year, and a few of us went home with him to check up on it and see if he needs anything else. His kids are adorable and very feisty.

FINALLY got to go up to Bunabeyoka (spelling?) village! These are the kids there, where we are building the Health Clinic. Cutest things. All African children are beautiful, I swear.

More kids at Bunabeyoka 

Spent the last 3 days up at Bunabeyoka village hauling sand and rocks up the mountain. It was incredible.  We are making great progress on the clinic. The kids came out during their recess and helped us haul rocks. The kids at the village are all adorable. 

We had the missionaries over for dinner last Sunday! They are great and the work here is exploding. They have 36 investigators at church the other week. Wow. 

Other than that, things have been going GREAT and I am still soaking up every day that I have here and feel so blessed to have this opportunity. I still can't believe it  is all real. I love the people on my team, they crack me up every day. I love the Ugandans, they are so beautiful and kind. I love the food, and I love the beautiful  scenery. Every day is an adventure.  

This Week

I still wake up every morning thinking--is this real? Am I really here, living in Uganda? I love being here, every minute. I can't believe I've already been here for over 3 weeks. I am trying to enjoy every minute that I can. I am living in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, with some of the most hilarious service-minded people serving the most loving individuals I've ever met. I feel so blessed and fortunate to be given this opportunity to be here and working alongside such great people. I know that I was meant to be here, as long as I can keep my mind focused on the work that needs to be done while I'm still here.

This week I was able to go stay at St. Stephens School. Salah (the principal) even drove us up there (it’s about an hour drive) He is a really great guy and does so many awesome things for those kids in his school. He has been having problems with YOUNG  girls (12, 13)  dropping out and getting married or living with older men. They think that they will “provide for them” and they may not see their potential that if they go to school, they could have a career and provide for themselves. Sam, Kara and I taught week one in our self esteem and empowerment curriculum to the girls at the school in Senior 1, 2, 3, and 4. It went really well! They are definitely not used to group discussions and answering questions. Pretty much the style of teaching here is the teacher writes on the board and you copy it. So more interactive learning was a foreign concept to them, but by the end of the lesson they seemed to like it. We also taught a leadership skills class to the student leaders at the school. They were great, and more apt to speak up and have discussion. During lunch, we got fed SO much Posho (flour and water pretty much) and beans. Ha I felt ridiculous because some kids at the school couldn’t even afford lunch and I didn’t want to eat what they had given me. But I ate as much as I could.

So there were 4 of us at St. Stephens this week, but the rest of the team was up in Bunabeyoka. It is a village up the mountain where they are building the health clinic! We are really excited about this project. It is really going to effect a lot of people who have NO health care whatsoever. I am going up there to help with construction really soon.

I also returned to Namatala this week to meet with Philip. I am excited to get the water filters and start installing them in this slum. This is an incredible place. I love it there. It has really touched me. The people live in such poor circumstances, but they are so incredibly happy. It’s easy to make each story a sad, guilt filled one. It’s heartbreaking to see their circumstances and it seems overwhelming. But the reality is, these people whose circumstances are some of the most impoverished people on the earth choose not to dwell on their trials. Instead, they praise God thanking him for everything they DO have. (Families, humble homes, meals when they are lucky, etc) We have a lot to learn from them and I love being there.

The phrase "everyone smiles in the same language" has been one of my favorite. No matter the language, continent, job or home we all feel the same emotions. We all have trials and sadness, the only thing different about each of us is our perception. Even if I can't communicate with some of the people here, I am so glad that Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to be here to learn from and live with these people. 

Things I have learned in Uganda

1. ALWAYS check the bathroom for frogs, cockroaches, rats, and other insects before going in.

2. You may look tan, but you are not. It's probably dirt.

3. A deep appreciation for toilets. And public restrooms.

4. Drink a soda with your meal so it doesn't make you sick

5. You can get more food than you can eat for less than $2

6. You can get a pedicure and manicure for less than $4

7. Makeup is never necessary

8. I can live without a blow dryer and straightener

9. How to live with 15 people in a small house

10. How to ride a motorcycle side-saddle

11. Lizards on the wall are your FRIENDS. They eat mosquito

Sipi Falls

So Saturdays and Sundays are our days off. So we decided it would be grand to hike up to Sipi Falls! It was about an hour away. The owner of Chat n Chinos (our favorite American cafe) offered to drive us up there. I thought Uganda was beautiful before.... but WOW it was breathtaking! It was incredibly green, and we got soaking wet. Totally worth it.

St. Stephens School

Guess where I went yesterday?  Paradise  village.  Okay, so that's not the actual name of the village but with how green and luscious the area was, it might as well have been named Paradise village. We met with a man named Sale.  He's essentially Ugandan Don Cheadle.  He has a big kind smile and he raises his eyebrows a lot when he smiles which somehow makes you trust him and love him more.  He has a really big heart, and can't turn students away even when they cannot afford school and because of this his school is financially struggling. He's the principal of the school and is a really good man.  Tuition is SUPER cheap for the students and if they can't afford to pay in cash each semester, he allows them to pay during the semester--even if they have to pay in wood or chickens.  He just really values education and does whatever he can to help people obtain it.  I love that. We visited a couple of the classrooms and the children are sooo lovely.  They're happy and kind and so eager to learn.  It's beautiful.  After we toured the school and met the kids we took a walk to where we'd stay if we came up there to help him for a few days.  These are pictures of our walk to our sleeping quarters.  It was insanely beautiful.  So green.

Sala is the one in the suit in the middle. What a classy, great guy. 

We were waiting for Sale to talk to his aunt (her house was on the walk from our sleeping quarters back to the school) and I saw these cute little kids across the way.  So I went to pay them a visit.  Maybe I'm just a softy but their smiles melt my heart every time. We played hopscotch with them and they thought it was the funniest thing ever. 

Here's the rest of the fam.  Grandma and grandkids...I imagine.  They're such beautiful people.

I just try to give you a glimpse of the extraordinary people that I casually pass on my walking paths throughout my day.  These are common occurences.  Different people, but always extraordinary.

Sale wants us teaching math, physics, french, and leadership classes.  Ryan is a chemical engineer so he'll be teaching the math and physics classes.  Holly lived in France for 9 months so she'll be teaching french...though I'll possibly be able to help or take turns with her.  And I'm sooo excited about the leadership classes.  This is the village where they have a problem with girls getting pregnant at 12, 13 or 14 years old.  Sale said he thinks it's a matter of self-esteem. They don't actually believe that they can finish their education and do something.  So they marry someone for status and to be taken care of (at a sublimely young age).  He introduced us to the girls telling them that we graduated from college, what we studied and he introduced us as "professionals".  He said, "I don't want you kids to ever say, "I went to school for a brief time."  I want you to say, "I finished school and this is what I studied"."  I'm really excited to work with these girls and help them see value in themselves and realize their ability to finish their education and take care of themselves.

Sale said, "Do you know what "first things first" means?" He was addressing a class of about 12-14 year olds at this time.  He said, "It means that education comes first and sex comes after.  If you're not doing those things in that order then you're doing the last thing first.  It's not right. "  He told us later that in a school of 400 children that are 20 and younger, he believes about 70% of them are sexually active.  So...we'll definitely be teaching some sex ed classes because they don't know anything about it and therefore are having extremely young pregnancies that drop out of school.  I feel like we can really help out here and I'm so excited about it.