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

Picture Update

Busy Busy Busy!

We have been super busy setting up projects this last week! We have some really exciting things we are working on. The biggest one that I am involved in is the Ministry of Education Project. We had a big meeting with the District of Education this week to set it up. It was really well.  I'm so excited about this project.  We're working with this school district of...wait for it...104 schools!  Not just a handful.  The teachers in this area really struggle with curriculum and teaching skills.  It's rote memorization, no student participation, etc.  So we're going to evaluate lectures at a bunch of schools in the next two weeks and then we're going to hold 5 big teacher trainings--1 in each area of the school district so that the teachers don't have to travel as far.  The school district is HUGE.  7 schools from the district are on top of that mountain.  So going to five different locations and having the nearby schools each send 5 teachers for us to trains how to more effectively teach as well as expand programs like art, music, drama, math, etc. 

We met with a bunch of principals from the schools and they were very enthusiastic about the project.  We're so excited about developing this curriculum and training because there are a lot of places that have requested this type of help from us.  So once we help with this huge district we'll be able to implement it in small villages and stuff.  Bingo! 

The meeting itself was...kind chaotic.  We were all sitting around this big rectangular table and I really felt like I was sitting in on a parliament session or something.  Everyone was talking at once, talking louder is the only way to make yourself heard, the woman in charge would frequently call everyone to order, when people wanted to speak to the group they'd get her attention and say, "Madame". haha Somehow, through all of the chaos, it worked.  Everything that we wanted to discuss and get hammered out, worked.  It was different than I was used to initially, but it worked like a charm.  I'm stoked to get this project underway.

Other projects:  We're SOO excited to go back to Child of Hope--the school in the Namatala slum.  The leaders of that organization are kind, trustworthy, genuinely good people.  I'm excited to go back to the slum and work on the water sanitation projects and women's group projects that we currently have in the works. This place has a lot of needs and we are excited about working with them. 

We also have a team going out to a village that was worked with last year.  Last year, the team helped build a school and since we've been gone (anyone else just sing that kelly clarkson song in their head?  No?  Just me?) they've added on to the school!  Only problem being that they don't have a roof for it.  So we're going to build a roof for them and see what else we can do to help them out. 

A pair of volunteers met with someone who has a soccer league here.  Last year the team helped advertise and work with this soccer league as an extracurricular activity for the kids.  Apparently some of the kids have even made it to the national team after playing in this league.  Cool eh?  They have things they'd like us to do and we have some volunteers in on that.

The village we went to on Thursday has a lot of potential project opportunities.  We have two medical peeps on the team that are going to be getting some clinical hours in at their clinic there.  And we have another volunteer that is going to be preparing leadership training classes for the high school students at that school.  Might good stuff.

Today (in about 10 minutes) I am leaving to another meeting with a village school. This is a little village in the mountains. I was lucky to get in on this, I just happened to be here with Mallory when Holly came back from meeting with him and we asked if we could be in on it. It sounds like an awesome opportunity. Essentially there are problems in this village with girls getting pregnant while they're really young and, therefore, is an abundance of AIDS...stuff like that. Girls get married young (12, 13, 14) because they think that is the only way to be provided for, but really if they stayed in school they could provide for themselves. So a project proposal is to teach classes teaching the girls about empowerment/self-esteem/and abstinence...or at least waiting past the age of 12 to get involved in that stuff.  

There's plenty to do here and plenty of need.  I think the trick is choosing what is a priority and trusting who you work with.  We've mostly worked with really wonderful people who want to partner with us for the improvement of fellow Ugandans. Let's do this!

Muzungus and Chipoti

The Good

• The house in Uganda is AWESOME. It is much better than I expected. It is two stories with 5 bedrooms for 15 people. It has a beautiful view of the jungle in the backyard and it has an incredible view of a giant waterfall on the other side 
• My team is awesome. I really love everyone here :) 
• The kids are so cute! We were in town today and there were like 5 kids following us around, they would just giggle every time we looked at them
• We have an awesome cook at the house who makes us dinner. He makes African food, American food, Chinese Food and its sooo good! 
• The African food is amazing. My favorite is Chipoti ( I think that is how you spell it...) which are basically Cafe Rio tortillas 
• From the Airport in Entebbe to our house in Mbale was about a 4 hour drive. We got to see lots of Uganda. It was so incredibly beautiful. I just stared out the window the whole time. 
•  The cute kids call us Muzungus (which basically means White Person)
• Our country directors are really funny and awesome
• The money here is shillings, which 5,000 shillings is about 2 dollars. So it makes me feel rich when I drop 10,000 for lunch. No big deal.
• We ran into the LDS missionaries at the phone store today! Woot Woot! We will be working with them on some of our projects this sumer

The Bad 

• There are no driving rules in Uganda. There are lanes, but they really mean nothing. You change as many lanes as you want, drive whatever direction you want, pass people, and hope there are not cars coming at you. It's quite scary. 
• We are doing our laundry by hand. I haven't done it yet... but it should be.. fun? 
• We only get two showers a week, one of them being with hot water. 
• It is crazy humid here! 
• We are definitely the only white people in town. So we get stared at a lot....

The Ugly 

• We have some cockroach friends in our house. 
• ME (after travelling for like 36 hours) 
• The skirts I brought to wear here. I'm stylin for sure. 

Having fun in Uganda! Major picture upload coming soon.