For Good

Well I'm back in America. And it's great. It really is. I love this country, my new job, my nice apartment, and being so close to my family and friends. But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss Uganda like crazy. I left a piece of my heart there, and it just aches a little bit. Before I even left I was already figuring out ways to get back to Uganda as soon as possible. I know I can't stay away for too long.

People keep asking me what it was about Africa that I loved so much, and when I think about it it's kind of an interesting question. What was it about Uganda that grabbed me and made me never want to leave? Well it certainly wasn't the mosquitoes, or the cold bucket showers, or the smell of burning garbage, or the life-threatening boda rides, or the lack of M&M's, or the ridiculously crowded taxis, or the way no one believes in standing in line at the supermarket, or creepy old men whistling at me, or being called "mzungu" all day every day. And yet, somehow, it was all of those things. And a lot more. It was the absolutely breathtaking beauty that we were completely surrounded by. It was the delicious chapatis and cassava fries. It was the way women would carry their babies tied onto their backs, and the way children's faces would light up when we waved to them. It was getting the boda driver to crack a smile when we both knew that he was trying to rip me off. It was the joy of getting a pedicure for $2.00 or a necklace for $0.80. It was the thrill of being somewhere so insanely different than anywhere I have ever been, and quickly becoming comfortable in that place. It was the incredible feeling of knowing that I was spending my time doing anything I could to help other people; and recognizing that they were really helping me in so many more ways than I was helping them.

All of these things made me love my summer in Uganda more than I can even tell you, but what really made Uganda so special was the people. The wonderful, wonderful people. Both those that I knew and those that I didn't. I have never felt so loved and appreciated as these people made me feel. I have also never felt so undeserving of that love and appreciation. Ugandans have the most incredible work ethic. I was continually blown away by the work that their women and small children would do that I could never dream of doing - or want to do. I have also never seen a happier group of people than I did in Uganda this summer. Most of these people have very little and work very hard, but they are still so full of joy. They don't complain, they just praise God for what they have. Americans could definitely take a lesson from these great people. I could not believe how amazing these people were, and yet we were the ones who got treated like royalty. They just have the biggest hearts and I can't stand the idea of never seeing some of them again.

So, the simple answer to the question "What was it about Uganda that you loved so much?":
Absolutely everything. But mostly the people.

This might seem cheesy, but while I was riding in the taxi on my last day in Uganda, hating every mile that took me further from Mbale and closer to the airport, this song came on my ipod. And it perfectly epitomized the way I feel about the people that I met this summer and my time spent in Uganda. Thank you "Wicked" for getting it just right.

I've heard it said, 

That people come into our lives 

For a reason

Bringing something we must learn.

And we are lead to those

 Who help us most to grow if we let them. 

And we help them in return. 

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

 Because I knew you.

Like a comet pulled from orbit

As it passes the sun,

Like a stream that meets a boulder

Halfway through the wood.

Who can say if I've been changed for the better

But because I knew you.

I have been changed for good. 

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime.

So, let me say before we part:

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you.

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart.

And now whatever way our stories end

I'll know you have rewritten mine

By being my friend. 

Because I knew you

I have been changed....

For good.

Sometimes Uganda feels like a dream. Like it never actually happened. As soon as I got home, my whole summer and the people I met there felt worlds away. I worried that I would forget. That I would get back into normal life as a very blessed American and forget all about the experiences that I had in Africa. But I know now that that's not going to happen. Uganda left a handprint on my heart; and it's not going anywhere. I may be back to living life as usual, but Africa is never far from my mind. I know that these people and this experience came into my life for a reason, and it absolutely changed me for good. 

The Final Countdown

Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that. Things have been so busy here! (and I have had computer troubles, so I opt to just stay off my computer rather than fight with it) Things have also been great here. There's probably a lot that I should catch you up on, but I just want to talk about this week.

This week is my last one here, which is totally crazy. I leave Mbale on Tuesday! Can you believe that? I sure can't. It feels like I just got here, but at the same time feels like I have been here forever. Weird. But I really can't believe it's really almost time for me to go home. I definitely have some mixed emotions that come with that reality. This week has been full of goodbyes, which really are no fun. Especially when I can't be sure if I will ever see any of these people again. That really breaks my heart.

Despite the tearful goodbyes, it has still been a great week. Friday was incredible. The whole team traveled up to Bududa for a farewell/grand opening party at PDI. That was easily my favorite day of this whole summer. Elizabeth made us a HUGE delicious lunch (definitely sad that I will never eat at the Zaale's again....they are the best cooks!). After lunch, all of the PDI nursery school students got dressed up in brand new school uniforms, and marched with us down the road to their new school. The kids carried their school chairs on their heads to move them from their old school (the Zaale's backyard) to their brand new school! That was so fun to see! They also sang the whole way there. So cute!

When we got to the turn-off where the school is, and I saw our brand new sign there to greet us, the reality of we had accomplished finally hit me. We had really done it. Besides the countless hours of planning and stressing, I had co-directed a huge fundraising effort, managed large amounts of money, bought all kinds of building materials, and worked for three days hauling mud to build walls. And now here it was. A finished school and more smiling faces than I could even count. There was a lot of stress and frustration that went into this project the last three months, but seeing it all come together so perfectly in the end was better than I ever could have dreamed. I started this summer with a huge fear that I would leave and feel that I hadn't really helped anyone all that much. This fear was definitely alleviated on Friday. I am beyond happy to be able to say that I played a part in providing a wonderful new school for some wonderful children. And after the grand opening celebration we had, I know that the work that we put into this school really is appreciated.

We make a great team!

Once we arrived at the school. The students and their parents gathered around outside while David welcomed everyone. He then invited his wife (a city counsel person), one of the directors of PDI, Hannah, and I up to the front to do the ceremonial ribbon cutting of our brand new school. I can't even describe that feeling to you. I felt beyond honored. You can bet there were tears.

After the ribbon cutting, everyone filed into the school for the program. The students came in and sang and danced for us, and they were absolutely wonderful. The songs also made me cry. They were so sweet! One song's chorus was "And we love you. We really love you. We shall never, never forget you." Yeah. Too precious. Cue the waterfalls. They were adorable. After they sang, David gave a little thank-you speech, as well as some other PDI officials. They were all so appreciative. I wish I had written some of it down, but I was a little too caught up in the moment. I think we have videos though. The whole thing was just really really nice. I was beyond happy. Such a great feeling!

My other favorite part of this week was today. Sunday. No shock there. This Sunday was especially great because my two favorite piano students, Dinah and Solomon, played in sacrament meeting! They have been working hard all summer, and a couple weeks ago Sam and I made the executive decision that they were ready to play in sacrament meeting. When I told them this, they were pretty unsure but agreed to do it anyway. I was a little nervous that I was pushing them into something that they didn't really want to do, until Solomon bore his testimony last Sunday. He told the entire congregation that he had been learning the piano and that his dream of playing in church was finally coming true. That was just the greatest thing I've ever heard! We picked out songs for them and they practiced harder than they have all summer! I was blown away by the progress that they made in just a few days. By the time today came around, I wasn't the least bit nervous for them.

Dinah played "Choose the Right" for the opening song, and didn't miss a single note in all three verses! Then Solomon played "In Humility Our Savior" for the sacrament song. He also played it perfectly. And had a cute little grin on his face the whole time he was playing. I could not stop smiling. Also crying. I felt like the proudest parent. After sacrament, I hugged and hugged them, and they asked me to help them pick songs to play next week. That was so great to hear! I am so happy that the Mbale branch now has some very capable piano players to take over after Sam has left. And they are so happy to do it! Solomon and I picked out a song for him to play next week, and he said it looked hard but that it would be fine because the one he played today looked hard at the beginning too. Ahhh he is so great! This experience has given me such a great appreciation for my own sweet piano teacher, and I now understand -at least a little bit- what it's like to be a proud parent or teacher. It's just the best feeling.

Love them!

If it wasn't good enough, here is a little excerpt from a note that Dinah wrote me after church. "I had been playing the piano since I was 9 years. Oh it was a long time ago, but when you came I just loved playing the piano. It was also the first time I played in sacrament meeting. Am so grateful and I still call you 'my best piano teacher'." She is the sweetest. HATE that I have to leave these incredible people. But I'm glad for the small differences I have been able to make in their lives, and the HUGE differences they have made in my life. I am beyond grateful for their wonderful examples. I am so blessed to have been able to spend this time with these great people. But, it's not goodbye yet! I still have two days here!

Oh, also, we sang "A Child's Prayer" with the Primary kids in Sacrament meeting today. It was wonderful. And primary was wonderful. And I am so so sad to leave these cute kids!!

We Built a School!!

Oh it has been an incredible week! I have spent the last four days in the village of Bubita just building my school. You know, nothing major. That's a lie. It's sooo major! This week has been full of the hardest but most fulfilling work I have done all summer.

As you know, we fundraised the money to help build the school for David Zaale and PDI, and the skeleton and half of the iron sheets were already up. Last week we bought the rest of the iron sheets, but I hadn't been up to see the school since before then. When I did get up to the school on Tuesday, I was blown away by the progress that had been made. It looked sooo good! And I was too excited, and maybe a little teary for a second.

The type of building that we are making is a mud building, which is a popular building technique in Uganda. Ugandans are so cool because they just use absolutely everything that the land gives them, and don't waste anything. I love this school because so few elements of it are actually man-made. The skeleton of the school was built using wood 2x4's (which aren't actually 2x4's but just logs that have been split a couple of times). Once the vertical beams are up, they then nail smaller sticks/twigs horizontally across the beams all the way from the roof to the floor, about a foot apart. They also nail the horizontal sticks to both sides of the vertical beams, so when it's finished it's like a giant connect 4 board. Okay, that was probably a bad explanation....just look at the pictures.

So when we got to the school on Tuesday, the iron sheet roof had been finished and all of the sticks were up. Hannah and I went up on Tuesday night to check things out and make a plan with David, and on Wednesday morning the rest of the construction team came up. We had about 12 people from our HELP team come to the school ready to work...and we definitely worked! Our job was to put mud into the little grid that had been made with the sticks, that would become the walls. We had so much fun digging our fingers into the red Ugandan mud and turning it into a wall. We developed a pretty good system, and I was so impressed with how fast we worked. I was blown away by the team's energy and enthusiasm. We just worked and worked. And it was hard work! The mud was really heavy and our school is huge!! It was definitely a good workout. It combined cardio with strength training of probably every muscle in my body. But it was so great.

With how impressed I was with our team and the work that we did, David was ten times as impressed. He came by after we had been working for about an hour and had a whole wall done, and looked at me with big eyes and said, "Wow! You are serious!" He continued to make comments like this the whole time we were working. He definitely didn't expect us to do too much. Ugandans have this idea of mzungus that we are fragile and pampered and not capable of working or getting dirty. Compared to what hard workers Ugandans are, this is semi true. But we aren't completely helpless. And we certainly proved that this week. David planned for the mudding to take us 4 or 5 days. It took us 2 and a half. We are too good.

In addition to getting to build my school, this week was great because I got to spend it at the Zaale's house. Which means when we weren't working, we were waiting to eat, eating, or having a dance party. I've decided I want to have a house like theirs where every night after dinner, we just have a crazy dance party. I have to learn how to dance before that happens though. The Ugandans show me up every time. They are waaaaay good dancers! Also the Zaales are the best hosts in the world. Like really. We get room service at their house. It's a little ridiculous. And wonderful. They take such good care of us.

The Friday Team

Wednesday night was extra special because it was also David's 69th birthday. All day when we were building we were asking him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he told us he was already doing it. That night, he gave a little speech and told us that this was his most memorable birthday ever because of the help that HELP has given him, and the fact that we were working so hard on making his school a reality all day. He also gave a special shout-out to Hannah and I for making it all happen. It was really sweet. Earlier in the day, he compared us to manna from Heaven that came just when Moses' people were getting desperate. Is it possible to express gratitude more fully than telling someone they are like a miracle sent from Heaven ? I don't think so. I definitely don't feel worthy of all the thanks and praise that he gives us, but I am so happy that we have been able to make him so happy. It makes everything worth it.

The elders from the village stopped by to see how things were going

By the time we were wrapping things up at the school yesterday, I was exhausted and really ready to be done hauling mud. But I was so happy at the same time. It was seriously such a great feeling to look at that cute school and know that I had helped make that happen. I'm so excited that I have something so tangible to leave behind with these people that I love so much.

The finished product

Oh! Also! The kids! The first day we were working, all of the PDI Nursery School kids came over after school got over to see their new school. Seriously so cute. They ran into the first room that was finished and started jumping up and down and singing and dancing. It was so great. Seeing them so excited really solidified for me why we are doing this. It's all about the kids. The second day we were working, some of the kids came over after school and actually helped us with putting up the mud. I was sooo impressed with how helpful they were! A lot times when little kids want to help, it's cute but you end up having to go back and fix everything they did. That was not the case with these kids. They worked so hard and were so helpful! It was really cool to get to build this school alongside the kids that will be learning there.

Just dancing in their new school

All in all it has been a very fulfilling week. And exhausting. I spent today laying by the pool recuperating. We still have lots of work to be done before the school is actually finished, but with the roof and the walls up, we have finished the most critical parts. David plans to have the kids learning in their new school by the end of next week. So great! I will keep you updated.

The brains of the operation.....minus Hannah who went home sick :(

 Also, I got my hair braided

And then I took them out...

Better than the Best?

Seriously? Every time I think life could not possibly get any better, or my smile could get any bigger, it does. Let me just give you a little run-down of the amazing week I have just had.

Saturday: A big group of us went and hiked Sipi Falls. Sipi is actually three different waterfalls all relatively close to each other. And they are BEAUTIFUL! The hike was pretty intense to get to and from the first waterfall, but it was so so pretty. Also, I had a little African boy who helped me along the whole way. I have to say, I have never felt more ridiculous than when I was hiking up and down a mountain, carrying a goofy walking stick that they gave all of us, and having a 14-year-old boy wearing crocs running in front of me, and holding my hand and helping me up and down all of the tricky parts. Mzungus are pretty pathetic. The falls were absolutely gorgeous though. I really can't get enough of how beautiful this country is. I'm fairly certain that heaven looks an awful lot like Uganda.

Sunday: For some reason, Sundays in my little Mbale branch always make me super happy and super emotional. This Sunday was no exception. We had three confirmations before the sacrament (they baptize people like crazy in this country....it's incredible). Our sacrament consisted of talks from our brand new mission president and his wife. Which were wonderful. Their enthusiasm and love for these people is already so obvious, and I just couldn't help being excited with them. My favorite part of the meeting was the special musical number in between the two speakers.....which was put on by my cute primary kids. This was a huge thing for this little branch. The church has only been in Mbale for three years so it still has a lot of learning and growing to do. Primary is one of those areas that still needs a little work. I was talking to Sister Barton (our ward senior missionary) about it, and she was telling me how most of the people here don't quite understand the importance of teaching children gospel principles yet. For them, primary is a place to send their energetic little kids to be corralled for two hours, while they go to their classes. Which, in a sense, it is. But it's also so so important for kids to have this time to be taught simple gospel stories and principles so they can continue to learn and grow in the gospel all throughout their lives. These kids are so blessed to be a part of this church at such a young age, but it's a waste if they aren't given the opportunity to be using all of this additional time they have to learn and develop a strong testimony. With all that said, this branch has definitely never had something like a primary musical number in sacrament meeting. The first week we were called to be primary teachers, Hannah had the great idea to teach the kids a song and have them sing it in sacrament meeting. And that's what we did. After the first speaker, all the primary kids gathered in the front and sang all three verses of "I am a Child of God." I cried and cried and cried. Listening to primary kids sing always makes me emotional. And, like I said, the Mbale, Uganda branch makes me emotional. Those things combined with the fact that these were my primary kids, and this was such a huge thing for this little branch, left me shamelessly wiping tears from my eyes the entire time. It really was amazing.

Primary has been kind of a tough thing because Hannah and I were pretty much left alone to deal with about 20 really energetic kids for two hours.  It has been a lot of work, and most of our time is spent trying to get everyone to sit down, stop leaving the room, and be somewhat quiet. Most of the time I don't feel like anything we are actually teaching is even being heard, let alone sinking in. This Sunday was a little different. Just a little. We had a lot of kids and they were all restless. I was teaching a lesson on forgiveness, while Hannah worked to keep everyone under control. Out of the 20+ kids that were in the room, I think I had two that were listening. But somehow that was enough for me, because they were really listening. I could tell that the things that I was saying were really sinking in, and they wanted to keep learning even when everyone around them was being disruptive. They answered my questions, and at one point I asked if anyone could tell us the story of Alma the Younger (I figured that would be a long shot). But to my surprise, little Ben Butali (the son of Stephen and Sarah Butali who I have talked about before) stood up and told the whole story of Alma in waaaay more detail  than a lot of people my age probably could have done it. I was blown away. My enthusiasm may or may not have been a little over the top for something like summarizing a simple scripture story. But it was so great. It was such good evidence that little Ben has incredible parents (not that I didn't already know that) and he has been taught gospel principles and stories in his home while he has been growing up. I was so proud of him and his family, and it gave me so much hope for the continued growth of the gospel in Uganda. They are working so hard and it really is paying off.

Monday: We had another meeting with our little savings and loans group. And it was wonderful. Everyone saved the agreed upon amount, and our awesome leadership made sure everything went smoothly. The meeting was run with very little input from Sam and I, and I'm confident that they will be able to handle everything just perfectly after we leave. I feel like this group is our little baby that we are helping to learn and grow, and soon we will be able to send it out on its own. And its going to be so successful.

Tuesday: This was right up there on the list of best days of my life. No question. Over the last two weeks we had been working on our team fundraiser (as you know). I was so passionate about this fundraiser because I was so passionate about the people we were hoping to help. It really is hard for me to explain. I just love these people so so much and desperately want to do anything I can to help them. So, when I woke up on Tuesday morning with about 13 e-mails from indiegogo saying we had received donations (some from people that I love very very much) I couldn't help but cry....and laugh....at the same time. Donations kept coming in that morning, and by the time I left to go out to my projects, we were only a few hundred dollars away from our goal. And I couldn't stop smiling. Once again, I can't adequately put into words how I felt. Beyond happy. It was like a little miracle. Just the day before I had been stressing because we were nowhere near our goal, and we were quickly running out of time. But people are incredible, and they pulled through for us. I really was blown away by the generosity of so many kindhearted people. I really just can't even tell you how much it meant to me. I felt so loved and blessed, and also felt the love that all of these people had not only for their friends and family on the HELP team, but also for the people of Uganda that they have never even met before. I could go on and on about how amazed and grateful I was. By the time I went to bed that night, we had exceeded our goal, and by the time our fundraiser officially ended this morning, we were $500 over what we had hoped for. I don't even know what to say. People are amazing.

Wednesday: We went with David Zaale to the hardware store to start buying supplies for the school. Another incredible day. Who knew buying iron sheets and bags of cement could be sooooo great?? We couldn't stop smiling. And David was so excited! Ugandans don't show a lot of emotion most of the time, so the fact that it was so obvious how happy he was really says something. I was pretty sure I saw tears at one point. Best day.

This Weekend: Sam, Hannah, Alyssa, and I are going to Jinja for a couple of days to shop and eat and just chill. And I am so excited. It's going to be great. Jinja weekend here we come!

Mostly things here are so wonderful. We are going to go up to Bududa next week to put the mud up for the walls on the school. I'm so excited for that. I have about a million other things that I'm working on right now. Which is great. And stressful. And so exciting. So much to do and so little time!

P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I have some good ones, but they are all on different cameras, and the owners of said cameras are already asleep. So you will have to wait on those.

Help HELP Help

So, as many of you have probably heard by now, I am currently working to raise money for our HELP team fundraiser. Yes I said fundraiser, but please don't tune me out just yet. I really hate asking for money, but I love the people of Uganda way more than I hate asking for money. So for these two weeks I am setting my pride aside and doing whatever I can to raise the funds needed to help these incredible organizations.

I have already talked a little about the projects that we are raising money for in previous blog posts, and I wrote the description on our indiegogo site, so I won't take the time to write all the details on here now. But to summarize, we are raising money to finish construction on the new, four-room school building for PDI, and to build 5 new latrines and a clean water system for the Liahona Education Center (the school owned by Stephen and Sarah Butali).

While this fundraiser is technically our team fundraiser, it has kind of become my baby. The two projects that we are raising money for are two projects that I am a co-lead on, and obviously care a lot about. Because of that, I have also been put in charge of co-leading all of our team's fundraising efforts (hence me putting together the indiegogo site). I wish I could adequately express how important these projects are to me. When I first arrived in Uganda, things moved a little slowly for me because I was trying to find something that I was passionate about to really put all of my efforts into. I have found my passion in these two schools and the construction that we want to do for them. I have given my heart completely to the Zaales and the Butalis and all of the sweet children that they are already giving so much help to. I care so much about these people and desperately want to do anything I can to help them. Lucky for me, I have found a way to give them the help they need. Unlucky for me, I can't give them that help by myself. It would truly be a dream come true for me to see us raise all the money we needed and complete these construction projects before I leave in a month (is that really all I have left??). I have already seen so much gratitude from these incredible people for the smallest things that we have done, and I can't wait to see how happy they would be if we gave them these things that they so desperately need.

The people that I have met here have helped and taught me so much, and now it's my turn to give back to them. Any help you can give to make these projects possible, I would be more grateful for than I can even express. Whether it's giving even the smallest amount of money, or sharing this story with others who can give; anything helps.

Check out our indiegogo site at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-help-help-schools-in-uganda/x/774192?c=home to learn more and to donate. We only have a week left to raise $3,200!! (P.S. I came up with the name for our site....I'm pretty clever)

Thanks so much for all of your love and support! I am so blessed!

Hakuna Matata!

Okay, I feel like a broken record right now, but I would just like to say again that I have the BEST life ever. I just had the most incredible weekend of my life. Seriously can’t even put into words how amazing it was. What was so amazing about it? It was AFRICAN SAFARI WEEKEND!!

The team!

I have wanted to go on an African safari probably my whole life, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. On Friday we took a charter bus the four hours down to Kampala, and spent the night at the hostel of the safari company “Red Chilli.” We got up super early the next morning, grabbed some breakfast, and jumped in our awesome safari cars. We had about a three hour drive from Kampala to the Murcheson Falls State Park (I can’t remember if it’s actually called a state park, but the same idea). Once we got into the park, we opened our windows, watched for animals, and sang “Hakuna Matata” at the top of our lungs. So great. The first day we didn’t see a lot of wildlife, but we did come across some baboons, warthogs, buffalo, and some other species of monkey. After driving for a while, we arrived at Murcheson Falls, which was sooo beautiful! (I will just let the pictures do the talking) We ate our picnic lunch and went for a little hike around the falls to see them from a better angle. They were breathtaking.

Murcheson Falls

After the falls, we jumped back in the safari cars and drove a little further to the Red Chilli campsite. The campsite was pretty nice with flushing toilets, real showers (though not too warm), a bar/restaurant, and big tents with real beds in them.  Oh also, the campsite had warthogs and baboons, just running around. No big. We hung around playing games for a while before heading to bed, where Hannah and I had quite the adventure getting a lizard out of our tent before we could go to sleep. There may have been some screaming and jumping on beds involved. It may have been me doing those things. Lizards don’t usually bother me too much, but when one is running around where I am about to go to sleep….yeah, I wanted him out of there.

This wasn't the lizard in our room, but it's a cool picture I got

The next morning, we got up super early to start the best day of my life. Seriously the best. We got in our safari car with Hassan, our awesome driver. He made sure we were the first car everywhere we went so we got to see all of the best stuff. We went in our safari car on a ferry that took us across the Nile to where the animal reserve started. Once we were across the river, Hassan opened the roof of the car so we could all stand and look out. I was in the back seat and ended up sitting up on the roof of the car in the back. Perfect seat. I won’t go through every detail of our four-hour game drive, but it was so great. We got really lucky and saw everything that was an option to see in the area that we were in. This included: buffalo, antelope, hartebeest, lots of little deer things, a giant lizard, lots of cranes and other birds, opaki, warthogs,hippos, giraffes, elephants, aaaaaannnnd……. a LION!!! Aaaaaannnd……a LEOPARD!! It was amazing. After our game drive, we went for a boat ride up to the falls that we were at the day before. While we were on that beautiful little cruise, we saw some elephants way up close, TONS of hippos, more cool birds, and two HUGE crocodiles. Also amazing.

There she is! Bummed it got a little cut off...

My awesome sister let me take her nice camera on the safari. Which is why I got such rockin pictures. And was named the safari team photographer. 

Besides all of the animals, the scenery was also incredible. Definitely prettier than I expected safari scenery to be. It was so green and full of the coolest trees, and in the morning with the sunrise behind the clouds, the sky looked incredible! The whole day was honestly breathtaking. I had to keep reminding myself that this was real life and I wasn’t just watching a super awesome nature video, or going on the Disneyland safari cruise. It’s one thing to see all of those animals and the beautiful scenery in pictures and movies, but it is an entirely different thing to see it all in real life right there at my fingertips. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. There was a long stretch of our drive that I just sat in silence on the roof with a silly grin on my face, looking out over everything and just trying to take it all in. The whole day was literally a dream come true and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Wish the pictures did it justice

The last day, we had another mini game drive in the morning, hiked to another beautiful waterfall, and then Hassan drove us in our safari car all the way back to our house in Mbale. And I definitely had vacation let-down when I got back. I just wanted to stay in that little tent going out on game drives every day for the next month. But, there is work to be done. So I will just have to come back again. It was amazing.

P.S. There was one thing that made me excited to leave the safari campsite; I was so sick of mzungus!! Red Chilli is a pretty hot tourist attraction so all weekend we were surround by other Americans, and Europeans, and Australians. And I just didn’t want them! I missed being surrounded by Africans and having cute babies wave and say hi to me. As we were driving home, I got so excited when we were passing through villages and I could see the real Africa, rather than the touristy Africa I had been in.  I really just feel like I am Ugandan and I live here. I kind of hated myself this weekend for being such a tourist. It won’t happen again. Sometimes I forget that I’m not black and I haven’t lived here all my life. This is just home. And if this weekend was any indication, I am going to have a very hard time to going back to America where I am surrounded by mzungus constantly and there is not a chapatti man in sight. Can’t think about that yet.

Love this place!

Happy Fourth!

You guys, I seriously have THE best life. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it's all really happening. It is. I am just living a dream life right now and I can't get enough of it.

Last weekend I went rafting on the Nile. Can I say that again? I went rafting on THE Nile River. You know that big river in Africa? Yeah. Rafted it. It was incredible!! We had a great guide, great team, great food, great weather, and great rapids. Plus, we totally rocked it at getting through those rapids. We only flipped our raft on the last one, and we all survived so it was fine. More than fine. Sooooo much fun!

Today we had a Fourth of July party. Probably the best one I've ever been to. I've been super bummed that I was missing out on the parades and boating and fireworks and s'mores happening in Burley, but we did pretty good here. The whole team spent hours cooking all the American food we could think of (hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit salad, potato salad, coleslaw, sweet potato fries, chips and salsa/guacamole, corn on the cob no bake cookies, and banana cream pie). We also invited all of our friends....which I've pretty much decided consists of the entire city of Mbale and its surrounding villages. We had about 60 people at our house tonight!! It was incredible. I seriously love all of those people so so much, and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as I did with them tonight. So fun.

It was also fun to be able to embrace and share our American culture today, rather than Ugandan culture. I even wore jeans for the first time in almost two months to celebrate being an American today! We played American games, listened to American music, ate American food, spoke in American accents, and even educated some Ugandans on why this holiday is so important to us. We all ended up wearing red, white, and blue and some of our Ugandan friends even came dressed in patriotic colors (not sure if that was intentional or not). It was so fun to share this holiday that means so much to me with these people who have come to mean so much to me, and they were more than willing to celebrate with us.

I love Uganda, but living here has definitely made me appreciate America. I really love America. We have it so good. Grateful for days like today that help me stop and remember how blessed I am to live in such a wonderful country. God bless America.

I have so much more I could say about this last week, but I am mostly just on a high right now from my rafting and Fourth of July party. So we will leave it at this for now. Also, to add to the dream life I am having, I am going on an African safari tomorrow. I really must be dreaming right now.

Are you sure?

There’s too much to say, so I’m reverting to my favorite tactic of writing in giant lists….

-         - Our new volunteers got here a little over a week ago! We got nine new girls which brought our number up to 22(?).  It’s definitely a lot of people in one house, but it’s great.  They have already been great assets to our team and are working on heading up some awesome projects. We are just one big happy family!

-          -Running record for most people in a 14 passenger taxi: 29

-        -  Running record for craziest things I have seen strapped onto the back of a little boda: bike, bed and chair, giant pig

-         - I’m starting to really like African food, not just tolerate it. The other day I was really hungry, and I just really wanted some matoke. Weird.

-        -  I was comfortable in a taxi the other day. Like completely comfortable. It was the weirdest thing.

-         - On Saturday we spent our WHOLE day at an “Introduction” ceremony.  This is a traditional African ceremony that’s part of the wedding culture.  Essentially, it’s a giant ceremony/party for the bride’s family to meet the groom’s family, and for the groom to pay his dowry. We didn’t know the bride or the groom, but we had a mutual friend with the groom who invited us come have this cultural experience. We rented gomezes (fancy African dresses) and spent 5 ish hours sitting and watching the whole ceremony. Well, watching in theory. I couldn’t actually see much. Or understand a word they were saying. But it was still cool….for the first little while. We did get to be a part of the little dancing processional that brought the gifts in for the bride’s family. That was fun. And we perfected our African “Ay yi yi yi yi!!” yells. It was a good experience to have while I’m here, but I probably wouldn’t sit through another one.

-       -   I almost died on a boda the other day. Okay, not really. But it was scary enough that we eventually just got off and got on a different one.

-      -    I bought some fabric today that is so African and beautiful! I’m really excited to get a skirt made out of it.

-       -   Sam, Christina, and I started our women’s group in Buhkaweka on Friday! We planned to have our first meeting with a few of the core women to introduce the idea and find out their level of interest, and then send them to mobilize more women for the next meeting. We had 13 women at our first meeting! And they were so excited about the whole thing! We gave them the goal of each recruiting 10 of their friends before our next meeting. We’ll see how that goes. I’m so excited to get this going!

-          -We sat in on a nursery school class the other day and it was the cutest! Ugandan school system involves lots of chants that the whole class does in unison. It’s kind of weird. But also cool. My favorite was the one we heard in nursery school though. One kid would stand up and say his part and then the rest of the class would chant their part back:

Kid: News! News!

Class: Yes please tell us!

Kid: Yesterday….

Class: Mmhmm?

Kid: I ate….

Class: Mmhmm?

Kid: Posho and Beans!

Class: And after you ate?

Kid: I got satisfied!

I wish I would have videotaped it. It was way cuter in person. But I just loved it.

-          -Sometimes Ugandans use words differently than we do in America. A favorite? “Are you sure?” I’ve decided this is the Ugandan equivalent of “Are you serious?” It threw me the first time Sam introduced me as her sister to someone, and they responded with “Are you sure?” Uh yeah, pretty sure we’re sisters….?

-        -  I’m going rafting on the Nile this weekend. Boom. 

Home Away From Home

Can I tell you something? I am so happy. I had this realization the other day on one of my long taxi rides home. Don't get me wrong, I have been happy here since the moment I stepped off the plane, but it just really hit me this last week how much I absolutely love being here. It's a big change to move from a cushy life in America to spending three months in African villages and slums. I don't feel like I experienced culture shock too much when I first got here, but I was definitely missing a lot of the everyday luxuries that I was so used to. The first week or so I kind of had the mindset that this would be a good experience, but that when August came around I would be happy to go back to America and stay there. That is definitely not the case anymore. Sometimes I think about what it's going to be like saying goodbye to this place and these people in August, and I immediately have to stop thinking about it before I start crying. I have been here a little over a month (can't believe how fast it's gone!) and I am already getting super attached. I can't imagine what two more months is going to do to me. Be warned...I may not get on the plane at all. I can't believe how comfortable I have gotten here already.

Love this place

 I realized how happy I am here last week when I was on my way home from Bududa. Why then? Because I was on my way home from Bududa. And that place makes me really happy. Bududa is the village where I am working with PDI to build a nursery school and start an after school program. And I just love it there. Bududa is kind of where everything clicked for me the first week I was here. We had been running all over the area meeting with lots of potential partners and figuring out projects, and that combined with getting to know a totally new culture was a little overwhelming for me. It was in the ridiculously long and crowded taxi ride up to Bududa that I had the thought "What am I doing here?" I was so happy to be in Africa and to have the opportunity to help people, but at the same time I just wasn't sure why I was here or what I was supposed to be doing. And then we got to beautiful Bududa. And met the Zaales. And learned about PDI. And saw the site for the new school. And played with the kids. And spent more time with the Zaales. And suddenly I wasn't having those concerns anymore.

The Zaales. I love them. 

It sounds weird, but it was almost like a spiritual experience. I just knew instantly that this is where I'm supposed to be working, and this is the reason that I came here. It was really kind of amazing. And I feel that same way every time I have gone up there since then. There is just a special feeling in that village, and especially at the Zaale's house, that just draws me to it. I'm not sure why. But I'm not questioning it. I just love it. Also, it probably helps that David and Elizabeth treat us like royalty every time we are there. They are just incredible.

Post-dinner dance parties also make the Zaale's house the best place ever

 Also, today we went to the primary school that Stephen and Sarah Butali run. The Butalis are the cutest little family that are in the branch, and have been since it was started three years ago. Stephen actually just got put into the branch presidency a couple of weeks ago. They are incredible. Like really incredible. I am teaching their daughter, Dina, piano lessons and she is just the sweetest girl. Their other daughter, Esther, is 19 and just the funniest girl ever. We have similar senses of humor (which you don't find often among Ugandans) and she had me nearly in tears from laughing so hard at FHE last night. It was so fun to go to their house today and see pictures of Christ, and the prophet, and the temple like you would see in the typical Mormon house in America. Sarah also asked that we said a prayer before we ate lunch and right before we left their house ("Baby Samantha, would you say a prayer for us?") It was so refreshing. I just love the church. They also showed us the framed certificate that they got when they took their whole family to the Johannesburg, South Africa temple to be sealed a few years ago. I may have teared up a little bit when I saw that. Such a big sacrifice, but such a big blessing. I haven't spent a lot of time with the Butalis, but I can already say that I love them more than I can even tell you.

 Uganda is incredible. I'm so beyond happy to be here. And that's my story.

Sarah. Love her sooo much!

Week 4....WHAT???

Silly Kids

So I know there's probably a lot that I should write about, but I have been having writer's block the last few days. And I still have it, but I am going to try to blog anyway. Do you know what that means? This is going to be a super random post with zero transitions or logical streams of consciousness. Mostly I will just write whatever comes to my head about what I have been doing for the last week.

On Thursday, a few of us went for a little ride to a place just outside of Mbale where the Peace Kawomera Coffee Co-op is located.  The co-op is a really successful business that grows a lot of coffee as well as some other crops, like vanilla beans. We were actually blown away with how successful the whole thing is and how much money their farmers are able to make. They are doing a great job, which means they don't really need our help with improving anything. But farming can always use more manpower, so we might go out there a couple times a week to just get some physical labor in. We had the best time learning about the intense process that is involved in turning a little red berry into what would be in your cup at Starbucks. I had no idea! We were also fascinated by the the way vanilla beans are planted and grown. I was a little embarrassed to discover how little I know about agriculture. I think it's so important to understand where our food comes from, and to be honest, I never really thought about it that much until now. I have gained a much greater appreciation for this by not only going to the coffee co-op, but also just watching the process that goes into Sam the Cook making dinner every night. Everything is completely from scratch. Everything. Dinner usually takes at least two hours to make, which makes sense once you realize that throwing some frozen food in the microwave isn't an option. (We don't even have a microwave) Oh Americans just have it soooo easy!! Though, there is some give and take. The fresh fruits and vegetables we get here are sooo much better than what you can buy at the grocery store.

Also, if you are interested, here is the link to Peace Kawomera's website: http://deliciouspeace.com/cooperative  I don't drink coffee, but if I did I would definitely buy some beans from these guys. They are all about quality. Plus, it's just cool because I know them.

Coffee Tree

Who knew this is what coffee beans looked like straight off the tree?

Cute kids following us around the vanilla bean farm

Vanilla bean planting. They graft the vines onto sticks stuck into the ground  and then bury the end of the vine under a shallow layer of dirt. So fascinating!

Vanilla Bean vines ready to be grafted

Today, I got the chance to go over to Namatala to work with the women from "1000 Shillings" (The business that was started last year to help women in Namatala earn income for their families. They started by making paper beads last year which were then sold to people in the United States online. They have now expanded and are making bangles, scarves, bowties, and purses). The business was started as a HELP project, but now has its own team of volunteers that are focused just on helping 1000 Shillings grow. However, we are still going to be involved with them. One of our volunteers, Sarah, has her own business making purses, and she is using her knowledge of that to help teach the women how to make purses of their own to sell. I got to help with some of the cutting of fabric for those bags today which was way cool. I am sooo excited for the bags to be done. They are going to be so cute! The African fabrics that they got for them are all gorgeous and I probably will end up buying one of each. Love them. Also, everything else they are making is great too. If no one else, I will single-handedly keep these ladies in business.

Cutting away!

Also, if you are interested, here is the link to 1000 Shillings' website: http://www.1000shillings.com/  Obviously not all of the new stuff is on the website yet, but keep checking back because they are going to be great.
Also, if you are interested, here is the link to Sarah's cute purse-making business: http://annebdesigns.com/  (If anyone felt like buying me a present, this would be a great place to find said present) Wow, can you say "shameless plugs" today??

On Saturday, (told you this was going to be in no coherent order) a bunch of the team was going to Jinja to do some shopping in the markets. I was all excited and ready to go when Sam informed me that she would be staying in Mbale and going to the pool. Suddenly a long, crowded, bumpy taxi ride no longer sounded appealing. So I opted to stay with my sissy. And we had a perfect day. There are a couple nice resort/hotels near our house that we go to sometimes when we need a little first-world break. The one that we went to has a nice pool and a restaurant with poolside service that has semi-American food. The sun was blazing hot and the pool was cool and refreshing. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect Saturday. For me, nothing beats laying out in the sun, reading a good book, and jumping in the pool when I get too hot. Also, hanging out with my sister. Perfect. We did get a little too excited about the sun though, and the four of us that went ended up getting a little burned. I think Sam got it the worst. Mine wasn't too bad and is mostly tan now. That was the goal. I will be African black before you know it. (Ha! I wish!)

Sunday was wonderful, as usual. For some reason, I always just get really full of gratitude on Sundays here. Grateful that I have the gospel, grateful for how easy it is to live the gospel in the states, grateful that the church is the same everywhere you go, grateful for missionaries, grateful for the spirit that is felt in our little Mbale branch, and grateful for the incredible, incredible people in the church in general, and in our Mbale branch specifically. I know I've said this before, but despite not knowing most of the people in the branch very well, I still feel like they are my family. There is sooo much love in that building.  It also helps that they all know and love me because they love Sam. Sister Butali, one of the ladies that has been in the branch since it started, always calls me "Baby Samantha." Don't tell Sam, but I secretly love it. It's fun to be loved by association. Makes my job really easy.

Random story: There's a boda driver that somehow knows my name. I don't really know how. He's usually stationed at the fresh market and every time I'm there I hear "Hey Cassie!" and every time I am super confused. Then I remember, "Oh yeah, my random boda driver friend who somehow knows my name." I'm sure he probably gave me a ride one time and I told him my name, and somehow he just hasn't forgotten. I guess there's so few mzungus that it's probably easier to remember us. But it still confuses me every time. Oh well. It's fun to have friends.....even if I don't actually know them.

Other random story: We had pizza for dinner tonight. Delicious. Okay, compared to the pizza I usually have it probably wasn't that great. But tonight, it sure tasted like the best thing I have ever eaten.

Another one: I woke up with like 25 mosquito bites today. I hadn't gotten a single one up until this point. Plus, like 20 of those were localized in one little spot on my stomach. Weird. Let's hope none of them have Malaria in them!

Last one: HELP reposted my instagram picture today. Success! It was a pretty good one if I do say so myself. I'm starting to realize that I really love taking pictures, especially when I get one that just captures those little moments so well. I'm not pro by any means, but Africa is a perfect setting to practice.

Okay, I know there's more to tell, but that will be it for now. Thanks for reading this loooong post.

Livin' the Life!

So today I thought it would be fun to just give you a random list of culture stuff/stories that I have learned/experienced in the last couple of weeks but haven't really talked about yet. So here is a completely unorganized stream of consciousness:

- Yesterday we slaughtered 4 chickens in our backyard to make chicken enchiladas. That was an experience. Sam (our cook) wanted us to help with the whole process, so he put the knife in someone's hand and the chicken in the other. And then encouraged them to slice away. I decided I had to watch that little adventure, just for the experience of it all. It may or may not have been a good idea. I will avoid going into all the bloody details so that you can still enjoy your chicken enchiladas in the future. My watching my food go from squawking chicken wandering around the yard, to in a tortilla on my plate kind of killed my appetite. The enchiladas were delicious, but a little harder for me to eat than usual. I now understand why Ugandans don't eat meat very often though. Our dinner took about 4 hours to cook. That is waaaay too much work if you ask me. I get too lazy to cook up some frozen chicken from the grocery store when I'm cooking at home. That's not even an option here. If it was left up to me to handle, I would probably never eat meat while in Uganda.

- I saw a baby hedgehog today! It was adorable! Apparently hedgehogs are considered good luck and people put them in their gardens to help them grow. Who knew?

- Ugandan culture is very slow. Americans tend to have every minute of their day planned out and they are always in a rush. This is definitely not the case in Uganda. People are always late and no one really minds. Things that could be really short and efficient drag on for hours, and no one thinks twice about it. We have had several meetings with partners that by the time table in my mind should take three hours tops, and they end up taking closer to 9 or 10. And it's fine. No one apologizes. This is just what they had set aside their entire day to do, while I still had all kinds of other things on my agenda for the day. When we got stranded on the side of the road because our taxi broke down, no one seemed too stressed.  In America, everyone would have been angry and frustrated and demanding that the driver find another way for us to get to our destinations quickly. However, everyone seemed content to just relax and wait. No rush. We get there when we get there. I am quickly learning to allow for a LOT more time for everything because there's really no avoiding it when things start to take a long time. I have also realized that I am definitely an American in that I fill my days with plans and I get frustrated when one thing takes longer than I plan for it to, and it cuts into my time to work on something else. I also have to learn to deal with people being late. All the time. I don't deal with that well. I get really frustrated with people who are late, and often lose a lot of respect for people who are consistently late, especially to important or formal meetings. I'm going to have to get over that. It's a hard mentality to change.

- Today we were a little squished on our boda. My driver was very literally sitting on my lap. Awkward.

- Ugandans do this funny thing when they talk where they give you a chance to finish their sentences for them. For example: If we were talking to our cook about dinner, he would say something like "So we need some chickens for the what? For the enchiladas. So, to get those chickens we need to go to the what? The market." It's really hilarious. Usually there's no way we could know what they are about to say, and I haven't actually figured out if we are supposed to finish their sentences for them or just let them do it themselves. But it's just funny.

- Marshmallows don't exist in Africa. Sad.

- The power goes out here ALL the time. So annoying. And there's just nothing that can be done about it. It's pretty exciting the nights that we are only powerless for an hour or less. It gets a little ridiculous sometimes.

- Our guard, David, is just the greatest guy. He cracks me up. I'm sure I will have lots of David stories over the course of the summer, but here is one for you. The power went out the other night and it was out for a long time. We were all pretty frustrated because we couldn't get anything done and it's just annoying in general. David came walking through and I said "David! Get the power back on!" (David is also our go-to fix it man) He said "Oh oh okay! I will just call him really quick." We were a little confused at first because there's really not a power guy that we call when the power goes out, we just wait. David then pulls out his phone and pretends to have a conversation with someone. When he hangs up, he looks at us and said "Okay, he is in Jinja right now. But I told him to come back. So he will be here in a couple hours." Um yeah. He definitely personified the power and made it sound like it had just gone out for a little vacation. It probably helps if you had been there, but it was seriously hilarious. He's great.

- G nuts. They're like peanuts. Only African. They are a little bit smaller/rounder than peanuts but they are absolutely delicious. Definitely a favorite snack of HELP volunteers. We love that people always serve bowls full of them when we go to their houses in the villages.

- Africans don't know how to give handshakes. Everyone shakes hands ALL the time, but they are the wimpiest little handshakes! They do that silly fingertip grab with noodle arms that makes me crazy. I get really excited when I find someone who knows how to give real handshakes. Like really excited.

- People mow their lawns with machetes in Uganda. It's called slashing. Our slasher's name is Julius. It's kind of a scary sounding title, "Julius the Slasher." Ha! He is definitely skilled though

Okay, I think that's all I have for you tonight. I'm sure there will be more later. Bye!