Project Time!

Okay. Who wants to know about one of my projects I'm working on? Great. I will tell you. All of our projects are still in the preliminary phases, but Sam and I had a great meeting yesterday with the project that we are co-leading, and I'm super excited about it. So I will tell you what we know.

So, St Stephens is a secondary school in Buhkaweka that HELP started working with last year, mostly teaching classes.  They also put on a teacher training workshop and a parent training workshop for the teachers and parents of St Stephens. The headmaster of the school is named Saleh, and he is amazing.  He's just a really together guy who is so forward-thinking and really has a great vision for his school and his community.  Really a great guy to work with.

The team is doing a lot of projects with Saleh and St Stephens, but the one that Sam and I are heading up has to do with the parents of the students; and women in Buhkaweka in general. Uganda has tons of problems that are all kind of intertwined with each other.  The education system alone is full of issues, which I see as a base for a lot of other problems that the country has.  Even deeper than the school system, the real root of the failings comes from the homes of these kids.  Parents send their kids to school (sometimes), and that is the extent of their parenting.  The kids get no support from their parents when they go home.  They aren't given help with their schoolwork, they aren't encouraged to have big goals, often parents don't even communicate with their kids at all.  These people have no money so their biggest goal is to get their kids out of the house and married to the chipati man down the road so that they are no longer responsible for keeping them fed and clothed.  They don't encourage them to further their education or to work their way up to really great, higher-paying jobs because these ideas don't seem realistic to them and, in the short run, they cost a lot of money that the parents don't want to pay.  Essentially, it's a continuous cycle of poverty. Everyone wants to find the quickest fix to their current hunger pangs or alcohol withdrawals so they end up living shilling by shilling and not making sustainable investments in their futures.

It's really a sad thing to witness.  It's awful to me that these kids have absolutely no support from their families to make something of themselves.  They are left to fend for themselves which eventually leads them to struggle just as much as their parents are now. Obviously, this is a huge issue, but our goal for this summer is to help this issue a little bit starting with the village of Buhkaweka.

Saleh has this dream to create a women's group in the community where women can come together and receive training on topics ranging from being better parents to health and sanitation practices to starting more successful and sustainable businesses.  Sam and I are so excited about this idea and have decided to help Saleh get this started. We actually came up with the idea to start two different groups.  One will be a general group for any women in the community to meet once a week and receive training. The other will be a group with a specific number of people that is focused on business. In the group we would establish a village savings and loans association (VSLA) and teach a business course. By the time the course is over, they women will be equipped with the knowledge that they need to start a successful business and will also be able to get a loan to start their business through the VSLA. Saleh loved this idea and told us about a lot of great ideas for businesses that women could start. He knows where the needs are in Buhkaweka and what kinds of goods there is a huge market for in the area that isn't currently being met. The ideas that he had seemed so simple but so genius.  If we could share this information with the women, I have no doubt that they could really get their businesses to take off and put their family in a much better financial position.

This whole thing also turns into a cycle in that if the parents are able to make more money and develop a successful business, they will not only have more money to help send their kids to school, but might also see their kids' goals as being more of a possibility after they have seen so much of their own success.  The kids would also learn by watching and helping with their parents' business, which could lead them to have higher goals and expectations for themselves.  In addition, these parents would be receiving training about parenting and the importance of encouraging their kids to aim high and go to college, rather than just get married the second they are old enough. Besides goal setting and going to college, kids just simply do better in life if they have solid relationships with their parents, communicate with them constantly, and have their unconditional love and support.

Okay, that was a lot longer explanation than I was planning on giving, but I'm just so excited about this project. I think this is such an important thing to work on. We can teach the kids all we want, but if what we teach isn't being reinforced when they go home, nothing is going to come of it. It really takes a holistic approach to make a difference, and we really are doing that with St Stephens and the village of Buhkaweka. I'm so excited to get started. It's going to be good. I'll keep you posted!

Sister Saturday and Spiritual Sunday

So, Saturday was just lovely. At dinner on Friday night we ran into Sam’s friend Ayub (sp?) who is a professional tennis player that she took lessons from last summer.  Alyssa and I have both been dying to play tennis so we were super happy to run into him and find out he had rackets and balls and was willing to play any time. So that’s what we did first thing Saturday morning.  It was just the three of us, but it was so much fun.  I don’t know if it gets much better than playing tennis on red dirt courts in Africa.  Tennis + Africa = One happy girl.  We had such a good time.  We will definitely be doing that again soon.

After I got back from tennis, I cleaned myself up a little bit and headed into town with Sam.  We had decided that we were ready to get away and take a break from all of the crazy of the last week and a half, so we went on a little sister date.  We found a little hair and nail salon and got ourselves a pedicure.  So nice.  My feet have not been clean since I got here so getting them all clean and shiny and massaged was such a good feeling.  And my toenails are a bright purple now. Love it.  Best part? It only cost $2. Yes, 2. Probably going to be going back there at least once a week. So great!

The plan for the rest of the afternoon was to go to the Mount Elgon hotel (a super fancy hotel in our neighborhood) and lay by the pool.  When we got there we decided to get some lunch at the poolside restaurant and enjoyed a little break from matoke and beans and got a cheeseburger and a pizza instead.  Which were surprisingly good.  Unfortunately, the next part of our plan didn’t work out so well.  Sam had warned me that last summer, without fail, every Saturday she decided to spend by the pool ended up being rainy and cold. This Saturday was no exception.  It has been blistering hot and sunny every day that I’ve been here so far, with just a quick little rainstorm in the afternoons.  But while we were eating our lunch it started to rain really hard and didn’t stop for a long time.  When it finally did stop, the sun was still blocked by clouds and it was actually pretty chilly.  So we opted to go home to our sweats rather than try to tan with now sun. 

We finished off our evening by watching some Boy Meets World.  Which was, of course, wonderful.  We sure do love that show.  All in all it was a really great, relaxing day spent with my sister.  Definitely can’t complain about that.

Today for church we had district conference in Jinja (like stake conference when there’s only branches instead of wards).  It was a long drive there and back, but it was really cool being there.  They had huge white tents and chairs set up outside of the church because there were way too many people to fit inside the chapel.  A pretty nice problem if you ask me.  It’s a really cool experience to go to church here because the majority of the members are so new to the church so there’s a different enthusiasm than you see in Utah or Idaho.  Everyone is still learning and really wants to learn, which is really fun to see.  We got to hear the testimonies of a couple of people who recently went to the temple for the first time.  The first guy who spoke was 65 (ish) and was so excited that he had finally gotten to take out his endowments.  The closest temple is in South Africa so it’s a big sacrifice for people here to be able to make it to the temple at all, so when they do they are sooo grateful.  What a lesson for those of us who live so close to temples.  I’ve heard stories of people who sacrifice a lot and have to wait a long time to go to the temple once, but it was a different experience to hear personally the testimony of someone in that situation.  We are so spoiled.

In the closing talk, the mission president gave us some numbers of the strides that the church in the Kampala mission has made in the last three years.  That was so inspiring.  I can’t remember the number of missionaries, but I remember being impressed by how many there were.  I do remember that he said there were 5000 new members baptized in the last three years.  He also said that there were over 1000 people at the conference today which means that the district can now apply for stakehood.  So cool! The church is growing so fast here and I have no doubt that a stake will be established here very soon.  It was definitely an inspiring and testimony-building Sunday.

I love Africa. I love the church. I love how blessed I am.  

Mayenze, Bududa, and Bunabuyoka

Hike to the Health Clinic

                Okay, the last two days were great.  On Tuesday morning we got up early to catch a taxi to Mayenze.  Let me tell you about these taxis. Wow.  The taxis are these big, junky vans that could probably comfortably hold about 12 people.  But in Uganda they pack them with more like 24 people. It reminded me a lot of the Chinese subways in that you think there’s no way one more person could get in, and yet they just keep piling in.  Everyone is sitting on everyone else’s laps, and breathing is not really an option. And then, of course, there’s just the classic Ugandan driving to top it off.  Ugandan drivers drive fast and really close to other cars/bodas/people, and really look out for no one but themselves.  Terrifying.  Also, the roads are so terrible.  If you live in America, you have absolutely no idea what a pothole is.  The roads here are nothing but giant potholes which always makes for a bumpy ride. The whole trip was quite the adventure, but still fun.  I will have to get used to traveling that way because we have to take taxis a lot when we are traveling to the villages outside of Mbale.

                Our first stop of the day was at the Mayenze Widows’ and Orphans’ Association.  This is a really cool group that was established by Agatha (the sweetest little lady) to give local widows and orphans their own community and a way to learn and market different skills.  They do all sorts of singing, dancing, drama, sewing, and handicrafts there; as well as running their own piggery.  Such a fun place.

                When we got there, we were met by a group of widows and orphans all shaking our hands and hugging us. They were so excited! After we learned a little about the group, the orphans welcomed us with singing and dancing. So cute! Africans are such good dancers! I was really touched by Agatha and all of the girls there and how genuinely excited they seemed to have us there.  They made us feel so welcome and loved; which made me want to do anything that I can to help them. They were just so sweet.

I tell them to smile at me, and this is what I get....

                After our tour at Mayenze, we grabbed another taxi and headed to Bududa.  There we met with David Zaale and his family and colleagues at his home.  The Zaales are the sweetest people and were so welcoming to us.  They served us a HUGE lunch before we started our meeting, and it was absolutely delicious.  We are working with David on his organization called, Pathways Development Initiative (PDI). PDI runs a nursery school, a primary school, and a village savings and loan association that we will be helping them with.  David is hoping to start an after school program for the kids where they can gain some additional education as well as have something positive for them to  be doing after school.  The program would include helping the kids with their English reading and writing (the current school system is very bad at teaching English) as well as other education programs, sports teams, and fun activities. This is a program that I am going to be working on a lot and I’m super excited about.  David is also in the process of building another, bigger school for the kids, but the project is kind of on hold until he gets enough money for it.  He has the skeleton of the school built, and some of the iron sheets for the roof, but he can’t go any further with it without some more funding. This is another thing that I am really interested in helping with.  Right now, the kids are in a really small school and I would LOVE to help him build this new school so that the kids have a bigger place to learn in, and potentially be able to allow more children to go to school. 

                David took us around to show us the current school and the site for the new school, and we were followed by tons of kids the whole time we were walking around. Loved it. When we got back to the Zaale’s, we played games with the kids in the yard until dinner time (which was also delicious). We stayed at the Zaale’s house that night which was really nice.  They have almost a mini motel in their backyard so there was plenty of room for all of us to sleep quite comfortably. The next morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and jumped in another fun taxi to go to our health clinic.

                The Zion’s Medical Community Clinic is the health clinic that the Mbale team built last summer.  We decided to hike up the mountain to the clinic in the morning, which was about a 1.5 hour hike up a pretty steep road.  We are pretty good at getting our workouts in! It was a really gorgeous hike though. Of course. It’s Uganda. When we got to the top, we were met by children grabbing our hands and singing welcome songs to us.  Later, they put on a whole show of singing and dancing for us which was a lot of fun.  We spent the entire day at the clinic eating, touring the health clinic, learning about the goals of the organization, and a LOT of playing with kids.  Oh I just love the kids! One little girl, named Winnie, grabbed my hand as soon as I got there and pretty much never let it go.  We just fell in love with each other.  She is THE cutest girl I have ever seen and I would hike up that mountain every day just to play with her.  I definitely got too attached and just want to bring her home with me now. Love love love her.

One of the kids took this one. They LOVE the cameras. Most of the pictures they take don't turn out this well. 

                It was a pretty incredible couple of days.  Ugandans are so good at making people feel welcome. It’s their culture to make sure all of their guests have a chair and something to eat or drink and are as comfortable as possible.  They also have this thing of saying “You are most welcome” when you go to a new place or meet someone.  I really love that.  The way they say it sounds so sincere and really makes me feel like I am welcome wherever I go.  It’s just the sweetest.

                One thing that really bothered me about our time in the villages was the fact that Moses (David’s colleague) was telling us about how tough life is for kids in the villages.  He said that the survival rate of these kids is about 50%.  That absolutely breaks my heart.  When I was playing with the kids, I couldn't help thinking that half of those sweet kids probably wouldn't survive to adulthood.  It was one of the most terrible realizations that I've ever had.  With their inability to provide clean water, good medical attention and adequate food and shelter for people, death (especially of children) is a fact of life for the poorest people in Uganda.  For me, it’s a reality that I don’t think I will ever be able to wrap my head around.  It kills me to think about the conditions that my sweet baby Winnie has to live in, and the fact that if she were to contract Malaria or some other disease, she might not be able to recover from it. No child should have to suffer the way that these kids do, and yet millions of them are living this way all around the world.  I have so much respect for these people; especially when I think about Winnie’s sweet smile.  She has the toughest life and yet the biggest smile I have ever seen on any child.  Amazing amazing people.  I can only hope that I can make some sort of difference for these people this summer.  They deserve so much more than they have. 

Cassie's Culture Corner

Okay, so I decided maybe I would give a quick culture lesson since I skipped a lot of that stuff these last couple days.  There were so many other things to talk about! A lot of you probably already know this stuff from reading Sam’s blog, but I am going to tell you about it anyway. So, here are some things I have learned:

-Boda bodas: Little motorcycles that can hold about three people which are used as taxis around town.  They are terrifying. But cheap. And kind of fun. I am learning to love them.

-Matoke: A main staple food in Uganda.  Basically a pile of mashed up plantains (bananas) that are cooked together.  It’s really heavy/starchy and doesn’t have a lot of flavor. But not too bad.  Usually we will eat it with chicken or beans to give it some more flavor.

-Cibatti (spelling?): Basically the Ugandan version of a tortilla.  They are super thick and oily and delicious and can be eaten plain or wrapped around something.  My favorite is what’s called a rolex, which is a cibatti wrapped around eggs, formed into an omlette-like thing.  Delicious.

-Mzungu: Me.  Anyone that isn’t African black is called a mzungu.  The distinction of mzungu results in children loving you and business owners ripping you off.

-Machetes: Giant knives that are used by adults and children alike.  I can’t believe how many kids I’ve seen running around with machetes in their hands like it’s a totally normal thing.  And to think we worry about our kids going outside without a coat on!

-Weather: It’s suuuper hot and humid here. It reminds me of why I never wanted to do a summer in Virginia.  My hair hates the humidity (and the fact that I don’t have a straightener).  We also had our first big rain storm today.  It rained really really hard, but not for very long.

-Technology: We have wi-fi in our house, but it’s pretty terrible.  It also doesn’t help that every time the internet in the house is working, everyone grabs their laptops and tries to use it.  Since that’s my only form of communication, don’t expect to hear from me a whole bunch.  Also, the power goes out a lot. Sometimes for a really long time. That also doesn’t help the internet.

I’m sure I have a ton more that I could tell you, but I’m also sure that I still have a lot to learn about.  So that will be all for now.  Plus, two blog posts in one day? Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about that. 

Mzungu! How are you??

So, yesterday was pretty great.  We got up early to go on our first hike up Wanale Mountain. We left the house at 7:45 and started walking toward the mountains.  The first part of the hike was up a dirt road through lots of little villages.  The whole time we were walking, little kids were running out toward the road yelling “Mzungu! How are you? I’m fine. How are you?”  They get soo excited to see this parade of mzungus walking past their houses. So funny.  When we finally got to the base of the mountain, we were already tired and the hike hadn’t even started yet.  We hiked to the very top of the mountain on a tiny little path that was more like a super steep, stone staircase.  It was probably the hardest hike I had ever done.  The whole time was straight up the side of the mountain.  And we were in the blazing Africa sun.  Sooo exhausting.  But so worth it.  When we got to the top we were met by a bunch of children who live in little huts on the top of the mountain, who continued to follow us the rest of the time we were on the mountain.  The waterfall was gorgeous and the view of Mbale below us was incredible.  Honestly, this place is so incredibly beautiful.  No matter what direction I look, I feel like I am looking at a postcard with a professionally taken picture on it.  Amazing.

                After taking in the scenery we all went for a little swim in the river.  It was freezing, but so refreshing.  The best part was that all of the little African kids were standing along the banks just watching and laughing at us.  We must have been quite a sight for them.

                The hike back down the mountain wasn’t near as exhausting, but it was definitely still an adventure.  The path was so steep that we pretty much slipped and skidded the whole way down.  Be happy I didn’t fall to my death; I had a lot of close calls.  I couldn’t believe that as we were taking all day to get up and down the mountain, Africans were passing us on the trail carrying huge bunches of bananas or other supplies on their heads.  One lady that I passed had an entire tree on her head. Not a joke.  I felt really silly that I struggled so much going up and down the mountain with my tennis shoes and bottle of clean water, when these people make that trek everyday without shoes and carrying all kinds of things. Americans are a little pathetic sometimes.

                Once we got back to the house, we pretty much all collapsed. I filled up on water and a peanut butter sandwich, took a cold shower (which actually felt really good), and then passed out on my bed for a little while.  The rest of the night was pretty uneventful.  Some of us went into town for a little bit to get some food, and when we came back to the house the power was out (which actually happens pretty often).  We spent the rest of the night sitting around wondering what to do without power and ended up going to bed pretty early.  Which was probably needed. 

We had the kids take a group picture of us. It was quite the process. 

                This morning we went to church which was, as they always say, the same no matter where you go.  The church building is really pretty nice, but a little warm which makes it hard to stay awake.  I also am still getting used to everyone’s accent so I really have to listen and pay attention if I want to understand what they are saying.  It was so nice to go to church though. It feels like it has been a pretty long crazy week, and it was so good to have that break from everything and just go to church.  It was also fun to meet so many of the people in the branch, especially the ones who immediately loved me when they found out I was Sam’s sister.  They love her around here, so I am loved by association. Works for me!!

The kids watching all of the mzungus swimming. We had quite the audience!

                I think the rest of the day will be pretty relaxed.  We are going to have a crazy week so it will be nice to just rest up today and get ready for the week.  I will keep you updated!

I went and sat down on the grass and this little boy looked at me and then sat down across from me and gave me the most mischievous little smile. So cute.  

Welcome to the Pearl of Africa!!

Hey, do you want to know something cool? I’m in Uganda!! It’s still so surreal to stop and realize sometimes that I am actually here in Africa, but soooo exciting!!

It took me basically an eternity to get to my cute little house in Mbale from the time I left my house in Burley, but it was definitely worth it.  My flights went really well (as well as 8-10 hour flights can go) and, stopping in London was super cool.  We ended up with a nine hour layover in London so Carly (a girl on my team that I was traveling with) and I met up with some other girls who were on our same flights but going to Tanzania with HELP rather than Uganda, and went and explored London.  It was a process getting out of the airport and into the city, but definitely worth it.  London was everything it was supposed to be for me.  The second I stepped out of the subway station, I saw Big Ben and the London Eye (which I also saw from the plane). So cool! We wandered around some more and also saw Westminster Abbey, which was absolutely gorgeous.  London also met all of my expectations by having red telephone booths like in Harry Potter, having real British accents, funny little taxis, fish and chips, driving on the wrong side of the road with steering wheels on the wrong side of the car, red double-decker buses, and houses in neighborhoods that looked like Privet Drive from Harry Potter.  Mostly, it was wonderful. Also, the Heathrow airport in London was crazy big. And also made for rich people.  The place was full of expensive stores like Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabana, Tiffany’s, and every other expensive brand you could think of. So cool. 

And then, I went to a totally different world.  It was a huge change to go from the London airport to the one in Entebbe, Uganda.  You know what’s really weird? I liked the Entebbe one sooo much better.  Uganda is just so amazing.  I am only on my second day here and I have already decided that I am never leaving.  The landscape is so green and hilly (kind of like Virginia!!) and the contrast of the green with the red dirt is just beautiful.  It’ super hot and humid here and I feel like I will never be dry again.  Or clean.  But that’s fine. Our house is great.  It’s in one of the richest neighborhoods in Mbale and is definitely considered high-class by Uganda standards. And it really is nice.  There’s plenty of room for everyone and we have a huge backyard and three dogs!  Okay, I could ramble on and on about everything that I have already learned about Uganda, but maybe that can just come a little at a time.  Instead I will just tell you what I have been up to for the last couple of days.

Yesterday we started off with a scavenger hunt around town to get ourselves oriented.  We went and found all of the businesses and people around town that we will be going to a lot while we were here.  The last part of our scavenger hunt was to take a boda back to our house.  For those of you who don’t know, boda bodas are the main form of transportation here.  They are little motorcycles that can seat around three people and everyone uses them as taxis to get from one place to another.   To be honest, I was terrified to ride one of these things.  Ugandans are crazy drivers and the bodas just dart in and out of traffic and around people and potholes.  Scary. But my first boda experience wasn’t too bad, and I think I will be able to get used to it pretty quick. After our scavenger hunt, we hung around town for the rest of the afternoon.  

Last night I went with Sam over to the church for her piano lessons.  That was a lot of fun.  I taught her friend Pius who has already been taught a lot about reading music and just needs to have a little refresher course and practice some more.  He is leaving on his mission in June (or July) so we are going to make sure he can play the hymns before he goes.  I’m so excited!! He was so much fun to work with and it was a lot of fun to get to meet some of Sam’s friends from church.  It was a great day.

Today was basically the best day of my life. We started the day by going to the Namatala Slum, which is a huge slum just outside Mbale.  Going to the slum was the perfect representation of what we are here to do.  Uganda as a whole is a third-world country and the majority of people don’t have a lot of money, but the slums are where the true poverty is. The slums are pretty much what you would expect a third-world country to look like: tiny shacks with straw roofs, herds of super skinny cows and goats wandering around, children without shoes or pants, unsanitary water and latrines, and dirt covering everything and everyone.  I have always heard about and seen pictures of people living in these kinds of conditions, but seeing it myself was incredibly eye opening.  To interact with the people there and see them as real people made the whole situation a lot more personal to me than it ever has been before.  As eye-opening as seeing these living conditions was, it was even more eye-opening to see the attitudes of the people there.  These people literally have nothing and yet they are so happy.  Definitely something for us to think about when we are complaining about our silly first-world problems. 

We met with two different organizations while we were in Namatala today, which are both amazing, but I will talk more about them later.  My favorite part of today was the kids. The second we stepped off the bodas in Namatala we were surrounded with beautiful little African children yelling, “Mzungu! Mzungu!”  They swarmed us and grabbed onto our hands and hugged our legs and just grinned up at us. Honestly melted my heart.  The whole time we were walking through the slums we were surrounded by children holding our hands and talking to us.  I couldn’t believe how uninhibited they were to run right up to us and grab on, and then keep walking with us far from their houses and families.  It was so much fun though. I am so in love with every kid I met today, and just want to bring them all home with me! It was mostly the best thing of my life.  I can’t wait until we get to go back to Namatala.  I love African babies so much!!  

The rest of the day was wonderful too, but I am going to wrap it up for now.  I’m so excited to keep meeting with people and start work on our projects, and I will write more about those when I know more. Sorry I don’t have any pictures yet. I have been so wrapped up in taking everything in that I haven’t actually taken pictures of anything yet.  I assure you that there will be plenty of pictures in the next three months though.

Africa is incredible. I am so blessed.