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!

Hosanna! Hosanna!

What an incredible weekend!! My weekend was pretty much spent at the church this weekend because they were having an open house and dedication of the new Mbale branch church building.  The church moved into their own building last November and this weekend we got to see it get dedicated. I’m not sure why it took so long for the dedication to happen, but I’m really glad it didn’t happen until this week. It was such a cool thing to be a part of.

Yesterday the church hosted a huge open house for members and non-members to come tour the building, have a little meeting, and eat a huge meal. Sam, Cami, Sarah, and I got there early to practice our song we were singing for the program (don’t ask how I ended up being a part of a singing number).  We sang “O My Father” to the tune of “Come Thou Fount” and I think it actually turned out really good. We got lots of compliments on it.  The program was really good and we got to hear from a couple of local government people talk about how much the LDS church has already done for Mbale and how grateful they are for that, which was really cool.  The mission president, President Jackson, and branch president, President Mubbala, also spoke which was really good.

All set up for the open house

After the meeting, we hung around and socialized while we waited for the food to arrive (nothing ever happens on time in Uganda). We feasted on matoke, rice, beans, chicken, potatoes, and chipati.  All of which was eaten with our hands….that’s something that I’m not quite used to yet.  But it was delicious.

A little bit later, we went to the baptism of Pius’s (piano student) brother, Alan. That was such a cool thing to see.  The missionary work in Uganda is crazy successful.  They have baptisms all the time and the church is growing so fast.  It’s really incredible. So hopefully I will get to see a lot more baptisms while I’m here because yesterday’s was amazing. Pius got to baptize his brother which was really neat because that was the first baptism that he’s ever performed, and he is leaving on a mission soon so it was good practice for him. So cool to be a part of. I just love the gospel.

After the baptism, President Jackson and his wife invited the six of us girls who had been at the open house to meet them at Mount Elgon hotel for dinner.  So sweet of them.  We ended up eating another huge, delicious meal with all of the senior missionary couples who were in town for the dedication as well as the branch president and a member family from Tororo.  It was basically a big party and I had the best time getting to talk to all of the cute missionary couples and receive their motherly and fatherly advice about being safe in Uganda. It just felt like I was with family.  The church is cool like that though. I had this realization last night that I just love being a part of this church because I feel like I have family no matter where I go.  I have spent so much of the last two days just talking and laughing and shaking hands with and hugging people I have only just met, but they all just feel like family. I am so happy when I am with those sweet people who are just so full of love. It’s just the best feeling.

Sidenote: During our dinner, President Jackson told us the story of how the church came to own the building that we are now in. The whole story was really just a string of miracles.  The people of Mbale have a beautiful building to meet in, on a beautiful piece of land, and it is definitely not a coincidence that they ended up with it.

The new church building

Today was also incredible. Church today started with a quick sacrament meeting (with no talks) and after we ended that, we opened a new meeting to dedicate the building. Some of the oldest members of the branch spoke about the history of the church in Mbale and their experiences of going to the temple and raising their families in the church.  The people here have such powerful testimonies and I really can’t get enough of them.  We also found out last minute that we would be singing our song from yesterday again during the dedicatory meeting. We pulled it off pretty well for having no preparation, or our music.

President Jackson bore a powerful testimony and then gave the dedicatory prayer.  I would be lying if I said my eyes didn’t tear up a little bit during it. Besides it being a beautiful prayer, the whole idea of it just really touched me. These people really deserve a nice building to meet in and it was really touching to see them blessed with that. We take so many things for granted in the United States, and seeing a group of such wonderful people blessed with something that we never think twice about was really thought-provoking for me. I don’t even know these people that well yet, but I am just so happy for them and this huge blessing in their lives. And just seeing the church growing in general makes me so happy. Such a testimony builder.

Sam and I with Ann who is just the cutest!

Other thing that made me tear up? The closing song. I really hate the song “God be With you Til we Meet Again.” Okay, I actually love it. But it makes me cry. When we sang it the last Sunday I was in Virginia I just fell apart, and I haven’t really been able to get through it since then. Today we sang it as kind of a farewell to President and Sister Jackson because their time in the mission is almost up and they are headed back to the US. The last verse of the song they both stood up and waved and the rest of the congregation waved back. I couldn’t really watch that because it made me cry. I just met the Jacksons but, like I said, they feel like family and I already love them. And seeing the love that they have for the people in the branch and the family that has been created there just made me a little emotional. It really was such a cool experience. I am so blessed to be here and to be a member of this wonderful church. So so blessed. Happy Sabbath!

Love this place

Project Time!! (again)

So on Thursday Hannah and I took another fun taxi ride up to Bududa to meet with David Zaale, who is the head guy of PDI (Pathways Development Initiative); which is another partner that we will be working with this summer. Hannah and I are the project leads for our projects with PDI and we are super excited for the work that we will be doing with them.

I think I already talked about PDI a little bit, but we basically have three different projects that we will be doing with them:
     1)Teaching a couple times a week in the nursery school
     2) Helping put together and teach at/run an after school program for primary school kids
     3) Fundraise for and build a new nursery school

Initially the plan for the new nursery school was just to move from a two-room building to a four-room building so that there would be more room for all of the kids. However, since we were last in Bududa the two-room nursery school was taken back by the landlord and is now in the process of being torn down. Super sad. So, now the Zaales are hosting three nursery school classes at their home every day. Which is craziness. They don't have the space or the stamina for all of those small children to be there every day, so the building of the new school has now been moved to emergency status. David was so so excited when we told him that we wanted to help him fundraise for and build the new school before we leave this summer.

Actually, David was so so excited that we wanted to work with him at all. He is just the cutest. Apparently they have had other volunteer groups show interest in helping, but then nothing ever comes of that. We are the first volunteers that they have had, and I have never felt so appreciated (and we haven't even done anything yet!). But that's how the Zaales are. Just the sweetest people. I feel so welcomed at at home when I am at their house. Throughout the time that we were meeting there we were served eggs for breakfast, porridge for a morning snack (didn't love the porridge too much), bananas for a lunch appetizer, and a HUGE African meal for lunch. So delicious. We had plans to leave at 2:30 but David wouldn't let us leave until we had lunch so we didn't get out of there until around 3:30/4:00 (it was a late lunch). Can't complain though. Ugandans certainly know how to be good hosts.

We had a wonderful meeting, got a ton of things figured out, and ate until we couldn't eat anymore. Then we got in a crowded taxi to head back home. We ended up sitting in the very backseat of the taxi, and I soon discovered that besides not being able to move, there was also a chicken under my feet. He was just sitting there alive and flapping and squawking right where my feet were supposed to be. Let me tell you, I did not love that. Chickens freak me out and to have one right there that I couldn't get away from? Yeah, not pleasant. I didn't have to go the whole ride home with my feet however, because as we were bumping along the road we suddenly heard a scraping sound coming from under the van. I couldn't tell if it was a flat tire or something else, but I knew it wasn't supposed to sound like that. Eventually we pulled over and everyone filed out of the van. Once out, we discovered that some piece of the car (the axel maybe) was hanging off the bottom.  The dirt roads here are definitely not good on cars. So we all stood on the side of the road while the driver and conductor worked on the van. We made some friends, took shelter from the rain, and fed some kids granola bars. 45 minutes later we were finally back in the taxi headed home. It was a fun little African adventure.

Once I got back, I went with Sam and Cami to have dinner at their friend Ann's house. (People automatically love me because they love Sam....it's kind of fun). Dinner was delicious and Ann is the sweetest girl. I loved getting to sit and talk with her and make a new friend. This place is just full of the very best people. I love it. I just feel so loved all the time (especially when random men are whistling or winking at me.....just kidding....but really). Africa is just wonderful. I haven't taken a lot of pictures the last few days, so sorry about that. I will do better!