my cup runneth over....

Wow...what a whirlwind of days and hours and I'm not even done yet.

Let's see...

-We now have 16 sponsored children!!! And hopefully more to come! (p.s. that means that we've almost doubled the number of children that were sponsored when I first got here)

-20 women in Bulumagi now have their first microfinance loan and in the month that I've been here they have significantly increased their profits.

-We have been giving out our clothes over the past few days and are kids are rocking some T-shirts with some of my favorite places and things. They get so excited that they just wear it over their uniform. Can't wait to show you pictures!

-Groundbreaking on "Sue Block" has begun and 4 new permanent classrooms will go up in the next two weeks.

-The clinic is completely stocked and the room is almost finished.

-Enoch is scheduled to see a Dr. during holiday to have hernia surgery (He has suffered a hernia from the strain that is placed on his little body by pushing Paul in the wheelchair and carrying him where he needs to go. And he never complains). We are working on funding to pay for his surgery.

-Impetigo has seen it's last at Hopeland Jr. School. HA! Outbreak is over and all our students are improving. Jiggers have also seen an end. If you don't know what a Jigger is...it's pretty gross. It's a bug that lodges into your feet, sets up it's home and lays eggs. Yeah, I told you it was gross. But we've sprayed the grounds, removed the little parasites, and treated the wounds. (Interesting Note: you treat the wounds with Methylated Spirits...also used as lighter fluid around here)

-School fees will be paid for all students thanks to several combined donations. No one goes home. No one goes hungry.

-Enoch and Paul have shoes.=) Paul and I wear the same size and he's sporting my TOMS now. Sweet.

-And the best news of all....Today I went to visit the Cherub Center in Mukono. Cherub performs surgeries on disabled children for free. I showed the nurse some pictures of Paul and referenced his case with other cases they have helped. Next Thursday he is going for a consultation with the Doctor!!!! There are certain that they can improve his condition at the very least and we have great hope that he may even be able to stand and walk! I weep every time I think about it. I met a lot of the patients today and spent some time talking with them. They have worked miracles at Cherub and I hope that can do the same for Paul. I wish I could be here for his consultation, but hopefully I will be able to come back for his surgery which will be during one of the school holidays if he proves to be a good candidate. Please pray for Paul. We haven't told him yet. We will tell his Grandmother tomorrow.

Thank you for all of your messages to Paul. I have told him and he thanks you too. As does his family.

I cannot describe the joy that I am feeling right now with everything that has happened and especially such great news about Paul...it's only balanced by the urgency of the tasks I have left for me here in the next 48 hours.

Here is my list for tomorrow:
-Take pictures of the rest of the students so that I can update the YOFAFO website through this blog to help with child sponsorship
-Paint the clinic
-Assign current sponsors
-Finish the medical handbook for future volunteers
-Cry...a lot...when I have to leave the kids.
-Take lots of pictures.
-Pack. Yeah, that would be good.
-Then head to Mukono for my last night with all the volunteers.

I will update you of what joy God brings me tomorrow soon.

nkwagala nyo,
kisa

fever

I now know what it is like to suffer from the African Flu. And it downright sucks. I never EVER run a fever when I get sick at home...but I was running a fever that was so high that even a cold shower couldn't bring it down. Yesterday I was down for 20 hours straight sleeping. I finally tried some African meds instead of American meds and that did the trick. African meds for African flu. I guess it makes sense.

Ah, but I'm back in business today! The clinic is now fully stocked. All we are lacking is one more examination table, a hand-washing station, and some pretty artwork on the wall. I'll be doing all that on Thursday.

Tomorrow, I will somehow manage to be in 4 cities that are all 30 minutes away from each other at one time. I have to go to Bulumagi to distribute the last set of microfinance loans, go to Jinja to pick up some things I've ordered there. Then cut through the forest (literally) to Najja to pick up Paul and Enoch. Go for a consultation with Dr. Apollo who will do surgery for free in Mukono and then take the boys back to Najja. Maybe they'll just stay with us tomorrow night in Lugazi. It's ok. I'm getting pretty good at time travel.

I worked the clinic today for the first time in a couple of days because of the weekend and my illness. We had a HUGE line. But many of them were just "cough" and "headache." Have you ever heard of kids wanting to go to the doctor so bad? Ours do. A band-aid is like a badge of honor in Najja.

I can't wait until I can post pictures of everything in the U.S. The internet is too dodgy here to even try. I did manage to change my facebook photo after about 20 minutes. Then I gave up on everything else.

Still don't know how I will manage to do all these things in the next 4 days but I will try. =)

Oh, and Paul says hello America!

peace out.

home stretch....

I am looking at the last week of my stay in Uganda and I can't believe that it has all gone by so fast.

Thanks to readers of this blog wanting to share in love with the wonderful children and people I have met...this is what I will be doing this week:

-Completely renovating and painting the clinic. I am now fully stocked with enough meds to open my own pharmacy. They would have cost me thousands in the US. I bought them for $80 US dollars. There will be no more sick children for a long time at hopeland Junior School.

-meeting with carpenters and engineers to build the next set of permanent classrooms.

-giving 10 more of the strongest women I've ever met their microfinance loan to build their small businesses.

-taking Paul and Enoch to a doctor who will possibly perform their surgeries for free. =)

-providing a sister village with start up money for a clinic and family planning methods (I can't not begin to describe the dire need for this here....that will be another post in itself)

-purchasing handmaid crafts that generate income for single mothers/widows that I will be able to sell and send profit back once I'm in the states.

- and getting Paul a new wheelchair!

---------------------------------------------------------
We now have at least 10 children sponsored through this blog just in the last week. We have 200 more to go. I'm pretty sure we can do it. Get excited because the journey is just beginning when I leave Uganda next Saturday. You'll hear about it very soon. =)

thank you all for your support. more details soon.

p.s. Enoch is now sponsored. My heart is overflowing with joy.

zippity doo dah monkey roar

Today was a very good day.

Yesterday we finally got Paul's cushion made for class and I bought him a new mattress for his bed at home because he was sleeping on a ragged piece of foam on the floor. Sun bought Enoch some shoes yesterday at market and today we took all of these things plus a clothing donation to school. It was like Christmas.

I don't think I have mentioned Enoch before, but he is Paul's best friend and caretaker. He's also in P5 but younger than Paul. Every morning he gets up early and walks 4 km to get Paul ready for school. Then he pushes Paul 1 km to school. At school, Enoch carries Paul wherever he needs to go, brings him his porridge, and then takes him home at the end of the day. Every day we tell him what a good boy and good friend he is. Sun bought him shoes because he didn't have any and as a reward for being such a good boy.

Doreen, Gertrude and I just watched some footage I took of Paul and Enoch on Tuesday singing Zippity Doo Dah opera style and making monkey noises. I'm pretty sure we watched it 20 times because it is sooooooo funny. When I was filming I couldn't even talk or hold the camera still because I was laughing so hard. These are the things that happen in the clinic when no one is around. Paul and Enoch eat lunch with me everyday in the clinic after I tend to Paul's knee. They are sooo goofy. If it's just us they really cut up, but if I have patients they sit in the back and repeat everything I say and laugh.

Among the other frequent flyers of the clinic is John. John and his friends are in nursery and get out 30 minutes before everyone else for lunch. So they come and hang out or point at their knee and tell me they have a headache. Or they show me an invisible wound or a scar that is clearly a couple of years old. So I just give them a plaster anyway.

John is hysterical. The first time I met him I was walking 3 km to see the village hospital. I turn a corner and there is this boy 2.5 feet tall with a large stick of sugarcane singing and dancing like he's practicing for East African Idol. We've been best friends ever since. He comes in the clinic everyday and I have some great footage of him doing his dance and singing. Today when I was taking Paul's mattress to his house I asked if he wanted to walk with me because he gets out of school early and lives close to Paul. He took the mattress from me and started walking and muttering in Luganda. Doreen translated and apparently he was telling me that he was a big man and big men should carry things, not mzungu women. Really funny coming from a 2 foot kid. It looked like the mattress was floating because you couldn't even see him. But he carried it the whole way. Big man John.

I have successfully taught almost every student how to throw a peace sign so that's how they greet me when they see me. Even some of the teachers. It's pretty funny. And then we say "peace out" when I leave.

Tomorrow: I am going to school and bringing the carpenter to add the new furniture and cabinets to the clinic (thank God!), then to a Kitoola for a women's empowerment seminar to held lead a workshop on child spacing, and then to Mukono to spend some time with the other volunteers. busy day busy day. I don't have enough time left here I feel.

peace out=)

Mother of Children

Today 80 kids were sent home because they couldn't pay their school fees of 7,000 shillings ($3.50). Tomorrow, they return because I paid them with help from a donation. No kids will stay at home because they couldn't pay school fees that cost less than a fast food meal on my watch.

Today was a good day in the clinic. Thanks to some help from Mom and some of the UMC staff we have identified what has been ailing most of the kids: impetigo. Now that we know what it is it is a lot easier for me to treat it. I bought a lot of soap today and gave it to all the kids that came in with impetigo sores because hand washing is the most important measure to take to keep it from spreading. Thursday I will do a health seminar in each class about how to get rid of it and not spread it. We are at outbreak status currently, but hopefully we will be impetigo free by next week, or at least on the way.

Yesterday I did a health talk at my friend Robbie's school in Nkokonjeru. Which i think means "middle of nowhere." Not really, but it could. I did a workshop for the whole Senior School about general health (washing hands, seeing doctor, etc), sex education, relational health (men treat women with respect and women treat men with honor), and what to do if you are in an unsafe situation (abuse/defilement,etc.). Defilement is the term used here for sexual abuse/molestation. The talk went really well. The kids knew more about sex ed than they did about when you should wash your hands. They call it "playing sex" here and most begin between the ages of 10-14. There is information EVERYWHERE about safe sex...but not enough of an understand about the severity of consequences and if you become infected with an STD it is so taboo that most never tell.

One student, a boy in S3, came to me after the session and showed me the notes he had taken. Then he asked me if someone makes you "play sex" before age 10 is it defilement. I asked if he meant "forced" and he said yes. I said, Yes...it is defilement. He simply said, Thank you Madame and took his seat. And I had to leave the room. As discussed in the seminar...the best thing to do is find a "safe person" and "tell" and Robbie told the students that he would be their safe person. So I pointed him out to Robbie so he would know, but he will not approach him about it unless the student comes to him. And sadly, there's still not much that can be done here about it. Except tell.

Today the P6 teacher was sick so I decided to cover the class and work the clinic at the same time. So I explained to the class what a speech was and told them to write a speech answering the questions "Why I Should be the President of Uganda..." To give them some ideas of topics they could cover I asked them to list me some problems in Uganda. Silence. So I reminded them that 80 of their classmates had to go home today because they couldn't afford school fees. BINGO. Suddenly I hear "we need free school! better education! no more poverty! no more government corruption!" Yeah, P6 pretty much rocked their speeches. And this afternoon when I took pictures for the sponsorship campaign I'll be launching whenever I get decent internet...one of them has decided that he would really like to be President.

Today, I went with William again on another journey to visit Paul's house...finally. His sister, who is much older, showed me the toilet that Paul has to literally drag himself too (sidebar: most village toilets here are half mud and half stick with a hole in the center. They are covered on one side and open air sticks on the other to decrease the smell. They are also kept a good distance from the house to avoid smell). She also showed me the bathing room that is up some steps, but his friends help him to bathe. He sleeps on a rotted matress on the floor with some cousins that help him. William told me that everyday when he passes though, Paul can be found in the front yard revising his school books because studying is so important to him. I talked with his sister about what Paul needs most and the status of his health. Most importantly, he needs living arrangements that are more suitable to his disabilities. However, the good news is that the doctors say that all of his internal organs are normal and healthy so he should live a normal life. Very good news. I looked up for the first time after talking with her and noticed that at least 10 of my students that had been sent home earlier in the day were gathered around peeking through the spaces between rooms. It seems that Paul's house is hangout headquarters and I think most of them are also related to Paul.

Finally Paul's grandmother returned from the garden and she bowed at my feet to shake my hand and thanked me in Luganda which William translated for me. I knelt down to also tell her that everyone I know back in the US knows about Paul now too because he's written about so much on my blog.

When we were walking back to the school, William said that I was a real Ugandan now and he knew that God had sent me here with a calling. He said that every night he prays and thanks God for sending Kisa to Uganda for her calling. Then he reminded me of what one of the grandmother's called me last week when we were visiting her home...Maama Wabana. Meaning "Mother of Children." William said that the name was very fitting for me because he sees that whenever I am there the children gather round and crowd the clinic or run to the roadside or sneak up and hide around the sides of Paul's house. Now, most of the staff have taken to calling me that. I am quite honored, but it is a title I can think of for many other people that I have known in my life. I found out yesterday that one of those people from my home church, Mary Rowland Bass, passed away. I think it is only fitting that Paul be sponsored in her honor.

So this is for Mrs. Bass: Mama Wabana.

In light of the darkness of losing Vicent, I have several breakthroughs that I would like to report....

I haven't been able to teach class in two days because I have either been swamped in the clinic or visiting student homes that have been sponsored. But I forgot to tell you about what happened the last day that I taught....

1) I decided it was in order for P6 to have a social studies lesson. So we did a quick review of continents, oceans, globes, etc so I could access what they know...spent a good bit of time on that. Then I wrote the words war and peace on the board with a line down the middle. I asked them to give me a word that describes war. Silence. I expected this because the teaching protocol here is strict memorization and repetition. The kids are never asked to answer a question out loud in class. They are told the answer and then asked to repeat it. Over and over. So to ask such a question pretty much means that there will be no response. So, I put the word "fighting" under war because it's an easy word and I asked if it describes war. "Yes, Madame". Very good. So then I asked for another word that describes war. Silence. Ok, then I put the word "love" under fighting and asked if he describes war. "NO!"...YES!!!! That's right. What does it describe? "PEACE!" Excellent. Progress. At least I know they get the point now. So for a third time I asked for a word that describes war...and out of the back came a shy voice that said "poverty..." I think that I would have cried if I would have known that it wouldn't scare them. Finally...we are thinking for ourselves and we are thinking deeply. ...


2) The cook at the school doesn't like me. Or at least didn't like me. I was pretty sure. Probably she gets tired of seeing mzungus come and go because it never helps her because she has no interaction with us. And when she does it's us asking her for things. I can understand her feelings. But on Thursday, Doreen (our program director's wife) was at school with me helping to translate in the clinic. Several people from the village had heard that there was an omusawu (a general term for a medical person) at the school and I had been treating local construction workers and parents of students. In the afternoon, Doreen came to me and said that the cook had also heard that people had been helped there and she wanted treatment too. So I went out to see her and Doreen translated for me that she was having severe heart problems, stomach ulcers and fainting spells....well there's not much I can do about that seeing as I am not really a medical person and I'm just trying to do the best I can mending wounds. But I told her some possible causes and gave her some advice to make it better. That night I went to the pharmacy that night to buy her some prescription stomach ulcer medication that I knew she wouldn't be able to afford and it only cost me 1 US dollar. I brought it to her the next day with directions and Doreen to translate. And I wish I could describe the look on her face because she was so grateful. One point for the mzungus!

3) a funny one...I survived my first boda boda right. barely. we had a small accident and I almost fell off but luckily I stayed on...I stayed on because my leg got caught under the bike. Now, I have beautiful blue bruises, a swolen foot, and a limp as a sign of my fight with the boda. But I still won. I won't be taking bodas anymore unless I had to (which I had to to get down to the Nile from the main road). Stop worrying Gammommie. I'm fine. It'll be better soon. It goes well with the large bruise on my hip from where the matatu (taxi) bit me the other day when I was getting off. Take that Ugandan transport.

So, I camped on the Nile and did not get burned or sleep with a roach in my bed. This morning all the girls went out to wash our hair in the Nile...sadly I think it's the cleanest I've been since I got here. My soap suds are now floating up to Egypt. Yeah, I'm pretty cool. I know. I'm also pretty sure the Garden of Eden was similar to where we were.

I'm going to speak at a fellow volunteers school tomorrow instead of my own placement. He wants me to come give a health talk to his Senior High students. You wouldn't believe the things we have to teach here and the myths we have to expel with the students. I'll report more on that tomorrow. It should be interesting.

Tomorrow will be a very exciting day for this blog....get ready...I have surprises in store...

love,
me

and darkness creeps in....

I am so heartbroken today because I found out that one of our students, Vicent, died on Wednesday. His father had many women and dumped his mother. In order to make end meet to support her children she began fishing and selling cooked fish in the community. She sent Vicent out alone in the boat on Lake Victoria on Wednesday to fish because she had too many other things to attend to. He's 9. P4. He didn't return and they just thought he was lost. They found his body yesterday. All the upperclass children attended the burial today.

It shouldn't have to be this way. 9 year olds shouldn't have to die finding food and means for the family. I shouldn't see 5 year olds playing with knives that are bigger than anything I would ever handle because they must learn how to cook now in case their parents die or are not able to provide enough care. I shouldn't have to take care of 300 wounds a day because elemnetary school children were farming and got cut by hoes and machetes. There shouldn't be 5 year old boys that come to by and motion for my to fix their split thumb because a boda boda and a bicylcle carrier ran him off the road because he is too small.

And Vicent should still be alive drawing what he dreams of being and singing If You're Happy and You Know it in my class.

Please pray for his family and our school.

and how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you....

Ok, quick 10 second rant:
- Last weekend I went into town...mmm quasi-town to have some mzungu time with some of the other volunteers. We stayed in a hotel so we could stay out late and get a decent shower. We woke up to find ants in our beds...nice. I got bit 34 times. mmmhmm I counted. And it's really cute because they swell up late at night. Benadryl seems to be doing the trick though.
- I have a lovely farmers sunburn from walking 6 miles today.
- There's a scary spider in our bathroom that i'm pretty sure i remember from the travel books as being poisenous. I named it charlotte so I wouldn't be as scared of it. It's not working. No one wants to kill it and I'm too scared to.
- The baby next door cries every night until at least midnight
- A rooster wakes me up at 5 am
- And my hands hurt from overexposure to iodine, hydrogen peroxide, bad soap and washing clothes.

Ok I'm done....

The good news is that this blog has inspired people to sponsor kids and donate....generously...YAY! So I have been able to re-stock the medicine cabinet and now have adequate supplies. I haven't been able to teach in 2 days because the clinic has been so busy. Today I treated 56 children, most with 2 or more wounds. I have the cleanest hands in Africa currently. But they hurt and my nails have been bleached by the antiseptic and peroxide.

I start my day every day by taking the supplies I need down to Paul's classroom because it's too difficult to get him into the clinic. All the kids gather around to watch me and when I need or forget something they help me. My favorite girl in that class...Joyce runs many errands for me. We will be able to send Paul to a hospital in Kampala now thanks to a donation which is good because he is not getting any better. I started him on a round of oral antibiotics today but I think he really needs professional care. Today, I found out that Paul did not actually have Polio but was born with his deformities. When his mother saw him she wanted to throw him into a trash pit to burn, but his grandmother took him away from her. So Paul lives with his grandmother and has never known his mother. She has nothing to do with him or the family. I am so glad that when I heard this I was following one of our directors up a cliff so he couldn't see me sob. Ugandans don't cry unless someone dies. 10 hours later I still can't get over it. Paul is the most precious human being I have ever met....and his mother wanted to leave him to burn like common trash. God has much in store for Paul. He's already changed me.

After taking care of Paul I started taking patients from P3,P4, P5, and P6. Many of the students have terrible wounds that I have been corresponding with my mom and some doctors about. Hopefully with our new topical antibiotics we can get them under control. We're pretty sure it's an infectious disease common to rural areas. Some of them that I treated last week seem to be getting better so that is a good sign. During the breaks, many students come to watch me in the clinic, some of the smaller children drag their friends in who are too scared or shy to come on their own. Some of them say that they are ill and show me a clearly healed scar or say they have a headache...just because they want to hang out with the mzungu. I just laugh and give them a plaster (bandaid) and they are just fine. The kids that I have treated have started to bring me mangoes and guavas. I still give them a 100 shillings (like negative 1 cent) so the can buy a candy or something. haha...there is one student that I taught in P3 who was asking me what Luganda I know and one of the phrases I said was nkwagala nyo which means I love you very much. Then she said "nkawagla nyo mzungu!" and I said "nkwagala nyo mudugavu!" and ALL the kids died because they didn't know that I knew that word...it means African and people love it here when you know it.

After a long but rewarding day in the clinic we headed out on a 6 mile trek to see the families and homes of three of the children that have been sponsored by the Loncar family. Their condition is pretty terrible. One of the boys lives with his grandmother and 12 other children. Their parents are divorced and dumped the children on the grandmother. They live in a 2 room hut and all 13 children are sleeping in a room scarcely bigger than a bathroom. This boy is 9 and still in the nursery because his family couldn't afford to send them to school. It's awful. Another
boy lives with his grandmother also and his siblings. Their hut is very small and also has a grass roof with an indoor kitchen which is always dangerous because it can easily catch fire. The last child is a girl that lives with her mother and several other children. The father died of AIDS and we think the mother is HIV positive also. I had to bring her back to the school with me afterwards because she had a severe burn on her arm I had to treat. She was lighting the fire
for supper and her dress caught fire. She is in 2nd grade.

All of the children walk to school and not only is it a great distance but a good part of it is a footpath literally a foot wide with jungle on either side. (Yes, mom, I walked through the jungle with scary insects. I'm a little surprised too). These sponsorships are going to help them tremendously. And their families because YOFAFO goes in and helps the families and community to become independent through a microfinance progam.

So, it's been a long day. But guess what?! This weekend I'm camping on the banks of the Nile! I'm not sure what "camping" entails but at least I'll be able to say that I did it. It's always good to be with the other volunteers too.

I'm sure there will be more stories to come soon. I'm really going to miss it here. I'm almost halfway through my stay and already it's hard for me to imagine leaving all my babies here.
I think maybe some of the red dirt that has stained my clothes has gotten into my blood too.

and how can I stand here with you
and not be moved by you
could you tell me how could it be any better than this.....


yes, wesley, i played it sooo loud on my iPod and miss all you lake J junkies that started this crazy journey in the first place 10 years ago. like Shane says...the day I met Jesus is the day my life turned upside down and got all messed up.

would you tell me how could it be any better than this...

when i grow up....

I dream of being a:
-doctor
-nurse
-pilot
-policeman
-engineer
-shopkeeper

Yes that's what my P4 (primary 4) kids dream of being. We learned the word dream today and then we drew ourselves in our dream occupation. I told the kids that when I grow up I want to be a doctor. I think really I just want to be a good person. A good lover of people.

This is what I did today:

I didn't get to teach class this morning because Paul had a very nasty wound on his knee (remember that Paul is my student crippled from polio). Paul drags himself around by his arms so I am assuming it began as just a bad scrape that has gone untreated for a long time. I was most concerned that I could not get the bleeding to stop. But eventually was successful and now we have an adequately bandaged knee and a very happy and brave Paul. I'm pretty sure it hurt badly. As soon as I finished bandaging Paul's knee I looked up to find that the children had formed a line for treatment and as soon as I got done with that line, students would point me to their friends who were too scared to come forward. I think I used half of the supplies in my medical cabinet today.

My Luganda handbook has come in handy because they have NO idea what I'm saying in English...especially the nursery children. It's really awesome though when we have a breakthrough and I can finally ask them the right question in Luganda and get an answer I understand. It's also really cute when they have been treated but still hang around the clinic because they like their mzungu nurse. I have to literally escort them back to class about 5 times. Still....very cute.

This afternoon I taught P4 and WHO KNEW that duck duck goose could be the greatest game in the world. apparently chasing someone around a circle makes it past language barriers. Hokey Pokey still wins. Simon Says...although it's really difficult to teach the rules where they understand...finally worked today and it was pretty much the best too. Oooo...and today when did the chicken dance...and i look like a fool and love every second of it.

Tomorrow...we begin Charlotte's Web with P6. My favorite.

This afternoon Gertrude took her carving knife when I was outside with her cooking (did I mention our kitchen is outside?) and drew a time signature, all the notes on the staff, and a treble cleff in the ground. She has been practicing and I couldn't be more proud. I taught her 4 more songs today. She loves You Are My Sunshine as well, and we learned Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Zippidy Doo Dah, and Supercali---however you spell it. Did I mention that I love music?

Must sleep now because I have to get up early and catch taxi in the morning and then walk the 2 miles to school. But it's so worth it.

when I grow up I dream of being...

a teacher. for now.

love,
me

OK, many people have asked what they can do to help.

If you want to do something while I am still here please email me (eprainey@gmail.com) and I will tell you how.

If you want to wait then you can gather supplies and we can mail it through my placement organization. But be advised that it is not wise to send a box of supplies to Uganda because it takes a LONG time and sometimes does not reach the right person. Sending money blindly is also not a good idea. There are secure ways to do it, but you need to be specific about what exactly you are giving money for. If you want to give money now and want to make sure it is spent in the manner that you wish for it...email me.

If you want to sponsor a child there are two options:
1. $150 sponsorship- this send a child to school with all supplies and food needed for the whole year.
2. $360 sponsorship- (this one is worth it) This sponsorship pays for the child to go to school with all supplies but also pays for a microfinance program to be started in his or her home. It also helps build up the community financially. So you are helping the child learn, helping the community learn and making the child's life better all-around.

Email me for more info. And visit www.youthfocusafricafoundation.com for info about this specific program.

and then there was love.....

God is wonderful. God is amazing. And God is moving.

Thank you all for your prayers and emails and comments. God has sent me strength through you. Thank you.

Will write more soon. No money. No internet time. That's life!

Nkwagala nyo (I love you very much),

kisa

faith like a child.

WARNING: This will be a long post.

I can't even remember the last time I wrote on here. I think maybe it was a couple of days ago. I don't even know what the date of today is. But it seems like I've been here a year and it's only been a week and one day. As I said before....African Time (as we call it) is slow and takes some adjusting. It seems like the days go on forever...which could explain why we are so incredibly exhausted when we finally get to bed. Many things have happened since last I wrote but I am not going to spend much time catching you up on the everyday details. Instead...I would like for us to have more of a conversation because I need your help. In so many ways. Let me first tell you how I am feeling and then we will get to where you can help.

I don't even know where to start so let me start with the point: Life is hard. In general. And it's worse in Uganda. Dealing with life in Uganda is the hardest thing I've ever done. And I don't mean food and water and latrines. I mean the quality of everyday life for the average Ugandan.

Let me give you an example. I am sitting right now in an internet cafe in Kampala, the capitol of Uganda. This internet cafe sits in a "ritzy" mall (by Ugandan standards). (i.e. There is a supermarket downstairs that sells cereal and ramen noodles and paper of a decent quality and I am excited by this). Anyway- in this mall there are several shops, even a woolworths. The architecture is nice, the shops are nice, they are expensive by Ugandan standards and nothing next to American standards. And yet...I cannot wrap my mind around how something like this mall exists a mile away from the average life of Uganda:

- poorly constructed buildings literally thrown together with cement and bricks (i've watched this process a lot). And you know how we have nice ladders and pulleys in the states to help builders? Try sticks and thatch in Uganda. It's so unstable. The construction is so poor here that many builders die in a collapses of unfinished buildings. It happens all the time.
- the nicer houses are made of cement but they are not even up to government subsidized housing in the states. I live in one now. I promise they are not.
- if you are not lucky enough to have a cement house, which the majority of people are not outside of the city (which is the majority of people in general) then your house is made of mud (like yazoo clay for you mississippians) and sticks and a thatch roof. This means that during the rainy season (which is now) you are constantly rebuilding your home.
- If you are in an IDP camp up north...you're home is a grass hut. 50 huts burned in an IDP camp this week because a woman's small coal burner was left unattended and it caught her hut on fire. Now people that already had nothing have less than nothing. It happens all the time.

Let's talk about school. It's not mandatory. There is no government money for it. So it's all private. Most families can only afford to send some of their children to school and some have to stay at home to help with chores. That's if they can afford it at all. Mom and Dad, can you imagine choosing between me, emmalee, chuckie, and billy? Who would you choose to send to school so that they could learn and have hope of a better life? But it's a double-edged sword. Who would you choose to send to school so that they can have the burden of securing a job to provide for the family that could not go to school and secure adequate jobs?

The school that I work at in Najja is called the Hope For Africa Children's Village. We don't turn children away. Most of their parents have died from HIV/AIDS so they are either orphaned, living with a single parents, or with another relative. There is no money to support the school except for what my program fee that I paid to come here provides, a few small grants, private gifts, and the assorted things that Musuna and I have bought to donate. Assorted things like pencil sharpeners so that 5 year olds aren't sharpening their pencil with razors. The teachers had never seen a mountable pencil sharpener. Musuna bought the teachers lamps because they had no other source of light for their rooms (they live at the school). There is barely enough money to pay the teachers and much less feed the children. The kids are supposed to have porridge (that would be watered down grits in the states) in the morning and for lunch. The first day the school couldn't afford any (or at least that is what we were told...i'll get to that later) so the kids didn't eat. So Musuna and I didn't eat either. Instead...we sang songs. If You're Happy and You Know it, 10 Little Indians, the Itsy Bitsy Spider. And we played with jumpropes (that we brought) and I taught them hopscotch and clapping games.

Now there is money for the younger children who leave at lunch to have breakfast and the older children who leave around 4 to have lunch. It's better than nothing. There are only 25 sponsored children right now (we have 300 students). These children are the only ones who get a ruler, pencil, pen, and workbook (like a blue book for college exams). There are no textbooks for take home. There really aren't textbooks at all. Just small paper books that we would call workbooks in the states. All the other students are left with nothing unless their family can afford some materials. So we bought them materials.

The teachers spend so much time on remedial English (learning English in school is VERY important) that they barely get to teach other things. I'm not even sure our teachers are qualified to teach at the level they are teaching (this is to say nothing of their character. they are all very good people and excellent teachers). But for instance, I checked the curriculum book for Uganda in the "office" and it said that P5 and P6 students should be learning about bacteria and their feeding habits this week. Our P5 and P6 students are learning how to read aloud and I'm pretty sure they have never heard the word bacteria. It is all so frustrating.

Oh, and the first AID room. Yes, let's talk about that. I finally got to see the supplies yesterday. I was told they were locked up but that wasn't true (you find that many times you are not told the complete truth here too). The supplies consisted mainly of cotton swabs and wraps, half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a handful of surgical gloves and a few band-aids. These were kept in a plastic bag with a large hole in it and EVERYTHING was dirty. How can I clean a wound when I don't have clean water and all of my supplies are less sterile than my bare hands? Mom, you would have absolutely died. I took care of one student, Joyce, who had large wounds on her that looked maybe like insect bites that had become severely infected. I did the best I could under terrible conditions. But just to give you a glimpse of the heart of these children...she was more concerned about a fellow student Paul and his wound.

Paul (who by the way has stolen my heart) suffers from what I believe to be polio. I don't really know. He has no use of his legs and if you stood him up he would maybe stand 2.5 feet tall. He is 15. His arms are curled and he sits on a mill sack on the ground in his classrooms. One of his fellow classmates and friends wheels him around in a dilapidated wheelchair. But Paul can't even sit comfortably in the seat. so he sits on the bent footrest. He has a gaping wound on his knee that I could not fix because I had inadequate materials. And his health is too sensitive for me to do anything under conditions that are not sterile. I will buy supplies this weekend and try on Monday. I'm going to tell you more about Paul later.

So, I am the only first aid clinician, but what is my charge as a teacher? The main problem in Uganda is that many children have very low self esteem. Their condition is a very likely cause because as hard as they may work there is little hope for something better. But the main problem here is that children are not taught to dream. They have no concept of creativity or imagination. It is my job to teach the children how to dream. How do you do that? I don't really know but I've been trying.

The first day I wrote the word imagination on the board. They had never seen it before. I tried to explain it. They had never heard the words pretend, make-believe, fairytale, etc. So I reached for "Where the Wild Things Are" that we had read aloud earlier and made crazy animal noises with (which by the way david was a HUGE hit. you are wonderful). And I tried to explain imagination by showing them a picture of one of the made-up animals and asked them if it was real. I was hoping to explain that the author had made it up using his imagination. But i was stopped short because all the children thought it was a real animal. They assume that if it's on paper and in a book...it must be real. Sooo...we're starting from scratch.

But it's difficult. I put my name on the board and draw a picture of myself. And I ask them to write their name and draw a picture. The majority of them attempted to copy my picture word for word. (umm...most Ugandans don't have long wavy hair so it was easy to spot). So I tried something else...I gave them a piece of paper with only half a picture (ex: half a face) and they had to finish it. And I gave them colored pencils (you cannot imagine what a treat colored pencils are). But they still had trouble and only wanted to use their pens and regular pencil to color it in until I took them away and made them use colored pencils. FINALLY A BREAKTHROUGH!

I am trying to remember all the things we learned in our gifted classes in primary school that taught us to think creatively and "outside the box" as our teachers always said. So this is where I need your help...if you are still reading. PLEASE email me or comment with some ideas for ways to get the kids thinking creatively with as little materials as possible. games, activities, songs, etc. are welcome.

Here are some of the big hits so far:
- the Hokey Pokey...wow it's huge. They especially like when we put our carina (bottom) in and shake it all about. I was getting really tired to doing the same things over and over so I've made up new things like putting your nose and eyes in. That's really funny too.
- You are My Sunshine. Yes Dad, I taught it to them and the LOVE it.
- Reading stories where I make it interactive. They have to make funny noises and run around the room.


I have emailed some of you and asked for your prayers because it's been really trying this week. Most of you can gather that by the first part of this email. Sometimes it seems like there is no hope left in Africa. And it frustrates me because I wonder what would happen if America spent billions of dollars sending teachers and engineers over here instead of a war in Iraq. The difference would be huge. So big.

Yesterday morning I woke up and I was so discouraged and felt like I had lost all of my hope. And then I sang You are My Sunshine with the kids and we played the hokey pokey and they laughed and smiled (seca in Luganda...i say it all the time to them). And I found that all of the terrible things in the world and all of the smog and pollution here and all the disease and war and death in this country fades away in the smile of a Ugandan child. A child that is singing a song at school for the first time or shaking their carina or their nose. Everything that is good and wonderful in this world is reflected in their smile.

and so...i find hope again. in the children. and I think it's the same around the world. there is hope in the children. and thus there is hope for Africa and for the US and for you and for me.

love all of you. I'll leave you with a Jars of Clay song that I am reminded of. Miss you Wesley.

Dear God, surround me as I speak,
the bridges that I walk across are weak
Frustrations fill the void that I can't solely bear
Dear God, don't let me fall apart,
you've held me close to you
I have turned away and searched for answers I can't understand

They say that I can move the mountains
And send them crashing into the sea
They say that I can walk on water
If I would follow and believe
with faith like a child

Sometimes, when I feel miles away
and my eyes can't see your face
I wonder if I've grown to lose the recklessness
I walked in light of you

They say that love can heal the broken
They say that hope can make you see
They say that faith can find a Savior
If you would follow and believe
with faith like a child

Posho and Beans

I have decided that my new favorite food is posho and beans...it's like grits...but dry grits in a clump with pinto like beans. yeah it sounds gross, but it's really good. well, and i'm really hungry, so that helps. but still it's good. i might get tired of it soon though because we will be having it everyday at school. but i still have dreams about it at night. that may be doxycylene's fault though.



they aren't lying about doxy...CRAZY dreams. and i keep waking up thinking I'm at my bed at the AOII house. I guess because that was my favorite bed ever. and I miss me some alpha loving pis. alpha love to all. I rocked some semi-formal shirt from the redbirds stadium...you know...we came , we scored, we made it home..haha. everyone likes it. except they call it AOT-T. don't worry beck and whitney...don't worry yet at least. tee hee meghan.



So, the kids here have made a song out of Mzungu how are you! I'll sing it for you when I come home. And I'll have it on tape. They are so funny. I taught them Patty cake yesterday. They can't say the words but they like slapping my hands and rolling and throwing them in the pan. boo and chuckie...that was your favorite when you were little too.



And thanks to everyone who let me know about Eli...which I think might have been everyone..YAY!!! I am so excited!



Yesterday, we got up early and went to the Children's Village where Musuna and I will be teaching. It's about 30 minutes from our house by car. And the roads are ROUGH. all mud and big potholes. The children were beautiful. But I think they are scared of us. They are very shy...until you bring out a camera and take their picture. Then they go insane! I think it might be their favorite and my favorite thing in the whole world is to hear them laugh when they see themselves on film. Most people do not have mirrors...much less cameras, so they don't know what they look like so it really funny to them when they see it in the camera playback.



The children's village is not exactly what I expected. Once it is finished it will be incredible, but now there is only one permanent classroom and it still is without a door and proper lighting. The other classrooms (of which there are 2) are made of sticks and leaves. They sit 4 to a desk. I have pictures to describe this later. But they are so happy to learn it doesn't matter. Yesterday we gave them pencils, toothbrushes, and toothpaste and they were so grateful. They have nothing. Most live in huts made of mud and sticks and plantain leaves. They walk a long way everyday to attend school and never complain. Americans should be more appreciative of what they have. We have everything. Even the "at-risk" kids that I worked with in Austin have everything by Uganda standards...but still nothing by American standards. It's ridiculous.



The first aid room is definitely in need of repair. All the supplies are locked in a cabinet that the key has been lost too, so right now we having nothing but what I bought. Hopefully that will change soon. I have to buy some more supplies today. Many of the children have a fungus on their heads from sleeping on the ground. It's easily treated with an anti-fungal...just not affordable for them...but only $1 or $2 US dollars here. Very cheap.



After we got back from the Children's village we came back to the house and re-organized our room and then I went to chat with Gertrude, our cook and housekeeper. She asked me to teach her some gospel songs. She is a very good singer. She wants to be a professional singer, but there is not much hope for her here. A man took her in and paid for her education up until P7 (7th grade) because he took interest in her music, but then he was found to be corrupt and stopped paying for her education. She wants to go back to school so she can major in music at the university. But first she has to finish high school. Her school fees are less than $90 a semester I think maybe we can do something about that but I didn't say anything to her about it. I have learned that Americans make a lot of promises here and never follow through, intentionally or not. So I won't make any promises...just follow through.

Anyway...I taught Gertrude all the verses to Amazing Grace, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, and Jesus Loves Me. We were having trouble with one part of turn your eyes...so I wrote the music our for her so she could see where to sing high, low, or stay on the same note. She had never seen music before. So I have begun daily music lessons with her. Yesterday we learned the celf symbols, notes, time signatures, and how to draw and staff. Today we will learn the notes on a staff. I wish that I had staff paper because I am drawing it on notebook paper now. But it still works. She is teaching me Lugandan in return. Did I mention that I love it here? (p.s. britta-church) =)

Our friend Ivan, who is also part of the hired help for our house took us into town last night to try the internet but it was all out. Ivan is GREAT! He is twelve and very smart. He is our bodygaurd most of the time. He takes us everywhere in town and the village. Sometimes his friend Bugunda Guma joins us. We are going to buy them a soccer ball because that's what they want more than anything. Everytime Ivan takes us some where Musuna and I buy him a treat like a Coke or a potato chips (called crispies here). This is a luxury for him. Everytime we see Ivan we say Ivan OoooooK! because he says ok in the sweetest accent. On our way back to the house we bought roasted chicken and what I thought was beef...WRONG...it was liver..or undetermined origin...YUCK! Ivan ate it for me! We also bought roasted corn and I put butter spread on it when we got back (p.s. the butter here does not have to be refrigerated because it never melts...a little scary). Doreen had never had corn with butter...she will never have it without again. The power went out last night because it is very spotty here..so we had dinner by oil lamp. It was still great.

I love Uganda
Peace and love!

Mzungu, How Are You???

So we went to Lugazi town yesterday which is where our house is. It's really a village, but has about 5000 people in it. Our house is very nice for village standards. We have running water and a western toilet. But still shower with buckets. But we're really not complaining because it is so hot and we are so nasty by the end of the day that a bucket of cold water is welcomed.

Last night we had dinner: greens, beans, and flatbread. and boiled water with ginger. Really good. Then we watched the local Ugandan cable soap operas....they're awesome. We played the Martin Luther King "I have a Dream Speech" and it was the first time my parter, Sun Young (now: Musuna- her lugandan name meaning "sun") had ever heard it and most of the family. It was powerful. They gave me the name Kisa, pronounced chee-sah, which means "grace" or "charity." How cool is that. Charity...hmmm. =)

Went to bed pretty early last night and woke up this morning to the sound of frogs having a croaking competition, a dog, roosters, and music from the sky (or some other undetermined source...we prefer to say from the sky). All of this at sunrise. It was beautiful. Musuna and I went for a run through the village and the children followed us saying "Mzungu how are you?" which is the only thing they know in English. It's precious.

Then we got dressed and went into Kampala for church. Wow...it was amazing. The music was fantastic. And you know I love music. And let me say that if one chooses to not believe in God...it would not last long in an African church. When you listen to 5000 people utter their prayers and praises aloud at the same time and the room is filled with nothing but the most honest desires of the heart to commune with God, the filler of their heart.....you cannot deny God. It is impossible. I promise.

We're headed back into Lugazi now to prepare somethings. Tomorrow we go back to Kampala to buy a monitor for our computer at home and then I will have internet access at our house hopefully. We are also buying some more medical supplies because I will be in charge of administering medical services at the school. Little scary that it's just me, but it's mainly assessing the condition, cleaning wounds, plasters, and applying certain medicines (OTC). I think I can do it. Oh, and we're buying CDs to burn some of my music and the MLK speeches for my host family. P.s. They LOVE NELO!!!!!!!!! Like, seriously. A LOT! Lisa, we should book shows here. And they like their pictures too. haha.

We are reading Shane Claiborne's book, The Irresisstable Revolution. Reading chapters aloud each night starting tonight because I think that Valence (the director of our village program YOFAFO- youth focus africa foundation) is Shane's soulmate.

God is moving...

time is running out on the internet.
love you all!
e

Mzungu and Mashed Potatoes!!!

Hello all my dear friends...

I am in Uganda!!!!!

First let me catch you up on my journey to get here. Last we left off I was not sleeping in the airport. Thanks to some crafty thinking by Will, I met up with some other guys headed to Entebbe in the airport and they were great. 12 hour layovers are much better when you have people to hang out it. We hit the Irish Pub...mmm...of course and then some dunkin donuts and headed out to our flight.

The flight goes to Entebbe via a stop in Addis Ababa....oh wesley...I couldn't help but sing the Circle of Life intro that I don't know the real words to because it looks JUST LIKE IT!!! Especially when you use the cool TV option that Emirates has to watch through the camera at the front of the plane. Also, remind me never to fly Ethiopian Airlines because when you enter the aiport they have an airplane graveyard for the planes that have retired for one reason of another. And there are goats, yes goats, eating the grass that has grown up around them. Not very comforting when you are landing.

So anyway...UGANDA! The view from above is beautiful and green. And from the ground too. I made friends with the guy who gave my my visa. Picked up my luggage and met the director of my program, Leslie and another volunteer, Shawnell, who is from Santa Cruz, CA. Leslie is from Canada too, Mere...scatcha-something. Or however you spell it.

From the airport we drove through Entebbe to Kampala and then to Mukono town. I cannot describe the buildings here adequately. The buildings on the road are concrete with no doors and open air. The tops are painted with advertisements for local cell phone companies and other big companies like that. So you don't know exactly what the store is selling unless you are up close. There are people EVERYWHERE, bodabodas (motocyclists-cheap transport) and taxis (small buses FILLED with people), special hires (cars for transport), and others driving their own car..which is pretty rare. Leslie has her own car. It's some kind of crazy driving too. Really scary. There is not much attention paid to lanes and pedestrians do NOT have the right away. But it's fun...kind of like a fast and furious adventure.

We got to our guest house in Mukono town and got a short tour. The guest house does not have running water or a western toilet. Instead there is a washroom with hole in the corner and small buckets to sponge bath out of and a pitcher to help wash longer hair like mine. The hole in the corner is used to dispose of the bathwater. There is an upright faucet that we add water too to wash hands and brush teeth. And then outside...are the latrines (sp?). Oh boy...was this fun. This was my first latrine experience. They are interesting. Flies during the day and cockroaches at night. 3 of us girls ventured out as a group last night with our headlamps (thank you thank you thank you David!). And there were roaches everywhere. And as most of you know...that's like my greatest fear next throwing up! But I survived. I'm not going to lie, I cried. And then I sucked it up. Now I'm used to it. Although...I think I'll steer clear as much as I can at night.

Our housekeeper, Esther made us dinner and it was FANTABULOUS! mashed potatoes, green beans, and stewed english peas and tomatoes. Really really good. Then Shawnell and I went to bed at about 10 because we hadn't slept in 48 hours. Got up pretty late this morning and tried out the washing my hair in a bucket..and it actually was not that bad. I hadn't showered in three days so i think anything would be great. But really...it wasn't bad. Breakfast: toast, boiled eggs, and pineapple, and African tea. all local. YUM!

Now we're out touring Mukono town and we've stopped at the internet cafe and the best meals hotel for lunch. I stopped at the pharmacy to get some re-hydration salts because I'm feeling a little dehydrated. It doesn't matter how much you drink...for westerners...you still feel like you can't get enough.

I love it here. The people are so friendly. life is slow. i like slow. And all the kids and people yell Mzungu (white person) at us. So we greet and smile and wave. It's wonderful. And very safe Dad and Gams...safer than the states. I can promise you that. I need to head up for a spot of lunch but I will post later.

p.s. our volunteer crew is 4 americans (MS/TX, Montana, CA, Connecticut), an Irish girl, a Korean lady names sun-young who is my partner, and Robbie from the UK. They're all great. LOVE IT!

love you too!
e