Today was one of the more fulfilling days in the last little bit. It’s hard to keep busy every second of the day, but today just worked out really well as far as filing every moment with something to do. We left in the morning at 9:30am for Mukono, 30 minutes late. Sister Mugimu, the wife of the Mukono Branch President, runs a bakery in Mukono and makes some very beautiful cakes. They are sold in town and I think they are well known around town. We went there today to do some clean up, some SERIOUS clean up. The Mugimu’s lived in Provo for about 8 years. When they came back to Uganda they brought with them a whole load of donations, some of which came from HELP International. Unfortunately, the donations weren’t properly handled and a lot of what was stored was consumed and overridden by rats. It was probably one of the most disgusting clean up jobs I have ever participated in. Although, I was very happy to be there because organization is my middle name, well, second after cleanliness.
We began our little adventure into this trash pile of cardboard, possessions brought from the US, and donations. We weren’t exactly sure where to start, nobody knew quite what to do. Then there’s me who comes from a family with an ultra clean freak attitude about life, which I happen to love and appreciate. I immediately got to work and said to the rest, “Just think that everything is trash and when you come across something that might be a keeper, put it aside.” EVERYTHING was covered in rodent droppings and I wasn’t sure how to keep everybody safe from airborne. I told everybody that if they were going to sweep that they needed to put a bandana over their mouth and nose. Amber stepped up to the plate, pulled off her head rap, tied it on and got to work. She’s pretty awesome. We had to sort through so many things it was horrible. They are pretty busy there at the bakery and so it’s understandable that they might not have all the time in the world to clean out certain areas of the place. They REALLY needed our help and I’m glad to be there.
As we were working along, I KNEW for a fact that we would find living rodents in the stuff that we were to be sifting through. Sure enough, as I was getting into a box or things, out jump four rats, FOUR of them!! Of course I jumped up like Yao Ming to the hoop and as quick as Michael Johnson off the mark. I won’t divulge what I said however, for that remains private...secret... yeah. I came across another box which was housing two toddler rats. I hate to announce that I had to do away with them... you get the picture. Rats just don’t belong in the bakery and I had to do what had to be done. We didn’t finish there though, there is still so much to do and we are thinking about going over there tomorrow after we get done filling in the foundation at Little Angels.
Jackie and I checked our e-mail quickly in Mukono before we left town. The internet is supposed to be quicker there, but today it was lagging big-time, not so cool. We proceeded to the taxi yard and found our taxi driver friend Abdule, yeah, kinda like Paula. He happened to be there and loading a taxi to go to Lugazi, we hopped on. When we got back to Lugazi I headed straight to our Simba Stove project at Faith Orphanage. When I got there there were about 8 of the volunteers there, I was happy to see them there! Amber and I are in the process of training people how to successfully and neatly build Simba Stoves. Laying bricks isn’t rocket science, but certainly requires a knack for the arts or at least the ability to think in such a way. It was funny trying to teach some of the girls today. One just couldn’t really grasp the idea of what we were trying to accomplish. I did my best to explain each of the steps, hopefully it helped. Luckily, having grown up around construction (brick laying) though never really participating, I feel like I have a pretty good idea. The stoves that we have built thus far have been excellent in my eyes and in those of the people we are providing the stove to. Dan, the construction project lead here, helped us out with our second stove at the Equator Primary School in Namengo. It was there that I really caught on to the idea of laying bricks. He is artsy and has the knack, so I learned a lot from him and now we are off building them ourselves, Amber and I.
We were working hard and we got the foundation done in about 3 hours from start to finish. There are so many parts to building a foundation, everything has to be drawn up, measured out, leveled out, cement mixed, bricks present, etc. It’s not an easy or quick process. But we are getting better and better as the time goes on. I was happy with the final product, though, I’m sure what I’m going to find at Little Angels Primary School tomorrow when we go to fill the foundation we built on Monday. I’m worried that because Amber and I weren’t there the whole time that it’s not going to be up to par (without conceit). That’s what happens when you get sick.
I just got off the phone with Mom, Chase, and Grandma. I was sitting here typing in my journal and Jackie’s phone rang. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from them. They are in Morro Bay, California right now... only one of my most favorite places to be in the world. It seems they are having a good time and I’m so glad. I do miss not being there with them, but soon enough we’ll all be in Cali again for a small family trip before school starts.
Only 1 month left from today, I can’t REALLY believe it. How could it be? I’ve only been here for a week or so!! Or has it been more like a year or so... ha, I’m not quite sure which. Regardless, the time is going to fly and we are going to be doing some major work. I made a decision today not to go with some friends here to Tanzania and South Africa like we had previously talked about. I was set up until a night or two ago when I thought about how fun it would be to go with the group that’s going to Tanzania at the end of this week. I was torn for sure, because I really wanted the best of both worlds which would have been to go to SA and to have the other friends come to Tanzania with the group this weekend. But, I had to make a decision and that was it, and I feel good about my decision so I’m happy. Only 4 days until we leave for Tanzania and I’m just a little bit excited. I’ll end up taking 1000 pictures I’m sure... let’s hope so. This is basically a once in a lifetime opportunity. Until next time.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Day 52 - Sickness, again.
Well, today is day 4 of being sick. There have been some girls in the house that have had some upper respiratory illnesses and I was so hoping that it wouldn’t come around to me. I was taking Airborne and all sorts of things to try and avoid it but it definitely got the best of me. Today was miserable because of it, and I’m not excited for the next 6 days to come that my body will use to kill it off.
I woke up in misery. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get out of bed and be productive. But, somehow, through the will of my own and undoubtedly of someone else I got out of bed and made my way with the rest of the group to Little Angels Primary School. We built a foundation for a stove today there and it was a bit of a challenge. I really stood back on this stove because I wanted the other volunteers to figure it out. I was a little skeptical at first and it continued up until I heard about the end result which was a little lack-luster, but OK. I we worried about that since Amber and I both wouldn’t be there the whole time it was being constructed. I just hope that when we go back on Thursday it looks OK and that we can fill it efficiently. After about 2 hours of being there I couldn't handle it anymore. My symptoms were worsening by the minute and I couldn't even think straight let alone speak straight. I went hope, popped 800mg of Ibuprofen, hopped in bed, and took a 4 hour nap. The sleep really helped, but I was still groggy afterwards. That’s when Kelsi, bless her heart, came to me with Clariton-D in hand asking if it would help. If it would HELP!? Oh my gosh, it was EXACTLY what I needed and I had been asking around the night before. I took one and I could start feeling effects within 30 minutes. They last 24 hours so I should be good to go tomorrow as well. I should be able to sleep like a baby tonight and boy am I excited. Being sick is the worst, especially when you try to do everything NOT to get sick. Oh well, part of the experience I guess.
Something really gross happened tonight that should have progressed to the stage it did. I had notice a little raised area on the 4th to last toe on my right foot. I disregarded it for many days, even a week or so. I assumed it was some sort of inflamed sore that would go away... yeah, not so much. I got out the old finger nail clippers and began to hack away at it thinking it was just skin. I proceeded to clip the top of the bump off and my finger accidently pressed the base of it. Next think I knew there was what I thought was pus coming out of my toe! I was blown away! I had no idea I had hurt myself bad enough that it would need to pus and everything. When I had squeezed all the “pus” out I noticed that there seemed to be a separate piece of skin within the would. I got some tweezers and tugged on it. I peeled up and out in a saucer shape. At this point I’m baffled at what has just occurred. Then I decided to look at the “pus” a little closer with light shinning on it. That’s when I came to the realization that it was no pus, not even close. Try about 100 of the tiniest eggs you have ever seen. Yes, that’s right. I squeezed eggs and an egg sack out of my toe! I couldn’t even believe it! This had happened to Jackie about 6 weeks earlier and we were all freaking out that it had happened. I should have been more curious as two the large bump on my toe, but I wasn’t for some reason. Not I a have been officially initiated into Africa. You haven’t really become a part of Africa unless you are filled with fly larva. I think they are called Bot Flies, though I need a wiki search on that for the name spelling and what exactly they do.
So, some pretty exciting stuff today.... ish. It’s not past 2 am and I need to get to bed. I’m not terribly tired though because of my long nap but I’ll have to make it work. Until tomorrow.
I woke up in misery. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get out of bed and be productive. But, somehow, through the will of my own and undoubtedly of someone else I got out of bed and made my way with the rest of the group to Little Angels Primary School. We built a foundation for a stove today there and it was a bit of a challenge. I really stood back on this stove because I wanted the other volunteers to figure it out. I was a little skeptical at first and it continued up until I heard about the end result which was a little lack-luster, but OK. I we worried about that since Amber and I both wouldn’t be there the whole time it was being constructed. I just hope that when we go back on Thursday it looks OK and that we can fill it efficiently. After about 2 hours of being there I couldn't handle it anymore. My symptoms were worsening by the minute and I couldn't even think straight let alone speak straight. I went hope, popped 800mg of Ibuprofen, hopped in bed, and took a 4 hour nap. The sleep really helped, but I was still groggy afterwards. That’s when Kelsi, bless her heart, came to me with Clariton-D in hand asking if it would help. If it would HELP!? Oh my gosh, it was EXACTLY what I needed and I had been asking around the night before. I took one and I could start feeling effects within 30 minutes. They last 24 hours so I should be good to go tomorrow as well. I should be able to sleep like a baby tonight and boy am I excited. Being sick is the worst, especially when you try to do everything NOT to get sick. Oh well, part of the experience I guess.
Something really gross happened tonight that should have progressed to the stage it did. I had notice a little raised area on the 4th to last toe on my right foot. I disregarded it for many days, even a week or so. I assumed it was some sort of inflamed sore that would go away... yeah, not so much. I got out the old finger nail clippers and began to hack away at it thinking it was just skin. I proceeded to clip the top of the bump off and my finger accidently pressed the base of it. Next think I knew there was what I thought was pus coming out of my toe! I was blown away! I had no idea I had hurt myself bad enough that it would need to pus and everything. When I had squeezed all the “pus” out I noticed that there seemed to be a separate piece of skin within the would. I got some tweezers and tugged on it. I peeled up and out in a saucer shape. At this point I’m baffled at what has just occurred. Then I decided to look at the “pus” a little closer with light shinning on it. That’s when I came to the realization that it was no pus, not even close. Try about 100 of the tiniest eggs you have ever seen. Yes, that’s right. I squeezed eggs and an egg sack out of my toe! I couldn’t even believe it! This had happened to Jackie about 6 weeks earlier and we were all freaking out that it had happened. I should have been more curious as two the large bump on my toe, but I wasn’t for some reason. Not I a have been officially initiated into Africa. You haven’t really become a part of Africa unless you are filled with fly larva. I think they are called Bot Flies, though I need a wiki search on that for the name spelling and what exactly they do.
So, some pretty exciting stuff today.... ish. It’s not past 2 am and I need to get to bed. I’m not terribly tired though because of my long nap but I’ll have to make it work. Until tomorrow.
Day 50/51 - Mount Elgon... esque? But really Sipi Falls
I had the most incredible weekend. I really thought I was in paradise because our surrounding were just out of this world. I knew Uganda was beautiful, but I never new what was outside of the general vicinity of Lugazi. Well, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing and I have the pictures to prove it. Although, the pictures aren’t going to do justice, you won’t really see what I saw, unfortunately. Just try to imagine the most beautiful place you have ever been or seen and then amplify that again.
The bus ride was about 3 hours from Lugazi to the city where we went, which, I don’t recall what is was called. Where we went it’s called Sipi Falls. We went through a major city called Mbale to get there. You pronounce that by making the sound of “m”, and then saying “bale” with what is pretty much a spanish accent. We stopped in Mbale and paid 5000 for a sack lunch. We didn’t realize what we were getting when they said we’d be paying 5000 for a lunch. Unfortunately, it was much less food than we could have bought with that much money, MUCH less in fact. We got a boiled egg, ham sandwich (ham that I had to remove because it was like raw bacon), weird local yogurt in a bag, samosa (we call them empanadas in spanish), banana, and 2 waters. Not what I call a good lunch for 5000. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy but dealt with what I was given.
We got back on the road and made our way toward Sipi Falls. The bus drive was nice. We listened to a little music, closed our eyes for a bit, and we were there. The trip was all inclusive so we didn’t have to worry about getting a taxi or anything. We road on this bigger sized bus, it was like an airport shuttle type of vehicle.
The climb was pretty intense, not exactly what I expected, buy I loved every moment of it, even with my 30 pound backpack that I carried. The problem with being a photographer is that you have to carry a camera and multiple lenses on ALL of your hikes and trips. Not only is it scary to do so in a foreign country where you are unsure of the security you have, but it gets extremely hard to do so EVERYWHERE you go. But, of course, I deal with it, suck it up, and get going. You just can’t afford to miss any shots. I would have to say that I can some great shots, you'll have to check them out on my picture site.
The climb I suspect was about 2000 ft in 1.5 hours. Not too bad. It was a lot of hiking very fast. And the extra 30 pounds definitely gave me a challenge which I enjoy. Hiking to me really isn’t hiking unless you have a pack on anyway so I shouldn’t be complaining or otherwise. Along the first part of the hike Amber complained that her shorts were falling off and that she had forgotten to bring a belt with here. I told her I would make here a belt, though I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to accomplish that. We finally came to this ginormous rock that we were told was used by people for a home and/or shelter. There were some vines coming down from the top. I grabbed them and started braiding a belt. I gave it to Amber 20 minutes later. She was pretty elated and it actually worked pretty well. We got near the top and there was this manmade ladder that had to be climbed in order to get to the next level and continue hiking. I’ve never seen anything so cool! It was very sturdy, well built, and well traveled. The view from the top was absolutely amazing, the valley was immense as ever. We could almost had a 180ยบ viewing angle (ok, a little on the nerd side, sorry). We hiked along the top for a bit until we made our way down another side of the mountain. As we started our way down the mountain, raindrops began to fall. I panicked because I had all of my camera equipment on me. Luckily, before I left, I picked up a wet back at Out-n-Back because I KNEW something would go wrong and I would need to keep my computer and/or camera out of the water. So, I stopped on the side of the path and put all my stuff in the bag. I ended being a couple minutes behind the rest of the group but I caught up quickly. Within 5 minutes of putting my things in my wet back the rain started to come down. At first, it was a pretty good rain fall, we all got pretty wet. I put my handy rain jacket on and it did me well. I also pulled out the rain fly on my backpack, though, that didn’t really keep the rain out too well. As we came to the bottom of the mountain the rain really started to come down, and I mean SERIOUS rain. If you’ve only lived in Utah and seen the rain there, you’ve only seen half of what falls out of the sky here. It came down like crazy, but I was confident my stuff was safe. The rain continued and we came upon a house or two that we took shelter under. It was very generous of the lady that let us come first into her outdoor kitchen area and then ushered in to her home. We stood there for about 10 minutes until the rain cleared up a bit. Our guide led us out of the madams house, we thanked her, and we were on our way.
We arrived at the home where a women’s group in the area congregated. To our surprise they invited us all to come in even though we were sopping wet and mudding up to our calves and beyond for some. We removed our shoes and went inside. Again, to our surprise they had steamed lemon grass milk ready for us. This milk was straight from the cow. The only thing that comforted me was that they had obviously boiled the milk for at least a little time because it was absolutely burning hot. It disgustingly good actually, and I almost hate to admit that it was such. Milk straight from the utter? Mmm, not exactly what I’m used to or would choose for myself, but it was SO good. So good that I think I might have to find a recipe for it on the internet when I get home. The women were so kind and happy to have us in their home. The were working on weaving baskets and whatnot as part of the group. I bought a couple of things as did other volunteers. We felt good that we were able to support them in their new efforts to provide money for themselves.
The night was amazing. We slept in the most amazing little cabana things you’ve ever seen. I really felt like I was on an exclusive island in Hawaii, that’s how great it was. It was cool, quiet, and just plain serene. I could have lived up there. We had a great dinner that consisted of Onion Soup and Spaghetti with meat sauce. I had two Pepsi’s of course, it was just to awesome there not to.
The next day we hiked up to the upper falls of Sipi after a nice breakfast of toast and fruit. The hike was beautiful, amazing, unreal. Country like you’ve never seen before. Green until you can’t see anymore. There were small children that followed us up along the way, they made the hike interesting and fun. We came back for lunch and hopped on the shuttle to go back home. We all wished that the cabana part of the trip could have lasted forever because it was so amazing there. I got some pictures, you’ll have to check them out.
I took a good number of pictures today and I’m really happy about it; around 300. I really need to keep good habits of taking plenty of pictures because I only have so much time left. Well, the weekend was amazing and it only cost $106 USD!! I couldn't believe it, I was very happy about that price. Now I’m tired and need to get in bed. Bye.
The bus ride was about 3 hours from Lugazi to the city where we went, which, I don’t recall what is was called. Where we went it’s called Sipi Falls. We went through a major city called Mbale to get there. You pronounce that by making the sound of “m”, and then saying “bale” with what is pretty much a spanish accent. We stopped in Mbale and paid 5000 for a sack lunch. We didn’t realize what we were getting when they said we’d be paying 5000 for a lunch. Unfortunately, it was much less food than we could have bought with that much money, MUCH less in fact. We got a boiled egg, ham sandwich (ham that I had to remove because it was like raw bacon), weird local yogurt in a bag, samosa (we call them empanadas in spanish), banana, and 2 waters. Not what I call a good lunch for 5000. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy but dealt with what I was given.
We got back on the road and made our way toward Sipi Falls. The bus drive was nice. We listened to a little music, closed our eyes for a bit, and we were there. The trip was all inclusive so we didn’t have to worry about getting a taxi or anything. We road on this bigger sized bus, it was like an airport shuttle type of vehicle.
The climb was pretty intense, not exactly what I expected, buy I loved every moment of it, even with my 30 pound backpack that I carried. The problem with being a photographer is that you have to carry a camera and multiple lenses on ALL of your hikes and trips. Not only is it scary to do so in a foreign country where you are unsure of the security you have, but it gets extremely hard to do so EVERYWHERE you go. But, of course, I deal with it, suck it up, and get going. You just can’t afford to miss any shots. I would have to say that I can some great shots, you'll have to check them out on my picture site.
The climb I suspect was about 2000 ft in 1.5 hours. Not too bad. It was a lot of hiking very fast. And the extra 30 pounds definitely gave me a challenge which I enjoy. Hiking to me really isn’t hiking unless you have a pack on anyway so I shouldn’t be complaining or otherwise. Along the first part of the hike Amber complained that her shorts were falling off and that she had forgotten to bring a belt with here. I told her I would make here a belt, though I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to accomplish that. We finally came to this ginormous rock that we were told was used by people for a home and/or shelter. There were some vines coming down from the top. I grabbed them and started braiding a belt. I gave it to Amber 20 minutes later. She was pretty elated and it actually worked pretty well. We got near the top and there was this manmade ladder that had to be climbed in order to get to the next level and continue hiking. I’ve never seen anything so cool! It was very sturdy, well built, and well traveled. The view from the top was absolutely amazing, the valley was immense as ever. We could almost had a 180ยบ viewing angle (ok, a little on the nerd side, sorry). We hiked along the top for a bit until we made our way down another side of the mountain. As we started our way down the mountain, raindrops began to fall. I panicked because I had all of my camera equipment on me. Luckily, before I left, I picked up a wet back at Out-n-Back because I KNEW something would go wrong and I would need to keep my computer and/or camera out of the water. So, I stopped on the side of the path and put all my stuff in the bag. I ended being a couple minutes behind the rest of the group but I caught up quickly. Within 5 minutes of putting my things in my wet back the rain started to come down. At first, it was a pretty good rain fall, we all got pretty wet. I put my handy rain jacket on and it did me well. I also pulled out the rain fly on my backpack, though, that didn’t really keep the rain out too well. As we came to the bottom of the mountain the rain really started to come down, and I mean SERIOUS rain. If you’ve only lived in Utah and seen the rain there, you’ve only seen half of what falls out of the sky here. It came down like crazy, but I was confident my stuff was safe. The rain continued and we came upon a house or two that we took shelter under. It was very generous of the lady that let us come first into her outdoor kitchen area and then ushered in to her home. We stood there for about 10 minutes until the rain cleared up a bit. Our guide led us out of the madams house, we thanked her, and we were on our way.
We arrived at the home where a women’s group in the area congregated. To our surprise they invited us all to come in even though we were sopping wet and mudding up to our calves and beyond for some. We removed our shoes and went inside. Again, to our surprise they had steamed lemon grass milk ready for us. This milk was straight from the cow. The only thing that comforted me was that they had obviously boiled the milk for at least a little time because it was absolutely burning hot. It disgustingly good actually, and I almost hate to admit that it was such. Milk straight from the utter? Mmm, not exactly what I’m used to or would choose for myself, but it was SO good. So good that I think I might have to find a recipe for it on the internet when I get home. The women were so kind and happy to have us in their home. The were working on weaving baskets and whatnot as part of the group. I bought a couple of things as did other volunteers. We felt good that we were able to support them in their new efforts to provide money for themselves.
The night was amazing. We slept in the most amazing little cabana things you’ve ever seen. I really felt like I was on an exclusive island in Hawaii, that’s how great it was. It was cool, quiet, and just plain serene. I could have lived up there. We had a great dinner that consisted of Onion Soup and Spaghetti with meat sauce. I had two Pepsi’s of course, it was just to awesome there not to.
The next day we hiked up to the upper falls of Sipi after a nice breakfast of toast and fruit. The hike was beautiful, amazing, unreal. Country like you’ve never seen before. Green until you can’t see anymore. There were small children that followed us up along the way, they made the hike interesting and fun. We came back for lunch and hopped on the shuttle to go back home. We all wished that the cabana part of the trip could have lasted forever because it was so amazing there. I got some pictures, you’ll have to check them out.
I took a good number of pictures today and I’m really happy about it; around 300. I really need to keep good habits of taking plenty of pictures because I only have so much time left. Well, the weekend was amazing and it only cost $106 USD!! I couldn't believe it, I was very happy about that price. Now I’m tired and need to get in bed. Bye.
Day 49 - Clinically Not Happening
We started our day out today at the clinics... not the most effective use of our time thus far. The hospital doesn’t quite know how to receive us, they don’t know exactly what to have us do. I’m the only one in the group with medical certification which qualifies me to do a lot of things others can’t and it’s kind of hard because I want everybody to feel like they can actually do something. I talked to the head nurse there at Kawolo Hospital, Sis. Keri (sp?) and told her the predicament. She informed me that she would have a meeting with the different ward leaders and come up with a better plan for us. We really have the desire to help but it’s really hard to help when they don’t tell you what exactly to do. Hopefully I will be getting a call in the near future with a plan.
I stopped at my favorite chapati maker at the end of Stanbic road. I call it Stanbic road because the Stanbic bank is on it and I don’t know what to call it otherwise. He’s the fourth guy on the left as you walk down the street that turns off of Stanbic. He really knows how to make a good chapati. He used plenty of oil and he rolls the dough out larger than most do. They are still 200 shillings each and taste amazing. I usually get 2 or 3 at a time, they are THAT good. It basically a glorified tortilla. I’m going to be communicating with the lady behind us to get the recipe for chapati so that I can make it when I get home.
I came to the house and had some lunch which included the chapati I just purchased. I also cut up the pineapple I bought yesterday, it was a bit ripe for my liking but still good. I’ve got two mangos I’ll have to cut up in the morning, I’m a bit excited for those to touch my tongue.
Jackie asked me earlier if she could borrow my computer for a teacher training at St. Edward's Primary School. She mentioned that both of the PCs were freezing up... no surprise there. Of course I consented. She later called and told me that they didn’t have time to get the projector or the sheet (for a screen). I gathered it all up and Lindsi and I hopped on some bodas and got over there fairly quickly. I love not having to walk everywhere all the time, I already did that for 2 years and I’m pretty sure I could do without for a while. We got there before everybody else did, I was surprised. The rest arrived and we got everything set up, I was glad that I had a functioning computer and the time to help them out. The training went well and everything worked as it should. I got extremely tired for some reason and even fell asleep for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, it was right when I was needed to go to the next slide. I was laughed at and I laughed at myself to make myself feel better.
I stopped at my favorite chapati maker at the end of Stanbic road. I call it Stanbic road because the Stanbic bank is on it and I don’t know what to call it otherwise. He’s the fourth guy on the left as you walk down the street that turns off of Stanbic. He really knows how to make a good chapati. He used plenty of oil and he rolls the dough out larger than most do. They are still 200 shillings each and taste amazing. I usually get 2 or 3 at a time, they are THAT good. It basically a glorified tortilla. I’m going to be communicating with the lady behind us to get the recipe for chapati so that I can make it when I get home.
I came to the house and had some lunch which included the chapati I just purchased. I also cut up the pineapple I bought yesterday, it was a bit ripe for my liking but still good. I’ve got two mangos I’ll have to cut up in the morning, I’m a bit excited for those to touch my tongue.
Jackie asked me earlier if she could borrow my computer for a teacher training at St. Edward's Primary School. She mentioned that both of the PCs were freezing up... no surprise there. Of course I consented. She later called and told me that they didn’t have time to get the projector or the sheet (for a screen). I gathered it all up and Lindsi and I hopped on some bodas and got over there fairly quickly. I love not having to walk everywhere all the time, I already did that for 2 years and I’m pretty sure I could do without for a while. We got there before everybody else did, I was surprised. The rest arrived and we got everything set up, I was glad that I had a functioning computer and the time to help them out. The training went well and everything worked as it should. I got extremely tired for some reason and even fell asleep for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, it was right when I was needed to go to the next slide. I was laughed at and I laughed at myself to make myself feel better.
Day 48 - New Volunteers... again.
Already a new set of volunteers has creep their way into Uganda and the seen has totally changed. We were a group of 16 all living under the same roof. We are now 1 1/2 times bigger with 8 new volunteers; 24 people! Of course, there are still 16 people in the house and we have moved 8 people into the Mayor’s house, in the boy’s quarters that are in back. It’s interesting to have new faces walking around and new personalities to try and get used to. I’m glad to have them here, we could really use the help actually. Things are picking up and we need more hands to help things REALLY get rolling. We are scheduling more and more adobe stoves all the time and we’re going to need a lot of help with those.
The morning started out with a bit of trauma as Tori and I took Heidi to Dr. Debbie in Jinja to get her butt sown up. Poor girl. Dr. Debbie was really nice again, but still with her very stern personality. She’s definitely a doctor, and one without much feeling left. She used a needle much larger than the one I used to numb Heidi up; again, I felt really bad for Heidi. I was about to offer her the smaller needle that I had used last night but I didn’t dare say anything. I just bit my tongue and watch her suffer. She got the suture kit out. The suture needle wasn’t exactly super sharp like I’m used to seeing. She began stitching and, of course, the needle wasn’t exactly slipping through her flesh like it should have. The stitches were a little bit rough too, though stitching isn’t her everyday activity so I guess I can understand. She knew that I was a medical assistant and we were talking about how I was GOING to bring a suture kit but failed to. She then asked if I’d like to “throw a stitch in.” Of course, I shrugged and the conversation floated away. She was all done up and we were out of there just as fast as we got in.
Pour Amber and Heidi had to give up their room to me and Trent. Trent and I are now the only 2 guys in the house and I must say I don’t mind. We have our own room and it doesn’t smell! I felt bad that we had to kick the girls out, but it had to work out that way... I’m just glad to still be in the house. We made the switch which required a bit of effort but was successful nonetheless. I tried to get others around the house to be motivated enough to clean up for the arrival of the new volunteers, but nobody was to hot on the idea, not surprising. So, I tidied up as much as I could and that was it! The volunteers got here and I helped them in with their bags. It’s going to be interesting having new people around, but it will be good to mix things up. We had a small logistics tour with everybody. Dan and I were assigned to take DJ, but Dan ended up staying in Seya pretty late. So I took DJ around and showed him all of the important things around town. He’s a real nice guy, very cool, easy to talk to, and will be a great asset to our team. We are hoping to get him trained really well on the stoves so that we can use him as a group lead for the Simba Stoves. We want him to be able to take a group of people and go build a stove with no problem.
When dinner time rolled around, it was really funny to watch the new volunteers serve up and eat their food. It was obviously a different experience for them... they weren't prepared for steamed cabbage, beans, and rice, and maybe another thing or two that was "weird." I'm sure they'll get used to it in a couple of days when they come home starving from working all day.
The morning started out with a bit of trauma as Tori and I took Heidi to Dr. Debbie in Jinja to get her butt sown up. Poor girl. Dr. Debbie was really nice again, but still with her very stern personality. She’s definitely a doctor, and one without much feeling left. She used a needle much larger than the one I used to numb Heidi up; again, I felt really bad for Heidi. I was about to offer her the smaller needle that I had used last night but I didn’t dare say anything. I just bit my tongue and watch her suffer. She got the suture kit out. The suture needle wasn’t exactly super sharp like I’m used to seeing. She began stitching and, of course, the needle wasn’t exactly slipping through her flesh like it should have. The stitches were a little bit rough too, though stitching isn’t her everyday activity so I guess I can understand. She knew that I was a medical assistant and we were talking about how I was GOING to bring a suture kit but failed to. She then asked if I’d like to “throw a stitch in.” Of course, I shrugged and the conversation floated away. She was all done up and we were out of there just as fast as we got in.
Pour Amber and Heidi had to give up their room to me and Trent. Trent and I are now the only 2 guys in the house and I must say I don’t mind. We have our own room and it doesn’t smell! I felt bad that we had to kick the girls out, but it had to work out that way... I’m just glad to still be in the house. We made the switch which required a bit of effort but was successful nonetheless. I tried to get others around the house to be motivated enough to clean up for the arrival of the new volunteers, but nobody was to hot on the idea, not surprising. So, I tidied up as much as I could and that was it! The volunteers got here and I helped them in with their bags. It’s going to be interesting having new people around, but it will be good to mix things up. We had a small logistics tour with everybody. Dan and I were assigned to take DJ, but Dan ended up staying in Seya pretty late. So I took DJ around and showed him all of the important things around town. He’s a real nice guy, very cool, easy to talk to, and will be a great asset to our team. We are hoping to get him trained really well on the stoves so that we can use him as a group lead for the Simba Stoves. We want him to be able to take a group of people and go build a stove with no problem.
When dinner time rolled around, it was really funny to watch the new volunteers serve up and eat their food. It was obviously a different experience for them... they weren't prepared for steamed cabbage, beans, and rice, and maybe another thing or two that was "weird." I'm sure they'll get used to it in a couple of days when they come home starving from working all day.
Day 47 - Progress at it's Best
Today was one of the most incredible days I’ve had here. Amber and I really went to town today, both figuratively and literally speaking. We set out to set up stoves with different organizations including schools and orphanages alike, we rocked Lugazi. We had help from a friend whose name I won’t mention for fear that what I say might get back around to him/her. He happens to be a very helpful man when it comes to knowing people and where help is needed. The only problem is that not only is he a very frustrating person to work with, he doesn’t have the best reputation around town. He was once a very prominent member of the town and did many great things to help the people. Story has it he got involved with drugs and whatnot and hasn’t been the same since. It’s easy to see why his reputation wouldn’t be of utmost value. Nevertheless, we have continued to work with him because he has been very helpful with contacting people and starting projects. For example, we went out one day looking for stove pipe for our Simba Stoves and we ran into our friend. He immediately began to take us around town to look for pipe and actually led us to what we will now be using for many of the stoves. He is helpful, just hard to work with.
Our friend introduced us to 2 schools today that we have scheduled to make stoves with, we are very excited about this. We have been looking hard for more projects to do around town, and we have found them. We proceeded to find another 3 schools/orphanages and have either scheduled to make stoves or will be in contact with them in the near future to begin building foundations.
I really feel please with our work today, I feel like we accomplished a lot. I have been able to compare this experience with missionary work, and the similarities are remarkably close. We had been blinded in, as it were, to the city of Lugazi. We knew nothing about anything or anybody when we got here. We were forced to figure it out and get things going. Luckily, we were blessed to have Deo introduce us to the town counsel of Lugazi which really made everything work as it has up to this point. We are busy each day contacting people and getting their information, begging for an opportunity to come to their school/home and share a lesson with them about Simba Stoves and how they can improve many aspects in the lives of their cooks. Everybody we have come in contact with has been interested which is not typical of missionary work, but most definitely what is wanted. It has brought many memories back of being a missionary and always rendering service, almost every moment of every day. It feels good to be selfless and worry about others for a change. Nice to be lost in a work again. I think we loose track of where we are and what we are about when we don’t participate in major service projects often. When you don’t serve others in a major way it’s almost impossible to as grateful as possible for what you have. You really don’t know what you have until you and those around you are without.
The most insane things happened tonight. Ashley asked me if I would go with her to the internet late at night because she needed to do something for HELP. I agreed and took my laptop along with me so that I could check e-mail, upload pictures, etc. We were there for about 30 minutes. We walked home and when we walked in the door there was nobody to be found out and about. We made our way to the girls large room and sure enough, there’s everybody, in the room... not sure what was going on. Next thing I know I’ve got a camera in my face, it’s rolling, and I’m being directed to the bathroom. The next thing I saw I did no more expected than a flyer saucer beaming me up (scottie...). We no longer had a sink, the sink was gone, and there was absolutely no trace that it had fallen or otherwise. I was in awe. I couldn’t even speak. A million thoughts raced through my head as I tried to come up with a scenario in which the sink would actually break off the wall and no longer exist. When I turned around to exit the bathroom, camera in my face, I began to question, but not with words; with my eyes and a wide open mouth. The next think I know they’ve ripped a blanket off Heidi’s half naked butt revealing a wound that required stitches. Naturally, my instinct is to “go in”, and so I did.
Side note: Heidi had been laughing her guys out along with 3 other girls, such that they ALL were going to pee their pants if they didn’t all get to the toilet at once. One used the toilet, the other hopped in the shower, and Heidi, without anyplace to go, leans back with her elbows on the sink with her pants half down ready to switch off with the other girl on the toilet. The sink just couldn’t take the weight and down it went along with Heidi. She landed on top of the shattered porcelain sink and cut herself up real good.
I immediately seized control of the situation and began to do what I knew best; fix it. They had placed butterfly bandages unsuccessfully which I proceeded to remove and clean the wounds. There was one major laceration and 2 minor cuts. The largest of the three was pretty dang deep, the adipose (fatty tissue) was visible and I knew that stitches were needed. I did my best to clean it up really well and then I decided it would be a good idea to give her some local anesthetic to help stop the bleeding as well as give her some relief from the pain that would surely follow. I proceeded to do so. I took the sodium bicarbonate (buffer solution) and added 5-cc to the Xylocaine just as instructed. This is to take off the stinging edge of the anesthetic when it hits the flesh. I began administering the anesthetic to all part of the laceration until Heidi was eased and unable to feel anything in the area - only the size of a quarter or a tiny bit bigger. It’s hard to thoroughly cleanse a wound when you can still feel it because you don’t want the person to suffer. After it was numb, I used alcohol (because we didn’t have hydrogen peroxide) to clean the wound and to prepare it for closing. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any suture kits, I was very unhappy with myself. Instead we will make a trip to Jinja tomorrow to have Dr. Debbie stitch Heidi up. I decided that super-glue followed by butterflies and some medical take on top would do just fine until the morning when she’d get her stitches.
I was sad to see that Heidi had gotten herself cut up but I have to admit that it was a great experience for me to treat her with the small amount of medical training I have. I love intense situations where you have to think fast and smart. She was in no way in danger of loosing her life, but she was definitely in discomfort, so I was glad to help. This topped off the night, it was by far the highlight of the day.
Our friend introduced us to 2 schools today that we have scheduled to make stoves with, we are very excited about this. We have been looking hard for more projects to do around town, and we have found them. We proceeded to find another 3 schools/orphanages and have either scheduled to make stoves or will be in contact with them in the near future to begin building foundations.
I really feel please with our work today, I feel like we accomplished a lot. I have been able to compare this experience with missionary work, and the similarities are remarkably close. We had been blinded in, as it were, to the city of Lugazi. We knew nothing about anything or anybody when we got here. We were forced to figure it out and get things going. Luckily, we were blessed to have Deo introduce us to the town counsel of Lugazi which really made everything work as it has up to this point. We are busy each day contacting people and getting their information, begging for an opportunity to come to their school/home and share a lesson with them about Simba Stoves and how they can improve many aspects in the lives of their cooks. Everybody we have come in contact with has been interested which is not typical of missionary work, but most definitely what is wanted. It has brought many memories back of being a missionary and always rendering service, almost every moment of every day. It feels good to be selfless and worry about others for a change. Nice to be lost in a work again. I think we loose track of where we are and what we are about when we don’t participate in major service projects often. When you don’t serve others in a major way it’s almost impossible to as grateful as possible for what you have. You really don’t know what you have until you and those around you are without.
The most insane things happened tonight. Ashley asked me if I would go with her to the internet late at night because she needed to do something for HELP. I agreed and took my laptop along with me so that I could check e-mail, upload pictures, etc. We were there for about 30 minutes. We walked home and when we walked in the door there was nobody to be found out and about. We made our way to the girls large room and sure enough, there’s everybody, in the room... not sure what was going on. Next thing I know I’ve got a camera in my face, it’s rolling, and I’m being directed to the bathroom. The next thing I saw I did no more expected than a flyer saucer beaming me up (scottie...). We no longer had a sink, the sink was gone, and there was absolutely no trace that it had fallen or otherwise. I was in awe. I couldn’t even speak. A million thoughts raced through my head as I tried to come up with a scenario in which the sink would actually break off the wall and no longer exist. When I turned around to exit the bathroom, camera in my face, I began to question, but not with words; with my eyes and a wide open mouth. The next think I know they’ve ripped a blanket off Heidi’s half naked butt revealing a wound that required stitches. Naturally, my instinct is to “go in”, and so I did.
Side note: Heidi had been laughing her guys out along with 3 other girls, such that they ALL were going to pee their pants if they didn’t all get to the toilet at once. One used the toilet, the other hopped in the shower, and Heidi, without anyplace to go, leans back with her elbows on the sink with her pants half down ready to switch off with the other girl on the toilet. The sink just couldn’t take the weight and down it went along with Heidi. She landed on top of the shattered porcelain sink and cut herself up real good.
I immediately seized control of the situation and began to do what I knew best; fix it. They had placed butterfly bandages unsuccessfully which I proceeded to remove and clean the wounds. There was one major laceration and 2 minor cuts. The largest of the three was pretty dang deep, the adipose (fatty tissue) was visible and I knew that stitches were needed. I did my best to clean it up really well and then I decided it would be a good idea to give her some local anesthetic to help stop the bleeding as well as give her some relief from the pain that would surely follow. I proceeded to do so. I took the sodium bicarbonate (buffer solution) and added 5-cc to the Xylocaine just as instructed. This is to take off the stinging edge of the anesthetic when it hits the flesh. I began administering the anesthetic to all part of the laceration until Heidi was eased and unable to feel anything in the area - only the size of a quarter or a tiny bit bigger. It’s hard to thoroughly cleanse a wound when you can still feel it because you don’t want the person to suffer. After it was numb, I used alcohol (because we didn’t have hydrogen peroxide) to clean the wound and to prepare it for closing. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any suture kits, I was very unhappy with myself. Instead we will make a trip to Jinja tomorrow to have Dr. Debbie stitch Heidi up. I decided that super-glue followed by butterflies and some medical take on top would do just fine until the morning when she’d get her stitches.
I was sad to see that Heidi had gotten herself cut up but I have to admit that it was a great experience for me to treat her with the small amount of medical training I have. I love intense situations where you have to think fast and smart. She was in no way in danger of loosing her life, but she was definitely in discomfort, so I was glad to help. This topped off the night, it was by far the highlight of the day.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Day 40 - Two More Fill-ins
Today was quite fulfilling, though exhausting, to the point of dropping dead; just what we want while we’re here. We filled in two more foundations that we had previously built. One at the True Light Primary School that is in our village only 150 yards from our house, and one up at Betty’s house that we made on Monday. It was a little drizzly this morning and we were afraid we were going to get rained out, luckily the rain never really came down, only a light trickle. We arrived at True Light and they had the extra clay we had told them we needed. It was just Leslie, Heidi and I on this project and it turned out to be a little mistake that we did not have more help. Joshua, the man that was up at Equator P.S. was there ready and willing to help us out. He’s a funny old man. Totally interested in what we’re doing but at the same time full of questions in broken English that we can barely make out. Sometimes it’s frustrated to have him around, but today I learned to appreciate him and realize that he’s exactly what we have been looking for as far as someone to teach and keep the building going once we have left the country. Working just the three of us with the help of Joshua just wasn’t enough. We had to mix the adobe mixture and pack it ourselves. That takes a long time and takes a lot of effort, more difficult that it may sound. We wished we had another 2 people with us to help mix and/or pack. Now we’ll know for next time. We ended up having just about enough adobe for the stove, actually, it was a little less than we would have liked but it did the job. We had to use bricks to help fill up space, it wouldn’t have worked otherwise. It took us around 5 hours to complete and we were beat afterwards. To make it worse, we had another to fill, at least I had another one to fill, Leslie and Heidi had something else to attend in the afternoon.
Amber returned from Mukono after having been at the bakery. I was glad to see her around so that she could go with me to fill in the second stove. I was not excited about it because I was so tired. The rain started to pick up as if it wanted to come down but ended as we walked out the door. Joshua met us up at Betty’s house and again helped us out and learned some things as well. Betty was incredibly helpful which I appreciated very much. She was just as much invested in making the stove as we were. She had supplied all of the materials except the cement, a big accomplishment for a single mother with a few kids. We didn’t end up having enough clay over which I began to panic. We had known this the last time we were there but didn’t remember until we saw the half-filled bag of clay upon arrival. We decided it was ant-hill soil or nothing at all. We had already spent 1000 shillings to get up there and we weren’t about to turn around and head for home. Betty began cutting away at an ant-hill when the termites erupted from beneath. They were the ugliest looking things I think I’ve every seen. Little green bodies with a head and pinchers the same size as the body. The pinchers looked sharp and Betty decided to demonstrate for us. She reached down and allows one of the irrupted “ants” to attach to her finger. The thing was ridiculously strong and I could tell it would kill if that thing pinched you anywhere. Later on in the day when we had found another ant-hill that had been burned out and gotten the soil from, we were back at her house mixing the clay, soil, sand, fiber and water to make the adobe when out comes marching an “ant.” She again went to let the thing grab on to her. Except, this time the ant was a little more aggravated than the last. It grabbed on and sunk it’s teeth into her finger. She even squealed and grabbed the body and pinched it, killing it, to get it off of her. I watched the thing sink it’s teeth in her finger, it was horrible. I didn’t get to close to the mixture after that.
I’ve killed a total of 4 mosquitos through my net while sitting here in my bed typing. With out these nets we would be absolute toast, welted all over with bites, I wouldn’t be able to sleep without one.
The stove turned out good, we were very pleased. We ended up having just enough of our mixture, including bricks stacked in the bottom to take up room. Had we not used bricks, we would not have had enough; thanks heaven for bricks everywhere. It took us a good 2 hours to pack the foundation, a little longer than expected, but reasonable none the less. Betty was very excited and we told her that we had one request after having built her stove. The request was that she would teach her friends and help them build their own stoves in their homes. She will be another great asset to our cause, I can feel it. She got all nice today and said, “I need your phone numbers to I can call you when you have left this place!” We were touched. It was nice to hear that she enjoyed us being there, so much so that she wanted to keep in touch.
It’s been so great to meet so many great people, people I may never see again in my life. At the beginning of my stay here I felt like I would never meet and become good friends with any body in particular, just simple friendships with many people. I was wrong, and I’m glad I was. Well, it’s time to go to bed, I’m beat and I need my strength in the morning. Until then.
Amber returned from Mukono after having been at the bakery. I was glad to see her around so that she could go with me to fill in the second stove. I was not excited about it because I was so tired. The rain started to pick up as if it wanted to come down but ended as we walked out the door. Joshua met us up at Betty’s house and again helped us out and learned some things as well. Betty was incredibly helpful which I appreciated very much. She was just as much invested in making the stove as we were. She had supplied all of the materials except the cement, a big accomplishment for a single mother with a few kids. We didn’t end up having enough clay over which I began to panic. We had known this the last time we were there but didn’t remember until we saw the half-filled bag of clay upon arrival. We decided it was ant-hill soil or nothing at all. We had already spent 1000 shillings to get up there and we weren’t about to turn around and head for home. Betty began cutting away at an ant-hill when the termites erupted from beneath. They were the ugliest looking things I think I’ve every seen. Little green bodies with a head and pinchers the same size as the body. The pinchers looked sharp and Betty decided to demonstrate for us. She reached down and allows one of the irrupted “ants” to attach to her finger. The thing was ridiculously strong and I could tell it would kill if that thing pinched you anywhere. Later on in the day when we had found another ant-hill that had been burned out and gotten the soil from, we were back at her house mixing the clay, soil, sand, fiber and water to make the adobe when out comes marching an “ant.” She again went to let the thing grab on to her. Except, this time the ant was a little more aggravated than the last. It grabbed on and sunk it’s teeth into her finger. She even squealed and grabbed the body and pinched it, killing it, to get it off of her. I watched the thing sink it’s teeth in her finger, it was horrible. I didn’t get to close to the mixture after that.
I’ve killed a total of 4 mosquitos through my net while sitting here in my bed typing. With out these nets we would be absolute toast, welted all over with bites, I wouldn’t be able to sleep without one.
The stove turned out good, we were very pleased. We ended up having just enough of our mixture, including bricks stacked in the bottom to take up room. Had we not used bricks, we would not have had enough; thanks heaven for bricks everywhere. It took us a good 2 hours to pack the foundation, a little longer than expected, but reasonable none the less. Betty was very excited and we told her that we had one request after having built her stove. The request was that she would teach her friends and help them build their own stoves in their homes. She will be another great asset to our cause, I can feel it. She got all nice today and said, “I need your phone numbers to I can call you when you have left this place!” We were touched. It was nice to hear that she enjoyed us being there, so much so that she wanted to keep in touch.
It’s been so great to meet so many great people, people I may never see again in my life. At the beginning of my stay here I felt like I would never meet and become good friends with any body in particular, just simple friendships with many people. I was wrong, and I’m glad I was. Well, it’s time to go to bed, I’m beat and I need my strength in the morning. Until then.
Day 39 - Martyr's Day
Today is Martyr’s Day. Back in the late 1800’s there was a group of 23 men that were burned alive after standing up for something they didn’t believe it. There had been a law passed in Uganda that people would have to work on Sundays. Well, the Catholics and Protestants were too thrilled with that whole thing because they knew and believed that Sunday was a day of rest. Appartently these men were standing up against this law according to their beliefs and were killed because of it. It has become a national holiday and, to my knowledge, has been celebrated since then. We went to a place called Namugongo where the event or holiday was celebrated. I’m sure why it’s held there, though I’m assuming it’s because it’s where the tragedy occurred. We decided we would take the day and check it out.
We attended the beginnings of the protestant gathering which recognized the martyrs, it was OK. It was in an amphitheater type of setting with hundreds of people gathering on all sides of the downhill slope. There was a choir, a man praying and giving speech, and many other people who I wasn’t sure of their purpose. We couldn’t here very well and the dude singing had a horrendous voice, we eventually decided to leave.
It turned out to be pretty crazy, more Africans than I’ve ever seen at once in my life, it was incredible. There was a certain street that every body walked up and down. There were street venders of all types littered the length of the street. We didn’t even walk the whole thing, it would have taken 2 hours at least. We were always bumping in to each other, dodging boda bodas, and just trying to stay alive in general.
We came across something that has quite possibly become one the most experiences of my life... as far as food is concerned. There was a huge pile of pineapple, small to large, all varying in price. There was also a man peeling the pineapples right next to him, free of charge if you purchased a pineapple. He would hold the stem and cut the skin off and even give it a cross-hairs cut to make it easier to eat right off the stem!! I couldn’t believe my eye and instantly had to be part of it. We quickly found out that the smaller pineapples, perfect for one person to snarf, were only 300 shillings, a grand total of .18 cents... believe it. The thing was about one and a half times the size of a softball and perfectly ripened. I was with a bunch of the girls from the group, as usual, and we all got a pineapple. I can’t even begin to explain how incredible the pineapple was. It was by far the best I’ve ever had in my life, including that of Hawaii. To eat the pineapple off the stem just amplified the experience. Not only had the guy NOT touched my pineapple with his hands, I would be able to eat it and stay relatively clean. We took pictures and recorded video, which shows us devouring the pineapple like crazy; we were crazy and we couldn’t get enough. This amazing experience however landed me with major intestinal problems 45 minutes later, something I didn’t really expect or even care about at the time. I suppose it was quite a bit of pineapple and I did eat the WHOLE thing, oh well, it was still worth it.
We ended going to Kampala which was only 20 minutes from where we were. We decided it would be nice to have a decent lunch at the food court in Garden City. We started out at the Shop Rite which was like unto a grocery store at home, just not the same things on the shelves, still a bit interesting. We ended up seeing the mission president in there with a new senior couple from Rexburg Idaho that had only been there for 9 days. When we left the store we saw three Elders, I proceeded to go up to them and meet them. One from Idaho, another from Texas, and one from the Congo, right next door to Uganda. I immediately put myself in their position and imagined serving a mission in Uganda, I shuttered. I’m positive the Lord sent me where he did because he knew I would be able to handle it, even though it was a scary, dangerous, and difficult area.
I had pizza, again, a safe food group. It ended up being pretty good. I even got a free glass of passion fruit juice from the lady at the register. She was a rather pretty woman, from somewhere like Lebanon or something of that nature. She was refreshingly sweet and nice to talk to. I’m so used to talking to people that don’t really respond or smile back when I smile, it was a pleasant surprise. The trip back was uneventful, except that I fell asleep on my backpack on one side of my face and woke up with a serious mark on my face, we got a picture.
We attended the beginnings of the protestant gathering which recognized the martyrs, it was OK. It was in an amphitheater type of setting with hundreds of people gathering on all sides of the downhill slope. There was a choir, a man praying and giving speech, and many other people who I wasn’t sure of their purpose. We couldn’t here very well and the dude singing had a horrendous voice, we eventually decided to leave.
It turned out to be pretty crazy, more Africans than I’ve ever seen at once in my life, it was incredible. There was a certain street that every body walked up and down. There were street venders of all types littered the length of the street. We didn’t even walk the whole thing, it would have taken 2 hours at least. We were always bumping in to each other, dodging boda bodas, and just trying to stay alive in general.
We came across something that has quite possibly become one the most experiences of my life... as far as food is concerned. There was a huge pile of pineapple, small to large, all varying in price. There was also a man peeling the pineapples right next to him, free of charge if you purchased a pineapple. He would hold the stem and cut the skin off and even give it a cross-hairs cut to make it easier to eat right off the stem!! I couldn’t believe my eye and instantly had to be part of it. We quickly found out that the smaller pineapples, perfect for one person to snarf, were only 300 shillings, a grand total of .18 cents... believe it. The thing was about one and a half times the size of a softball and perfectly ripened. I was with a bunch of the girls from the group, as usual, and we all got a pineapple. I can’t even begin to explain how incredible the pineapple was. It was by far the best I’ve ever had in my life, including that of Hawaii. To eat the pineapple off the stem just amplified the experience. Not only had the guy NOT touched my pineapple with his hands, I would be able to eat it and stay relatively clean. We took pictures and recorded video, which shows us devouring the pineapple like crazy; we were crazy and we couldn’t get enough. This amazing experience however landed me with major intestinal problems 45 minutes later, something I didn’t really expect or even care about at the time. I suppose it was quite a bit of pineapple and I did eat the WHOLE thing, oh well, it was still worth it.
We ended going to Kampala which was only 20 minutes from where we were. We decided it would be nice to have a decent lunch at the food court in Garden City. We started out at the Shop Rite which was like unto a grocery store at home, just not the same things on the shelves, still a bit interesting. We ended up seeing the mission president in there with a new senior couple from Rexburg Idaho that had only been there for 9 days. When we left the store we saw three Elders, I proceeded to go up to them and meet them. One from Idaho, another from Texas, and one from the Congo, right next door to Uganda. I immediately put myself in their position and imagined serving a mission in Uganda, I shuttered. I’m positive the Lord sent me where he did because he knew I would be able to handle it, even though it was a scary, dangerous, and difficult area.
I had pizza, again, a safe food group. It ended up being pretty good. I even got a free glass of passion fruit juice from the lady at the register. She was a rather pretty woman, from somewhere like Lebanon or something of that nature. She was refreshingly sweet and nice to talk to. I’m so used to talking to people that don’t really respond or smile back when I smile, it was a pleasant surprise. The trip back was uneventful, except that I fell asleep on my backpack on one side of my face and woke up with a serious mark on my face, we got a picture.
Day 38 - Another Foundation
It rained quite a bit last night and it continued on into the morning. As I woke up I knew it was going to be a raining and half dreary day... and that’s exactly how it started. I had a good breakfast; french toast on wheat. It was OK, I can’t complain. It was a little difference but to be expected. I used a little vegetable oil and Blue Band spread to grease the pan and give flavor. I ate 3 pieces of it with french toast, I was pretty satisfied, although I ended up downing 2 bananas after that. We made our way out the door at 11:00 am, I sort of slept in an hour later than I should have, I felt bad about that. Luckily, the rain was too hard to go out into anyway so I didn’t feel as bad, though I could have gotten some reading in.
We went to True Light this morning ready to fill in the foundation we built last week but ran into a problem: they hadn’t gotten enough clay. They had gotten less than half of what we needed. We told him we needed two more large bags of clay. He informed us that the bags were each 5000 shillings. Amber and I talked about it a seconded and decided that we could pay for one of the extra bags. They had already provided the cement which we usually go and decided we could switch the cost of the cement we didn’t use to help paying for the clay. Isaac told us that they could have it by Wednesday, hopefully that’s when we come back and do it.
We made our third Simba Stove foundation today at a lady’s house named Betty. She was present when we made the stove at Equator Primary School and was very interested in having us come to here home and help her install a stove. Amber, Leslie, Emily and I went up there to build it. We are building the stove in her home in the kitchen area. She has been cooking outside for who knows how long and we are very excited to help her move her cooking inside but not have to worry about the smoke. The stove ended up being relatively small compared to all the ones we have built so far. Granted, it’s in the house of a lady who generally cooks for her and a couple of kids, not an entire school. We designed the size of the stove to enable her to cook with larger pans on the weekends when she has guests. We are quite excited about this stove, it’s our first residential stove and comes closest to the design that we were trained to make. Betty is such a nice lady, happy to have us up there at her house and it very fun to be around. There are many kids that come to the house as well when we are there, they can’t stand not to see the freak show when it’s in town... us of course, and our white skin. Betty was very willing to help and was eager to learn our methods. We of course want to train her as much as we can so that she can pass the information on to her friends and community memebers. This is how we are helping the Simba Stove program be sustainable.
Without sustainability, our efforts here in Lugazi are only short-term and will on affect the people we work with directly. Well, our goal as HELP International volunteers is so create sustainable support. Everything we do here needs to be able to be replicated by the people here with not much effort. So, in order to have our training of how to make Simba Stoves go the farthest, we feel the absolute need to teach the people so that they in turn can replicate our work and help more and more people. I think about how good it feels just to help the people here for only a couple of months. But the thoughts and feelings of my work and knowledge being extended infinitely after I leave brings so much more happiness. There is a man named Joshua that I think is going to be of great help in the future. He seems very interested in what we are doing and wants to be involved. It will be nice to have a “representative” for the village of Namengo, one who will be able to assist people like Betty in making stoves in her friend’s houses.
I’m listening to Love Song by 311 right now. It happens to be one of the most soothing songs ever... give it a listen sometime.
With more and more appointments to build Simba Stoves we could very well hit our goal. We are going to have to incorporate a principle my mission president installed when I was in New York. It’s something called Focused Finding. It’s a time when you do nothing but find people to hear the gospel. Whether it was knocking on doors or fearlessing, as we called it, on the streets, we had to do it for 2 hours every day, no exceptions. Appointments did not overrule, it itself was to be considered an appointment. Anyway, we are going to have to dedicate some time such as focused finding to go out and just find tons of schools, women’s groups, or any other community situation that would like a stove. This way we can fill up our appointment book and just be constantly making stoves. This will help us reach our goal of 40 stoves by the end of the summer. I’m so lucky to have been part of the first wave, even a week extra having come with the country directors early to help them out. I have seen everything come together and been a part of all the hard work to make it all happen. This is an exciting work and truly reminds me of the mission field, something you generally don’t get to experience more than once in a lifetime.
Well, my eyes are slipping on me, I better get some shut eye. Until tomorrow.
We went to True Light this morning ready to fill in the foundation we built last week but ran into a problem: they hadn’t gotten enough clay. They had gotten less than half of what we needed. We told him we needed two more large bags of clay. He informed us that the bags were each 5000 shillings. Amber and I talked about it a seconded and decided that we could pay for one of the extra bags. They had already provided the cement which we usually go and decided we could switch the cost of the cement we didn’t use to help paying for the clay. Isaac told us that they could have it by Wednesday, hopefully that’s when we come back and do it.
We made our third Simba Stove foundation today at a lady’s house named Betty. She was present when we made the stove at Equator Primary School and was very interested in having us come to here home and help her install a stove. Amber, Leslie, Emily and I went up there to build it. We are building the stove in her home in the kitchen area. She has been cooking outside for who knows how long and we are very excited to help her move her cooking inside but not have to worry about the smoke. The stove ended up being relatively small compared to all the ones we have built so far. Granted, it’s in the house of a lady who generally cooks for her and a couple of kids, not an entire school. We designed the size of the stove to enable her to cook with larger pans on the weekends when she has guests. We are quite excited about this stove, it’s our first residential stove and comes closest to the design that we were trained to make. Betty is such a nice lady, happy to have us up there at her house and it very fun to be around. There are many kids that come to the house as well when we are there, they can’t stand not to see the freak show when it’s in town... us of course, and our white skin. Betty was very willing to help and was eager to learn our methods. We of course want to train her as much as we can so that she can pass the information on to her friends and community memebers. This is how we are helping the Simba Stove program be sustainable.
Without sustainability, our efforts here in Lugazi are only short-term and will on affect the people we work with directly. Well, our goal as HELP International volunteers is so create sustainable support. Everything we do here needs to be able to be replicated by the people here with not much effort. So, in order to have our training of how to make Simba Stoves go the farthest, we feel the absolute need to teach the people so that they in turn can replicate our work and help more and more people. I think about how good it feels just to help the people here for only a couple of months. But the thoughts and feelings of my work and knowledge being extended infinitely after I leave brings so much more happiness. There is a man named Joshua that I think is going to be of great help in the future. He seems very interested in what we are doing and wants to be involved. It will be nice to have a “representative” for the village of Namengo, one who will be able to assist people like Betty in making stoves in her friend’s houses.
I’m listening to Love Song by 311 right now. It happens to be one of the most soothing songs ever... give it a listen sometime.
With more and more appointments to build Simba Stoves we could very well hit our goal. We are going to have to incorporate a principle my mission president installed when I was in New York. It’s something called Focused Finding. It’s a time when you do nothing but find people to hear the gospel. Whether it was knocking on doors or fearlessing, as we called it, on the streets, we had to do it for 2 hours every day, no exceptions. Appointments did not overrule, it itself was to be considered an appointment. Anyway, we are going to have to dedicate some time such as focused finding to go out and just find tons of schools, women’s groups, or any other community situation that would like a stove. This way we can fill up our appointment book and just be constantly making stoves. This will help us reach our goal of 40 stoves by the end of the summer. I’m so lucky to have been part of the first wave, even a week extra having come with the country directors early to help them out. I have seen everything come together and been a part of all the hard work to make it all happen. This is an exciting work and truly reminds me of the mission field, something you generally don’t get to experience more than once in a lifetime.
Well, my eyes are slipping on me, I better get some shut eye. Until tomorrow.
Day 36 - Uganda vs Niger
One crazy day it was today, oh my gosh, let me just tell you. Jackie decided she HAD to go to this qualifying soccer game at Mandela Stadium near Kampala. She invited us all to go and of course we were all interested, how could we afford to miss a game where two teams would play to see if they go to the World Cup in 2010? I’ve never been to a soccer game, a REAL soccer game, so it was a good experience. I’m still not sold on the sport itself, I doesn’t really catch my interest, but it was still fun to be with everybody and just hang on. The place was absolutely full of people and it was a little crazy, a little scary. There was pick-pocketing like crazy there and at least half of us experienced it. Jeff actually got his wallet stolen out of his side pocket on his pants that was zipped up. There was 25,000 shillings inside, or about $15, so not too bad but it still happened. Jackie got seriously attacked in the same crowd. This crowd was at the top of the stairs that we came down to sit in our seats. I’m assuming their purpose was to create enough ruckus to pickpocket. They got their hands in every single pocket possible of Jackie’s pants, she couldn’t get their hands off of her and she was freaking out. Luckily she didn’t have anything stolen and she got out alright. I was sitting in my seat with my backpack at my feet and my friends all around. I happened to look down at one point and there was a kid in front of me on a chair. His hand was reaching back, had already unzipped and was getting inside a little pocket on the waste belt of my backpack. There were about 3000 shillings in there. I ripped his hand our of there so fast and shoved it away and then proceeded to shoo him away telling him not to do that. He acted like nothing had even happened and slowly, very slowly walked away. I was in awe. I’ve noticed a pattern already with pick-pocketers. When they commit the act and you catch them, they act like nothing every happened and will even continue to stand where they are, it’s unreal. I guess the reason is because they don’t want to create a seen and get slammed by the people around them. It just goes to show what does on here more than in most places.
The game wasn’t too long, luckily, just long enough to experience. We got up when the game ended, I had my backpack on backwards, on my chest in other words. I wasn’t going to let anybody jack my stuff. We made it out OK, got in the Taxi and made our way to Coleen Motel in Mukono. We had dinner there, it wasn’t too bad, I was quite impressed. I had pizza of course, the safest thing on the menu. Others had curry chicken, pasta of sorts, and burgers. I was satisfied. Before my meal came my Mom and others called me on the phone, it was great to talk to them. It’s always a treat to talk to my family, they’re the best and I miss them like crazy.
The game wasn’t too long, luckily, just long enough to experience. We got up when the game ended, I had my backpack on backwards, on my chest in other words. I wasn’t going to let anybody jack my stuff. We made it out OK, got in the Taxi and made our way to Coleen Motel in Mukono. We had dinner there, it wasn’t too bad, I was quite impressed. I had pizza of course, the safest thing on the menu. Others had curry chicken, pasta of sorts, and burgers. I was satisfied. Before my meal came my Mom and others called me on the phone, it was great to talk to them. It’s always a treat to talk to my family, they’re the best and I miss them like crazy.
Day 35 - 2nd Simba Stove
Today ended up being a very productive day, something I like. It’s really hard when days aren’t productive. Yeah, you may love that you are sitting on the couch all day reading, computing, sleeping, etc... But you can’t feel good about what you haven’t done, it just doesn’t work like that. Especially serving in such a vocation as this where you only have a limited amount of time and you must accomplish all you can before you leave.
Today was a good day and I’m proud of what we accomplished. Amber and I made our way up to Seya to check on the stove we built 3 weeks ago tomorrow and to start a fire to see how it heated and if it was going to work. We got a fire started but it was very hard to keep going because the wood was not fully dry the the stove itself was anything but dry. It’s really hard to keep a roaring fire going when you have wet sand you are trying to push the fire and heat through; it just really doesn’t work that well. Nevertheless we had the help of Wilson who started a fire for us. We kept the fire going while we were there until we had to leave. Wilson told us that we would keep the fire going for the rest of the day to help dry it out. We really need to know how one of ours works, it would really give us some confidence as we continue to build other stoves. While we were up there Amber held the little baby, I think her name is Victoria or something similar, I can’t remember. The pour thing has malaria and it very sick all the time. She has a fever around the clock, never has a diaper of any sort, and really just isn’t too happy any of the time; how I can I blame her. But being 2 1/2 years old doesn’t make things any easier, probably worse.
Our boda boda ride out there and back was rather death defying; we seem to run in to a lot of that here. We always seem to praying for our lives at some point during the day whether it’s eating a certain meal, riding the boda boda, or even just crossing the streets.
We went to Equator school and put in the adobe mixture with all of the pipes required. We ended up not having enough clay available and added some ant hill dirt which should be a pretty good substitute. The ladies had brought the clay from SO far away, we were so grateful and amazed at their willingness. There ended up being a short supply of the adobe mixture, just as a I suspected when I saw the pile in the beginning. I came up with an idea however and to use bricks to fill in space in places that didn’t really need the adobe mixture.
Today was a good day and I’m proud of what we accomplished. Amber and I made our way up to Seya to check on the stove we built 3 weeks ago tomorrow and to start a fire to see how it heated and if it was going to work. We got a fire started but it was very hard to keep going because the wood was not fully dry the the stove itself was anything but dry. It’s really hard to keep a roaring fire going when you have wet sand you are trying to push the fire and heat through; it just really doesn’t work that well. Nevertheless we had the help of Wilson who started a fire for us. We kept the fire going while we were there until we had to leave. Wilson told us that we would keep the fire going for the rest of the day to help dry it out. We really need to know how one of ours works, it would really give us some confidence as we continue to build other stoves. While we were up there Amber held the little baby, I think her name is Victoria or something similar, I can’t remember. The pour thing has malaria and it very sick all the time. She has a fever around the clock, never has a diaper of any sort, and really just isn’t too happy any of the time; how I can I blame her. But being 2 1/2 years old doesn’t make things any easier, probably worse.
Our boda boda ride out there and back was rather death defying; we seem to run in to a lot of that here. We always seem to praying for our lives at some point during the day whether it’s eating a certain meal, riding the boda boda, or even just crossing the streets.
We went to Equator school and put in the adobe mixture with all of the pipes required. We ended up not having enough clay available and added some ant hill dirt which should be a pretty good substitute. The ladies had brought the clay from SO far away, we were so grateful and amazed at their willingness. There ended up being a short supply of the adobe mixture, just as a I suspected when I saw the pile in the beginning. I came up with an idea however and to use bricks to fill in space in places that didn’t really need the adobe mixture.
Day 34 - A Day at Home
Today was more of a relaxing day, something that I don’t mind every once in a while. Though our weekend are supposed to be our relaxing down time, it doesn’t hurt to have a less busy day once a month.
I was in the house all day, did set a foot out the door. I’m exactly proud of this, just stating the facts. I woke up around 8:15am this morning and had some breakfast. Toast with PB&J, a banana, and 3 eggs overhard. Everybody was jealous over my eggs and couldn’t believe I had prepared something so amazing; I was rather amused. I ended up sharing a bite with Jackie and Rylee, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of it. I spent lot of time on the computer doing things for HELP as well as personal things including pictures.
I told Jackie I would help her import her video and teach her how to do some simple editing. We sat down for a little over an hour and I taught her some basics, enough for her to do what she needs to accomplish her goal for making a video. She has a an awesome idea/goal of interviewing kids and then showing it somewhere. I don’t know the whole idea, but it’s going to be very cool. It’s a lot of fun to have her camera on this trip, it’s HD and pretty nice. She told me I could use it whenever so I might just have to take her up on that offer.
I uploaded my pictures two nights ago, I’m not sure if I mentioned that. I love my new pictures, they are so great. I have the one of the three boys on my desktop right now, they are so precious. I love my camera, it’s such a blessing to have. It all started with my Mom and Dad giving me my first REAL camera when I got off my mission. It was for my birthday, I was absolutely ecstatic. That opened up such a big door for me and I have improved immensely over the years. As of right now I have 795 pictures taken, that’s about 23 per day, not bad. I’m pretty excited to have so many pictures already, I hope to leave with AT LEAST 2000, but I like more like 3000. That’s not too many for a place you may never visit again.
I got a little sick today, my intestines have been whacked out for about a week now. I’m pretty sure it’s the doxycycline wiping out the probiotics in my large intestine. Luckily, I figured this would happen before I came and came prepared. We bought some probiotic supplements that I should have been taking everyday up to this point while I’ve been on doxy. I hope it will solve the problem, I need it to, it must.
Well, I feel well rested, I’m ready to kick butt tomorrow and the coming weeks. We are going back to Equator Primary School tomorrow at 3pm to fill in the foundation we made for the Simba Stove, we are pretty excited. On Friday we will return to True Light Primary School and fill in that foundation. These stoves are going to benefit these people so much!! I’m so excited to be able to help them and in some way improve their lives.
I was in the house all day, did set a foot out the door. I’m exactly proud of this, just stating the facts. I woke up around 8:15am this morning and had some breakfast. Toast with PB&J, a banana, and 3 eggs overhard. Everybody was jealous over my eggs and couldn’t believe I had prepared something so amazing; I was rather amused. I ended up sharing a bite with Jackie and Rylee, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of it. I spent lot of time on the computer doing things for HELP as well as personal things including pictures.
I told Jackie I would help her import her video and teach her how to do some simple editing. We sat down for a little over an hour and I taught her some basics, enough for her to do what she needs to accomplish her goal for making a video. She has a an awesome idea/goal of interviewing kids and then showing it somewhere. I don’t know the whole idea, but it’s going to be very cool. It’s a lot of fun to have her camera on this trip, it’s HD and pretty nice. She told me I could use it whenever so I might just have to take her up on that offer.
I uploaded my pictures two nights ago, I’m not sure if I mentioned that. I love my new pictures, they are so great. I have the one of the three boys on my desktop right now, they are so precious. I love my camera, it’s such a blessing to have. It all started with my Mom and Dad giving me my first REAL camera when I got off my mission. It was for my birthday, I was absolutely ecstatic. That opened up such a big door for me and I have improved immensely over the years. As of right now I have 795 pictures taken, that’s about 23 per day, not bad. I’m pretty excited to have so many pictures already, I hope to leave with AT LEAST 2000, but I like more like 3000. That’s not too many for a place you may never visit again.
I got a little sick today, my intestines have been whacked out for about a week now. I’m pretty sure it’s the doxycycline wiping out the probiotics in my large intestine. Luckily, I figured this would happen before I came and came prepared. We bought some probiotic supplements that I should have been taking everyday up to this point while I’ve been on doxy. I hope it will solve the problem, I need it to, it must.
Well, I feel well rested, I’m ready to kick butt tomorrow and the coming weeks. We are going back to Equator Primary School tomorrow at 3pm to fill in the foundation we made for the Simba Stove, we are pretty excited. On Friday we will return to True Light Primary School and fill in that foundation. These stoves are going to benefit these people so much!! I’m so excited to be able to help them and in some way improve their lives.
Day 33 - Days Go By
I just can’t get over how fast the time is going by, really. The 2nd wave volunteers will be here in 2 weeks and I can’t even believe it. Days are starting to move faster as we get more and more busy. As of now there are only 51 days left, I’ve already spent 33.
I’m so happy that we are finally beginning to work in the clinics and that we have Simba Stove projects going. We got started on the Simba Stove at True Light secondary school today. Amber, Heidi, and I went and successfully built a foundation for the stove. We decided to do two big holes instead of the generic one big hole and 2 small ones because of the amount of food they will be cooking. We kinda of came up with our own design to accommodate the situation and we feel like it’s going to work well. We made the stove with two fire sources because we wanted to make absolute sure that the stove would provide the help that it’s designed two. Although our goal is to be able to use 1 fire source, we are better safe than sorry, especially when they are providing the materials. Part of our problem is that we have never been able to make and light up a stove. We are still waiting for the one at Seya to dry enough to start a fire, but we think we are just going to go up on Thursday wether it’s ready or not because we NEED to know if it works or not. It’s been almost 3 weeks since we built the stove, it should be dang close. I was very satisfied with the design and our workmanship of the foundation, it was our first time without having Dan there who happens to be very skilled in building and woodworking. It’s really exciting to be really making stoves, finally doing the things that we came here to do. I beginning to feel accomplishment already.
We also visited the Mehta Hospital today and took a tour. Annette, who I think is the Senior Nurse, forgot to make the list that we requested be made last week. She told us that she would have it done tomorrow. As soon as we can get the list the sooner we can get people working there. The hospital itself was the same song second verse of Kawolo Hospital. As far as medical things are concerned everything is super scary over here. It’s not easy to walk into the hospitals, let alone imagine having some sort of operation that could potentially save your life but be the most unpleasant experience of one’s life. The conditions are absolutely horrible.
When Jackie and I were walking through Jinja yesterday we talked about how spoiled we are to have what we have. Spoiled doesn’t even begin to describe what we are and what we have. It blows my mind each day as I walk through the towns how different things are. I’m not sure I’ll ever totally get over that fact, it’s just too much different to ever forget. We are so blessed to have what we have, nobody even realized unless they’ve seen what I’ve seen and/or worse.
Need to use the restroom? Yeah, don’t plan on a public restroom or even latrine unless you can find a place and pay them some amount of shillings. Porcelain? Get real. Need some medical attention? Don’t plan on the place being sterile or full of amazing doctors. Need a garbage can for that water bottle? You’re walking on it. Entertainment? Leave Lugazi. Clean drinking water? Boil it or buy it. Want running water? Don’t bet on it. Warm shower? Negative. Electricity? Neither. Washer and dryer? Dream on. Security? Get an armed guard. Want to go to the grocery store and pick up some food? Good luck with that, whatever you find. These are just a few things to think about when it comes to what we have and take for granted. People just have no idea! I’m going to croak from now on when I hear people complain about what they don’t have or complain about anything when they have everything. If people could spend the time that I’ve spent here in Lugazi, Uganda, they’d realize what they have and what these people are missing.
I had the opportunity to upload a bunch of pictures, 83 to be exact. I also updating my blog with my most recent entries. I hope people are enjoying my run-downs, they are pretty crazy. I hope to continue to get amazing pictures. I felt like the ones I just loaded were some of the best so far. The pictures of the kids are my favorite, they are so cute and the look in their eyes tells so much about them. I downed 2 Pepsis today and it felt so good. I think I’m addicted while I’m here. The problem is that it’s the closest thing to home food that I can get my hands on. Also it’s like a big treat at the end of the day. Well, that’s all for tonight. On my way to bed, but maybe I’ll get some reading in before then. Until tomorrow.
I’m so happy that we are finally beginning to work in the clinics and that we have Simba Stove projects going. We got started on the Simba Stove at True Light secondary school today. Amber, Heidi, and I went and successfully built a foundation for the stove. We decided to do two big holes instead of the generic one big hole and 2 small ones because of the amount of food they will be cooking. We kinda of came up with our own design to accommodate the situation and we feel like it’s going to work well. We made the stove with two fire sources because we wanted to make absolute sure that the stove would provide the help that it’s designed two. Although our goal is to be able to use 1 fire source, we are better safe than sorry, especially when they are providing the materials. Part of our problem is that we have never been able to make and light up a stove. We are still waiting for the one at Seya to dry enough to start a fire, but we think we are just going to go up on Thursday wether it’s ready or not because we NEED to know if it works or not. It’s been almost 3 weeks since we built the stove, it should be dang close. I was very satisfied with the design and our workmanship of the foundation, it was our first time without having Dan there who happens to be very skilled in building and woodworking. It’s really exciting to be really making stoves, finally doing the things that we came here to do. I beginning to feel accomplishment already.
We also visited the Mehta Hospital today and took a tour. Annette, who I think is the Senior Nurse, forgot to make the list that we requested be made last week. She told us that she would have it done tomorrow. As soon as we can get the list the sooner we can get people working there. The hospital itself was the same song second verse of Kawolo Hospital. As far as medical things are concerned everything is super scary over here. It’s not easy to walk into the hospitals, let alone imagine having some sort of operation that could potentially save your life but be the most unpleasant experience of one’s life. The conditions are absolutely horrible.
When Jackie and I were walking through Jinja yesterday we talked about how spoiled we are to have what we have. Spoiled doesn’t even begin to describe what we are and what we have. It blows my mind each day as I walk through the towns how different things are. I’m not sure I’ll ever totally get over that fact, it’s just too much different to ever forget. We are so blessed to have what we have, nobody even realized unless they’ve seen what I’ve seen and/or worse.
Need to use the restroom? Yeah, don’t plan on a public restroom or even latrine unless you can find a place and pay them some amount of shillings. Porcelain? Get real. Need some medical attention? Don’t plan on the place being sterile or full of amazing doctors. Need a garbage can for that water bottle? You’re walking on it. Entertainment? Leave Lugazi. Clean drinking water? Boil it or buy it. Want running water? Don’t bet on it. Warm shower? Negative. Electricity? Neither. Washer and dryer? Dream on. Security? Get an armed guard. Want to go to the grocery store and pick up some food? Good luck with that, whatever you find. These are just a few things to think about when it comes to what we have and take for granted. People just have no idea! I’m going to croak from now on when I hear people complain about what they don’t have or complain about anything when they have everything. If people could spend the time that I’ve spent here in Lugazi, Uganda, they’d realize what they have and what these people are missing.
I had the opportunity to upload a bunch of pictures, 83 to be exact. I also updating my blog with my most recent entries. I hope people are enjoying my run-downs, they are pretty crazy. I hope to continue to get amazing pictures. I felt like the ones I just loaded were some of the best so far. The pictures of the kids are my favorite, they are so cute and the look in their eyes tells so much about them. I downed 2 Pepsis today and it felt so good. I think I’m addicted while I’m here. The problem is that it’s the closest thing to home food that I can get my hands on. Also it’s like a big treat at the end of the day. Well, that’s all for tonight. On my way to bed, but maybe I’ll get some reading in before then. Until tomorrow.
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