I love Africa :)

I'm sick.  And being sick in Africa stinks.  Really bad.  We have had half of our team get sick already.  Dunno why, but it's been spreading for 1 1/2 weeks now.  We have had I think around 15ish get sick now.  It's not good!  We found out yesterday that one girl has a parasite.  She is in the hospital right now getting taken care of because she won't eat here at home, so they are keeping her there to put IV's in her so she will get some nutrition somehow.

So this past Saturday we had our first dental camp that was combined with the Rotary Club of Kampala Nakasero's Family Health Days.

Starting the Family Health Days

We had about 80 dental patients and 66 teeth were extracted.  There was also HIV testing and blood donations going on.  We had 73 patients tested for HIV, 7 were positive.  Sad. :( And we had 23 blood donors, and 23 potential blood donors.

Stewart doing check-outs for HIV

165 total patients were registered for the whole family health days.  It was okay, but next time I do an eye and dental camp, we want it to be BIG!!

Setting up the Dental Camp

Much bigger than this past one.  We want close to 200 patients just with the dental campaign.  Hopefully it will work out. :)  But because of the low numbers this past Saturday, we aren't going to be doing a campaign every month.  Only when we are completely ready with glasses, drugs, funding, and advertising will we do an eye and dental campaign.  We would rather have a huge successful campaign than lots of small ones that take up our time and funding.

Giving numbing shots for teeth extractions

Last week I spent 56 hours alone on the dental camp.  69 hours total will all my projects combined.  It has been a super busy time for me!  But it's good.  I like being busy because then I feel like I'm actually making a difference here. :)
On Sunday I helped with vaccinations in Jinja after church.  My stations wasn't very busy until the time I was ready to leave.  Go figure eh?  But it was good.  There was a lot of screaming and terrified kids who were given Polio, Measles, and Vitamin A vaccinations.  We only gave them to kids who were 5 and younger.  Sunday was a slow day.  On Saturday and Monday they did much more than what was done on Sunday!

Extracting the teeth...

On Monday, I met with Tony and Moses and walked around my village in Lugazi to assess the needs of the children with disabilities.  I discovered we have about 7 or more neighbors who have children with disabilities!!  I had no idea!! :(  It was so sad.
The first kid we visited was named Joel and he was 16, although he looked as if he were 5 or so!  He has Down syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.  He chews his tongue, is very very skinny (only bones pretty much), he can't eat solid food, he has two lanes of teeth as if his bottom teeth never fell out.  There is terrible hygiene in the house and he spits up a lot.  The mother cleans the spit, but with the same rag over and over again and then she never washes her own hands.  He does sit better than 3 years ago, when Melissa first met him.  But he just stays in his chair all day and never goes outside.
Because here in Africa, people think if you have a kid with disabilities you must have done something terribly wrong for you to be "cursed" with a disabled child.  It is the saddest thing ever.  We want to make a swing or something for him to be able to be outside with.

Noel, who is 3, has Down syndrome.  She was unhappy, doesn't talk, and she grinds her teeth.  We want to find a way to make her happy, maybe with group interactions or something.
Chamim, 19, has a mental/learning disability which was caused my Malaria.  Her family thinks they can't do anything for her anymore, ever since childhood they have given up on her.  She can understand you for the most part, and can kind of respond.  She was a cute and somewhat happy girl.  Her family wants her to have happiness, but don't know what they can do.
Kenya, 30, is physically disabled.  He has a long stick to get around, just like Tony.  He doesn't have a job because he is too weak.
Jolie, 15, I don't know what is her disability.  We only know that her mother leaves for work and locks her in the house all day. :(
Mastula, 14, has Autism.  She can't talk, but she understands and responds.  She loves to smile too :)

Naniendo, 14, has Epilepsy.  About 3 months ago, she suffered from an epileptic attack and fell into a pot of boiling beans which burnt her mouth, cheeks, neck, and chin.  It is a bad burn with terrible scars.  She isn't responding to any drugs.  She is mentally stable - she is just sad from her burn and now deformed face.  She is also sad because a sibling recently passed away as well.  She can't lift her head, because of the scar tissue.
Sam, 13, has Epilepsy also.  He is a very very happy child, can sing beautifully, and very badly wants to go to school.  He flips his eyes and his body is pulled because of Epilepsy.  He has a great memory, but he is nearly blind.  He has sat on the ground for months so we are thinking of making him a chair and also getting things for him to play with and maybe a radio for him to sing along with.
Ester, 20, has deformed legs.  She crawls to get around, but she can make crafts for a living.
There were some other places that we were not able to make it to.  It's just so sad to see these children cooped up in a corner of the house because their parents are afraid of taking them outside and being seen with them.

I hope we can make a big change with this problem this summer.

Haha I received another love note from Eric - my African lover. ;) They are quite flowery and hilarious.  Here they are for you to read :)

First note from May 16th:

2nd Note from May 26th:

Today we are teaching some dental hygiene classes in the village of Kiteza, about a 15 minute boda-boda ride from Lugazi.  It should be good!  We met with a doctor yesterday and he told us some very interesting things about how people try to take care of their teeth.  Because they don't have money, they aren't able to buy toothbrushes and toothpaste, so they use tree branches.  They use these, but because it isn't smooth, like they should make it, it makes their gums raw, so then they stop brushing altogether because it is too painful.  Which then leaves them vulnerable to diseases and cavities.

Also, when babies are teething, because parents don't make sure what they give the child to chew on won't create cuts in their gums, their gums become infected and sometimes maggots get in there.  It then makes the child even more unhappy and the parents take their child to the local witch doctor and ask them what to do and asks them why their child is so miserable.  They end up taking stones or 6 inch long nails and knocking the teeth buds out, which creates multiple problems for later in life.  Sometimes, the child dies because of the diseases they acquire when their gums are cut from hard and sharp objects they chew on.  Sad huh?  So we are doing a dental hygiene class.  Hopefully it will help them!

I was able to talk to my family yesterday morning!!  It was early morning for me, night for them.  I wasn't able to sleep either so I just got up around 3:45 and waited until 5 to roll around because that's the time we had set up to talk!  It was fun :)

Well, that's all folks! :) Until next time! And hopefully I'll be over this sickness by next time!

Week 2 in Africa! :)

Sorry I haven’t posted in FOREVER!  Many many things have happened.  Some things were great, some fun, and some bad.  What should I start with first?  Great, fun, or bad?
Let’s do great first!  Then you aren’t discouraged to continue reading if I had started with bad. :) Good plan? Yes I think so.

One of my many friends :)

 Okay so great things that have happened!  Lots and lots of meetings and research.  I have met Rotarian Paul (President of the Rotary Club of Kampala Nakasero), Dr. Kizito (Eye doctor we are asking to help us with the eye camp) and town councilman and chairman of the subcounty Najjembe!  Most of the meetings were VERY helpful with us figuring out the eye and dental campaigns.  We are teaming up with the Rotary Club for all the eye and dental campaigns and so meeting Rotarian Paul was good to see who we were working with.  He expects a lot of high expectations, and I hope we won’t disappoint.  After meeting with Dr. Kizito (which was a very effective first meeting) we figured out that they eye campaign is going to cost a leg and an arm.  Like seriously.  We are going to have to fundraise A LOT. (We will need YOUR help for that!  But we aren’t there yet.)  Then the next time we met with Dr. Kizito, he had bought 200 glasses for the Eye Camp that was supposed to happen this weekend (Saturday).
This is where the bad news comes in.  We can’t do the eye camp anymore.  Because it is going to cost SO much, we don’t have the funds yet for it so we had to cancel the eye camp.  It has been a very frustrating and stressful process.  I returned the glasses to Dr. Kizito today because we can’t use them yet until our June camp.  So he is keeping them until then.  We also called Rotarian Paul and told him.  He was disappointed but understood…except we told him we would continue with the dental camp this weekend.  So that should still be underway.
All the drugs that we are supposed to get for the eye camp are around $360.  The glasses that he bought were $350.  We can’t go over $200 before our project has been proposed and approved, so that is why we had to cancel it.  Funds were insufficient.  We are hoping that Deseret International Foundation will donate glasses so we won’t have to purchase them.  We are also trying to contact rotary clubs in the US and see if they would be willing to donate money.  So if you know of any rotary clubs or just anyone who would be willing to donate to our cause to cover the costs of these prices so we can do eye camps this summer, PLEASE ask them to help us out! :)

On my way to help with a business class! This cute girl wanted to be in my picture :)

 Okay.  So that is the great and bad news.  On to the FUN news!! :)
FIRST: I have an African lover. ;) Not really.  It’s just that there is an African who is in love with me.  He even wrote me a note, came over to our house to see me one night, and also called me one night too!  Just to see how I was doing and to tell me that he loved me. haha :)  He’s a funny character.  His name is Eric and goes to the business classes that we are teaching and organizing.
NEXT: I rafted the NILE RIVER!!!!!!!!!! :D :D My goodness gracious, it was the best white water rafting trip I’ve EVER been on!  I almost bungee jumped over the Nile River too, but I don’t have enough money to do that.  I’m saving up for a Safari! :)
Our first rapid, our raft flipped.  It was awesome :) I couldn’t breathe as I was tumbling beneath the water, but I still held onto the raft and so I was safe :) (No worries, the people who did let go of the raft were safe too because we had about 4 kayakers waiting at the foot of the rapids to pick up anyone who may have fallen out and floated away from the raft. :)

Nile River :)

 It was an all-day rafting trip.  We started at 10 in the morning and landed about 16 miles downstream around 5pm.  It was a great day! :) I put 85spf on, but still got burnt. Lame, huh?
It also rained on us while we were on the river!  It was cool :)
ALSO because of our group deal for the rafting trip (free travel to and from Jinja, good price on bungee jumping and rafting, a free night in their dorms, and free meals during our trip on the river!) we were able to have WARM showers!!!!!!!!!!!  My goodness, I haven’t had a warm shower since I left my house Tuesday morning 2 weeks ago!  It felt SOOO nice!  I think I just stood in the hot water for at least 5 minutes.  It was de best! :)  There was also a frog in one of the showers-SO cool!  I caught it because the girl who was in that shower was freaking out.  It was cute :)
OH! I almost forgot.  When we got to the Nile Resort and signed our paperwork to raft, I looked out from the deck to the other side of a little canyon, and I saw MONKEYS jumping tree to tree! They were so cute!  I got a picture, although it is hard to see him!  But I got him! :)  There were a lot of monkeys there!  It was awesome! :)

Do you see him? He's a brown little fellow in the tree, climbing down to a lower branch..

Another thing, when we arrived back at the resort after our day rafting, the sun was just barely setting – a BEAUTIFUL sight :)

Isn't that Beautiful??? :)

 Anywho!  That is all for now!  I’m working on getting some meetings set up for People with Disabilities and will call some people tomorrow.  I’m also working on getting the dental camp ready for THIS Saturday!  Hope it goes well! :) Wish us luck! :) And again…please help us out by either donating yourself or if you know someone who would be more than willing to donate! You would be the best! :)
Enjoy your warm showers!  Enjoy flush toilets!  Enjoy Walmart!  Enjoy people who are very punctual and are on time to meetings ALWAYS.  Enjoy safe drivers and safe (paved and non-HUGE pothole) roads!  Enjoy deodorant!  Enjoy variety of foods (Hamburgers, pizza, ice cream, CHOCOLATE…I had a hamburger and fries today! And also a chocolate bar!  It was GREAT!)! :) Enjoy life!

Musana Women at work making Jewelry

 One of the women's baby girl - she was adorable! :)

 We have a rat problem in our house...but we caught 2 of them!

 Sunset from our driveway. Pretty. :)

 Dance party in front of our house! :) - Isaac & Eric

 They know how to dance! Stewart and Becca! :)

Love you all!

I ate a grasshopper.

I ate a grasshopper the other day.  Disgusting?  Just a bit.  Pastor Francis brought in a huge bag and dumped a handful of cooked grasshoppers into my hand...after seeing their eyes, antennas, and their bodies, I was about to gag.  One of my teammates made me eat it.  If I could, I would show you the video.  However, internet is too slow so I will just give you a picture of it...

Me before I ate the head...

The bowl of grasshoppers.

Do you see it's eye and wing?? Yeah. I ate that.

Today we worked on getting our projects set up.  I am doing the eye and dental camp and then also I'll be working with people with disabilities.  Our first dental camp is May 26, and then we have 3 more after that throughout the summer.  The people with disabilities, I am the project leader, and so right now all we are doing is just researching what they are doing already and what we can do to help out.  I will post more on all that stuff when it actually gets rolling! :)
Saturday, we had some downtime, so we found a soccer ball in the market place and went to the mango trees to play soccer with some of the kids!  My goodness it was a blast! :)  Ugandans are amazing at soccer.  I was getting schooled. :)

My team won though!  5-4! :)

Plus, it isn't easy trying to play soccer in a skirt.
Also on Saturday, that morning it rained for over 4 hours!  Which isn't exactly normal.  BUT it was nice because then I took a shower!  In the rain! :)

On our way to church in Jinja, we crossed the Nile River! :)

I'll be rafting the Nile sometime one of these weekends! :)

Church! :)

Today we danced with the kids outside our gate! :)  That was fun.  I love the children here.  They are the best! :)

Welp that's all for now!  It's dinner time! :)  Waylaba! (Again, I don't know if that's how you spell it...but tis how you say it:)

Oli Otya!

I’M IN AFRICA!!!!!!

Oli Otya!!

This means “How are you?” in Luganda.  So right now I am in the middle of a rainstorm-it is a LEGIT rainstorm!  If I were to walk outside right now I would be soaked in seconds!

So my first post while I’m in Africa! How exciting! :) 

(Pictures are at the bottom if you don't want to read anything..it's kind of long, but I suggest reading. But do what you want to do!) :)

As most of you know, I left May 8^th and traveled for two days to get here (Lugazi).  I flew from Las Vegas to New York and then New York to London, where some of my team and I met up and toured London for a couple hours!  We split up after lunch because half of the group was pooped and wanted to go back to the airport.  I, however, wanted to tour still and see all the cool things! :) We went to changing of the guards at Buckingham palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, London Eye, Millenium Bridge, Shakespeare globe theatre, London Tower, London Bridge, and Tower Bridge.  We didn’t make it to Kings Cross (where platform 9 ¾ is!) L. But it was still a successful day in London :).  It was even cloudy and rainy which made the London experience so much more…London-y. ;)

After touring London, we headed back to the airport where we caught our flight to Kenya and then Kenya to Uganda.

Getting off the plane in Uganda was unreal.  I didn’t feel like I was in Africa yet AT ALL.  It is a tad bit humid here, but NOTHING like Houston, TX! :)  We got our visa’s and luggage and then making sure everyone was there, we loaded the bus and drove 2 hours to Lugazi!  I tried SO hard not to fall asleep! I even had the window wide open and the wind was blowing in my face. BUT, after an hour of gawking at the people, crazy traffic, and landscape, I died and didn’t wake up until we arrived in Lugazi.

Cutest thing ever-when we rode down our road to our house, the little kids who saw our bus filled with a bunch of white people started jumping up and down and crying out, “Mzungu’s! Mzungu’s!!!” It was adorable! :D Oh sorry! Mzungu means “White person”. :) The kids were all yelling this and rushing towards us to welcome us.  When we turned around and smiled at them they would stop in their tracks and hide.  It was the best thing ever! :)

We unloaded our suitcases, put them in the house and changed into some skirts and headed back out to start on a quick project the country directors had ready for us!

We went to Pastor Francis’s school and helped him get the school house ready for Monday because school starts for the kids on Monday!  I worked on re-doing the bridge.  It was quite the job!  There were loose boards everywhere and huge gaps.  We took boards out, and nailed in new boards.  By the end, it was a pretty nice and sturdy bridge! :)
All the kids who had seen us while we were walking over to the school followed us and were watching and playing with us the whole time! It was so cute! :D There were at least 30 or so kids all around us.

By the end, they were all used to us and would just come up to you and grab your hand or arm and just hold on to you.  As we walked back to our house, they held our hand all the way to the main road.  It was like a parade! :)

When we got back to our house, we got ready for bed.  We set up the mosquito nets and our mattresses and then showered.  There is one bathroom indoors with a shower and a flush toilet, and then 2 showers out back along with a squat toilet.  All 3 showers are a bucket full of water and a cup to pour the water on you.  We are living the high life here ;)

I took a shower out back.  It took me about 5 minutes to finally get myself to do it! (I am such a scared-y cat!)  There were 3 spiders in there and there was a lizard, but he had disappeared. :( I would have been much more comfortable showering with a lizard than with 3 spiders.  Oh well, I didn’t have much choice.  It was fun though!  Quite the adventure.

Oh and our water turned off yesterday so I had to use the squat toilet for the first time…scariest thing of my life! I HATE deep black holes.  I hate them hate them HATE them!  They scare me so bad.  Hopefully this fear will disappear though by the end of the summer because I have a feeling I’m going to be using that toilet A LOT.

So, yesterday was my first full day in Africa.  It was great :)

We had a team meeting and then we split into groups and headed out to do some projects.  I went with the eye camp group.  We went to the mango trees and talked about the project and our vision of what we want it to be like, and then went to the internet café and read the minutes of a previous meeting McCall and Melissa had had with Josephine.  After that, we headed over to the hospital to just get a tour of it.  It was cool!  Very unlike our hospitals in the USA, but…it works.  All their care is free, but if you want medication or anything like that you have to pay for it.  As we were walking through the baby factory (That is what Amos kept calling it), one of Melissa’s friends from 3 years ago saw her and asked her to come back and see her new grandson that Sandra(her daughter) had had just three days ago.  Oh my gosh!  Her baby was SO cute!  He was super small, but oh man, so cute!

I want to have a black baby.  They are just so cute and calm!  Super adorable:) 

Okay, so I’ve only talked about what I’ve done so far.  I haven’t told you yet about Uganda and Lugazi!  Sorry!  Here goes. :)

The food here is FABULOUS!! :D  We have two cooks here for the week who cook us dinner.  Their names are Eve and Rosette.  They are super hilarious and so awesome!  They cook amazing dinners.  Our first dinner, they cooked the Ugandan meal that they adore.  Beans, rice, cooked bananas(which taste like potatoes), potatoes, peanut sauce, and green beans.  Twas amazing :) Last night we had beans, rice, mangos, potatoes, pumpkin, and passion fruit juice! :)

There is trash everywhere on the streets.  My first day here we walked by a large trash pile and I saw a man searching through the trash looking for food.  He found ¾ of a tomato and started eating it.  It is so sad!  They don’t have any type of garbage man or anyway to get rid of their trash.  It follows them everywhere.  We are so lucky to have garbage men who take our trash away.  We just put it in a bag, and then into a can, and then it is gone forever from us.  NOT here!

Traffic here is INSANE.  If you thought California or Provo drivers were bad, you need to get out more! ;) But seriously.  There are taxi buses everywhere and also boda-boda’s (Which are like taxi motorcycles).  Boda-boda’s are crazy!  I was SO surprised we didn’t hit one on our way to Lugazi!  They are driving on each side of the road, sometimes in the middle, and they swerve in and out of traffic.  It’s scary.  Traffic here has NO consideration for pedestrians.  To cross the street people just go when there’s a spot open.  No lights, no cross walks…it’s all up to you to not get hit! :)

The scenery here is BEAUTIFUL! So green and hilly!  It’s humid but not too bad.  Their red dirt is crazy.  Nothing like St. George’s red dirt!  In St. George, if you get red dirt on you, you can easily brush it off and your hand is its normal color.  Here, however, you touch the dirt and your hand will be stained!  It takes a couple hand washings to get it all off!

People here are SUPER welcoming.  I just love them so much!  Also, when you shake someone’s hand and they don’t let go after the shake, don’t be alarmed.  It’s just their culture!  They like to hold your hand.  The little kids are SO cute.  I absolutely LOVE them!  When they are done being afraid of you, they really like to hold your hand or arm or play with your watch!  They also like to rub your skin sometimes to try and get the white off! :)

Don’t go out at dark-more specifically after 10pm.  Uganda overall is just not safe after dark.  Don’t worry though Mom!  We have a night guard AND a day guard so we are completely safe in our house/compound! :)  McCall told us a story how one of their Ugandan friends were helping her and Melissa move into the house a couple weeks ago and at the end of the day, after he walked Melissa safely home, he himself started on his way home.  It was dark by then and he was attacked by a robber who beat him up badly.  The natives say that is normal!  Sad huh!  So we avoid going out at night at all costs.  Too risky.

Lugazi is a very cute town.  Just a bit poverty stricken but hey, that’s why we are here! :)

I’ve been hearing stories about the group who went with Moses to visit kids with disabilities.  I can’t believe some of these stories!  SOOO sad!  Because African people look down upon families who have a child with disabilities, their parents don’t do ANYTHING for their child!  They just lay on the cement all day long.  They can’t move or walk or do anything.  The girls said that there was one child who always lies on the cement on a certain side and her side now has cement IN her arm.  It’s engrained in there and it can’t be brushed or washed out!  Their parents put them on the cement because they don’t want the child to poop on their couch! :( It’s terribly sad.  I think I’m going to join this project along with the eye camp because Melissa told me that Moses does Physical Therapy type work with the kids with disabilities!  And physical therapy is what I want to do!  Perfect eh!? ;)

Last night the power went out, and we ate by torch light (torch means flashlight here).  It was fun :)

I woke up to the rain at 6 this morning and it is now 8, and still going as strong as ever.  We might not be able to leave the house today and go to Kambira Forest!  When it rains here, it makes the town shut down pretty much.  Because the roads get WAY too muddy because they aren’t paved.  No one can get anywhere.

Anywho, I’ve talked your ear off enough already!  Here are some pictures!  Not all of the ones I've taken-not at all!- but at least some :) Enjoy! I'll post again soon with more pictures hopefully! :)

Getting on the plane that heads toward Uganda!

"Welcoem to Uganda."

The kids who wait outside our door each day!

Eve's daughter, Nicole! She is SO cute! :D

Ugandan's favorite meal! :) Rice, beans, potatoes, cooked bananas, and green beans.

One of the many boda-boda's on the side of our bus.

Melissa holding Ryan, Sandra's new baby boy

Lugazi

Kids on our walk to our house! They love Mzungu's! :)

For now, Waylaba! (I don’t know if that’s exactly how you spell it, but it’s how you pronounce it). :)

And I'm off! ...almost :)

Tonight is my LAST night in the USA!  Ahhh!  My goodness I am soo stoked and yet soo scared! :) It's my first time flying overseas...oh boy oh boy...
I will finish my packing tomorrow morning!  I can't believe I'm really going!  I'm actually going...TOMORROW!  My goodness gracious :)
Anywho! I just wanted to say BYE!  I'll see you all in August! :)
Next stop: LONDON!! :) and then UGANDA!!!!! :)

Ki Kati

Ki Kati.  It means "Hi" in Lugandan! :)
It really is TIME FOR AFRICA! I leave in 3 days! Practically 2 days now :) Or if you count the way my older sister does, I have only ONE more day left in the US! :) I seriously cannot wait!  I still can't believe I am going.  It will most likely hit me once I have to use my first squat toilet in Africa or something ;)
I'm working on packing and fundraising right now. I have gotten everything I need packing wise...I just need to put it into a suitcase! :) But no worries - I've got some time ;) As for the fundraising....yeah I'm still working on that one.
 

"There are no foreign lands.  It is the traveler only who is foreign." -Robert Louis Stevenson

Africa. 3 days. Can't believe it. Can't wait for the new adventure. :)