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). :)