Pebbles in my Boots: 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