I Love African Rainstorms :)

Oh Uganda may God uphold thee, we lay our future in thy hands.  United free for liberty together we always stand.

That is Uganda's National Anthem.  It's a TON shorter than ours, don't cha think?

Soooo…project updates?  I think yes. :)

EYE AND DENTAL CAMP:

We are still working on trying to find another way to partner with Mehta Hospital for their camp.  A way that we don’t have to work through Dr. Kigula.  We hope it will work, but we don’t know.  If it doesn’t, we are going to have to organize our own eye and dental campaign somewhere… :/

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:

Things are going REALLY well with this project! :D  I absolutely love it and I love all the projects we have been a part of.

Monday and Tuesday we worked on Sam’s chair.  Tuesday evening we delivered the chair to Sam.

Sam's Chair - the finished product!

He was very happy and excited about it. :)  We also asked the parents what their thoughts were.  They said that they think this chair will really help Sam.  It will help separate his legs and strengthen his back and legs. :)

Sam is very happy :)

I am going to go every day and sit with Sam as he sits in his chair.  We are going to start with a small amount of time, and every day increase by one minute or less.  Or maybe just every couple days or every week, increase by five minutes.  We will see which would be best for Sam as we start it.  I am excited!  This is Physical Therapy!  This is what I have wanted to do since I got here! :)

Me, Moses, and Julia with Sam :)

Wednesday, Julia and I went to Kampala and met Daphine, Moses, Elaine, Whitney, and McCall there.  Once everyone was at our meeting place, we then proceeded to the hospital where we were getting Daphine’s prosthetic arm. :)  Daphine is so sweet. :) I love her so much. :)

Once we got to the hospital, we went straight to where we would get the arm and waited.  While we waited, Daphine started communicating to me!  Although it wasn’t Luganda or English words she was saying, she was just making noises and pointing to things.  It was way cool!  :) I helped her eat her lunch because that was what she was communicating to me what she wanted. :)

Finally, the doctor came out with the prosthetic arm.  He put it on and asked her how she liked it.  She really likes it :)  Then he took it off and let me put it on her!

 

The hand isn’t able to clutch things, but it will help her to hold things better and it will help her not be made fun of by children her age because of  her stub arm.  The arm is hard to get the black color, so they spray paint it later.

Victor (the guy who made the arm), Daphine, Julia, Me, and Moses

After getting the arm, we headed home.  Driving through Kampala, I saw something that I whipped out my camera for to take a picture.  Just for you, Shayna :)

On the bus ride home, Daphine kept whispering to me something.  I had no idea what she was saying, and she was acting as if she had to go to the bathroom.  So I asked Moses to ask her if she had to go to the bathroom.  Whenever he asked her, she would say no.  He would ask her in Luganda, so I supposed that she understood him but not me.  But eventually, as we kept riding, I knew she was definitely trying to tell me she had to go to the bathroom.  We were on the bus though…problem?  Yes.

Thankfully we were in a traffic jam, and right outside was a gas station.  The driver let Moses and Daphine off and Moses took her to the bathroom.  I thought they were going to miss getting back to the bus and we would leave them.  But they made it.  Phew! :) But when they got back on the bus, the people who were standing before Moses got off sat in their places.  So I stood up to let Daphine sit, and then whenever I would look over at her, she would look at me, wave, and then kind of glare at the women who took my seat because she wanted me to sit by her.  It was so cute :)

Right as the woman left, Daphine patted the seat and told me to sit by her :)

We got to Mukono and took Daphine to the market where her mother works.  We showed her mother the arm and how to put it on.  Her mother was soo grateful :) She was so happy for her daughter.  Daphine has got a great mother. :)  It makes me miss my mom…I love you mom :)

Daphine and her mother. Her mother works in the market place.

To show her thanks, she gave a bagful of fruit and vegetables.  She even gave us Oranges!  Those are expensive here!

Today Chelsea and I went to Sam’s and met Moses there.  We are leveling the ground outside his house so that when he sits outside in his chair, he won’t tip over because the ground is VERY uneven.  We will also be fixing the roof too, because there are so many holes.  It’s what makes the ground uneven in the first place because every time it rains, it just drips through and makes a hole.  So we will be fixing that soon.

Sam using his chair :)

We borrowed a wheelbarrow, two shovels, and two hoes.  Then we went to a dirt pile that Moses had received and started hoeing and shoveling!

The local kids wanted to help us!

We would transport the dirt to his house by the wheelbarrow and it became a good process.  I got blisters all over my hands…they really hurt.  One of them has already burst open. :(

But it was good. :)  Our last load of dirt, the wheelbarrow wheel came out on us.  So we carried the wheelbarrow of dirt to Sam’s house and dumped the dirt.  Then we fixed the wheelbarrow.

After fixing the wheelbarrow, we started leveling the ground with these huge sticks with a flat piece of wood at the end of it.  You lift it up and slam it down on the ground…it was fun :)  But right as we started doing this, a HUGE rainstorm came and stopped our progress.

Chelsea and I tried to continue through the rain, but the mud started sticking to the stick and it wasn’t working.  Then some dishes blew away across the street, so Chelsea ran into the rain to gather the dishes for the people who they belonged to.  After that, guess what!!  It started to HAIL.  Yes.  It hailed in Africa :)

Hail in Africa. :)

It was the craziest thing I have seen since I got here!  I took a quick video, and then Chelsea and I decided to run out in the pouring rain. :)  BEST DAY EVER!

It was soo fun!  Everyone called us Mulalo (crazy) but we didn’t care!  We started dancing, jumping in puddles, and just had so so SO much fun!  We ran over to Musana to say Hi to the women there.  They were surprised to see us out in the rain and called us crazy :)  On our way back to Sam’s, we noticed someone’s clothesline had fallen because of the intense wind that accompanied the rain storm.  So we stopped and helped fix the line!  It was just metal wire, so I pulled the line with the clothes tight, and Chelsea grabbed the wire that was attached to the wood post and we pulled it together and she twisted a knot into the wire.  The woman was grateful for us fixing it. :)

We then ran back to Sam’s and noticed there was a HUGE puddle filling up right in front of the door.  Uh oh.  We didn’t want it to flood the house, so Chelsea and I started to dig a moat.  It was as if I were still a little kid playing in the mud with my friend!  Making moats around the anthills to get rid of them… ;)

We made the moat, drained the water, and then made a dam so that it wouldn’t be a problem anymore. :) I got very muddy and Chelsea almost started a mud fight…thankfully we didn’t.  That would have been VERY messy!  That mud was hard to wash off my hands!  haha :)

We fixed that, and then washed off all the mud in the pouring rain!

Chelsea got stuck across the street in the storm

We then helped fill some tubs for Ester who lives across from Sam.  Her legs don’t work, and so she walks around on her hands and is able to make a living by weaving baskets.  We also helped clear the water that was gathering in front of her door so that it wouldn’t flood her house!  We swept that water away and then we walked around looking for more service opportunities we could provide.  We helped a man catch his cow that had started wandering down the street.  And then we helped an older woman who was filling up her tubs and buckets with water.

It was fun playing in the rain, and it was awesome that we could provide service while playing in the rain too!  It was the best :)

Playing in an African rain/hail storm: CHECK! :)

WORTH IT MOMENTS

• Daphine was communicating to me this week!  Although she can’t speak, she kept making noises and would point to things to help me understand.  I was able to help her the whole day because she trusted me and was comfortable enough with me to communicate to me.

Sam really likes his chair that we finished for him!  He and his parents both like it a lot and they all know that it will help Sam a lot. Today while we were with Sam, Sam said that he feels the muscle strains and it gives him energy and he knows it will help strengthen him.

• Today, Chelsea and I played and danced in puddles during a HUGE rain/hail storm.  It was the best ever!!  We were also able to help 5 people during the rainstorm, so it was really good! :)

Tomorrow, Chelsea, Julia, Whitney, and I are headed to Mbale to help with their projects on Friday and then hike Sipi Falls on Saturday!! :) I’m super excited!! :)

I LOVE AFRICA!!!  Especially their rainstorms :D

Quote of the Day! :)

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."

- John Ruskin

I have found my passion! :)

Wave one is gone.  We have 18 people now.  We are feeling like there is SO much room in this house now!  Weird, huh? haha :)

My room, instead of 9 people crammed in there, we only have 5!  We took out 1 of the bunk beds to make more room and HOLY COW.  The room is SOO much roomier!  I can actually walk around in there without tripping over a suitcase! :)

In our living room, we made, out of the extra beds that we now have, two couches!  Woot!  No more hard chairs or useless sitting cushions!

Me, Daphine, and Julia

This week has been a great week.  I worked on People with Disabilities mainly all week.  It was so great. :) I have learned a lot and have decided something big about my life.  I will tell you later though in my updates.

Whitney sawing the wood for Sam's chair

EYE AND DENTAL CAMP:

We are still trying to meet with Dr. Kigula and Mehta Hospital. :/ They are being frustrating!  We really want to partner with them because we think we would be able to provide a lot and be a good partner for them.  I talked with Dr. Kigula yesterday but he said it would not be possible to meet…we are trying to fix that.  We have 800 glasses and more on the way.  We can provide doctors for the eye surgeries and screenings and also dentists for dental stuff.  We can help logistically and I think they should let us partner with them.  It would be good.  Hopefully I can work that out.  I will keep ya updated.

Elaine working on the chair

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:

What a GREAT week I had on this project. :) I absolutely adore these children and I am so glad I am working with them!! :)

Working on Sam's chair with Moses

Tuesday we started the construction of Sam’s chair.  We bought nails.  Good start, eh?  We also met the carpenter, Joseph, who was to help us.  We bought the wood on Wednesday and for two hours straight worked on the chair.  We cut the wood, smoothed it, and put the chair frame together!  That was it for the day.

1st day's work

Thursday we met again and worked on the rest of the chair –the seat and the bottom of the chair.  We started sanding it a little bit, but after two hours, it was time to go because it was starting to get dark.

2nd Day's work

So Friday, we finally finished the construction of the chair!  It looks great!  We got it sanded and then we mixed the stain powder with water and started staining the wood (painting).

Liz painting the chair!

It looks very very nice.  We had to do 3 coats of stain.  The 3^rd one we had to do because there was sanding that we had to do again and the rain had ruined it a little bit.  But after re-staining it, I let it dry for the night.  This morning I got up and worked on the chair again.  I put the white gloss stuff on the chair and I will soon put the first coat of varnish on!

Working on the chair! :)

Before we can deliver the chair, we need to do both coats of varnish, and sew our cushions together.  The cushion is a bag that will be filled with wood shavings…hopefully it will work okay.  It was Moses’s idea.

The chair so far - without varnish

Also on Tuesday after we had bought the nails and met with Joseph we went to Mukono and met Daphine and her family.  Daphine is a 10 year old girl who was severely burned when she was 3 months old by a witch lady who was trying to sacrifice to her to demons.

Picture of when she was burned - 3 months old

She and her family were at a hostile and her mother wasn’t around when the witch came and got hold of Daphine.  3 children were previously sacrificed prior to the attempt on sacrificing Daphine.  She has no left arm and has bad scars all on the left side of her body.  Because of the fire, it damaged her brain and so she can’t talk.  It was really sad to hear about.  And also, the other kids won’t play with her and call her names because of her deformity. :( It makes my heart ache.  She is the cutest and sweetest girl ever.  I love her so much. :)

Daphine's family

We went to Kampala on Thursday with Daphine and her mom to get her a prosthetic hand.  They ended up just getting measurements of her arm, but while we were doing that, Daphine and I became good friends. :) Ah, she is the best :)

Next Thursday we are going back to Kampala to pick up the prosthetic hand for Daphine!  I am so excited and she is SUPER excited! :)  I can’t wait.

Moses, Me, and Daphine - I love this girl :)

So I have made a life decision.  I am still planning on majoring in Exercise Science so I can be a Physical Therapist, but I am going to specialize in working with children with disabilities as a Physical Therapist.  I am so excited. :)  For a while now, I’ve been thinking that I might have to change my whole major because I really really really want to work with children with disabilities, but now I am just going to be a Physical Therapist and specialize in working with disabled children!!  I feel like that is what I really would like to do.  :)

Me, Daphine, and Julia :)

I’ve always known that I absolutely LOVE working with individuals with disabilities, but it has grown so much over the past 6 weeks.  I am in love with these children here and I can definitely see myself working with these children for the rest of my life.  They bring so much joy to my life and make life so much more meaningful.  I am so grateful I was able to grow up with a sister who has Down syndrome because I don’t know if, without that experience, I would be drawn to these children as much as I am now.  It is my passion and I am so happy working with them here. :)

Sanding the chair!

Wow.  Stew and Becca just made us cookie dough.  It tasted great…for Africa!  They left out the eggs and vanilla and it takes like bread dough kind of but with chocolate chips.  I ate about 10 spoonfuls and now I am on a sugar overload.  I haven’t had that much sugar in almost two months!  Boy oh boy.  I feel a tad bit sick now…

WORTH IT MOMENTS

• Daphine patting part of the seat, motioning me to sit down next to her.
• Daphine holding my hand almost the entire day while we were working on the measurements for her prosthetic hand.
• Daphine running into my arms instead of her mother’s when she got scared from the doctor.

Me and Daphine :) - Probably my most favorite picture :)

• Sam’s smile as we continue visiting him and then when we set him in the chair for some measurements.  He is very excited to receive his chair!
• Cookie dough; even though I wouldn’t eat this in the US, it is heavenly here. :) It’s worth the sugar heart-attack.
• The friends I have made here – both the natives and the volunteers.  They are practically family now and I am so grateful to have friends to talk to when I am struggling with things that are on my mind.
• Having sporadic electricity and water supply; it makes me appreciate living in the US so much more.

Sam!! :) Love this boy

My Favorite Foods so far:

Chapatti, Rolex, Irish Potatoes, Packing Peanuts (they look and have the texture of packing peanuts, but they taste good!) :), Nice Biscuits (cookies…kinda), Eve and Rosette’s Chips (French Fries!), PINEAPPLE!!!!!, Beans, Bananas, and Green Beans! :)

We don’t have very exotic foods here, but I’m grateful for that because of my pickiness.  I usually don’t eat the meat or fish here.  Most definitely not the fish.  Ew.  But occasionally I will eat the beef, chicken or pork.

Sam's chair

Well, I can’t think of anything else to write………………………………………………soo tootles! :)

Waiting for the prosthetic hand :)

Uganda Cranes We Go!! :)

Welcome!  To the new 2^nd wavers who arrived on Thursday!  Chelsea, Jace, Ashlyn, Lexi, and Trevor all arrived Thursday.  They are awesome :) I woke up that morning, went to the kitchen for breakfast and it was CHAOS!  SO. MANY. PEOPLE! We had 29 people.  It was insane.

Karli, Oliva, and Taylor left us that afternoon :( so the number went from 29 down to 26.  Next Wednesday the 1^st wave leaves.  Our numbers will continue to decrease and we will only have 17 peeps.  It’s sad that everyone is leaving.  I miss Karli, Olivia, and Taylor a lot already. :(

Anywho, I’ll tell you about my projects now. :)

Roastin' marshmallows with Karli

EYE AND DENTAL CAMP:

Good news!  Along with Chelsea and Jace came a great gift.  A tub full of 800 GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D Kristen and I were SOOO stoked. :)  I haven’t been this excited in forever!  My excitement for these glasses almost compares to the excitement I had the day my friend came home from his mission in September!  And that was a LOT of excitement, let me tell you. :)

So, glasses are here.  Next step: meet with Dr. Kigula (the Mehta Hospital Admin.) and get the details for the 11 day health camp in August that we want to join and help.  Once we meet with him, then we can finish up the project proposal and hopefully get that passed!

Me and Kristen with all 800 glasses!

SEYA SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION:

We just received news today: Seya’s project proposal was approved by the HELP office so we can start on construction again!!! :) We can now buy the cement and lay it down in the trenches that we dug and then start building the school with the bricks! YAY!! :)

The team at the grand opening of Musana!

NAJJEMBE HEALTH OUTREACH:

Wednesday, June 13^th was the health outreach in Najjembe.  I thought it went exceptionally well.  Before we officially got started, we had hundreds of children pile through the gate and come for some deworming pills.  Finally after about a straight hour of giving the pills, we had passed out 819 deworming pills.  By the end of the day we passed out close to 900 pills.  Woot!  It was great!  We thought we were going to run out, because we had only bought 1000 pills.  Phewy.

The previous day I spent all day making Malaria posters and that night I was up until 3am laminating them with tape.  They look legit.  Sarah was the artist, I colored them, and Kristen told me what to write on them.  They were way cool.

The Malaria and sanitation classes went well during the health outreach as well.  I don’t know how many people attended them, but there were a lot!  There was no sitting room, people had to stand!

Also, Lane had built the Tippy Tap and had a good demonstration set up for however many went to check that station out and learn how to make a fancy and cheap hand-washing station.  It was great! :)

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES:

We met with Moses on Friday to discuss what exactly what we wanted to construct for Sam.  We decided on making a toilet chair or a special made chair to separate his legs when he sits.  Because Sam has been sitting on the ground for months, he can hold himself up, but he is pulled to the left because his spine is crooked.  We are hoping with these chairs and with the separating the legs chair, it will help straighten his back and also just get him off the ground.  We want to make a toilet chair for him so that he doesn’t have to sit in his own waste.

We went and visited him, asked his mom a lot of questions, checked out the living space, and also their latrine.  It’s a pretty sad place.  In their house, they have some furniture, but his mother makes him sit on the floor because she doesn’t want to dirty the furniture or let Sam go to the bathroom by accident.  It’s really a sad predicament.  She values the furniture more than she values his life it seems.

Sam’s mom is a tailor and owns her own sewing machine.  So she has her own small business and also has 6 children.

After visiting Sam, we went and visited Joel.  We are going to work on constructing chairs for Joel after we finish things for Sam.  We will be working one child at a time so we can give them what they need the most.

Joel was sick, but was doing a bit better than last time I saw him I thought.  It still stunk terrible in the house, but Joel wasn’t spitting up and he has great posture.  Better than me!  He sits very well in a chair.  We are thinking of making him a toilet chair, because we believe that he just does his business where he sits and his mom doesn’t clean it up often, if at all.

Sanitation is still just as bad in that house.

Joel’s father works in the sugar cane fields near Jinja.  His mom works in their shop/house.  Their shop is a battery recharging place and their house in just in the back room.  It’s sad.  So the place is super cluttered from battery stuff and black and dirty from that stuff.  I’ve not seen the back room (their house) but I’m sure it’s not a ton better than the shop part.  She had 3 children.  One child is normal, and then there were twins with disabilities.  Joel is the only twin left; the girl twin died a couple years ago.

We have figured out the budget and finished the project proposal and we got it passed by the country directors and the team last night!!! I am so excited to get it going!! :)  It will be really good. :)

Those are the projects that I have been involved in this week.  It’s been a good week.

Stewart & Melissa doing their dances

We finally did our talent show this past week.  My goodness it was hilarious. :) Especially Liz and Nate’s talent!  This is the only picture I’m allowed to post.  It got better – Nate took off his shirt and was wearing a bra, and they just were workin’ out like crazy trying to burn off a mint. ;) haha it was de best. :)

Liz & Nate doing their workout

Taylor, Maren, and Elise singing the Titanic song

Church is great – as usual. :) I love going to church in Jinja.  They may be opening a Lugazi branch here soon!  How cool would that be!?  We would all go to the Lugazi branch once it opened if we are still here by the time they are able to get it together.  Woot! :)

My legit face paint :)

Yesterday (Saturday) most of the team and I went to Kampala to party in the Mandela National Stadium for the Uganda vs. Congo Futbol game! :D  It was epic!!!! :)

 4 hours before the game started.. :)

 The Ugandan Goalie - Go Goalies!!! :)

I got my face painted really cool and bought a jersey.  Then we waited in the stadium for hours. :) Partied it up with our Ugandan friends that we made in the stadium!  It was so fun!  At 4 was the kick-off.  By that time, the stadium was PACKED and it was SOOOOO dang LOUD!  2 hours later, when we excited the crowds and screams and blowing horns, we were all literally deaf.  We were screaming at each other still because we were deaf.  We could barely hear.  It was insane!

GOOOOOAL!! :)

 Celebrating on the ground!

But the game was GREAT!!!  We goo, we go!  Uganda Cranes we go! :) We won 4-0.  It was such a good game!  Woot!  And it was so fun!

Go Uganda!! :)

This morning on the taxi to Jinja for church, the guy in front of us had the sports part of the newspaper and we saw that Melissa had made the first page in a picture of the crowd cheering after scoring a goal!  We are still trying to track the newspaper down to buy, but we know she’s on it! haha :)  It was a super fun day yesterday at the game. :)

Goalies warming up!

 Very very excited fans!

 

This next week should be a pretty good and busy week of projects and meetings!  I’m excited! :)
Tootles!

Uganda - Yellow. Congo - White.

Wilson, Melissa, and moi! :)

Quote of the Day:

Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow."