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 8th 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). :)
