Happy teeth!

Who doesn't love to brush and floss their teeth? No one. But, some people don't have toothbrushes, and even if they do, they don't know how to properly care for their little pearly whites. One of our volunteers, Megan Richards, went above and beyond and asked her dad to send out some hygiene kits with second wave volunteers so that we could teach some hygiene lessons. We know that the paste will run out, and that the brushes won't last forever, but hopefully the knowledge we left behind will make a difference. We decided to take some of the kits out to Rose & Pauls and leave the others with the Andrew Lovell Academy soccer team. At Rose & Paul's the kids were delighted to share the lesson with us and then literally overjoyed when we distributed the little dental kits. After the lesson, we played "pata, pata, encoco"  (duck duck goose) and then taught the kids the hokey pokey. Another fabulous day in Buwala with some of the coolest kids we know.

African Safari at Murchison Falls

After a long and good work week it is fun for all of the volunteers to go on a weekend trip as a way to see the different areas of Uganda. This last week, many of us went to Murchison Falls National Park to go on a African Safari!

The first half of the trip consisted of a game drive. Our goal was to see the "Big Five", which are the lion, giraffe, elephant, rhino and the hippo. Our guide told us that it had been six days since anyone had spotted a lion. We must be doing something right because we not only saw one lion, but two! There were two male lions that walked right towards us on the road. They got so close it was actually kind of creepy. They stared intently at us and then sauntered off the road long enough to pass us and then they resumed their position. 

The other animals were found pretty easily. We didn't see any of the rhinos on the game drive becuase the only rhinos in the country are in a special reserve. When we visited the reserve however, we were able to get about 20 feet away on foot, for pictures! There have been three baby rhinos born in the reserve and one of them they named Obama because the mother was a white rhino from America and the father rhino was a black rhino from Kenya. Ha ha... they are so witty... 

The second half of the day was spent in a boat down the Nile. This is where we saw a ton of hippos and Nile Crocodiles.  At camp, we stayed in tents that had two beds in each. There were many warthogs, or "pumba's" as we liked to call them that liked to walk through the camp scavaging for food. All in all the day was a huge success.

Jessie Jensen signing off saying Waylaba... 

 

New volunteers just survived our first week in Lugazi! 8 of us arrived last Sunday and were put right to work. Hooray second wave! First wave volunteers have done a marvelous job of getting projects up and running. There are so many projects that we are working on!
I've been helping a lot with the disability choir choir that we're starting up. Its a choir for kids with disabilities or those who have parents with disabilities. While they are practicing for the choir, the adults will be meeting in the next room as a support group with various lessons and classes. Our goal is to help the children develop their talents and feel like they are part of a group. We also want to educate the parents on how to take care of them so they aren't neglected. I'll be in charge of coming up with hygiene, sanitation, health, business, and various other classes for each week. Our first meeting is tomorrow afternoon and we can't wait to see how everything goes!
Last week I also had the opportunity to help with the mushroom house project. We will be building the first one next week. There are seven villages that will have one and they each help each other build them. Once they are all built they are required to give 10% of their profit to Buikwe Village Care which is a group that also helps with self sustaining projects. We met with the village council and the people are so excited to start training and building!
I am now in charge of heading up our business training project. We hold weekly classes for those with local businesses and those who sell in the market to help them be more organized and potentially increase their profit. Hopefully we can continue having more people come to the trainings by word of mouth that way we can help as many business owners as possible! This project will make a huge difference in many lives.
Last week the team was able to finish two of the adobe stoves that they had been working on. We're trying to leave them with lots and lots of training so that they can maintain these stoves and build new ones when needed.
Peter from the HELP board of directors has been staying with us the past few days. He has so much helpful advice and insight its been great to spend time with him as a group and one on one.
I can't wait to continue working on these projects over the next few months! I'm grateful for the group of volunteers that are here and for all of their hard work and dedication to this opportunity that we have to help others.
Welaba!!

Chelsea

Hello, all you readers! Welcome again to this blog. This is Molly this week, happy to greet you and prepared to share our greatness.

The Lugazi team is rocking it this summer! I just love us. Everywhere we turn there’s a new success to marvel at: teacher trainings, elderly groups, business trainings, HIV/AIDS lessons, adobe stoves, mushroom houses, gardens… we are on Fire with a capital F.

One of our greatest successes thus far, in my biased opinion, is the triumph we’ve had with our Eye Camp. We started out feeling rather limited about the whole affair; limited funds, limited resources, limited patience… but we’ve had some recent good fortune which we are shamelessly taking credit for! First and foremost on the list of happy Eye Camp moments: we’ve got enough funding for a freaking stellar camp! Our friends at Sightsavers International came through for us at the last minute and hooked us up with some monetary goodness! They have helped us with so much and made things possible that we never imagined we could do. I won’t go into details about the moments after the first Sightsavers meeting, but suffice it to say that there was some jumping and squealing involved. Masculine squealing. Anyway, our camp is going to be magnificent! We’re planning surgeries and screenings at three separate hospitals throughout the area—all with barely-pronounceable names, so I won’t even type them out. They’re spread far enough that we’ll be able to help a broad variety of people from all over this region of Uganda! YAY! So with the greatly appreciated assistance of Deseret Int. Foundation, Sightsaver Int’l and local partners like The Youth Outreach Mission and Buikwe Village Care, we’re orchestrating the best Eye Camp we can manage. I can’t wait to start seeing people see!

Along with our brilliance at projects, there are always the unique Africa-related tales we’ve accumulated throughout these eight long weeks on the other side of the world. We’ve got some crazy-cool safari stories, we’ve got splendid tales of tropical island adventures, we’ve got epic sagas involving bungee jumping (Guess who is one of the two who went? That’s right, yours truly! BAM!) and whitewater rafting… our escapades amaze me. Not to mention the hysterical day-to-day situations we find ourselves in. Every day is such an adventure! Boda-boda rides, rainstorms that feel like they’re drowning you, parasites, giant spiders, people calling us heavy and telling us we have sideburns… it’s like Jumanji. Only better. What’s better than a Robin Williams jungle movie from the mid-nineties? OUR LIVES!

I think I’m out of time. I hope this is a sufficiently informative blog post, O Reader, though it is short. I apologize for the lack of photos. I am technologically inept; I take all blame for the dullness of today’s post.  Keep your eyes out for more from us!

“So, from all of us [in Lugazi] to all of you out there, wherever you are: remember- the light at the end of the tunnel may be you. Goodnight!!”
~Aerosmith

LOVE, MOLLY!

4 weeks in Lugazi!

     It is hard to believe that we have now been in Lugazi for 4 weeks! Our team has really pulled together to begin recognizing needs and creating projects to begin to fulfill them.  We have been so grateful to the many Ugandan partners for their kindness and the help they have given.  They have invited us onto many of their projects as well as aided us in ours.
     Last week, we were invited by chairman Livingston to go on an outreach into some rural villages and help in HIV/AIDS screening and lessons, filling perscriptions, agriculture, as well as many other things.  We had it divided into two days so half our team went on Tuesday and the other half on Wednesday. Although it was a bumpy ride to get there, it was an incredible experience and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.  It was different than being in Lugazi because most of the people from the villages did not speak English.  But between our beginning Lugandan phrases and the help of a translator, it was a sucess.

     One thing we have began to realize since we have been here is that there are many people already here in Uganda that are doing so much to help their community and it has been a pleasure so far to work with them.  From the outreach, we were able to gain a greater knowledge of HIV/AIDS awareness as well a better understanding of its' impact here in Uganda. 

       Another area of work that volunteers here have been invollved with is teacher training. So far it has been a great success. The first session was on classroom management and the different student learning styles. The teachers were so interested in how they could make their lessons more interesting and creative. We went around the room and talked about our own personal learning styles and also discussed how to make a geography lesson that includes the seven different styles. I am so impressed with the educators here. They have so little resources to teach yet they are so positive and do so much good. The students here are extremely well behaved and are very intelligent. It's been a pleasure to work with the administrators and teachers.

      Thanks for all the support back home! This is Ashley and Katelynn signing off. Welaba!

A new summer in Lugazi...

Welcome to the continuation of HELP International in Lugazi, Uganda. This year HELP has expanded and now has two team's in Uganda; one in Lugazi, and one in Mukono. We are so excited to be strengthening our presence in this beautiful country and hopefully increasing the impact we can make on these people!

So far our stay here has been busy: full of adventure and hard work! The volunteers arrived in early May and we have been working to meet new partners, catch up with old ones and get rolling on all of the projects that are needed in this community. We have already worked on three adobe stoves, visited beneficiaries of last year's work, started proposals for mushroom houses, ox projects, and an education program and have many more projects coming down the pipeline.

We will update more specifics soon, but for now here is a little recap on what we've been up to the past few weeks:

Every day we are followed by a parade of children crying "mzungu, mzungu!" Mzungu means "white person" in Luganda.

 

 One of the first projects we worked on was constructing Adobe Stoves with Kizza in our neighborhood, Nakazadde. The beneficiary of this stove was a single mother of 4 and she was so grateful! We stomped the clay alongside the children...so much fun!

 

While walking to Namengo to visit a women's group Savings & Loans program that was started last year, we passed this railroad track. We live in the most beautiful town!

With a team of 14 girls, we have gotten a kick out of the "water closets" here in Uganda. Everyone has been a champ adjusting to the new facilities. Luckily our home has proper "english" toilets...

sdfs

Our first Ugandan shopping experience in the local village market. Our little pet "encoco (chicken in Uganda)" actually ended up being dinner the next day. Yum.

Family Planning and Hand Washing Projects

I spent my last few weeks teaching family planning classes at the Hospital with nurse Harriet as my trusty translator. I had another male nurse translate for one of my classes and after I completed the class the women asked to get a woman translator because they didn't believe a man would translate what I was saying correctly. I had fifty cycle beads a week before I left and within two days of classes we taught and sold all fifty beads! So within a few short weeks we totaled 138 cycle beads sold. It was a great way to end my family planning project!

Saturday was our AIDS Extravaganza! We rented a large complex here in Lugazi and had schools and AIDS support groups perform. I spent a good portion of my time last week learning to do a traditional Ugandan dance, which we performed at the Extravaganza with costumes and all. Don’t worry the amazing moment of ten muzungus doing the African dance was captured on film. I ran a booth on infectious disease prevention using resources that they already have available to them. I created the posters in English, and then had a Ugandan friend translate them into Lugandan. I also ran a booth on family planning. I can’t remember if I explained this new project yet, so I’ll keep it brief. I located an NGO called the Uganda Health Marketing Group in Kampala. They sell a lot of products to private businesses as well as give them away for free in villages within their district. Unfortunately, Lugazi doesn’t fall within their district so we purchased a box of Cycle Beads. Cycle beads are composed of a necklace with different colored beads where women can track their cycles. They can then abstain from unprotected sex during the time of the month that they are most fertile. It’s 95% effective in preventing pregnancy for women with regular cycles of 26 to 32 days. We had a booth at the Extravaganza where we planned to run family planning classes and then sell the cycle beads for one hundred shillings. We didn’t quite get the audience we were expecting. We were hoping for the community to come so I could then teach the women this form of family planning. The main people at the Extravaganza were hundreds of student performers. I had to leave a few hours early for Gulu and I left the family planning classes in Josephine’s (public health nurse) care. She said they sold about twenty after I left. I didn’t quite get the numbers I was hoping, so today I planned with Josephine to come every Monday and Wednesday to the hospital and teach the mothers who come in to the antenatal unit to immunize their children. We will then hit our intended audience as well as teach them the benefits of having time in between pregnancies for their own health, which can be accomplished with cycle beads.

Last week we had our unveiling of our very first hand station in the Lugazi Central Marketplace. We set up a booth in the marketplace, luckily it was near the produce and the not near he hanging raw meat. We first presented the hand washing station to the management and then had them sign a contract saying that the hand washing stations will always be fully stocked with water and soap. I will be checking in on the station throughout the summer and if I find that it is not stocked with water and soap three times then we will have a meeting with the management to discuss their relocation. The management agreed and the station has been well stocked since the grand opening. We then certified 167 market vendors in small groups. I gave a lesson on how germs are spread and then I discussed the importance of hand washing and how if done correctly, it can decrease diarrheal diseases by 42-45%. I then asked them questions to verify they understood the material. When they answered them all correctly we had them line up and wash their hands. As soon as they washed their hands they were presented with a hand washing certificate and a hygiene kit (Thank you again Sister Morton!). It was a wonderful day and many of the vendors have proudly displayed their hand-washing certificate at their stand. We are still waiting for four more hand washing stations to be built and I’m hoping they will be finished by the end of the week and then we can install the remaining four. The picture was taken at the end of one of my lessons and the woman I’m handing the hygiene kit to has just washed her hands in the newly constructed hand washing station.
Our next stop for hand washing stations is the local hospital where we will be installing four.

Outreach to a Rural Village

So I went to a rural village in the outskirts of Lugazi where I live. A lady from the church I attend is part of an organization that goes around and helps different schools and she wanted us to come with her. She never gave us any details, we thought that we were just going there to have a look at the school and discuss what we can help them with in the future. When we got there, they had the cute kids put on a program for us. They sang and had little dances and solos to go along with it. After that, we went on the tour of the school grounds. It wasn't much of a school but they had some buildings where they held classes and we could see some areas where we could maybe help them. After that, the guy turned to me and said, "Okay, lets get to work." I was handed a machete type thing and told to go cut down bushes and grass. We were going to clear out this whole field. While I was being a lawn mower, other people were put to work getting water and cutting down some trees. After that, we went to lunch. They brought us some bananas, sugar cane, and Jack fruit. While we were eating, they came and informed us that they were expecting us to teach them after lunch. :) Funny huh, so we got some lessons together about sanitation, Business, composting. By the end of lunch, almost all there village was there, well it seemed like it. They had us sit in front with all the leaders of the village and then the kids sang again (the same songs). Then they just started to dance. The crowd was going crazy. The ladies were doing this crazy yell and laughing. Then they started to pass these scarf looking things that they were wearing around there waist to us. Which meant we went up. When we were up there, the crowd went even more wild!! It was so funny!! After that, they had so many speakers get up there and speak to everyone and after that, they fed us. It was cute, they walked around and washed our hands and then the children would come and kneel down and hand us the food. The food was called Casava and it had beans in there with it. It really wasn't that bad but it was a huge portion and I just couldn't eat it!! After lunch, we got up there and taught the people. I'm not to sure how they took everything but they thanked us, took pictures with us and then we left.
There have been so many different experiences like this. I love these experiences because I learn so much about there culture and the way they are and what they believe!!
Oh and another cool thing is that I ran a half marathon last Sunday. A couple of people and I just decided to on Saturday night. It was a last second thing. So we left at 5:30 in the morning caught a taxi finally found the place to run, they let us register even though it was closed and then we ran it!! YAY. Well my time is up. I better go!!

Tifanee Miller

Street Kids Soccer Team

Before I left for Uganda I collected about 40 soccer jerseys, 4 pairs of soccer cleats, some cones, a few soccer balls, and goalie gloves to bring to Uganda. I originally had the idea of starting a soccer team in Uganda or donating the equipment to an already existing team once I had arrived. Before I left one of the staff members at HELP made the suggestion of implementing some public health lessons into the soccer program to help teach kids healthy habits. Still not knowing exactly what to do with a suitcase full of soccer equipment after spending a week in Uganda, I met the members of The Youth Outreach Mission (TYOM). They had mentioned that they had used soccer matches as a way to gather street children and teach them about HIV. The next day I was in their office with all the equipment and they were so grateful, I thought we were all about to start breaking down into tears, but as a group of college aged young men, we held our composure and started brainstorming ideas for a soccer program. Our Initial idea was to gather the street children and orphans from Lugazi and have them play soccer and after soccer practices we would have health lessons. Members of TYOM worked together to gather a handful of about 40 street children together for soccer practice on a regular basis of about 3 times a week. After about 2 months of practice we had our 1^st real game against Lugazi East, the Mukono District Champions ( The 3^rd largest district in Uganda out of the 80 districts) and we lost 0-1 which was a result to a free kick they had in the second half of play. Just about every school in Lugazi knew about our up and coming team and wanted to play us. Teams thanked us for picking them to play us. We also had hundreds of school children gathered around the field for our games. Our second game came about a week later, to Lugazi West, the Lugazi city Champions who had recently just beaten Lugazi East 1-0 for the Lugazi Cup. The game was pretty even but by half time both teams were worn down. Thankfully thanks to our grant of about $14 (US) we were able to provide our kids with clean water and fruit at halftime which made a tremendous difference. Our boys came fired up the second half while the other team became a bit more sloppy. Our hard work payed off with about 2 minutes left in the game when one of our star forwards put a goal to the back of the net. Hundreds of children were cheering and laughing and our own boys on the sidelines started doing cartwheels and flips. I myself was hugging everyone and highfiving the boys, I felt like a proud father. It was by the far the greatest moment I had in Uganda. A couple of minutes later as the final whistle was blown all the boys were hugging eachother in excitement as I honored them to be one of the best youth soccer teams in Uganda, which they really are!) I left about a week after the last game was played but before I left I got some funds put towards getting them some more soccer shoes and also to have their individual photos taken so that we could make identity cards for them. All the boys have such an interesting story to tell about their life, most of which are heartbreaking, but they are such great kids and are so dedicated to the team and soccer in general.

Andrew Lovell

Hand-washing Education and Eye Camp

Ok so imagine a swarm of Ugandan men and women lining up to wash their hands, crazy huh? But true, this past week we had a major hand washing event in the local market. We are putting in 5 new hand washing stations and to help get the people excited about and using it we had a free mini hand washing course. Hillary and I taught a short 10 minute lesson about why, when, and how to washing your hands, if they completed the "course" then they received a little certificate saying they are now Hand Washing certified and got a free gift of a hygiene kit. It was really amazing to see all the market vendors excited to use the new hand washing station and to receive their certificates, especially since they love that kind of stuff here. We were able to give out over a 100 hygiene kits!! Hand washing is great.

Also this week we are having our big eye clinic. Sight Savers, an NGO (non-governmental organizations) that helps people get diagnosis and treatment for different eye ailments that donated nearly $4000, and the local hospital ophthalmologists are working with us to help people get the eye treatment they need. Yesterday (day 1) we saw over 250 people! I got to help give the eye exam, the one where people have to read the letters, it was so much fun and we were able to help a lot of people. There were some really cute old men and women that were getting their eyes checked. You don't see many really old people around town so it was a treat to help the cute grandmas and grandpas.

Lesley Cliff

Fishing on Lake Victoria

So yesterday morning we took a taxi out to a small fishing village on the coast of lake Victoria. The lake is the largest tropical lake in the world, and the largest lake in Africa. We took a small wooden vessel named "Andrew" across the lake to a tropical island. Andrew had a few leaks but they fortunately provided a bail bucket to keep us a float. The trip took a couple of hours and was absolutely beautiful.

We stopped at a couple of rural fishing villages along the way. The people were drying millions of small fish on the rocks. They look similar to sardines and are called "Silver Fish" I think. The children throw rocks at the birds to keep them from eating all the fish drying in the sun. The fish are actually really tasty. You mix a couple of dozen fish in with beans. Mandy refuses to try them.

We stopped to fish with handmade bamboo poles. Alas we didn't catch a thing, but it was beautiful to sit in "Andrew" as the African sun set on the lake. We then landed, and took off on a hike through the jungle. The rain forest was absolutely amazing. The island was full of incredible birds, monkeys, and crocodiles (Though we didn't see any crocs that day) We hiked for quite awhile in the dark. Our guide was a friend we met at church in a neighboring city. He was taking us to his parents' home for dinner. We arrived in the dark, (the island has no electricity) and had a delicious meal of cold fish heads and rice. Ironically the fish here are by far the most delicious things to eat. The heads are the most desirable part. I was privileged to eat three.

We spent the night in a "hotel." Mandy and I paid $1.50 for the honey-moon suite. We made it through the night, woke up before the sun came up, trucked back through the jungle, and climbed back onto our sturdy vessel. We arrived home later than expected, but had a great time and made some memories we'll never forget.

Taylor Mackay

Obama Is The Real African Hero - June 10th

Obama is the man here. When we walk down the streets, people--young and old--yell "Obama" at us. People always ask us, "How is Obama?|" There is a song on the radio here with the following chorus: "Obama! Hey! Hey! Obama is the real African hero! Hey! Hey!" It's awesome. Then in the taxi yesterday a man sitting by me turned and asked where I was from. When he heard, he said, "Thank you for voting for Obama." Lucky guess?

The people here are amazing. This last week, they had a teacher training in Mukono, the town 20 minutes away from Lugazi. It was led by these three people from Kenya. They actually did a great job. I am so amazed, though, at how much they love each other. They are so kind. Their faith is incredible. Everything is God's will and will be ok. That's what they always say.

We are planning to use ideas from our own backgrounds and also from this teacher training to teach other teachers in the surrounding villages. I hope we can do some good. It is so sad to see so much need and know that there is so little we can do in such a short time. I will do my best.

Mandy Mackay

Bead-making in Kawoto

I did not have any big projects in mind when I first headed out to Uganda. I did not exactly know what the people needed and I did not know what I really could do to help. When we arrived in Lugazi, Uganda one of our first places to visit was a village called Kawoto which was on a hill that looked out over the sugarcane plantations. The people that lived in this village are all plantation workers and work for an Indian man named Meta who owns the majority of the land in Lugazi, including the land these individuals live on. He owns this land, and also controls their source of income, and he also seems to dictate their lives. They are not allowed to grow crops or build on this land—the main way to provide an extra source of income. The people live in great poverty. Kawoto was known among our group as the most beautiful village and the best boda boda ride in the town. To get to Kawoto one must take a boda boda ride of about 1,500 shillings through sugarcane plantation after sugarcane plantation, up and down steep hills and through plantation settlements until you arrive at Kawoto hill where you can look out over all of Lugazi and see the rolling plantations of tea and sugarcane, the slow moving villages and farmers and the greenery surrounding you on all sides. It really is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

On my first trip to Kawoto the people had rarely seen Mzungus (white people) before and the children were afraid of us. I approached a group of them, the older ones ran, and the younger ones screamed in fear and began crying. It took us quite awhile before they learned that we were not ghosts as they may have thought but truly close friends, even family, by the end of the summer. I met with the leader of the Women’s Group, Rose, and we discussed the needs of the village. The main activities of the group was handicrafts, mat weaving, stool and broom making, and beautiful crocheted table mats. The women would make a few a month to sell at a very low price. They wanted to grow food but Meta would not allow it and so they did not have money to feed their families or money for schooling for the children.

I met three girls that day who became close friends over the summer. They had great goals of being coming doctors, secretaries, and an engineer. As I was leaving that day they asked if we would come back. I told them that I would like to, hopefully the next week. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “Promises are empty here.” I realized that many people must make promises to her and these people and then just forget about them as they get caught up in other things. I knew then what I could and would do for these people. Women in Uganda still suffer from oppression and abuse and so as we began forming a team to work on Women’s Groups in Uganda we started looking for projects that would really affect the lives of the women, things that could be sustainable and really empower and lift the women from the situations they are in now.

Kawoto was just one of many groups that we met with but it was my favorite group to work with. I ended up teaching the women how to make paper bead jewelry. It was such a wonderful project and the women did so well. At first I was concerned that they would not become actively involved. When I came the second time no one was around in the village and I thought that they had forgotten, but once they heard our boda bodas approaching all the women and children and soon even the men came from their work and gathered in the small classroom to hear the lesson on bead making. The language barrier was only slightly a problem. I had my good friend Linda, Teo’s daughter, with me always to translate English to Swahili. And the women just laughed when I learned how to say “good” in Swahili-Visuri!

On my third visit I was so nervous that the women would not have used the supplies I had left them to actually make the beads and that we would have to start over and I would not be able to leave them with the next set of supplies. But when I got there each women came up to me with her own back of over 500 beads completed, so excited and proud of her beads. I almost started crying when I saw how hard they had worked and how excited they were! I could not believe the dedication and hard work these women live their lives each day. It is evident in everything they do.

Eventually, we finished the necklace lessons and we were able to work around the “no planting rule” and we provided then with cabbage farms which are grown in bags not in the ground! (Take that Meta!) So the women are now able to sell necklaces as well as grow cabbages for food as well as income.

It was a sad day when I had to leave my friends of Kawoto Village. I love those women so much. They are so strong and so determined to help themselves. They are great and powerful women and I loved working with them.

Becca Burgon

Business Training

As project lead for business training, I was heavily involved in setting up and facilitating business classes in Lugazi and the surrounding vicinities. In addition to the official classes we had for more established businesspeople, we also held meetings with a few women’s groups in the area, offering basic business advice and encouragement to the women in attendance. Leading discussions with and listening to the ideas and the dreams of these women proved to be a very worthwhile experience. I remember distinctly, before the end of Second Wave, visiting some of these women, members of a women’s group at Ssanyu Primary School, in their individual businesses to observe their work environment and inquire into their practices. From pharmaceuticals to charcoal, from bars to fruit stands, these women did what they thought was best with what they had. Granted I could have spent a great deal of time with these visits in researching and advising, I found it sufficient to briefly explore what these good women did to provide for themselves and their families and, after reviewing my notes, offer each woman one piece of advice as to how she could improve her business. One particular woman, Sarah, stands out to me. Her employment is in a pharmaceutical shop in Lugazi where she sells medications to Mehta Sugar Factory laborers, but she dreams of someday owning her own shop. When I asked whether I could see a copy of her budget, I was amazed at how organized and how precise it was. I was similarly amazed at the neatness of the shop itself, also attributed to the hard work and dedication of Sarah. After our visit, I encouraged Sarah to teach her fellow group members what she knew about structuring a budget and running an orderly business because I could tell that she had a lot to offer. That small moment, combined with many other like moments, further confirms to me that the solutions to many questions in international development lie in the local people themselves. The crux of empowerment is helping people help themselves, inspiring them to realize their own potential and to tap into their own non-monetary capital, manpower and otherwise, in order to make a real difference in each other’s life. I feel extremely fortunate to have witnessed and learned this for myself firsthand.

-Bryan Paul

Malaria, gardens, and schools

My square-foot garden project is very successful. I visit Ssanyu every
week to check up on the gardens and the kids are getting into it as
well as the teachers. It is fun to watch the plants growing and it
will be ready to harvest in no time.

I started an other project where I teach at Seya Primary School twice
a week. I teach P7 (7th grade). I teach them math and health at the
same time. There are only eight students so I have gotten to know the
students pretty well and their personalities. This last time I taught
I was teaching about percentages and incorporated teaching about
malaria. I put up a blank bar graph that they had to fill in at first.
They had to answer the question, "Did you use a mosquito bed-net last
night?" And mark the graph either yes or no. Then they found the
percent that said yes and the percent that said no. Then we had a
discussion about malaria (what it is, how it is caused, what makes
them sick, how to prevent it). A couple of the students already knew a
lot about how to prevent it, but they didn't really know what was
really going on in their bodies which they thought was interesting. I
explained to them that when a mosquito that has malaria bites someone,
the malaria from the mosquitoes saliva gets into their blood stream
and the plasmodium travels to their liver. The plasmodium multiplies
to be tens of thousands then goes back into the blood stream through
red blood cells. The red blood cells rupture and that is when the
person gets sick, has a fever, and feels tired. I showed them a large
picture of what a parasite looks like. Their eyes got really big! We
had a discussing of how it is important to do all we can to prevent
getting malaria and to talk to their family about covering their
windows and doors with screens, getting rid of stagnant water, burning
mosquito coils, and especially using bed nets. After the discussion
about malaria, I gave them a difficult problem to solve in groups so
they would have to work together. The problem was something like "To
be safe from Polio in Uganda, at least 90% of the children need to be
immunized for Polio. In Lugazi last week, about 637 out of 1200
children were immunized. Just from the children last week, is Lugazi
safe from Polio?"

Saleh is the student that loves to talk in class and if he doesn't
understand he shows it. I have him come to the board and explain what
he is thinking and see if other students can catch the mistakes in his
justifications of things. Like last week, I wanted them to understand
that the total percent of a whole is 100%. SO instead of just telling
them, I had them figure it out. However, Saleh led the class in
thinking that the total percent is 1%. I asked many questions to lead
them to understand it is 100% but Saleh just wasn't listening until I
finally made him show me his thinking at the board and had him figure
out where he went wrong.

I love teaching at Seya. They are really good at working together and
I think I am making them start loving math. Muah haha. A lot of
people, mostly adults, hate math and tell me they failed it in
secondary school. I had a good discussion with one of the guys from a
local NGO, The Youth Outreach Mission, about how math is important and
it can be applied to everyday life, but he completely disagreed. That
was a fun conversation. :)

Love,
Abby

Seya School

About two times a week several volunteers go to Seya Primary School. It is a primary school that is located about twenty minutes outside of Lugazi. It is a gorgeous drive and a relaxing time on a boda. We teach all classes, ranging from P1-P7, with subjects such as English, hygiene, sanitation, safety, mathematics, and science. Sometimes they make us teach nursery and it is really difficult because we don’t speak Lugandan well and they don’t speak English well. The school has 4 temporary shelters that they use as classrooms, one of which was built by HELP last year. They basically just have a roof and wood dividers between classrooms with rows of benches for the students. Annette, headmistress of Seya School, is one of our most beloved people here in Uganda. She treats us to food every time we go out there and gives us delicious juice that is miraculously cold. Annette and her husband Josiah are gems and so fun to sit and talk with while we wait for bodas. They have a little girl named Dawn that had a great fear of Mzungus the first time we went, but now she gets the biggest smile every time we show up. The school has almost filled their latrine (it smells really great) so we started work building a new one. The pit latrine was dug by the community and we are starting to build the foundation…hopefully it is stable and no kids fall into the pit of despair.

Seya is the greatest place and we love love love going there. The kids are so cute and so smart, and we love being called “Madame”. One day when we showed up there were 30 or so boys stripping down to their underwear and none of us knew what was going on. They threw their clothes all over the trees and then formed a large circle and started dancing and singing. We finally asked Annette what they were doing and she said they were just exercising and getting some fresh air. We are not sure why they had to take their clothes off to exercise…

sorry about the delay!

Hello parents, friends, and donors. we are SORRY that it has taken so long to post. We have been running around like crazy and didn't have the password to this blog. but we do now and so we will have a regular update at least once a week. We will continue to update you on the group. Here are some projects we have been working on and with starting with our weekly report from last week.

Hand washing stations

We found a new design to build hand washing stations because we couldn’t find all of the materials necessary to build the old model. After discussing the new design with Wilson, from Youth Outreach Mission, we decided to build hand washing stations that are a little more durable and therefore more sustainable. Today we will order one for the market and will install it as well as teach hand washing early next week. After seeing the finished product and its durability we will decide if we want to build them elsewhere.

Women’s Group

We met with the local women’s group on Thursday and discussed the possibility of building a mushroom house which they feel would be the greatest benefit to the group. I will discuss this with Jake, the project lead for mushroom houses, and run it past the group when they get home from Gulu. Also, Tifanee and I have been learning how to do the paper bead jewelry so we can teach the women’s groups this craft. We have made great progress but still have things we need to learn. In order to do this we will be meeting with a friend of Wilson’s in Kampala who makes these beads as her profession. She will help us to perfect the craft and purchase all the necessary supplies that we cannot buy here in Lugazi.

Aids Awareness Extravaganza

The extravaganza is growing at a rapid rate. We now not only are going to be showcasing performances and our work here in the villages but we also will be offering free HIV/AIDs blood testing and giving out free mosquito nets. We have been working a great deal with Wilson and Robert from the Youth Outreach Mission. This week we sent out letters to the Embassy asking for funding and asking for their attendance. We will meet with the Youth Outreach Mission again this coming week to go over the extravaganza to complete the details and begin renting all the equipment and starting all the details.

Gulu

16 members of our group left last Wednesday to travel to Gulu. They arrived safely and had a great time there besides a few logistical problems, but that’s expected. The group then safari’d and will be back tonight. Kellyn and Jake came back early so this is a brief update of what they did while they were there.

The Gulu trip was very successful and we completed 11 stoves. We built the stoves in 3 areas; Paichu, an HIV group around Gulu University, and a very rural village an hour outside the city center. The first day of building, we broke into three groups and each tried to complete the foundation for three stoves. One group completed all three, but because the other two groups did not have the materials ready for us, one group did one and the other two stoves. All in all it was a very productive work day even with the numerous complications. The following day, we split into five groups so we could accomplish more. Two groups filled the stoves, and the other three groups built 5 more stove foundations and taught the groups how to fill them themselves. We used ant hill clay instead of mud which made the stoves stronger. Also we discovered you can use the clay as a substitute for cement so that everyone has the opportunity and financial means to build his/her own stove. Overall everyone was very receptive and excited about teaching neighbors and friends how to make their own stoves. Personally, I felt like these two work days were the most productive and beneficial of all the work days this first wave.

They also went to meet with the invisible children headquarters and had a long discussion with the president of the organization there.

Kawolo Hospital Eye Camp

The eye camp is being spearheaded by ryan and jake. they are planning a week long camp to perform surgeries on rural people for cataracts and glaucoma. it's going to be big and we are really excited about it. The Eye Camp work has been very productive this week. We are going to separate the Doctor shadowing and the Eye Camp into two different projects. This week we haven’t done anything with Doctor Shadowing. We met with SightSavers in Kampala on Monday and they agreed to help us with the project and donate about 6 million shillings towards the project. We will try and provide for everything else through HELP and private donations. We met with the Superintendent of Kawolo Hospital and he approved our idea and clapped for us, it was cool. On Tuesday we met with Annette and Betty who are the Ophthalmologic Assistants in charge of the project and we created a budget with them and sent an application letter into SightSavers. The following day we met with the District “Healthy” Minister and he told us that he is very willing to help us with this project. We made flyers to pass out to all of the rural health clinics where we will be having the screenings and were going to go to radio stations so they will announce the Eye Camp but we were waiting for the final confirmation from SightSavers which didn’t come until Friday evening. While we were waiting we went to the church in Mukono where the teacher training was and I pulled a worm out of my arm. That was pretty crazy. We did however receive confirmation from SightSavers and so we will be meeting with Betty and Annette on Monday to go to the radio stations so they can announce the Eye Camp. This will get as many people to go to the Eye Camp as possible. Dis is gonna be da best project eva. Peace out Mike.

Music Dance Drama/HIV group

The MDD group started out slow the last couple of weeks and then kicked it into high gear this week when we found out that the performance for the town council members and Embassy members was moved to this past Thursday. We hurriedly camp up with some monologues and poems about Hope and not being afraid. The group performed some songs about getting rid of the stigma that accompanies having Aids. It ended up being a powerful performance and I think the audience really enjoyed it. We will continue working with group through out the summer so they can get ready for other up coming performances.

Business Training

Promising progress has been made in business training this past week. With the arrival of Taylor Mackay, our group numbers have increased dramatically (from 1 to 2, to be precise, which doesn’t include the intermittent members), which makes the workload less overwhelming (and less lonely) to manage, the vision more possible to fulfill. On Thursday, we visited Stanbic Bank to learn the process of opening bank accounts for home and for business, as well as Pride Microfinance Ltd. to better understand its methods of loaning, credit, outreach, and training. With all introductory meetings behind us, we are fully set to commence business classes with five separate groups (two of which actually had their first classes last week). In order to better facilitate discussions with class members, we have contacted Professor Joan Dixon at BYU and requested Pro-literacy materials that specifically address business concepts. From here, we will run classes and continue to research what else can be done to benefit people through business.

Mushroom house

the mushroom house has been constructed for a women's group. they each have been given one small bag to start and are being followed up with business classes so that they can learn how to expand. they are also committing to save 10% of profit for their children's education funds.

Adobe stoves

Andrew Harrison has been heading up adobe stoves and has built over 15 in lugazi. He is doing a great job and people are really excited about their stoves. the stoves help with respiratory disease, cut costs of firewood and are time savers.

Sanyu school

there is a rural school that we have done teacher training, a square foot garden for math teaching and to add more nutrition, and a chicken coop for income generation for students who are unable to pay tuition.

Youth outreach

we have partnered with some college aged ugandan students who are really impressive. we go with them to different schools or help gather street children and orphans for one hour of soccer (andrew lovel donated the jerseys) and then one hour lesson on AIDS awareness and on basic sanitation and health.

public health outreach

we meet once a week with a woman from the mukono branch named margaret who plans outreaches, this week we are going to have a soccer match with a secondary school and then do some trainings. we have done business, health, and teacher trainings in the past. we are also expected to give speeches and the village performs for us. it's great.

there are other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting but we have a great group of volunteers and we are really excited about what we have going on. I'm trying to encourage more partnerships with other ngo's. we have a list of over 300 working ngo's in uganda.

five of our volunteers are leaving and it makes me sad. I'm going to miss lezlie, matt, kellyn, kat, and drew. I'm excited for our new ones that are here though. they are also going to be great!

Out With the Old. . . :(

I'm a little disappointed at the level of interest people have of this blog. Both we volunteers for not posting more regularly/often and also of anyone who is supposedly reading this for never commenting on the well written, witty commentary of the events that shape our weeks. Regardless, this is the weekly update for July 20-27th:

On Sunday we attended a fantastic, elaborate wedding ceremony for Patrick from Town Council. Jackie, Ashley, Rylee, Ashley W., Seren, Kira and Emily went to the pre-ceremony praise session which lasted a good three hours before the hour + long wedding in Mukono. After the ceremony was the reception at the Nora Complex in Lugazi. The Mukono celebration was a waste of time compared to the festivities later in the evening. Deo even introduced us in the middle of the reception as the guests of honor and had us stand in the front of the hall. Thanks Deo.

Monday was spent in a dizzying attempt to visit and say goodbye to all the partners our departing volunteers needed to see. It was rough for some, amazing for others, but I think everyone started to feel the reality of going home. Chrissy and Emily went to observe at Little Angels Primary School to prepare for teacher training, a few people went to work on a stove and others attended to their PWD visits. It was a weird day.

Tuesday was equally weird. Irene cooked us a fantastic lunch as it was to be our last time all together in Uganda. Aloshus brought the people from the Mayor's house to the main house with all their luggage and then the rest of the volunteers packed up. Most of us had a rough time saying goodbye, even though we will most likely reunite in a little over a month. The worst part was seeing the family and Edith cry as the kids on the street ran after the bus as they all drove away. I couldn't help but cry. The people with whom I've spent hours and hours every day were leaving--just like that. It's weird how it feels like we've always known each other, even though it had only been 6 weeks for some and 11 for the others.
That night we rented some speakers and went down to the Cornerstone Orphanage in Nakazadde to watch Cars with the kids. They loved it. I think they understood English better than the kids at St. Edwards when we tried to watch Shrek with them.

Wednesday was BUSY!!! All the energy from the third wave rubbed off on the rest of the house and we all picked up and got going on all our projects again. We hustled around doing stoves and PWD home visits and writing up project proposals. We sorted and cataloged all the books we have collected and placed the more advanced books in the recently constructed Lugazi Hill View Library. It looks fantastic!!! Then Stephanie and the team had a great discussion with the students about playing sex safely. Our St. Edward's playdate went well also, we watched The Little Mermaid together. Next Wednesday will most likely be our last with that group.

Thursday was a PWD miracle! Seren taught a bodacious lesson on the importance of bonding with your children. Faith had the new volunteers introduce themselves and then had James Brown give a little speech. Afterward, she spoke to the group--for a while. The individual homevisits went extremely well and the new energy of the volunteers has been opening discussion on what to do next with each of their new friends.

On Friday, the rain spoiled some of our plans. We were hoping to finish filling the Kikawula stove, but didn't get too far before we got drenched. The other PWD home visits went really well and the kids and volunteers are really bonding well. Our AIDS support group went really well too. The Mamatoto choir is coming along and they have a great time when they get together.
After work the majority of the group left for Sipi Falls (aka the garden of Eden) and I'm not sure what happened after that because I went to bed around 9pm. \

It was a very busy week, and we are so excited for the good energy that's rejuvenated us. We look forward to more good work and busy schedules.
Thanks for reading--if you did. If you did--leave a comment.
XOXO
The shovel goddess

Ready or not, here we come Rwanda....

TEAM BLOG

On Monday morning Ashley and Heidi went to Kampala for the day to visit someone for Parliament. Some of the primary school team went to St. Edwards to observe the teachers. The Adobe stove team started a stove in Nmango and their team is working very hard and the team members are starting to figure out all the basics to teach the Africans. A small group went to Jinja in the evening to attend a YSA family home evening. They played games and had a lot of fun. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner from our amazing cook. I think we all look forward to dinner WAY too much.

On Tuesday there was a huge holiday called Martyrs Day. It is a day remembering 23 Christians who were martyred because they refused to work on Sundays. People make a pilgrimage to this memorial from all over the world (like we’re talking other African countries, Asia, etc.) For days we kept seeing people trekking along the road trying to make it for the celebrations. Everyone celebrates this day and so all of Uganda basically shuts down, so there wasn’t much work for us to do. We decided to join in the pilgrimage and visit the memorial sites. You have NEVER seen so many people in your life, as we walked with along that road. There was all sorts of people selling fun crafts and goodies along the street as we walked by. We had a great day enjoy the festivities and then we headed to Kampala. It’s totally like a piece of America. There are sky scrapers and the most amazing mall called Garden City. We spent a few hours at Garden City. It is half indoor and half outdoor with all sorts of shops and an amazing food court. We all got some amazing American food and sat at the food court, which was open in the back looking out at a gorgeous garden complete with palm trees and amazing flowers. We spent the rest of the night working on our projects.

On Wednesday Corbin, Leslie and Heidi went to Truelight and built a stove. Building stoves is quite hard work and this group is learning how essential it is to have a lot of people being a part of this project. Later that day some other members of the group filled in a stove for Betty. At 3:00 the secondary schools team went to Hillview Highschool and started their club. With some help from the kids the club was officially name Team Ekitangala (Team Light). Two Mzungus were teamed up with four kids. Throughout the summer the two Mzungus will be mentors to their four children. At 5:00 many of us went to St. Edwards for the weekly orphan gathering. We finished watching Shrek 2. The kids thought it was hilarious and loved it. We came home to a delicious dinner and then each person worked on their projects.

On Thursday morning the persons with disabilities team met with the mothers and their children. Ashley and Natalie gave a counseling session to the mothers about living with a child with disabilities. The mothers were excited and the lesson went very well. The rest of the team played with the children (coloring and playing with balls). After the meeting some went to a business training. David, Jeff and Ashley taught supply and demand to a group of local people. At three Amber, Natalie, Heidi, Rylee, and Ashley went and taught English to a women’s group. Many of the women are at different levels and we plan on pairing some of those that know better English better with those that know as much. Irene threw something new on the menu (we always love our meals, but they are usually most always the same), we had these rolls filled with a spicy cabbage (in the words of Ashley, “A hot pocket went to Africa and got delicious”.) We are so grateful for Irene and Christine, we looked forward to our meals everyday! We plan on going to Rwanda this weekend and so we decided to watch the movie Hotel Rwanda projected on a sheet in the living room. It’s so weird to watch that movie after living in Africa. I don’t think any of us will ever look at the world in the same way at the end of this summer.

On Friday Leslie, Heidi, Rylee, and Natalie went to Iganga. Talked about friendship and taught the children to make friendship bracelets. After they made the bracelets they exchanged them with one another. We played with a parachute after and played other games together. They got so excited to see us and we love working with them. Tori and Jackie went to Kampala to get us tickets for the bus ride to Rwanda. Everyone worked very hard on their projects and it was a very successful week.

On Saturday we woke up at 3:30 am to get ready for our long adventure to Rwanda. Jackie, Ashley, Heidi, Trent, Corbin, David, Tori, Rylee, Leslie, Lauren, and Emily all went for this amazing weekend. We got to Kampala and caught our bus at 6. The ride was a little squishy but much more comfortable than a taxi. We stopped for a bathroom break and they definitely just pulled right over and it was a free for all on the side of the road, SO akward! Our bus broke down and we were stuck for about 2 hours, but finally with the help of some bushes on the side of the road, something in the engine was tied back together and we were on our way again. We didn’t end up arriving in Rwanda until 6:30 pm, it was a very long day. Richard (from a town counsil in Rwanda) met us at the bus yard. We took our things to our hotel (Chez Rose Hotel). We were all so excited because our rooms had hot water and toilet seats, SO nice! We got some dinner at Chez Lando and it was yummy (but it took us three hours from start to finish, everything here is super slow!) We were all super tired and all wanted to get into our comfy beds and hit the hay.

On Sunday morning we had a delicious breakfast provided by the hotel, it was omelettes, bread, bananas, and steamed milk. Richard met us at 9 and we headed off to Kigale. We went to the Kigale Memorial Center. It was such an amazing experience that I know none of us will soon forget. We spent about 3 or 4 hours there learning all about the genocide. They had 14 mass graves in the back that had over 258,000 victims. We put some flowers on one of the mass graves. They had so much information inside and such graphic details. It was haunting but so important to learn about. They had so much dedicated to the memory of these victims and also survivors’ stories. It was an amazing day and all of us were deeply moved. It is unreal the tragedy that occurred in this beautiful place. As we were driving around we were all amazed at the beauty of Rwanda. It is one of the most gorgeous places we have seen in our entire lives and it is so clean. After the memorial center we headed to the Hotel Des Milles Collines (Hotel Rwanda). It was so crazy to see the actual place this happened. We had the honor of having a man named Abias. He was a survivor that lived in the hotel for 2 months. His wife even had a baby in Room 216. It was incredible to see him and hear his story. It is amazing that they housed over 1,000 people in just over 100 rooms and not one was killed. For dinner we went to an amazing buffet called Karibu. It was so good because it was fast, delicious, and warm…..mmm such a great combo. We went back to our hotel totally exhausted and ready for bed.