Day with MOHM

7/13

So although I made a deal with the gym “opener” to open it for me at 7:30 the next three weeks, surprise surprise...guess who didn’t show up.  My morning was filled with great conversation with Carly, African tea, and enough pineapple for the rest of my life. We then headed to the office to go out to MOHM.  This is a women’s organization that plans activities with each other and supports the women. The women were SO great to work with.  With smiles as wide as the world, they came to greet us and take all of our materials.  One thing about Ugandans, they want to help you with EVERYTHING.  It’s very thoughtful but sometimes can be a bit of a nuisance.  (Side story, Jamie bought a bike that doesn’t work because the chain keeps falling off.  Every time this happens on the road, anyone and everyone around tries to help him fix it despite the fact that he explains he’s taking it to the mechanic.  He has talked to at least 70 people who tried to help him....and that’s not exaggerating!)  Anyway, so we made dress forms for our class today. The women were very hands on and really enjoyed the project.  MOHM meets at an orphanage every Tuesday so we got to hang out with the kids too.  So cute! I wanted to take this little boy home with me; I swear if he could fit into my pocket, I would’ve!  My heart has melted... The women cooked us this great lunch: rice and beans with kasava, beef, and this mashed banana thing that is not tasty but I only take a bit.  Portion size here is insane.  They load their plates up with mounds of food all the time and then most of the time they don’t finish it.  So for all those plates that I didn’t finish when my uncle told me “you know there are children starving in Africa,” yeah they’re not eating until their plates are clean either... so there! :)  The women also put on a small dance performance for us which was awesome.  I danced with the ladies and they were yelling, laughing, pointing at me and my hips that were shakin’ like a polaroid picture.  Although I swear those women have extra joints in their hips...  When we returned we got the office a bit more set up and then headed to Barraza for some Indian food and debriefing.  The internet is still down since UTL (the biggest internet provider) was down because of the bombing.  It should. I’m told, be up and running tomorrow.  Thank goodness! I need some source of attachment to the world! :)

               

The cutie pa-tutie...

Jigga wha'?  They're trusting an octopus to predict the outcome of the game?!

The orphanage bedrooms

The money for a well was just donated so they were building it.

Me demonstrating how to make the dress form

Three complete dress forms!! Small, medium and large. P.s. Breastfeeding ain't no thang here...this pic is quite typical of what I see on a daily basis!

Me attempting to shake it!

First day of Work!

7/12 

Woke up, turned on CNN and saw the tragedy that happened in Kampala last night.  When I got to work, Tara told us that we are going to make a detour to the internet cafe to contact everyone and let them know we are ok.  I’ve talked enough about the bombing so I’m going to just keep blogging about what we’re doing besides discussing the US Embassy.  I’m not trying to be disrespectful or naive it just starts freaking me out if I talk about it too much. 

OK, moving on... so we hopped in our van which was I swear the same van from “Little Miss Sunshine” horn and all.  So through my long fits of laughter, I was then completely grossed out by the breakfast Peter (our translator) was eating...chicken gizzard and chips. mmm Who would want Cheerios when you can have that? On we went to about 10 min. outside of Jinja to meet and assess the teachers that we would be teaching.  We visited about 8 people who brought us in their home and showed us what they do.  Emma was great: an extremely crippled man who just loved to sew! He taught free classes, did alterations for only 200 shillings (about 10 cents) and made custom garments for 1000 shillings (about 50 cents.) He seemed very enthusiastic about what we were going to teach him.  

Another place that touched my heart was a small barn room.  One side was raising turkeys the other side sat 10 women making necklaces, mats, pillow cases, and other crafts.  One woman even made her own knitting needles from bicycle spokes!  

The last place we went to was a school for the deaf.  The kids were SOOO sweet.  They even gave me a sign language name.  My hair was braided in the front so they took their right hand in an “L” (for Lindsay) and brushed it from left to right across my forehead.  (Although now that I think of it that could’ve just been for “loser.”..dang.)  I learned a lot of Lusoga signing; it was truly special to see these children.  

After a long day of traveling to the teachers’ homes, we came back to the office and started setting up our classroom.  We cleaned and set up 3 sewing machines and got our room ready for Wednesday class.  We hopped on a boda boda which is basically like a small motorcycle/big moped that they use as taxis here (think Yamaha Exciter circa 1981...)  (As a side note, the first time I rode on one I fell off, not while driving only after we stopped.  My backpack was so heavy and I couldn’t get my foot off.  The large turtle shell on my back pulled me back so fast and I got a big cut and scrape on my leg.  I mean seriously, when was the last time I got a scrape?!  I’m so B.A. ) After we all debriefed at a nice dinner at Gately.  Time to sleep...hopefully.

Peter eating the chicken gizzard!

Chicken gizzard and chips!

Emma at his shop. We gave him a teacher assessment which is what he's doing.

Shirt that Emma made. They practice before they make it in fabric.

Women making beads, mats, etc.

Deaf School classroom

The entire school grounds...

Deaf Classroom

Polly setting up a machine in the office

And on the 7th day they rested...

7/11 

Today I got up to go to church.  Of course, it started 1 1/2 late and thus ran about 2 hours longer than anticipated.  This clearly was a not a typical Lutheran service where the congregation starts their watches as they sit down, making sure that the sermon does not last more than 10 minutes, and then finishes it off with 1 to 2 hours of coffee drinking and doughnut eating!  We sang for 45 minutes in the beginning.  We sung a lot of American/English church songs and some in Luganda as well.  There were three preachers from Kampala who came and told stories.  One having to do with him levitating some woman and then she could all of a sudden conceive.  I don’t know...all 4 of us girls just looked at each other like, “hmm mm yeah right...”  But other than that it was quite fun.  After we got some African tea, similar to Chai which was DELISH. I came back to meet Polly for lunch.  Jamie joined and we spent the afternoon at the pool.  It was a much needed relaxing day.  We headed to Betty’s house to pick up our laundry.  She’s local woman with two daughters that live with her. Salima-15 years old and Shamilla-16 years old.  They are so welcoming and so nice. They come up and kiss you on the neck.  Salima told me that her sponsor’s name was Lindsay so she would remember and love me forever.  Aw :)  After, we headed to Two Friends, an outdoor bar/restaurant, for pizza, some vino, and of course the World Cup!! Go Spain!  

Salima and Betty

Two Friends bar

Becky, Michelle, Polly, Jamie

Julius, Carly, Bobbi

Me, Kelly, Andrew, Tara

Lori

Recent news in Kampala

Thank you all for your kind emails and making sure that I'm alright.  Yes, I am ok but unfortunately 67 people were killed last night in two Kampala bombings.  Our training has been changed so we will be staying out of that capitol city especially next week when the African summit meets there to discuss.  Although the US Embassy has suggested that all Americans leave Uganda, the Embassy rep here in Jinja isn't concerned.  If things get worse, we will all be leaving but for now we're staying safe and out of large crowds.  The terrorist group is targeting Ugandans so please continue prayers for me and my group but mostly for the Ugandan people!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!

7/10 HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIMMY!!! I’m so sad I can’t be there to help you celebrate.  I miss you tons! 

So far today has been quite difficult for me. I think the culture shock has finally set in and I’m really missing home.  I’m sure most of you can relate some time or another to what it’s like to be away from the comfort of your home, family and friends in traveling.  But living in a third world country has definitely pushed it to a higher level and is quite a lot to take in.  Anyway, needless to say I am sitting on my bed eating what’s left of my peanut butter M&Ms, listening to TLCB and wearing an American flag pin on my shirt (not really.)   
So after I got out of my sulking and realized that there are many other people worse off than me, I headed to Main St. and got a salad. This will be the last time that I eat alone because a man sat down with me and proceeded to explain why we should date, asked if I was married, etc. To use Katie's phrase "he wanted the white chocolate" but I didn't have to bust out the pepper spray yet thank goodness.  After that, we took a Motatu...let's just say that it is a terrifying white van chock full of people clown car style.  We had 19 people in the van when all was said and done.  It was a 2 hour drive to the school where Peter (one of our translators teaches.)  The school puts on dance/singing competitions that we attended.  It was soooo cool. I'll add videos as soon as I compress everything.  We were special guests and let me tell you in a room of 1000 Ugandans, the 7 of us were quite the spectacle.  They laughed at how fast we talked. Everything here is "African time."  This performance lasted 2 hours longer than what we anticipated.  It was mostly the director and teachers talking into the mic.  Quite long but the dancing and singing was amazing. You think Shakira's got hips that don't lie...honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

The start of the dance performance.

They wear skirts/scarves to signify they are the dancers.  The singers don't wear them.

Jinja Jinja!

7/9 Drove to Jinja where I’ll be staying the rest of my time.  We got settled in the hotel. They had on the website that they offered wireless internet.  So I asked, “Do you have internet?” They said, “Yes but it does not work.  A man is fixing it.”  “Alright,” I said, “do you know when it will be up and running?” “Um, *long pause and confused look on his face* he went home because he had a headache.”  Yeah...that’s Africa for you.  I wanted to offer him some Aleve so he could finish.  My impatience does NOT fly here! All the Mzungus (white people/foreigners) call it African time.  2 hours late to something is common! I have to chill!  So I headed to meet Tara, Kelly, Polly, Jamie, and Bobbi (our main group) for lunch.  Tara, Polly, and I bought fabric for our lessons next week and went to central market.  It’s basically this HUGE outdoor market jam packed with fruits, spices, clothing, meats, electronics, housewares, anything you can think of.  I’ll take some pictures and post soon.  The children in the market touch you and yell Mzungu because they think it’s good luck to touch white skin.  They are so adorable! Later that night we went to the Gately which is a very nice restaurant on Lake Victoria and had a great meal. You know I thought I wasn’t going to like the food here but it’s quite good! 

Boda Boda

The group at Gately

I guess the Ugandan version of self tanner... ?

Me, terrified of the Motatu...this is what they packed 19 people in!

G Nuts... Similar to peanuts I just that it was funny. Apparently stands for "ground" nuts.

Last Day at Red Chilli camp

7/8 Watched the sunrise in the mist and ate some amazing fruit.  As a side note, the showers are FREEZING so we all were pretty nast by the end of this whole thing...eh, when in Rome.  (or Uganda.)  We left for the rhino sanctuary.  When we got there, we were able to see them roaming only 30 meters away! We learned a lot; did you know that there are only 80 white rhinos left in the world? Hence the sanctuary where they are trying to breed more.  Even more interesting, rhinos are monogamous.  And let’s just say that the lady rhino has the male on her back for an hour an a half for about 12 times in a lifetime...good God.  We headed back to Kampala to the hostel but on the way hit a huge pothole.  I hit my head and jammed my finger but all is well.  You think that Madison potholes are bad!? You haven’t seen ANYTHING like this before.  I need to take some pics for you all.  Met Tara (the director for Sewing Hope) and her friend Kelly for dinner.  We had some street vendor Samosa and then headed to bed.  

Red Chilli camp 

Another warthog for Kimmy!!!

Jamie and Polly

Kiboko

Tembo

I don't know how to say crocodile in Swahili...

Me, Polly, Jamie and Kenneth at the base of the falls.

My home at camp!