The Incredible Journey

Who's in Rwanda? IIIII'MMMM in Rwanda!!! It's a magical, magical land filled with coffee and traffic laws. I almost don't know what to do with myself, to be honest. So I know I promised I would post a lot of pictures, but here's the problem: Some of the little gremlins at the orphanage (otherwise known as kids) found my camera and decided to play with it. Needless to say, they broke it. So I've been trying to find somewhere that can fix it, to no avail so far. Luckily, I brought my other camera too, but it's a film camera (I know, old school) so I'll have to post those pictures when I get home. There's still hope that the digital camera will be fixed, though.

So we had a bit of an adventurous journey to Rwanda. Certainly not over the top as far as travelling in Africa can go, but still kind of fun. We knew that it was about a 10 hour bus ride from Kampala to Kigali, so we were settled in for a long day. I was at the window, Terra was in the middle, and a random lady was sitting on the other side of Terra. The first part of the ride was just the usual. We'd stop occasionally so everyone could get out and go to the bathroom in the bushes or buy some meat on a stick off the side of the road. Luckily, we had our own toilet paper in our bags. Whew! Never travel without it. Terra was coming back to our seats after going to the bathroom and managed to get a meat stick to the side of her head. Meaning, the guy knocked her behind the ear with it and actually drew blood. The typical part is that he noticed, but just walked away. Niiiice.

We continued the journey, and then all of a sudden we turned off the main road onto this tiny dirt road that seemed waaaay too small for our gigantic bus, and we actually almost tipped over as we made the awkward and slanted turn. I was a little confused because it seemed like a strange route to take to Rwanda on a major bus line, but it IS Africa so I just accepted it. Terra, however, has been to Rwanda before and did not remember such a funky detour. She threw out the idea that maybe we were sneaking into Rwanda the back way. Seemed logical. Of course, no one around us spoke English so we were really clueless for the first while. We were travelling along, flying out of our seats like it was some kind of a really bumpy amusement park ride when we suddenly came to a stop. Here was the problem: We were face to face with another bus on this one way road. On our left side was a nice hefty drop, sufficient to turn our bus over a few times. On the right side was an upwards slope, covered in bushes and trees. Hmmmmmmm, what to do. OBVIOUSLY, we started to back up right along the edge of the drop with one guy standing there in case we started to slide over. Because you know, he could hold us up on his own. After about 20 minutes of manuevering, we were actually able to let the other bus pass by us, while we teetered on the side of the slope. I covered my eyes the whole time. Sorry Mom, I did think of you while it was happening :0)

After the other bus passed by, we kept driving for awhile and we met numerous other slopes and ditches, and hit one bump the made every person on the bus fly out of their seats and scream. Fun, eh? You know it's crazy when even the Africans are looking a little nervous. Then they just laughed awkwardly and continued on, which was even funnier to Terra and I. But eventually, after about an hour we came upon another bus off to the side of the road. It looked like they were stuck in the mud, but they were waaaay off the road so we had no idea how they could have possibly ended up there. Anyways, 3/4 of the people on our bus got off and we drove away. Terra and I looked at each other and then just accepted this crazy process as natural and decided to eat our lunch. A few minutes later, we did the mother of all turn arounds. There was much manuevering, backing into bushes, and skidding in the mud, but we made it. We drove back to the place where we had left our passengers and they got back on, tired and muddy. Then we headed back the way we had come and it started to rain. Back muddy roads in the rain in Africa on a big bus...always a good idea. But we made it to the main road okay. So clearly, the only reason that we took this massive detour was to push that one bus out of the mud. A bus that had no business being back there in the first place. Africa? Africa.

When we made it back to the main road, everyone applauded and the journey continued. Then, it started to rain again. Of course, it would be too much to ask to have a window that actually closed. So all the way through Western Uganda I had a steady waterfall on my shoulder and pants. I was quite pruny by the time we reached the border. When we got to the border, there was all of a sudden an "every man for himself" feel to everything. We had to fight our way off the bus, using our passports as weapons, and run over to immigration. When we were allowed to leave Uganda, we ran through no man's land past all of the men promising to give us a "good exchange rate". Code for RIP-OFF, which we're not stupid enough to fall for. We got our passports stamped on the Rwandan side and noticed that there were 3 identical bussed parked next to each other and we weren't sure which one was ours. Eventually we found it because our luggage was being torn apart by immigration outside the bus. Very helpful. Once we fought our way back ON the bus, a guy came on and told us that the immigration guys had used the wrong stamp in our passports. It was the 2010 stamp instead of 2009. So what did we do? We fought our way off the bus again, elbowed people to get into the line-up at immigration, yelled at a guy to tried to throw his passport over our heads into the window, and got the guy at the desk to handwrite 2009 in our passports. Then we scrambled back on the bus right before it took off to continue the journey.

So that's a little summary of the trip here. It was wonderfully amusing, I have to say. Now we're staying at our friend Ian's house (a Rwandan pastor) and we're trying to enjoy our little vacation from the craziness of Uganda. We just drank Rwandan coffee...mmmmmmm...that also probably explains why this blog is so long. I can't keep control of my fingers! They're going a mile a minute! But yeah, we're going to visit some of the genocide memorials on Monday and hopefully go and see Ian's school and maybe get some ideas for our own project. Kigali is a wonderful place and I think Rwanda is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I know that there's a lot more beautiful places in the world for me to see, though. To me, that's really really exciting.

Au Revoir!!!!

What's Up With Us

Okay, this was supposed to have pictures with it, but my patience has ended after a few hours. I'll try to post pictures again another time. The blog below was written by Terra with the able and unparalleled assistance of a Miss Andria Young.

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Jambo mukwano! That means “hello friend” here in Iganga District of Uganda. Here at Grace of God Children’s Home and Primary School we have just started the first term of the school year after returning from holidays. We have the orphanage set up so that the children are with us full time at the site during the school year and then they go back with their guardians during the holidays. We are trying to create a community partnership rather than a place where the guardians can abandon children that have become a burden to them due to the level of poverty that they are living in. At the end of last term in December we had our first staff/guardian meeting. It went really well, as we were able to establish the mentality that these children are a blessing however abandoned and parentless they may be. With that, we also stressed to them that they can take pride in helping and getting involved in something that is positive for their community and for the children they have found in their care. Also, when they are a part of something that is working well and ensuring that their children achieve a higher level of education, they can take pride and ownership in the achievements too. It was a very encouraging meeting. We had guardians say that they would let us use their land so we could plant more food for the children or that they would bring food, while some said that they would help with sewing and cleaning. I think that sometimes people feel that there is no way they can help, but when they realize there are ways they can get involved it is like they have been given something themselves.

So, after ending last year with that meeting we started the year with another meeting with the guardians on February 2^nd, which also involved the different levels of local government. Many of the guardians brought corn and beans for us and any funds they had to help us this coming term. We are going to be welcoming 8 more children from our surrounding area. They are going to be brought to us by the Sub-County Counselor. They are going to be orphans that are not getting taken care of by the guardians who they have been left with. They are the ones who are just sitting there without the opportunity of going to school. So we are very excitedly awaiting their arrival. As well, we are going to be getting more day school children from our surrounding village. These children will also be orphans and vulnerable children who would not be getting the chance to go to school. At the moment, there are going to be approximately 80 children benefitting from the boarding school and many more will be benefitting from the day school.

Through your help and the help of other donors, we have been able to get beds built and purchase mattresses for all of the children. Last term we were continually dealing with Scabies, as the kids were sleeping on the ground and it was difficult to keep things clean. So it will be wonderful this term for the children to be sleeping under their treated mosquito nets on a mattress in a bed. The beds are scheduled to be completed this Friday the 6^th, so it is going to be quite a celebration. Some of these children have never slept on a bed before! We are also getting more desks so that the children will all be able to sit in a desk. We are hoping to be able to raise the teachers’ salaries as they are currently earning 1/3 of the proper salary. The teachers are really amazing and they go above and beyond their regular teaching responsibilities. On Wednesdays and Sundays some teachers stay with the children to worship and praise. On other evenings you’ll find a teacher staying late to teach the children new songs, dances, and skits.

The need is so huge; we are in the Busoga region, where the HIV/AIDS rate is approximately double that of the rest of the country, although the rest of the country is on the rise again. There are so many children who are not getting the care and education they deserve. Many of our children’s guardians are grandparents who have been left with the responsibility of their children’s children. Also, we have many older siblings who have been left with the responsibility of their younger siblings. There are so few jobs that a degree holder will search for years for a job. So you can imagine how difficult it must be for an elderly grandparent and an uneducated sibling to provide for the children left in their care. Many of our children come from deep in the village; they live off the land, they eat what they grow, and earn little to no profit with seemingly no access to income-generating activities. As we are situated within a village community; we are planning to start projects that involve and employ local widows that will aid them and also aid the project. There is an African Proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Through the village life style we can work for balance and love to the benefit of everyone.

We are all God’s children and we are all a part of His work. These children who have been left parentless still manage to shine with incredible joy and love. They are not hopeless, they are beautiful. Their situation and story may sound tragic and without love, but I think that God’s presence shines more clearly than ever when amongst the most abandoned and supposedly forgotten children you can hear laughter and joy. These children have taught me so much about true love and true joy. With their incredible personalities, charisma, and nature of perseverance you see how they deserve the future that God intends for them and that they are not of this situation.

Simon is twelve years old. His father died and his mother disappeared. He was being raised by his older brother, who was only five years older than him, in a mud hut with their three other brothers. Simon is one of the most confident people I have ever met. He has amazing charisma, he can sing beautifully, and he’s got some incredible dance moves. He says he wants to become the president of Uganda.

Jaclyn is seven years old, and her mother and father both died of AIDS. She and her 3 brothers were left with her Grandfather. Her Grandfather was too elderly and poor to care for them, which made them like a burden in his home. Jaclyn has been at the orphanage for two years now; she came from the village where they just spoke their native language. She has already learnt English so well and she excels in school. Since being given a box of crayons she has drawn and colored beautiful pictures. She is so clever and gifted. She wants to be a nurse.

Isaac is four years old. His father died of AIDS, and his mother is currently living with AIDS. Isaac’s father had three wives, but two died of AIDS, while the other is still living with it. His father left behind many children; they split the children up amongst different relatives. At four Isaac is his own little man; he has his own way in which he goes about everything. When he hears music he can’t help but swing his little hips. He marches to his own tune, and it is always interesting to see his approach to things, because it is always very much his own. He wants to be a policeman.

The background information and standard of living may seem like a devastating story, but the beauty of the people I have met here paints a different picture. It’s a story of love that extends through difficult times, and is seen in the grandmother who welcomes in any visitor as a blessing and gives them all the food she has. It’s a story of hope, which is seen in the little girl who has lost her parents and was left without food but is now learning to read. It’s a story of faith and thankfulness in knowing that God is the one that has sustained you, which I’ve seen in the singing of the HIV positive women as she sings praises to God. All efforts are important and worthwhile in working in love with others to give back what is deserved to a fellow human. We are so thankful and encouraged to have friends in Canada who have helped to ensure that the futures of these children are not reflective of their past. It is only through God’s networking that these things could happen, and we are excited and blessed to be a part of His work.

Life 'n Stuff

There's a lot to say about being here. But maybe it'd be good to give you an idea where "here" is. I'm living in Iganga, which is in the southeastern part of Uganda. I'm living at the home of the former mayor of Iganga. Well, not actually in the house. We have our own little place in his backyard compound. There's one room that has some chairs in it and a propane stove for cooking, which is AWESOME and another room where Terra and I sleep. That's it! But it's fantastic.There's no running water actually in our place so we fill up Jerry cans for drinking water and cleaning. Then (don't worry Mom) we use Water Guard to purify the drinking water. It's just like camping without the tent, basically. Which rocks for me because I'm that kinda girl. We brush our teeth in a cup, shower with cold water and listen to the pitter patter of little cockroach feet as we're in the squatty potty. For me, life is good :0) Except for the fact that we still don't have power. Now there's none at all so we can't charge the phone, cameras or my iPod. Sad day with no music, because unfortunately for Terra that means I have to create my own music....mwahahahaha. Stay tuned for "Volunteer" The Musical featuring classics like There's A Rock in my Shoe, The Corruption Blues, and Just Blame The Equator. Coming soon to a blog near you...



We've been pretty busy lately because yesterday was the first day of school! Woo hooooo!!!! It's been so fantastic to see some of the kids again, and I know that more of them will continue to appear as the week goes on. See, the deal at the orphanage now is that for holidays the kids go to stay with their guardians. Possibly an aunt or grandparent or something. That way their connection with their home village is preserved, which is a pretty big deal in Uganda. There's only one child who has absolutely no one to take him, so he went with the matron for Christmas. He had such a good time, it just makes me so happy to see him like that. The generator just died in the middle of this, but luckily I had saved it. There's a long line of impatient Ugandans waiting for the internet so I'm feeling the pressure to wrap up. Let's just say, in summary: The kids are back, Iganga is basically a bunch of dust with a few buildings, things are very busy, and we're heading to Rwanda in two weeks. Yaaaaaaay! I have some more feelings about some reason political problems we've been having with the LC1 (head of the village of Bukeye) but I'll save that for next time. Too much pressure! In short, the dude thinks he's the king of everything and keeps saying how he has the power to shut us down even if it isn't legal the way he does it unless we find a way for him to benefit financially from the project. Nice guy, I really like him.

Okay! The end for now! I hope everything's great at home and I also hope it's not too long before I can communicate again. Power power power *sigh*. But things are good! Hip hip hooray!

Powerless

So this will be a quick one because we're on our way to Kampala at the moment. So yeah, we STILL don't have power. We've had a few hours here and there, but we've never had a whole day of power. Apparently it's even worse because the power company is "fixing" something so it could be anywhere from 15 to 90 days. Quite the time span, eh? So pretty much the entire time I'm here. Nice. I'm getting comfortable with candles again, though.

Right now we've just been doing a lot of prep because the kids come back on February 4th for the school term. We (by we I mean Terra and I came along) bought books, beans and paint. Starting on Monday I'll be painting some murals to make the place a little happier. Woo hoo!

So as for the Italian construction company...they are crazy. They truly do wish to donate a lot of money to the orphanage, and we went to a party of theirs the other night to "schmooze" with them. Oh...Italians. There were loud speakers, pounding music, and the most AMAZING food I've ever had. In Uganda it felt quite strange. They're having another party and they were like, "Oh, don't worry, we'll send a private car for you." Pardon? And the dude has a helicopter to fly between his homes in Rome and Greece. So altogether quite the hook-up for us because they're just throwing money around. So I guess we have to eat nummy food with Italians in the jungle *sigh*. Oh well...it's for the children.

Anyways, the battery is dying on the laptop so I should go. I've only injured myself twice so far and had one unfortunate experience with the local food. I definitely feel like I'm back now. Okay! Take care, and hopefully we'll have some more power so I can write a bit more!

I'm totally in Uganda

Yes! I'm alive! I'm in Iganga now but I have not been able to email as the power has been out since I got here. There is this one place with a generator that we are finally using. It is SUPER slow, but at least I can have some contact. I have not been able to check my messages yet, though. Sorry!

Okay, these first few days have been quite busy. Terra met me in Kampala and the next morning while she was out at the ShopRite she met a street boy named Waiswa. Usually there is no point with street boys and you feel bad but they are so unwilling to be helped. This one seemed different though, and he really wanted to go to school. So Terra decided for the first time to bring this guy with us and see if we could help him. He came with us to Iganga and we had some of the teachers interrogate him to find out what his story was. He was such a helpful and polite boy, but when it came to giving us the details about his life, he would not provide and he refused to go to the police with us so we could get proper documentation. He said they would beat him, but he still seemed like he might be not telling us something. In the end we took him back to Kampala and we said he could think about telling us more and we'd go see him on Saturday again. So we hope things can still happen with him.

Something SUPER exciting is that it looks like a construction company here is going to pay for all of the beds for the orphanage, desks, chairs, solar lights and food for 5 years!!! I'll keep you posted. We're meeting with the guy again tomorrow.

Finally, a sad thing is about my friend Isaac. He was my guard at Samuel's house and my friend and companion for the whole time I was there. I went with him to meet his family and we became quite close. I just found out that he had a bad boda accident (motorbike) and his face is pretty disfigured. On top of that, his wife has left him and his only child, baby Gift, died. So he is really struggling and it just breaks my heart. I'm trying to find him, but he has slipped a long way down and is hard to trace. I hope to find him.

Okay, I should let Terra use the computer while she still can. But this is mainly to say that I'm here, things are happening, and I'll try to write more when we get power back! Pleeeeease. I miss power. Bye for now!

This is what? Another post.

I've been trying to remember lately how I was feeling before I left for Uganda last time. I do believe that I was terrified but no matter how hard I try, I can't remember. Maybe I've blocked it out. So this time, I thought I'd record a few things before I take off so I know where I stood before I was reimmersed in Ugandaland. Of course, this is all in the spirit of cultural understanding :0)

10 Things I Remember About Uganda:

1) Having dirty feet ALL the time. And most importantly, not caring.

2) Being called "Sir" everywhere I went.

3) Being called fat and learning to accept the fact that it was actually meant as a compliment.

4) Learning that you can point directions out just as well with your lips as you can with your hands.

5) Choosing a restaurant by what type of bathroom facilities there were.

6) Asking for ice and being told to come back later because maybe they could make some for me if the power doesn't go out.

7) "Customer Service" consists of either being completely ignored until such a time they feel like talking or being told that they don't actually sell anything on the menu and being looked at like an alien for even thinking they would.

8) Just eat it, don't ask, it's all you're getting so pretend it tastes like roast beef.

9) We were baptizing people in a lake where crocodiles were just spotted around the corner and we were just laughing about it...what?!

10) Learning to add questions in the middle of what? A sentence.

Uganda in 4 days? Don't mind if I do...

I've been asked the same question a lot when I tell people that I'm going back to Uganda, so I figured that this might be a good way to start this blog journey off. The thing is, people want to know why I'm focusing my work in Africa when there are so many problems right here in Canada with the natives, homelessness and such. I understand why people are asking me this, so I'll try to answer the question the best I can.

I know there's some mystery behind how a prairie girl with a panic disorder ended up going to Uganda in the first place. All I can say is that going to Africa is something that has been in my system and on my mind since I was about 10 years old. I always knew that I didn't want to just travel and go on safari, but I wanted to go there and work and get to know the people so I could in some way become part of Africa myself. It's just always been inside me and I don't know exactly why.

It's not that I don't understand the issues here in Canada, or that I don't care about them. I do. There are people out there who feel that their calling is to work on East Hastings St. in Vancouver, when a lot of people wouldn't consider even driving down there. I understand why they're so passionate about what they're doing because it's the same thing I feel for Africa. I mean, why do some people focus on the natives when other people work with the homeless and others feel something for sex trade workers? It's about humanity, not about countries. Nobody gets first dibs on help, or at least they shouldn't. People see a need and it speaks to them in a way that lights a fire underneath them to make a change. Nobody can change everything themselves, so it's up to people who feel that fire for something to act on it. If we spread out the work to where our hearts lie, we can chip away at the issues the best we can.

I'm not going to Uganda again because celebrities say it's cool to adopt black babies. I'm going because I have seen the effects of the war, AIDS and poverty on the people, and despite all of that I still feel so at home there and like I've finally found where I belong. Some people have always known they wanted to be a teacher or a doctor and no one questioned it. Well, I've always known that I wanted to work for and in Africa. Maybe my work is going to be charitable, but it's still what I want to do. I don't know where exactly all of this is going to head, but I feel more comfortable with this than with anything else I've considered doing with my life.

It's also important to add that I'm not closed to the opportunity of working here in Canada too. And, it's not like I never do anything to help while I'm home in Canada. Of course not! I don't just turn off my wish to help people when I'm home. Again, people are people and it's all about humanity. But Africa's still got my heart too, and now it's time to head back there again.

So there you go. Andria's impassioned speech about Africa. It's okay if you still don't get it, sometimes I confuse myself. But as far as I'm concerned, bring on the cockroaches, sunburns and severe lack of customer service!!!! 4 days, baby...now I just need to see if I can sleep until then.