Home, sweet home

After two incredible weeks on Safari and almost 40 hours of travel time we finally made it home to Portland. I can't believe how fast the time has passed! Looking back on my time spend in Uganda I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of my time in the country. The kindness of the people, their willingness to share their lives with me, and the beauty of the country has captured my heart. While I am lucky enough to have journeyed to various places around the world Uganda is truly unique and special. While 6 weeks is hardly enough time to come to really know a country, I feel like I connected with Uganda in a way that I have not in other places. Coming home is always bittersweet. While I am excited to return to my friends and family, in many ways I do not feel ready.

In one week I will be leaving for my first year of college and a whole new set of experiences--my life at home is waiting for me. Whenever I come back from an experience such as my trip to Uganda I begin to look at life with a new perspective. I am reminded of the importance of human connection, the importance of remembering the blessings I have been afforded, and the importance of hope and hard work. While these reminders begin to slink into the background as I return to daily life, I know that subtly the experiences I have always remain. So while I do not feel ready I know that I am not saying a permanent goodbye. Maybe someday I will return to Uganda. I certainly hope that is the case.

Safari Departure

Tomorrow we leave for our Safari, and we are very excited! Internet will be spotty so posts on the blog will most likely be sparse until our return home. We will be travelling through game parks and national reserves for the next two weeks, and will be back in the country on the 3rd of August. Somethings I am looking forwards to: tracking gorillas at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, staying in thatched roofed wall-less huts in Queen Elizabeth Park, doing game drives Murchison Falls and hiking through the Uganda jungles. I am hoping to post pictures of the Safari when we are back in the US. Thanks for all your support!

P.S.
I have included some photos on the monkeys around our house in this post. To my cousin Nina: I hope you like the baby monkey! He/She was born about 3 weeks ago (we think?).

Toothbrushes at All Saints

Today was our last day at All Saints. The big activity of the day? Toothbrushes! We received a donations of 240 toothbrushes from the Kaiser dental group and an additional 50 from Augustana Lutheran Church to give to the school. Kaiser also provided 240 small tubes of toothpaste and 300 rolls of floss, so we were able to teach the children how to brush and floss their teeth, and leave them each with their own personal toothbrush. The children thought that having foreigners come in and teacher them to brush their teeth was quite a spectacle! One particularly interesting thing for them was learning how to floss. According to their teachers some of the older students "know the theory behind flossing" but have never seen actual floss in their lives. Overall the teaching went better than we expected- hopefully most of the students will continue to brush their teeth!

We also brought other gifts from various donors, including crayons, markers, paper, pencils, rules, glue, soccer balls etc. to the school. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Last days and goodbyes

Today was our last day at All Saints, and yesterday was our last day at New Kabaale.

Wednesday in particular was a day of high emotions and sad goodbyes. Sometimes you don't realize how much people have touched you until it is time to leave them. We have met so many wonderful children and teachers during our time at New Kabaale and I feel as though I should be beginning my second week, not ending my last. I have just hit my stride at the school- I have found where I fit in. When we arrived in Kampala I thought that 4 weeks would be a long time at the school, but now I just wish that I could have 4 more. Even though the end feels abrupt for me I know that life at New Kabaale will carry on. The tenacity of the students, their thirst for knowledge, their abundant cheerfulness and their hope for the future in infectious  The best that I can hope for is that in some small way I have touched these children- as they have touched me.

Crying on the last day

The special farewell lunch they prepared for us

Us and the New Kabaale Staff

Molly and Paul came to see us off on our last day

New Kabaale Donations

I would like to thank all of those who contributed money and supplies to the students at New Kabaale Busega. We have done a few projects at the school while we were here, including building a sandbox for the younger children and purchasing textbooks for the older classes. Beginning on Monday we began construction on the sandbox, which was completed by Wednesday morning. We were thankful to have the Henderson's there to help us with the construction!

In terms of the books that were donated we were able to cover a large amount of need with the books that we purchased. For the Primary 7 class we were able to buy enough maths books to make a complete set- enough for one book to share between 2 or 3 students. Previously the class of 50 had only 5 textbooks, so every day the teacher would have to draw the problems on the board and have the students copy them in their books. This method was extremely inefficient (especially for a class that uses many diagrams and graphs) and as a result the teacher estimated that students were only able to cover about 1/5 of the problems and examples in the book. With the new books they will be able to cover much more material! We also purchased some Primary 6 science books and some reading books for Primary 1-3. All of the classes were overjoyed to received their books and we know that they will be treasured and well used.

Aunt Betty (Primary 2) showing off the new books to the class

Primary 7 looking at their books during break

Building the walls of the sandbox

After a long day at work

Jenny shoveling sand into the box

Hayden and Josie with some of the boarding students

Playing in the sand for the first time!

They had never seen sand before and just stood in the box looking at their feet for the first 5 minutes. So sweet.

A Rushed Tour of Kampala

On Thursday night our friends the Henderson’s arrived at the guesthouse. Josie and her son Hayden are staying with us this week and will be traveling with us on our safari (we leave on Friday!). On Saturday we went to the Uganda Museum and learned about the history of Uganda from pre-historic times to the present day. It was really interesting! We had lunch at a local bakery and the Henderson‘s tried Samosas for the first time, which they claimed they enjoyed.

Sunday was a very busy day for us. We hired a van to drive us around the city to all the major sites- most of which we hadn’t seen even though we have been in Kampala for 3 weeks. Working at Molly and Paul during the week and prepping lessons on the weekend has not left us much time to be tourists, so it was nice to get out and see the city.

We started at a large Mosque that sits on a hill overlooking Kampala. We learned that of the seven hills in Kampala five of them are home to religious institutions- a fact that demonstrates the predominance of religion in the city. The staff at the Mosque allowed us to climb the minaret where we were rewarded with a great view of the city. Next we went to the Mango Palace, home of the King of Buganda.  The country of Uganda is home to several kingdoms which date back seven hundred years or more and the largest kingdom which encompasses Kampala is called Buganda. The King  of Buganda currently has little political authority and his power is mainly symbolic. The palace was very interesting as we learned a lot about the history of Uganda, especially about the reign of Obote and Idi Amin. One of the most interesting parts of the visit was seeing Amin’s torture chambers, where thousands were tortured and killed under multiple dictators.

After the palace we had lunch at a local restaurant and ate the Ugandan staples of Posho, Matoke and beans. We then visited a Bahai’ temple. Only 8 of these temples exist in the entire world and one of them is located on (surprise) a hill in Kampala. The Bahai’ believe that all religions come from God and are therefore all equal and just. They do not have clergy so their meetings consist of discussions and readings. The temple was very beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed it. My father and I visited the Bahai’ temple outside of Chicago in the United States, so now I only have 6 more to go!

We ended the day at an outdoor theater where we watched traditional dance and music be performed by a local group. It was the perfect end to a great day.

Minaret at the Kabuli Mosque

Mango Palace 

"I never forget my husband was killed people of Obote"- Writings in mud on the walls of Amin's torture chambers

Bahai' Temple

Lunch Time at New Kabaale

Lunch is always quite an affair at New Kabaale! Every day the students get a free cup of porridge at 10:30 and posho (one of the Ugandan staples) and beans for lunch. Today we brought out the camera to capture the typical New Kabaale lunch time.

There are no utensils so students eat with their hands in typical African fashion 

Firewood makes a great seat for students. Most sit on the ground to eat their lunch

The kids love to play football (soccer) at lunch. They are out there every day without fail! 

I am going to miss seeing these smiling faces every day!

Beautiful Rose (headteacher) and Haijira (secretary)