sprinting to the finish line

i only have 5 weeks left here!

AAAAAAAGGGH!

I was really worried that when the second wavers left that all the projects would fizzle out. thank goodness for the awesome third wavers who are jumping right in to Uganda! I am now project lead on four projects- the CURE trainings, Mbale Hospital volunteering, handwashing outreaches, and the leadership class. I have kept really busy with them. Which is great! I do not want to be lame and die out these last five weeks. i want to keep sprinting hard core to the finish!

why?
I am not ready to leave! this place is honestly the best place I have ever been. I am content and happy. For the most part I live the Hakuna Matata lifestyle. The people here are the happiest people on the planet. They don't most of the "conviences" that we have in the US, but they have something more. They have family. They have community. They have relationships with God and with others that are undeniably strong. I love seeing children playing with homemade soccer balls (made from banana leaves and plastic bags) or homemade metal cars.  everyone here is so ready to learn knew things. they all want to make their life better than it was. they want to make Uganda a better place. They have such great hopes for the future. I hope and pray that they will all be fulfilled.

Well, I am almost out of time but I am going to really try to post more often in these last 5 weeks. Until later then...

the 5 senses of Uganda

Uganda smells like.....
- burning piles of garbage (i call them cancer piles)
- matooke and posho cooking
- raw cow stomach, intestines and fish in the market
- sewage in the gutters of the street

Uganda sounds like....
-crazy sounding birds that wake you up at 6 am 
- honking buses and yelling boda drivers
- rain pouring down
- drums and dancing
- children singing
- kids yelling "mzungu!"

boys from Sonset soccer academy

Uganda tastes like....
- fresh pineapple 
- rolex (chipati and fried eggs)
- a LOT of oil
- cadbury chocolate
- "Nice" biscuits

Aubs making a delicious chipati concoction

Uganda feels like....
- the hot hot sun beating down
- getting caught in a sudden downpour
- dancing for an hour, even though you are sweating bullets
- laughing with kids
- happiness

Becca, me, Kaylen after getting caught in a rainstorm

Uganda looks like....
- the greenest place you will ever see
- the happiest people
- insane roads
- busy busy busy, everywhere
- a lush garden
- red dirt

the view outside our compound!

tippy taps

whats a tippy tap?

its a handwashing station. many people in uganda don't wash their hands and so they get really bad diseases that are born by fecal matter. so for one of our projects we build a handwashing station at a school and then teach them about handwashing

this is a tippy tap we built at St. Kizitos baby home!

pictures to follow i promise

ok i have 4 minutes. aah! I am still a live. 

i lov africa.

i might come home with a black baby named scovia.

or maybe i'll bring home benjamin from impact.

or gerald (aka jared) and his sister, sandra.

i'll put up pictures tomorrow when i am on a better computer with faster internet.

project update

umm ok a month later.... i finally post. sorry about the long absence. in case you are wondering, i have not died in africa. but i have been sucked in. i absolutely love it here! i only have 10 minutes but i want to give a quick update on the three BIG projects i am working on. (i'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.)

#1- CURE Hospital Trainings.
CURE Hospital is an NGO in Mbale that specializes in pediatric neurosurgery- specifically hydrocephalis. It is a great facility and run by awesome staff. A group of us go every week and teach the mothers (who are there with a child getting surgery). We teach nutrition and boiling water (me), handwashing and basic hygiene (Aubrey and Rem), and First Aid (Jenner and Paul). I was really nervous to teach nutrition at first, since i am not an expert, but it is really fun! I just teach the 5 food groups and show them foods that they have here which are included in each group. We are hoping to spread the classes to the Regional Hospital and surrounding villages.

i love this hospital!

#2- Leadership Class at Impact Primary School
Impact school is my favorite. I love the kids there SO much! I had this great idea to start a student government. It turned into a leadership class, ebcause these kids don't really get much leadership training or opportunity.  We go once a week and teach all of P7 and then 2 or 3 kids from all the other classes (they are the class monitors).   I love teaching there because I hope to empower these students (most of whom are orphans) and show them they can make their life better than it is now!

me and some girls

human pyramid in p7

the P1-P4 class monitors

#3- Volunteering at Mbale REgional Hospital.
Ever since the mango tree and boy experience i have wanted to do somethuing in the hospital. We started volunteering there a few weeks ago. my goal ultitmately is to make contacts and friends with staff there so that i can remain in contact with the hospital when i go home. i want to create my own NGO to provide the hospital with suipplies and possibly volunteer doctors (to go over there like once a year). I volunteer in the pediatric acute care unit of monday and the surgery (OR) ward on Thursday and Friday. I have been able to see some crazy and sad stuff. i am more convinced that I WILL come back and help these people one day! they deserve a chance at a healthy, long life. And the staff deserve the supplies and equipment to fit their training.

this is what we had to wear in the surgical ward. i felt legit.