Proud to be American

Happy 4th of July (yesterday) from Africa!!! :)

We are so grateful to be Americans.  Especially after living in Africa for a little while - it makes us even more grateful.  It was different, but a very neat experience.  If you have never experienced the 4th of July in a 3rd world country, where things are very under-developed, I suggest you go (with HELP! :) or some other organization) and experience it for yourself!  We are proud to be Americans!

Here are some projet updates from the past week.
I am Proud:
 Many men and women in Uganda lack knowledge on how to prevent getting HIV, how to have safe sex, and many other topics that relate to their health, gender roles, and gender psychology. We want to empower and teach young men and women these important facts, instill self –confidence, and help them to have faith in themselves.

We have been going to many different schools around Lugazi speaking to men and women about these important facts. We have now been able to have the opportunity to expand the “I am Proud” project. We are now revisiting the schools and making it more of a detailed program. I feel that our team has had the opportunity to influence many of the youth’s lives. Not only do we feel that we are inspiring these youth, but they are inspiring us as well.

Happy Child:

In the area around Lugazi there are many children that do not have parents, whether it is from abandonment or death.  Our goal for happy child is to obviously make every child smile but we also want to make them feel important and let them know we care about them.  Every Sunday we work with a man named Francis and teach children new, fun and educational games.  We are also helping to redo the Happy Child office so that it is more professional and hopefully they can get more funding.  We also work with a wonderful woman named Betty who supports five amazing orphaned children. Their names are Egesa, Kitra, Dinah, Earnest, and Baby Betty. We go to their house every Tuesday and Thursday and they are always so happy to see us.  Recently we have had a hard time getting Dinah to smile and be happy for us.  This week when we went on Thursday Dinah smiled so much for us. We figured out that she loves to play outside, be tickled, and thrown in the air.  Seeing the kids smile is always the best part of my week.

God Bless the U.S.A.!

TIA - This is Africa

Kerri, a volunteer from the first wave, made this video and just sent it to me.

We love Africa and will never forget it. :)
Thank you Kerri for the video.

Project Updates: Seya Construction & Musana Jewelry

We love our projects and we love telling you about them!   Here are the updates on Seya Construction and Musana Jewelry.  Both projects are coming along great! :)

Seya Construction:

For the last six weeks, HELP International has been working on getting the Seya School Project approved. We were finally able to achieve that goal, and we commenced the building of the Seya School!

 We started by digging the trenches needed for the foundation, and that took about two full days. Once the trenches were complete, we filled them in with crushed rocks ranging in size from a baseball to a football. The purpose of this was to create a somewhat flat surface to lay the bricks for the foundation. We then mixed concrete, sand, and little rocks about the size of golf balls and started pouring it on top of the flat surface of rocks we had laid previously; this took us about two full days as well. About five volunteers from HELP were able to come each day, and we got some much needed help from the community as well! The construction workers that we were working with were also very hard working, and we are so grateful to have them on this project with us.

We had to wait five days for the concrete to dry, so we started to go around the community, gathering the bricks that were being donated. The day before the concrete was supposed to be dry we had a total of about 3,000 bricks on site, ready to be laid down. The next day, we officially started the foundation of the Seya School. It has been about one week since the foundation was started, and everything is going as planned. The HELP volunteers are learning how to lay bricks and fill in with cement, but we are mostly there to move bricks into the right places so that the construction workers can build as fast as possible. We love working with the kids of the school and the community! They are all so willing to help, and they make the hard work actually enjoyable. :)

Musana Jewelry:

Football in no joke in America.  Football is even less of a joke in Uganda.  Of course, I'm speaking of what we call "soccer" in America - only the rest of the world calls it "football".  From nearly the moment the sun rises, Kampala is ringing with the sound of vuvuzelas being blown by people wandering the streets, riding boda-bodas, sitting in taxis, leaning out of their apartment windows, and selling Uganda Cranes paraphemalia.  You can't avoid it: today is game day.

Two weeks ago we decided that it was time for us to insert ourselves into the madnes and live this cultural experience.  We were prepared for large crowds, deafening noise, and long lines, but we did not anticipate the incredibly warm welcome we received.

That Saturday morning was devoted to shopping for materials for some Musana projects with the plan of heading to the football stadium in the early afternoon. We quickly discovered the wisdom in wearing our recently purchased Uganda Cranes jerseys; we felt like celebrities wherever we went. We were filmed by a local TV station (and ended up on the evening news!), we were asked to pose for photos with fellow fans, we received a standing ovation with high fives and bongas (fist bumps) as we walked through the wholesale district… we even danced through the taxi park with taxi drivers cheering “We go, we go - Uganda Cranes we go!”.

What was probably most surprising during the course of the morning was how grateful many Ugandans were for our support of their team.  Over and over we were thanked for supporting Uganda.  As if we would consider supporting anyone else!  The warmth and gratefulness we received was touching and made us love the country even more.  I'm pretty sure that the big takeaway from this experience is that if you are a mzungu heading to Uganda, just wear a Uganda Cranes jersey the whole time.  You will be loved everywhere you go.

The game itself was a blast with Uganda winning 4-0 over Congo Brazzaville, but the boda-boda ride to the stadium ranks pretty high on the biggest adrenaline rushes of my life.  Besides being mildly dangerous (don't tell my mom!) between all of the weaving in and out of city traffic and sometimes driving into oncoming traffic, the trip from the center of Kampala to the stadium was like being part of a motorcycle gang of insane, cheering fans.  The three mzungus led the way waving the Uganda flag and high-fiving neighboring boda-boda and taxi passengers.  I think we all felt a little like Uganda really was our team as we melded with the throng of supporters streaming towards Nelson Mandela Stadium, leaving clogged Kampala traffic in our wake.

Here is the link to Musana's Blog: http://musanajewelry.blogspot.com/

Small and Simple Things

Everyone on this team loves Lugazi and Uganda for different reasons.  It's a great place filled with little, yet great, moments that each of us experience.  We all will have different "worth-it" moments, but in the grand scheme of things, it makes this trip  most definitely worth it because of the small and simple things that happen each day as we work on our projects and/or as we adventure into the Pearl of Africa.
We are grateful for this experience and wouldn't trade it for anything!

 

• Daphine was communicating to me this week!  Although she can’t speak, she kept making noises and would point to things to help me understand.  I was able to help her the whole day because she trusted me and was comfortable enough with me to communicate to me. – Jessica 
• Moving all of the bricks at Seya with the little kids there. – Lexi 
• Me and Rebecca were determined to get to Happy Child even though it was raining. We took a boda who drop us off in a random place so we decided to just run to the office.  While I was running I thought it might not be worth it but as soon as I saw the children waiting for us it made me feel instantly thankful that I decided to go to the project. There were only four kids so we stayed inside and played card games and every single kid laughed today! It was amazing. –Elaine 
• Repelling down Sipi Falls! – Julia 
• On Friday, while helping move bricks to the site of the new school in Seya Village, a group of children began shadowing me and attempting to talk to me. Several of the children have begun taking a liking to me (Maybe because I try to talk with them in Luganda and I say silly phrases that make them laugh like “Ndi Mulalu” I’m crazy. On Friday, one of the little girls asked me in English if she could be my child. I was a little confused and asked what she meant. She said “I am your child because I love you so much.” – Lane

• After running around Kampala between forensic departments trying to figure out how to get fingerprinting done, running into several issues and difficult people, and taking bodabodas everywhere, Troy, McCall, and I went clubbing, slept in a tent, dressed up with Muslims and went to the Gaddafi mosque, and ended our sightseeing with getting a tour of the Kasubi tombs from one of the princes of the Buganda kingdom (though we didn’t find out his status until the end when he handed us his card and sold us some beautiful art).  My art is beautiful and I had an amazing experience.  I wrote down what the prince told us at the tombs and learned so much.  It made me appreciate the culture here so much more and made it seem all the more worth it. - Kristen 
• Going to church and having testimony meeting. – Ashlyn
• Learning how to DRIVE A BODA BODA! – Whitney
• Having a happy smiling child reach for me, and getting to hold him while he fell asleep in my arms. I loved being able to look at his beautiful face. I was reminded why I am here, and why this experience is so wonderful. It was just a small moment, but I will always remember his face. – Chelsea Brinkerhoff
• Going on a hike in the Mabira forest and seeing monkeys, ants, and crazy plants that wilted when you touched them. –Trevor

 

• Sitting on the back of a pickup truck on the way to Jinja and watching the scenery pass by and high-fiving passing taxis. We should always go to Jinja this way! – Meredith
• Meeting with the potential members of the Lugazi Business Class Advisory Board and seeing their excitement and dedication into improving the classes and helping out the people of Lugazi – Jace
• Playing with Eve’s son Jovan before dinner.  His laugh is so so precious and he has the cutest smile full of baby white teeth.  It was just a special moment that I got to share with a special little boy.  It was especially worth it when he said “Ncuagalano” I love you back. – Becca
• Brainstorming with the project committee on how we can better our program and change Lugazi! – Stewart
• Going to Grace and Geoffrey’s house and her telling us that we were a miracle because she has had sores on her lips for 2 years and the lip gloss we gave her has now made her be able to smile and be able to eat food and not be in pain. I love them they are AWESOME!! – Liz 

This is Africa!  And we love it! :)

Worth it Moments :)

Life here in Lugazi is definitely a new experience - it's definitely not how we are used to living and it's not a piece of cake.  But every day we each have a little moment where it makes this experience all worth the hardships we are facing.

So here are this week's worth it moments that make this trip all worth it. :)

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Giving chap stick to Sister Grace and her crying the next Sunday because she was so grateful for the random handout. I love Sister Grace so much. –Whitney

Making kids laugh is the best part of it all -Elaine

 

Seeing everyone smile. – Ashlyn
Nile River

Walking down the street and seeing people light up when you smile and wave at them.  
-Lexi

Being invited over to Monday’s house for dinner and having their family tell Nate and I how much they appreciated all we have done for them.  It was a really neat experience to see that your efforts have not gone to waste. – Liz
African Sunrise

While I was on a People with Disabilities project outing to get a prosthetic hand for Daphine.  Whenever I was standing up, she would sit down and pat a part of the seat, motioning me to sit down next to her.  She is so sweet :) – Jessica

Jessica and Daphine

While we were at Seya all the little kids kept saying see you tomorrow Christine! See you tomorrow!  Kiliester (keelee ester) is seven years old, same age as my little sister that I miss so much right now.  He brought me passion fruit and mango from the forest and yanked sugar cane from the fields and ate it with me.  I sat around a pit of fruit waste with 15 kids, ate great food, and chucked my rinds and sugar cane peel in the pit with them.  I even graced them with some dancing which elicited some laughing.  When we had finished and all the cement had been mixed by the construction men, we went and finished the cement foundation of the school that they will soon be able to use!  TIA.
-Kristen
African Sunset from our front yard

One highlight of doing the business classes is that we see real interest in our students to learn.  They approach us with personal questions and desire personal help and we’ve been able to help them in different areas in their business.  It’s just cool to see that they really want to learn and make changes and improve.  Some individuals have been taught specific to their business how to market or keep records and the improvement in their business is amazing.  It’s totally worth it! – Rebecca

 
Working with our partner, Moses, on the Persons with Disabilities project to construct a chair for a disabled child in our town has led to some amusing experiences. I was using a hammer and Moses could tell I was nervous so he told me to “knock with confidence”. I found it really funny and kind. –Julia

Julia and Moses

I am new to this whole African experience, I arrived here last Thursday. It has been interesting adjusting to a new... well world. So I like the thought of writing a “Worth it moment” to focus on the amazing little moments we have here. I just love the fact that when I leave my front of our house, all the little kids up the street know my name. And hearing about 15 little kids saying “byeeee Chels” in the morning is a really great way to start my morning.    Another moment that will forever be ingrained in my mind is we get Saturday and Sunday off every week, so a few girls and I went to this awesome resort on the other side of the Nile. We were just hanging out by the pool and I looked behind me and there were monkeys everywhere!! They eventually got close enough that I could give them peanuts out of my hand. One of monkeys invited himself to my cheesecake and just strolled away with it. What an awesome African experience! I mean come on, hanging out with wild, cute monkeys by the pool next to the Nile. Love it! –Chelsea
Nile river Sunset

Last week I accompanied one of the Musana Jewelry artisans to get her HIV treatment in a neighboring city. She has not been able to receive all of the treatment that she needs because of the expense, but with our focus on increasing social services for our women artisans since arriving, Musana was able to support her to make this trip (and consistent future care). When the HIV specialist briefly left the room, she turned to me and said “God sent you to Lugazi. You were sent to save my life.” I think this statement goes to anyone that has played a part in supporting the Musana Jewelry initiative. – Melissa
Nile Sunset

It was exciting to witness the women of Musana warmly welcome a reproductive health class this week and initiate another health program, this time for the larger community. We were worried that they would not be friendly towards a family planning session, so it was very rewarding to see it become a success, even enough of one that the women want to work with the same women’s health organization in the future. It’s good to know that you are on the right track! – Meredith

******

And here is a joke provided by Lane:

Question: What did the African latrine say to the other African latrine when they learned about gravity?
Answer: See, pee falls! (Sipi Falls) 

Sipi Falls

Oli Otya! :)

I’ve got a very serious question for you: How do you fit an elephant through a doorway?

Think about it.  I’ll give you the answer later. :)

 

This week has been a good week.  The newcomers are still adjusting, but are starting to get used to life here.  Mainly they’re still struggling with our latrines and their aiming techniques…but that’s TMI.

Let’s move on.

PROJECT UPDATES!

Seya School Construction:

Seya School is an amazing project!  We were hesitant going into the project with limited information, but we have truly come to love Seya School through working with the community and our contacts that have been awesome and easy to work with.  Of course it was quite the process and took meeting after meeting to get things rolling, but that is what makes Seya School such a great project.  In addition, there has been a ton of community support.  They donated lots of bricks and started construction on the school even without any promise of help from us.  It was because of the community dedication and contribution that this project was able to get approved, and we are ecstatic to see how the school progresses now that it has been approved! :)

This past week we were able to buy the concrete for the foundation of the school and laid it down.  Foundation = COMPLETE! :)  Next step: building the walls with the bricks the community has provided.

Sarah, Kerri, and Holly working on building walls

 The community are great workers

Eye and Dental Camp:

Good news!  Along with Chelsea and Jace came a great gift.  A tub full of 800 GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D Kristen and I were SOOO stoked. :)  I haven’t been this excited in forever!

So, glasses are here.  Next step: meet with Dr. Kigula (the Mehta Hospital Admin.) and get the details for the 11 day health camp in August that we want to join and help.  Once we meet with him, then we can finish up the project proposal and get that passed!

Yay for glasses!

People with Disabilities:

I finished the project proposal and it was passed by the team last week!  Yay!!

This past week we started constructing Sam’s chair, and it is almost finished! :) Sam is an epileptic boy who is such a happy young man.  He is 13 and he loves to smile, sing and is a very smart boy.  He has been sitting on the ground for months, he can hold himself up, but he is pulled to the left because his spine is crooked.  We are hoping with our chair that we constructed it will help straighten his back and also to get him off the ground so he won’t be sitting in his own waste anymore.  The chair is a toilet chair, leg separating chair, and also a chair that will not let him fall out.  He has a wheel chair, but he doesn’t use it because the tire is flat and he is afraid of falling out of it.  So we made the chair’s sides high so he can’t fall out.

We also went to Mukono to meet Daphine.  She is a 10 year old girl who was severely burned when she was 3 months old by a witch lady who was trying to sacrifice to her to demons.  She and her family were at a hostile and her mother wasn’t around when the witch came and got hold of Daphine.  3 children were previously sacrificed prior to the attempt on sacrificing Daphine.  She has no left arm and has bad scars all on the left side of her body.  Because of the fire, it damaged her brain and so she can’t talk.  We are going to get her a prosthetic hand!  We went to Kampala on Thursday to get her arm measurements and next Thursday we are going to pick up the prosthetic hand for Daphine!!  She is very excited. :)

Sam is awesome :)

 Daphine is the sweetest and cutest girl ever!

Business Classes:

The business classes are awesome!  We teach twice a week in three different villages and our students are wonderful!  Some of them already own a business but need help expanding and improving it.  Others want help starting up a business and running it successfully.  So far we are just teaching the very basics such as – what a business is and what kinds of businesses there are.  Pretty soon we’re hoping to start teaching marketing, book keeping, customer service, and sales.  Hopefully our students will recognize their opportunities and be able to achieve their goals of being entrepreneurs.

The biggest challenge we’ve encountered so far is the language barrier.  Many of the people we teach don’t speak or understand English so it has been difficult trying to explain concepts to them.  And even with a translator it can still be hard because they don’t necessarily understand business either and so may not translate exactly as we would like.  Another challenge is having people show up on time for class.  Many times we will have people arrive twenty minutes before class ends.  To say the least, we’ve learned a lot about the culture here and so far it has been a great experience.

 Stewart and Becca teaching business classes in Namengo

Happy Child:

Happy Child has been a very rewarding project. Every Sunday we get to meet with a group of children at a school and play with them for a couple of hours. We teach them games, songs, and dances. We have been able to donate toys and the children love them. We also teach them lessons about the importance of families, and about having good health, as well as being treated with respect. We love teaching these children that they are special and have self worth. Most of the children don’t have money for lunch fees, so we have also been able to go play with them during lunch twice a week. Another really cool aspect of Happy Child is being introduced to families and children who are in even more need. Building these relationships has been life changing and seeing the happiness that has been brought to these amazing people has been an incredible experience.

Playing with the children!

 Happy Children :)

Answer to the question I asked you before the project updates:

Take the “D” out of door and take the “F” out of way!
Hope you got it :)

Waylaba! (Goodbye...for now!)

Project Spotlights - Vaccination Days and Najjembe Health Day

We have now been in Lugazi, Uganda for almost 6 weeks.  The 2^nd wavers have arrived and are adjusting quite well to the different environment of this beautiful place we now call home.  The 1^st wavers leave on Wednesday. :(  It will be sad to see them go.  They have contributed much to the many projects and we will miss their help.

But we are excited to have the newcomers.  They are interested in starting some new projects along with jumping on the projects we have going on.  It will be good.

Sorry we have not kept our blog updated.  We will work harder at keeping y'all updated!

Since the last post, we have had many projects going and also some projects that have finished.  We are going to spotlight the projects that have finished in the last couple weeks.

Lugazi Children

Vaccination Days:

The Vaccination Days Project was a national campaign.  HELP-International volunteers collaborated with the Mukono Health Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Kawolo Hospital to volunteer at different posts.  Volunteers gave out Polio vaccination, vitamin A drops, and de-worming pills. They were also asked to record names, tally children treated, help hold children during vaccinations, and keep treated and untreated children separated.  Kristen, who works as an EMT back home, has been trained in injections, and given them in the States, worked with local nurses to administer measles and DPT vaccinations.  Kristen gave out 668 measles vaccinations and 6 DPT vaccinations as well as helping with other vaccinations and drops.  All together volunteers gave 817 polio drops, 795 vitamin A drops, and 820 de-worming pills Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  That’s a total of 3106 treatments!  Go team!

Giving the children Measles, Polio, and Vitamin A

 Giving the children Measles, Polio, and Vitamin A

 Giving the children Measles, Polio, and Vitamin A

 Kristen giving Measles Vaccinations

Najjembe Health Day: 

Kristen and Olivia have been working with the Najjembe Sub-County Council for a couple weeks to figure out the biggest needs in Najjembe and put together a project before Olivia leaves.  A week and a half before Olivia left, a date was set.  One week, one big project, one deserving community, and two teams who were willing to work really hard to make it all happen.  The Sub-County Council (team) went out on foot, sent out bodas, and made community announcements about the health day. They spent hours making sure that people from the community new that it was going to happen.  They also made sure that we had a venue (the Najjembe Health Center).  The HELP-International team went on a safari for three days (severely limiting our time) and then spent all day Monday and Tuesday making posters, writing curriculums, going to Jinja to buy deworming pills, buying mosquito nets in Kampala, getting materials for a tippy tap (hand-washing station), and planning the whole day with Eddie.  880 deworming pills, 100 treated mosquito nets, 8 posters, 1 tippy tap, 2 malaria lessons, 2 Proud to be a Girl lessons, 1 sanitation class, 1 dental hygiene class, 1 hand-washing class, and 22 HELP-International volunteers later the day was a huge success!

Marissa and Sarah teaching Malaria Prevention

 850 kids ready to take deworming pills

Troy and Solomon teaching Dental Hygiene Classes

 

 Lane demonstrating the Tippy-Tap

 

These projects were great successes and we'll post again soon to let you know how the other projects are doing! :)

Waylaba! (That means 'Goodbye' in Luganda)