Travel. Volunteer. Play. Write.

7-19-09

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m sitting on the front porch of the guest house embracing the cool morning air. I was awoken by the usual sound of roosters, and a new sound: singing. They built a mosque in the trading center, down the road, which is equipped with microphones and speakers. It’s a beautiful building with cement walls painted bright blue. It sticks out a bit amongst the mud and stick buildings surrounding it, but I think it’s for the community.

It feels good to back in the village! I’ve been traveling so much lately it has made me appreciate our humble abode in Kikohlo.
Last weekend, I had to go into Mbale to price out some materials to renovate the library. A few of the FIMRC volunteers were invited to dinner at a doctor’s house, so we made it a trip and all 11 of us went. The doctor, Dr. Rafi, runs one of the best hospitals in the area. He is originally from Pakistan but has lived in Uganda with his family since he stopped working for the United Nations. Talk about crazy stories! Dr. Rafi is officially one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. One of my favorite stories: Dr. Rafi hosting Angelina Jolie while she was volunteering at a refugee camp in Sudan. Dr. Rafi had her sign everything on his desk, literately. When they were talking, he casually mentioned they needed more cars to get Dr.’s and administrators to and from work. Angelina asked how many and he joked, “We need 25.” The next week, 25 Land Cruisers showed up at the refugee camp. (So maybe I DO like team Jolie…)
Dr. Rafi’s wife cooked one of the best dinner’s I’ve ever had. I was a little wary at first because Mike, the FIMRC volunteer head was asked to bring over 9 live chickens earlier that morning. While we were sitting on the porch chatting, the housekeeper was on the side of the house, plucking, killing, and cleaning the 9 (now dead) chickens. Cute.
At least they were fresh! And very, very free range. Great food, great company, and a great night.
The next day, we wandered around the city collecting bids for all the things we needed to renovate the library. We are working on making a “Kids Corner” in one corner of the big rectangular building. Our plans entail a mural on the wall, some pillows, chairs, and a few new bookshelves. We’re also going to try to start doing art projects with the P1 and P2 students after we have story time. Hopefully it will increase their reading comprehension, and get them to come into the library to read more. Anyway, we got all the prices and talked to a carpenter and we are all set. One of the volunteers at the clinic gave us $100US, which covered almost everything!

On Sunday, all the volunteers were invited to dinner at Salim’s house, one of the cooks at school. I was a two hour hike up the mountain, but well worth it. There were about 25 people there to greet us with song and dance. They prepared a large meal for us, that must have taken all day to cook. We were very appreciative and had a great time.

During the week, Vicky and I went to Bupoto to visit the AAH clinic and the neighboring school, Matuwa. Arlington owns the clinic and AAH has done some outreach work with the staff at Matuwa. A few weeks back, we made a surprise visit to the school and sat in on all the classes. Their school made me appreciate Arlington so much! In most classes, there were over 100 kids in each room, with teachers who show up to teach at their leisure. They go to school from 7am to 5 pm with NO food. They have major problems with kids coming to school, and even more problems getting kids to stay awake in class if they do come. It was really sad. I really want to do some fundraising when I get home to start a lunch program at Matuwa. It would make such a big difference in their lives. The director of the school told us they are beginning to have problems with P7 girls (about 13-14 years old) dropping out of school. Apparently, they walk around the trading center during lunch time, and older men offer them food, but expect something in return. Some girls are fearful of this, and drop out of school. Rumor has it that other girls become pregnant and drop out.

So we had a meeting with all the staff, and presented a report of what we observed. They were very appreciative of out complements and suggestions, and said they look forward to planning a workshop with AAH teachers. Success.

The rest of the afternoon, we played with some kids in the neighborhood. We brought crayons and paper, which were a huge hit. We had a blast too!

When we got back to AAH, we finished grading sponsor letters, took photos of every student to give to their sponsors, labeled and took inventory of new books, and had lunch with some of the P 6 and P7 girls. We decided to have lunch on a weekly basis with the older girls to talk about life and any issues they face. The past few weeks have been fun, and insightful. The girls asked Vicky and I lots of questions about life in the states. My favorite was one girl asking me, “Have you ever cut your hair in your life?” The school requires everyone to have shaved heads for hygiene, so they have never seen anyone with long hair before. I usually have my hair wrapped up in a bun, so I took it down for the girls to see. One girl continued to pet my head the rest of the lunch hour.

In other news, I was the pharmacists at the clinic yesterday! (Not to worry, I was just collecting and counting drugs as the doctor prescribed). Semi-emergency at the clinic and half the staff decided not to show, so I jumped in. I got one of the kids from school to translate for me, and ended up learning a lot.
Going on a hike soon, I have to go! More updates soon! Miss and love you all, hope everything is going well in the States!