Ssanyu school

When we think of Africa most of our thoughts are drawn toward children with pot bellies, flies and extreme poverty. Although we cannot discount the level of suffering, many people in Uganda have refused to become victims of their circumstances. Hard work, prayers, and tears, have inspired many to rise above their situations and make their dreams a reality.

Francis and Ssanyu are a local Ugandan couple who have taken up the fight to better their lives and the lives of hundreds of children and families in the Lugazi community; including our 2010 HELP-International Lugazi, Uganda team of volunteers. HELP-International is a non-profit organization based in Provo, Utah that is currently involved with development work in six different countries. Each country is equipped with a team of unique and motivated volunteers committed to creating and providing sustainable projects to aid in the fight against poverty and to make a lasting difference. The organization works with local community leaders in each location to ensure sustainability and see that the needs of every community are fulfilled in an empowering way. Francis and Ssanyu are two such committed and devoted people with the vision of creating a better Lugazi and a better Uganda for generations to come.

Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School is located deep in the lush rolling hills of Lugazi, Uganda. It functions as a private school that closely follows the national curriculum and is home to 187 African children between the ages of 2-15. The School stands proudly in the community as a constant reminder to all that dreams do come true.

From a young age Madam Ssanyu never knew her father and was asked to take on the roll of trying to generate income for her family by working alongside her weak elderly mother at a local sugar factory. The combined wages were still not enough to be able to afford the 12 year-old girl’s school fees and she was forced to drop out of school in order to work. The following year Ssanyu would lose her mother and become an orphan at the tender young age of 13. Having only completed the equivalency of 5^th or 6^th grade, Ssanyu would spend the next 5 years of her life going door to door begging relatives for the amount that you or I would spend on a movie ticket to pay for each term of her schooling. When money was tight among her extended relatives, this young teenager found herself tossed between homes working months at a time as a house girl to try to save money, being scooped up by the generosity of church and other organization members and hidden by some of the kind-hearted teachers and money collectors of her school to help her avoid her tuition payments.

Despite almost giving up hope to continue her schooling, Ssanyu fought desperately every school term for her right to an education. Even from a young age, this woman knew and cherished the value of knowledge and learning.

“I knew the best thing was to go to school” she said.

Ssanyu faced each day with a young heart of courage and determination. This positive outlook carried her through many dark and despairing times including putting up with the culturally tolerated physical abuse inside the classroom.

“One of the teachers would beat me in the head” shared Ssanyu, “I made a promise to God that if He helps me and I get money I will make a school and these things will not be involved in my school”.

At the age of 16 a family friend who also happened to be a headmaster of a school expressed his interest in opening a sister school to the one that he was currently operating.

“He asked me what I enjoy doing” said Ssanyu, “I told him that I taught the bible to children in Sunday School at church and then he asked me if I would like to teach in his school”.

Ssanyu was then employed as a nursery teacher at Katosi Community School in her mid-teens. Three years into her teaching career, Ssanyu was reconnected with a Scandinavian organization from her youth that had previously helped to put her through one year of primary schooling. The organization invited her to join their two-year nursery skills training course that provided certification upon graduation. The offer was accepted and during that time Ssanyu married her life-long companion Francis. The two first met at church and Francis observed her character and commitment toward the children, especially the vulnerable ones.

“I knew at that moment that I could not make it in this life without her” recalled Francis, who would later earn the well respected title of 'Pastor' within the Lugazi community.

The couple began their incredible journey shortly after with some advice from a colleague at a Nursery Skills Center that Ssanyu worked at post-graduation, she and Francis began their own school: Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School.

“Through some kind people I was able to be pushed and go to a training. It was as if God was confirming what was in my heart. I told the nursery skills director that this was my desire also” she said referring to creating their own school, “and I prayed for the funds and that is how we began”.

The Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School began eight years ago with only 7 students. Throughout the course of the next 5 years, the number of students grew exponentially reaching well over 100 children and the couple accommodated by using 4 rooms of their rented personal residence as classrooms. The reputation of the way that the school lovingly and respectfully handled their children spread quickly throughout the community and they began to receive difficult cases of children. Children who were incapable of paying tuition, victims of retarded mental growth, def children, and children who were not able to keep up with the teaching speed, were among those that were sent to Ssanyu School.

“When we get new teachers we tell them they are parents to the children and that any form of physical or emotional abuse will not be tolerated here” said Ssanyu.

"We want to create an environment that favors progress” Francis added passionately, “Our challenge is to remove the strong-hold of individualistic tendencies and teach children that they share the same blood, to encourage each other to succeed and that we are all brothers and sisters”.

As the number of children and staff at the school continued to increase and the children among the influx that could afford to pay tuition decreased, the school fell financially to the point where it almost couldn’t sustain itself.

“We just kept moving and praying to God” shared Francis.

After 5 straining but successful years of running the school, the couple received notice from their landlord that that they had only 3 months to pack up and leave the property. After many prayers Francis and Ssanyu found a willing friend who owned some land and a family member to loan them some money to begin construction on a permanent school building for their students.

“The walls were easy to construct because of the cost of the bricks” said Francis, “But the roof was difficult to get”.

The school began hosting classes with only four walls and a partially completed roof. The incomplete structure provoked laughs and scorns from their fellow community members.

“We questioned whether or not to move on” shared the couple, “but the parents of our students still trusted us because of the way that we believe in respectfully handling and instilling values within the children”.

“What sets this school apart” continued Francis, “is the focus of the holistic development of the person. Many schools focus on academic excellence and that is very good, but the focus here is the child. This mentality is not a big or popular industry, but we believe that holistic development instills moral value within the child, gains the trust of the community and deeply roots within the child social principles that will allow them to contribute positively to our community in the future. We earn that trust because of our good reputation of child development and that is why Ssanyu School is different”.

With the little money that had come from those children who could afford to pay school fees and with what the couple was able to save, the school now has five classrooms, 187 students and 11 teachers. School fees at Ssanyu school range from $12 to $20 dollars depending upon the cost of books, uniforms and those that can afford to pay the extra $3 for one cup of porridge each school day. Of the 187 enrolled students, only about 80-90 of them are able to pay for their schooling expenses and even less can afford to eat daily.

Unlike the educational systems in Canada or America, the children here remain in school for up to 8 or 9 hours; that is a long time for any child, not to mention a child who cannot afford to eat.

Francis and Ssanyu have committed even more of their meager funds in an effort to feed everyone and supply each child with a cup of porridge daily.

“Whether they pay or not we are now trying to give all of them porridge” said Ssanyu, “before, only 30 children were able to take porridge. The nursery children would cry for food, so we recently decided within the past two weeks to allocate some more of our funds to buy more porridge and feed all of the children and trust God that we will find the needed money elsewhere. Finances are a challenge, but we have the heart here and we fight differently.”

The teachers and staff at Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School fight differently indeed, they fight selflessly. The average wage for a teacher in Uganda for one month is about 150,000 shillings or approximately $75. After each of the able children at Ssanyu School have paid their term fees, the school operates all of its expenses on that money, which leaves less than a quarter of the average wage for their teachers. The teachers at Ssanyu School support their families from month to month with only $15 instead of the $75 that they should be receiving.

“We have lost good teachers because they fear the financial situation; they move to better schools. You can only retain those who understand and appreciate the situation and understand God” explained Francis.

“As this term is ending it looks the same” added Ssanyu, “We will explain the situation to the teachers and ask them to trust God on this faith journey. Sometimes I’ll even leave the receipts on the desk so they can see”.

That is the very reason that Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School is filled with such loving and caring mentors and teachers. The continued selfless sacrifice and common vision of working together to develop one another and ensure another’s success has blessed hundreds.

The care and concern that the couple shares for each one of their students is overwhelming and admirable. Three enrolled children that come from broken families and tough backgrounds have been offered a home with Francis and Ssanyu.

“They were each in their last year of primary school and candidates for national exams” explained Francis, “they were all victims of a bad environment that was not conducive to their studies”.

One of the teenage girls staying with Francis and Ssanyu saw her parents divorced, her mother leave her to move to another district and her father jobless with no place to call home. The directors of the school are not naive to the hundreds of other children who fight for their right to education and their life daily. They have opened their home to a few cases, but take it upon themselves to voluntarily correct the root of the problem. Francis has designated time outside of his roles as a Pastor, School Director, community leader, father and husband to create a curriculum encompassing integrity and servitude-leadership. He is currently working with local police officers, town council members and other high ranking members of the community to progress unity, morals and ethics.

“The gap between the rich and the poor is ever increasing” explained Francis, “It is a very complicated dilemma. Here, democracy means getting ahead at any expense… usually it is at the expense of marginalized populations such as the youth and widows. We need to work together to develop our town; it is about our community and its well-being, not who is in what position”.

The story of Francis and Ssanyu continues to grow. Each day is a new day to accomplish new things and rest assured many things are accomplished every day through the hands of these exemplary people.

Among the several projects that the two Ugandans have undertaken to accomplish, building and completing the additional two classrooms for Ssanyu School ranks high on the list. The foundations of the classrooms were laid almost two years ago and have remained waist-high for a long length of time due to a lack of funding.

“I have been slowly collecting bricks for the past two years” shared Francis, “Every time I have an extra hundred shillings (approximate equivalency of 0.05 cents) that I can spare, I purchase a brick and add it to the collection”.

The two-year heap now totals over 3,000 bricks; however it still falls short. The bricks need to be supplemented by over a third and the costs of cement, rebar, timber, nails, doors, locks, delivery, labour etc. have not yet been factored into the equation. These two rooms will serve as classrooms during the daytime hours and Francis has agreed to open the space to disabled members of the community as a meeting place for them during the evening hours. Selected members of families who are struggling to pay school fees will train alongside the hired labourers to gain a marketable skill and be linked to local businesses. In return for their work, the School has agreed to forgive the related children’s tuition fees and encouragement to develop their newly found skill into profit for their family and future expenses.

As someone who shares an interest in promoting education and enriching lives, the invitation is extended to all whom this article is able to reach to see how simple projects, things that are often take for granted in our world, can inspire hope and transform lives. This story acts as a voice of hope for those who don't have the ability to speak. Join HELP-International and our team of volunteers in Lugazi, Uganda this summer and give the gift of education and community support to hundreds of children and families. Donations can be mailed directly to HELP-International (363 N. University Ave. #110, Provo UT 84601) or through PayPal online at: http://help-international.org/donors.html, including “Ssanyu School, Uganda.” in the comments section.

When we think of Africa most of our thoughts are drawn toward children with pot bellies, flies and extreme poverty. Although we cannot discount the level of suffering, many people in Uganda have refused to become victims of their circumstances. Hard work, prayers, and tears, have inspired many to rise above their situations and make their dreams a reality.

Francis and Ssanyu are a local Ugandan couple who have taken up the fight to better their lives and the lives of hundreds of children and families in the Lugazi community; including our 2010 HELP-International Lugazi, Uganda team of volunteers. HELP-International is a non-profit organization based in Provo, Utah that is currently involved with development work in six different countries. Each country is equipped with a team of unique and motivated volunteers committed to creating and providing sustainable projects to aid in the fight against poverty and to make a lasting difference. The organization works with local community leaders in each location to ensure sustainability and see that the needs of every community are fulfilled in an empowering way. Francis and Ssanyu are two such committed and devoted people with the vision of creating a better Lugazi and a better Uganda for generations to come.

Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School is located deep in the lush rolling hills of Lugazi, Uganda. It functions as a private school that closely follows the national curriculum and is home to 187 African children between the ages of 2-15. The School stands proudly in the community as a constant reminder to all that dreams do come true.

From a young age Madam Ssanyu never knew her father and was asked to take on the roll of trying to generate income for her family by working alongside her weak elderly mother at a local sugar factory. The combined wages were still not enough to be able to afford the 12 year-old girl’s school fees and she was forced to drop out of school in order to work. The following year Ssanyu would lose her mother and become an orphan at the tender young age of 13. Having only completed the equivalency of 5^th or 6^th grade, Ssanyu would spend the next 5 years of her life going door to door begging relatives for the amount that you or I would spend on a movie ticket to pay for each term of her schooling. When money was tight among her extended relatives, this young teenager found herself tossed between homes working months at a time as a house girl to try to save money, being scooped up by the generosity of church and other organization members and hidden by some of the kind-hearted teachers and money collectors of her school to help her avoid her tuition payments.

Despite almost giving up hope to continue her schooling, Ssanyu fought desperately every school term for her right to an education. Even from a young age, this woman knew and cherished the value of knowledge and learning.

“I knew the best thing was to go to school” she said.

Ssanyu faced each day with a young heart of courage and determination. This positive outlook carried her through many dark and despairing times including putting up with the culturally tolerated physical abuse inside the classroom.

“One of the teachers would beat me in the head” shared Ssanyu, “I made a promise to God that if He helps me and I get money I will make a school and these things will not be involved in my school”.

At the age of 16 a family friend who also happened to be a headmaster of a school expressed his interest in opening a sister school to the one that he was currently operating.

“He asked me what I enjoy doing” said Ssanyu, “I told him that I taught the bible to children in Sunday School at church and then he asked me if I would like to teach in his school”.

Ssanyu was then employed as a nursery teacher at Katosi Community School in her mid-teens. Three years into her teaching career, Ssanyu was reconnected with a Scandinavian organization from her youth that had previously helped to put her through one year of primary schooling. The organization invited her to join their two-year nursery skills training course that provided certification upon graduation. The offer was accepted and during that time Ssanyu married her life-long companion Francis. The two first met at church and Francis observed her character and commitment toward the children, especially the vulnerable ones.

“I knew at that moment that I could not make it in this life without her” recalled Francis, who would later earn the well respected title of 'Pastor' within the Lugazi community.

The couple began their incredible journey shortly after with some advice from a colleague at a Nursery Skills Center that Ssanyu worked at post-graduation, she and Francis began their own school: Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School.

“Through some kind people I was able to be pushed and go to a training. It was as if God was confirming what was in my heart. I told the nursery skills director that this was my desire also” she said referring to creating their own school, “and I prayed for the funds and that is how we began”.

The Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School began eight years ago with only 7 students. Throughout the course of the next 5 years, the number of students grew exponentially reaching well over 100 children and the couple accommodated by using 4 rooms of their rented personal residence as classrooms. The reputation of the way that the school lovingly and respectfully handled their children spread quickly throughout the community and they began to receive difficult cases of children. Children who were incapable of paying tuition, victims of retarded mental growth, def children, and children who were not able to keep up with the teaching speed, were among those that were sent to Ssanyu School.

“When we get new teachers we tell them they are parents to the children and that any form of physical or emotional abuse will not be tolerated here” said Ssanyu.

"We want to create an environment that favors progress” Francis added passionately, “Our challenge is to remove the strong-hold of individualistic tendencies and teach children that they share the same blood, to encourage each other to succeed and that we are all brothers and sisters”.

As the number of children and staff at the school continued to increase and the children among the influx that could afford to pay tuition decreased, the school fell financially to the point where it almost couldn’t sustain itself.

“We just kept moving and praying to God” shared Francis.

After 5 straining but successful years of running the school, the couple received notice from their landlord that that they had only 3 months to pack up and leave the property. After many prayers Francis and Ssanyu found a willing friend who owned some land and a family member to loan them some money to begin construction on a permanent school building for their students.

“The walls were easy to construct because of the cost of the bricks” said Francis, “But the roof was difficult to get”.

The school began hosting classes with only four walls and a partially completed roof. The incomplete structure provoked laughs and scorns from their fellow community members.

“We questioned whether or not to move on” shared the couple, “but the parents of our students still trusted us because of the way that we believe in respectfully handling and instilling values within the children”.

“What sets this school apart” continued Francis, “is the focus of the holistic development of the person. Many schools focus on academic excellence and that is very good, but the focus here is the child. This mentality is not a big or popular industry, but we believe that holistic development instills moral value within the child, gains the trust of the community and deeply roots within the child social principles that will allow them to contribute positively to our community in the future. We earn that trust because of our good reputation of child development and that is why Ssanyu School is different”.

With the little money that had come from those children who could afford to pay school fees and with what the couple was able to save, the school now has five classrooms, 187 students and 11 teachers. School fees at Ssanyu school range from $12 to $20 dollars depending upon the cost of books, uniforms and those that can afford to pay the extra $3 for one cup of porridge each school day. Of the 187 enrolled students, only about 80-90 of them are able to pay for their schooling expenses and even less can afford to eat daily.

Unlike the educational systems in Canada or America, the children here remain in school for up to 8 or 9 hours; that is a long time for any child, not to mention a child who cannot afford to eat.

Francis and Ssanyu have committed even more of their meager funds in an effort to feed everyone and supply each child with a cup of porridge daily.

“Whether they pay or not we are now trying to give all of them porridge” said Ssanyu, “before, only 30 children were able to take porridge. The nursery children would cry for food, so we recently decided within the past two weeks to allocate some more of our funds to buy more porridge and feed all of the children and trust God that we will find the needed money elsewhere. Finances are a challenge, but we have the heart here and we fight differently.”

The teachers and staff at Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School fight differently indeed, they fight selflessly. The average wage for a teacher in Uganda for one month is about 150,000 shillings or approximately $75. After each of the able children at Ssanyu School have paid their term fees, the school operates all of its expenses on that money, which leaves less than a quarter of the average wage for their teachers. The teachers at Ssanyu School support their families from month to month with only $15 instead of the $75 that they should be receiving.

“We have lost good teachers because they fear the financial situation; they move to better schools. You can only retain those who understand and appreciate the situation and understand God” explained Francis.

“As this term is ending it looks the same” added Ssanyu, “We will explain the situation to the teachers and ask them to trust God on this faith journey. Sometimes I’ll even leave the receipts on the desk so they can see”.

That is the very reason that Ssanyu Nursery and Primary School is filled with such loving and caring mentors and teachers. The continued selfless sacrifice and common vision of working together to develop one another and ensure another’s success has blessed hundreds.

The care and concern that the couple shares for each one of their students is overwhelming and admirable. Three enrolled children that come from broken families and tough backgrounds have been offered a home with Francis and Ssanyu.

“They were each in their last year of primary school and candidates for national exams” explained Francis, “they were all victims of a bad environment that was not conducive to their studies”.

One of the teenage girls staying with Francis and Ssanyu saw her parents divorced, her mother leave her to move to another district and her father jobless with no place to call home. The directors of the school are not naive to the hundreds of other children who fight for their right to education and their life daily. They have opened their home to a few cases, but take it upon themselves to voluntarily correct the root of the problem. Francis has designated time outside of his roles as a Pastor, School Director, community leader, father and husband to create a curriculum encompassing integrity and servitude-leadership. He is currently working with local police officers, town council members and other high ranking members of the community to progress unity, morals and ethics.

“The gap between the rich and the poor is ever increasing” explained Francis, “It is a very complicated dilemma. Here, democracy means getting ahead at any expense… usually it is at the expense of marginalized populations such as the youth and widows. We need to work together to develop our town; it is about our community and its well-being, not who is in what position”.

The story of Francis and Ssanyu continues to grow. Each day is a new day to accomplish new things and rest assured many things are accomplished every day through the hands of these exemplary people.

Among the several projects that the two Ugandans have undertaken to accomplish, building and completing the additional two classrooms for Ssanyu School ranks high on the list. The foundations of the classrooms were laid almost two years ago and have remained waist-high for a long length of time due to a lack of funding.

“I have been slowly collecting bricks for the past two years” shared Francis, “Every time I have an extra hundred shillings (approximate equivalency of 0.05 cents) that I can spare, I purchase a brick and add it to the collection”.

The two-year heap now totals over 3,000 bricks; however it still falls short. The bricks need to be supplemented by over a third and the costs of cement, rebar, timber, nails, doors, locks, delivery, labour etc. have not yet been factored into the equation. These two rooms will serve as classrooms during the daytime hours and Francis has agreed to open the space to disabled members of the community as a meeting place for them during the evening hours. Selected members of families who are struggling to pay school fees will train alongside the hired labourers to gain a marketable skill and be linked to local businesses. In return for their work, the School has agreed to forgive the related children’s tuition fees and encouragement to develop their newly found skill into profit for their family and future expenses.

As someone who shares an interest in promoting education and enriching lives, the invitation is extended to all whom this article is able to reach to see how simple projects, things that are often take for granted in our world, can inspire hope and transform lives. This story acts as a voice of hope for those who don't have the ability to speak. Join HELP-International and our team of volunteers in Lugazi, Uganda this summer and give the gift of education and community support to hundreds of children and families. Donations can be mailed directly to HELP-International (363 N. University Ave. #110, Provo UT 84601) or through PayPal online at: http://help-international.org/donors.html, including “Ssanyu School, Uganda.” in the comments section.

church

I have always been really impressed with the members here, but this last sunday was quite funny. We had an older sister stand up and lay down the law on modesty. She said, "if you wear mini skirts in Kampala you WILL get raped! It has happened before and it will happen again. Also, if you wear balance (baggy pants hanging off of your butt) the homosexuals will be turned on will come after you!" My whole team looked around at each other and had to bury our heads in our hands to stifle the laughter. As a whole, Ugandans are very frank and straight forward, but to bring up topics about homosexuality and raping is very taboo. Currently, the government is debating over a law to punish homosexuality by death. Every week church never ceases to put a smile on my face.

So much is happening

Despite the bombs and threat of more bombings, we were able to resume with eye camp. We went to three different hospitals; naggalama, nkokonjeru, and kawolo. What an amazing experience! At these camps we gave out 600 spectacles, screened nearly 2,000 people, and preformed 137 cataract surgeries. I can now recognize and diagnose a cataract and conduct a vision test. The people who received surgery were so grateful to be able to see again. Many have not had vision for 20-50 years due to the cataracts. After we would pull off the bandages, we would hold up fingers and have them count. Some laughed and cried that they were able to see movement let alone our fingers at a distance. One lady started giggling because she didn't realize that I was a muzungu until she could finally see again, surprise. My favorite hospital was nkokonjeru. It is a catholic hospital so I got to hang out and talk with nuns for two days straight. They are such humble and wise women.
Since eye camp, 2nd wave people have left and the 3rd wave has come in. We lost 13 people to 2nd wave and received 3 for 3rd wave. Currently, there are 12 people in the house. It is so nice and quite, but I do miss many of the people that left. We have resumed the HIV research. We are actually going to a secondary school today to hand out questionnaires to the students. I have been left in charge of the gardens for the rest of the summer. Last week, Clara and I went to buikwe to build a nursery garden there. On our way there, our boda driver tried to over charge us, but we wouldn't let him. He was angry so he hit every pot hole and probably created permanent damage on my tail bone since I was sitting on the metal luggage rack on the back. He also drove under low hanging trees and would duck at the last second so Clara would get whacked in the face. Finally, we reached Buikwe and met our partner Paul at his office. He assured us that the garden plot was just around the corner. After about an hour of hiking up a mountain in the bush we finally found the plot, which was located far outside the town's borders. It was taking so long that Clara and I played roadtrip games on the way there. We successfully assembled the garden and as a token of the women's appreciation they grabbed their machete and cut us down a 7 or 8 foot stalk of sugar cane. We wanted to share it with them, but they wouldn't take it. We had to haul the whole thing home on our boda so that they wouldn't be offended. As we were driving on the boda, we were trying our best not to clothes line pedestrians but we may have gotten a few. On sunday evening, we took about 40 plants to an orphanage in the next village, nkoko. The kids were so excited to recieve the plants and to create a little garden plot. Many of them ran up to me yelling "madam madam we know you." I had done an HIV/AIDS lesson at their school. They told me about all that they learned and how excited they were to have me as their auntie. Times like this are the most rewarding. We drew some lines in the dirt and I taught the kids at the orphanage how to play four square. Personally, I haven't played since 2nd or 3rd grade so we made up some rules. By the end, we had a really competitive game going. We had a tournament going because so many wanted to play. Later this week, we will be building a stove for an HIV group up in Lugasa. It is a rural village about an hour south. Also, we will be building a nursery garden with this group. There is so much good that can be done in this small village. The orphans and street boys that are on the soccer team found some land for a garden. I am excited for this garden especially. This boys are amazing. We play them every Wednesday and they never cease to amaze me. They are so full of love and never give up despite their circumstances. They are great examples to me. I don't mind the fact that they school me every week on the field, although, we finally did win last week. We may of had some help from the coaches though. In Najja, our team has created an Ag school. This week we will be bringing bee keeping supplies from Kampala for the school to start up a bee keeping and honey program. We are slowing integrating ag programs to the school so the children can learn vocational skills and the school will also be self sustaining.
Once again, I will say that I love Uganda and the work here. I now know that I want to do this for the rest of my life. I have never faced so many challenges in my life, but the challenges are what makes the work even more rewarding.

bombings

As many of you have heard, there were bombings in Kampala during the finals of the world cup. We live about 30 miles away from Kampala, so we were on lockdown all of Monday. Today, we are out and about working again. We have some connections with some people in Uganda's intelligence agency and they say that they are expecting more bombings this week. Hopefully, this does not happen. The people here have suffered enough. Also, if the terrorism continues we may have to be evacuated. I do not want to leave. We are continuely in contact with the US embassy. BUT Spain did win and it was a great game. Thank goodness the bar that we were in wasn't targeted here in Lugazi. One of the bombing spots in Kampala was quite close to the embassy. I am sure that some of the Americans that were hurt or killed were at the same BBQ as us on the 4th.
This last friday, we transplanted seedlings and created 11 or so new gardens for HIV positive individuals in and around Buikwe. Most of these people were elderly jajas (grandparents) that are caring for their grandchildren because the parents have died most likely from AIDS. One of the ladies that we went to deliver plants to only had one arm and she was hoeing her garden as we arrived. My eyes started filling up with tears as I saw her preparing the garden with her infant and toddler grandchildren sitting in the shade watching her. What a dedicated woman.
On saturday, we had the AIDS festival here in Lugazi. My part of the festival was to teach 300 people about HIV/AIDS and to help screen 100 people. We screened people from the age of 10 up. Only one person was positive! As a team, we performed our traditional african dance. We were even dressed in the traditional clothes. They put extra furs and grass skirt type things on their rears and around your waist to really show that you are moving your hips. The whole hall of people erupted in laughter as they watched the mzungus shake their stuff.

4th of july

The 4th of July weekend was the best. On Saturday, we went hiking through the Mabira Rainforest. What a beautiful place! We saw monkeys everywhere and there were trees as tall as sky scrapers. We were too cheap to pay for a guide so of course we got a little lost. We eventually came out in the middle of a matoke field. We were supposed to come out right on the road. Knowing that we needed to find the road to get to our next destination, we started hiking through the field. Eventually, we stumbled upon a farmer with a machete glaring at us. He didn't appreciate us wandering through his fields and started towards us. We immediately turned around and started running away. Thankfully, we finally stumbled upon the road and started hiking up a mountain in search of the Rainforest Lodge. It took us a while but we finally found it. What a glorious place! I have never seen a more beautiful resort in my life. We went and laid by the pool and sipped away at drinks. I felt like royalty. I didn't know that such a place could exist in such a poor country. We were immediately knocked back into reality when we came home though.
On the 4th, we went to the US Embassy in Kampala for their BBQ. I was a little overwhelmed to see so many bzungu in one place. It was great though to have some American food. They played country songs and Party in the USA. I looked around for Nicole because the Mukono team was there but apparently she has already left. I had no idea she was already gone! Anyways, it was quite fun and they even had fireworks. They had Marines at the party also. It was nice to be around military men that you could trust and weren't carrying huge AK-47s. It was strange to be there though. I felt a little awkward and overwhelmed. I guess that it what it will be like to go home.
This week, I have been jumping around on different projects while waiting for my stats professors to get back to me about the research project. I have helped teach community members and the nurse at the hospital about managing back pain and how to strengthen their core and improve the way they do their daily activities to prevent back pain. I have also helped in a nursery garden. We have started transferring plants to some of our 100 beneficiaries. This week, we had the musana women come and ask us to teach them about proper hygiene and sanitation. They also expressed interest in receiving hand washing stations. I was thrilled! This has been a hard project to get going and I have been so busy doing research that I put it on the back burners. The Musana women are widows and/or those infected with HIV that don’t have a proper source of income. They were set up by HELP International last year. They make earrings and necklaces and with the help of HELP market them across the world. Nearly every night, we have dance practice for our traditional African dance that we will be presenting at the AIDS festival this Saturday. We all look ridiculous but it is a lot of fun. Small school girls come and try to teach us, but just shake their hands and laugh at us.
This week, my eyes were really opened. I met with Betty from the Musana group. She is 19 years old and has two girls, Ssanyu age 4 and Margaret age 3. She was an orphan and a family of brothers and sisters hired her to be their house girl. One of the brothers raped her several times and the children were the result. She lives in a tiny 5 ft by 5 ft room with her two daughters. Because one of the brothers is the father of the children he is called her husband although they are not married. The husband and his sisters still expect her to do the house girl chores for free now. They give her a long list of things to do everyday to keep her busy because they don’t want her going to the Musana group to get an income. Even though, the husband doesn’t give her any money at all. To get around this, she wakes up extra early in the morning to do the chores so she has time to go to Musana. Earlier this week, she accidentally burnt the beans that were meant for dinner. Her husband and his sisters beat her mercilessly. When I saw her, her face was completely swollen and I could hardly recognize her. Everyday, they verbally abuse her and they have even started in on the oldest child because they say that she isn’t the brother’s daughter. We are working with her to find a different home that is closer to the Musana group. Even then, I don’t know how she can keep the husband and his sisters away. Her oldest daughter, Ssanyu, starts school next year and she doesn’t have the $75/year to pay for her daughter’s schooling. I knew that these kinds of situations are everywhere especially here in Uganda, but to experience it first hand has really shocked me. Hopefully, we can help her to get out of this situation and to have a better both for her and her daughters.

Safari

I am getting nasty e-mails from family telling me to post, so I will. These past few weeks have been quite busy. I don't think that I have ever slept so well in my life. Each night, I am exhausted after working 10 plus hour days. I don't even notice the metal bars poking through my thin foam pad at night anymore. I have grown to love the cold showers and lack of running water and electricity. I don't even notice the heat anymore. I love uganda and everything about it. Although, I do miss sweets.
This last weekend, I had the opportunity to go up to Murchison Falls and go on a safari. It was so amazing. The first day we were out at 6:30 in the morning riding a ferry across the nile. It was a beautiful sunrise over the river. I have some amazing pictures of it. Half the day, we road in safari vehicles with the tops up. We saw elephants, giraffes, antelope type creatures, baboons, warthogs, meer cats, and one car saw lions. The second half of the day was a boat ride. We saw a bunch of crocodiles, hundreds of hippos, and more elephants. I found out that hippos are actually quite aggressive. We had one coming straight for our boat. Apparently, if they ram your boat you can easily tip over even though it was a pretty good sized boat. Our driver quickly sped off. The next day, we went to the rhino reserve and saw some white rhinos. We saw a mother feeding her baby. The baby's name is Obama because his mother is from America and his father is from Kenya. The safari was super fun and we camped out at murchison falls for two nights. At our campsite, there were warthogs everywhere. Our guide warned us that they pretended to be domestic but they were not. Trixy warthogs. They were so cute and I couldn't help myself. I had to find out for myself. Yup, they are not domestic. It's a good thing that they were too lazy to chase me for a long distance. In the middle of the night, we had to be careful when leaving our tents. If the warthogs didn't get you, then the hippos might. Luckily, the hippos weren't around that weekend. The drive there was nearly 5 hours so I was glad to be back home after the long weekend.
The HIV/AIDS research is going well. We have hit a rough spot with getting all the sample sizes so I e-mailed my statistics professor at BYU for some help. So far, we have interviewed people who are infected and health care workers. We have learned so much from these people. On friday, we also had Becky and Travis come out to film some of the people that we interviewed. We also have had several HIV/AIDS sensitizations at local secondary schools. Even though I have taught at many schools already, I still get nervous speaking to 500 students at a time. A couple weeks ago, we made an adove stove at a rural secondary school in najja. It was quite fun to stomp the clay and help out with the project. I think that the students learned quite a bit too. We really wanted the students to be involved so that they can gain a practical skill and duplicate the stove in the future. Afterwards, I played volleyball with a bunch of the students. It was very interesting because they really didn't have any rules except to keep it from hitting the ground, but it was a lot of fun. Since I have been here, I have become a huge fan of soccer. We watch as many world cup games as we can. We go to local bars or the local restaurants to watch games. I am very sad that the US is out, but we had a good run.
This week at the hospital I spent a whole day in radiology. I got to help with giving x-rays and doing ultrasounds. The ultrasounds were pretty cool. We performed them on pregnant women and people with abdominal pain. We found many cysts, gallstones, kidney stones, etc. One lady came in 4 months pregnant. We did the ultrasound and all we could see were the legs and arms of the baby. I told the nurse what I saw and she immediately got a look of concern on her face. It was because the baby was on its way out. Oh, that would explain why the woman was screaming in pain. She was in the middle of a miscarriage. That is good to know for the future. I became a pro at recognizing the abdominal organs and finding medical problems. I could also tell the sex of the baby and measure the head, abdomen, and femur for the age of the fetus.
At our house, we have been having quite a few security threats. Our guard was fired because he threatened one of our cooks that if she didn't sleep with him he would shoot her. He was previously in the Ugandan army and then recruited to the LRA. Thankfully, he was able to escape from the LRA. He is a rough character though. He wanted to kill our first cook, that we fired for stealing from us, because she stole 1000 shillings from him. That is the equivalent of 50 cents. In the end, he was getting a bit too friendly with the girls on the team and he had to go. We can't be out front of the house when it gets dark because people throw rocks and bricks at us. Our new guard finally caught these two hooligans and locked them in his guard house over the night. The next morning he tied them together, placed them under arrest and took them to their mothers. Their mothers were furious. These mothers have been having trouble with these boys stealing from them. Here, the mothers either had to cane them 15 times or a mob would stone them to death. The mother's were more than happy to cane them. The other day, we saw a mob go running by to kill someone for stealing a blanket. The police are corrupt here so the people take law into their own hands. Since our guard made a public scene of the boys being caned, hopefully people will leave our house alone now. I have learned to be very firm with men here. Daily, I get asked for my hand in marriage or if a man can date me. I have to be very straightforward with them and tell them no. If you give a man a vague answer, he will take it as a yes. At this point, they become very creepy and stalkerish. Thankfully, I have become pretty streetsmart, but I am always on the lookout. Despite the normal third world problems, I love Uganda. I now know that I want to focus my career and education towards international development. I want to come back to Uganda after I have my degree(s) and serve the people here further.