SAFARI!!!

So I had one of the most awesome weekends EVER!!! The Safari was amazing!

We left on Wednesday morning and took the Elgon Flyer (Uganda bus) 4 hours to Kampala. Then we went to Red Chili office. We stayed the night there because we had to leave early the next morning for the safari and they give you one free night in the dorms. So we just hung out there for the evening, and we saw that one of the accommodations they had was a massage so we thought why not?? It was only like 10 US dollars for an hour. When the lady came we asked her where she was doing it and she said in our room. Well keep in mind that we are staying in a dorm which is just a big room with a bunch of bunk beds and random people staying there. So, we just put the mattress on the floor and she gave us the massage right there! Haha it was so random, but the lady was so cute and she said she could be our mom and we could be her Mzungu daughter's. Everyone who walked in wasn't sure what was going on, but it felt fantastic! 

Then the next morning we left at 8:30 for our safari. We basically drove ALL day to the bass camp, which was in the middle of the jungle in Murchison Falls National Park. We were in a big van and like 3 of the hours was on a bumpy dirt road. I was already feeling kind of sick before we left and by the time we got there I wanted to die...I got SOOO car sick and I was so scared that I was going to be sick the rest of my safari. Our cell phone some how worked out there, so I called my Momma and somehow she used her magic mom healing powers through the phone and I felt a ton better that night! So we just hung out at the camp that night, and then left at 6:30 the next morning! 

We rode a ferry across to the other side of the river and then we went on a 5 hour "game drive" in the van. The top of the van opened up so we could stand and see all of the animals. It was AMAZING!! We saw everything we wanted to see....they said that it is super rare to see lions there, but I guess it was our lucky day because we saw 7! We off roaded a bit, which isn't aloud, and we found them all by this tree, and one of them had just gotten it's breakfast and had it's kill hanging out of it's mouth! It was AMAZING!!

Right after we saw the lions we were driving on the path and we turned the corner and found a HUGE herd of Giraffe! There was at least 40 or 50 of them....it was incredible. And we saw a bunch of elephants (one tried to charge our car). Water buffalo, Hippos, Antelope, 2 hyenas!! which is way rare to see, and a bunch more! 

Then after that we went back to base camp to have lunch and kill for a few hours...after we ate we ALL fell asleep on the lounge chairs...it was kind of funny to wake up and see us all curled up on the chairs..I put a pic of it on facebook.

Then we went on a 3 hour boat cruise up the Nile! We drove to the falls and saw a bunch more animals on the way. There were a TON of hippos, and they say you don't always get to see the crocodiles, but we ended up seeing like 10, some were in the water swimming and some were out..way awesome! And we saw a herd of elephants by the river too :)

The boat ride was SO fun and relaxing and made me SOO excited for Lake Powell next week!

Then we just hung out with our group the rest of the night, they all were drinking and doing shots while me and Jan drank water and mountain dew...haha they couldn't understand how we were college students and didn't drink and asked what we did for fun with our friends....?!? They were an awesome group though. We were all SO different, but became way close the 3 days we were together, and ended up exchanging contact info and everything. I love meeting new people and hearing about their story and where they come from, I feel like you can learn SO many new things from everyone you meet. One lady, Lana, was from Australia and is living in Africa for a year volunteering with the Catholic church in youth programs. Then Peter-John was from Jamaica and moved to Florida when he was 13 and now lives in New York....he has been saving money for like 4 years to travel the world for an entire year! He started in January, so he is half way done....he is an AMAZING photographer and a way neat guy! Then the last one was a 2nd year Med student at Washington State and is here for the summer doing a research project and volunteering for school. He is SOOO smart and was fun to talk to!! It was sad saying goodbye to them! I was glad we got such an awesome group though and I don't know how we all got along so well, even though we were all SO different!

Then the last morning we left at 8:30 and we drove like an hour and did a short hike out to the top of the falls....it was GORGEOUS!! We got to stand on the rocks right at the top. Then after that we drove for like 9 hours back to their headquarters in Kampala. Me and Jan got dinner there and said by to our group and then got on a boda and met some of our friends who went to the soccer game and got on ANOTHER taxi for the 4 hour ride home...by the time we got here last night we had been driving for seriously 13 hours that day..it very uncomfortable settings...long car rides have a whole new meaning to me! haha

We were so happy to be home again, I never realized how much this place would seem like home and how happy I could be to sleep in my horribly uncomfortable bunk bed!

Then this morning we woke up and went to our last Sunday at our branch! :( I am going to miss all of them so much, but I am so happy I could be a part of them the past 6 weeks.

Well this will probably be my last email update before I come home! Tomorrow we are leaving at 7:30 to go up to Bunabuyoka one last time. It was supposed to be the grand opening, but unfortunately it isn't quite ready :( So they will just have to send us pictures of the finished health clinic. But we are going to go up and help with some labor tomorrow and say bye to all of our friends and all the AMAZING kids...it's going to be so hard to leave them!! But at least I know I have my 6 (almost 7) adorable babies!!! :) :) :) I can't wait to see them!!! And especially meet my cute Warner!

On Tuesday we pack up and say goodbye to everyone and leave around 3 for Jinja, then golf Wednesday morning...drive to Kampala and shop for a bit. Then drive to the airport in Entebbe! TIME IS FLYING BY!! 

I really can't believe that my 6 weeks has already come and gone. This has been an unforgettable experience, and I already can't wait to come to Africa again some day. I have learned so many things and been touched by everyone I have met....I don't know how I was so lucky to be able to have an experience like this. I hope I can remember everything I learned here and be so much more grateful for all the amazing things I have, and never take them for granted again. Thank you for all supporting me in this journey and being a part of it with me. I love you all SO much and I am SO grateful for each one of you in my life. I can't wait to see you in 4 short days!

"We go, We go, Uganda Cranes We go!"‏

So more updates :) I'm sure I've lost most of you by now....but I'm not very good at journal writing so this is for me to remember my trip as well! 

So on Saturday we left at like 8:30 in the morning to go to the Uganda cranes football game! (Kinda funny side note...last email I was trying to be cool and spell football how they do instead of saying soccer...so I spelled it "Futbal" well turns out that's just the British way to spell it...it's still spelled football so I just was in the wrong country for a minute haha)

So, we rode the Elgon Flyer (Uganda bus) to Kampala which is 4 hours away. Kinda funny...at home I don't think we would EVER drive to St. George and back in a day for an hour and a half soccer game. We got there around, but the 1:00 but the game didn't start until 4. It's all open "seating" (really it's standing..there are no seats) so you have to be there like 2 hours early. Only thing Ugandans are on time for...SOCCER! The second we got off the bus it was MADNESS everyone has these super annoying horns and they are blowing them like crazy...you would have thought we just won the world cup and the game hadn't even started. So basically we hung out for 3 hours until the game started with endless noise and people trying to sell us all sorts of things. There were people in the stadium selling drinks and treats and stuff and in their baskets they were selling bottles of straight gin and whiskey, and cigarettes! No carding in this country..

I wish I could show you all how chaotic it was because describing it doesn't even come close to doing it justice. The game was way fun, but our team is HORRIBLE, and Senegal was pretty bad too....and the noise NEVER stops the entire game. When we got a goal I thought my ear drums had burst and it lasted at least 10 minutes. Then once the game was over oh man, it was a bit too much. My anxiety level was already THROUGH the ROOF from all the noise and now there are 5 million people all walking in the same place and since we are a huge group of Mzungu's they are taking pictures with us and shoving stuff in our face to buy. We just had to laugh or we probably would have punched someone! haha and I am not a violent person...I can't even believe some of the things that people were selling...and the noise and craziness got worse as we walked into town.

Our country director had her Iphone out taking a video and a guy came up and stole it out of her hand! Like 10 people chased him down and started beating him up, but he had either passed it off or thrown it by the time they got to him. She was WAY mad...

It took us SO long to get a taxi because first off the whole city was just in chaos and second our African friend Freddy who was sort of our guide kept trying to barter down the price, but all of us were at the point that we didn't even care how much we paid!
So we are all just standing on the corner in Kampala as it's getting dark and we are all super grumpy by now. Finally after like an hour and a half we agree on paying 20,000 shillings each for the taxi. So then we got to ride for 4 hours in my favorite taxis!! Luckily it was just our group and they didn't pick up any more people, but we were all way tired and hungry and just ready to get home!

Let's just say it was my first and last Uganda soccer experience...it was WAY fun, but I don't think I ever want to do it again! A little too much of everything for me. Remind me to show you some of the videos when I get home.

Then on Sunday we of course had church...it was fast and testimony meeting since last week was district conference. It was way good! I love hearing everyone's testimonies...especially the people here. They are amazing!

Then for Sunday school I was asked to sit with an investigator in the gospel principles class. I loved it! And after church there was a new member baptism from the missionaries!! It was SO neat to be a part of. The spirit was so strong and the guy was so happy :)

On Sunday night we invited the 4 missionaries from our branch over for dinner. Our fabulous homemade dinner was french toast, pineapple, juice, and no bake cookies :) haha 

As missionaries though they were just happy to have food! And I am sure they loved being with 13 Mzungu (white) girls and only one boy! Luckily we had Josh here otherwise they wouldn't have been able to come!

So Bunabuyoka is the name of the village where we are building the health clinic and finishing the school and everything. I usually go up there with most of our group Monday-Wednesday every week, and then 4 people in our group go to another village and teach classes at Secondary school (jr. high & high school age) so me and Jan decided to go here this week since it's the last time we can and then we could have a chance to teach some of our leadership classes!

So we went up there yesterday morning and lucky for us....we came on the week we were teaching SexEd! It was definitely a new experience teaching sex ed to 14-18 year olds...especially when 75% of them are sexually active! 

It's SO sad though because all the knowledge and facts they have about sex are basically from trying it out themselves and they are SO naive about a lot of important facts. We give them pieces of paper to ask questions on each class and I am BLOWN away by some of the questions they have....I won't mention them in my email cuz I know not all of you care to know, but if you're interested remind me to tell you when I get home!

So it was actually a way needed and necessary class..and I was glad I got to be a part of it! So we taught that twice yesterday and then today we taught a goal setting class, and then did a follow up of our SexEd class from yesterday with the older class. It was a neat experience and I was glad I got to go there before I came home!

Then we came home today because tomorrow morning me and Jan are leaving on our SAFARI!!!! :)

I am SOO excited. A little nervous that's it's just me and Jan...haha but I'm sure we'll be fine. Pray for us! :)

So we leave in the morning and ride the bus into Kampala and spend the evening and night there. Then Thursday morning we wake up and drive to the place where the safari is and then hang out there for the evening and have a camp fire and stuff. Friday morning we leave at like 6:30 out on the safari jeep things and go for like 6 hours and see all the animals. Come back and have lunch...then go out on a boat for like 3 hours and see hippos, crocodiles, and any other animals that are buy the water. Then hang out that evening and Saturday morning we go on this hike/walk to the top of the waterfall...and then head back to Kampala (3 hour drive) then take a bus back to Mbale (4 hour drive). So Saturday will be a LONG day. But I am so excited I seriously cannot wait.. I can't believe I am finally going on an actual AFRICAN SAFARI!!! :)

Well I better get going...but I will hopefully get an email out on Sunday and let you know how it went! Because Monday is the grand opening of our clinic (Thank you SO much to anyone who has donated...) so we'll be in bunabuyoka all day that day...and then Tuesday we'll be packing and getting ready cuz we leave that afternoon for Kampala....spend the night there then Wednesday morning we are going GOLFING!! yes, golfing in Africa I am SO excited :)

Then I leave from Entebbe airport on Wednesday night...fly 2 hours to Kenya (1.5 hour layover), 7ish hours to Paris (5 hour layover), 9 hours to Dallas (4 hour layover), then FINALLY land in SALT LAKE on Thursday night at 8:45!

I can't believe it is coming so soon :( I am way excited to see family and friends and ESPECIALLY my cute nieces and nephews, and I am stoked to go to Lake Powell next week!! :) 

But I am SO sad to be leaving :( I feel like it has gone by way too fast and I am going to miss everyone and everything here so much.... 

I don't know how missionaries ever go home....after 2 YEARS!! It would be so hard...

Rafting the Nile, Carrying cement, Trapped in taxis....THIS IS AFRICA! :)‏

Oh man....I really shouldn't wait so long to send an update because there is WAY too much to talk about!!
I guess I'll just start one day at a time. So, if any of you have been on my facebook you saw that I rafted the NILE RIVER last week! Yes...I was in the same river that Moses floated down, and the same river where Alligators and large snakes and lizards and hippos live! And to top it all off we were going on grade 4 or 5 rapids!
I was so terrified to go, and all my friends have been slowly talking me into it the last few weeks and I finally gave in. I was scared to death the entire time we were on the river, but once we were on safe dry ground again I was so happy I went, and definitely something I probably won't get to experience again! When the river was calm and we were just floating..every time we saw something poking out of the water we would play "rock or crock??" haha it was usually a rock...but we did see a baby Crock!!
We had to ride the bus into Jinga (like 3 1/2 hours) and then the company we rafted with, Adrift, has a campground type thing there where we stayed. They have tents and different cabin type things, the place we stayed was a big room with like 5 bunk beds that we all slept on, and it was only like $10 a night. So we went to Jinja Friday...then rafted all day Saturday, and then we stayed there Saturday night as well. It worked out that Sunday was district conference in Jinja so we went to that in the morning and then rode the taxis home with the church!
It was way neat to go to district conference! I loved seeing so many of the Uganda members all gather together, and some of them had to travel so far to get there!!
The church here is kinda run by the missionaries, so the mission president and his wife spoke, and the choir was all the sister missionaries. Their talks were SO good, I honestly could have listened to the mission president all day. All the missionaries from the district were there, so there were a BUNCH of them! It was so fun to see all of them there! They seemed a bit shocked to see so many white girls...and a few of them seriously avoided us like the plague!!! It was kinda funny.
After district conference there happened to be 3 couples from our branch who were all getting married! So our branch all went over to the Chapel in Jinja which was like 2 minutes away. It was way neat to be a part of, but also very strange and different from weddings we are used to at home! The mission president first spoke for a minute and then the branch president married each couple and then after we had wedding cake!
Oh, and also right before the weddings, a boy in our branch was receiving his mission call....since the mail is so crazy here they send it to the mission president of the area, so President Jackson brought it there, and then Tyrell opened it in front of all of us. He was SO excited and nervous...he has been talking about it for weeks, so we were all way happy we got to be a part of it!
Then after the weddings and cake, we got to squish into my favorite taxis for the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Mbale.

We were supposed to go back up to the village on Monday morning, but they had to work out a few more things with buying the supplies and everything, so we left at 7:30 Tuesday morning and bought all of the supplies and headed up to the village! I have NO idea how the truck made it up the hell hill....but then again I don't know how A LOT of things that happen in this country are possible. So once the truck got there we all helped stack the bags of cement (50 kilos...roughly 120 pounds) into this building and then we carried the rest of the supplies down the path to the village...about a 25 minute walk. 

So, for the health center we were able to rent this brick making machine, so we can make the building out of bricks which is a TON stronger than just building it with mud. But the problem with that was getting the machine to the village...because the 25 minute walk from the road is like a little pathway through the mountains. There are  a ton of hills and it's super narrow. 

But of course not a problem for crazy strong African men! I wish you could have seen this, but they literally dug a road out of the side of the mountain with hoes! They took down two HUGE trees. And then once they dug out the side of the mountain they pulled this machine, which is the size of a small trailer and weighs 1,100 pounds up the muddy path! It was unbelievable to watch...

So the next morning the men were supposed to carry the super heavy bags of cement from the road to the village, but when we woke up and went up there the bags weren't there and the men were having a little bit of a hard time getting the ball rolling... 

In Africa they do ONE thing at a time..they say how different we are in America, because we will eat breakfast, read the news paper, and have a phone conversation all at the same time..and here they do one task first and then do the next one.

So we were all ready to GET TO WORK! We are trying to finish this health clinic in two weeks and that means we all need to work fast and hard! All the men were just excited about the machine and wanted to figure out how to get it to work before we get the cement, but the machine isn't any good until we have the cement! So we all got a little bit frustrated and we just left to figure out how to get the cement there! Well we tried a few ways, super unsuccessful, and ended up just taking turns with me and Jan carrying the bags on our upper back/neck. Keep in mind this is a 25 minute hike without carrying anything...and these bags were 125 pounds!!! I literally shocked myself. I had no idea I could carry that much much less up a hill. When this weak white girl walks up the hill carrying the bag of cement that got the men into gear a little more and they finally got the picture to GO HELP! For them it's no big deal to carry them...they just plot them on their heads and RUN up the path. I was DEAD after that. We took a little break, and then after the men carried the other 100 bags of cement (it took them like 30 minutes to do all of those, and it took us Mzungu's like 45 to get 3 bags...and there were 6 of us!) it took a bit to get the machine up and running and then we were making bricks like crazy so we had to carry the bricks into the school to keep them out of the rain. So by the end of the day I was exhausted!! 

When I woke up the next morning I seriously was more sore than I have ever been! I felt like a aged 70 years over night.

Then on Thursday me and Jan didn't have anything going on with projects until 3:00, so we decided to go to the Mbale regional hospital because we had talked to the director previously about volunteering with our CNA...well welcome to Africa...he wasn't there when he told us to meet him and no one we talked to knew who he was. So we decided to just drive over to the Cure Hospital and see if they had anything we could do.

It is an American owned hospital and there are like 12 in other places in the world. This one does pediatric neural surgeries. The director guy took us on a tour and showed us all over the hospital, and told us everything they do there. It was amazing! Most of the babies they operate on have hydrocephalus, or spina bifida...SO sad, but they are amazing! Anyway...I could go on for 5 minutes just about the hospital, so if you want to know more about it ask me when I get home and I would be happy to share! If we have any spare time before we leave they told us we could go and shadow the nurses! So I am hoping I get to for at least a few hours one day...

Then on Friday me, Jan, and the other Jenny (our names are super confusing for the locals when we're all 3 together) got to go to our guard David's house!! I was so happy I got to go before I left. He is basically part of the family. We got to meet his wife and 2 little kids, and see his piggery. Last year one of the projects they did was set up a little piggery business for David to help him earn money since he only works for us 4 months out of the year. We are continuing that project this year and helping work out some of the kinks. His house is like an hour and 45 minute taxi ride away and then like a 30 minute boda ride..which makes your bum feel like you have been on a horse for 3 days straight..haha

His family and house was so cute and his wife made us a whole big meal which was SO nice of her. 

On the way home our taxi driver decided to shove even more people than usual, so our 13 passenger van had 26 people! Ugh...I seriously HATE when they do this...David and the other two girls were on the row behind me so I was by myself shoved in the corner...on one side of me was probably a 200 pound black man who is basically and then on my other side was the conductor who was technically standing up, but he slowly made his way onto my lap. I have NEVER been so squished in my life. It was horrible. I couldn't move any of the lower half of my body for like an hour and 45 minutes. And the only place for my head was out the window so by the time we got home I looked like I actually belonged in Africa because my face was so covered in dirt! It was miserable in the moment, but rather funny afterwards :)

Fundrasing!! Please Help...

Hey Family and Friends,

So you just read all about the Bunabuyoka village in my last update and everything we are wanting to do there. Well we need more project funds to meet our goal and help these people as much as possible! As a team we have set up a website where you can go and donate to this project. Please take 5 minutes to go to the page...there are a ton more details of the project and what we are doing and there is a place for you to donate. ANYTHING will help. I have met these people personally and want so bad to help them as much as possible. I also have a link on my facebook page and blog. Encourage anyone and everyone to go to the page and read about the project and donate as much or as little as they can, so we can meet our goal and build this health center and school.
I'll give you one story for a little motivation (we have hear SO many more stories just like this one from families we have interviewed in the village)
So we were talking to a man in one of our meetings, he is one of the leaders in the village. He then began to tell us a story about his 10 children. They all got sick at the same time, he didn't say what they were sick with, but it was most likely preventable and treatable)
One night they all got WAY bad, so he had to get other villagers to help him carry all of his kids down the HUGE mountain and get them to the closest hospital, which is not very close. By the time they were able to get there they had gotten way worse and by the next day every one of his kids died...
He talked about how excited he was for the health clinic, and he knows that as he starts over with a new family that his children will be able to be treated when they are sick and will be okay.
Another lady told us about how she gave birth to 2 of her children in her home (which is tiny and filthy) she told us that she pushed the baby out and then cut the umbilical chord with a razor, then waited until the afterbirth came out and took a bath to clean herself off...

There are SOOO many more stories of the families we interviewed, that are so sad and heart breaking. They NEED this school, and health clinic. They are the happiest, most humble, and most grateful people I have ever met, and we have so much to give them. Even if it seems small to us it is huge to them. They are willing to work hard and do the labor and help get supplies to do these projects, but the one thing they don't have is money. Which is where we come in! I can show you pictures and videos as we build it so you can see the progress of the money you are donating. And I promise it will be well worth your dollar. SO DO IT RIGHT NOW!! :)

Here is the link...and thank you SO much for the help... Building the Future!

Bunabunyoka Village! :)

Well I thought I better give you an update of my few days in the village!
First, I thought I'd tell you about the projects we are doing up there. So last year the group from HELP-Intl. went up to this village and helped them build a MUCH needed school. It's just a one room building that is pretty good in size. In the village they have a TON of children and they were so excited about the school and realized how much they needed it, and needed more classrooms they decided to build a second building. (the villagers did this themselves...HELP just did the first building) They literally sacrificed and gave everything they had to build this addition to the school, but their funds ran out and they were unable to finish the roof or floor, so they can't even use the building.
Also the "health clinic" that they have is a tiny square room with muddy cement floors...and no lights and less supplies than a first aid kit. They have no trained medical people living up there, and the doctors who are willing to come and help have no where to treat patients. So we decided that we also wanted to build them a health clinic! They were SO excited and grateful. It will just be two small rooms, but it will be SO much more than what they have and we are going to fill it with as many supplies as we can. We also have a few doctors in town who are already willing to come and volunteer 1 or 2 days a week at the clinic to treat all the people up there! Also as a kick start to the clinic we are trying to arrange different health clinic days that we can set up later in the summer (when I am home unfortunately) but like an eye clinic day...where an eye doctor comes up to the clinic for a few days and everyone is able to get their eyes checked...and an HIV clinic where a doctor comes and is able to test everyone for HIV and give them the necessary treatments..and different ones like that.
The villagers are SO excited and they want it so much they are willing to help with ANYTHING which makes us want to help them so much more and give them as much as we can!
So with all their help and our means we are going to be able to FINISH the clinic in 2 weeks!

We met with them last Monday talking about what we wanted to do to help them, and by this Monday when we got there they had already dug the foundation for the clinic and started working! So we helped them work on the foundation while we were up there! Remember how I told you about the "hell hill" that we have to take to get there? Well the entire mountain and village and everything is all that steep...so to get from house to house you have to walk straight up a hill. So we had to fill gunny sacks with rocks and carry them up this STEEP hill for HOURS!! They crush them up and use them for the foundation of the school and health clinic...it was hot and dirty and hard!
But I seriously couldn't even complain, because all the little kids on their way to school and during their breaks go up the hill and help carry the rocks....except they are ages 6-11 and they are carrying rocks that I literally couldn't even lift and carrying them on their HEAD! If that isn't motivation...I don't know what is! And they all do it without complaining because they love their school so much and want to do anything to help finish it!

I also got to teach English to a 3rd grade class! And I am going to be teaching them every Monday-Wednesday until I come home! (which is coming WAY too soon....)
It was so fun to teach them, and they were all SO excited and ready to learn. It's amazing how much we take education for granted, and complain about going to school. These kids are there EVERY day no matter what as long as they can be. I can't wait to teach them more! And continue to help with the building of the school and health center! I am so excited that I will get to see it finished before I come home :)

The people in the village are SO nice to us, they seriously treat us like royalty and it makes me feel so bad! They are telling us how sometimes they can't work their hardest (which is still 500 times harder than us) because their food is growing right now and they don't have very much so they are working on empty stomachs and it slows them down. And then that night they feed us a huge full meal!!!
Speaking up the meal...it is quite interesting! They give us posho, matoke, and scuma for every meal, and usually some kind of meat (which we tell them not to because they don't have much) But the Posho is basically corn starch and water....so it's just a big blob of white stuff...haha it doesn't have much taste but the texture is super hard to swallow. Matoke is in the banana family, but it's more like a potato...it's way good when you make it certain ways but the way they make it is just a giant blob of yellow mush, and the scuma is a green vegetable type thing...comparable to spinach. It's SUPER strong in taste. The first time we had this meal I literally could barely choke everything down. And I felt so selfish and spoiled because they are giving us like everything they have. But I have learned....you have to scoop a ton of the broth from the meat onto everything and then you just have to mix everything together and eat it all at once and then it is actually pretty good!!
Our sleeping arrangements were pretty funny as well....we took up 5 foam twin size mattress things...and then basically made a tent of our mosquito nets, but then we had 9 people squished onto the mats.. haha and they all have a plastic covering on them. So we were literally all spooning and you had almost no room to move....and we were all sticking to the plastic and SO hot and 3 of the people were way grumpy, and the rest of us were slap happy and laughing at everything....so it made for one of the more interesting nights that I have had haha and we got basically NO sleep!

It was a way good experience though and I can't wait to go back up next Monday morning!

I never realized how good our house was here, and how grateful I would to be back! Even the nasty shower that barely trickles down and is FREEZING was like HEAVEN!!
Then yesterday I did all my laundry!!! It took me forever...but I was way proud of myself and I am actually way good at it! I had red mud stained in my white skirt....yep it's completely clean and white again! :) haha
Then last night we had a meeting at Child of Hope (the school in the Namatala slum) about their bead business for the women. We are trying to help them get it going again with a few of them and we are making a website to sell them in the states and coming up with some designs for them to help them sell! I am actually really excited about it, and I am going to keep helping them with this one when I get home!

We have another meeting with them today to show them the designs we want them to do and get them making some as soon as possible so I can bring a bunch home and start selling them!

I also am teaching an English class tonight to some of the adults at our church, so I am excited about that! :)

This weekend we are river rafting the Nile! I am way excited/ nervous....and then we will stay up there Saturday night in Jinja because Sunday is stake conference there! So we will go to that and then ride back in the taxis with the ward! I am way excited to go to the stake conference. I think it will be a neat experience.
Next week on Saturday we are going to the Uganda fut-ball game!! I am SO stoked.....I bought my jersey a few weeks ago and this is actually supposed to be a pretty good game! :) And the next weekend II am planning our Safari! And believe it or not the weekend after that I will be HOME and it's my birthday!! It is flying by way too fast...but I am just making sure to make every minute count!!

I hope all is going good at home...I was so excited to come home from the village and see that my cute nephew Warner was born!!! He is so stinkin cute...I got to meet him on skype and I already am DYING to meet him in person! Talk to you all soon, Love you! And thanks for all the emails and little notes.

Projects and more projects!

I got two emails this morning asking when I was going to send an update again, so I decided I better write one today before we go to the village in the morning! Hopefully I will have some neat experiences to write about when I get back from there on Tuesday night.
My mom said that my emails are quite funny to read, because they are basically just one big run on sentence....and I write exactly how I talk (super fast and hard to understand). So, I'll try a lot harder to take a little bit more time and make them easier to read!
I haven't written an update this week because I feel like I am not making very much progress in changing the world. I have kind of had a hard time and felt like I have wasted my first two weeks. The group that I came with doesn't have any projects planned out for us before we get here. We have some contacts from last years groups, and our country directors came a couple weeks before us and got a few more. So when we got here we were able to go to a lot of the different villages, slums, and clinics that want our help and talk to a few more people and then we have a lot of meetings...both with our group, and potential projects. Then we are set loose....with no guidance or much direction to plan the projects we want to do and work out every detail of them and set everything up!
This was a bit overwhelming....I am not good at figuring out all the details and setting up meetings and working out all the logistics, especially when I don't have a ton of knowledge in any of the projects. But I have realized this experience is about a lot more than just doing service the entire time. I am learning SO many more life lessons and things that will help me in the future. I also have realized that if we want to truly make a difference in the 4 months that our group is here, and create projects that will continue to help them even once we are gone...those projects take A LOT of time and planning. We have to figure out the best ways to help these people help themselves. Even though I haven't been out doing a ton of physical work...the planning and preparing is making just as much of a difference! I won't be able to see all of our projects finish in the 6 weeks I am here, in fact most of them won't be done, but that's okay because I am still making a difference and helping while I am here. And even more than that I am being changed and touched by every single person I meet, both the African's and people in my group, and the experience I am having will change me and help me to be a better person and affect people when I come home as well.

I didn't really mean for that to be such a long introduction...but anyways now I can tell you a little bit about what we have been doing and the projects we have been working on!
As we have talked to a lot of the village and school leaders one of the things they want and need the most to help them is education. They know the importance of education and they have such a lack of it. And knowledge is something that we can give them that won't run out when we leave or cost money, or need fixing and repair.
So a lot of our projects have to do with education....teaching English, general health, science, music, and then the project that I am kind of in charge of with a couple others is youth leadership and empowerment classes. We have like 8 classes that we have set up and written the curriculum and lesson plans for, and the schools can choose to either have just the individual classes taught, or they can be taught during a 6 week program where we come once a week. We even have like maturation type classes that we have set up because they have NO knowledge of that type of thing here or sex education or anything. It's way sad...in the middle school they said over 75% of their students are sexually active and know nothing about it or the consequences of it. In the Bunabuyoka village (the one we went to on Monday and the one we are going back to tomorrow) the midwife was telling us about a 15 year old girl who got pregnant, but had no clue about it because they don't teach them about it at all and she didn't know when she went in to labor she just thought she was sick so the baby ended up suffocating inside of her and died and then she got way sick and almost died because she had a dead baby inside her....isn't that so sad?? They need to learn SO much, and a lot of it is things that comes second nature to us and we don't even realize that we are so lucky to have a knowledge of..
I won't go into detail about more of the projects because I am sure I will tell you more about them as we are doing them!

But then on Thursday me and Jan didn't have any meetings to go to and I found a salon in town that did braids so we decided to get our African braids!! They told us it would take like 3 or 4 hours...Jan's took about 4...mine took 7!!!! I was sitting in the same hard chair for 7 hours. I was going crazy by the end, but they looked way awesome and only cost like 25 dollars! Everyone in town told us that we looked like Alisha Keys and that we looked "smart" which means good looking basically haha
I really liked them and I was SO excited to not have to worry about frizzy and greasy hair the next 3 1/2 weeks. But then last night one fell out and a bunch were getting loose and they were so heavy and my head itched and I couldn't sleep and my hair is so thick that I couldn't pull them all up and they were super hot.....so today I couldn't stand them any more and I took them all out.....haha they were bugging me so bad I guess I had a nightmare about them and woke the girls up in my room screaming about my braids! So they only lasted like 3 days! But it's okay I'm still glad I got them and experience my African braids...and we definitely had quite the funny experience at the salon getting them done.
They washed our hair and then they dried it in one of those old fashion dryer things, but there was no cover over the blade and it was basically just spinning my hair in a circle and matting it WAY bad. Then there was a guy in there who asked us if he could work on our nails so we said why not since we were just sitting there.
So I got a manicure and pedicure! It was kinda sketch and he KILLED when he was massaging us, but it's all part of the experience :)

Then yesterday we went on this hike called Sipi Falls. It was GORGEOUS!! I have a bunch of pictures that I will upload to facebook later tonight or later on in the week. It was up in the mountains and we hiked to like 3 different falls. There are villages clear up there and all the kids came and guided us to all the different places. There was a 15 year old boy named Martin who started talking to me and then became my guide haha he would tell me all the different plants and things on the way. He would sit and wait for me any time the group started going and he would hold my hand any time it was muddy or there was a hill so that I wouldn't fall. It was way cute!
I can't wait to show you guys the pictures..it was so pretty I can't even describe it!

Also...look forward to pictures of my post braid hair.....haha first it was in like way sweet dreads and now it is a legit AFRO haha it is huge!! The pictures are pretty funny...

I think that is all I really have to update you on....pray for me tomorrow night when I am sleeping in the village in the mountains. Haha hopefully we make it back safe! We are doing some WAY exciting things in the village but I will tell you more about them later!

African babies stealing my heart...

Last Wednesday this guy named Suda took us to a village and like 3 schools that want us to do projects. So he picked us up in a taxi...that is supposed to hold like 13 people but we had 17 and it was CRAMPED!! There taxis here are super nasty and are like falling apart and it won't start on it's own, so every time the guy had to push start it and pop the clutch with like 15 people inside haha honestly we didn't really think anything of it at the time, but looking back it was pretty funny.
So the first village we went to we were greeting by literally 30 women and kids all dancing and singing and SO excited for us to be there. When we opened the door to the taxi they basically lifted us out and were hugging and kissing us. It made me feel SO GOOD and LOVED!! (I expect nothing less at the airport when I come home in 5 weeks) Then we went to a few more schools and a hospital clinic that wants us to help. So the rest of the week was mostly planning all our projects and having a TON of meetings with all the people to figure out the details of everything.
On Saturday my friend Josh had his birthday so we went to the hotel down the street and for 5000 shillings you can swim and take a shower! So we all swam and hung out by the pool all afternoon. It was WAY hot and then some clouds started coming in for the daily rainstorm...and it started raining so everyone got out of the pool but me and Jan just kept swimming in it, and then it started to DOWNPOUR...it was SO fun swimming in it and it just kept getting worse and worse until randomly it started hailing. So we decided it was probably time to get out and the hail was huge and hitting us way hard..so we went and got in the shower and by the time we were done it had stopped raining and the sun was out and the skies were blue! So bizarre....
Then that night we went to dinner at the restaurant in town called chat n chinos....I think I told you about it. I know it doesn't seem like a very rough day in Africa....but we need some breaks and fun days too :)
Then Sunday we went to the branch, I love it so much and the people are SO friendly! In sacrament meeting there were two men who had just gotten baptized the day before and they were confirmed in Sacrament meeting...it was way neat to be a part of that and the spirit was way strong....and all the talks and lessons answered questions and prayers that I had that week. They asked all of our group to sing next Sunday, so we get to find a hymn to sing acapella this week! wish us well....haha and they are having us teach Young Women's and relief society each week, so it's kind of fun to feel a part of the ward.
Then today we woke up at like 6:30 to go to the Bunabuyoka Village. Our group that came last year did work with them last year and they were very excited to have us come back again. So we got on another one of the AWESOME taxis...this time squished with 22 people...and drove for a little over an hour. Then we started our hike STRAIGHT up the mountain...they told us it was like half hour, but we were hiking for a good hour and a half and I am not joking around when I say it was straight up. I had another fainting experience on the way up....this time it was my friend Alexis. She has asthma way bad and the hike was way hard and way hot so we were almost to the top and she was really struggling and feeling sick so she sat down for a second and then just passed out....so we go to help her and her body starts to seizure for a good 5-10 seconds. It was way scary!! She was way hot and sweaty so we poured some water on her and she kind of came to and then she just started puking a ton. I was really freaked out for a minute, but after she threw up she was totally fine and finished the hike no big deal!
So when we finally got to the top (the whole way up was honestly the prettiest view of anywhere I have ever been) we were greeted by all the kids from the school singing to us! I have a video of it and it seriously was the cutest thing ever. All the people there were so nice, and so excited to have us there. The whole village is christian so we prayed like 3 times while we were there and at the beginning the guy was saying the prayer and he thanked God that we were there and he said that he knew we were sent by Christ all the way from America to find their little village in the mountains. It was so sweet and made me want to cry...
 They built a second school building since they have so many kids and the other one is just one open classroom, but never were able to finish the roof so they can't use it...so we are going to help them finish the roof and floors and then we are building a health clinic up there and then we are going to be teaching English and health classes to the children and adults! I am way excited and can't wait to go back :) We are going on Sunday and then we are going to sleep up there until Tuesday next week and then I don't know how often we'll go up after that. It is going to be way neat to sleep in the village though and experience TRUE Africa! I'm a little nervous though too! I wish I could just show you all the things that I have seen because talking about them and trying to describe them doesn't even do it justice. During the meeting today a little girl who was probably 2 or 3 came up and sat on my lap and she ended up just cuddling up in my arms and falling asleep and stayed there for a few hours...I have some pictures of her, she is precious! I can't get over how cute all the kids are here. I don't know how I am going to leave them...

Visiting the Namatala Slum

I have had the most unforgettable day of my life....I really don't even know where to begin.
I guess I'll start by telling you about the last few days first. So on Saturday a bunch of the group went on this way awesome hike that I really want to do. But I was still kind of sick and Jan (my best friend) woke up WAY sick, so a few of us decided to stay back and just have a chill day (much needed...the jet lag was kinda catching up with me). So we were walking in to town (like a 25 min walk) and Jan was sorta falling behind, and she woke up with her throat like completely closed off and couldn't breath so she was coughing and couldn't hardly breathe and her anti-malaria pill was taking away her appetite so she hadn't eaten much and was dehydrated. We'd been walking probably 15 minutes and it was the middle of the day so it was SUPER hot and humid and as we were walking down the street all the sudden she just passed out. We all ran to her and she was out cold for a good minute, so enough time that we all started panicking a bit.....she finally came to and we gave her some water and I grabbed a Boda (the motorcycle taxis) and we rode it back to the house. (Our FIRST boda ride!) haha she was still super out of it when we got to the house, and the money convergence thing still confused me a bit....so we payed the boda driver 20,000 shillings....and it is only supposed to be 1,000 into town and we weren't even all the way in town! haha 20,000 is only the equivalent of like $8.00 so it wasn't very much for us, but for him that is like a month's salary...so we gave him quite the bonus that day! haha
But since Jan was so sick I ended up just staying at the house all day with her and kinda playing nurse and making sure she was okay....so we just sort of chilled and watched a movie and stuff. Then that night we went into town with some of the girls to a little coffee shop/ cafe called "Chat 'n Chino's" it was SO yummy....everything they make here they make from scratch and it all tastes so good! I ordered hot chocolate (the best I ever had) and when they brought it to me they had written "lovely" with the chocolate syrup in my cream :) haha it was the cutest thing ever. Then I got something called a Rolex. They are SOO good! It's a chipote (the tortilla things I told you about) and then basically just eggs and peppers and stuff, but they are DELICIOUS!!!
On Sunday we all got up and went to church (all of our group is members except for our 2 Country directors and then one of the guys that Holly brought) It was pretty funny going through town cuz we were on a train of boda's with all these Muzungu's and none of us really knew where the church was haha
But we made it and we were even a little early! We were greeted at the gate by the missionaries and then EVERY single member would come up to us and shake our hand and introduce themselves and thank us for being there. Everyone is so friendly and made me feel so loved and welcomed, and they were SO excited to have us there! During sacrament meeting we all split up so we were sitting all with different people so I was sitting with a group of girls around my age up to like 22. All of them had kids, and some had ones as old as 5!! More than 1/2 the population in Uganda is under the age of 15 and they usually live to like the age of 45, so their culture is to start having kids around age 17! They were all so friendly and nice though and LOVED my hair and skin they just kept touching me and playing with my hair and by the end of sacrament meeting I had like 15 little braids in my hair :) haha
Kinda funny story...I asked someone where the bathroom was at church and one of the missionaries from California just started laughing and said "Good luck! I hope you have strong legs!" I went in and the bathroom was just a whole in the floor! Haha...let's just say I held it until we got home.
Church was amazing though and I loved all the meetings! I think the thing that is so amazing is that the church is the same wherever we go...we sing the same songs, teach the same lessons, and feel the same spirit. If that isn't enough proof it's true then I don't know what is! The members here are so amazing and have some of the neatest stories. They are so humble and grateful for what they have and so grateful for the gospel. The branch there keeps growing at a way fast rate and right now there are like 120 members!

Then today we woke up and we went in to town to see the outdoor market.....oh my goodness....I don't even know how to describe this to you. First of all it was SO hot and humid and muggy. And there are HUNDREDS of people in way tight quarters selling everything you can imagine. It is so smelly and hot and gross....I can't believe that is where most of our food we are eating comes from. The meat they sell is just sitting there all chopped up and hanging with about 5 millions flies covering it and I even saw one piece with the furry tail still on it....I definitely left there feeling a bit queezy....after that we went to just like a grocery store and bought some drinks and stuff and then went to tour 'Child of Hope' and the Namatla slums....

Child of Hope is a school that they built right in the middle of the slum, and they find the very poorest of the poor and bring in one child from each of those families to their school and they teach them and clothe them and provide medical care. They are only able to do one child per family but they do that in hopes that they can then go home and teach their family and help provide for them. It's a super neat program and they do it all for free.
So then the people from Child of Hope took us around to tour the slum....as hard as I try I won't be able to describe to you the things I saw and the way that I felt. I don't know that I was prepared for this nor could I ever be. I even just from this one experience today my heart will be changed forever. There are SO many people living in these slums and they have NOTHING!!!!!! The children all just came RUNNING to us and hugging us and touching us and holding our hands...we had a huge group of them following us the whole time we were there. Most of them had no shoes on and none had underwear or diapers...a lot were naked and the ones who did have clothes were just wearing dirty clothes with tons of holes that were just like hanging off their bodies. But their eyes and smiles had more love than I have ever seen!! It didn't matter how dirty and gross they were I loved them so much and just wanted to give up everything I had to help them in any way that I could. The whole time we were walking I usually had 3 kids on each hand all holding one finger and usually another one in my arms or on my back. There was one little boy who was with me the whole time and any time someone would try to hold my hand he would push them away or tell them to go to the other side haha.
They all lived in these little tiny huts with just mud floors and walls and they are basically just living in their filth. They all wanted to take my water bottle and watch and one little boy looked up at me and said "You have so many things! Where do you get all these things?" I had almost nothing with me but yet to them I had things they could never even dream of having. There were old women who were just sitting there and asking us for money or anything to help.
Most of the people living there are refugees from other parts of the country and just in that one slum there are 8 or 9 languages spoken, and most of the people come from super hard pasts. The average family of 7 people lives off of like 1000 shillings a day....which is equivalent to 80 cents....80 cents for 7 people!! Can you believe that??

Last year one of the projects that they did was clean water filters and so we got to see some of them that they still have and are using....and a few months ago a Cholera outbreak happened in the area and this Slum wasn't affected by it because of the water filters! Isn't that awesome to see the success of some of they work they did. I can't wait to begin some of our projects with Child of Hope....I don't even know where to begin to help them but I want to do it all!
One little girl as we were leaving came up to me with her big brown eyes and said "Auntie Jenni....will you please come back to Child of Hope" it seriously melted my heart and I promised her I would come back....I have no idea how I am ever going to leave this place!!!!

Well you probably are wondering when I am going to end my novel....so I'll end with a quick funny story.....so when we got home we were seriously covered in filth so me and Jan took a bucket bath/shower (since we only get 2 real showers a week) so I had to do it down stairs in the bathroom.....so I was coming upstairs in just my towel and I was trying to do it inconspicuously as possible and sneak into my room.....well right as I got to the top step my flip flop slipped and broke and I ate it SOOO hard! I couldn't catch my fall otherwise my towel would have fallen off so I hit the floor hard and of course everyone is in the family room and all look over....haha I was just laying there barely covered in my towel for like 2 minutes cuz I seriously couldn't move.....but at least everyone got a good laugh out of it :)

I am in Africa!!

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace

The Queen driving by in her carriage!

First group picture in front of our house

Believe it or not...I AM IN AFRICA!!!! It for sure still feels like a dream. After leaving SLC we took a 2 1/2 hour flight to Dallas, and then we only had a 40 minute layover and our terminal was on the other side of the airport, so we got off the plane and went straight to our next one which was a 9 1/2 hour flight to London! I got a cold like 2 days before I left so I took 2 cold medicine when I got on the flight...but little did I know that they made you drowsy so I also took 2 sleeping pills....I was in the middle of watching sherlock holmes and next thing I knew I woke up with my head on my tray and the movie was over, so I took off my headphones and got a little more comfortable and I was OUT!! Jan said I was sleeping with my face straight against the pillow not really even laying on it....mouth open and drool coming out haha I woke up when they brought us breakfast and sort of ate it but felt completely drugged up and was out again until we landed in London. For like 2 hours my eyes were literally glazed over and I had no clue what was going on...definitely a good ice breaker for meeting new people. I for sure will never take 2 sleeping pills again and especially not with cold medicine! But I'm not going to lie....it was the BEST flight I have ever had!!

So then we land in London and get on the train to go into town, once we got off at our station we walk up stairs and first thing I see is Big Ben! I felt like I was in a dream (literally since I was still drugged up on sleeping pills) and we just sort of started walking down the street. The road was blocked off and there were policemen everywhere and actually straight up English soldier guys in the red with the tall black fluffy hats. So we asked an officer what was going on, and guess what he said.....Oh just that the QUEEN OF ENGLAND is on her way to open parliament and she'll be coming down the street in about 10 minutes. Yes, I saw the queen! Haha people are in London for years and never see her...we're there for 12 hours and see her TWICE! And I have a video to prove it. So a few minutes later all these soldiers riding black horses in straight lines start coming down the street and the royal band is playing and then the queen comes along in her carriage! And then followed by another carriage with Prince Henry. So after that we just kept walking down the street and went to Trafalgar square and then walked down to Buckingham Palace and as we almost get to the Palace...oh no big deal...here comes the queen and the royal procession again! Haha and this time we were even closer. I really still can't believe that happened... so we walked around some more and in the different parks and stuff and just around London...it seriously is like a different world there and with the whole horse brigade and the queen and everything I felt like we jumped in a time machine and were in a different era. I for sure want to go back again when I have more time. But after that we walked to Harrodd's SO HUGE!! and by this time we are like DEAD because of the flight and lack of real food and all the walking, and the fact that it was like 4am our time. So we got sandwiches and juice at the Harrod's deli and ate it outside and then headed back to the airport. We then got on another 8 1/2 hour flight to Kenya (I took just one sleeping pill this time and it did the trick so it was a pretty good plane ride) Then we finally were in Africa! Then we waited like 2 hours at the Kenya airport and then got on a plane and then had a one hour flight to Entebbe, Uganda!! We flew over Lake Victoria....it was HUGE!!!! Once we met up with our country directors we squished all of us and our luggage on to a bus and drove for another 5 hours to Mbale! We stopped on the way in Jinga and got food...strangely enough my first meal in Africa was Thai food...haha I got chicken curry and rice, but it was really good! I thought the 5 hour drive would be MISERABLE after traveling so long and being so jet lagged, but I was in so much awe the whole time it went by super fast! I couldn't believe the things I saw....we went from the city where people came right up to the open windows of the bus begging for money and trying to sell us meat and shoes and all sorts of things, and then past little tiny towns where people lived literally in dirt huts. I wish I could describe to you everything I saw today. Everywhere we would go everyone would stare at our bus and yell Mzunugu's!! (white people) and in some of the smaller towns they would literally chase after our bus. But we made it to our house and it is super nice for Africa!! But still completely NASTY for the states haha I am SO happy to be here though. We have a cook who makes us dinner Monday- Friday, so I had my first real African meal tonight and it was WAY good!
We talked for awhile about house and safety rules and our plan the next few days and then we set up our beds and mosquito nets, and today we get to take a freezing cold shower, but we only get 2 showers a week! And 1 hot one every other Sunday....definitely embracing the experience for all it's worth :)
It's way hot and humid and there are more bugs than there are in Hawaii, and I have never been so tired in my life, but I am SO happy and would not want to be anywhere else right now. I can't wait to experience more, and I hop you guys will be able to keep in touch and be a part of it with me. I have access to internet a lot so email and facebook me! I want to hear from all of you :)