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.