Muzungu! How are you? I am fine

Hello Muzungu Family,

                It has been a week since I left and it feels like I just got here and that I have been gone forever. I know that is an incredibly ironic statement to make but it is how I feel. I have grown accustomed to Boda-boda rides. A Boda-boda is a dirt bike/motorcycle (it is not quite either one of them) that we travel on the back of. Women ride side saddle behind the driver and the men ride saddle. Sometimes we ride two on a boda with the driver. BUT honestly I love riding them! It allows for a great breeze and sunshine. However, it also means that when it rains we are out of luck and have to walk. This has brought some muddy clothes and some very muddy legs and feet! The people still believe that malaria comes from the rain and so they do not go out in it. I am learning patience because of this belief.

                Mbale does not have a transportation system like we have in the US. Here we have taxis that are buses licensed to hold 14 but we had 23 today. They do not leave the city until the taxi is full and obviously full is a relative term here. Taxis run on specific routes but not specific times, bodas can go wherever as long as you can flag one down. Meanwhile everything runs on Ugandan time which means there is no time. They come when they come they eat when they can and they leave when the rain is gone. It makes our schedule hard to keep but I am learning. Jessie asked a Ugandan man when the next taxi would be and the response was, “In Uganda we do not have ‘when is the next one’ we have patience.” So hopefully I will learn some patience this summer! 

                We went to the branch on Sunday and it was wonderful. They people here have great faith in the savior and are al so well spoken. I felt inadequate to speak up too much because they all know so much! But really a friendlier people cannot exist outside this country. 

               We have continued to meet with partners and I am overwhelmed by the good people are doing in this country. The people who are helping here are not those with money and time, they are those who scrimp and save and give because it is what is right. This quality is missing from so many of our lives we feel we need to be in a better place before we can look outward to try and help another but instead we can learn from them that we must look outward now and everything will work out.

                On Monday we went to the Namatala slum and met with a couple previous partners. We met with an HIV/Aids testing center in the slum and then child of hope a school set up in the slum area. We took some time to walk around and greet the kids, and adopt a herd of them as we walked. As we walked the path there was a chorus of “Muzungu! Muzungu! Muzungu!” they would then run up to us and shake our hands and then follow us around. We hope to set up some community outreach programs in the slum to further the education against HIV/Aids and other basic health topics.

              

               

Yesterday we went to the district of Manafwa and the mountain village of Bunoboyoko where we met with one of our major partners at the Zions medical clinic.  They are the only health clinic in the surrounding areas and serve over 50 villages. I was humbled by the work they do all by volunteers. It was an interesting journey straight up the mountain on the back of a motorcycle on VERY tiny roads with deep puddles, flowing waters, and steep hills. It was an hour long taxi ride to the base of the mountain and an hour long boda ride up the mountain. They fed us a delicious lunch of Matoke or mashed and cooked green bananas with a beef broth and a side of steamed Kale it was DELICIOUS! We were made fun of for the way we ate with our hands but I will learn to eat like a proper Ugandan just you wait! We toured the facilities and saw work that Help- International has done in the past and then Jessie and I spent time jump roping with children and learning lugisu jumping songs. Then we taught them “you are my sunshine” and my heart melted to hear them sing with us. Then we went down the mountain after a torrential downpour and were covered in mud and slightly scared for my life but all is well that ends well and we all made it home safely.

                Today we met with CURE hospital one of the leading hospitals in the world that works specifically with Hydrocephalus and Spine abifida in children.  It was amazing to tour the facilities and see that they had created a better system for treating those with hydrocephalus than any other hospital. We also went to meet with Arlington school in Bududa district that is a school run by an NGO in Washington that is a model school for the village schools in the area. I have learned so much about their education system here and am grateful to all those that have tried to make an impact. I am also humbled by the pride students take in education when they are able to attain it. The system here is so different than we are used to. You must pay for school and uniforms and most kids to not continue after primary 7 or 7^th grade. But if you talk to a student they are so anxious to tell you what they are learning and to practice their English!

                I have loved every minute thus far of meeting with partners and discussing projects as a team. I am so humbled to be here and am hoping that I will be able to help these wonderful people in some small way.

Your Muzungu,

Katie