Rain Rain GO AWAY!

One of the wonderful, beautiful and incredibly FRUSTRATING things about manafwa in july and august is the RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!


This last week and a half have been frustrating because the rain has spoiled some cement and kept us from building. BUT our goal is to finish before we leave so if y'all could pray that the rain stays away from bukawayka that would be awesome! :)

HOWEVER progress still has been made (thank goodness) and we have moved all 5000 bricks, built the entire pit, poured the top slab, set the stall holes, and started building the actual walls! YAY!

Sulah the contractor we are working with assures me we will see its completion before we go and I couldnt be happier ( or more worried!)

Most days have been spent at the latrine and instead of boring you with the day to day log of brick ferrying and cement mixing  I wanted to at least post the pictures then I will write about what else I have been working on after the latrine each day!

Katie and Ben heard about the latrine while staying at the casa and wanted to help while on holiday!

Ugandan scaffolding... safe right?

into the pit we go.... want to climb the ladder anyone?

notice the permanent brick stains on the shirts!

This is how we "protect" the cement.... there is so much about ugandan construction I dont understand.

Brick movers are us!

Part of the beautiful ride

bodaboda through one of the villages on the way to st. stephens

Man will I miss  Bodas!

Bricks are all gone... all 5000 of them!

Sulah and the dream team... poor whit left early!

Finally the lines for the building!

Look at that pile of bricks!

Stalls coming into shape!

Curtain wall

So much work goes into building here in Uganda

Inside the latrine

So outside the latrine I have been working on two other project. One with Father Dan and the archdiocese here in manafwa. They own a farm, now this is not your average farm in uganda it has a little bit of everything: matooke, yellows, maize, passion fruit, beans, coffee, cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, guineas, and about a million other things as well. Anyways the farm is run in conjunction with a school in Mbale town and the plan for the school is for it to become an agriculture center for the town. Father Dan wants to restore the farm to its "glory" when it was originally established as a learning farm where students could come and learn specific types of animal and plant husbandry and then take their skills back to their home areas and start thriving farms. It accomplished their goals when it was first established but in the 80's the president of uganda kicked all the catholic priests out and the school fell away from its original goal. However, the goal is to revive this beautiful farm. ( seriously one of the most amazing places I have been in Mbale) My part of the project is to follow in my dads footsteps and set up a website and social media sites to drive attention to the school. He hopes to open the farm for university interns and secondary school field trips. I hope the farm reaches its goals I think it is a fantastic idea to implement agriculture learning here in Uganda.

Such a dainty cow

Pictures do not paint an accurate picture of how beautiful this place is

piggery

Not a huge pig fan... but these babies are so cute!

oh by the way the farm also supports a babies home... yep, a babies home. Babies in the babies home are all oprhaned and range from age 1 week to 7 years. The older children are all children with cerebral palsy or like conditions and remain orphans at the home. Elaine and I got to spend a short (too short)  time there as we toured the farm! The pictures are not great as my phone had too little battery to use the flash but the babies broke my heart.

One week old. Her mother died in child birth at 14 and the father a 15 yr old abandoned the baby at the babies home.

 Also this week we (myself, amber, elaine) began a project with a wonderful lady named Sauda. Sauda has begun an organization that works with ladies that suffer from fistulas. A fistula can happen when a body is not prepared for delivery  and the body tears ( sorry thats graphic) but the tearing eventually causes all female organs to come together and makes the lady completely incapable of controlling any bowel movements or urine. IT IS AWFUL! It is most typical when young teens are forced to deliver and then not taken to a hospital to deliver. If the baby is in the wrong position and they dont seek medical help they can develop a fistula. If this happens the family abandons the young girl and she is forced to live as an outcast and usually passes from the life circumstance. The worst thing of this is that the surgery to fix it is FREE from the government ( obviously that means this is a common thing- young girls giving birth without medical care- common enough to be a free surgery from the government) the only thing the families would need to pay for are transport to the hospital and food while there never passing 60,000UGX or $22.  Anyways we are helping her set up some educational tools to use while mobilizing communities and reaching out to those suffering from fistulas.

I have been crazy busy this last week and am not looking forward to wrapping up my time here in Uganda.
much love,
Ketty