WOOLY BULLY! I’m writing on a computer screen full of fingerprints and it makes me so happy! The Woolies were all over the computer watching videos of Ross and Rachel and from their trip to the zoo last year! We’re so glad we got to see them today! For anybody who doesn’t know why I use the term “Woolies” all the time, let me give you a summary so you don’t have to read two years of past blogs to find out. There was an orphanage called Need for All, that our friend Angella has taken Ross and I to see. The first trip, Ross taught them the song “Wooly Bully” and that’s now what they call him. We returned the nickname by calling them all the Woolies. There are nine of them total but after this year we may have to add some members! We have helped them out with things they need every year and we go to visit them numerous times. Last year we took them on a field trip to the zoo and we went with one of them to get treatment for Burkitt Lymphoma of the abdomen at Mulago hospital (Joshua is this boy, but it turns out he has a father so he went back to live with him in Entebbe). On our last trip we discovered that the woman left in charge, Ruth, was stealing money and basically making life for the Woolies miserable. It’s bad enough to be abandoned by your family but then they were put in an orphanage that started out great but clearly got much worse! The director, who what Ruth’s boss, decided to move the kids to Watoto orphanage, which is run by a HUGE church in Uganda in order to give the kids a better chance at life. It was a great plan, but executed very poorly. One day the Watoto van just showed up to take the kids. They all got in but didn’t realize what was happening. The two house mothers explained on the way. By the time they arrived, the house mothers told us all of the kids were crying. They had to leave them with new mothers at Watoto and the kids would not stop crying so neither could the mothers. Luckily, Angella knew somebody who was a social worker at Watoto so we were able to walk in and see them a week later. By that time they were more adjusted and saw the good things about their new home. For example, they got food every day – clearly better than at Need for All. Now they are basically adopted by Watoto and will get to go to school, university, and basically have a family within Watoto for the rest of their lives.
Okay, now that you know the background, you can understand that we have a history with them and really wanted to see them. My mom has loved these kids from home in Minnesota since the first pictures she saw back in 2007 on Ross’ first trip. We pray for them, we try to send them things, and I pretty much think of them every day of my life. Their pictures are all over my walls. It’s as if I have 9 children, but they happen to live thousands of miles away. Kenneth, Trevor, Joshua, Arthur, Henry, Simon, Peter, Irene and Ruth will always be our little Woolies, even though they are getting very big!
We found a man to drive Susan’s car so it wasn’t as expensive as getting a special taxi. We thought about taking Bodas from where a Mtatu could have brought us, but I’m pretty sure that would have been a bad idea and mom wouldn’t have like it! It took us nearly an hour to get there, but we took some “highways” which were actually really nice paved roads. I’m pretty sure they are better than all of the roads in Duluth! (in town is a different story – potholes the size of lakes fill most of them!) At the gate, three guards checked our car and took down information before letting us pass. When we pulled up to the house, we saw Ruth and Irene peeking around the corner. Once they saw Angella, they smiled and ran around the house. We got out and started walking to them and they just kept creeping around the house. My mom went up to them right away and showed the girls and a few of the neighbors the pictures on her ipod. Angella and I continued into the house and found Arthur, Henry, Peter, and Simon sitting all in a row on the couch. They have gotten so much taller! Henry has lost his chubby cheeks and a few teeth. Peter is still really skinny, but the doctors say he has no health problems. Simon’s ears still stick out but not as much as they seemed to last time. Arthur is still a handsome young boy with a huge smile that I love to see! The other kids came to join us as well. Kenneth and Trevor both look about the same but I’m sure they’ve gained a few inches. Ruth and Irene are so much different. They are both about the same height now, but they are probably twice as tall as they were the first time I met them over 2 years ago.
I set up the message that Ross and Rachel had recorded on video for them to watch. The kids laughed when they heard their names. Kenneth has a special bond with Ross. He couldn’t take his eyes off the screen and when Ross said things he would repeat them to the group. He got really excited when he saw dad and yelled, “that’s Wooly’s dad” and when Rocky showed up he said “Wooly has a dog!”. Later, Kenneth came up to my mom and grabbed her hand and said “I miss him”. It breaks my heart to hear him say things like that. It’s hard for these kids to have connections with people and then have them leave. They have two wonderful new mothers, Bridget and Hope who do an amazing job with the kids, but they really have only known them for 1 year and they have a whole life together with other mothers that raised them for over 4 years. We don’t even know if those mothers have gotten to see them since the got to Watoto.
We did the usual running around and playing with cameras which seems to be a favorite past time with the kids. Peter still LOVES to be picked up, so he was in one of our arms almost all the time, except when he was chasing bubbles. He’s hysterical to watch every time there is picture. If you count to three, he yells “wooly bully” and then counts again, “1, 2, 3” and expects everybody else to say it too! It’s amazing that was Ross taught them has stuck so much with them! Irene loves the camera and she is very talkative, which is like a whole other person from the one we first met that was scared of almost everybody and just likes to hide in a corner. She grabbed my hand and walked me over to her house to show me her stuffed animals. Irene is such a sweet little girl and it’s good to see her changing so much!
When we left to get in the car, Peter led the crew in opening the door and putting the seat back. The older boys helped us with our bags and got us situated. My mom started to cry as she left simply because she was so happy to meet them but so sad to have to leave them. Any day that starts with seeing the Woolies is a good one!
On the way home, Godfrey stopped a few times to buy food at the markets and drop them off at his sister’s house and where his wife works. People here really try to look out for their families. Angella and Susan explained to us that if there are people who need things, they go to their family members who are always there for support with money, food, or homes. It’s really a completely different attitude than what we have at home. It seems like most people are out for whatever they need for themselves. However, from what I’ve seen, the poorer the people are, the more they are willing to give. In the South side of Chicago, for example, we met with families who were taking in nieces and nephews and neighborhood children while they barely had anything for themselves. Here it is the same thing, only the majority of people have practically nothing yet they still give all that they have. I don’t know if I could do that. Sure, I give some but I am really giving enough? There is so much MORE I could be doing with my time and my money. I still get caught up in doing my own thing and buying the things that I want. I clearly need to re-think a lot of what I do. Every year this is a sobering trip for me and it forces me to re-evaluate life when I return.
The rest of the night was fairly relaxing. We were able to go home and take a nap (Woolies tend to wear you out). Then we went for dinner at Garden City at Nawab, which is a beautiful Indian restaurant overlooking the entire city. They also provided free internet, so we were able to update some of our blog information and reply to emails. It’s nice not having the internet, but it also is difficult to keep up on what is going on in the world when you are not around it.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
A note on posts.....
Hey! Today is Saturday and we saw the Woolies! I will write about them later! I've written a post for every day that we have been here so far so if you scroll down you can start with day 1! Hope you enjoy! If you have any questions let me know!
Day 4 = Progress!
Today we finally got going on some projects! It’s still a work in progress, but at least we have developed a plan. Angella went to the Watoto office to try another time to get a pass to see the Woolies. She had to wait for nearly two hours, but she finally got in to see a social worker and she convinced them that she has known the kids for a very long time. I think that the Shutterfly book that I made her with 3 years worth of pictures helped a little bit. Watoto is very organized but quite controlling at the same time. It’s very difficult to get past the gates and they keep track of every person and thing that goes in and out of the gates. It’s one of the most secure places I’ve seen in Uganda. They don’t issue passes for less than two weeks apart, so we are limited in the number of times that we can see the Woolies. Since we are going tomorrow, we were also able to get a pass for two weeks from tomorrow. It will be the day after Pamela and Nick arrive so hopefully they won’t be too tired to come! They wouldn’t want to miss out on our amazing kids!
When Angella arrived at the house, we discussed a plan for visiting the different orphanages and some other activities. It sounds like her friend, Gloria, who I brought a computer for, is going to let me come in to Mulago and see the HIV clinic where she works for a couple of days. It will be good to see something other than the pediatric ward and to be able to get in to Mulago without Ross and Rachel. We also went through all of Angella’s pictures and the ones on my computer and printed off 250 to bring to the Woolies tomorrow. We decided we need a picture album to put them in or else they will get bent, dirty, and torn within a couple minutes of the Woolies getting their hands on them. It took most of the morning and into the afternoon to get all of them printed, so we decided we better start heading into town soon.
My mom wanted to buy fabric from Uganda, and se we decided the best place is at a fabric area of the busy marketplace in Kampala. We had to mentally and physically prepare her for the journey, but I don’t think that helped. We arranged her purse so that her money was easy to find and she doesn’t have to dig around too much while we are down there. Even though she said she was going to be fine, we knew she had NO IDEA what it was going to be like!
We took our trusty cab friend, Jozeph down to the right area. We got out and immediately were surrounded by tons of people and loads of traffic. We walked up and down the streets to find the right place. At the first shop, there were lots of people in a tiny area and they were all asking her questions. Half of the time Angella or I had to translate what they were meaning to tell her. She finally found some Batik’s that she liked. I didn’t understand why she wanted Batik’s since you can buy them at home too, but she’s a woman who knows what she wants! Once we got to the second shop, she was ready to be done. She said there was a lot of pressure and she felt rushed. As we were walking away, we explained that she can take as much time as she needs and people will wait. By the next two stops, I think she finally felt better and was able to buy what she wanted and not fell rushed. I found a man named James who had a beautiful pink fabric that I bought to hopefully use for a project at home some time. He was very excited to meet me because I am from American and he likes Obama. He even showed my his USA tattoo on his arm. I took a picture with James and told him it was so I could remember him. He was too funny to forget.
After we left the market, we strolled around the busy streets to look for other things we needed. We saw a sign for the post office and decided to get stamps taken care of for my dad. For those of you who don’t know, my dad is an avid stamp collector and he LOVES getting them from other countries. He even once tried to buy them in Hawaii because he thought they would have special ones that the continuous 48 states don’t have…..he was wrong. The woman at the post office must have though we were crazy because we just kept taking more out of the box. My dad will be thoroughly pleased with the collection. Most of them were only a dollar or two for a set, but one was $6!!! I’m not going to spoil the surprise until we get home dad, so for anybody else who’s reading, you’ll just have to ask me later, or maybe take a guess at something Ugandan’s really like!
We also stopped to get a photo album at a little book store. They had tons of games and toys and books so we might have to go back there if there is anything else we want to by for the Woolies or other kids. We found a perfect colorful photo album that had room for all the pictures. We just weren’t sure if they were the right size. My mom just ran around the store without telling us where she was going. A few minutes later she emerged with a ruler held above her head as if she had won a prize. It was in metric, so we did some conversions in our head to figure out that our 4x6 prints should fit. It’s not easy to do and clearly it would be better if we all had the same system of measurement.
We then had to meet with Troy at Café Pap to also meet with Deo, a man who has an orphanage in a village that we want to use in our study of orphanages and medicine. He didn’t show up until we were almost done with dinner, but at least we were able to get a hold of him and come up with a plan to visit next Saturday. His English is not that great, but he is very friendly and wants to have us come and help the village. We will see more when Angella comes out. I’m hoping that the village fits the criteria that we have for the project.
When we left, we had to navigate back through the city to get to a Mtatu stand. There was one point where my mom stopped crossing the street and didn’t want to keep going because she thought she was going to get hit. She practically ripped my arm off when she grabbed and tried to pull me back. Luckily I’m stronger and won the tug-of-war to pull her across. She has not yet learned that once you start on the street, you need to keep walking. Some day she’ll get it, but for now, I might have to start holding her hand!
Angella had to get off before us but we were able to find our stop and properly yell “parking” to get the Mtatu driver to stop. When we called our trusty cab driver, we found he was at the airport and unavailable for transport. We had to walk around before finding a cab in the dark. We found a guy who knew our area. Once we got in and I started trying to talk to him, I realized he didn’t understand a word of English. I didn’t want him to come down our hill with all the potholes because I couldn’t explain the huge hole that has gotten every one of our cabs stuck so far. I asked my mom if she could walk and she said yes. Once the cab driver left, I realized that by “yes” she meant “no”. She was NOT happy about walking down the hill, but we couldn’t turn back. I had scoped out the neighborhood and thought it must be safe based on the community and the people around. Luckily, we didn’t meet anybody on the road and we made it home safely, but I think it is not a decision I will make again. Next time I will just let the cab driver discover the hole for himself.
I spent the rest of the night putting the pictures together. About 15 minutes was in the dark because the power went out. I’m surprised that it didn’t happen sooner, but I’m sure it will happen again while we are here. It is a very common occurrence. I can’t wait for tomorrow because it is Wooly Day! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the kids and by the looks of Angella’s pictures, they have all grown quite a bit!
When Angella arrived at the house, we discussed a plan for visiting the different orphanages and some other activities. It sounds like her friend, Gloria, who I brought a computer for, is going to let me come in to Mulago and see the HIV clinic where she works for a couple of days. It will be good to see something other than the pediatric ward and to be able to get in to Mulago without Ross and Rachel. We also went through all of Angella’s pictures and the ones on my computer and printed off 250 to bring to the Woolies tomorrow. We decided we need a picture album to put them in or else they will get bent, dirty, and torn within a couple minutes of the Woolies getting their hands on them. It took most of the morning and into the afternoon to get all of them printed, so we decided we better start heading into town soon.
My mom wanted to buy fabric from Uganda, and se we decided the best place is at a fabric area of the busy marketplace in Kampala. We had to mentally and physically prepare her for the journey, but I don’t think that helped. We arranged her purse so that her money was easy to find and she doesn’t have to dig around too much while we are down there. Even though she said she was going to be fine, we knew she had NO IDEA what it was going to be like!
We took our trusty cab friend, Jozeph down to the right area. We got out and immediately were surrounded by tons of people and loads of traffic. We walked up and down the streets to find the right place. At the first shop, there were lots of people in a tiny area and they were all asking her questions. Half of the time Angella or I had to translate what they were meaning to tell her. She finally found some Batik’s that she liked. I didn’t understand why she wanted Batik’s since you can buy them at home too, but she’s a woman who knows what she wants! Once we got to the second shop, she was ready to be done. She said there was a lot of pressure and she felt rushed. As we were walking away, we explained that she can take as much time as she needs and people will wait. By the next two stops, I think she finally felt better and was able to buy what she wanted and not fell rushed. I found a man named James who had a beautiful pink fabric that I bought to hopefully use for a project at home some time. He was very excited to meet me because I am from American and he likes Obama. He even showed my his USA tattoo on his arm. I took a picture with James and told him it was so I could remember him. He was too funny to forget.
After we left the market, we strolled around the busy streets to look for other things we needed. We saw a sign for the post office and decided to get stamps taken care of for my dad. For those of you who don’t know, my dad is an avid stamp collector and he LOVES getting them from other countries. He even once tried to buy them in Hawaii because he thought they would have special ones that the continuous 48 states don’t have…..he was wrong. The woman at the post office must have though we were crazy because we just kept taking more out of the box. My dad will be thoroughly pleased with the collection. Most of them were only a dollar or two for a set, but one was $6!!! I’m not going to spoil the surprise until we get home dad, so for anybody else who’s reading, you’ll just have to ask me later, or maybe take a guess at something Ugandan’s really like!
We also stopped to get a photo album at a little book store. They had tons of games and toys and books so we might have to go back there if there is anything else we want to by for the Woolies or other kids. We found a perfect colorful photo album that had room for all the pictures. We just weren’t sure if they were the right size. My mom just ran around the store without telling us where she was going. A few minutes later she emerged with a ruler held above her head as if she had won a prize. It was in metric, so we did some conversions in our head to figure out that our 4x6 prints should fit. It’s not easy to do and clearly it would be better if we all had the same system of measurement.
We then had to meet with Troy at Café Pap to also meet with Deo, a man who has an orphanage in a village that we want to use in our study of orphanages and medicine. He didn’t show up until we were almost done with dinner, but at least we were able to get a hold of him and come up with a plan to visit next Saturday. His English is not that great, but he is very friendly and wants to have us come and help the village. We will see more when Angella comes out. I’m hoping that the village fits the criteria that we have for the project.
When we left, we had to navigate back through the city to get to a Mtatu stand. There was one point where my mom stopped crossing the street and didn’t want to keep going because she thought she was going to get hit. She practically ripped my arm off when she grabbed and tried to pull me back. Luckily I’m stronger and won the tug-of-war to pull her across. She has not yet learned that once you start on the street, you need to keep walking. Some day she’ll get it, but for now, I might have to start holding her hand!
Angella had to get off before us but we were able to find our stop and properly yell “parking” to get the Mtatu driver to stop. When we called our trusty cab driver, we found he was at the airport and unavailable for transport. We had to walk around before finding a cab in the dark. We found a guy who knew our area. Once we got in and I started trying to talk to him, I realized he didn’t understand a word of English. I didn’t want him to come down our hill with all the potholes because I couldn’t explain the huge hole that has gotten every one of our cabs stuck so far. I asked my mom if she could walk and she said yes. Once the cab driver left, I realized that by “yes” she meant “no”. She was NOT happy about walking down the hill, but we couldn’t turn back. I had scoped out the neighborhood and thought it must be safe based on the community and the people around. Luckily, we didn’t meet anybody on the road and we made it home safely, but I think it is not a decision I will make again. Next time I will just let the cab driver discover the hole for himself.
I spent the rest of the night putting the pictures together. About 15 minutes was in the dark because the power went out. I’m surprised that it didn’t happen sooner, but I’m sure it will happen again while we are here. It is a very common occurrence. I can’t wait for tomorrow because it is Wooly Day! It’s been a long time since we’ve seen the kids and by the looks of Angella’s pictures, they have all grown quite a bit!
Day 3 - Transportation = most expensive part of the trip!!
Day 3 – July 8
It’s a little strange to not be constantly doing work. On the past two trips, we tried to start at Mulago hospital as soon as we arrived and then continued to work on projects as soon as we could. This time, we are taking it a little slower because we are making sure to get my mom slightly accustomed to the culture and our projects always start out slightly slow because we have to wait for people we contact to show up or to contact us back.
In the morning, we woke around 6 to the sound of people starting to work, the neighbor’s baby crying, roosters crowing, and dogs barking. My mom sat up in bed and stared outside through the space in the curtains for about a half hour before I told her it’s not nice to spy on the neighbors! It’s funny to see how fascinated she was with the man watering the plants, the kids going to school, and children running outside of their house. They were just doing every day activities but somehow they became very interesting because they are here instead of back home.
Once Angella came over in the morning, her and I sat down to discuss a plan for the medicine cabinet project. We went through the lists of medications and decided where we could buy them. We also had to figure how to get back to the places we visited before. There is one place in Katanga which is an extremely poor slum where people live in one room huts with no running water and cook in the same place where they sleep. The woman we helped last year had nearly 20 children that she cared for all sleeping on 4 beds lined up next to each other in a dirty, smelly room filled with boxes and bags of clothes for the children. It was like a giant maze trying to find her last year and she didn’t have a real phone number. Angella and I are hoping that we can find her again and that the kids are still around.
We got a special taxi into town which costs $10 each way. It’s gets pretty pricey if you do that every day and sometimes more than once. There are 4 major types of transportation here:
1) Special Hire Taxi – what you would think of as a taxi bringing you to a single destination but it is usually a person in an unmarked car so you need to make sure you are asking a taxi driver for a ride rather than a person who owns a car for a ride.
2) Mtatu (taxi) – Basically a 15 passenger van that you generally cram at least 20 people into. They go back and forth on the same streets and you can just get off wherever you want. There is a guy in the back who opens and closes the door, takes the money, and yells out the window where the Mtatu is going
3) Boda-Boda – Motorcycles (or bicycles) that you can ride on the back of to get from one destination to another. Definitely the least safe form of travel, but very efficient, fast, and cheap
4) Walking – obviously you don’t have to pay anything but you have to put in a lot of steps before you get anywhere. Not to mention, you have to avoid the Mtatus, Specials, and especially Boda-bodas along the way.
Most Ugandans walk places, but they’ll take a Mtatu if they have to travel really far distances. Very rarely do you see local people using the special hires unless they are well off and need to carry a heavy load. We used to always use special hires because Ross HATES being crammed in a Mtatu. Last year, Rachel and I started using Boda-Bodas and we rode in a Mtatu and like it better (mostly because it saves a lot of money) Today, we took a Mtatu back to the area we live and then a special hire to get to the outskirts of town where we are staying. The totally cost round trip ended up being $6.50 instead of $20-25. Clearly a better choice! I think we’ll do that more often since my mom had no problems hopping in the Mtatu. She constantly surprises me that she can just go with the flow.
We didn’t get much done today because our contacts are difficult to reach! We tried to go to the Watoto head office to talk with a social worker and get a pass to see the Woolies. They were all out of the office so we walked to one of the local markets and bought some random souvenirs and then returned to find they were STILL out. Clearly it’s not as easy to see the kids now that they are in such a big organization and not at their little home where they always welcomed visitors! I’m happy that they are there, but a little sad that we have so little control! Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to contact a social worker and get a pass for the weekend to see them.
We didn’t get home until nearly 5:00 by the time we stopped for lunch, used internet at a café, and got some groceries that we can eat for breakfast and snacks. There are some kids that live next door to us and as I sat outside to read a book, two of them started to come close to me. They were quite shy at first, but eventually came and sat down next to me and started to play some games. My mom came outside and read them a couple of books, which they really enjoyed. They are two year old twins named Michelle and Noah. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of them while we are here.
Before bed, we decided to reheat our leftover Indian food from last night. We used a pan on the stove, which is gas and each burner has to be lit with a match so it’s already a challenge. As we were moving pans, we saw big cockroach crawl out from under a bowl. We tried to figure out how to kill it but neither of us wanted to touch it. We decided to try to burn it. It was just out of reach of any of the burners, so we eventually took a knife and swept it closer to the flame. I’m pretty sure we fried it, but I’m also sure he wasn’t the only one. I just love the thought of cockroaches hanging out in the kitchen! Just kidding! That’s so gross, but really that’s not that bad compared to what is crawling around in a lot of peoples homes around here. We are lucky to have this place to stay and I’m sure we will be okay sharing with the cockroaches!
It’s a little strange to not be constantly doing work. On the past two trips, we tried to start at Mulago hospital as soon as we arrived and then continued to work on projects as soon as we could. This time, we are taking it a little slower because we are making sure to get my mom slightly accustomed to the culture and our projects always start out slightly slow because we have to wait for people we contact to show up or to contact us back.
In the morning, we woke around 6 to the sound of people starting to work, the neighbor’s baby crying, roosters crowing, and dogs barking. My mom sat up in bed and stared outside through the space in the curtains for about a half hour before I told her it’s not nice to spy on the neighbors! It’s funny to see how fascinated she was with the man watering the plants, the kids going to school, and children running outside of their house. They were just doing every day activities but somehow they became very interesting because they are here instead of back home.
Once Angella came over in the morning, her and I sat down to discuss a plan for the medicine cabinet project. We went through the lists of medications and decided where we could buy them. We also had to figure how to get back to the places we visited before. There is one place in Katanga which is an extremely poor slum where people live in one room huts with no running water and cook in the same place where they sleep. The woman we helped last year had nearly 20 children that she cared for all sleeping on 4 beds lined up next to each other in a dirty, smelly room filled with boxes and bags of clothes for the children. It was like a giant maze trying to find her last year and she didn’t have a real phone number. Angella and I are hoping that we can find her again and that the kids are still around.
We got a special taxi into town which costs $10 each way. It’s gets pretty pricey if you do that every day and sometimes more than once. There are 4 major types of transportation here:
1) Special Hire Taxi – what you would think of as a taxi bringing you to a single destination but it is usually a person in an unmarked car so you need to make sure you are asking a taxi driver for a ride rather than a person who owns a car for a ride.
2) Mtatu (taxi) – Basically a 15 passenger van that you generally cram at least 20 people into. They go back and forth on the same streets and you can just get off wherever you want. There is a guy in the back who opens and closes the door, takes the money, and yells out the window where the Mtatu is going
3) Boda-Boda – Motorcycles (or bicycles) that you can ride on the back of to get from one destination to another. Definitely the least safe form of travel, but very efficient, fast, and cheap
4) Walking – obviously you don’t have to pay anything but you have to put in a lot of steps before you get anywhere. Not to mention, you have to avoid the Mtatus, Specials, and especially Boda-bodas along the way.
Most Ugandans walk places, but they’ll take a Mtatu if they have to travel really far distances. Very rarely do you see local people using the special hires unless they are well off and need to carry a heavy load. We used to always use special hires because Ross HATES being crammed in a Mtatu. Last year, Rachel and I started using Boda-Bodas and we rode in a Mtatu and like it better (mostly because it saves a lot of money) Today, we took a Mtatu back to the area we live and then a special hire to get to the outskirts of town where we are staying. The totally cost round trip ended up being $6.50 instead of $20-25. Clearly a better choice! I think we’ll do that more often since my mom had no problems hopping in the Mtatu. She constantly surprises me that she can just go with the flow.
We didn’t get much done today because our contacts are difficult to reach! We tried to go to the Watoto head office to talk with a social worker and get a pass to see the Woolies. They were all out of the office so we walked to one of the local markets and bought some random souvenirs and then returned to find they were STILL out. Clearly it’s not as easy to see the kids now that they are in such a big organization and not at their little home where they always welcomed visitors! I’m happy that they are there, but a little sad that we have so little control! Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to contact a social worker and get a pass for the weekend to see them.
We didn’t get home until nearly 5:00 by the time we stopped for lunch, used internet at a café, and got some groceries that we can eat for breakfast and snacks. There are some kids that live next door to us and as I sat outside to read a book, two of them started to come close to me. They were quite shy at first, but eventually came and sat down next to me and started to play some games. My mom came outside and read them a couple of books, which they really enjoyed. They are two year old twins named Michelle and Noah. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of them while we are here.
Before bed, we decided to reheat our leftover Indian food from last night. We used a pan on the stove, which is gas and each burner has to be lit with a match so it’s already a challenge. As we were moving pans, we saw big cockroach crawl out from under a bowl. We tried to figure out how to kill it but neither of us wanted to touch it. We decided to try to burn it. It was just out of reach of any of the burners, so we eventually took a knife and swept it closer to the flame. I’m pretty sure we fried it, but I’m also sure he wasn’t the only one. I just love the thought of cockroaches hanging out in the kitchen! Just kidding! That’s so gross, but really that’s not that bad compared to what is crawling around in a lot of peoples homes around here. We are lucky to have this place to stay and I’m sure we will be okay sharing with the cockroaches!
Day 2 - TIA....need I say more?
TIA – This is Africa. It’s a phrase that I feel like I probably overuse. Every time that something happens that is not acceptable in our comfortable Western Culture, I explain it away with these three letters. Shame on me. While sometimes it’s a light-hearted way to express frustration in the lack of communication, people skipping meetings, or not being able to find phone or internet that works well (if at all), there are times when I don’t say it out loud, but it’s clearly in my mind. It is good to have my mom here because she reminds me of the feelings I felt the first time I was here and everything was a shock. When we woke up in the morning at the hotel she said she smelled smoke. “TIA”, I thought, that’s just what it smells like. It’s burning garbage, fire for cooking, exhaust from trucks, stuff burning that probably releases harmful fumes for people to breathe all day long as they work. Clearly not a good thing and we wouldn’t accept it at home, but since it’s Africa, we say it’s okay.
We waited for our driver for 2 hours this morning, not even knowing if he’d show up or if he’d be able to fit us in his van. My mom had a momentary freak out saying we should have known we could use a phone and we should have had this stuff arranged earlier. I tried to explain it away with “TIA” – this is how it works. It really is how we have to function here. With everything day to day changing and not always having a clear cut plan and knowing you have to wait around sometimes for anything to happen. Luckily for us, the driver showed up and we were able to get a ride. The front desk attempted to call Angella’s number for us, but promptly replied that the number was not working. My mom gave me a look and asked why I didn’t check the number or do something else to contact her earlier. I replied that we would try again once we get our phone cards working, assuming that the woman at the front desk didn’t really dial the number and we should try on our own.
The ride in to town was interesting as usual, but not surprising. Buildings are painted in bright colors to advertise for phone companies, brands of paint, a hair salon, or any number of products that Ugandans use on a daily basis. Cows, chickens, and goats line the front yards. Children in tattered cloths run around chasing each other or the animals. Men sit outside their shops with stoic faces just waiting for somebody to stop in to need their services. Women in traditional clothing wash clothes and sweep the ground with brooms made of bundled branches. To my mom, these sites are impactful, all so different and what she explains as “heartbreaking” to know that these people are so poor and that life is hard. In my head, I think “TIA”, these are the sites that I have come to know so well and it feels normal. But it shouldn’t be normal! I should be affected by all of it more! How can we accept that people here are often surviving on a few dollars a day to feed an entire family? How can we accept that children die not because the doctors can’t diagnose them, but because they can’t afford ten dollars worth of medication? How can we accept that people live in homes with no water and 10 people in one or two little rooms? Clearly the answer is “TIA”. This is Africa. I don’t like it, but I still try to explain it away as acceptable because it is Africa. I don’t want it to be that way, but I don’t know how to change it. What do I have to offer that can make a difference in this culture, a difference for the children, a difference for the hard-working women? Sometimes I wonder what on earth I think I’m doing here? I don’t really have a plan. I’ve got some medicine cabinets. My mom had some teaching materials. We’ve got some money to work with as donations. But what difference will it make? The problems are so great and there are SO MANY people. Even the wealthy ones would be below the poverty line in the States. I just have to remember that no matter what we do, we can make a difference in just one person. It might not feel like a lot because of the great numbers, but the difference will be for that one person and it matters to them what we do!
Once we got to Kampala, made a quick stop at Garden City (a shopping center that has everything a Mzungu could want or need!) for water, a quick lunch, and to get our phones working. As it turns out, Angella’s number worked just fine from my phone. I had to say I told you so, but I had a feeling I was right about the woman at the front desk! The driver dropped us off at the HVO house where we waited for Angella and her friend Susan to come in a car to get us. It was so wonderful to see Angella! She is such an amazing person with a heart of gold! Doctors don’t make a whole lot of money here, but they manage to do a lot with what they’ve got. She often uses her own money to pay for medicine that her patients can’t afford or to help out families that are struggling. It’s incredible to see her and many others like her give of their time and money even when they have so little left over for themselves.
Angella’s friend Susan offered to have my mom and I stay at her house for the entire month. Susan is so great! She has really tried hard to make us feel at home. She even gave up her bed for us to use. She’s going to sleep next door with her sister, Gloria. She’s going to be out of town for a lot of the month because Gloria is getting married. This weekend is the traditional “giving away” ceremony in their home village and on the 24th of July there will be a more modern ceremony in the city. We sat around for most of the afternoon discussing Uganda. I think my mom really appreciated being able to talk with somebody here about how people live and the problems that people face. A lot of it is stuff I’ve already known but I forget is important to know in order to understand the culture. My mom is probably a little bit on circuit-overload with all of the new things she’s seen and heard in the past 24 hours!
We went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant that we went to last year. It was my mom’s first experience with Indian food and she really liked it. Too bad the nearest Indian restaurant at home is in Duluth! We met Angella’s friend Gloria who is a doctor at an HIV clinic at Mulago. (yes it’s a different Gloria. I’m pretty sure that Angella makes it a point to only befriend people with the names Gloria, Susan, or Irene) We brought a computer for Gloria and she was very grateful to get finally get it. We had a great night of talking and laughing. It turns out that Angella is amused by most of the silly questions and stories about traveling that my mom has!
We got settled in tonight and unpacked most of the stuff from our suitcases. We’ve got plenty of things, now we just need to determine where we are going to bring all of them! Tomorrow the work will begin! We will find an internet connection to hopefully contact one of the orphanages, (and post this and yesterday’s! post!) get a pass to see the Woolies, and start to make a plan for when we are going to go to each of the orphanages to assess their needs. It feels like a lot to do and I have no idea where to start. Thank God for Angella, who is always taking care of us! It’s still a very strange concept that I am in charge and Ross is not around to get stuff moving! Hopefully we can come up with a good idea of how we are going to make things work so that by the time Pamela and Nick join us, we will have a great trip planned for them!
We waited for our driver for 2 hours this morning, not even knowing if he’d show up or if he’d be able to fit us in his van. My mom had a momentary freak out saying we should have known we could use a phone and we should have had this stuff arranged earlier. I tried to explain it away with “TIA” – this is how it works. It really is how we have to function here. With everything day to day changing and not always having a clear cut plan and knowing you have to wait around sometimes for anything to happen. Luckily for us, the driver showed up and we were able to get a ride. The front desk attempted to call Angella’s number for us, but promptly replied that the number was not working. My mom gave me a look and asked why I didn’t check the number or do something else to contact her earlier. I replied that we would try again once we get our phone cards working, assuming that the woman at the front desk didn’t really dial the number and we should try on our own.
The ride in to town was interesting as usual, but not surprising. Buildings are painted in bright colors to advertise for phone companies, brands of paint, a hair salon, or any number of products that Ugandans use on a daily basis. Cows, chickens, and goats line the front yards. Children in tattered cloths run around chasing each other or the animals. Men sit outside their shops with stoic faces just waiting for somebody to stop in to need their services. Women in traditional clothing wash clothes and sweep the ground with brooms made of bundled branches. To my mom, these sites are impactful, all so different and what she explains as “heartbreaking” to know that these people are so poor and that life is hard. In my head, I think “TIA”, these are the sites that I have come to know so well and it feels normal. But it shouldn’t be normal! I should be affected by all of it more! How can we accept that people here are often surviving on a few dollars a day to feed an entire family? How can we accept that children die not because the doctors can’t diagnose them, but because they can’t afford ten dollars worth of medication? How can we accept that people live in homes with no water and 10 people in one or two little rooms? Clearly the answer is “TIA”. This is Africa. I don’t like it, but I still try to explain it away as acceptable because it is Africa. I don’t want it to be that way, but I don’t know how to change it. What do I have to offer that can make a difference in this culture, a difference for the children, a difference for the hard-working women? Sometimes I wonder what on earth I think I’m doing here? I don’t really have a plan. I’ve got some medicine cabinets. My mom had some teaching materials. We’ve got some money to work with as donations. But what difference will it make? The problems are so great and there are SO MANY people. Even the wealthy ones would be below the poverty line in the States. I just have to remember that no matter what we do, we can make a difference in just one person. It might not feel like a lot because of the great numbers, but the difference will be for that one person and it matters to them what we do!
Once we got to Kampala, made a quick stop at Garden City (a shopping center that has everything a Mzungu could want or need!) for water, a quick lunch, and to get our phones working. As it turns out, Angella’s number worked just fine from my phone. I had to say I told you so, but I had a feeling I was right about the woman at the front desk! The driver dropped us off at the HVO house where we waited for Angella and her friend Susan to come in a car to get us. It was so wonderful to see Angella! She is such an amazing person with a heart of gold! Doctors don’t make a whole lot of money here, but they manage to do a lot with what they’ve got. She often uses her own money to pay for medicine that her patients can’t afford or to help out families that are struggling. It’s incredible to see her and many others like her give of their time and money even when they have so little left over for themselves.
Angella’s friend Susan offered to have my mom and I stay at her house for the entire month. Susan is so great! She has really tried hard to make us feel at home. She even gave up her bed for us to use. She’s going to sleep next door with her sister, Gloria. She’s going to be out of town for a lot of the month because Gloria is getting married. This weekend is the traditional “giving away” ceremony in their home village and on the 24th of July there will be a more modern ceremony in the city. We sat around for most of the afternoon discussing Uganda. I think my mom really appreciated being able to talk with somebody here about how people live and the problems that people face. A lot of it is stuff I’ve already known but I forget is important to know in order to understand the culture. My mom is probably a little bit on circuit-overload with all of the new things she’s seen and heard in the past 24 hours!
We went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant that we went to last year. It was my mom’s first experience with Indian food and she really liked it. Too bad the nearest Indian restaurant at home is in Duluth! We met Angella’s friend Gloria who is a doctor at an HIV clinic at Mulago. (yes it’s a different Gloria. I’m pretty sure that Angella makes it a point to only befriend people with the names Gloria, Susan, or Irene) We brought a computer for Gloria and she was very grateful to get finally get it. We had a great night of talking and laughing. It turns out that Angella is amused by most of the silly questions and stories about traveling that my mom has!
We got settled in tonight and unpacked most of the stuff from our suitcases. We’ve got plenty of things, now we just need to determine where we are going to bring all of them! Tomorrow the work will begin! We will find an internet connection to hopefully contact one of the orphanages, (and post this and yesterday’s! post!) get a pass to see the Woolies, and start to make a plan for when we are going to go to each of the orphanages to assess their needs. It feels like a lot to do and I have no idea where to start. Thank God for Angella, who is always taking care of us! It’s still a very strange concept that I am in charge and Ross is not around to get stuff moving! Hopefully we can come up with a good idea of how we are going to make things work so that by the time Pamela and Nick join us, we will have a great trip planned for them!
Day 1 - Nothing but Airplanes!
We made it halfway!! That’s pretty impressive considering all we had. I ended up sleeping for just under an hour and a half and then just about a half hour or so in the car. It turns out even when you’re tired, you manage to stay away when you’re excited! We got to Minneapolis with all of our suitcases equal to or heavier than 50 pounds…..go figure! It gives me an even greater excitement to give away all of the things that are inside of them. Not only will they bring kids a lot of entertainment, but they’ll lighten our load considerably! The worst is the carry on luggage. We had to put ALL of the heaviest stuff in them. So we have a small suitcase that is entirely BOOKS! I don’t know how I managed to get it in the overhead bin. My mom was going to lift it and I refused to let her! No way am I going to have her hurt her back before we even get to the right continent! Hopefully we’ll be able to do the same on the next flight. If not we can find some random kids in the airport that look like they are in need of reading materials.
We have a five hour layover in Amsterdam. I’ve been through here 5 times already coming to and from Uganda, but never gone into the city. Someday maybe, but I think two new countries will be a good start for my mom! She is a trooper with all of her heavy bags dragging all over. I would help her, but I’m having a hard enough time with the weight of my own massive stuff. Troy collectively calls the toys and games “crap” but I think secretly he might want to get some for himself. Who wouldn’t want endless supplies of picture printer paper, Bereinstein Bear Books, and mini Beanie Babies? He truly does make sure that what we bring is relevant and useful and not just a place to bring things that we deemed useless.
I have not done anything productive on the plane. I was too overwhelmed to get my computer out of the overhead compartment to learn some more Swahili even though I thoroughly enjoy Rosetta Stone. (part of me doesn’t want to use a computer that only lasts 2 hours or less which will be a hard adjustment from my wonderful MacBook Pro!!) I didn’t want to start reading the one book I brought because I don’t want to run out of things to read in Uganda. I certainly didn’t want to read my USMLE First Aid book. It’s only been a week since Year 1 ended, and Boards are just too far away to scare met quite yet! I settled on watching movies: Date Night, Valentine’s Day, and Dear John. Could I be any more of a girl? Pretty sure I teared up during all three of them.
I’m looking forward to our first experiences in Uganda’s Airport mostly for my mom’s reaction. She’s already commented on things such as music in a different language, toilets that say “Ladies and Gentlemen” instead of “Men and Women”, and the room made for smoking. By the way, Gross! There is a glass room in the lounge of the airport for smokers to congregate. There has been a line outside of it for the past hour as people are waiting to smoke. You can walk by and see them all crowded in there elbow-to-elbow just poisoning each other’s lungs with the stuff. If it makes them happy, good for them, but I think I’ll avoid that area as much as possible because the smoke manages to creep its way out. However, I’m sure that little bit of smoke is less of a problem than all of the smog in the city of Kampala that I’ll be sucking in for the next month!
Again I managed to write a book for you! It’s good summer reading! We’re going to miss everybody while we’re gone. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to spend time just talking with people and I was spoiled the past week. I’m pretty sure I did more hanging out in that time than I did in an entire semester. I didn’t even realize I missed it until now! At least I’ll have some time in August for that!
Margaret
p.s. I already miss the entertainment provided by Ross in the airports and planes. There will be many “Ross” memories along the way!
We have a five hour layover in Amsterdam. I’ve been through here 5 times already coming to and from Uganda, but never gone into the city. Someday maybe, but I think two new countries will be a good start for my mom! She is a trooper with all of her heavy bags dragging all over. I would help her, but I’m having a hard enough time with the weight of my own massive stuff. Troy collectively calls the toys and games “crap” but I think secretly he might want to get some for himself. Who wouldn’t want endless supplies of picture printer paper, Bereinstein Bear Books, and mini Beanie Babies? He truly does make sure that what we bring is relevant and useful and not just a place to bring things that we deemed useless.
I have not done anything productive on the plane. I was too overwhelmed to get my computer out of the overhead compartment to learn some more Swahili even though I thoroughly enjoy Rosetta Stone. (part of me doesn’t want to use a computer that only lasts 2 hours or less which will be a hard adjustment from my wonderful MacBook Pro!!) I didn’t want to start reading the one book I brought because I don’t want to run out of things to read in Uganda. I certainly didn’t want to read my USMLE First Aid book. It’s only been a week since Year 1 ended, and Boards are just too far away to scare met quite yet! I settled on watching movies: Date Night, Valentine’s Day, and Dear John. Could I be any more of a girl? Pretty sure I teared up during all three of them.
I’m looking forward to our first experiences in Uganda’s Airport mostly for my mom’s reaction. She’s already commented on things such as music in a different language, toilets that say “Ladies and Gentlemen” instead of “Men and Women”, and the room made for smoking. By the way, Gross! There is a glass room in the lounge of the airport for smokers to congregate. There has been a line outside of it for the past hour as people are waiting to smoke. You can walk by and see them all crowded in there elbow-to-elbow just poisoning each other’s lungs with the stuff. If it makes them happy, good for them, but I think I’ll avoid that area as much as possible because the smoke manages to creep its way out. However, I’m sure that little bit of smoke is less of a problem than all of the smog in the city of Kampala that I’ll be sucking in for the next month!
Again I managed to write a book for you! It’s good summer reading! We’re going to miss everybody while we’re gone. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to spend time just talking with people and I was spoiled the past week. I’m pretty sure I did more hanging out in that time than I did in an entire semester. I didn’t even realize I missed it until now! At least I’ll have some time in August for that!
Margaret
p.s. I already miss the entertainment provided by Ross in the airports and planes. There will be many “Ross” memories along the way!
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Journey Begins.....Again
It's currently 3:16 am in Minnesota and I'm still wide awake. Why, might you ask? Well let's just say we have about 300 pounds worth of books, toys, medicine, and all of our provisions for a whole month in Uganda. It was one thing to have just a few toys and clothes and things to bring with us in addition to medicine, but this time, with my mom coming, she has all kinds of teaching materials that we are trying to cram. I love books, but clearly airplanes are not meant to take them! So out of our 300 pounds, we have to narrow down to 200 pounds spread across 4 suitcases, not to mention all the "heavy" stuff we are cramming into carry ons! This is the worst part of the trip and it makes it hard to get going, but once we get on the plane, we can rest assured that we no longer will have to worry about weighing every little thing that we own!
We know that this trip is going to be a good one! My mom has wanted to go for more than 3 years, and she finally has gotten herself together and decided to take the trip at age 60! She's such a trooper! Most days she has more energy than me and she's more than twice my age! I can't wait for her to see the Woolies for the first time! We've known these children for almost 4 years now and have gotten to see them grow from across the ocean! I can't wait to see what a year at Watoto has done for them. I know that God put them there for a reason. We now can be at peace knowing they are well fed, getting an education, and learning about Jesus! They are such special children and I pretty much consider myself to have 9 kids that happen to live halfway across the world!
So we've been preparing for this for a very long time and spent most of the past week just organizing and picking up things that we need to bring to the kids and things that we needed for ourselves. We had a great weekend at the cabin with all the neighbors and then I got to spend time with a good friend Laura down at the good old Eveleth Street dance to celebrate the fourth of July. The power went out in the city for a brief second and then came back. When we returned home at 11:30 we realized the power was out in the house and it didn't come back for over an hour! I was so glad that I spent $20 on one of those camping head lamps! They are amazing for doing anything in the dark. However, I don't think my mom was amused....she preferred using candlelight to organize the bills, even though I offered numerous times to give her my lamp. With the power back on, we have fans, lights, and the computer!
So I've rambled on for a bit, but what else do you expect at this time of night (morning)? This will be my last post from the states and then it is a drive down to the cities to hop on a plane by 3:30 tomorrow (today)! Hope everybody enjoyed their 4th of July!
We know that this trip is going to be a good one! My mom has wanted to go for more than 3 years, and she finally has gotten herself together and decided to take the trip at age 60! She's such a trooper! Most days she has more energy than me and she's more than twice my age! I can't wait for her to see the Woolies for the first time! We've known these children for almost 4 years now and have gotten to see them grow from across the ocean! I can't wait to see what a year at Watoto has done for them. I know that God put them there for a reason. We now can be at peace knowing they are well fed, getting an education, and learning about Jesus! They are such special children and I pretty much consider myself to have 9 kids that happen to live halfway across the world!
So we've been preparing for this for a very long time and spent most of the past week just organizing and picking up things that we need to bring to the kids and things that we needed for ourselves. We had a great weekend at the cabin with all the neighbors and then I got to spend time with a good friend Laura down at the good old Eveleth Street dance to celebrate the fourth of July. The power went out in the city for a brief second and then came back. When we returned home at 11:30 we realized the power was out in the house and it didn't come back for over an hour! I was so glad that I spent $20 on one of those camping head lamps! They are amazing for doing anything in the dark. However, I don't think my mom was amused....she preferred using candlelight to organize the bills, even though I offered numerous times to give her my lamp. With the power back on, we have fans, lights, and the computer!
So I've rambled on for a bit, but what else do you expect at this time of night (morning)? This will be my last post from the states and then it is a drive down to the cities to hop on a plane by 3:30 tomorrow (today)! Hope everybody enjoyed their 4th of July!
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