So.... this happened yesterday... We kept wanting to sing the tune of the Lion King's Circle of Life as we drove around Murchison's Fall Game Reserve. We then realized that our only reference point for what we were doing came from either national geographic or Disney movies. Nevertheless we had a trusty guide in George who led us on a sun-rise and sun-set safari. We also went on a boat safari up the Nile river and saw a ton of hippos and crocodiles. We kept thinking - "Is this really happening?!"

We felt so blessed to be able to take some time away and experience this side of Uganda as well! If you want to see more photos, just stop me when you see me at home... I think that I may have taken over 300 of each animal so there are many more to see!! I am also coming home in less than a week, which seems very bitter-sweet. This trip has been such a blessing....

Its seems like Beyonce has made her way out to Uganda. I never should have doubted her ability of world domination.

This video was taken when we were having some fun after typing lessons on Sunday afternoon. We have been going to the kid's Sunday services at the school (which they put together each week) and then after using our computers to give typing lessons. For most of the kids at Restore they have never had the opportunity to use a computer so it has been fun going over the basics with them. The space bar seems to prove the biggest challenge - but we will persevere!

The students' schedule is very full during the week. They sometimes have morning preps (self study/reading time) in the morning from 5-7am and then start classes at 7:30am. Classes generally go to 4:30 or 5pm with a half hour break at 11am for breakfast and an hour break at 1pm for lunch. They have free time for an hour and then dinner from 6-7 and preps again from 7-10 at what time they must go back to their dorms. Saturdays they have class from 7am - 1pm and then are free the rest of the day and on Sunday, although many people choose to study during that time as well or play sports. So the fact that they are so eager to spend what little free time they have to learn to type shows again their desire to learn! I am starting to re-evaluate if I even knew what work ethic was!

We have the privilage of living with 7 grade-school Ugandan girls during our time here in Uganda. They range from ages 12 - 16, but are in levels equivilent to 4th thru 7th graders. They serve us so well whether it be making us meals each day, sweeping our floors and offering to wash our clothes. They laugh each time we try to do things ourselves or try to help them with their chores, saying things like "Auntie, you will get tired!" which is always so funny. But there is one girl that we have all gotten particularily close to whose name is Innocent. The other day I had the privilage to sit down with her and hear her story. She has three brothers and her. Her mother died when she was 9 which she said was a very hard time as she was the main one taking care of her. When she was 11 she started to pray that she could go do school as no one in her family had gone to school before. She heard from one of her friends that they were sponsored by Cornerstone (the organization behind the home we are staying) and able to go to school. She walked a day's journey back to the youth home with her friend and pleaded with the people there until they allowed her to stay. She told me that due to her age they put her in the 4th grade, but had to repeat it because she had never learned to read or write. Right now she is in the 7th grade and we have been watching (and helping when we can) her study until 11pm and then get back up at 4am to start studying again. She has to walk an hour to school and back each day. It is so far that she is not able to eat lunch each day because she does not have time to get home during her hour lunch break. So she walks two hours each day, has to concentrate in her classes and studies around the clock on just one meal a day. And she is NEVER complaining. Never once have we heard a negative thing from her mouth. Most of the time she says, "I will make it, with the grace of God I know that I will make it". Knowing her has taken away any entitlement I have felt to complain about.... well really about anything.

Here are a couple of pictures from around the school buildings of Restore. The first is a picture of the inside of one of the six classrooms. there are a total of 244 students there that must fit into these rooms. The next was of these really adorable kids that walked in from a neighboring town. They were all carrying and using walking sticks which I think was one of the greatest things ever. The final picture is an overall view of the school yard. They are wanting to start up a basketball team here soon so we will see how much help we can be regarding that!

We have been in Gulu now for about a week which feels both impossibly fast and also well deserved. The transition up to rural Ugandan life has proven to be a little more difficult than expected - but for really good lesson building reasons. How is it that I am an American and have lost sight of the fact that a majority of the world does not live like us and that the majority lives without running water, without electricity (which we have failed to have at least once a day), without proper health care and without war. Yet I am privileged to wake up each morning to the sound of the girls at our girls home (most without parents I believe) singing as they do their chores. They feel so blessed that they are alive and they have the chance to go to school and maybe one day make it to university if they apply themselves!

This whole week we have been registering students as they trickle into the school grounds while also helping administratively with some grading, inventories of supplies and balancing of their book (thanks to Deloitte for the last two). But mostly we have been hanging out with the people hear and learning so much about culture, life and faith. They are such beautiful people. We have so much to learn.

So… a little premature with the ‘post’ button on this blog… consider this part 2 to the above post! Here is a picture of some women who are still working in the rock quarry. I just can’t imagine. But then on the next day we went with our Restore contact to a couple of affiliated girls homes where girls who had been rescued from prostitution in the slums came to live, go to school and learn about Jesus. I cannot begin to describe the joy and enthusiasm we were greeted with when we pulled up to the girl’s home. Each girl scurried to open our door and then proceeded to hug us and grab our hand and take us inside to talk and give us some jewelry they had made. The love they had for us (who they barely knew) and for each other would have made people think they had grown up in a loving home where they saw that behavior modeled. Speaks to the transforming power of God, eh? And one of the girls, the one on the left in the photo, told me that she wanted to be an accountant when she grows up! Not many of those out there… so I told her that if she kept going she could be my boss someday… don’t know if that was close to a verbal contract, but I suppose our Deloitte lawyers could inform me on that one when I get back. All in all, there are so many stories here that could be so depressing, but there are so many more grateful faces that you would ever see in the US. So many things to think about…

Kampala

So two amazing experiences to report on during our time in Kampala. This world is smaller than I thought I am finding. A friend of a friend of one of the girls I am traveling with is living in Kampala and working with some women in the slums outside Kampala to make trendy bead necklaces and sell them back in the states! (the organization is called Ember Art and is sold in stores like Whole Foods, etc) These women were part of the northern Acholi tribe that was forced to move south during the war. When they arrived near Kampala they began excavating rocks BY HAND to make gravel, literally making about 50 cents a day. Ember Arts noticed that there were these women in this village that made beautiful paper beads and helped them create their own co-op through which 27 women are now employed and making a living wage. One of the women (in the upper left) just sent her daughter to university which was one of the first in the whole village. Did I mention they were breaking rocks with their hands...

Initial Impressions

We made it! It was nearly two full days of travel and plenty of European Man smell later that we landed in Uganda and made the crazy/terrifying car ride to the capital city Kampala. It appears that in Uganda, a two lane road can quickly become a seven lane road if the people in front of you are going slower than one would like.
Right now we are sitting in our hotel room (we meaning Melissa and Katie - two women also going out to help at Restore for three months, and myself) and hearing an animal call outside that sounds like a monkey. Nowhere else have I been where someone honestly asked if we also heard the monkey outside. And this is still the capital city so I can imagine what it will be like in Gulu which is a much smaller, rural town. My mind is already opening so much as well as my appreciation for indoor plumbing.