Wifi!

It is Monday 9:57 pm but it is only 1:57 pm I'm ohio.  Uganda is 8 hours ahead of us.  We drove into Kampala today (Uganda's capital city) for supplies and I was able to purchase a modem so hopefully I will now be able to communicate.  Sometimes we are without power and the signal is so very weak that I can not guarantee how often I will be able to do this, so if you don't here from me for some time please don't worry. :).

I will try to start from the beginning so this will be a very long post.  Feel free to walk away and take breaks.  ;).

I love Uganda. I want to say that up front.  I love the smell of burning everything, the beauty of the land but most of all, I am in love with the people. They are so beautiful that it speaks deeply to my soul.

Back to Friday.  When last I posted I was at the airport with Ryan and Maggie waiting on a flight to Chicago that continued being delayed. It finally departed at 8:30 (4hours later than scheduled) and I missed my connection to Chicago.  This meant I would be traveling to Uganda alone instead of with the ministries director.  They had to reroute me so instead of going from  Chicago to London, I went to Cairo, Egypt then to entebbe, Uganda.  I arrived at 3:15 am in Africa completely alone and let me tell ya, my brave had to kick in quickly.  I walked off of the plane onto the Tarmac and into the African night.  Wow!  I followed the others into the airport, got my visa, exchanged my US dollars for Ugandan schillings (I had no idea how much they gave me but later figured out that roughly one American dollar is worth 2475 schillings) and when she handed me this giant pile of money I asked, "all of this is for me?"  She gave me a strange smile and a slight nod and I scooped it up.  I then found my bags and wheeled my luggage cart out the front door and suddenly realized that there were about 50 Ugandans standing smack dab in front of me holding signs with people's names. I didn't recognize mine so I went back inside and slid down the wall and sat staring a a guard across from me with a rifle.  I am not in Pittsburgh airport anymore.  About 15 minutes I tried again and saw a sign that said ECM.  That was me!  (Organizations initials). It was Allen, a female, who is the Gayaza coordinator and our driver,  Kibule.  They hugged me and told me how happy they were to see me.  Then we loaded up the vehicle and drove the hour to Gayaza. I arrived at the headquarters around 5 am and went to my room which include to small beds covered in mosquito nets , 2 small lactic tables and chairs, a small gas stove and kitchen sink. Think Africa.  Do not think a little flat in New York City. ;)
I laid down at 6 but at 7 I got up, organized my things and showered... Underneath a faucet with cold drips.  Just barely running and I thought, how am I ever going to get soap out of my hair let alone off of my body.  I found Allen in the office and she was busy so I went back to my room and had a panic attack. Yep, first one of the trip.  I am in Africa with an African woman and quite the language barrier and since she was left in charge of me, she didn't want me to leave the headquarters. I think I just needed some sleep.  I mean I was alone in Egypt and didn't panic!  After I got that out of my system I slept a while until Lorella ( the director I was supposed to fly here with) showed up.  I beat her here. While she was settling in, I asked Resty, an African woman and the national coordinator if we could go for a walk around the village and she agreed.  Now picture this, I have been in a building surrounded by a highwall with locked iron entry gates and a guard at the gates since Sunday morning. I had NO idea what lay outside the gates because it was so dark when we arrived.  When Paus unlocked the gate, I stepped into a whole new world.

Our headquarters are called The Gayaza  Project, but Gayaza is actually a town close by.  The village I am in is called Kyankima.  It is a maze off red dusty roads and make-shift homes (dwellings) with the villagers either walking the roads or sitting in their yards.  There are children everywhere who point and yell, "Muzungo," which means white person.  Some of them come up and rub my white skin or hold my hand.  I love every one of them!  Some are dressed but others are completely naked.  There mothers. Look on from a distance completely unfazed that their children are running after a strange white woman.  I touch them and tell them how beautiful they are and they look at me with huge chocolate eyes.  I could have stayed playing with these children the rest of the day but Resty said we should move on.  I was in bed by 7 and slept til 7 so I felt great this morning and I'm glad because we had a full day.  After I woke and got ready, I walked into the office and heard some noise outside.  I went to the giant iron locked front door (different from then iron entry gate) and saw Allen the African woman who picked me up at the airport) outside with about 10  children and I knew right away that they were some of the projects sponsored children. I ran out the door, probably shocking the children, and Allen said, "Meet your daughters Amina and Norah."  My heart stood still.  The two most beautiful  10 year old girls walked up to me and hugged me.  Love.  I took them aside and did my best to communicate with them and they sat there patiently.  I showed them the letters they had written me over the years and they smiled. I gave the  each a rubber band bracelet made by Maggie and her friend Hailey and they were happy. Then I took lots of pictures.  Soon after, Kenneth arrived (the child my husband sponsors). He is now 14 years old and the sweetest thing.  I took lots of pictures of him as well. Then I entertained the group with the  very few Luganda (language of Uganda) words I know and they had a good time laughing at me.  They will be back in the morning and I can't wait.  After that we loaded up in the vehicle and drove about 40 miles to Kampala for supplies.  The sights on the way were indescribable. I took many pictures so hopefully I can load them on here for you to view.  By the way, the driving in Uganda is like nothing you have ever experienced before.  YIKES!!!!!  All cars driving on moth sides of the road every which way, boda-bodas ( motorbike transportation) everywhere weaving in and out, goats in the road, you name it and all the while driving 30, 40 miles per hour.  Crazy !! Oh Beth, I ain't got nothing on these folks!!!  (Inside joke). Kampala was loaded with people EVERYWHERE!  Please pay attention to my caps cause I mean them.  Thousands and thousands of people and cars and boda bodas EVERYWHERE.  New York is a walk in the park in comparison.  And Lorella and I were the only white women. Only white people at all except for 2 Asian me. And an Indian man I saw in the crowd. Thousands of Ugandans. But no one stared at us.  I stared. I stared at all of their beautiful faces but they on the other hand remained polite at all times.  THOUSANDS! Ok did that and then went to a market for more supplies. Very few choices but I liked it.  It made life simpler somehow.  When we returned there was a staff meeting for all of the coordinators from other nearby projects ECM heads up.  There sat Lorella, who lead the meeting, Resty, Sophie (Uganda advocate controller), Richard and Opio(Kamwokya coordinators), Allen (Gayaza coordinator), Recho and Merab (Karimojong coordinators), Derrick and Linda ( Gayaza volunteers) and me.  Yep.  A meeting with all Ugandans and a struggling white girl struggling with that language barrier again.  But it was great and very informative.  More in that later.  By the way, Opio asked me which state I was from (I figured that out   After only about 5 " Excuse mes."). It old him Ohio and he said my skin looked different from other Americans. He thought I was from Mexico and they all nodded in agreement.  He said, "Your not white but not like me either."  I said, I have tan skin because I was preparing for Africa.  They howled !! They can speak a lot of English and can understand me much better than I can them. They all left for the evening, but not after Linda sat down next to me and said, " I would very much like to be your friend."  Now you just don't hear that in America enough.  Just like that she said it and my heart melted again.

I am now underneath my mosquito net for the night. If my wifi keeps up, I will post again tomorrow. There is so much more to say.  My words cannot describe adequately my experience.