Hello!

Well I have really started to settle in here and I am absolutely loving it. This past week in the village has been great and the students and I are really starting to get comfortable with each other. I have been teaching math and English to the three upper level classes, usually about three to four classes a day. School starts at 8am with a morning assembly and the first class begins at 8:30. They then have two hours of classes with a half an hour break at 10:30. At 11am they continue with class and go until 1pm when they break for a one hour lunch. Many of the children play soccer during the breaks and the girls really enjoy jump rope. It's been fun playing with them and making them laugh. I think often times they are laughing at me but I suppose thats ok since I must look pretty funny jump roping with a bunch of 10 year olds :)

My day in the village starts at 7am with breakfast. Then at 8am I head to the school, which is a short walk from the little house, where I am staying. Then at 1pm I come back for lunch and head back to school around 2pm. At 4pm when school gets out I usually take a rest or hang out with the three girls that work in the village. They do the cooking and cleaning in the house and its been fun getting to know them. They have yet to let me help them with anything but I'm sure that I will be able to weasel my way into doing something soon. Then at around 7pm I eat dinner. By the time dinner is over it is completely dark out and since there is no electricity in the village we use lanterns. Everyone heads to bed around 8:30 and I usually use that time to read and get ready for bed.

This weekend I have come back to Kampala to greet the two other volunteers that will be here while I am here. One of them had already arrived by the time I got to the house on Friday. Her name is Vicky and she is a special education teacher from Nashville, Tennessee. We seem to have clicked and its been fun getting to know her over the last few days. The other volunteer arrived late on Friday night. Her name is Gina and she is an Occupational Therapist from Pennslyvania. She is in her early fifties and has two grown children. She has been wanting to do this kind of thing for awhile so she is excited about being here.

On Saturday Vicky and I hired a taxi for the day which ended up being about thirty dollars each for 8 hours. We had him drive us to a mall called Garden City and it was interesting to walk around that. It's pretty similar to an American mall with an assortment of shops and places to eat. The driver of the taxi also drove us around Kampala a bit and was able to show us a lot of the buildings and such. We had the driver pick a place for the two of us to have lunch and he chose a somewhat Italian restaurant connected to a hotel. Then we were able to find a market. It reminded me a lot of being in Chinatown in Manhattan with the people selling things trying to get your attention and bargain a good price. There are a lot of interesting things to buy here and I got a few good purchases. So that was a great day exploring and getting to know the city more.

Today, which is Sunday, Vicky, Gina, and I attended the church where Jim was guest preaching. We got there at 11am and the service had already started and left around 2 before it had ended so I'm pretty sure it was around a 4 hour long service. It was a lot of fun and really interesting so it definitely did not seem like it was that long. In the afternoon we spent a few hours on a place called the African Prayer Mountain. It's a large grassy and wooded area on the top of a large hill where people are continuously praying. We walked around the top and got an amazing view of Kampala and the surrounding houses. It's so beautiful and green.

I hope this new post finds you doing well and enjoying your summer. I look forward to updating you on this coming week, as I'm sure it will be even better than the last. There are now three of us who will be teaching and a team from Australia coming to teach as well. I'm excited to see how the bunch of us can really work together to help out in the school and village in general.

Love always,

Lea

I think to start of this blog I have to do a bit of background information. Awhile back right about after I had purchased my plane ticket I had taken the time to write down why it was that I felt called to go to Africa and some of the personal reason as to the purpose of my going. Along with helping the children, volunteering my time, and traveling to a new place I had also written down to be challenge. Well this past week has probably been one of the more challenging weeks in my life and I'm sure it won't be the last.

The first few days are pretty much a blur. As I look back now I can definitely see how the culture shock was affecting me and the way I was feeling. It's hard being thrown into a new culture and experiencing nothing like the way it was where you came from 24 hours before. After taking some time to rest in Kampala, we made our first trip to Katebo on Tuesday afternoon. I didn't have any expectations as to what the village would look like so it was a new experience to say the least. It's hard to explain and I'm hoping to take some better pictures of it soon. There is a main dirt road that runs through the village and scattered every so often are the people's hut's that live in the village. They are probably the size of what we would consider a small shed. The school has two buildings that are basically walls with hole's in them for windows and doors. They are expecting to get doors and windows to put in but they are not sure how long that will take. The team from Canada that was here before me was building a library and that is also about half way finished.

The first few days of teaching have been pretty challenging. There is a definite language barrier and it seems only the older children understand what I am teaching as opposed to just copying what I am saying. The school system here is a primary and secondary system, with P1-P7 and then S1-S6. P1 would be like our kindergarten and S6 would be related to our 12th grade. The school I am at is a primary school and I have taught P4 math and English, P5 English, and P6 math and English. I don't do all of those classes everyday, usually its about two or three classes a day. The teaching aspect has not been what I expected it to be and that's a part of what's been so challenging to me. It's been fun getting to know the children, as little as I have, and being able to play with them as we get more comfortable with each other. On Friday the older children had a debate after lunch and it is probably the most interesting thing I have witnessed so far. Since polygamy is not illegal in Uganda, the debate was Polygamy is better than Monogamy. When I walked in and saw that on the chalkboard I had to laugh. One of the other teachers was telling me that they use the debate to improve the students English, to teach them about how political systems work, and to also educate them on important social issues. I think what the teachers wanted to get across was the Monogamy is the best choice for social, financial, and economic reasons. The children seemed to enjoy it and it was fun to see them interact in such a cool way.

Right now I am the only volunteer on site which has been another challenge but there are two more girls coming from the states on Wednesday and Friday of next week and then a team coming from Australia the following Monday. My body has finally adjusted to the time change and thankfully I am not sleeping straight through the night without waking up at 2:30am wondering why I am wide awake when four hours ago I was passing out from being so tired. So that is good. I am also getting more used to the food. Breakfast consists of tea and bread with butter which isn't very different. Lunch and dinner are pretty similar and it can include anything from rice, beans, noodles, cabbage, avocado, cassava (which is the root from a tree), sweet potato's, and a few other native foods. Most of it is tasting pretty good to me now, though they tell me that I do not eat enough and don't believe when I tell them I am full. Personally I think they all eat too much :)

I hope this post has been a good update and I hope it finds you doing well and enjoying your summers. Most likely I will be able to update in about a week or so depending on the plans for next weekend so until then I hope you have a great week! Feel free to email me with anything you would like to share. Some specific prayer requests would be for patience as I learn how to deal with the people here, safety for the other volunteers as they travel to Uganda, God's guidance as he instructs each day, and a peace of mind knowing this is where I am suppose to be. Thanks so much for your prayers and I hope to hear from you soon!

Love always,

Lea

I've made it!

Hello everyone! June 16, 2:00pm

Well as you have assumed by now, I have made it safely to Uganda! My flights went very smoothly and I arrived in Uganda around 8:15p. As I was waiting in line to get my visa the electricity went out in the entire airport and I paniced for about three seconds until I realized that this was normal. It came back on very quickly though and only went out once more after that. I was picked up at the airport by Jim Nadiope, the man who runs the African Child Foundation, and it took us about 30 minutes to get to his house. It was very dark by the time I got in so I was not able to see any of the landscape. It was a bit scary riding as a passenger on the left side of the vehicle, considering I wasn't the driver, not to mention that there are no posted speed limits and the driving rules here are hardly ever followed. It was quite the first experience. When I arrived at his house I met his wife who showed me where I would be sleeping and the rest of thier home. They have 5 biological children and 18 adopted children, all of whom are at a boarding school about an hour away. It's pretty common for children to be sent away for school and I've been told that it is because it helps them concentrate better. So the house was not very full but I can only imagine what its like when all of those children are here. There is also another volunteer staying in a room in the house. She was with a team from Canada and decided to stay an extra week to do some site seeing before heading back home tomorrow. I woke up this morning to a dog barking and a chicken crowing very loudly, which was a surprise but what can you do? Today I went into Kampala, which is only ten minutes from where Jim and his wife Sarah live, to exchange some money and purchase bottled water and toilet paper. The exchange rate is $1 US to 1,566 Ugandan shillings. So I have them two bills and got back about thirty. To give you an idea of how much things cost I purchases 48 bottles of 1.5 liters of water and ten rolls of toilet paper and it costs me 48,200 shillings, which is about $30.77. So not too bad. Tonight I will be spending the night at the Nadiope's home again and early tomorrow morning they will be driving me out to the Children's village in Katebo. I've been told the drive will take about an hour and a half. I will be teaching in the school there but still do not know what age I will be in charge of.

Well I hope that this update has been helpful and informative. A few prayer requests to keep in mind would be for my health. I seemed to have come down with a tiny cold and my stomach has been upset by what I think was the airplane food on the second flight. Also, prayer for safe travels to Katebo and that I will have the courage and wisdom to do what God has called me to do. I didn't sleep very well last night due to jet lag so also pray for that. I'm not sure when I will be back here to be able to update you again, but as soon as I can I will. Thank you so much for your prayers and I can't wait to let you know about all that I will be doing!

Love always,

Lea

Hello everyone!

Well today is the day that I depart for my adventure in Africa. I will be leaving from MSP International Airport at 3:15pm and flying 8 1/2 hours to Amsterdam where I have a four hour layover. From Amsterdam I will have another 8 1/2 hour flight to Uganda where I will arrive at 815pm on Sunday night. I wanted to take this opportunity to let you about what has gone into getting ready for this trip and a few more details I have about what I will be doing while I am there.

These last few weeks since I have been home from school have been full of seeing friends, spending time with my family, and working as a PCA. It has definitely gone by a lot faster than I thought it would but I feel good about how I have spent my time. I have also, of course, been preparing for my trip. I think my least favorite part of the process was getting a total of nine shots. I received six of those shots in one day and my arms were sore, to say the least, for a few days. I have also made several trips to Target picking up the supplies I will need while I am there. The most exciting purchases I made where those of school supplies that I will be bringing with me to share with the children in the village. It was fun getting to be able to buy things like crayons, paper, pencils, and other school supplies knowing that they will be of great use where I will be going. The best purchase of the week was a pack of 50 small play-doh containers, each a different color, that I am very positive the kids will have fun with. I'm excited to share all of that with them. 

With all of that said, I have learned that I will be teaching in the Katebo Children's School in the Katebo Village. I do not know exactly what age or what I will be teaching but from 9 am-4 pm Monday through Friday I will be spending my time in the primary school. I have also learned that I will be living in a compound with other volunteers where there will be no running water, no electricity, and no public transportation. Even though I knew this was going to be the situation it took me a few minutes to wrap my mind around that information.   But I know that this is where I have been called to serve God this summer and in that aspect I will be fully taken care of. 

Well that is all of the information I have for you as of right now. I am hoping to update about once a week but I don't know if that will be possible or not. I will have to wait until I get there to see how easy/difficult that will be. A few prayer requests would be prayer for safe and uncomplicated travels, prayer for my health and that jet lag won't hit me too hard, and also prayer that I will be ready for whatever God has in store for me. 

Thank you so much for your prayers and I hope to be writing to you again soon!

Love always,

Lea