Mouse Toaster

6.9.10

After a ton of prayer and consideration, I have decided that I am really ready to come home. I had tentatively planned to return to the states in August but I miss home and, to be honest, I am burnt out. My health has been really bad recently as well. It hasn’t been an easy choice, but I know I need to go home. I changed my ticket and will be leaving June 15^th. It feels so bitter sweet. I’m extremely excited to see family and friends but terrified to leave the kids here. Walking down chaotic market road I was looking at the motorcycles, street vendors, giant potholes and abundance of fresh fruit and it hit me; this will no longer be my reality. Goats, chickens and little children screaming “mzungu” will be replaced by McDonalds and television. I’m not sure what it will be like to just be another white person. Frankly, I’m scared that I won’t be able to adjust back to the American lifestyle. At the same time, America is exciting. I don’t exactly know how to feel about it all.

One of my biggest struggles here has been my health. I cant stay healthy here. I got malaria for the first time and today I woke up with a cough and fever. It seems like one things after another. I’m excited to get home, see a real doctor and get healthy.

There are chickens everywhere here. And they all wander around freely. But at the end of the day, they all know where home is and wander back. I guess that’s the place I am at. I now its time to go home. Well back to one of the places I call home.

Kenyan Adventure!

5.8.10

I have been staring at a blank document for over five minutes now, trying to find a way to put the last two weeks into words. I am not sure where to begin. Morgan and I decided we wanted to travel over holiday. The original plan had been Zanzibar but a Tanzania visa was more expensive than Kenya. So Kenya it was. We left on a bus to Nairobi at two am and got there twelve hours later. Everyone was extremely helpful. With the help of a young Kenyan woman, named Claire, we found the hotel. Not only did she go to multiple hotels with us until we found one we like she also showed us were the closest Barclays was (the bank). We spent the day running around Nairobi. The city center of Nairobi felt like a western country. For a few seconds I forgot I was even in Africa. There were skyscrapers, Mercedes and trash free streets. But venture past the gleaming city center and Nairobi was similar to Kampala. For lunch our first day in Nairobi we ate cheeseburgers and chips and for dinner we had delicious Italian food. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

The next day we went to the Langata Giraffe center outside the city. Everyone was more than helpful getting us to the right taxi and making sure were didn’t get ripped off. At the giraffe center there is a platform that puts you right next to the head of the giraffes. It was crazy. I didn’t realize how beautiful their spots are .We got to feed, pet, hug and kiss giraffes. The trainer would give you a handful of food and the giraffe would lick it all right out of your hand. After feeding it and hugging it he told us that we needed to kiss it now. I was terrified. We were instructed to put a piece of food in between our lips and the giraffe would take. He then insured us that the saliva of the giraffe was antiseptic and we were fine if it got in our mouth. I really didn’t like the sound of it, but yeah, I’m sure I’ll only get one opportunity to kiss a giraffe. I put the food in between my lips, leaned forward and closed my eyes. Well at least it made for a good story and pictureJ The giraffe center was a incredible experience that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. We left the giraffe center and headed back for central Nairobi. We got Thai beef salads and fresh juice at Nairobi Java House, the Nairobi equivalent to Starbucks. After lunch we did more shopping and I found a cute white sundress. That night we were taking a night bus to Mombasa so in preparation for a terrible bus ride we had Crème Brule at a five star hotel.

That evening we got on a 9 hour night time bus ride to Mombasa on the coast. Thankfully the bus wasn’t full so we each got our own row. The red dirt I had become so accustomed to began lightening and thinning in consistency. Before I knew it the dirt had become pale yellow sand. We were approaching the ocean. We got to Mombasa the next morning. After grabbing a quick breakfast in Mombasa we took a bus to a beach town called Malindi. We laid on the beach and ate really yummy seafood in Malindi for five days. Unfortunately it rained almost every other day we were there. On the rainy days I was forced to relax. Which I have really needed. There was a day I just sat and read an entire book. Malindi had tons of Indonesian style Tuk Tuks, three wheeled taxis. They were decorated in bright colors and dominated the small streets of Malindi. It was a sweet little beach town. After a few days in Malindi we took a four hour bus ride to Lamu.

Lamu is an island of the coast of Kenya, close to Somalia. At one point the bus pulled over to the side of the road and an policeman with a shotgun got on. he began walking up and down the aisle and making people get off the bus. We were really confused about what was going on. A nice Kenyan man next to us told us they were checking for guns that would be smuggled into Somalia. About halfway to Lamu we stopped and picked up more passengers. All the seats were full. I looked around confused at were the newcomers were going to go. Soda crates were dragged out from below the seats. A mother and daughter in matching bright blue and green traditional African dresses stood in the aisle. The 3year old daughters hair was braided against her small head. The mother had a headband made from the same fabric as her dress. They were adorable. The little girl looked up and our eyes meet. Immediately she smiled and excitedly greeted me with “jambo!”, a Swahili word meaning hello. The ride to Lamu was extremely bumpy. At one point the little girl and her mother were falling over and the man across the aisle reached over and set the small girl in his lap. She slept on him until he got off the bus. After he got off I offered to let her sit with me and she gladly accepted. When we got to Mokowo, where the boats wait on the main land to take people to lamu, the girl and her mom told us to come with them and helped us find the ferry to Lamu. The ferry to Lamu took about half and hour. Lamu is built right up at the waterfront. The only road is the narrow space that separates the water from the building facing the water. There were only two cars on the island. Instead of everyone having car like in the stats, everyone had donkeys. We were told that there are 3,000 donkeys on the island. The donkeys outnumbered the people. Lamu is rich in Swahili culture. All the roads are narrow alleyways that weave through the traditional Swahili buildings. Everything is decorated beautifully with accents from the Arabic influence. All the doors are elaborated wood craved trimmed with red or blue. Lamu is the most friendly place I have been to in Africa, but genuinely friendly. One our first day we made a big group of friends. On the beach on day we meet these two British girls, Anna and Holly. Through them we went a really nice group of Kenyan guys. For the next six days we hung out with all of them all day and night. It was tons of fun! We would take one of their boats to the beach and hang out at the beach all day. At night we could cook dinner and hang out. Lamu was my favorite part of the trip. We got to eat amazing seafood, ride in boats, and swim in the ocean. I was a very happy girl. We had planned to stay in Nairobi a night to break up the all the bus rides but ended up staying in Lamu an extra night instead. Holly and Anna took the bus back to Mombasa with us but stayed in Mombasa for the night. The travel back to Uganda was exhausting but worth the extra day. We had a seven hour bus ride from Lamu to Mombasa. A nine hour night bus from Mombasa to Nairobi and a thirteen hour bus ride from Nairobi to Iganga. It was brutal but the trip was the trip of a lifetime.

Pictures :)

My 19th Birthday!

4.22.10

My last blog was written in such a hurry that I left out tons of things that have been happening.

During March and April we had a lot of great volunteers come. For spring break a group of three boys from Missouri came to help on the farm. They were awesome. The three of them quickly became big brothers to me. My older brother will be happy to hear that they took the liberty of beating me up regularly. After two weeks with them I was sad to see them go but relived that my arms would get a break. And the McGraw family came to visit Ryan and see Musana. It was a lot of fun to have them all around! Before Matt came I asked him to bring white tee shirt so we could tie dye with our kids. It took two day and was complete chaos. But the shirts are awesome and the kids love them. THANK YOU MATT!

The night before my birthday I slept at Musana in the dorms. Our older girls and I spent all night talking and dancing. While we were sitting on the beds talking the girls were braiding my hair and eventually I fell asleep on them. They tucked me into bed and told me they loved me. It was a great way to fall asleep. More than anything these girls have become my friends. I had only told a few kids that the following day was my birthday but word got around. When I woke up the kids were standing around my bed telling me “happy birthday” and “we love you auntie Annie”. It was the best start to my 19^th birthday! We made our way over to the kitchen for breakfast and found out that early that morning one of our goats gave birth to a baby girl. Andrea named my birthday goat Annie. After having tea with the kids, Ryan and I went home to shower and then to the café for lunch. When we got back to Musana a group of kids greeted us excitedly telling us that a goat had been born. We weren’t that excited because we had already seen the new goat. The kids were so excited they dragged me over to the goat shelter and sure enough we had another baby goat. Two new goats from two separate mothers on my birthday. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with the kids at Musana. That night we had a huge party at our café and went out dancing. Two of our volunteers, Brittany and Erina, baked me a delicious birthday cake! Andrea and kids all made me tons of birthday cards. I was sad to be away from my family but everyone made it an awesome birthday.

“Excuse me, if you take me to jail in Kampala can we stop for an ice cream cone?”

4.15.10

Today I got arrested. Maybe I should start this story from the beginning…

This morning I was at Sol Café baking birthday cakes and helping with the morning duties. Two Ugandan businesswomen came in and set down. I walked over and greeted them. They asked where I was from and a little about the food. After I answered they began questioning me about a work permit. I explained I was just a volunteer. They both stood up and told me they wanted to see my passport and that they were immigration officers from Kampala. I explained how my passport was at home. At this point I knew things were not okay. Another volunteer, Brittney, walked up at the wrong moment to greet them and she was also questioned about a work permit. I grabbed Pipih, the volunteer coordinator and close friend, and told him to call Andrea and Morris right away. We walked downstairs with the Immigration women and they told us we could ride in their car to our house to get our passports. When we walked up to the car it was filled with Indians. (There are a lot of Indians in Uganda that run most all of the hotels and supermarkets) The windows of the van had bars. It became very clear to me in that moment that we were not going home. A crowd was gathering around the van to see who was being taken. Pipih ran home to find our passports. A huge Ugandan man from immigration walked up to Brittney and I and told us that we were “paying the repercussions for our actions”. At this point, I couldn’t help but laugh. An Indian tried to get out of the car and they yelled at us and forced everyone to stay in the van. We were then driven to the police station. Most of the Indians were questions before Brittney and I. Many of them were on the verge of tears when they couldn’t present legal documentation for them to be in Uganda. Then it was our turn to fill out the paperwork and talk with the immigration officer. They keep asking us questions about what we are doing in Uganda. Clearly they were trying to catch us using words like “working”. Brittney let me do most of the talking. The Immigration man told me that we were going to be prosecuted charged and deported. It was like something out of a movie. We sat waiting for help from our friends and discussing things with the immigration man. He asked if I cried when Michael Jackson, the king of pop, died and told me I need to marry a Ugandan man and stay forever (which I found quite ironic considering he wanted to deport me). We picked up our paperwork and moved into the corner of the room. Thankfully we have friends in the government. After a few hours, our friend Elijah showed to and talked with the immigration boss. We got to leave the police station after that! Relieved, we headed back to the café to eat our now cold lunches. Morris rushed up and told us that they were coming back to get us and we need to get out. I felt like an outlaw, running from immigration. Unfortunately, we ran right into them on the stairs. They demanded we give them our passports. We refused and they said they would be back in an hour to get them or they will find us tomorrow. We were warned not to give them our passports or we would end up paying huge bribes. Hopefully they do not come back tomorrow for us. We are currently hiding in our house.

Never a dull moment in Uganda.

African Tea

4.5.10

I want to never let the beauty of a moment escape from me. The moments that seem so lackluster. That seem like just another passing second. Those are ones that will define my life. My time in Uganda is dwindling down. With every passing day the reality of living in the states again is looming over my thoughts. The other day I had a moment where I completely appreciated my surroundings. I was in the art at Musana with about ten kids. We were rolling beads and some of the kids were coloring. If you came to a Musana house party this winter, odds are, you heard us talk about Nico. Nico was living on the streets before he came to Musana. He would wash dishes at a restaurant and get scraps of food for it. Nico slept outside or on the floor of the kitchen. I have many memories of seeing this young boy walking about town dirty and malnourished but always beaming from ear to ear. Morris, one of Musana’s directors, decided that he wanted Nico to come to Musana. Taking in stret children can be risky because sometimes guardians will show up and demand for the child. We decided Nico was worth the risk of legal complications. When Nico got to Musana they gave him three baths and clean clothes. He didn’t know his age or where he came from. Even in all his adversity, Nico never stopped smiling. You can guarantee that Nico will be our first kid to run and give you a hug when you get to Musana. Nico has a capacity to love that I have never seen in another person. Even at somewhere around 12 years old, Nico has not lost his innocent childlike love. I greatly admire him for it. Nico and I were sitting on a bench in the art room listening to music and coloring pictures. Each song I would play, Nico would silently communicate whether he liked it or not by dancing and smiling. Our ability to communicate with each other was a profound moment for me. Due to Nico’s malnourishment, he had no teeth. Since he has been at Musana, Nico has had some teeth come in. Without teeth you can’t talk; Nico is just beginning to learn how to form words and sentences. Not only do we have a language barrier to wrestle with but also just one of us with the capability to speak. It might sound ridiculous that the encounter had any affect on me, but it did. Maybe it had more to do with Nico than anything else.

For humanity it comes so natural to pick out the things that frustrates us and focus our attention on them. We neglect to mention the things we love about the very thing that frustrates us. Many times I catch myself complaining about parts of being in Uganda that are hard. And, seldom do I vocalize the things that I love about this country, the things that have captivated me to stay here. Yesterday was another one of those moments when I didn’t allow the beauty of a moment to escape me. We were playing soccer and running around with the kids yesterday evening. Dark storm clouds, or nimbus clouds as one of my favorite smart-aleck children named Moses corrected me, were coming right at us. Andrea and I scrambled to get the volunteers together to escape the storm. We had seen these same clouds before. Many times when it rains here it doesn’t simply start to sprinkle and increase over time. Instead, the wind picks up and it just begins to downpour suddenly. After yelling for everyone to leave, we begin running up this hill to get bike bodas (bicycle taxis). As we were running up the hill, the storm was moving toward us. By the time we reached the top of the hill, the wind was throwing dust into the air and any second the rain would begin. Andrea and Haril were already on Bodas and in the distance. I yelled for the last boda to come to me and he peddled over quickly. The other volunteers were trying to get on the boda I had called but the boda man refused and yelled at them in Lusoga. He kept saying he wanted to take the mzungu who speaks lusoga and not the mzungu boys. It was chaos; we were all running around like chickens with out heads cut off. After they realized the boda was mine they kept running down the road in search of other bodas. I hopped on the bike and we went speeding towards town and away from the storm. I have never gone so fast on a bike. The storm seemed to be chasing us. The dark clouds were right behind us. It was raining in the 20 feet behind us for most of the ride until the clouds were right over us. Thankfully the downpour was over us right when we got to Sol Café (A self sustainability project of Musana Children’s Home). I gave the bodaman 500 Ugandan Shillings a few hundred more than the ride should cost and told him in Lusoga that I was happy he hurried. The boys I had left behind were on a motorcycle boda turning the corner. The rain was coming down hard now. Their boda man had to stop across the street because the rain was too heavy. The boys ran across the street to the safety of the café. It was a moment where I should have stopped and told someone around me, it was the things I love about Uganda. I love how rainstorms roll in, and I love how hard it rains.

I feel like I should explain more about Sol Café. The money was raised by an 18 year old from Boulder, Colorado, named Morgan. She raised around 16,000 dollars total. Some of the money went to pay for her expenses but the rest covered start up costs for the café. We rented the restaurant space in the second floor of a large hotel in Iganga called Suki. There is a balcony that over looks the main road in Iganga. It is one of my favorite places to sit at the café. We serve American, Indian and Ugandan food as well as coffee and tea. Our food is excellent. Unfortunately I have been eating to many brownies, cheeseburgers and pizzas. Before the café we went months without western food. It has been really nice to get other types of food into our routine. We each have shifts at the café each day. Most of the time it is really busy at the café. In Uganda there is a large population of Indians. They come and start Hotels and super markets. The racism between Ugandans and Indians is unreal. They cannot stand each other. Indians have nothing positive to say about Ugandans and Ugandans have nothing good to say about Indians either. The café has turned into a melting pot of cultures. There is no other place in Iganga where Indians, Ugandans and mzungus all congregate. Seeing the intertwining of such different cultures has been really interesting. We are all really proud of the café and the success it has been.

pictures :)