Random Happenings

I have rounded up cows 3 days in a row.  Sunday, out of the banana plantation.  Monday, out of the main road outside the community.  Tuesday out of the round house yard.  I feel like a true farm girl.  Cows are funny creatures.  Here the local cows have huge horns.  But the ones I was herding are mostly your standard black and whites.

Today at mass, I almost burst out laughing hysterically.  They use electric keyboards for music.  When we go up for communion, they turn on a pre recorded song so that the person doesn’t have to play for a few moments.  Today they turned on the pre recorded music and it as “Can’t help falling in love with you” and “Beauty and the Beast”.  Of course NO ONE else in the church knows either of these songs, but I almost exploded I was laughing so hard inside. 

The other day the light which is right at the front of the church wasn’t working right.  It would flash off and on.  So the drums were going and we were singing some upbeat song, and the light was flashing away… it looked like a club/disco or something!  Sometimes there are things that no one else finds funny.  But I am dying of laugher inside!!

Tonight I did something super random.  I gave John Bahati, one of the students (one of my favorite students), colored pencils.  I noticed earlier that he was drawing in his note book, and it was actually quite good.  So later I spoke with him about art.  I want to encourage him to do more art.  So tonight I gave him my little colored pencils.  Before I gave them to him I told him that he was going to laugh at me… he tried not to, but in the end did laugh.  I am excited to see what he creates.

Everyone is sick.  The whole community has “cough and flu” … which means a bad cold.  I was out for 2 days with it, but am feeling a little better now.  I am not pushing myself but talking it slow.  A lot of people are down with malaria or strange unexplainable sickness.  It happens a lot here.  One of my “daughters”… the girls I am in charge of… has a bad fever.  We think it might be malaria, but aren’t sure. 

In other news, the compound got to meet my mother today!  I have internet that is a modem that plugs into my computer and registers with a cell phone net work.  So I am totally mobile.  I took my computer all over the compound.  The lighting wasn’t great, but my mom got to MEET a whole bunch of my friends and see my house.  :D  It was a very good time.  People around here had no idea what to make of this crazy technology.  Most of them would never have seen anything like it! 

So that's a little bit of life this side!

The back view of our "local" mountains

The West of Uganda is an incredibly beautiful place!

The 3 Italians... the couple is here doing a bee project.  None speak English.  It's an adventure

Luigi, an Italian carpenter here to make doors for Shalom Center

Our Future

Parish Youth

Tanzania is on the other side of the river. 

Fiona (youth coordinator for the region and good friend) and Father

Art

InterNET!

Yes, I know no photos were posted.

I got a lovely text saying that the internet which Orange Telecom owns had the cable cut in Kenya.  The joy of being landlocked!

So the internet has been down and slow.  Photos will come eventually.

So sorry!

Christmas in September!

I got my package from home today, along with a fairly nice guitar. Not at all what
I was expecting to find here in Africa! (this means the mail system works!!)

I feel like it is Christmas!!! Last night, the community leader knocked on my door with a beautiful table, which is high enough for me to comfortably work on my computer! It also means the little table I was using can go in the sitting room, so now there is more than a broom.

My package brought me tons of great joy, mostly in the form of music and jewelry. I haven’t managed to find the perfect necklace yet, but now I have my celtic cross back, and I am super happy with that. Music is sooooothing my soul. It has been so long!

I also got my whole computer in the form of my external hard drive. This is fantastic because now I have all my files! I also have more medication than a pharmacy! I am feeling incredibly blessed.

I have decided to put roots down here. I think it is time. I love it here, the people are incredible, the place is beautiful. Yes, there are major challenges. Food, water (both running out and it hurting me), my body failing me. But challenges don’t mean you aren’t suppose to be in that place.

I’m getting use to Mbarara town. It’s good, even if it is frustrating sometimes. People are slowly getting use to me, like my waitress at the café which makes me feel like I’m on main street Ann Arbor.

My body is still not doing great. I think I will figure things out but it will be slow. I finished my medication and am hoping the infection is gone. But I am still not 100% by any means.

I will probably start posting some photos and stories from other times in my trip. I realized I haven’t put up some really good photos and told a few good stories! So if I get a chance I’ll do that.
These photos are from an adventure to the boarder of Tanzania with Father E on Sunday.

3,2,1 STOP!

I went to the hospital on Tuesday.  And after a few hours was put into the hospital for the day on an IV drip.  Hospitals in developing countries aren’t on my top 10 list of favorite places to hang out.  I was with my dearest friend, Evelyn, but still. It was not pleasant.  I have an infection… I won’t go into details you don’t need to know.  The only problem is that the diarrhea is not a symptom of the infection I have… so the doctor was a bit confused and decided to keep me in the hospital for the day… because I hadn’t eaten in like 24 hours (because it was all just coming up/out). 

 I was a bit of a scardy cat.  I really don’t like needles.  And I really don’t like needles in developing countries.  They are just a little bigger, not so pretty, and generally not very gently handled.  I had to get stuck twice… once to draw blood, once to put in the IV.  Neither were done super well.  My vains don’t like needles either.  When they were changing out my drip, the nurse decided that turning the needle IN my hand was a good idea.  I screamed.  Yeah, I wasn’t being brave that day.

So I demanded to be released, because the doctor said I only had to say 4 hours.  They wanted to keep me over night, for the money I’d bet.  But I demanded to go home and Father came and collected us around 4:30.

On the way home, Father Emmanuel laid down the law.  I have to take ALL my meals from the priest’s house now.  *sigh* … I lost that battle.  We got my meds and went home.  I didn’t go to the evening session of the DTS.  I needed to rest.  But I had a fun dinner with the community leader, Matthias, who finally joined us for a meal at the priest’s house.  Lots of laughter and hilarious discussion about marriage… during which my friend Elizabeth offered me her brother.  She was “offended” (not actually) when I told her he wasn’t educated enough.  It was a good time of laughter.  I was super hungry because I hadn’t eaten for a long while (except the lunch I had to take at the hospital which Evelyn magically produced). 

I had to tell people I’d been in the hospital.  It is super humbling.  The evening I got home, I took some time to meditate on the fact that we are made of clay… and clay can easily become dirt, or break or crumble.  My body is weak, why can’t it catch up with the rest of me!

I forced myself to be on my feet the next day.   Finally I got to meet with the other staff member, and Fulgencia from Emmaus Community who is here facilitating for the week.  She is great, one of my Mamas for sure.  I basically want to be her when I grow up.  I worked with her on my first tip to Uganda.

Right now the school participants are sharing their stories.  I can’t even tell you how intense the stories are.  These people are incredibly broken and in need of restoration and transformation.  The process has already started, that is why they are here.  But there is a lot more work to do.  I am ready to start doing a lot of loving!

I have been consistently impressed with the staff.  They are beautiful people.  The school hasn’t really taken off yet, it’s just an intro this week.  But there have already been several times when I just looked around me and was filled with gratitude for the wonderful Africans I work with! 

Things, or bodies, fall apart

Here, at the beginning of my new life, my body decides it should stop functioning. 

I am sick.  I haven't been this sick the whole time I've been in Africa.  Today, I just didn't really eat anything and that worked well.  Until I ate something small...

I also managed to sprain my ankle at 6 am this morning as I was leaving my house to go with Father on an adventure.  The adventure was great.  The ankle is very soar. 

So, I'm a bit of a mess... and the DTS officially starts tomorrow. 

I will be in the hospital tomorrow morning, as the DTS begins. 

If you pray, now would be a good time to send a few up for me. 

And this is where I live...

You can't see MY round house in this photo... it is behind the house on the right.  But all 6 are exactly the same.

:)  I'll be planting veggies on Monday!

A few days with an awesome camera.... THIS is Africa!

Noelle and Father Emmanuel at the Twin Lakes

Singing, school in Bushenyi

the future of Africa

beautiful

Valley of Bananas, not far from where I live

Possibly my future back yard... looking out at Queen Elizabeth national park, past the crater.

Welcome to the "Lion King!"

Yes, the baboon is ON our Truck!

Bushback

Yes, they are real and I saw them!

AWESOME!!!! 

Savana

Watch out Father!

Big Dude. 

These photos are from July, when I was going around Western Uganda with Fr. Emmanuel.  He has a sweet camera, and I got to use it!  I love photography!

Peace

I am at Home. 

It is the rainy season here, so it rains every afternoon.  Ironically, even with TONS of rain my house still doesn't have water.  For me, I am totally ok with that.  It adds to the "African Experience" to have to fetch.  However, Father is not super happy that I don't have water.

I was rather stubborn and just moved into my house before anyone knew what happened.  See, if you wait for things to happen you will wait a very long time.  So I cleaned and scrubbed my house... and moved in.

It is a beautiful space.  Currently the only thing in the sitting room is a broom.  But that will change, some day.  I waged world ward 3 on the bugs in my bathroom today.  I put bricks under the legs of my table so I don't have to crouch so much to use my computer.

I know most of the parts of the body from stomach up... the whole face for sure, in Runyakole.  The greetings are coming, each day I remember a little more, can ask a little more.  Tomorrow I have a "test" over numbers, body parts, and greetings.

We had our first staff meeting today.  It, of course, started an hour late.  We were suppose to meet in the afternoon as well.  But it rained.  And of course, when it rains everything stops.  Ahh... Africa. 

The people here are great.  I am learning more and more about each of them everyday.  I rarely see Father Emmanuel, but I am getting use to that... though I don't think I'll ever like not seeing him.  My housemate doesn't come until next Wednesday.  Oh well.

The school starts on Monday.  We have another meeting tomorrow... if it doesn't rain.  ;) 

Life is good here, and I am ready for the DTS to start.

Home Sweet Home!!

I have reached Mbarara, mostly safe and sound.  Along the way my camera was lost/stolen.  I am going to go for the stolen option because I was really careful about where it was.  I am going to look into seeing if it was found anywhere... but I think it is gone.  Which is SUPER sad.  I will try to get another within the next 2 months.  But for the moment, we might have to go without pictures!

I have officially moved into my own little round house!!  It brings me great joy.  I will have one roommate, a woman from Kenya who is coming to also staff the DTS.  I cleaned the house with all the energy and cleaning ability of an American Woman!  I SCRUBBED, it was sooo dirty.  It felt really good.  I think I am going to become a clean freak here in Africa.  Next goal:  Ant killing.  I don't cohabitate with ants, I refuse.  I will win.

It is good to be back, people are so happy and surprised to see me.  Father and I didn't really tell many people I was returning.  It made for some very fun faces when they saw me!  So I am getting settled.  I don't have internet yet at home... the one I am using now is expensive.  But I think I will just have to bit the bullet  and pay the 40 dollars a month for internet at my place.  Meh, if only the whole world was free wireless!

The mountains around the community are BEAUTIFUL.  Because the rainy season has started, the air is clear.  So you can see all the mountains... i didn't know that the whole town of Mbarara is surrounded by mountains, but it is!!  It's very beautiful.  I love it.

So we will have some training later this week.  Then the students come on Monday!  ... then begins the craziness!  

Packing for the last time

This morning, I put my backpack together ... one last time.  

It feels good to know that I won't have to pack again for a while. 

I'm not sure what this week will look like... plans are sort of up in the air.  But I think it'll be a good week to get to know Mbarara and get settled before the DTS starts on Monday!

Under Construction

As you can probably tell, my blog is under construction.  It will be very nice and pretty in probably about a week.  Until then, I hope you can bare with me on the different options I'll be trying!

Thanks!

Home Sweet... no.... Kindergarden Friends on the bus

I was "suppose" to be on an air plane today. But everything changed I guess. I am sitting in a familiar room, in a familiar city after a LONG journey.

I went from Arusha, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya. It took about 7.5 hours by bus, the roads are bad. I spent the night at the back packers in Nairobi and then took the day Monday to go computer shopping. I got a Acer 4810TZ...my new baby. So that's what I am writing you on now! I took a night bus at 8 pm from Nairobi to Eldoret, which is in the far west of Kenya. I arrived in Eldoret at 3:45 am!

Bahati came and picked me at about 6:30, there were some cold hours of waiting! We had 2 very lovely days together. Just hanging out, laughing a ton, talking, killing GIANT mosquitoes, ... it was lovely. I got to watch "High School Musical" (the first one) one day while she was at work. It was perfect. Enormously enjoyable.

Today I got on the bus around 12 pm... of course it didn't leave until 1:30 pm. But the journey was fine... I talked a bit to my seat mate and tried to read while holding my new backpack/computer on my lap. At the boarder crossing (Kenya to Uganda) I asked a white girl if there were any papers around to fill out. Another girl in line said No, they hadn't given any out. So I got in line behind her and we started talking.

It was amazing! She is doing very similar work to me!! We have a very similar vision for what we do, we are both Catholic and wanting to make an impact in the world... she has been all over too, but for a longer while than me. We ended up switching seats on the bus so we could sit by each other. We talked and talked! It was so wonderful... then she offered me one of her ear phones so we could listen to good African reggea music... I felt like I was in kindergarden becoming best friends with someone I just met. It was a really good feeling.

She'll be living in Kabale, which is only 2 hours from Mbarara. She is a lot of fun, and I am super excited that at the start of my new life... I've found a friend.

So now I am peacefully in Susanna and Peter's home... again. Happily using their Orange internet. Tomorrow are some exciting meetings. It is good to be back in Kampala!!

I have a "partnership" meeting with Cornerstone Leadership Development to discuss what roll I'll have in relation to their organization as I do work with some of their programing, alumni and current students. It should be a good meeting. Then I'll go to Cafe Pop for a bit... get some yummy food and use their free wireless to download all the stuff I need. Hopefully in the afternoon I will get to visit the Cardinal of Kampala... a good friend who I met in Masaka. He is a very cute, friendly and kind old man. Perhaps we will have tea.

Then I go to Mbarara on Saturday...I think. :)