The strangest things happen in Africa

Last night I attended a feast. We renamed it "Noelle's thanks giving dinner" with a toast from an English man.

There were 7 of us, from all over the world.

2 Irish people (one man, one woman), An English/Irish man who lives and works all over Eastern Africa, an Italian who is a electrician/carpenter, an older nun from California, Father Emmanuel and myself.

Sr. Linda, the californian nun, had just returned after having been away from some months. She'll be here for 2 years. The others are all here for different lengths of time. I looked around the table in awe of the random people you find in Africa!

Last night was strange. It was overnight, so an all night event right outside my bed room. I actually rolled over in my bed several times because it sounded like someone was physically in my room. They were actually just outside my window. So sleep did not happen. At 5 am, Antony (the english/irish man) came to my house to collect his computer. I went with him to the junction to bid him bon voyage back to Kigali, Rwanda.

I started sleeping at 6:30. I slept until 1 pm, and am still tired. I'll go back to bed soon I think.

I haven't been feeling well again, and went to town to get my first ever malaria test yesterday. I don't have malaria, but something isn't right.

In VERY exciting news I picked my first 2 cucumbers yesterday! As I was putting up a fence to protect my garden I found them and decided to pick them. I think I'll eat them tomorrow. I hope they are tasty!

Life is never dull around here. It is enormously ... random.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am so thankful for many, many things this year.  I love thanksgiving, it is my favorite time of year!  

Top Ten Things I am thankful for:

1.  My family (including extended!), friends, support network, and loving God

2.  Books which have inspired and challenged me:  The Irresistible Revolution, The Bible,  Charity in Truth

3.  For the fact that I am living in Africa.  I am thankful that even crazy dreams come true.

4.  I am thankful for this past summer, all the things that happened which taught me so many priceless lessons

5.  I am grateful for the year of work I had before coming to Africa, for the family I nannied for and for the Hughes family who I lived with.

6. I am thankful that even the most bitter disappointments in life end up turning into something more beautiful than you ever could have imagined

7.  I'm grateful that I have an education and that I was able to grow up somewhere where I wasn't abused, used, or suffered, somewhere I was safe and loved.

8.  I am thankful for the many challenges that are making me a much stronger and kinder person. 

9.  I am grateful for all the Africans I work with, who daily inspire and remind me of the incredible potential for greatness within this continent.

10.  I am thankful for this adventure, this opportunity, to try to make a tiny difference in a world in desperate need.  

11...  I am overwhelmingly grateful for the love, support, friendship, and encouragement of my partners... YoU!   

Bed of Roses

I guess I've never understood the expression "a bed of roses", as though somehow that would be comfortable??

Well, in my imagination a bed of roses would not be all the comfortable, when you roll you get stuck by the thorns.

Things are tough right now. I'm getting stuck by the thorns, I am going through a lot. The adjustment has, honestly, been difficult. I never thought of Africa as a bed of roses. But I also wasn't 100% prepared for the incredibly large number of mis adventures, frustrations and ( disappointments.

Culture shock, or cultural adjustment, is hard.

I love my work, my people, my life... yet there are days it is very challenging.

There is some honesty. Africa is beautiful, but there is always a flip side. Africa can be terrible sometimes.

In other news there are some beautiful cucumbers growing in my garden. :)

Forgotten events

I'm tired and want to go to bed early so this post will be short.

I forgot to write about my hospital visit a few weeks back.  NO I wasn't IN the hospital, thank God.  We went to visit the patients, to love them and encourage them. 

I went with Jude and Evas, two wonderful Ugandans.  It was a terrible and amazing and wonderful experience.  The first ward we randomly ended up in was the wounds ward for women I think.  I won't go into any detail about what we saw, let's just say it was pretty bad.  But amazingly enough I found something well up in me.  I was able to hug and hold and caress the women as they cried or talked or just were in pain.  They were incredible moments, sacred and precious.

We ended up also going to the men's ward where people had broken limbs.  Some of the cases were just heart breaking.  But as we went through both the wards something changed.  It was like we left a wake of peace.  We brought love and left a smile instead of agony.  We acknowledged the dignity in every single person.  It was magnificent.  "Namaste"- I see God in you. 


The patients aren't dying from their wounds, they are dying from starvation.

God, where is justice for the poor?

I do Work!

I finished it!  :)  15 page Sustainable Ahuriire Project proposal.  Phew.  I have no idea how I actually pulled off completing it because things have been crazy.  But it is done.  It is also very pretty.  I made sure it looked really nice and professional.  Even if they don't like the contense at least they can enjoy the look.

It's been a nice day off our regular schedule, though I had a lot of work to do.  I bought myself  "Focus on Africa" magazine by the BBC on my birthday.  It's great brain food.  I am off to read a few articles now.  I have to keep my brain alive and in touch.

I feel like I am in my senior year of college again.  These big projects were the sort of things I was handing in right and left.  It feels good to have completed something!! 

Paula (my house mate) and I are watching a movie tonight, just to chill.

"Sustainable Ahuriire"  A proposal for sustainable development to the Leadership of Yesu Ahuriire Community

For more photos, click here.

Thankfully facebook lets you view my photos even if you aren't on Facebook!

I just put up a few random ones... I will try to keep adding as I get time.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=297196&id=508588012&l=a8d571277d

Flowers and photo editing

and again!

ENJOY!  This is my life.  :) 

My FAVORITE flower, if I get married here this is what I am carrying down the aisle!

All dressed up form my birthday... they said I was an African queen.  :)

I love my students!  :)

 

more photo love!

MC for review, we evaluated their performances so that when they do these things after the school they can do them well!

Moses... his shirt reads "You're the reason God made Oklahoma"... It took me 20 minutes to explain why it is funny!

Me and Paula, my WONDERFUL house mate!

The staff did a rap/dance/song to show the students how is is done! It was fantastic!

Lawrence and Emma, rappin' away!

The students LOVED our performance and got very excited as we sang!

Happy birthday to me... to you!

Yesterday was my birthday.  It wasn't fantastic for a very large number of semi complex reasons.  But we are properly celebrating me and 2 others tonight so it should be fun. 

But I DID get some time was a CAMERA!!  HOooray!  Some of these photos are from yesterday, some from the creativity evenings we've been having.  We have had a lot of teaching over the last 2 weeks and the evenings were meant to bring out all the different things the students were learning about in a creative way.  There are some other random photos too.  I've tried to post 3 times now.. so hopefully this one will work!

There will be several posts to ensure that at least some make it!  

Emma.. I love this photo.

Cucumbers and watermelon growing together.  This one is for Nico.

My house!  Good Shepard Round house

November 11th, daisies are growing outside my door.  This is for Jessica.

trust exercise a few weeks ago.

Creative dance!  They did great.

Just for laughs...

 

This is my deep and profound question.  I am so grateful for my dreadlocks.  You don't want to know low long I go between hair washings.

I regularly have dreams about over head showers. 

Bugs.

I got up yesterday morning to discover that the "white ants" had come.  They have large wings, which for some reason fall off of them at some point in the flying process.  So the wings are everywhere.  And so are the wingless bugs.

I had seen a few of these bugs before.  But my first introduction to the meaning of them was when I left my house yesterday morning to go to the staff meeting.  The school children where running around the compound with bags, collecting the, now wingless, 1 inch long, brown, bugs.  

I saw two of my good friends not far from my house, so I went to them and just said "Please tell me that they aren't going to eat those."  They just looked at me and said "Of course they are!  They are very sweet!"  (Sweet here means good, not sweet like sugar).  I was grossed out.

Throughout the days I began to hear more and more about the bugs.  Apparently half the community had been up at 4 AM collecting containers full of the creatures.  To eat.

That evening we, the people who usually eat in the priest's house, ate in the dinner.  There was some extra entertainment from the students which was funny.  And then they came.  The plates upon plates of fried "white ants" ... which is what they call them.  It is a funny name because they are neither white nor do they look anything like your 3 segmented ant.

The Italian man who is volunteering in the carpentry shop jumped right in.  I was appalled.  Then with some light peer pressure from those around me, I gave in.  I had to take 3 bits to prove to people that I had eaten them.  I just didn't look too closely.

They were.... crunchy.  They have an fine flavor.  The smell is what I didn't like very much.  It stays on everything so you are constantly reminded that you ate fried bugs. 

Sometimes I can forget I am in Africa.  We have electricity a good amount of the time (not right now though), and we have water whenever it strikes peoples fancy to give it to us (like right now, there is water and it is amazing). 

People are fairly normal, they don't do strange tribal dances or witch craft.  So sometimes ... I forget.

But no, I am defiantly in Africa.  The eating of the bugs fully reminded me of this!