Hello loves! If all goes as planned this week I’m currently in Kampala using high speed internet for the first time all summer! I’m hoping the high speed will allow me to post not one, not two, but five pictures! Leslie and I took a half of a vacation day to use this fabulous high speed internet to book our European adventure. If all goes well we’ll book our train tickets as well as all our lodging. The second reason I’m in Kampala today is because I’m starting a new project this week! I’ve spent a fair amount of time with the public health nurse at Kawolo hospital and she had mentioned the need for family planning in Uganda and especially Lugazi. Women here can’t afford birth control and so they have no way of choosing how many children they want to have. There are also many couples with HIV, who if they had the choice would choose not to have children due to the risk of passing on the disease to their child or the risk of them not being able to be there to raise their child as the course of the disease takes their life at a younger age. So we have a plan. Today we’re meeting with another NGO called UXMG who specializes in health and reproductive services. We are planning to purchase massive amounts of Cycle Beads for a reduced price from them. Cycle beads come on a necklace with different colored beads and a marker to keep track of your menstrual cycle. The women track their cycle and then abstain from unprotected sex during their fertile time of the month. This form of birth control is 96% effective and the cycle beads can be used for the rest of their lives, talk about sustainability.
This Saturday is our fabulous AIDS Extravaganza. We have rented out a complex where we will have performances from different schools and AIDS support groups. We will also have booths all around the complex teaching the locals about the projects we do, and how to they can use them in their lives. For example we’ll have volunteers there to show the locals pictures of the adobe stoves we build and then teach them how to build them in their own homes. I will be running two health booths. One will be on hand washing and the other will be on prevalent infectious diseases in Uganda and what feasible preventative measures can be taken. We will also be running classes on reproductive health and family planning. The women who take the class will pay one hundred shillings (equal to five cents) to come to the class and receive their cycle beads. Having them pay a small fee will weed out the women who aren’t interested in using the cycle beads and are just there for the free hand out. We have the locals pay or contribute five percent to all of the projects we do in order for them to have ownership of whatever the service or product we provide. I guess the best way to describe our purpose for it is the difference between giving a teenager a car or making them save and work for it. The teenagers who paid for the car themselves are more likely to take a lot better care of it than the one who it was just handed to. It’s the same with development. Speaking of, the management of the local marketplace is keeping up there five percent of the deal and is continually refilling the stations with soap and water. So I’m way excited about that.
This week the ophthalmologist from Sight Savers will be performing the eye surgeries. As of now there are 124 people scheduled for surgery. We will still be doing eye screenings for then next few days here in Lugazi, so that number will probably be growing. Tomorrow we’re going to have a bit of a ceremony as we begin the day of surgeries with local television and radio stations as well as the local newspaper all there to advertise the event. Leaders from the Town Council will speak as well as some of our volunteers. It’s going to be quite an exciting week as we finish up the Sight Savers Project. The four hand washing stations for the hospital were completed this weekend and we will be installing them tomorrow. We will have extra people at the hospital this week and HELP International will be in charge of feeding the patients who come for surgeries, so I think we will just put them in the food preparation room and where they will be most needed. On Friday, I plan to move them to their permanent locations and put up signs in the latrines reminding people to wash their hands.
I got to spend our nations day of independence in a rather special way this year. The US Embassy put on a party for all of the Americans living in Uganda. We go to hear from the US Ambassador and see some cool Ugandan performances. There was a fabulous barbeque, fireworks, music, and dancing! It was probably the most fun I’ve had yet here in Uganda! I also met a pre-med student from the University of Kentucky at the party. He’s working in a rural village not to far from Lugazi. Unfortunately, he’s only here for a week and a half more but hopes to assist us in our AIDS Extravaganza on Saturday. He could really be helpful with our multiple health booths.
Early Sunday morning I will be leaving for Gulu, which is in northern Uganda. We will be completing some adobe stoves that the first group started a few weeks ago. We’ll also get a chance to meet with the head honcho of Invisible children and get to hear from some of the people who were there during the time of the war against the Lords Resistance Army. I want you all to know that it’s completely safe to go up there now and the government is in the process of getting the people to move out of the internally displaced person camps and back into their communities. There was a documentary that came out a few years ago called War Dance. I watched a couple of weeks ago and if you get a chance you should see it. The landscaping, the communities, and the people are identical to Lugazi, except they speak Acholi, not Lunganda. So if you want to get a feel for what it’s like here you should watch it. The documentary follows a secondary school (high school) as they prepare to compete in a national music and dance competition. All of the kids in the group were there during the war and they each share their experiences. I highly recommend it, its not violent at all, but some of the things the kids discuss might be a bit much for younger audiences. I also don’t want you guys to worry about me after seeing the movie. It’s very peaceful in Gulu now, so you have nothing to worry about.
Now the five pictures posted. Two of them are from the Fourth of July party. Look as all those muzungus (white people)! It was soooo weird to be around so many white people. I just kept staring and feeling like I was no longer in Uganda. There’s one picture of our lovely hand washing stations per my moms request. The one on the boat is of Melissa, Mindy, and me on the Nile on our way to the Gandhi memorial. Mindy (the one peeking trough the two of us) is on the board of directors for HELP International and spent a few days with us. I spent a lot of time with her learning about all the development work she’s been involved with all over the world. Then there’s a picture of me at Josephine’s office, aka the public health department. That was taken when we were waiting for her to discuss ideas about family planning. I’m not quite sure why it says blood bank, but I can assure you there’s no blood in that office.
Rumor on the dirt roads is that Elder Holland is coming to Uganda! Unfortunately he’ll be here just two weeks after I leave. He is coming to open the mission in Rwanda! Apparently the Rwandan government has really turned the country around since the genocide and its now safe enough for missionary work! The church is really growing here and I suspect that it won’t be long before Northern Uganda becomes a mission. I hope all is well with you guys. Morris family…ride a few waves for me at the beach house! I love you all! XOXO
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