What a week it has been here...so sorry I haven't been able to blog yet. Grab a cup of coffee or two and have a seat...we have a lot of catching up to do...first things first, my flight...
Feb 25, 2010
So of course I almost missed my flight. Jayme brought me to the airport a good 2 hours before my plane left, we checked my bags outside, had to pay $200 to ship the third bag...lucky for us Jayme has a way with the bag check guys and he didn't charge us for the bags being...oh 55-60 lbs...thank you Mr. nice guy. He also liked my last name and that is really why he did it :) so my bags are checked and I am ready to go. Jayme and I hung out for a bit before I had to go through security. Wow how time flies. It was 12:00 noon when I went through security and my plane left at 12:45pm, ok so I was running a little late, but how long could it possibly take to get through security...well that's the thing...I got stopped at security to get bag searched and patted down; all because of the laminator that was in my carry on for Shelly. After 20 min at security I finally got through and was then rushing to the shuttle to take me to gate S, next thing I know it is 12:30pm and they are announcing my name over the intercom... "final boarding, Sheena Darling, final boarding to Amsterdam". So I get to the counter and she looks at me with the, "really, you are showing up to an international flight 15 min before take off, and you have a crap ton of 'stuff' as your 'carryon'"? She was over it. I boarded my plane, all eyes on me, and we were off to Amsterdam.
Flew into Amsterdam, didn't sleep much on that flight. I watched "Where the Wild Things Are" and "UP", ate some food and we were there. I got off the plane in Amsterdam, walked about 20 yards and was at my gate to fly out for Uganda. I had a 2 hour layover there, paid $16 for an hour of internet, then boarded my plane. I was so ready to sleep at this point, we boarded the plane and I was out...for 2 hours!! I woke up after 2 hours of deep sleeping just to find out that WE HADN'T EVEN TAKEN OFF YET!!! I was sooo bummed, I still had a 7 hour flight ahead of me, that 2 hour nap did nothing to take time away from my flight. I ended up catching up on a lot of sleep that flight, missed both meals because I slept so hard.
Feb 26, 2010
Finally got to Entebbe (2 hours late) and the first thing I am reminded of is the smell of Africa!!! I was home! All the familiar smells and sounds came back to me, it was awesome! I got all my bags, got my VISA and met Shelly at the gate! It was about a 90 min drive out to Shiloh (where my house is) so we had the drive to do some catching up! She brought along with her Emma (a 16 year old boy shelly took in that lives at Shiloh with us) and Galabuzi (our security guard) with her to the airport. That was a pleasant surprise.
We arrived at Shiloh in the dark but Shelly couldn't wait to show me around. We grabbed our headlamps and we were off. The kitchen is beautiful and very homey, the big cottage is AWESOME! It has a crazy sweet loft and a huge down stairs area, sleeps about 4 people. Shelly's little cottage is so cute! The jungle out here is indescribable, the sounds are that of a rain forest, so many unfamiliar sounds...the true beauty of nature is right out my front door. Speaking of my front door, my house is amazing, it is perfect. Shelly decorated it, painted it inside, she did so much to make it "mine". I have a flushing toilet and a shower...I haven't used the shower yet because sponge baths are just too convenient and don't waste as much water.
Feb 27, 2010
We spent the morning out at Shiloh, Shelly made us tea and toast, we walked through the jungle, sat on the porch swing, had some quite time, and just embraced this place we call home. The rest of the day was spent at the center...it went a little something like this...The center was jam packed with the staff I remember, new and unfamiliar faces. I got reunited with everyone at the center, little Isaac remembered exactly who I was, Uncle Elijah was so very pleased to see me, even little Hannah (Isaac's sister whom I had never met) warmed up to me right away! It wasn't long before I was already crowded from arm to arm with little ones. I just hung out for the most part today, played with the kids, got to know the staff a little better. Then Shelly and I went to town to get some groceries, if that wasn't a chore in itself...bargain, bargain, bargain, mazungu, mazungu (white person), blah, blah, blah...we finally got out of the chaotic mess of a market and headed home. We had some African tea and donuts, went on a walk through the jungle then started preparing dinner. Vegetable, turkey sausage, stir fry, a nice fresh salad, some noodles and of course pineapple. Not bad for my first meal in Uganda.
Feb 28, 2010
It has become a daily routine...get up to the sun and sounds of Uganda around 7am, lay in bed and relax for another hour or two...Shelly comes down to my house with tea and toast, we visit for a bit, Emma comes and finds us and we start our day. Today we took sponge baths, cause water tanks at my house were empty. That bath was very refreshing. We picked Quinn up from the airport around 1pm, then went to Kampala to exchange money, have lunch and do some emailing. $ place was closed so we just did lunch (pizza) and internet at Nando's (a muzungu place). After lunch we headed to Oweno market to get some odds and ins for my house. After some serious muscling through crowds of impatient people and bargaining our brains off, we left with everything we needed...mirror, basin, trash basket, broom, TP, door mat...
Quinn, Emma, Kato and I went to fetch water, we fetched 8 jerry cans of water (I did the pumping, they did the carrying) we filled my tanks and we were then off to the local "theatre" to watch the Manchester United match against AST in Lukwuanga. Of course Man U won 2 to 1, but it was close. It was a VERY stuffy, dark, tight squeezed theatre with no air circulation...but welcome to Uganda...and by theatre I mean a 20in TV that everyone crowds around!
March 1, 2010
First hard night here in Uganda. I went to sleep around 10pm last night and was sooo paranoid by the ants outside! Oh I forgot a minor detail about my house...there are these fire biting ants that come in swarms, like thousands, and they invaded my porch!!!!! I was out there with gasoline killing them for hours yesterday!!!! They are sooo gross and I fear that they will get inside my house!!! They attack ANYTHING that moves!!! YUCK!!! So back to me explaining why I couldn't sleep...go figure. I finally fell asleep and then was woken up by many, many unfamiliar sounds. I heard a really loud clanking on my roof then looked out my window and saw something run/scury in front of my house...scared the bageebees right out of me...heard those sounds for over an hour. Was it a monkey? A person? My imagination? Guava's falling from the tree that hangs over my house...? We do have a monkey out here somewhere but he isn't seen often at all. I am going to go ahead and say that I saw it! At least I am hoping it was that and nothing else. I got out of bed at 1:45am, turned my headlamp on and looked around my house, there was nothing of course, no ants, no monkeys, no people, no guava's...went back to sleep (sweatshirt over my head) woke up a couple hours later to a HUGE storm! Now my roof is aluminum so it magnifies everything...is my house secure? Do I have leaks? Is a tree going to fall on it? Are all the ants going to swarm my house to get out of the rain and find a dry place? All these questions running through my head. I got out of bed once again to go outside and close my shutters so the rain couldn't get in, also glancing for ants to make sure they weren't trying to sneak through the cracks...it was just one of those restless nights...oh sun, please come up soon.
So I prayed over my house and veranda that God would not let any little or big creatures invade my house...I woke up...they were all gone. Well the vast majority were gone. I had a really rough day yesterday because of the and issue, I had pretty bad anxiety because of it and that pretty much consumed my whole day. Bot on a better note, my friend from Portland, Marayah Sipe came to town from Jinja to visit. That in itself, giving her directions out to Shiloh was insane. Directions aren't easy, we had no airtime on our phone and our battery was dying (no electricity in the bush) I borrowed our neighbors cell phone, ran out of HIS airtime, Marayah finally called us...she got out to Lukwuanga and an hour later realized that she left our dinner in the private taxi...she had to call him back and have our dinner sent back to us on a bota bota (motorcycle taxi). We were finally able to fix dinner and she was able to stay for 2 days. Marayah and I had a lot of catching up to do, she stayed out at Shiloh with me and then came to center with us to help with the kids!!
March 2, 2010
Today was our first day with the other school kids. Our schedule is kind of crazy...throughout the week we see 12 different schools throughout the community. 3 schools a day, 1 from 8:30-10:30, 1 from 11-1, (we have lunch and break from 1-3) and 1 from 3-5...Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri. Some of the schools come to us at the center, others we go to them.
Today we went to them. We went to a school in GABA for the second session. Marayah and I sat in on Uncle Elijah's art class, we were talking about proportions vs. elements when it comes to sketching. The kids loved watching Marayah and I draw, they would look at our drawings and try to copy them exactly. That is how they are taught here...copy and memorize and then regurgitate back on paper to pass. After that school we came back to the center for lunch, Shelly had our money exchanged...amazing exchange rate right now!! 2044 which is more than double our $1. After lunch we went back to that school and Quinn and I helped Abdul run a bunch of drills and techniques for futbal (soccer). It was freakin hot and miserable...I got sunburnt even with SPF 50 because the doxycycline (malaria meds) I am on makes me very sensitive to the sun...and I am pasty white so that doesn't help!
Then after work today we went to our apartments in town to shower up. The apartments are very simple and cute. We had a cup of quick tea, some showers and we were off to GABA for dinner, right on the water (Lake Victoria). On the menu tonight: "fresh" fish...it was not MY kind of fresh but it was fresh...lets just say it made me really appreciate fish from the northwest! Enoch bought Quinn and I a very refreshing beverage, NILE beer! It's hard to get a cold beverage around here, let alone a cold beer! We had fresh tilapia , yummy crispy chapati (fried flat bread) and samosas (egg roll type thing filled with peas) mmmmm so good! After the exciting event of a dinner outing we ended up at the internet cafe, the connection is so much faster now then it was three years ago!
March 3, 2010
Today was another school day. Morning school canceled because there was car problems. GABA MIXED school was our school for the second session, I was part of Alisha's drama class. We played games and did some acting...I would be "riding a bike" and a kid would ask, "Auntie Sheena, what are you doing?" While I was "riding a bike" I would SAY, "jumping rope"...then that kid that asked me would start "jumping rope" and another kid would come up to him and ask...and so on a so forth. It was fun to watch the kids creativity come out. The last session of our day was spent on the futbal pitch with CORNERSTONE boys. Abdul, Quinn and I split the kids up and we all took about 15 and started training. Right now we are practicing the basics...passing, dribbling, trapping, ball control...at the end of training we played a little 5 vs 5 match (Man U vs Arsenal) Arsenal won 4-3. I had to have 2 of the boys sit out for a bit because they were fighting each other, it seems to be a trend here with the futbal kids. Communication with the kids is very difficult, we as Americans talk very fast and our accents are very strong. Luckily futbal is a universal sport and they understand the basics of what we are trying to teach.
After work we came back to shower (#2 since I've been here) at our apartments here in GABA. Then we picked up Quinn and decided to go to dinner because we were too tired to drive out to Shiloh tonight. We will leave in the morning. Thursday's are a work day out at Shiloh with Uncle Dick. Quinn and I hope to get some stuff started with our futbal pitch out there, and spend some time with the village kids and the deaf school out there!
March 5, 2010
Okay so yesterday (Thursday-Shiloh day) did NOT go as planned...I woke up at 3:30am sick as a dog!!!! Needing to throw up I walk outside trying to find a basin, a trash can, something!!!! I had nothing of the sort in my apt. Our security guard, Moses, doesn't understand a lick of english so he was no help, and at that he was too late...I ran over the stone wall to the garden and did what needed to be done...it was AWFUL!!! Without getting too graphic, we had super spicy uncooked curry beef "stew" flattened white spongy bread and a boiled egg...not so good on my system apparently...or Shelly's or Quinn's...It was not a good situation, it burned soooo bad! Shelly came out after I'm sure being awaken by my not so pleasant sounds...come to find out, she had been up sick all night as well. I crawled into bed with her and low and behold...we were up every hour on the hour, taking turns "using the toilet". To say the least, it was quite the bonding experience! Water and crackers...not good, 7 up and soup...not good...nothing stayed down, nothing helped. We just layed there all day...sick...ill...dead. I had the worst headache imaginable, I was feverish, cold sweats, my throat had soars on the inside because of an allergic reaction to something...it closed up my nose and my throat for almost 10 hours!!! My throat and nose finally cleared up after a lot of painful clearing of my throat and blowing awfullness out my nose...the spicy sting was awful!!! All this to say, we had the worst case of food poisoning!!!! I was to the point where my headache was sooo bad that I HAD to take some IB Profane, so at about 7pm Enoch brought me some chicken soup and Alisha brought me bananas. I ate and kept down both (I think it was the bananas that cured me!!) I was able to take some medicine and catch some shut eye. Shelly said I didn't move for the rest of the night! It was glorious! She was able to take some sleeping meds to get some much needed sleep as well.
This morning we better, considering our condition yesterday, we are great today. Quinn is still feeling bad today so he stayed home to get some more sleep. Shelly was working at the center and she feels already that she pushed herself to hard. We stopped by this morning to get some light but substantial food. We had fried egg, toast and tomatoes...nervous to eat again...we ate. We also had some really yummy juice call simply hibi, it is hibiscus juice filled with "natural antioxidants" not sure how accurate that is but regardless it was delicious! We are now at the center taking it easy, that is why I am here at the internet cafe able to update my blog. Although our internet cut out for an hour, I was still able to get all this typed up. Sorry for such a long post..it just isn't very easy to do this kind of thing with our time schedule. From now on, I will try to post more pictures and then describe briefly what the pictures are. That way you get an idea of what we are doing but aren't overwhelmed by my words :). We are here at the center tomorrow with our original Christopher House kids and then off to Shiloh until Tuesday! Thank you all so much for your prayers and support, it truly is a blessing that I am here doing this kind of work! I couldn't have done it without you guys. If there is anything you specifically want to hear about just let me know and I will do my best to communicate it to you! Until next time, know that I am in good hands and am absolutely loving it here. More stories, photos, and videos to come! I love you all! Enjoy and never stop praying!
In His care,
Shee
