Nakupenda

Hi everyone,

Almost another week. I've been able to find two projects that I feel benefit the most from my time here.
This past week we started the student leadership and service program at Hope Academy. I spoke to the students about the qualities of good leadership and how important giving back to one's community is. After having the students submit various ideas for the student led community service projects, we had our official kick off this morning. The projects include: student librarians (to keep the library open for children not in school during evenings and on weekends), a poultry project for the student run agriculture project, building a home for a child headed family in the village and outreach to children in the various nearby villages that don't attend school in order to get them to attend the after school program at the very least. I truly hope that the program stays up and running when I leave.

In the past I've mentioned the Nazareth Orphanage, and I can't really articulate the joy these children keep bringing to my days! We've started going three days a week, and it doesn't seem like enough. We help bathe, teach, feed, wash clothes and play with the children. It seems like little Ivan is getting much stronger now that he's eating more... even though he usually only finished his bottle when I'm feeding him. Truly all of the children have captured my heart...
My first day at the orphanage, little Gloria (about 4) caught my attention because of her beautiful smile and sweet laugh. Every afternoon though, I noticed her suddenly get sad, distant and non responsive, for a few hours. After learning she was the newest child to join the orphanage in March, it made more sense... Furthermore, she's from Tanzania and only spoke Swahili when she arrived (all the other children speak Luganda). As soon as Carol told me this, I went over, picked her up and whispered the few Swahili words I knew into her ear... The first being Nakupenda (I love you). She immediately smiled and started singing a song... "Nakupenda penda penda..." over and over and kissed my cheek. My eyes teared up and my knees weakened because I was so happy I could bring a smile back to her face...
Ugandan adoption policy requires a three year residency and after that day, I seriously contemplated it.

Also this week we had Nora, a Ugandan woman from a local NGO that specializes in the construction of environmentally friendly stoves that clear the smoke out of the cook shacks. She came to the orphanage and helped us build the stove, that will go a long way in keeping the staff and children safe from respiratory diseases associated with the black carbon that fills the kitchen and surrounding courtyard. The stove is constructed from ant hill soil, cow dung, saw dust and water. The coolest part was we got to knock apart the ant hills that had been dug up. They were infested with millions of ants and we just knocked them down until they were powdered for the cement. The chickens discovered the millions of ants very quickly and feasted for hours on the carnage.

I can't wait to share the pictures from this week. The funniest moments came from when the children went swimming! Another volunteer brought a tiny blow up pool for the kids and we filled jerry cans with water and had all the little ones go swimming. It was hysterical... they splashed and splashed for an hour, laughing so hard. My favorite little swimmer was Joseph (3 yrs old). He loved the pool so much, the next day, we found him on the side of the house with a wash basin he had filled with laundry water and was just splashing around by himself! He's such a ham...

At Nazareth, I've found a heroine in Carol, the 25 year old Ugandan who was raised at the orphanage and returned after school to continue running it. The kids truly love her and I can't even fathom being in such a position at my age, the welfare of twenty seven children day in and day out. Heroine might be an understatement.

I can't share how happy I will be to get in the back of a yellow cab... or a normal car after the taxi/matatu situation here (especially this week...). In a Toyota Corolla the other night on way back to Kyetume, we had 4 people in the front (yes, one was sitting with the driver in the driver's seat), and 9 in the back. The speedometers are usually broken and you're lucky if both headlights work. It's truly a recipe for disaster. Emma and I have been pretty lucky with hitching rides this week though, allowing us to avoid this situation and ride in comfort in the back of a friendly Ugandan's Land Rover... Dad, it's safe, I promise. We only hitch in daylight... official taxis at night... :o)

I've also discovered the Masaka market this week. Dana, you would love this... We bought 6 HUGE avocados for 1,000 Ugandan Shillings, or 50 cents... can you IMAGINE?! I've been in heaven with these, the limes, the pineapple, the passion fruit and the mango... I also finally found locally grown peanuts to help give me some protein and keep me from getting tired before late evening.

Now Emma and I are off to the Ssese Islands for the next two days (they're on Lake Victoria). Looking forward to it. Thursday of next week I begin my travels around the country and have decided, that if I can, I'm going to see the mountain gorillas... You only live once... and I'd probably be speechless at the sight of the silverbacks... Might as well make the most of my summer adventures...

Much love for now...

Kim