Heading Back to Uganda!

So after much contemplation, I decided to return to Uganda to finish my last month of volunteering. It's difficult entering a country completely different from your own, without knowing exactly what it'll be like there. And then feeling so overwhelmed and helpless by everything... It was definitely a lot to take in. Everything that I experienced, unforgettable. I cannot describe my trip any other way than indescribable - as lame as that sounds. Every thought I had, every experience I endured... felt so surreal. And I think going back I will continue to learn more, even if it's only for a month. The more you see of the world the more you begin to understand the world. So I'm ready, I'm ready to complete another chapter to my life. Ready to learn and to help people in any way that I can.

Merry Christmas my blog followers.

Hair

African's can change their hairstyles almost instantly. Just a week ago Jennifer only had a bit of fuzz on her head, the next day I found her walking around with a full head of hair! I had to give her a second glance because I barely recognized her!

Here are Jennifer's before and after shots:

If I chose to, I could come home with a full head of dreadlocks, corn-rolls or even braids. I've been asked by many of the women here if I want my hair done. It's tempting and I'm curious about change... but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough just yet. Who knows, maybe I'll return as a changed woman! ;)

Wakiso Children's School of Hope: Medical Fund

In only a week, my friends and family helped me raise $335.00 for the kids at Wakiso Children's School of Hope. The support I have... it's amazing. In everything I have done and accomplished throughout my life, I've always had a support system (even through my bad decisions!). I love my friends and family so much and I feel like saying thank you doesn't seem to justify how grateful I am. But thank you for everything. You're helping me, help kids. I don't know where I'd be without you guys. <3

Thank you.

http://www.gofundme.com/jennachan

 

This is a picture of some of the men in my life. They're quite sexy and I have multiple photos of them to prove it. Yesterday night I received this letter. I'm not sure if you'll be able to read it, but don't worry I don't really understand it anyways. It gave me and the other volunteers a good laugh trying to rap it out loud! Yes the song is about their shorts and numbers... pretty random! I know I wasn't suppose to show it to anyone (as it says in the letter) but I just had to share their awesome song!

Jinja

We went swimming in the Nile! Absolutely gorgeous. Although I'm pretty sure we saw a crocodile in the water... Luckily we were out of the water when we noticed the creature. We didn't go back in after that because we were too afraid haha. This was one of the most relaxing trips I've ever been on. Even though our trip was just a couple of days, it was great to get away and explore. 

Another great part about this trip was the food. We ate directly over looking the river. I had a typical breakfast I'd normally eat at home: granola, bananas and yogurt... It was incredibly satisfying... I cannot stop thinking about it. But we're back at the orphanage with the Uganda food. Which don't get me wrong, it's absolutely delicious! Just sickening after you eat it 3 times a day... everyday... I also had delicious spring rolls in Jinja that were only 2,500 UGX! Equivalent to $1 CAN!! Ridiculously cheap! And that restaurant had wifi! That was a first! 

Sipi Falls, Mbale.

Absolutely gorgeous. We stayed at the Crows Nest, a remote hostel with a breathtaking view across from one of the falls. This is the life: greenery, hills, clear water and tranquility. Who needs hot water or electricity? In the morning we hiked for over 2 hours eventually standing directly under the falls in the caves. It was an amazing view with the sound of water pounding all around us. On our way home we are stopping off in Jinja to take a dip in the Nile!

Time

One thing I will never be able to adapt to, or get over is African time. People in Africa do not care about the clock. If they say they'll be there at 9 am, they might just arrive at 1 pm. I learned this the first day I arrived. My project coordinator called me and told me he would arrive at the orphanage at 9 am to start the orientation. Me, being the keener that I am, set my alarm, got up early and was ready all before 8:30 (in case he arrived early). 4 hours later he arrived, without an apology and continued on as if it was 9 am. I know traffic and transportation in Uganda isn't easy, and driving disasters happen spontenously.. but don't give a time if you cannot commit. My daddy and sister would love African time, since they're both always late. My date for the wedding was suppose to pick me up at 11am. He came at 1pm and he told me the ceremony started at 1:30... we did some errands ans got to the church at 3:30... We missed the ceremony lol. But it was his friend getting married so it didn't completely bother me. Gah, I can't handle people who don't respect time! And that's practically every African...

Tomorrow Emily and I are venturing off to Sipi Falls. It's about a 4 hour bus so we packed books, apples, chips and jelly donuts (whicht I'm extremely excited to devour!). It's an early morning for us so I'll say good night!

Sick

Moments like being sick are when you wish you were home. I let Emily do a malaria test on me (just to be safe) and thankfully I don't have malaria. It's probably just a flu but I feel like crap. The other day I slept in till 4pm. The kids laughed at me when they saw me come out in my pjs at 4pm because I had to use the washroom. I was invited to go to a wedding tomorrow. I hope I'm better so I can enjoy every moment of this African wedding experience!

Moving

Last week my roommate Emily and I changed rooms because every time it rained, our room would flood. It's rainy season, and having a wet bed and clothes everyday wasn't ideal so we agreed to move. Our new room is very spacious and I feel much less claustrophobic. Our old room was like a dark wooden box and when it rained, everything would smell like damp wood. Here are a couple of shots of our new pad!

I Hate Titles

At what point does your body begin to acclimatize? I've been in Africa for 3 weeks and the heat is still torture. Like today, it's only 10:30am and I'm beginning to sweat. I packed over 5 long sleeves but so far I have only worn 1. Some days I will wear shorts and a tank in the morning, and go to sleep with them because the temperature is still warm. The other day at 9am I was working in the garden and the temperature was comparable to Vancouver's 2pm on a hot sunny day. But we are now entering the rainy season so things may change. In rainy season it can be excruciatingly hot at one moment and then rain storm the next. The rain storms can be nice if you're under shelter. It's a nice loud, aggressive kind of peace (if that even makes sense). Currently the temperature is continuing to heat up, and with my Ugandan senses I predict it is going to rain. I am going to grab some more water and a cold drink before I head back to the orphanage soon.

Currently they are playing Sometimes - Britney Spears at the internet cafe. Nostalgic much?

Tomorrow is Parent's Day at the orphanage. I am excited to meet some of the kids families, which I'm sure the kids are extremely excited about too. Unfortunately the kids are not allowed to leave the orphanage grounds. Which I cannot imagine because only after a full day at the orphanage I get restless and need to leave or do something. Sometimes I crave a run. But the roads and fields here not smooth enough to run on so I run around our dining porch. The kids just stare and laugh at me, but I've gotten use to that.

Technology

Currently I'm helping Isaac create a Facebook and e-mail account. Craziest thing. He's never used the internet before, let alone a computer..and he's 18! I just showed him what a mouse is and how to use it. He is struggling to maneuver his mouse over the "Proceed" button. We live in such different worlds. It's just like how the kids are so fascinated with all the volunteers smart gadgets. Where we live, it's so common to own an iPhone or laptop...no one looks at these objects in aw. In developed countries we don't appreciate things as much as we should. I found that even after my first day, I began to appreciate things more. Going to the Red Chilli Hostel I look forward to having a nice cold refrigerated drink and a light in my room for before I sleep - Things that we just expect in life.
Something else that I miss is, ice. Two days ago Gideon was kicked with a football (soccerball) in the chest and Yesterday Solomon slammed his finger in a door. Automatically my remedy for these pains would be ice but ice doesn't exist here. The only thing I could do was give them a kiss and hope that that magically helped them feel better.

As of me? I'm good. I think I got a tan from hand washing my clothes outside yesterday. The kids like to stare and laugh at our terrible "muzungu" (white person) technique. The first time I washed my clothes they stunk after they dried but this time I think they're clean. The kids didn't laugh as much today, I think that means I'm getting better at this.

Pics pics pics!

A couple of photos I took from my phone.

A typical dinner meal: veggies, rice, beans and chapat with Ugandan tea.

Our garden creation for carrots and eggplant.

The kids carrying turkeys... It totally weirded me out.. 

and my favourite, Alpha and I.

Red Chilli

Hello. It's another weekend at the Red Chilli Hideaway Hostel with warm showers, comforting food, electricity and internet. I've been in Uganda for 2 weeks and it's really starting to feel like home. I'm getting use to the permanently grimy feeling and I'm completely attached to many of the kids. They are all so wonderful with such vibrant personalities. This week we started growing carrots and eggplant for the orphanage. We built the garden completely from scratch; from slashing the grass, to turning the soil, and creating some shade made from fallen down trees and banana leaf leaves. - I felt pretty handy. We are hoping that these vegetables can be incorporated into the children's diets. I can't imagine eating posho and beans 3 times a day, everyday.. A lot of kids don't eat their food, and that's why they get stomach ulcers. I promised the kids next week I'd eat the same food as them for a day. I hope it isn't incredibly terrible...

I paid for my safari trip in late October to Murchison Falls, it's the most recommended safari Uganda has to offer. I'm excited to finally see the animals. I've only seen stray dogs, farm animals and a couple of monkeys. Unfortunately there are no zebras and giraffes in my backyard. A volunteer and I are also thinking about seeing Sean Paul for only 25,000USH! Which is about $12USD! Ridiculous! I haven't bought any clothes yet but I am planning on doing some hard-core bargaining shopping tomorrow at the market. Going to try and barter myself some deals!

She's Alive!

I had originally expected I'd be able to update people about my trip a day or two after I arrived, but my living situation wasn't quite as I expected. I live in the outskirts of Wakiso in the orphanage grounds in the main building sharing a room with another volunteer. My window has no glass, so when it rains I have to move all my stuff onto my room-mates bed. If the room were bigger I'd reposition my bed but we sleep in a box. Living on the orphanage can make working a 24 hour job. This is something that a lot of volunteers are struggling with - how much of our time should be out into the program. Because there is no structure to the program, it is hard to plan out our days. We have a toilet! So thankful it is not a squat toilet. But our washroom is pretty gross. We take bucket showers with only cold
Water and I don't have to look very hard to find a spider or slug somewhere in there. My first shower experience was shocking. Instantly as I poured the first bucket of water over my head I could feel my heart want to jump out of my chest - It definitely woke me up. We have running water from around 9am-7pm so I try to time my washroom visits accordingly. We have no electricity except to charge cellphones and to light the girls dormitory at night. The rest of us are left in the dark around 7:30pm.

My first couple of days have felt so surreal. The moment I walked out of the airport and was in Entebbe everything changed. The temperature was humid, the buildings were run-down, homes were half existent and the people were unfamiliar. I arrived at the orphanage and was instantly brought back to a reality that I didn't prepare myself for. Everything was so overwhelming. And truthfully I though I didn't have the strength to do this. I was frustrated at our situation and I always felt dirty. I'm not going to go into detail, but there are a lot of things at this orphanage, or in general in this society that aren't right. And because I'm only a volunteer, not the orphanage director the Ugandan political leader, it is out of my control. Although IDE death with a lot, in the end I'm absolutely enjoying every minute here (minus when I'm swearing and the natives are not). The children are amazing - they are what make looking past these hardships and frustrations, easier. They are beautiful kids with incredible personalities. The kids have such imaginations. Learning to entertain themselves with just about anything. Broken tire? Let's use it as a hoola-hoop or something to just throw around! They are also incredibly smart. The education system here is very advanced. Kids in grade 6 are learning math that we learn in grade 10! In Canada we learn the history that applies to us, these kids learn history about every part of the world! Most I them also speak 3 languages, I only speak one...

But I hope that was a fairly decent update. I typed that all out on my phone... Fingers are sore. Until next time!

Packing Progress

4x6 granola bars, 6 bars of chocolate, 2x12 packs of nutter butters, a bag full of medication and a first aid kit. 

This photo doesn't even include all the food, toiletries and medications I'm bringing! I hope my luggage doesn't surpass the weight limit. All this stuff is quite heavy... What about my clothes?!! (Maybe I shouldn't be bringing so much snack food... hehe)

Jambo

So I have been encouraged by many to start a separate blog for my Ugandan adventures, and finally I got around to creating it. T-minus 2 weeks... Time flies. It's been 4 months since I committed to this endeavour by submitting my application to the volunteer organization. Ever since I watched my first WorldVision infomercial (cheesy eh?), the idea of traveling to Africa to help those in developing countries (especially the kids) has resonated in the back of my mind. When I was younger, every Sunday I would watch the informercial and every Sunday I would feel sad and helpless because I was stuck at home unable to do anything and unable to donate a dollar a day because I was 8 and had no job. Plus my allowance was like $2 a week at the time... But 12 years later I made the decision, I'm ready to volunteer. I'm excited, nervous and scared, all at the same time. When I was 16, I went to Quebec for a French program for almost 2 month and for half that time I was homesick. Hopefully this adventure, I'm a bit more mature and independent, hopefully. lol.

I really should've taken advantage of my ample preparation time but only yesterday did I get my tourist visa returned and approved. And only yesterday did I send in my forms for a criminal check (hopefully I get that approved soon haha). Once a procrastinator always a procrastinator. We never seem to learn. I just hope my packing starts in a more timely manner. I will make a post on my packing progress a week before my trip, but that progress will probably be non-existent... but maybe I should have a bit more faith in myself haha.

Reminder: I have to take my first Dukoral dosage today... Gross.