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.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
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!
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!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
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!
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!
Monday, September 10, 2012
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)
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