Friday June 20th to Sunday June 22nd

Once again I am just going to keep this as short as possible.  I am getting lazy about typing everything and wish I could just do a talking blog, because I love to talk, but they don’t have those.  So Friday was pretty cool.  I had the opportunity to go to a place called Joy Hospice and shadow some doctors with Merin.  I was a little bummed though because I just shadowed some medical students instead of actual doctors.  I was there all day long.  I woke up at 6 am and was there by 7:20am and was there till about 5pm. It was nice being there but I think it was too long for me to be there to just shadow students that are still learning.  After shadowing all day, half of the team joined Merin and me for a meeting with Dr. Jan about doing some additional projects with her.  She wants to be involved in an immunization outreach, painting a clinic, and taking part in a student health evaluation at Child of Hope.  When we were talking about all of these projects I was getting so excited!! I can’t wait to be a part of each and every one of them; next week is going to be a busy week for sure!!

After the meeting we all went to dinner at this place called Enduro.  We are in charge of our own meals Friday dinner to Sunday Lunch which is kinda of a bummer but whatever.  The restaurant is really good!!  It is catered to tourists so it’s a lot of American food which is great.  Rice and beans and posho and beans on a regular basis is kinda boring so I def like having that restaurant to eat at over the weekends to get a break. After dinner we had to go straight home because it was getting close to curfew.  We got home and just chilled and that was that. 

Dress code for Islamic University 

Saturday was a pretty eventful day!! We woke up pretty early because we had to meet with a lady named Sarah who works at a place called IUIU which stands for Islamic University in Uganda.  She is a really good nurse in the Mbale community and needs our help in the future teaching family planning classes so we had to go to a training to get the rundown of what we would be teaching.  Here in Africa people just pop out kids like it’s nothing and that is a big problem because a lot of families are not financially stable for more kids.  So Sarah teaches family planning to help the people in the community realize that and help avoid that situation. It was at an Islamic nursing school so we had to wear the traditional head dress when we went so that was pretty cool. 

 After our meeting with Sarah we had to hurry home because we were going to a wedding.  One of the partners we work with had a friend who was getting married and he was from the UK and needed “Muzungu” /white people to attend the wedding in place of his family.  So we got invited haha I’m not white but I was still allowed to go haha the wedding was great!! We got to wear the traditional dressed called Gómezes and I am a true African but this just made it even better haha the wedding was really long though but I kind of expected that. Also the whole thing is a joke.  So the wedding was set up at the bride’s house and there were tents and so many decorations and it was beautiful.  The grooms side (us) were waiting outside and could not be let in until they cut this ribbon, I’m not really sure the meaning behind that.  Anyways we walk in and the bride’s family sits on one side and the grooms family sits on the side and there is like a 20 feet gap in between the two sides with a blue tarp.  So we sit down and somehow I end up sitting in the front which was kind of awkward.  I felt like I shouldn’t be sitting there but the spokesman on the groom side said it was fine.  So as we sit there are dancers performing and music playing and it just made me so happy?  I just love African events.  So we have a spokesman and the bride has a spokesman.  Basically the groom came to find the wife and ask for her hand in marriage. But here’s where the joke comes in. So the bride’s family pretends they don’t know who the bride is when the groom is asking for her.  So the brides spokesman brought out like 6 groups of 5 women and was like are these the girls you are looking for and of course it isn’t.  It really makes no sense to me but it is really funny.  I am going to try to explain it so hopefully it makes sense.

Wedding attire :)

So after we decide that the bride is the bride they sit her down in the front of everyone and her bridesmaid comes to the groom’s side of the family and “find” the groom and he joins her in the front.  Then people from the wife’s side give the groom a gift and then the people from the groom’s side give the wife a gift and those people so happened to be me and some of my other group members.  We thought we were going to just attend the wedding but we were actually in it.  It was really funny but pretty cool.  We had to do a little shuffle around a circle and then bow down to give the bride her gift.  It was funny though because when we were doing the little shuffle thing no one was on beat but me so everyone on the bride’s side was just dying in laughter, I’m actually pretty sure people were crying because they were laughing so hard.  So after we gave her gift the ceremony kind of wrapped up and then it was time to eat.  The food was good but a little sketch so I made sure to have a coke with it.  I learned the first day I was here that coke has something in it that basically kills everything in your stomach. So words to the wise, if you eat something weird drink coke!! After the wedding there was an after party but we couldn’t stay because we had curfew.  I was a little bummed but it was a long day so I was ready to go home.  Fortunately, someone from the wedding was also leaving so we got a ride home.  The taxis suck so much, so anytime we can ride in a different vehicle we take advantage of that. We were all pretty tired when we got home so we just chilled, watched a movie, and just went to bed. It was a solid day!!

                

Practicing my basket carrying skills 

Sunday was awesome as well!! We woke up at around 9 or so got on a taxi, rode to the middle of nowhere and fed baboons.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever done.  I am adding things to my bucket list as I do them.  One you don’t really see baboons and two you don’t get to feed wild ones!! It was a little scary at first because people on the taxi kept telling us to be careful because they could attack you. So I was freaking out a bit.  It took about 20-30 min for us to actually get a baboon to let us feed it but once that one baboon let us I think like 5 more joined the party.  It was amazing!! I got really good pictures from it and it’s a pretty cool story to brag about when I get home.  I can’t wait to get home and just share all the cool things I was able to do while I was in Africa!!

Coolest thing ever!! 

               

I am just loving it here and am going to have a really hard time when it is time to come home.  I know that if I didn’t have other obligations I would definitely be staying here for another month.  The people are so friendly, it is beautiful here, and I am just loving all the service and help I am providing to people in need.  There are hard moments but mostly good and I am so glad I have been given this opportunity to be here. 

Until tomorrow J

Wednesday June 18th & Thursday June 19th

I am very tired and lazy so this is going to be short and sweet and to the point.  Today I am just going to combine today and yesterday because nothing really happened yesterday.  But two days ago when I said that every day would be a great day I lied.  Wednesday was miserable and it was the worse day we have had so far.  It was so boring and we were cooped up in the house all day and it sucked so much.  We had to training to get done.  The thing that made it suck so much was that before we left we had to do a mandatory training meeting and it was everything that we had to listen to on Wednesday and it was awful.  We were literally in the house ALL day!! We got to leave at like 5 just because people needed to get some errands done but then we had to be back by 7 for curfew soo 2 hours outside equaled a sucky day. 

First time doing immunizations :)

Today was great though. We went to Mbale Regional Hospital and I got to do immunizations on babies.  It was the best thing ever.  First we had to do a health class with the mothers and teach them about caring for their babies which included how to breastfeed properly, when to breastfeed, when to burp the baby, and the importance of the immunizations we were about to give them.  While the nurse was teaching about breastfeeding there was a lady that was actually breastfeeding and she was doing it completely wrong so the teacher called her out.  It was a little awkward but i is just a part of the culture.  Also side noet while I'm on the topic... Women here are not private at all about their breastfeeding situations.  Like yea its natural but not everyone needs to see it.  You could be mid conversation with a woman and she will just whip out her boob.  It's a little weird but gotta get used to it because it is something that happens all the time.  Anyways back to the immunizations.  We were giving the polio vaccine and TB vaccine.  I was freaking out because I had never done anything like that before.  I had given my grandma her insulin shots awhile back but nothing like that. I was stressing out because for the TB testing you have to create a little bubble under the skin and inject the vaccine into the bubble. They do that so that it creates a scar so nurses and physicians can tell if people have gotten their immunizations.  I only got to give one immunization because we were running out of time but I was so excited that I did it.  I messed up when I actually got to do it but sometimes you have to mess up before you can succeed. 

Cool looking thing outside of La Casa

After the immunizations, Hannah (a girl on my team) took some of the newbies to go explore the town just so we don’t have to be babysat anymore and can be more independent.  I am slowly but surely getting the hang of everything now and it makes me happy.  I still can’t pronounce any of the city names but I’m making my way  haha We went to this place called La Casa and grabbed a bite to eat then headed home.  It kinda sucks that our curfew is so early but I know it’s for a good reason.  I am going to bed though because I am exhausted!!

Peace and love Americans!! 

Tuesday June 17th

Today was a great day, but then again I am sure every day will be a great day.  Today we had to wake up pretty early to get to where we were going.  Today we were told that we were going to a clinic on top of some mountain to go asses what else needed to be done as well as follow up on projects that had already been started.  We were told to be ready to leave the house by 8am but we didn’t end up leaving until about 9 which is typical African time.  Being raised in the family I am in, there was nothing wrong with that.  It was funny though because a lot of the people in my group either don’t understand it or its frustrating to them but it is nothing out of the ordinary for me so I just roll with it haha

               

Like I said we left around 9 and the first thing we had to do was find bodas to take us to the taxi station.  Sometimes it is hard to find them where we are because our place where we live is kinda tucked away and the bodas like to stay on main roads because more people are around.  Anyway we found one and I didn’t explain this earlier but you negotiate almost everything here including boda rides.  It is so weird to me still because you would never bargain with a taxi driver in America.  Also the price you pay is insane. You could pay 1000 shillings which is less than a dollar to get to the grocery store about 6-8 min away.  If you even get in a taxi for that long you’re looking at least 10 dollars.  They always try to rip my group off because they are all white and the boda drivers try to take advantage of them.  It’s just sad though because they may ask for 1500 which is still less than a dollar in American money but we stick to our guns and try to get the local prices.  It’s just hard for me because it’s like really this isn’t a lot of money for me but they might start taking advantage of you even more and we don’t want that.

Anyways, we drove to the taxi station and found a taxi.  Their taxi system is very different as well and it’s actually pretty funny.  So you find your taxi, negotiate the price, which we paid 5000 shillings, and then you wait.  What do I mean by wait?? Well we wait until the taxi is almost full, all the way full, or completely full. So we waited for another 45 min after we got in the taxi until we left.  And let me just tell you these rides are not comfortable. First of all, the taxis fit 13 but no one really follows that rule so we had 20 people in the car... so it was a little tight. Also the taxies are built for people maybe 5’5” and shorter, so with my height of 5’10” there was NO leg room.   Like my knees were going into the seats and it sucked.  To add onto all that, the roads are awful! There are  pot holes everywhere, so the rides are very very bumpy.  One of the girls that came earlier was like don’t be surprised if you get whiplash haha ummmm ok?

                

Zion Clinic

So we get to Mount Zion Community Clinic which is in the Bunabuyoka village in Bududa.  The clinic is about an 8km uphill boda-boda ride.  Being told about the ride up I was kind of freaking out a little bit but I had the best driver, Julius, so it made me feel a little bit safer.  The only thing that made this ride a bit more challenging was that there was the driver and me and a girl Paige from our group.  They don’t normally take two people up on one boda up that mountain but all the drivers were very young and our country director Todd didn’t want them to take any of us.  So the ride ended up being a little scarier than it should’ve been. We did a couple wheelies but we didn’t fall down any mountains so that was fine haha We did have to walk a lot because the boda didn’t have enough power to get three people up the hills but it was good exercise.

Julius my boda driver.  Got me up the mountain safely. 

We got to the top of this mountain and it was absolutely beautiful!! Being from Washington I am used to the green and all the trees but this was ten times better.  I posted a picture of it on Facebook but the picture didn’t even do its justice.  It’s just so cool, I wish everyone could see how pretty it was and standing on this mountain you could see out far enough and see Kenya which was super cool. I found it a little hard at times to pay attention to people talking because I was so distracted by the scenery. 

The view doesn't get much better than this. 

We didn’t really do much while were there.  It was a lot of assessing what could be done, which is necessary but I wish we could have done an actual project or something.  Another thing that is kind of hard right now is none of the new people really know what we want to do yet.  Like all the old people have all these projects and know people and it’s hard to just get on board with some of them but we are all catching on.  We got to walk around one of the clinics so that was interesting.  It was tiny!! Like the clinic itself is maybe a tad bit bigger than the waiting room in the emergency room I work in, it is crazy!! There are five or six stations. I am still a little bit confused about that. Either the guy explaining the stations didn’t know how to count or they just have multiple stations with the same numbers.  Anyways station one was like check-in which is pretty much the same as what we do at home, just filling out paper work. Then station two is the lab where they evaluate all the tests they do on patients for example, malaria and HIV.  That station is maybe the size of a regular walk--in closet if not smaller. We could barely fit like 6 people in at once.  Station 3 is where you see the doctor and he does what he needs to do.  He can either refer you to the lab to get blood work, to get medicine, or just give you advice and then send you home.  Station 4 is more paper work. Station 5 is the pharmacy which made me so sad.  The pharmacy room is also tiny but there was barely any medication.  The doctor said they never have enough medication to give people.  He also mentioned that some people don’t want to come to the clinic because they know they are not going to get medication so there is no point.  It is just so sad to me.  I can’t even imagine going to a pharmacy and them not having medication.  Yes we may wait, but they are never going to tell you they are completely out and that is something I think I take for advantage.  It’s little things like that, that I am realizing I am so blessed to live where I do.  People in America complain about our healthcare system but in Africa they barely even have one.  I know I need to appreciate little things like that and I think there are a lot of people that could agree with me on that one.

Outside of the clinic

               

After hanging out in the clinic for a bit we went and walked around all the classrooms in this little village.  This school was not nearly as nice as the Child of Hope School we went to the other day.  It is basically a concrete building with giant windows and sheets separating each class room.  I wish the conditions were better for the kids to learn in but at least there is a school for them to attend. I feel like they teach them to be robots in school and it is so funny to me.  We always walk into class and the teachers are like say hi to our guests so they all say hi in these monotone voices all at the same time.  Then we ask them how they are and in unison they all respond “we are fine,” It was weird at first but I’m getting used to it.  Just a little side note that kind of relates. So when we walk through the towns and say hi they automatically say “hi I am fine”. Haha it is so funny but it is what they are taught. We don’t even have to ask them how they are and they say “we are fine.”  Besides that we went in the classrooms and just explained to the kids who were, what we were doing, and just reminded them how important education is.   I think it is important to remind kids how smart they are and how important education is.  Knowledge is power.

After our tour of the school and the clinic we ate lunch.  Tess and Tabby are people we work with up there and I guess they always prepare a meal for us before we leave so they made us posho, beans, and peanut sauce.  I hate peanut sauce but had to eat some to be polite.  The beans were really good but this posho stuff is yuck.  It is mashed up maize with flour and water and it has zero flavor. I got lucky though because I was able to serve myself so I had very little food but then after I served myself the cook started serving everyone and it was a lot of food and everyone seemed to be very jealous of my small amount haha.  I guess we eat it a lot though so we are all going to have to get used to it.   After lunch/dinner or as my dad would say “linner” we watched the kids perform for us.  It was so cute and they get so excited about it!! I was dancing with the little kids and my friend Joseph who is so freaking adorable!!

After the performance we had to hurry and leave before it started raining.  The ride down was a lot better than up because there were only two people riding instead of three.  We did almost fall though because someone behind us fell and my driver Julius thought it would be a smart idea to turn around and see what happened... while were were driving. So that was great.  We didn't fall but came close for sure.  We got to the bottom and waited for our taxi for about ten minutes and thank goodness it was more than half full so we didn't have to wait for people.  On the ride back we did get to experience picking up a man with his two chickens and he just sat with them in his lap. It is soooo funny to me, but my mom warned me that that would happen so I wasn't too shocked. 

We got home and just chilled for the rest of the day. Tomorrow should be interesting because we have training with Todd and Jess and none of us are looking forward to that because it is supposed to be an all-day thing in the house.  Anyways off to bed I go!

My little friend Joseph

Forgot something!! While we were up at the clinic I met a new friend named Joseph and he was about 6 years old and so dang cute!! At first he was just following me around and then he  held my hand and was with me pretty much the whole time we were there,  He danced with me, played some games, and helped me climb the mountain, It was presh.

Wanyala!

Today was day one in Africa and it was absolutely amazing.  I woke up at like 11:30 which was great but I still wasn’t even ready to wake up.  I probably could have slept like another hour or so but everyone was leaving so I had to wake up.  Got ready and boy did I look great haha it was really hot today so I was like sweating as I was getting ready and it was miserable. But after I got ready I ate breakfast which was Chapati (basically a tortilla but better) and honey and it was delicious!

We left the house and I had my first Boda-Boda experience. A boda-boda is the main transportation and it’s just like a motorcycle.  You bargain with the drivers and then hop on. My leader Todd bargained for us because we were all new-bees and then we got on.  It was a little scary because the roads were so bumpy and it seems like the drivers all think it’s their own road so there is no order, but it was a great time haha We went to the bank first to exchange our shillings (money) for smaller bills because it is easier to pay for things.  After the bank we went to the Namatala slums. 

The Namatala slums were a little sad but it was great experience going there.  So the slums are basically the “ghetto” but worse, if you can imagine that.  I don’t really know how else to put that. There were homeless people everywhere, trash everywhere, it had a bit of a stench, people were dressed with very raged, dirty and ripped clothes, kids were half clothed or even naked.  It was sad.  Like I knew beforehand that I was going to see stuff like that so I was semi mentally prepared, but I didn’t realize the extent of it.  On a good note though, once again there were cows, chickens, and goats wandering everywhere haha

Once we got off the boda-bodas and actually started wandering around, children started flocking towards us.  At first they were going to everyone in the group but me and I started getting really sad.  But then I thought about it and was like I’m black. Hahah these kids think I am probably just a local.  This was only the case though for maybe like five min, after that the kids were flocking to me as well and I was in HEAVEN!! They are so adorable!! Also the kids walk around saying “Muzungu” which means white people and follow us. Haha and I would ask the kids if I was a “muzungu” to be funny, and they would say no and just laugh. Haha It was sooo cute. They are just so happy.  They live where they live and are still so happy.  I met a lot of new friends but I don’t remember anyones name haha  one friend I do remember was a little kid named Chuttte, that’s probably not how you spell it but whatever.  He was so stinkin cute and wouldn’t let go of my hand, and he seemed to be bragging to his friends about me haha he would say something to them, point at me, and then like hug my arm.  I felt so special.

My friend Chutte

We took so many pictures and let me tell you that those kids looveeee pictures!!!! Like I thought I loved pictures but not as much as them.  You take a picture and then they want to see it and then they want to keep taking more.  I think we probably spent like 30 min just taking pictures.  And once you take one picture more kids see that and want to hop in too. I just love it!!

So we walked around the slums for a while and then found some more kids who were playing futbol or soccer and joined in.  It was way fun!! We danced, played soccer, and I met some new little kids who loved playing tag.  I was exhausted after that haha these kids play some serious tag.  I was going easy on them because that’s what you do with kids but they were fast.  I had to actually run to catch them.  I got a good workout in for sure.  We played, took some more pictures, and we were off.

Our next destination was to the Child of Hope School in the Slums.  This school is for like 1-7^th grade boys and girls but not everyone gets to attend which is sad.  They take one child from each family and that’s it.  If the families want more of their kids to go they have to pay for it or if they are lucky someone will sponsor their kids to attend school. The grades are set up p1-p7 and today we got to meet with all the girls.  One of the girls in our group (Brady) set up a thing called Girl Power.  It is pretty much an all-girls confidence class, which is great.  Unfortunately, today was the last day of it but I think we are going to do it at different schools, so I hope that they we do that.  Today we talked about what they were good at and how we are all good at something, and the girls loved talking about their talents. It was so cute.  One girl wrote she was good at singing so I made her sing me a song and then like 6 other girls started singing and it was wonderful.  They all had these huge smiles on their faces and it was just great.  After we had the lesson we had dance time and it was so much fun!! We danced for maybe 2 hours or more and I was exhausted.  This day had a lot of exercise involved!!! 

Kids at Child of Hope

After the schools we rode our boda-bodas to the market to get some food.  We are responsible for our own lunches because we are never home so all the new people needed to stalk up on some food.  Also this market is not your typical grocery store.  It was like 4 different stores: a grocery store, jewelry store, a home store, and a hair store all in one.  Who needs all kinds of different stores when you can have one store with EVERYTHING you need. Haha Also there is no line system in the market which is weird.  When you’re ready you just go. People were trying to cut me but some random guy had my back and told people to back up and he unloaded my cart for me, so that was sweet.  I feel like there is no real organization here and it stresses me out a bit but hey, it’s just a different way of living that I am not used to. 

After the market we went home and had dinner.  We have a cook that makes us dinner every night and her name is Jemimah so that’s kinda cool, a little home away from home, shout out to Mimah!! J She made us Rolexes which is chapatti and egg rolled in the middle.  I have never had chapatti with egg so that was a different combination but it was actually pretty good.  After dinner we had team meeting and just kinda talked about what happened today and we went over what we are doing tomorrow.  Some of the newbies and I  are a little lost when it comes to the team meetings.  There are people in our group that came down May 15^th so they know everything that is going on and have all these projects they are in charge of and people they know and we know absolutely nothing.  Kind of a dear in the headlights moment. I know we just got here but it still kinda sucks, I just feel so lost and I don’t like it., but hopefully I will be able to catch on soon!

Tomorrow we are going to the top of some mountain to go to a clinic so that should be interesting!! I will continue to repeat this throughout my blog, but I just want everyone to know how amazing this has been so far! I have one day in the books and plenty more and I can’t wait to experience more!!! I have been so blessed to have this opportunity and I am just so happy!!

Also here are some random side things that I forgot to mention:  

1. When we go to the schools the kids call us auntie and uncle

2. The girls at the school loved my hair! They all have really short hair or none so seeing a black girl with a lot of hair was fascinating to them.  They kept saying I had Muzungu hair haha I sat there for like 5 min and let them play with it and they were in heaven.  It was so cute cause it started looking a little cray cray and it was time to go this so little girl came up and was like “we need to stop messing up aunties hair” and like pushed it all back and tried to make it look better. It was precious

Just getting my hair done... I look crazy

3. The kids kept telling me that I also talked like a Muzungu.  They would listen to me talk and then laugh. One little girl whispered into her friends ear and said “she talks like a Musungu, she should be speaking Swahili.” So that was cool haha this trip makes me really regret not letting my mom teach me how to speak Kinyarwanda.  I know it is not the same language but I know it’s a little similar so I am sad.  I had them teach me how to say “how are you (Orriena) “ and “I am fine (Bolyee)” though so I am trying to learn.  You know what they say, better late than never. 

4.  My little friend that wore me out playing tag, walked with me to the Child of Hope and on the way he was being very selfish with my arm haha a little girl wanted to hold the same hand and he pushed her away and hit her and was like no leave.  I had to remind him that sharing was caring, but that didn’t really make a difference.  Let’s just say I had five kids on my left arm and the selfish little boy had my right arm all to himself.  Hahaha It was funny but I felt bed.  

My selfish little friend

Wanyala (goodbye)  my friends!! 

Boy am I tired but all in all the journey getting to Mbale, Uganda was a success.  I started this lovely adventure on Friday the 13^th…. Sketch right? I woke up around 4:30am and that was a bit of a struggle.  My dad being the good dad he is put all of my luggage into the car and then I was off.  There was a lot of morning traffic so I was panicking the whole time but my mom reassured that I would make it on time.  Mom knows best and I made it to the airport by 7 am and I am really glad I was there early.  My original flight plan was to start in Seattle, fly to Texas, then London, then Nairobi, then Entebbe.  My flight from Seattle to Dallas was delayed and I wouldn’t have been able to catch my connecting flight to London on time so they put me on an 8:30 flight to Chicago then to London and then everything else stayed the same.  I was happy about this cause that changed allowed me to be in London for an hour longer!! Anyways, I said my goodbyes to my mom and I was off.  Plenty of tears were shed during that moment and I felt like a little baby but this is my first time so far away from my family so I was just a little bit emotional. 

 The flights were great!! Traveling internationally wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  My flight to Chicago was like 4 hours so a little long but somehow I managed to sleep the whole thing.  I woke up the last 45 min of it and my ears were pounding.  I have never had trouble with my ears hurting during flights but I am sick so that probably had something to do with it. My layover in Chicago was alright.  My layover was about 3 hours so I had jut enough time to eat and try to charge my phone.  It was a little bit of a struggle to actually get it to charge.  First I had to go buy a charger because mine broke and second there were no outlet tables available… soooooo I had to sit down on the airport floor.  GROSS!! I was not happy about it and was trying to decide if charging my phone was all that important but I knew that if I didn't I would regret it.  I was also eating so that made it even better. I felt homeless and I didn’t like it haha but oh well I guess it made for a little story.   

My next flight was to London and that was about 8 hours.  I was thinking it was going to be miserable but it was actually great.  I don’t know how but I slept for like 80% of that flight. I slept, watched a movie, slept again and I was there!! 

 London was fun!! My aunt Joy came and picked me up and showed me her neck of the woods.  We were going to go to the city but it was the Queen’s birthday so there was too much happening and she didn’t want me to miss my flight… I was a little bummed but Oxford was fun too!! I was with her for like 4 hours so a quick little visit but it was nice to get out of the airport.  My next flight was London to Nairobi, which was about 8 hours as well, and what do you know?? I slept once again. Haha I don’t know what it is but planes just make me sleepy, I wasn’t tired until I got on the plane but it makes for quicker trips. 

I arrived in Nairobi and that is where I met up with other people that flew down for HELP international as well... I thought I saw them in London but wasnt quite sure soo the initial hello i'm Keza was a little weird, but whatever.  So Africa.  Let me just tell you that the people in here don’t really believe in deodorant and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it haha actually I know... I think it is gross and that is something I will never understand but as long as I smell good all is well.   We waited in this room for like 30 min before we could board our next plane.  The room was hot, humid, and smelt awful.  Welcome to Africa!! 

We got to Entebbe and I couldn’t have been more excited!!! In the back of my mind I was still dreading the 4 hour drive to Entebbe that we had to take but that was the least of my worries.  We landed, got off the plane; went to get our luggage and Thank God all my luggage was there.  Both my bags were like the first off the little conveyer belt.  I feel really bad though cause one guy on our team lost one of his bags and this girl lost two of her bags!!! It sucked and there was nothing we could really do about it.  I feel like in America they kinda do whatever they can to ensure your stuff gets back to you but in Africa it was kinda like “oh this happens all the time you will get it to you eventually” attitude.  So that was a little frustrating. 

                 

We left the airport and went to this hostel to put all our stuff away.  We were there by like 10:30ish but we had to stay in Entebbe because there was another girl flying in at one.  So we hung out there, went to a market and got some fruit and then back to the hostel to chill out which was nice.  We went back to the airport at like 1 and little did we know that this girl’s flight was delayed.  We didn’t see her until 3 almost 4. #pissed. We were starving and tired and it was humid and just miserable. Once we got her we waited another hour or so to get the lost luggage.  Only Chris got his which was great but then sad too because Katelyn still didn’t have hers.  

After we were all together we went back to the hostel to get all of our luggage.  We loaded up our green machine (our car) and we were off for our drive to Mbale.  Our leader Todd said that that ride was going to be the best taxi ride we would have the entire time we were in Africa.  He said that the taxis are mare for 14 people but there are usually 20-25 people…. So I am looking forward to that haha but besides that the drive was interesting. Let me just back up and talk about our “Green Machine”.  The sketchiest thing I have ever seen.   It also sounds like it is on its last limb or maybe shouldn’t even be driving.  It takes about 2 minutes to start up each time and can only drive at a 0 incline, if there is even the least bit we won’t make it.  haha so knowing that background, we were all praying that this interesting vehicle would last 7 hours and get us to our destination.   

We drove past Kampala which was CRAZY!!! There was sooo much going on and just driving past it stressed me out haha there were so many bright lights, loud music and not everyone was playing the same music.  There were literally people EVERYWHERE!!! Also another random thing, there are cows just chillin with the people, like its normal to see cows and people together. It’s strange but I love it. Also there are goats and chickens everywhere as well haha It’s so cool though cause that would absolutely never happen in America haha Maybe an hour or so after Kampala, our driver Mr. Steven wanted to check on our suitcases to make sure nothing had fallen off.  All was good so we got back into the car and Mr. Steven tried to start the Green Machine and it didn’t start….. and to top it off it started smoking. So that was great. Mr. Steven had no oil in his car; we put two liters in it, which I guess is a lot.  He also picked garbage off the street, stuffed it in some holes, got some white masking tape to tape a wire and WALAAAA the car was back in action and sounded a lot better. Haha Only in Africa does stuff like that happen.

After our little moment with the “Green Machine” we got back on the road and we were off.  It was probably like another 2 maybe three hours before we got to the house. It felt so great to pull up to our house!! We got a tour of our new house for the next 5 weeks, met our new group members, and unpacked a little bit.  I also took a shower which was great!!! I hadn’t showered in like 3 days and I just felt nasty.  We were allowed to take a hot shower but that didn’t happen. The water was cold and there was barely any water coming out but whatever I was clean.

 It was a very eventful day and I am so glad I made it here safely!!  Everyone is sleeping now and me, Paige and Todd are up still.  Little side note before I go to sleep.  A giant bug just flew in our living room and I almost had a heart attack.  Todd just went to find out where they are coming from and they are coming in through the kitchen door. They are so gross!!! Also they fly but they also lose their wings and can crawl.  So basically they transform which is nasty. 

Anyways it’s like 3am here so I should probably try to sleep now. 

I still can’t believe I am in Africa! It is crazy but I have loved everything so far!!

Peace out homies!! Until tomorrow! :)