I often find myself walking through one of the many slums in Mbale town. I pass homes made of mud walls and thatched roofs, and without fail, a smiling grandmother invites me into her modest dwelling at the invitation of bananas, rice, or whatever they have to offer. A crowd of curious children began to gather, laughing and pointing at the mzungus. Without debate...this is the happiest place on earth. Poverty is everywhere. Children in rags play happily in the African dirt along side a riverbed of raw sewage. The children are unusually thin and short for there age, but not uncommon in malnurished countries. Only a small percentage of these children are vaccinated against disease, which explains why so many don't live to see their fifth birthday. But that's life here. In many ways it feels like life is slowly getting better...and I don't know why im so lucky to be here.
After living in Uganda for almost 2 months now, you begin to realize that almost everything is in the same situation-poverty. I sometimes feel like it's just an impossible situation, but we have done some awesome projects that may have only changes a few lifes, but to me, that makes all the difference. We finished our project in Moonie installing a gutter system to harvest rain water. We installed 100 ft and it soon began raining and it works! clean water to nearly 250 school children. The gratitude was unexplainable. Were also planning a 2 day workshop directed toward the youth and weekly classes teaching principles of business and goal settings which im really excited about. Our sanitation outreaches have proven to be a good use of time and were gearing up for the mountains for further trainings and a possible location for the construction of a small school deep in the mountains of Mt. Elgon. The 2nd wavers are here and have already dug in and have gotten right to work and were happy to have new faces! We have a great week planned and are excited about the next 6 weeks! Hope you all are well and thanks again!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Third World
It's funny how in life, you randomly meet people you need to. Especially when your involved in something A lot bigger then yourself. The people of Uganda are so social and greatful that a "westerner" even cares they exist. As we talk to people in town, they seem to know somebody with the skill sets we need to produce sustainable results for our projects. Speaking of projects...we have learned so much about what works and what doesn't in developing communites. Last week 5 of us took of for Kampala (capital) to meet a local friend of HELP, and he introduced us to some possible solutions with side slope farming in the mountains and soil management activities. We had a great time, learned a lot to brind back to Bunabuyoku village. Were planning a 3 day workshop of Agriculture, health and sanitaion, and teacher training courses within the next month or so.
Our team has also done a great job with community outreach programs teaching sanitation and handwashing. We have starting building whats called "Tippy Taps" in schools/orphanages and have had a great time teaching the locals how to build a unit using all local materials we have here in Mbale. The Namatala Slum water project is taking some time since we have had some political issues in the village, but were hoping to fight through coruption and the red tape to find some solutions for clean water.
Lets see...Another recent partner has been God's Grace organiztion. They are aimed to teach skills to the youth to fight for employment. We are planning a 3 day workshop here in Mbale to teach money management skills,long term goal setting, and basic business skills. One challenge we have found in East Africa is the lack of creativity and long term thinking. When you have nothing but survival on your mind, it's hard to think about tomorrow because you may never see it. My goal is to help people understand the mindset of "investing for the future." It will be a ton of work but we have several youth interested and excited.
Things continue to gain momentum here in Africa. First Wavers are leaving this weekend and were getting 8 more to join. Were excited because there will be 2 young school teachers coming and we have a ton of work for them. Life is wonderful here. Thanks again for your support. I couldn't be here without you. Thanks you!
Our team has also done a great job with community outreach programs teaching sanitation and handwashing. We have starting building whats called "Tippy Taps" in schools/orphanages and have had a great time teaching the locals how to build a unit using all local materials we have here in Mbale. The Namatala Slum water project is taking some time since we have had some political issues in the village, but were hoping to fight through coruption and the red tape to find some solutions for clean water.
Lets see...Another recent partner has been God's Grace organiztion. They are aimed to teach skills to the youth to fight for employment. We are planning a 3 day workshop here in Mbale to teach money management skills,long term goal setting, and basic business skills. One challenge we have found in East Africa is the lack of creativity and long term thinking. When you have nothing but survival on your mind, it's hard to think about tomorrow because you may never see it. My goal is to help people understand the mindset of "investing for the future." It will be a ton of work but we have several youth interested and excited.
Things continue to gain momentum here in Africa. First Wavers are leaving this weekend and were getting 8 more to join. Were excited because there will be 2 young school teachers coming and we have a ton of work for them. Life is wonderful here. Thanks again for your support. I couldn't be here without you. Thanks you!
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