One Love, One Uganda

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!