Hello friends!
I do apologize for the lack of emails. Internet here is not only a 40 minute ride away on the back of a boda-boda (motorbike), but also extremely slow. So, today I have glued myself to a chair for a couple hours to begin replying.
Our time in Uganda has been fantastic. Although the group left yesterday for home, I have decided to stay another month, much to the dismay of my parents! I didn't want to leave Uganda just when I got used to African time, so I figured I might as well stick around. I'm living in a banda overlooking Bujagali Falls on the Nile, and will be leading other groups of Soft Power volunteers at different schools around Jinja. I'll be the "mzungu" coordinator and show them the ropes of living and working in Uganda. I'm very excited, but still completely exhausted from the last month!
The last time I wrote, our group was about to embark on a high intensity rafting trip. We all did survive, although some liked it a bit more than others. After our weekend excursion, we returned to Lukolo to begin painting loads of murals in the primary one classrooms. We got busy drawing alphabets, animals, numbers, shapes, etc. to brigten the space! Meghan Horman also got the first group jigger, a small parasite that buries its way into toes and lays loads of little eggs. To get it out, we had to dig a crater in her toe when we really had no idea what we were doing. SO, the little bugger's eggs stayed around and continued to hatch until about a week later when we had to go to the doctor. Myself for massive stomach problems, and Meg to get the foreign matter removed from her toe.
As I was saying, we painted murals inside the classrooms, and the moved to painting outside murals. On one side of the building we painted the Soft Power logo, and on the other side a large globe with a tree on the top and loads of roots coming down onto Africa. The remainder of our time was spent painting these murals and we continued to teach our classes. At the end of our time in Lukolo, the school arranged an enormous send of party complete with LOADS of local foods (matoke, posho, chapati, beans, rice, goat, chicken, fruits, etc.)! There was a ceremony where each of the teachers we worked with presented us with gifts and we heard many speeches from village elders, the headmaster, and teachers. It was hard for us to leave a place that had been so good to us. Emotions ran high as we made our final walk from Lukolo. I couldn't manage to do it quite yet, so I'm looking forward to going back.
At the end of our trip, we embarked on a safari to see other parts of Uganda. Although we missed the lions, we managed to see chimps, elephants, zebras, crocs, tons of hippos, birds, buffalo, etc. We camped in all of the national parks, and had to keep our wits about us as not to get in a hippo's path. It was completely terrifying to sleep in a tent and hear a hippo 10 feet away grazing on grass, knowing that not only could it run much faster than us, but in one fell swoop could bite each of us in half! I was so relieved sending everyone away in one piece!
Well I'm off to the market to buy some food. I am so grateful that not only did everyone stay safe, but our group was able to leave much more than dusty footprints on Uganda. As a group, we learned so much about ourselves, each other, Uganda, and how we fit into this vast world. Thanks again for your continued excitement and support of our efforts. I do look forward to letting you all know more about it once I return home.
Meghan (Moulton)
I do apologize for the lack of emails. Internet here is not only a 40 minute ride away on the back of a boda-boda (motorbike), but also extremely slow. So, today I have glued myself to a chair for a couple hours to begin replying.
Our time in Uganda has been fantastic. Although the group left yesterday for home, I have decided to stay another month, much to the dismay of my parents! I didn't want to leave Uganda just when I got used to African time, so I figured I might as well stick around. I'm living in a banda overlooking Bujagali Falls on the Nile, and will be leading other groups of Soft Power volunteers at different schools around Jinja. I'll be the "mzungu" coordinator and show them the ropes of living and working in Uganda. I'm very excited, but still completely exhausted from the last month!
The last time I wrote, our group was about to embark on a high intensity rafting trip. We all did survive, although some liked it a bit more than others. After our weekend excursion, we returned to Lukolo to begin painting loads of murals in the primary one classrooms. We got busy drawing alphabets, animals, numbers, shapes, etc. to brigten the space! Meghan Horman also got the first group jigger, a small parasite that buries its way into toes and lays loads of little eggs. To get it out, we had to dig a crater in her toe when we really had no idea what we were doing. SO, the little bugger's eggs stayed around and continued to hatch until about a week later when we had to go to the doctor. Myself for massive stomach problems, and Meg to get the foreign matter removed from her toe.
As I was saying, we painted murals inside the classrooms, and the moved to painting outside murals. On one side of the building we painted the Soft Power logo, and on the other side a large globe with a tree on the top and loads of roots coming down onto Africa. The remainder of our time was spent painting these murals and we continued to teach our classes. At the end of our time in Lukolo, the school arranged an enormous send of party complete with LOADS of local foods (matoke, posho, chapati, beans, rice, goat, chicken, fruits, etc.)! There was a ceremony where each of the teachers we worked with presented us with gifts and we heard many speeches from village elders, the headmaster, and teachers. It was hard for us to leave a place that had been so good to us. Emotions ran high as we made our final walk from Lukolo. I couldn't manage to do it quite yet, so I'm looking forward to going back.
At the end of our trip, we embarked on a safari to see other parts of Uganda. Although we missed the lions, we managed to see chimps, elephants, zebras, crocs, tons of hippos, birds, buffalo, etc. We camped in all of the national parks, and had to keep our wits about us as not to get in a hippo's path. It was completely terrifying to sleep in a tent and hear a hippo 10 feet away grazing on grass, knowing that not only could it run much faster than us, but in one fell swoop could bite each of us in half! I was so relieved sending everyone away in one piece!
Well I'm off to the market to buy some food. I am so grateful that not only did everyone stay safe, but our group was able to leave much more than dusty footprints on Uganda. As a group, we learned so much about ourselves, each other, Uganda, and how we fit into this vast world. Thanks again for your continued excitement and support of our efforts. I do look forward to letting you all know more about it once I return home.
Meghan (Moulton)
