nkwagula

i love uganda. it is a great place filled with amazing people. it is probably my favorite country. uganda taught me more than i ever thought i needed to learn. it taught me to love more freely and to trust more openly. it taught me to work as a team with others in order to accomplish a larger goal. it taught me the simplicty of life, how often we cause stress in our own lives. everything about uganda made me a better person and i hope i never forget the lessons i learned.
i am now in south africa! my parents came last week and we went around uganda, on a safari in kenya, and now sightseeing in cape town. it has been a joyous time and south africa has been especially great because they have dr pepper and mcdonalds!
i will miss everything about uganda and i hope that i have the opportunity to do similar experiences in the future. im sorry my blogging hasn't exactly been frequent. i'll try to post some pictures! thanks for all of your support and love. peace love uganda

i am obsessed with africa

happy fourth of july! i am sorry that i am the worst blog updater ever. well a lot has happened since i last posted. since it's been a little over a month we've celebrated martyr's day, went on a safari and traveled to northern uganda, went to rwanda, and did so much work on projects i cant even begin! i have learned so much from my experience in uganda. it really is the best place on earth. after traveling to northern uganda and rwanda i have definitely developed an appreciated for our little village. northern uganda and rwanda were both great. we were able to learn more from those who were affected by the LRA in northern uganda and by the genocide in rwanda. we were able to hear first hand about the experiences that they were forced to undergo and it definitely made us all realize how lucky we are. my parents come in two and a half weeks and i am so excited! at the same time, its hard to think that in two and a half weeks everything will change. i have fallen in love with lugazi and everything it contains. its definitely going to be hard to leave! thank you all for your support and keep emailing!

i bless the rains down in africa

hello from africa! so we've been experiencing quite a bit of rain in africa! yesterday there was a crazy storm AND a large chunk of the wall surrounding our house just collapsed! so we currently our exposed to everyone! it's a little scary because anyone could jsut come in and steal our stuff but so far we've been safe!
the work is going well in africa! last week we built the frame for three adobe stoves, filled two, worked at the hospital, and helped out a bakery! last week was definitely our hardest working week and it was very fulfilling! this past weekend we went up to sipi falls which is about four hours north to this amazing lodge! seriuosly we all stayed in this little cottage with nice beds, HOT showers, amazing food, and beautiful scenery! if anyone has seen the tv show LOST, we basically were on the set, it looked exactly like it. we did some really really really intense hikes on saturday and got up close and personal with the three different waterfalls. coming back from sipi was quite an adventure with a flat tire, messed up brake pads, and a about five police checks. we were all very squished and cozy but we made the most of it!
we've gotten to know our way around our little village really well! we know where all our favorite food places are and the people who rip us off and the ones that are actually our friends. we had one unfortunate event where someone we put a lot of trust in stole sveral high price items from the different volunteers. the ugandan police were involved, the man was taken to jail then released and is now just free around town so nothing really was solved! luckily we've all been safe so far and we have a night and day guard so we should be fine! the sickness that attacked the house has now passed for the most part! plus the one volunteer who had malaria is free of it now so we're really on an uphill!
this morning aly, liz, and i went to a group home about thirty minutes away. we drove there on boda's so the drive was GORGEOUS and we loved it! we're hopefully going to do a lot of projects there and are so excited to work with the people!
the sun is hot, the food is different, but we all love africa:) i'm so happy to be here for the summer and do as much as i can with as little time i can! peace love, happiness to all!

we living in lugaziii

africa is the greatest place ever. everyone in uganda has the most genuine heart and kindest soul. they all look out for each other, they all look out for you, and they all are hopeful and optimistic for a brighter future. a few things i love about lugazi are first, the people. starting from the people we work with in the projects like agnes at the HIV center, wilson with youth out reach, kizza, with stove building, and pastor francis with teacher training. all of them are brilliant, generous, kind, patient, and understanding. the people in our everyday life, mary our cook, fiona the lady i buy pinapple from, nixon our rolex man, and everyone else who yells mzungu just makes the experience twenty times better. i love the atmosphere in lugazi. everyone is relaxed and accepting and looks out for one another. especially at church, they constantly compliment and uplift eachother. they seriously don't see the bad, they only focus on the good. africa has been an amazing learning experience, and it's only been two weeks. i am grateful for this experience to help me learn more about myself, how i work with others, and what i want in the future. our team's mission statement is "encourage ambition, inspire initiative and building strength and unity while on the road to self-discovery". i'll just detail out the last week and try to update more soon! love to you all, happiness and joy.

"week 2 has been amazing! we're all starting to feel more and more comfortable in the home, our village, and the rest of our surroundnigs. this week was a little rough because it seemed like everyone got sick! i had a little sinus infection, several volunteers had a 24 hour flu, and some other things. that affected the work we could do a little but we all did our best with working and accomplilshng what we needed to for the week! last weekend we took our first "trip" up to jinja to visit the tourist-y shops and eat some good american food. it was so refreshinhg to eat a burger and a chocolate milkshake and feel like a real tourist. we got to wear normal clothes and sunglasses and just relax. the ride to jinja was a little stressful. we stopped at the mbierea forest to check out some monkeys. sadly we didnt see any but we then decided it'd be a good idea to walk along the highway and try to get a taxi to take us to jinja. after twenty minutes of walkng along the side of the road we took a taxi to njembe(this insane market where people just surrund you and try to get you to buy stuff). we didn't want to stay in njembe too long because it was so insane so we found this worker's truck with nthing in the back seat and asked him if we could just ride in the back of that to jinja. basically, we rode in the back of a truck on the highway for 45 minutes. it definitely wasn't the safest decision but it's definitely something you can only do in africa! monday we had all been hit with sickness so about ten of us were home-ridden for the whole day. we did our best to keep ourselves entertained but the house gets pretty hot, and 15 sick volunteers definitely doesn't cool it down. tuesday we were able to meet with the key workers at the HIV center. they are all the most inspiring people. we're hoping to build an adobe stove, mushroom house, and implement a youth out reach program at their center. everyone in the group has the HIV virus and are looking for ways to prolong their life anmd live nutritiously.the rest of the day tuesday we spoke with the youth outreach group that is led by university students from kampala. this group is also members with HIV positive who try to better the community and improve the image of HIV. it's amazing how many people believe the myths here. people think you can get HIV by shaking an infected person's hand or getting a hair cut-our goal is to get rid of the myths and educate the truth. tuesday night we played great games at the house. our house really is amazing. in african standards-its a mansion. it's a great space for us to relax and get to know each other. it's been fun finding out why certain volunteers are here, how they found out about the group, and their goals for the summer. so far everyone gets along great and we all definitely laugh, a lot. wednesday was really the best day of the week. we finished an adobe stove in the morning at this school up on a hill. it was really frustrating at first because the clay was acting more like cement and the process was taking a lot longer than usual but eventually we got it done. then we got to take bodas( obviously obsessed with riding the motorcycles-its so much fun) out to the HIV center. we met with agnes and samuel and decided where we were going to build everything and when we culd start! im so excited that is working out because i think these people can really make a difference. this weekend we are going to jinja on friday night, staynig there, then going white water rafting on the nile!!! the rumor is there will be hot showers at the place we're staynig so let's just say-we're all pretty excited. projects are picking up and everyone's really figuring out what they want to do.
currently, i am the project lead over home visits from the hospital. the publich health chair, josephine, is the most organized woman and has a list of names and needs of people that we can visit twice a week until the end of june. this project would be an amazing opportunity to travel to remote locations in lugazi, get to know more people, and really make a difference ni the community. the only problem is, we don't have the fundnig. we cannot supply the necessary money needed for transporatino and the hospital has zero funding. if anynoe has any ideas for funding please let me know! it really is an amazing project. all we need is 400 dollars to make an amazing difference! hope everything is well in america! keep emailing!"
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just call me mzungu

i am in africa! i am currently sitting at an internet cafe in lugazi, uganda. oh my gosh i love everything about our town! it's abotu two hours south of entebbe so the drive here on friday night was very interesting. we all were crammed into these van taxis going dangerously fast down small little roads barely missing people and other cars. it definitely was an introduction to african driving! we've been doing so much since we've arrived i don't even know where to begin! our house is great-two stories and one of the few in the whole town. it's surrounded by a twelve foot wall with broken glass on top and we have a security guard at night so we're definitely safe. there's six of us in the room i'm in and we have great bunk beds with mosquito nets to keep us healthy and strong! there's 28 of us in total staying in the house so it's always loud. we don't have running water yet so we have two squatters outsdie (basically out houses that smell...great). we use a well with a pump to shower ( something i haven't tried yet) and then also have a huge bucket with a spicket where we collect rain water. it rains almost everyday for about 45 minutes to an hour and no one moves in the rain. ugandans think that you'll get "the fever" if you move in the rain so everyone just stays where they are, no matter what!
walking through the village yesterday morning was so amazing. all of the little kids ran along side us yelling "mzungu mzungu" ( which means white person or foreigner and we are called that all day every day). the scenery is gorgeous. vibrant green trees with rolling hills in the back ground. it's about a ten minute walk into the center of the town where there's markets, a bank, a supermarket, and a few internet cafes.
yesterday, we got some money, used the internet, and then bought some AMAZING pineapple from the market. it's only about 50 cents and they cut it into four and put it into a bag for you and its the juciest thing i've ever eaten. then for lunch we had Rolex, which are chiapatti(greasy tortilla) rolled up with eggs, tomato, avocado, and vegetables inside. Rolex are so good but so filling. after that we headed up to jinja in some more scary vans to the source of the nile! after some driving around and negotiation we found a hotel that would let us park there and a guy who offered to take us in his boat to an island on the nile right where the source is. it was so amazing to actually be on the nile and see such amazing scenery! we all thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride and it was fun to get to know the group more. then, after a while we made our way back to Lugazi to eat the dinner our cook prepared for us. we have a cook that makes us dinner every night which is so convenient because we don't really eat much during the day. she had made rice, noodles, cut pineapples, potatoes, refried beans, and sweet potato yams. it was an interesting combination of things but it was so delicious! after we went to african paradise, the local club, and partied ugandan style. we stayed about two hours and had so much fun just dancing and getting to know the locals!
today is sunday and half of us went to a branch in jinja while the other half went to one in mukono. i went to the mukono branch and instantly fell in love with the people. we're going to keep going to the same branch the whole time we're here so hopefully they'll give us callings and we can really get to know the branch! it was so nice because it was a friendly reminder of home and really showed how the church is the same no matter where you go.
so far i love everything about uganda! it's everything everyone said it would be and more. i'm so excited to start working on our projects this week and really get to do what we came here for. more updates will come later and posibly pictures! love to you all, happiness and joy.

all is well in the city of dam

amsterdam is great! we're having so much fun walking around, seeing tulips, going to random music festivals, and being great navigators! more updates later! AFRICA ON FRIDAY!

anferdam

we've arrived in amsterdam!! so far everything has been going so great! i met up with aly and liz in the airport, luckily found them pretty quickly! then we made our way slowly to our hotel, checked in, and began walking around! despite being a little jet-lagged and a little cold at times amsterdam has been quite the experience. we've walked around, visited some parks, looked at some museums, and even ran into the elders at Hard Rock Cafe! it was so cool because we were saying it'd be so amazing to run into the elders and then we ran into about 8 of them at hard rock! aly and i actually knew one of them from freshman year so that made it even better! so far we're loving amsterdam in our quaint hotel and we can't wait to sight see more! more updates and hopefully pictures soon!
love to you all, happiness and joy

the final countdown

today is friday may 1st-i leave sunday may 3rd. i never thought i'd get to this point and now that i have, i know that i am so ready to go. im so excited to travel to uganda and give what little i have to offer to the people of lugazi. i leave on sunday for amsterdam, get to play there for four days with great friends before i begin the most incredible summer of my life. it all seems so surreal but i cant wait for it to be my reality.
packing and preparing is stressful-but it'll be worth it. once im in country ill do my best to update this blog at least once a week! thank you all so much for your donations and support in this adventure. i feel so blessed to be going and to have so much love and support so thank you so much! youre much appreciated!!
love to you all, happiness and joy

Uganda-the pearl of Africa

The Republic of Uganda (pronounced /juːˈɡændə/ or /juːˈɡɑːndə/) is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompassed a portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.

HELP International has been in Uganda for three years. We live in a village called Lugazi which is a small town of about 33,000 people. Lugazi is surrounded by sugar cane plantations, and many of the inhabitants are poor laborers. Just outside of the sugar cane fields are remote villages where we bring many of our projects. Projects in Uganda include: HIV/AIDS support group, business training, adobe stoves, square-foot gardening, public health campaigns, support for children with disability, and more.

Country Description: Uganda is in East Africa and is known as the "Pearl of Africa" because of its lush jungle and rolling hills. Though Uganda lays on the mouth of the Nile River and is replete with natural resources, the Ugandan people remain deeply impoverished. The official language is English, however in Lugazi, many people also speak a tribal language called Luganda. Translators are always readily avaible and most volunteeers end up learning alittle of Luganda.

*Information courtesy of Wikipedia and Help International Website

I feel so extremely blessed that I have the opportunity to travel to Africa, indulge in the culture, and completely immerse myself in their lifestyle. I know that this summer will help me in so many facets of my life. I will learn life lessons that would be impossible for me to fully grasp without this experience. I am so grateful to all of you who have encouraged me, assisted me, and cared for me. I hope you enjoy this blog and reading about my experiences weekly. I will update periodically until I leave at the beginning of May and will update weekly in country. Love to you all, happiness and joy.