CULTURE SHOCK... again in Africa

Kristen here- but I cant take full credit since Michelle and Lyndsay are right next to me and contributing.

After the Rwanda fiasco we threw up our hands, surrendered and headed to Entebbe. We figured being 8 kilometers away from the airport was probably a good way to spend a few days with how our traveling luck has been going. Entebbe is a quaint town off of Lake Victoria which brought on our 2nd large dose of culture shock for the trip (the first being our trip to Kampala). We had no plans to be in Entebbe, so we didn't have much of an agenda. I'll just give you the highlights of the things we did and culture shock we had after 2 months in a rural Ugandan village on the top of a mountain.

Sunday:

We went to a beach that looked like the ocean….in Africa ?!?!

Michelle played ultimate frisbee…in Africa.

We ate fried, whole (head and eyes included) fish…in Africa

Lyndsay busted into her supply of Cipro…in Africa instead of only in Honduras!

There was a camel on the beach…in Africa

Meeting the most unwelcoming, unfriendly Africans ever. 

Monday:

There are NO flowers at the Entebbe Botanical Gardens, but there are monkeys…in Africa.

Finding a Sunset cruise for $250 - including all you can eat pringles and popcorn… aren't things supposed to be cheap... in Africa??

Getting sunburnt…oh thats the Africa we expected and didn't have until now.

Ordering pizza from Anna'a corner and having it DELIVERED…in Africa, really?

Enjoying a few Tuskers! (ok, not shocked to find this in Africa, but we had only seen them in Kenya!)

Tuesday:

Having your meal take 2 hours to be ready when all it is is scrambled eggs and toast

Going to a beach… In Africa. Still not over it.

Having the best (perhaps only) tuna salad since we left home in Africa.

Meeting up with Joseph and having him insist on paying for lunch, seeing his house and having him offer us coffee or tea. Ok, so that's normal…in Africa

Having  a car arrive on time.. in fact, EARLY to take us to the airport.

Getting security scanned when you enter the door at the airport, before you check your bags and again before you board the actual plane.

Not boarding the plane until AFTER our departure time… oh wait, that IS Africa.

Wednesday (in the Brussels Airport):

Shopping

Smelling perfume

STARBUCKS!!!! :-)

We can't believe it was our last few days in Uganda. They went by really fast and we enjoyed having a few days to relax and reflect on our trip. Multiple times we said, "Wow! I cant believe we are leaving!". We struggled with having to say goodbye to this wonderful country that we fell in love with. The 3 of us formed so many strong, beautiful relationships during the short 2 months we have been here. We became accustomed to the life here and loved village life. We loved everything about the people, the culture, the scenery. We have high hopes to return someday. Thanks to all our family and friends who have supported us while we were in Uganda. Your prayers were heard, your good luck wishes were granted and thoughts appreciated since we are on our way safely home.

O.I.A.

You have heard us use and define the term "T.A.B" that a friend gave us. We have deemed our own secret acronym…O.I.A…only in africa. When certain things occur,  one of us will murmur "OIA" under our breaths.

Breastfeeding…everywhere. Just pulling out the boob at random.

Boda boda breaking down in the rain…. or breaking down period. Then causing you to walk for almost an hour to regroup with the rest of the people you are traveling with. 

Going to the government official building at 4pm and it being closed.

Being told we have an expired visa, then being told we are fine.

4 hour church service x 2. 

Goat in the back of a matte.

Coffin or pig on the back of the boda.

Live chickens hanging from the front handlebars of a bike.

Have rice and beans for lunch and dinner 3 days in a row.

Have our hostel reservation be given away to 20 other people simply because because they showed up first.

Poop in a hole. 'Nuff said

Eat beans and rice with our hands.

Talk about STIs with a bunch of men for an hour and a half

Playing "Matatu bingo" and trying to max out the number we have on it. Highest for the trip was 24, 5 short of our 29 person goal. 

Hippos outside our tent in Murchison Falls

Not having power for many, many days at a time

Michelle reading and journaling

Kristen picking up a kitten on her own accord, and then choosing to snuggle it for quite some time

LITTLE kids running around with their baby siblings strapped to their backs

Buying food from a street vendor and loving it

Making banana bread in a steam bath

Ice skating in mud

No pain management when debriding a wounds, abscesses or burns

Waking up at 4:30am to cows, chickens, or cats bringing us mice as gifts

Boda boda drivers blowing into their gas tanks in attempt to restart it

Showing up an hour late can still be considered on time, so can showing up 4 hours late

Making menstrual pads out of sheets, socks and towels

No refrigerating eggs, butter, cheese, jelly, meat, anything for that matter…

Getting REALLY excited over a cold, diet coke bottle

Seeing a guy walk around with cow hooves…only.

Clean being a relative term.

Waiting for 12 hours after your bus breaks down for a rescuing bus to show up, big surprise it never does.

Getting charged 3-4x what something is really worth just because of the color of your skin.

No toilet paper anywhere, pit latrines everywhere.

Pringles as a staple food.

Being served meat only once a week, and that meat only consisting of stomach and intestines.

Kampala Ultimate Frisbee Team playing pick up on the beach of Lake Victoria.

Eating fish eyes

Having a choice between "white coffee" or "black coffee" (white coffee is made with milk not water)

Anything you want to get done takes the minimum of a full day

Waiting 8 hours for a 20 minute wedding ceremony

Being told everywhere "Just wait" someone is coming, and 2 hours later you are always still waiting.

Showers are either freezing cold or burning hot.

Getting tangled up in mosquito netting while sleeping.

Choosing for the last month to not use that mosquito netting. 

Using blood pressure cuffs as tourniquets during a blood drive.

Having warthogs walking around your safari grounds like they are dogs.

Would the airport sell you a bottle of water and then not allow you to take it on the plane

4 people ordering the same thing at a restaurant and getting 4 different things

Complete power outage at the airport

The only milk you have for 2 months is in powdered form.

Ohh Traveling in Africa.... T. F-in. A. B

First off… this is all of us. We are all refusing to relive the moments you are about to hear about that we all decided to suffer together. So this is a collaborative effort blog.

Thursday was our last day in Bududa. The wedding disaster happened (see previous post) and then we had to say goodbye to everyone at the clinic. Then we had to pack up our room at the guest house with no power. It was a long, emotional day. Saying goodbye and giving hugs to everyone was so hard. We got so close to everyone in the short 2 months we were with them. They became our family away from family. We would like to hope we will come back to Bududa someday, but we know it might not be feasible or realistic especially with all the other hopes and dreams of us 3 girls.

Friday we woke up with a full day of travel ahead. Michelle started the day off right by making a delicious egg scramble with tomatoes, onions and egg. Kristen toasted some bread on the skillet and we had a fabulous breakfast. The day went downhill from there. 

Our driver was supposed to arrive by 9am. We said 9 knowing that in African time it would be more like 10. 10 rolled around and still no driver…. The 7 of us (4 other volunteers too) sat around and played cards and catchphrase while we waited. A phone call confirmed the driver was on his way but in a village about 45 minutes away. We continued to play our games. An hour passed and… still no driver. Another hour, and another….Clearly not in a nearby village. We all started to fume and get frustrated since our day's plans depended on us leaving in a timely matter. Doug and Lisa were in Kampala and we had planned a goodbye dinner for all of us to enjoy one last evening together. Kristen ended up in her usual stressed out position: helpless, flat on the floor, hoping that things can only get better if she is that low. 

Eddie, our late, unapologetic, lying driver, arrived at 12:18pm (Michelle won our bet). We all loaded up and headed out. A few deep breaths later and we were feeling better. It's Africa, what did we expect?? Driving out of Bududa for the last time, Lyndsay and Michelle heard sniffles from the girl on their left. Kristen was crying with thoughts of all she's leaving behind. Michelle admitted to tearing up saying goodbye to Kaiya. Please note: Kaiya is the dog that lives at our guesthouse. She made living in a 3rd world country feel so much more like home. And perhaps made us miss Macy, Indy, Sable, Belle and Josey a little less.

Eddie earned a few points by getting us to Jinja safely and efficiently. We spent some time picking up a few more souvenirs and grabbed some lunch/dinner (?) aka it was that late. We continued on our way to Kampala… hitting some traffic along the way. Eddie lost his few earned points when he managed to get us lost. Multiple times. Long story short, we ended up at the bus station. Lisa and Doug met us there for a few very brief goodbyes. We bought our tickets, boarded the bus and were on our way….or so we thought.  We were excited to get another stamp in our passport and see a new city. We have heard Kigali is beautiful, clean and nice…all things un-African. The genocide memorial was a selling point and we were interested in jumping the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just to say we did it.

While in Jinja, we had grabbed a few snacks including our staple pringle supply, biscuits, water and apples. We started to munch on our dinner, already anticipating our next normal meal. The bus moved out of the parking lot and as the brakes were activated, a nails-on-chalkboard, baby pig dying squeal was heard. And continued to do so every time. That's when Michelle lost it and burst into an uncontrollable laughter until she was crying. That made 2 of us in tears for the day. The bus driver tried to cover up the brakes shriek by putting on the radio, blasting African tribal music for all sleeping ears to hear. Ear plugs didn't even muffle it.

We bounced along on our journey smart enough now to have less bouncy seats in the front. At 3:45am we made a usual for Africa stop along the way, either dropping off a package or someone had to pee…again. Until we didn't start moving again. Kristen was hopeful we were at the border into Rwanda. Michelle was passed out, mouth wide and all. Lyndsay got to be the one to wake her up with the bad news: THE BUS HAD BROKEN DOWN!! But, another bus was on it's way. We returned to our slumber knowing we would wake up, board another bus and be on our way in no time. Apparently, we forgot where we have been living the past 2 months: AFRICA.

At 7:45am we woke up, still on the same bus, still in the same spot. The driver then told us a mechanic was on his way with a spare spring?? We were all hoping this would actually fix the actual problem. On the upside of things, we were on the edge of a pretty nicely sized town- with several little supermarkets and shops. We wandered around the town, buying some juice, pringles and more crackers… making it the same meal twice in a row. 

At 10:00am we find out that the mechanic that was supposed to be on its way was just now leaving because he had to wait for the shop to open for his spare part in Kampala, 4 hours away from our location. We then occupied our time  by eating mendazi and milk tea, our new favorite breakfast. We read, we played word games, we made bets on the time, and we sat. Then we ate some more pringles. And sat some more. Then we walked around some more. then peed in the grass (latrines were gross!). Then we sat some more.

At noon the driver then informed us that the mechanic wasn't on his way after all, but a bus was on its way to rescue us. Please note: no apology or refund has even been offered or spoke of. So we continued to sit.

At 2:30pm we decided to make up our plan B. We were still about 6 hours from Kigali, cutting our trip down an complete day. Not to mention, getting in to town after dark in a city we don't know and having no place to stay. We decided at 3:30 if the bus wasn't there, we would need to rethink our trip and potentially head back to Kampala.

In true lying, untimely African fashion, no bus had arrived at our set time, so we sadly boarded a matatu back to Kampala. We knew we could have gone on but at that point wouldn't have been worth our money or time. Thanks to the 12 hour delay. Not to mention, we had little faith in Akamba bus services and were worried our trip back from Kigali would have met another 12 hour delay and we could potentially miss our flight. they don't really understand the concept of customer service or time.

In the matatu, we had blood boiling, and were frustrated until 2 cute little girls jumped onto the laps of Michelle and Lyndsay who at least offered some snuggle time and smiles. We arrived into the craziness of Kampala on a Saturday night (bumpin', crowded and dirty) and headed to the hotel where Lisa, Doug and our suitcases were. All needing a decent meal and a few alcoholic drinks, we went straight to the bar. After consoling our souls with our new favorite beer TUSKER (shout out to Kevin and Father David!!!) we were feeling slightly better about our troubled travels of the past 48 hours.

Headed to bed with the high hopes of finally getting on our way. Breakfast the next day was weird since we knew it would be the last meal we shared with Katie and Leenisha- 2 volunteers we have become so close with these past few weeks, and Doug and Lisa  too. We got a reliable driver to take the 3 of us to Entebbe where we decided to spend a relaxing few days before heading back to the states. A few errands later, we went to the Entebbe location of our favorite Ugandan tourist hostel, Backpackers! We have the deluxe room to ourselves and can pick up the wifi from  bed.

We took off to do some exploring around town, stopping at Aero Beach where random old airplanes are set on the sand. A camel was there offering rides to the public and Michelle took them up for the offer. We also got to witness a team of ultimate frisbee players playing a pick up game on the beach. Michelle became friend and jumped in to her favorite game. It was such a culture shock to be on a beach… in Africa. While it was still a lake, it looked like the ocean and felt weird to have sand between our toes. After a nice dinner of fish, chips and salad aka 2 spoonfuls of coleslaw, we headed back to "home" dreading the necessary blog post to come. 

So here it is… our bummed out, frustrating weekend. We are trying to see the light and salvage our last few days in Africa. We decided that maybe all these things were set in place to make us actually want to come home.

Ugandan Shotgun wedding.

We were planning on writing our own HILARIOUS version of this day but.... Doug did such a good job we are stealing his words. This is the note/email they sent to their friends and relatives and sums things up rather nicely (and humorously).

Hello to everyone who would have joined us for the signing of our marriage certificate - had it not been completed and filed in the middle of an east African jungle!

We are writing because we officially did it.  And by it, we mean finish the several month ordeal to become “married,” which in Uganda includes public postings, card games, dowries, typewriters, the verbal dictation of your own marriage certificate, and forced religious ceremonies within the walls of what appears to be a roofless barn.

Our original plan was the quickly and effortlessly secure a marriage certificate so that we could simplify the legality of getting Doug back into the States to enable a real celebration of our marriage with all of you.  As we should know by know, “quickly and effortlessly” aren’t words that tend to exist in Uganda.  We’re sending this to all of you now so that you know how much we love you, miss you and would have loved for you to be a part of the actual signing of our marriage certificate.  As the day of signing the certificate began and unfolded, we wished even more fervently that you all were there to experience the hilarity of the day that ensued.  For now, we are happy to report that we are legally married with the piece of paper to prove it.  But we won’t consider ourselves officially married until we’ve had a chance to hug each of you in a choking Doug/Lisa sandwich hug and tell you that you have been a part of this process with us from the beginning, even if we were on another continent for the legal and much less important bits of it.  Our “wedding” will be when we see all of you this fall, whether it be over dinner, drinks, or a night of sleeping on your couch.

So let’s begin.

After a wild pre-signing-the-marriage-certificate evening involving watching our new favorite show Dexter, downing a couple of Fantas, and taking benadryl to combat the effects our cats have on our nasal passages, we awoke on a shining Thursday morning to mix our powdered Nescafe and milk in preparation of our nuptials.  After an early morning run followed by an invigorating tea-kettle hot bath with a tub and a cup, Lisa put on mascara - hardened and congealed from lack of use since last October - along with the outfit described by Doug as, “Woohoo, that one doesn’t have mud on it!”  Doug awoke and shaved off four days worth of scruff and donned a vestige of his former self, forgoing his usual gumboots and raggedy t-shirt in favor of fancy pants, his pointy cockroach-in-a-corner-killin’ shoes and a snappy popped-collar Armani shirt untouched by the mold that has taken over most of our collective natural fibers.

Lisa leaves the room and before preparing their usual porridge and egg feast, presents her spiffily betrothed Brazilian to the house full of anxiously waiting volunteers (all of the female gender); it was, after all, Doug’s special day, and he was ready to be admired and treated like a princess.  Fed, caffeinated and medicated (Doug is fighting off a nasty case of Brucella from some funky cheese he ate), the couple went to the yard for an impromptu photo shoot amongst the hanging laundry, banana trees, and curious onlookers from the road who were, as usual, wondering what in the hell the crazy white people were doing in their yard.  Due to the lack of testosterone in the couple’s current household, their female volunteers served as stand-in bouquet pickers, collar straighteners, garder (aka a headband) providers, photographers, and groomsmen.  As you will shortly see, the couple attempted to replicate all possible permutations of prenuptial photographic requirements expected of any westernized marriage-bound pair.  They just did theirs with cows around.

Suddenly they hear gravel crunching on the road by the house.  Is it a herd of goats?  Is it truck full of avocadoes?  Is it a swarm of children running to harass their dog?  No!  It’s Carolyn (partner organization’s volunteer coordinator) arriving with a borrowed car to usher the couple to the Bududa District headquarters!  The hoard of volunteers hop onto motorcycles to meet at the District, and into the car Doug, Lisa and Carolyn go.  Doug is behind the wheel for the first time in a year, and off they go with plenty of time before their previously scheduled 10:00 am appointment for what they expected to be the simple and easy signing of a civil marriage certificate.

Right?

10:03 am

Couple arrive at Bududa District Headquarters.

10:04 am

Lisa (to receptionist): Good morning, we are here for our appointment with the Chief Administrative Officer (aka the CAO, pronounced “cow”).

Receptionist: He’s not here.

Lisa: (Outward) WHAT? (Inward) What the F%#&8 mother f*&%#$ piece of %#$@!

Receptionist: He is at a meeting in Mbale (about 1hr away).  Maybe you come back Monday.

Doug: Umm, I’ll be right back. (Exits stage Right to find man who confirmed our appointment).

10:07 am

Doug: Ok, the CAO’s representative is coming from Mbale right now.  They told me he should be here in 30 minutes or so.

11:37 am

Doug, to receptionist: So, any word from the CAO’s representative?

Receptionist: Yes, he’ll be here in 30 minutes or so.

Doug: Right…

12:06 pm

Lisa: There’s beer in the car, want to split one while we wait?

Doug: I hate warm beer.  Ok.

12:40 pm

Volunteers: We’re hungry. We’re going to go try to find some fried dough to eat.  Do you guys want some?

Lisa (in car with empty beers bottles): Sure, why not.

Doug: Mmmm, bring me two!

12:57 pm

Doug: I wouldn’t have thought that fried dough went with warm beer, but you know what?  Not bad!

Lisa: I know, right?

1:18 pm

Lisa, to receptionist: Hi, just checking in again.  Has the representative arrived?

Receptionist: Yes, he has been here for some time, maybe 10 minutes.

Lisa: Of course he has.

Receptionist: He’ll be right with you, just keep waiting outside.

1:39 pm

Doug, going into CAO’s representative’s office: Hello sir, I’m just wondering when I can get married today.

CAO Rep: Oh yes, I was just coming to get you.

Doug: Uh huh, can I bring my wife in?

CAO Rep: Yes, yes, please, bring her, your Matron of Honor and your Best Man.

1:39:24 pm

Doug, to female volunteers on porch: Ok, I need a best man and a matron of honor, now.  Who’s in?

Kristen and Michelle: Pick me, pick me!

Doug: Done, let’s go!

1:40 pm

Entourage attempts to enter office of CAO Rep

CAO Rep: No, please.  I only want the four.

Other volunteers linger in doorway, filming the proceedings from cracks of the door.

CAO Rep begins shuffling papers.

1:50 pm

Doug: Sir….what exactly do you need us for?

CAO Rep: Oh yes, yes.  Please write your name on this sheet of paper.  Yes, there.  Now your profession….now your father’s name….now his profession….Ok good, now the Best Man?

Michelle: That’s me!

CAO Rep: (silence)

Michelle: I write here?

CAO Rep: Um, well, yes. 

1:55 pm

(after Michelle, Lisa and Kristen, Lisa’s default Matron of Honor write their info)

CAO Rep: Ok, yes, just wait outside now.

2:15 pm

CAO Rep: Alright, we have only now to manually type your information onto this marriage certificate.  We must do this on a typewriter because the certificate paper is large and cannot be made on a computer.  Just give us a few moments.

2:38 pm

CAO Rep: Mr. Doug, come here please.  (Doug approaches)  There is a small problem.

Lisa and Doug: (Inward) What the F%#&8 mother f*&%#$ piece of %#$@!

CAO Rep: The typewriter we normally use is broken.  We must go to a village just up the way to type the certificate.

Doug: Ok, where do I need to go?

CAO Rep: Yes please, my assistant here will show you the way.

Lisa: We have the car!

Doug (to Lisa): Ok, you stay here, we’ll go find a typewriter.

2:39 – 3:14 pm

Lisa and volunteers play Uno on the District Headquarters steps.

Doug:

·      Drives to neighboring village

·      Picks up the typewriter – who is not a machine, but a woman called Mary – a secretary at a local school.

·      Discovers that the typewriter at the school is also broken.

·      Convinces Mary to leave work and type his marriage certificate on the machine she says she has at her house.

·      Drives Mary to her house.

·      Steps over Mary’s sister cooking on the floor and helps Mary lift her ancient typewriter from her bedroom onto the kitchen table.

·      Gingerly hands Mary the only two copies of the blank marriage certificate forms that he has and the handwritten notebook paper sheet on which Doug, Lisa, the best man and the matron of honor wrote their names, professions, fathers’ names, and fathers’ professions.

·      Watched as Mary messed up the first form.

·      Almost soils himself.

·      Dictates letter by letter the relevant information to Mary for second and final copy of marriage certificate.

·      Receives invitation by Mary to stay for lunch but politely refuses.

·      Gives Mary transport money so she can get back to work.

·      Drives himself and the CAO’s Rep’s assistant to the District.

·      Congratulates himself on having filmed the entire experience.

3:15 pm

Doug: Here are the typed marriage certificates; the first one is not so good.

CAO Rep: Yes please.  Please just wait outside.

3:28 pm

CAO Rep, holding stapled packets of paper: Please, Mr. Doug and Lisa, review these documents and then we can begin the proceedings.

3:29 pm

Doug: You have got to be kidding me…

Lisa: Is this a script?

Doug: Yup, of a Catholic wedding ceremony.

Lisa, reading: “Dear beloved, we are gathered here in the presence of God to witness the marriage of Doug and Lisa (in bold) to ask his blessing on them and to share in their joy.  Our lord Jesus Christ was a guest at the wedding to Cana of Galille, and through His spirit, he is with us now.”

Doug: Well, shoot, if I would have known Jesus was attending….

Lisa, skipping ahead:  Check this out! “Proclamation of the newly weeded couple?????”

Doug: Weeded?

Lisa: Weeded.

Doug: Look, we have lines written out for us….and instructions!

Lisa: According to this, it says “Groom uncovers bride’s veil….the registrar receives the bride’s right hand from hands of her brother and places it in the bridegroom’s right hand.”

Doug: Michelle, up for being Lisa’s brother?

3:37 pm

Doug, Lisa, her brother and Doug’s best man Michelle, her Matron of honor Kristen, and the remaining volunteers enter the secretly hidden wedding venue buried within the Bududa District Headquarters.  Décor included a stage with a large table on it, stacks of old tires, lawn chairs, and a distinct lack of glass on the windows or a ceiling.

CAO Rep stands behind table and instructs the “congregation” to sit.  Ceremony begins including such highlights as:

• Volunteers: “Hold hands, you two!”  CAO Rep: “No, do not hold hands yet.”
• Random Ugandan bystanders enter and quickly fill the room.
• Doug (reading from script Lisa is holding up to his face): “I take you Lisa…etc….till death do us part.”  CAO Rep: “That wasn’t loud enough.  The congregation didn’t hear you.” Doug: “But I said it to Lisa and she heard me.”  CAO Rep: “Say it again.”  Doug: “Fine, but this time I’m doing it with flare!”
• Doug: kisses Lisa.  CAO Rep: “You can’t do that yet. It is not time for it according to the program.”
• CAO Rep: After making the proclamation of the Newly Weeded Couple, Doug and Lisa are instructed that now they can kiss.  Which they do.  With a little tongue.
• And finally, at the finale of the ceremony, CAO Rep: “And now you may go forth and reproduce.”  Doug turns to congregation: “I’m going to reproduce!!!”  Congregation blinks awkwardly, then cheers.

3:46 pm

Doug and Lisa sign the marriage certificate that Doug basically typed.  Best man Michelle signs.  Matron of honor Kristen signs.  CAO Rep stamps the certificate and says, “Now you’re done.”

3:47 pm

Doug and Lisa exit building to a face full of rice pelted at them by exuberant volunteers.  On looking Ugandans, as usual and like that morning, wonder what in the hell the crazy white people are doing.

4:00 pm

Doug and Lisa hop in a car for the honeymoon in Kampala at the US Embassy to file Doug’s green card application.

In summary, from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm on July 7^th, 2011, Doug and Lisa were weeded in the eyes of God and a cow.

THE END

Goodbye at Richard's Orphanage & Blood Drive

Goodbye Party at Richard's Orphanage

Lyndsay here..

After a long night of traveling back from Kenya, we finally arrived back to Bushika village at noon on Monday (remember our bus left the night before a little after 11pm, 13 hours of travel, that's Africa baby). We stopped in Mbale to jump on a matatu and picked up some suckers for the kids at the orphanage for our goodbye party, details on the sugar high to come… 

For those of you who may be behind on reading our blog, we have been volunteering at Nangako Orphanage every Monday teaching the children various topics from handwashing to setting goals, careers to proper behavior and relationships. The children range anywhere from 3 to 10 or 11 years old. Richard, the community health outreach coordinator at the clinic founded this school/orphanage, and it has by far become our favorite activity over the last 2 months. We have grown so close to the headmaster, chairperson, and teaching staff, not to mention all of the students there. We organized a goodbye party, including lunch, sweets, balloons, music, singing, and dancing. We just wanted to give the kids time to relax and simply have fun. So many of them are forced to grow up faster than they need to here, caring for younger siblings, working in the fields, or selling in the markets or on the streets. We simply loaded them up on sugar via suckers and juice and let them go crazy. The older girls organized a few traditional African singing/dancing numbers for us which we loved. We never knew 6 year old hips could dance like that! We blew up several large balloons for the kids and had a mass chaos form of "monkey in the middle", passed around silly bands, and simply sat and held/cuddled each and every one of them. 

After tearful goodbye's and thank-yous we headed home just before the rains set in, a perfect beginning to our final week in Uganda. 

Tuesday Blood Drive

Kristen speaking.

For the past 4 weeks we have been contacting a man named Moses that works for the Red Cross in Uganda. the conversations usually went something like this:

Moses: I'm sorry I missed your call- I was in the field. 

Lyndsay: Oh ok… So… we want to have a blood drive in Kikholo

Moses:  How is your life?

Lyndsay: My life is good, thanks. How about this blood drive?

Moses: I will have to call you back.

A few days later:

Moses: Madam, Are you in Mbale?

Lyndsay: No! I'm in Kikholo.

Moses: OHH you know they have a clinic there- we should do a blood drive there!

Lyndsay: Exactly.

Right… so we were definitely excited to meet this man. 

We had a clothing drive with volunteers' donations scheduled for the morning so we trekked up the hill at 8am to set up. The Red Cross had told us they would arrive at 9:30 so we figured the clothing drive would draw additional blood donors. In true African fashion, our plans did not go as intended. When the Red Cross didn't arrive by 11am, we called. Their truck was in the shop, etc etc. T.A.B. 

The clothing drive was a success. A lot of our clothes were gone and we raised 97,210 ugandan shillings for the clinic which is equivalent to about 50 bucks. All the proceeds went to the clinic funds for basic supplies, medications, and other odds and ends. Not to mention, there are many finely styled Ugandans and babies running around Bududa.

The Red Cross finally arrived at 1:00pm and hit the ground running. Lyndsay and myself were the first in line to donate. For the most part, it functions like the Red Cross in America. But they have pretty heavy restrictions on who can donate or not: like,  you can't be taking any kind of medication (including our malaria prophyalaxis), have menstruated anytime in the past 7 days or have donated in the past 3 months- no exceptions. Dr. Lisa had to go give them a-talkin-to. Even so, it prevented several willing donors to be hesitant to give blood. Lucky for us, they don't have any travel restrictions so we wanted to take advantage of it since we wont be able to donate for a whole year after we return from Africa. We considered any amount of pints a success because so many people don't donate blood- whether due to misconceptions about the process or inability to mobilize people to the blood drive. Michelle, Leenisha, and Doug along with other co-workers in the clinic and surrounding community members were able to donate (Lisa's iron was unfortunately too low).  It was a success!!! 

We finished the afternoon after enjoying our crackers and soda but remained semi dizzy or light headed until we trekked down the hill to home and drank some of our new crystal light packets (THANK YOU, KEVIN!!!) and ate some of the delicious guacamole flatbread that Michelle and Lynds made.

Food cravings: raisin bran cereal, blueberry yogurt, and pickles.



Michelle Donating



First time donating!

Kristen after donating

Clothing Drive

Goodbye at Richard's Orphanage

Goodbye Party at Richard's Orphanage

Lyndsay here..

After a long night of traveling back from Kenya, we finally arrived back to Bushika village at noon (remember our bus left the night before a little after 11pm, 13 hours of travel, that's Africa baby). We stopped in Mbale to jump on a matatu and picked up some suckers for the kids at the orphanage for our goodbye party, details on the sugar high to come… 

For those of you who may be behind on reading our blog, we have been volunteering at Nangako Orphanage every Monday teaching the children various topics from handwashing to setting goals, careers to proper behavior and relationships. The children range anywhere from 3 to 10 or 11 years old. Richard, the community health outreach coordinator at the clinic founded this school/orphanage, and it has by far become our favorite activity over the last 2 months. We have grown so close to the headmaster, chairperson, and teaching staff, not to mention all of the students there. We organized a goodbye party, including lunch, sweets, balloons, music, singing, and dancing. We just wanted to give the kids time to relax and simply have fun. So many of them are forced to grow up faster than they need to here, caring for younger siblings, working in the fields, or selling in the markets or on the streets. We simply loaded them up on sugar via suckers and juice and let them go crazy. The older girls organized a few traditional African singing/dancing numbers for us which we loved. We never knew 6 year old hips could dance like that! We blew up several large balloons for the kids and had a mass chaos form of "monkey in the middle", passed around silly bands, and simply sat and held/cuddled each and every one of them. 

After tearful goodbye's and thank-yous we headed home just before the rains set in, a perfect beginning to our final week in Uganda.

The girl's performed African dancing for us

Our last time with the Orphanage staff

Michelle dancing with Aidah

Slumdog Millionaire

Lyndsay here:

Had a great night sleep after our chaotic 13 hour adventure across the border, only to wake up at 6:30 Saturday morning to make it to 6:45am mass. We hit the ground running after that. Enjoyed a breakfast of chicken sausage, toast, and milk tea (our recent Ugandan obsession, two words for you- whole milk). We set out mid morning with Father David and his brother Raphael to go see an orphanage, the slums of Nairobi, an animal orphanage, and to top it off had pizza & Kenyan beer for dinner (three happy campers here).

First, the orphanage. We had all been expecting an orphanage simply full of orphaned children, very similar to the other orphanages we have been to in Uganda. Father David had told is it was run by Sister's of Charity, that was it. We walk in, and it is an orphanage for special needs children, with physical or mental disabilities, in some cases both. These are all children that have been essentially left to die by their parents. They have been thrown in the garbage (literally), left in slums, left on the side of the road, or found abandoned by policeman and brought to the sisters. The breath literally escaped my body when we walked into the main room. There was nursery music playing in the background, orphans all wheelchair or bedbound, several unable to communicate, only moaning and making undecipherable sounds, some were unable even to hold their heads up in attempts to look around the room. Children with microcephaly, cerebral palsy, and more, totaling 63 orphans. 63, and only a few sisters to care for them. If there is someone who is in need of volunteer help, it is these women. These sisters, this is their life, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They have completely surrendered themselves and offered their lives up to the Lord to merely do good for these forgotten children. These children were all clean, well fed, and most importantly, for those who could, they were smiling. These sister's are the saving grace to each and every child here. 

We then left the orphanage and proceeded to the slums, which we would come to learn is the largest slum in all of Africa, with 3 million people living within its confined quarters. We had a group of 7 or 8 kids following and playing with us, two of whom accompanied us on our walks to the slums because they live there. We did not actually go into the slums, Father David was worried for our safety, that someone might try to rob us. We walked up to the edge and I swear we were in the midst of a scene from Slumdog Millionaire. Row after row of shacks with tin roofing, dirt is literally everywhere, scattering moreso each and every time the wind blew, piles of garbage are strew about everywhere, clothing hanging out on the line, children laughing and playing. Father David used to do a lot of work in this slum before another parish took over. He told us HIV is rampant, the majority of the population is infected. It is horribly filthy, families of 7 or 8 will live in a one room "shack" with one bed, during the rainy season such as now, rainwater mixes with sewage and simply runs freely throughout all the homes. This is poverty unlike I have ever seen it. These people have nothing, even less than nothing. They live in shacks, are constantly covered in and surrounded by filfth, and despite all of this, Father David says they are some of the most faith filled people he has ever met, that when they sing, they sound like angels.

We are so lucky, we are so unbelievably lucky to live the life we have. Our poorest of the poor in the United Sates would be considered rich men and women here. I kept asking myself "What have I done God to be blessed with this life? Why did you choose for me to be born into my life and for all of these people to be born into theirs?" I have yet to figure out the answer. Here I thought we were living this life of scarifies, living in rural Uganda for two months, with no fridge, no air conditioning, minimal or no electricity, pooping in a hole in the ground, limited diet, cold showers, hand washing clotting… I could not have been more wrong. This life we are living now, is a life suited for kings compared to the people living in these slums. No words will ever begin to do justice or paint a vivid enough picture of what we saw today.

We then headed for the animal orphanage, enjoying a quick lunch of fish, salad, and chicken sandwiches with fruit salad. (Michelle and I ate fish eyes for the first time, that one was for you mom!) After lunch, we spent time in the animal orphanage, which is in all honesty a zoo, despite Father David's attempts to tell us otherwise. Granted the animals were all injured or abandoned animals rescued from the wild, which were then rehabilitated and nursed back to health, but now live in captivity, loose terms in Kenya, given that monkeys were crawling in and out of their cages to stare at us or eat people food that had been thrown on the ground. We saw the lions during feeding time (clever Disney naming Simba as they did, we learned the Swahili word for lion is "Simba" oh so clever..) They were literally feeding the lions raw slabs of meat, bar-b-que rib style, complete with raw meat scent, and the sound of crunching bones. 

We spent our night sitting outside Pizza Inn, located within a gas station, drinking a Tusker beer and eating what we were convinced was the best pizza ever (mind you it's a Pizza Hut equivalent at best, 2 months of rice and beans will do that) to you. We talked, laughed, relishing the fact that we were sitting at a table, outside a gas station, in the middle of Kenya, eating hot pizza, drinking a Kenyan beer, with a Kenyan priest, and Kevin Diamond, after all these years. 

The FABULOUS Father David

Michelle here

This morning we woke up at 0530 to the ring of Fr. David's bell. And that is just funny in itself because he is the first African man that is actually on time for anything!! Let me tell you about this fabulous man… He is Fr. Gary's twin but Kenyan. For those of you that don't know Fr. Gary, Fr. David is a energizer bunny who cracks up at his own jokes,  says everything that comes to mind or rolls off his tough before he thinks about it, the funniest person in public and the most reverent person on the alter, had us laughing all weekend to the point of aches and pains of the cheek bones and abdominal muscles, and has tendencies of an ADHD children obsessed with mzungus. He called himself "the shepherd of the mzungus" and would not let us out of his sight the entire weekend. I could not actually tell you how many times he called us Mzungus or pointed out every single mzungu that he happened to see this weekend. He is one of the most welcoming individual that I have met in African. He refuses to eat food with any utensil besides his hands. He loves pizza and his Tucker beer even though he limits himself to only 2 because he cant stand on one foot after anymore. Every time he eats he claimed to have a food baby to feed so he sticks out his stomach and wants us to take pictures of it or point out anybody else's baby. I probably should also mention that he is one of the few African men that is actually over 6ft tall. He has worked in so many different areas of Nairobi, served so many different congregations, and touched so many lives all over the world…He is a loved man around these parts and it is obvious to the naked eye.   

We dressed and were out the door by 6 for mass at St. Clair church. The first (yes there were multiple) mass was at 0715 and presided by Fr. David in English. St. Clair is a boarding school for secondary students so we gathered with all the students of St. Clair and their women's choir along with the surrounding community. The music was everything you could have imagined African music to be with lots of clapping, beautiful harmonization, and swaying to the beat. The community was so welcoming (staring was involved but has come to be expected) and looking their sunday best. Fr. David's homily was out of this world amazing. He talked about love and the importance of love in the world. He emphasized many times that people are to be loved and things are to used. This is a very needed message to all people but even more so to this population. He also had another powerful statement that will forever be remembered and held in my heart. He said "When someone says I love you that means that they are happy that you exist." He is such a powerful and passionate speaker who involves the whole congregation, children and all. He even had a mzungu shout out intermingled into his homily, that only made them laugh at us more. We have been here for 7weeks and have not been to mass besides that one weekend at Richard's church. But even that, we didn't understand some things that were happening, were convinced that they were performing exorcisms, and overwhelmed with the experience/trying to take it all in. There is just something about a Catholic mass that I have missed while being over here, its the tradition of it and that that tradition is the same all over the world.  What we did not know was that we signed ourselves up for a double whammy mass service. The bishop of Nairobi was the guest presider of the second mass and Fr. David insisted that we stay and celebrated with him. BUT IT WAS IN SWAHILI!! So we didn't understand a single thing but could follow along with the basic understand of a traditional Catholic mass. This mass also has liturgical dancers that presented down the aisle at the opening of mass, before the gospel reading, presenting of the offerings, bread, and wine, and the exit. We also had more amazing music by the men and women choir. It was long but at least entertaining. We were in mass for 4hrs so i think that makes up for taking the last couple of weeks off. Then we joined the Bishop, four of priests, a seminarian, and  a couple members of the community for a delicious lunch. We enjoyed great food and conversation with them for the remainder of the afternoon. This was so awesome to take this time to spend with them and reminded me a lot of home…minus the bourbon and cokes. We then had to ship out and catch a Nairobi matatu (not the same as our beloved Bududa) back to the seminary. We had just a little time to pack up, hang out  with Kevin in the hallway of our barracks (college dorm room style), then head back to the bus for our journey back to Uganda. 

We arrived to the bus stop an hour early a) because I am traveling with Lyndsay always early Webb, b) because Fr. David insisted that we would have traffic, and C) NONE OF THAT EVEN MATTERS BECAUSE WE ARE IN AFRICA AND EVERYTHING HERE IS LATE!!!! Our bus was suppose to LEAVE at 2100. Well, the bus didn't even arrive to the bus stop until 2237 and did not pull away until 2312…T.A.B!!! But we have now found ways to entertain ourselves while waiting in the middle of crowds of people, carrying all our belongings, and getting bumped and run over by the flow of traffic with the "price is right" style time guessing game and "I spy with my little eye" game…as you can imagine the 3 of us, as annoyed as we were, were very animated and intrigued by these games. We had many laughs from the 3 of us but even more stares from the entire city of Nairobi. We also had a mzungu friend from California come up and introduce himself to us because he said, "It looks like you guys are having too much fun." He joined in on our fun and games which then proceeded into great conversation about his travels and time here in Africa. I must say that this is one of my favorite parts of traveling…meeting all the really cool people and hearing their even cooler stories. We fortunately were able to get seats in the very front of the bus so we had a better (again-very loose term) trip back home. Not to mention crossing the border in broad day light helped too. We didn't get back to Mbale until 0930 making it a 10hr trek instead of 13 at least. We then proceeded to jump immediately onto a matatu trying to get back to Bududa as fast as possible for our party at Richard's orphanage (more details to come).

Food craving of the day: every type of BBQ food imaginable…brauts, spinach summer salad, my mom's potato salad, and potato casserole.

Border patrol 1, Mzungu 0

Kristen here. As Lynds said, I was pretty sick for a few days. I practically begged Michelle to start an IV on me. I even got to experience the clinic firsthand by being a patient there myself… including an examination by the "clinical officer", an education session and full lab work for malaria, typhoid and percella. To my mother's relief, I was completely negative for everything. And I feel fine now….knock on wood cause Michelle just unpacked our secret stash of IV start kit supplies.

Our friend Kevin is going to be in Kenya this weekend. What started out as a big joke about having a huge "SLUSON" reunion in a continent across the world, turned into something more realistic. It turns out, Kevin has a really nice priest friend that was more than willing to let us stay with him and there was an overnight bus to Nairobi that made traveling over there "easy". More on that later…

So this is traveling in Africa: You have to leave the clinic at mid-day… you walk to the village, get a boda boda, go to the Bududa corner where you jump in an over crowded matatu to Mbale. There,  you spend way too long trying to grab snacks, get money out from the bank and check your email. All because nothing is actually "easy" in Africa. or efficient. Then, you get on a 5pm overnight bus to somewhere far away….except it doesn't leave until after 6pm (we have started placing bets on when things arrive or leave, etc. Price is right style. It entertains us for a while). The 3 mzungus were put in the very back of the bus which can be bumpy enough to leave serious butt bruises making us airborne multiple times on they bumpy dirt roads of Uganda. The bus travels rather slowly toward the border, making a stop at any point that a single person needs to pee and constantly unloading and loading random stuff that is being transported on the undercarriage of our bus… or in the aisle. And they sell too many tickets to how many seats there are which leaves someone standing up for the duration of the voyage (hours!!!) or cramming 7 people into the 5 seats we were sitting in. Awesome.

At the border, we unload the bus and get stamped out of Uganda. We then walk down this eerie street that is neither Kenya or Uganda. I can officially say I've been to "the middle of nowhere". We arrive at Kenya's customs office where they perceive to think we are scheming them because we said we wanted a transit visa. Sorry us Americans don't do the whole "visa" thing very often and we really don't know what we're doing. Doesn't transit just mean a short stay??. 50 bucks later… we have our single visit visa and a few new friends who try to convince us they are Obama's cousin. Riiiiightttt…..

Back on the bus for our crowded, bumpy, semi-sleepless ride making more stops along the way putting us into Nairobi at 7am. Whoa. Long night. We couldn't get a hold of Father David (Kevin's priest friend-- description to come!!!) so we did all we knew to do… wait. We grabbed some coffee and mandazi and didn't leave the area we had promised via email hours earlier. We had good faith that Kevin and gang would show up, which they did shortly after they landed and grabbed their bags!

Kevin, his sister Hannah, and his friend Amanda had just arrived to Kenya. We were all sorta jetlagged/tired from crazy bus rides so we spent the morning settling in and getting a tour of the seminary we would all stay at. Father David was more than generous to host us all. The seminary itself has a beautiful grounds and they are completely self sufficient. They have their own cows for milk, chickens for meat and garden for any herb or vegetable you could want.

That afternoon, Father David took us out in Nairobi. We went to see traditional dances put on by the Bomas. The dances were so cool- the music was great, the costumes were colorful and the dancing seemed authentic. There was an acrobatic act too. Afterwards, we did a bit of African craft shopping. Father David was insistent that we try a Kenyan beer called "Tusker". We all fell in love. All 6 of us Americans agreed (which is rare with beer tastes) and ordered a 2nd round. He also wanted us to check out the mall. It was a really nice shopping center that included our favorite African superstore: NAKUMATT!!! Yay for a walmart equivalent! In the food court, we had real, American-like ice-cream. It was delicious to those of us lacking diary and refrigeration in their diet. 

All big city luxuries aside, we were still having food cravings: nachos, gala apples, soft pretzels, cantaloupe.