The Real Africa

Uganda is not a bad place, Africa is not a bad place.  Honestly, I feel more safe here than when I lived in Baltimore!  Things do happen, yes (mostly at night), but things happen everywhere.  I had no idea what to think about or picture before I came here, but it's nothing like what the Western world makes it out to be.  Life here is so similar to parts of the U.S...but different.  Everyone has their own struggles and their own successes, they're just manifest in a different light.  They have their own economy, their own romances, their own friendships, their own social structure.  People (who can afford it) dress way nicer than Americans!  They wear Sunday best every day!  Americans are actually notorious here for having terrible style, because we assume "Oh Africa, wear crappy clothing."  But that's so far from the truth.  Yes it does get dusty, but we look terrible compared to the locals haha.  Things aren't as nice and elaborate as they are in the states, but they're there.  (Except for common knowledge about medical issues- non existent!).

Honestly, I'm pretty ashamed at myself because I assumed that all Africans weren't very educated.  Boy was I wrong!  In the villages, it is very hard to come across well educated people.  Most don't have enough money for school fees and have to drop out of school by first or second grade.  In town, however, most people have at least graduated high school and many that I have spoken with have gone to University (which is 3 years after high school for them).  They know so much!  And not only that but most people speak THREE languages!  (English, Lugesu, and Luganda).  How many Americans can do that?!  

I've gotten to know a lot of people through networking, projects, my soccer team, etc.  I've become close with a guy named Emma.  His story illustrates how similar some of the issues here are to the U.S.  Emma is great!  He wears band t-shirts like "The Who", jokes around a lot, and is very eloquent in his speech.  He's pretty much a typical 23 year old man.  I love talking to him because he reminds me of boys back home.   He knows I'm oblivious to cultural differences (and makes fun of me for it) and he understands sarcasm (which btw, is NOT a normal concept in Africa- watch what you say!).  He's been graduated from University for six months now with a degree in Accounting, and he's very smart.  However, he's frustrated with his current situation because he's living at home with his parents because he can't find work.  He tells me how annoying it is because he hates having to ask for his dad for money when he's an educated man and should be able to fend for himself. In the U.S. people are struggling with the same issue- even those with high levels of education are finding themselves out of work.

It's not all rainbows and butterflies here, that's for sure!  But it's not all bad either. I have posted of a lot of scary and disheartening things, but that's kind of what I'm here to do- I'm in a Environmental Health internship so I see the worst of the worst.  There are people who could go through the U.S. as well and scrutinize (even though the conclusions might be lest drastic).  Every culture, nation, people has their own struggles- some are just more extreme than others. Even the villagers who don't seem to have a lot of basic concept of anything that would be deemed "common knowledge" in the U.S...the amount of drive that they have to do physical labor just fascinates me.  I have so much respect for them.  They are working machines!  They are willing to sacrifice their body, get literally three hours of sleep most nights, sleep on dirt floors, work barefoot..they just don't stop working!
Africans are not dumb, they're just uninformed.  Africans are not lazy, they just haven't been raised with time management or analytic thinking skills.  Africans ARE hard working, loving, welcoming, happy.

The last couple days have been extreme physical labor as we mixed and poured cement, carried rocks and launched them off the mountain, dug through the mountain side, painted walls, and much more to finish up our health clinic.  I'm very excited for this clinic!  It's going to be so impact full and will literally save many lives.

A restaurant had PANCAKES!!! American food?!  What a dream!

            This is my friend Emma that I wrote about in this post. Yes I am wearing makeup.  Yes this is rare!

                             This is the love of my life and favorite Africa girl- Brenda :)  We were hanging out up in her home village (where the clinic is) which is about an hour and half from our house in town.

                                                                   The market in Mbale

                                                                          BRENDA!

                                  

                                                                 Market in Mbale, #2

All white everything- white sheets, white blanket, white shirt, white shorts...all in a land that doesn't even have paved roads.  What was I thinking?!  It's legitimate work trying to keep this all clean at night especially since I'm usually covered in dirt (I just took a shower in this picture...a rare occasion to say the least.  No hot showers= no drive to shower).

A Little Update

I know I haven't posted very much recently and that's because most of my time I'm spending on the same thing- getting ready for my project that will take place in two weekends.  Once that is done I will post more frequently!  I won't bore you with the logistics of it all, just the final product once it's complete. :)
I taught the Sunday School lesson during Church on Sunday- I was really nervous because of the language barrier.  Most people can speak a little bit of English, but they can't understand "American accents" worth a darn.  Whenever I do speak English with them, I have to speak in a Lugandan accent.  It's really hard to describe and I'm sure I sound like an idiot, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  I thought it went terribly, but everyone else said it went really well. :)  They probably said that just to make me feel good haha.
I had an experience the other day that tore me apart, mentally.  I was walking outside of my house and 3 little kids ran up to me screaming at me all happy to see the white girl.  One little girl had swear drops literally covering her face and asked for money.  She pleaded, "I'm hungry I'm hungry please."  My directory Holly who lives with us told us to never give money to kids when they ask for it because they're hungry.  She said they will literally spend every penny on it for paint to get high with (something I've witnessed first hand) or they are "owned" and any money that they get they will be forced to give to their owner.  One time Holly even bought a child food and they tried to sell it back saying that they wanted MONEY so that they could buy paint.  I had to walk away saying I didn't have anything, sorry.  I walked away, leaving the seemingly hungry (who knows if they were) children behind me.  It made me question my humanity- who turns away a starving child?  I just kept questioning myself- who was I?  I can't give them money because that would just enforce the problem.  I decided I'm going to starting walking around with food in my bag so if anything I will have at least a little something for them.  One thing is though, you have to learn to say no as gut wrenching as it is.  :/  You're white, you have more money than they do so everyone is asking from you constantly.  If you said yes to everyone that asks, you would completely out of money the second day.  That's why I'm here, teach others how to be self sustainable.  Buy a man a fish feed him for a day, teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime.
The most humbling experience I've had so far took place the other day.  A man with polio was just laying on the ground starring up at me.  It's one thing to see them crawling by but he just starred up at me with doe eyes for ten minutes while I was in a meeting...gosh.  I wasn't sure what he wanted, so I was just going to assume he was starring at me because I'm white (which happens frequently).  I experienced a huge humbling moment when a local man who looked like he didn't have much for himself walked by and gave the polio man some money.  I finally realized he was begging for money, not just starring.  Even though you can't give to everyone, I had to give to him- he was completely lame and literally couldn't fend for himself.  I decided to give him some shillings and my own response surprised me.  I said, "Here you go, brother" and grabbed his hand.  He clasped mine back and said, "God bless you."  Two phrases that seem so simple at first had a great impact on me.  That's literally what it's all about- God.  He is a son of God and when I called him brother, it wasn't me saying that, I genuinely feel as if it was the Spirit of Christ speaking through me to let his real brother know that he is being watched over.  That man with polio- no matter the color differences, language, or physical differences truly is my brother in Christ.  Everyone here is.

                                                           Bicycle Taxis.  Cars are rare!

                                                     This is considered a spacious house

The frustrations

My last few days has consisted of nothing but meetings!  I'm planning my "big project", well one of them, and  it's meetings galore!  Here in Uganda you can't just call someone on the phone, you must meet with them for absolutely everything.  I think my biggest challenge with this country so far is the concept of African time.  African time is so real!!!!!!  If something is supposed to start at 2, it won't start until literally 4.  Also, cancellation is frequent.  Most people also just seem to be sitting around, EVERYONE just hangs out!  I wonder sometimes how virtually anything get done here.  It's a trial of my patience- that's for sure!  I guess Heavenly Father knows that I need to be tried.  You have to adapt to the slow paced atmosphere, but at the same time I'm afraid I'll come home and be perceived as the laziest person ever because I'm used to everything taking 5 days.  The people here are lovely, but so SO SOOOO slow. :)
My second frustration is men always calling out.  It seems as if we can't walk down the street without men (who are always sitting around on the sidewalks b/c that's what they do) yelling, "Come here beautiful" "I like you" "Are you married" "Mzungoo we must talk", literally every two seconds while walking somewhere. And when I say every two seconds, that's a legitimate statement.  They either want to "get with you" or want you to buy something from them because here being white means having a perceived endless amount of money.  I understand because we are the only white people in a sea of Africans so we obviously stand out.  It's just getting kind of annoying because as sad as this is to say, you have to get used to ignoring people.  That's something I never wanted to do. :/  The people here really are wonderful, especially the children and when you stop and talk with someone on an individual level.  The problem arises when you're just walking down the street because you're a walking white piece of meat.  It's not that annoying usually, but today it's getting to me.  What I wouldn't give to just be another person in the crowd walking through the mall in America!  Just for an hour.
Okay this is my one venting post, I will allow myself one and no more.  Hope you enjoyed me griping because it will be the one and only!  Life here really is great though, I promise haha.

                                           One of many street children sleeping on cardboard

                                     Just chilling out with my mosquito net. Keeps malaria away!

                               The sewage system in Mbale!  Literally dirt, poop, and trash. Makes me cringe.

                                                People in the "waiting area" at local hospital.

                                                               Working Man

                                                 Random chicken!  They're EVERYWHERE!

                                                   

Project #1: Health Clinic

Today we (my fellow 6 interns and I) took our first journey up into the mountains to visit our health clinic.  It was an hour and a half journey, but completely worth it.  The last team that was here built a health clinic, and our team is the first to open it to the public!  It's up in a tropical forest covered mountain, and prior to the clinic the nearest place to seek medical attention was a three hour walk down the side of the mountain.  Apparently most people couldn't make the trek, and they used to give c-sections in a closet using only a razor blade.  We hiked up the mountain and the view was indescribably beautiful!  It was the prettiest view I have ever seen in my entire life, words and pictures cannot describe it.  Gosh...I wish my eyes could take snapshot! Upon our arrival, the villagers went crazy.  They LOVE us!  They call us their "visitors" and they could not be more gracious. They treated us almost like royalty and the smiles never ceased.  The children were so excited to hold our hands. That's one thing, there is CONSTANT hand holding here.  The children latch on and never let go.  I'm so excited to work with the community and improve their current health state.  They've been waiting for this for so long, and their dreams are finally coming true  

  Our clinic sign! The clinic on top of the mountain. Small but needed

Village children

                                                
                                                 
                  Indescribably beautiful!  Pictures can't even properly illustrate. God's masterpiece :)

1st Day in the Slums

The slums of Mbale are called the "Nomatoya District."  It's home to 20,000 residents, completely cut off from the city and/or virtually anything else.  There are not any services offered in Nomatoya, literally nothing.  What we are doing for the first week is touring around viewing projects that are already in the works, observing needs, and getting a feel for the people.  Let me tell you what- the people LOVE us!  Especially the children!  I could not believe the amount of children that were in the slums. They seemed to be crawling out of every crevasse   A woman in the slums bares an average of eight children.  They lack birth control or any luxuries at all for that matter.  Another reason being that it's literally the culture that every man cheats on his wife.  I didn't want to believe that for the first few days because I just saw that as a stereotype and a cynical point of view, but there's no denying it- it's their culture.  It is so sad, I cannot even imagine.  This also leads to the further spread of HIV.  When people want to do it, they will do it, with who they want to do it.  It's such a different climate, I can't wrap my brain around it.  I hope this doesn't forever make me mistrust  men. :X
A family in the slums makes an average of less than 1,000 shillings per day (that's less than 40 U.S. CENTS per day).  The "houses" aka tiny huts with straw roofs are literally the size of my downstairs bathroom is home to 10-15 people.  Everyone was so nice to us though, I could not get over it.  Here we were, these obviously privileged white people strolling through the dirt roads of the slums and yet they greeted us without any resentment or any bitterness.  They met us with huge smiles and came up to touch us.  That's another thing- people touch us CONSTANTLY.  Especially the children.  When we walk by all I hear is, "Mzungoo! Mzungoo!" (meaning, "White person!").  Then they run up to us, and hold their hands out for us to shake them or grab their hands. Most children of the slums have never seen a white person before, we are just some distant tale to them and when they see us they lose their minds.  They also try to take sneaky little strokes at my hair, I'm the only blonde in my group and they've literally never seen blonde hair.  There were constantly a herd of at least 20 children following us as we walked and there were at least 3 children holding each of my hands.  It was honestly one of the most content, happy moments of my life.  There was innocence of children surrounding me everywhere and not only were they innocent, but they were happy.  A young girl named Diana wore only a t-shirt covered completely in holes, I'm on even sure how the cloth held itself together.  She held my hand for HOURS, and would not let go for any reason.  When I had to tell her bye she looked so confused and I wanted to take her home and protect her forever.  The slums were literally that, slums, it's so hard to describe and honestly it's something that you have to see first hand to believe- pictures nor words can do it justice.

Just hanging out with my bud- yep, he's naked.  Very typical!  A lot of times (especially in the slums even though this wasn't taken there) toddlers are naked because the families don't have enough money to even clothe the children.

At the beginning of the day we hiked the top of the mountain behind us to the waterfalls. I like to think I'm in shape, but I was DYING!  Seriously the hardest physical thing I've ever done, and it was by far the highest I've ever been not in an airplane. Man almighty

Shocking Sights

Today we went to the LDS church in Mbale.  The building was beautiful; it was the only built a month ago and is the nicest LDS church building in all of Uganda.  Everyone was so nice, and incredibly educated.  They knew way more about the Gospel than I do!  The Church really is true and is the same all around the world. :)
After church we went through town to go to the market to buy food.  I was walking and almost tripped over something when I looked down to see a man lying on the ground.  He was dead.  His body was stiff and flies  covered his face.  That was definitely something I never expected to see, but what shocked me even more than the sight of a corpse was that he was laying on the sidewalk in the middle of town, in front of a store.  No one moved him, he just lay there dead.  Our guard David was with us and he told me later that he was a "mad man", meaning that he was crazy (probably just mentally handicapped).  David said in broken English, "Did you see his skin? He hadn't showered in months."
We bought food at the market to make to give to the "street children."  This is something that we will do every Sunday.  Street children are basically orphans whose parents can't afford to keep them.  They live in the slums during the day, but at night time they all sleep in a big pile downtown.  We made the typical meal here, rice and beans, and put them in bags.  It was madness.  The children were going crazy, they wanted food so badly, it was heart wrenching.  We tried to have them stand in line, but that just didn't work and we didn't have enough food for every child.  They didn't want us to give out the food yet and the children were surrounding us, literally pleading for something to eat in their ripped clothing.  One grabbed me and said, "please please food me. I'm sick.", then lifted up his shirt to show me his bloated stomach. That was the norm, unfortunately.  The worst part was, these kids were high out of their minds.  Every single one of them just completely gone.  They are usually ages 6-8.  Any money they get they spend on paint and inhale the fumes.  It was honestly pretty scary too, they just grabbed you but not in the normal way they usually do.  They were desperate for something, anything.  These children really need help.

Realization

Things are going well here! The culture is so different it's mind blowing. I'm learning a lot though. 
I've already seen some things that I will never and can never unsee.  Something that I will never forget is I was walking through downtown and a grown man was right in front of me, crawling on all 4s like a dog. His mouth was hanging open and he just looked up and looked at me with empty eyes that I couldn't read. His legs were shriveled and half the size of a regular man's and his feet didnt look like feet at all, but mangled up bone. He had polio, something that we as Americans don't even have to worry about Bc we get preventative shots as babies. I saw 3 other men crawling around with the same condition, legs dragging behind them with flip flops on their hands to prevent further damage. Just one example. 
Last night I just laid in bed and cried. I was thinking, "what am I doing here? Why am I a whole world away from everything and why are some of these people suffering so badly? Why was my spirit chosen in the pre-existence to go to the family/life that I was and they were destined for this? What can I do to help them?" I just prayed and prayed. Then I remembered the man with polio and thought, "A man with such a deformity could have just laid in self pity and realized his fate, yet there he was in the middle of downtown shops. He wasn't afraid to be out in public, he was out being proactive and being determined. There is beauty in all things." After that I realized that even though some of the things here will be super hard to see and handle (I probably will break down a few times) there really is a light in every situation and trial and I need to be constantly searching for that.  Now don't get me wrong, not everything here is doom and gloom. These people are so happy! It's incredible! They are waaaay more happy than any other culture/people I've encountered. They are so helpful, nice, and always smiling. It's refreshing! Also the babies here never cry, it's almost unreal! (except for one baby today that got dropped on the ground by another little kid bc a car was coming and was not stopping. Dont worry, I picked him up before the car drove by. He's fine.) 
Some of the people do very well for themselves financially, they may not have a super lavish life but they know what they need and what's important to them. A lot of people (excluding slums, that's a whole different story. I haven't visited that yet but I will probably be spending most of my time there starting next week) have their own trade that they can monopolize off of, this place is capitalism at it's finest. 
I went to a traditional African wedding today and it was great! There were actually a lot of similarities in the actual vow part. However it did last literally 7 hours, but i played with the children most of the time. They are such sweethearts and look after one another like they are each others parents. At the end a man said something to me (in Enlish after realizing I didn't speak Luganda. English is not their primary language.)  He said, "We may be poor, but we are happy. People mistake our problems." That really opened my eyes. They are not charity cases and don't need to be totally "changed", i mean after all they know the true meaning of happiness better than we do, but things CAN be improved at least. I thought coming here I would be "the light in the darkness" for these people, but I think it's the other way around. They're mine