Amani Update (by: Alyssa)

Hello All!

Again, Em and I are writing at the same time, so repetition is pretty much guaranteed :P

It is VERY hot in Jinja today! I'm not sure how hot, but the past few days have been hotter than the hottest day in Canada, I think! Or at least pretty close!

Today, I will go on my first outing! Em already had one on Friday, but I haven't gotten to go on one yet. Basically, we just sign out a child and then dress them in "smart clothes" which are basically clothes that are nicer than their everyday stuff. They look so cute when they're all dressed up! And then we bring them out of the Amani gates, either into town, or swimming, or on a walk. The point of it is just that they get to go out of the gates of the orphanage, and have some one-on-one time with a child.

Last night, we said goodbye to three Canadian volunteers that have been here for 2 months. And tomorrow night, we have 3 new ones coming! So, that is exciting, but it makes me realize how much changeover the kids experience in volunteers. And it makes me understand why they test us, especially at the beginning, just to see what they can get away with. :P Preschool for the past few days has definitely been interesting! We've learned some more Ugandan phrases which seem to be useful, although I don't think they kids will ever listen to us as well as they listen to the mamas!

Speaking of the Mamas, they are great. They always have so much joy and are singing and dancing around, and asking us how we are doing. And they work SO hard here - never slacking off, but always giving everything their ALL. I've been thinking a lot about work while I'm here, and about how God wants us to be working hard, with our whole heart, and the mamas are definitely an inspiration and encouragement in that area.

Yesterday, we went to our first Uganda church service, which was really cool! It was a Ugandan pastor who was speaking but he was speaking in English and he had a translator to translate every sentence he said. All the music was pretty familiar to me, although there was one Ugandan song at the end that I didn't understand at all, haha! We got to take a kid with us too, and they are very excited to get to go to church! I brought a little girl and she did really well - listening quietly and flipping through the pages of my bible, pretending she was following along with the service :P On the way home, we passed a huge group of children who were from a village right beside the area that the church is in. They were SO excited to see some Mzungus and were all crowding around trying to get their picture taken by us! And then of course, they all wanted to see the pictures.

After church, Em and I and two other volunteers decided to go into town to explore and get some souvenirs and such. We also decided to attempt to go to the central market here (because we really wanted some fresh fruit!), and that was DEFINITELY an experience. We walked along a little pathway through the market and there were many different stands on either side of us, selling everything from raw meat (with flies all around, YUCK!) to salted grasshoppers, to dried mini-fish, to more normal things like cucumbers and tomatoes. Finally we found the pineapple section and bought two pineapples, one of which we ate last night, and the other we will eat today. Fresh pineapple is SO delicious!

Poverty is becoming so much more personal to me being here. We are meeting people with such incredible stories of hardship, and it definitely puts things into perspective. I can't believe the burdens that most of these people have - and yet, they are SO joyful. I heard that A LOT before I came to Africa, but since being here, it just makes a lot more sense. I strongly encourage anyone who is considering travelling and seeing how other people live, or mission work, to DO IT! I know I have a lot more to learn while I'm here too.

I was a bit sick this morning, but nothing too bad, in comparison to some of the other volunteers that have really not been feeling well! I've been told that a little sickness is just a part of the transition to this culture, so I can take it!

With MUCH kwagala, (I think that means "love", haha, I know that "Nkwagala Nyo" means I love you!)

Alyssa

Recent Happenings in Uganda! :) (by: Alyssa)

Hello All!

Sorry it's been a few days! Trust me when I say that it's not the easiest thing ever to have access to a computer here! I am using one of the volunteers' right now, as I won't have a chance to go to town today to the internet cafe. Also, yesterday, the power was out for pretty much the whole day, which is a few common occurance here. If the power's out, that means that the internet is also out. So ya, if you don't hear from either of us for a few days, rest assured that we are still alive, and it's just not possible to update the blog every day! Haha, ok, now to the real deal!

We are still loving it here - Uganda is a beautiful country, with such fantastic people!

After the internet cafe last time, Em and I rode our first BodaBodas!!!! We were VERY excited - they are pretty much motorcycles and seem to be the Ugandans primary mode of transportation! :) I held onto the driver and Em was behind me, and we had a blast! Today though, we found out that you're not supposed to hold onto the driver.... oops! :P  We were joking about how that's why he gave us a good price! He probably loved driving us "Mzungus" back to the Baby Cottage... (Mzungu is what they call white people, although I think Em already mentioned that before).  Good times!

The other day, a bunch of the volunteers went to Siouxanne's house for pizza (she's the medical coordinator here), which was DELICIOUS, but was eaten in the dark because of the power outage. And last night, we went to another person's house to play Mafia, which was also fun! It's a great community of volunteers here, which I'm really thankful for!

Meals have been interesting, haha! The Mamas here cook us lunch everyday, which definitely gives us a taste for Ugandan food. Today was sweet potatoes (quite different from Canada) with a sort of pea-soup sauce, as well as "g-nut sauce", which is pretty much like peanut sauce! And they always serve "greens" with the meals too, which I THINK is spinach :P or something like that!

Em and I have both been working with the preschoolers during the mornings, and are loving it, although it's definitely chaotic! We do puzzles with them, as well as letter activities, and other activity-type things. I love how these kids latch onto us so easily. All we have to do is walk into the room and we get bombarded with "AUNTIE, AUNTIE!!!!!" which is what they call all of the volunteers. The children are so precious - each and every one made so wonderfully by God. I can't even imagine what their lives would be like if Amani didn't exist, and I am so glad they get to live such a wonderful life here. 

I have to go, unfortunately, even though there is so much more to say! Emily will hopefully get to write later on and will fill you in on everything I missed! 

Oh, and if you happen to read this, Happy Birthday Liv and Nick! :) Hope you both have great days!

Much love from Africa!

Alyssa

Amani is Amazing! (by: Alyssa)

Hello!!

Finally, I am getting a few minutes to write a blog. Still, I don't have a lot of time because we have to be back at the orphanage soon to take some of the kids on an outing! :) (I am in town, at the internet cafe. There is no computer at Amani (it's broken) but some girls have laptops so I may get a chance to use one of those later on. Em's also writing a post at the same time, so there may be lots of repetition!

Wow, how do I begin to describe what it's like here! There is so much to say!

Today, we floated around in the morning, helping with whatever age group there was a need. We were with Baby A, B, and C at different times, which are all different age groups of the kids. There are also toddlers and preschoolers but we didn't work with them. Em and I both got to hold a little girl who is just over a month old and SOOOO tiny! Awww!!

Tomorrow, the new schedule will start, and Em and I will both be with the preschoolers, which I'm really looking forward to! :) We havent gotten a chance to interact with those kids much yet.

For lunch, we went out to a restaurant downtown with some of the other volunteers.. I had a wrap with chicken and avocado, but discovered that I don't really like avocado! It seems to be pretty tasteless with a weird texture, haha, but that is one of the first foods i've tried here that I haven't really liked. Everything else has been pretty good so far! And so far, I haven't gotten sick either, which is definitely a blessing, although I've been told that it's almost guaranteed to happen soon.

We have seen lots of strange things here - like Em said, goats on the street, and chickens, and lots of signs with funny english. Uganda is a BEAUTIFUL country though, with so much lush vegetation, and wonderful people who are so friendly :) From our room in the orphanage guest house, you can see Lake Victoria, which is probably about a 5 minute walk down the road.

We are sleeping very comfortably too!! It cools down a bit at night which is nice (it's QUITE hot during the day - probably like 30 degrees!) and i love the sound of the crickets outside the window.

We bought our first souvenirs today too! - Aprons for 10,000 shillings each! Which is only 5 dollars american :P

I don't have too much more time, so I think that's all I'll say for now :) More when I get another chance! It may not be every day, but hopefully every few days, we'll get a chance to come here and write something.

Much love!!

Alyssa

Day 2!!! (by: Emily)

It looks like I get another chance to write a short message! We are in town for our lunch break and Alyssa and I decided to go to the internet cafe! First of all, everything is SO cheap here! We got our lunch for like $3.50 Canadian! It's absolutely crazy!!!

We had a chance to play with the youngest babies today. I got to hold one baby who was just one month old and SOOO little! I have never held a baby so small before, and at first I was kind of nervous to hold her because she was so small, but one of the mamas (that's what they call the Ugandian woman who take care of the children here) just put her in my arms and gave me her bottle. I was so happy she did because she is just so beautiful and precious and Alyssa and I already want to bring her back! Then we helped with the older babies and fed them their lunch! They all seemed to be wearing more than they were eating...haha...they are SO adorable!

It's 3:20pm here and in 40 minutes we have to be back because it's outing day today! We get to get to each bring a child into town, and I think we're taking them out for cake! It's going to be so much fun!!! We are going to take boda-bodas back, and you have no idea how excited I am to ride one of these!!! I've heard so much about them, and I just can't wait!!!

Did I mention I saw CHICKENS just walking around on the side of the streets...along with the goats of course! I take a picture of every chicken and every goat because I am just so blown away that they are everywhere!!!

What else can I say? hmm...the soil here is dark red! And you walk along dirt roads to get anywhere! That's pretty exciting!!!

The last couple of days have flown by...I hope the rest of the time doesn't go so fast! I really really love it here! Everything I see is so different than anything else I've ever seen before..it's so interesting to me and I want to take it all in and experience everything! Speaking of trying everything, people here eat fried grasshoppers! A little girl told me they just take the wings and legs off, fry them, and put lots of salt on and then eat them! They are apparently VERY GOOD and I would very much like to try one! I want to try everything I can while here...I am loving every minute so far!

Well, that's all for now!

Sending you love from Africa,

Em

Day 1!!! (by: Emily)

It doesn't seem real, but we are finally here in Jinja, Uganda! We flew out 6:10pm on Monday May 10th and arrived Wednesday morning at 2:30am...of course, with 8 hours of time change! There was an extra hour added to our first flight because of the volcanoe and then we had an hour delay our second flight because the door fell off (don't worry...it was just the luggage door...and they fixed it!) OH, and something kind of funny...there was someone sitting in front of us for the first flight to Belgium who looked like Prings...well, at least from the back! Alyssa and I thought that was funny! The plane ride was lots of fun!!!

When we got to Entebbe, Uganda it was a little overwhelming. For one thing, our luggage took a bit to come in and we were wondering if it got lost or not and then we couldn't find our driver...BUT, everything ended up working out in the end! There was a small communication gap with the driver...he thought it was 9:40AM..not PM...so, he left to pick us up at 5:00am (it's a long drive) and then he was there all day! Poor guy!

Okay...now, Africa so far:
Goats wandering around the streets, wild dogs everywhere, tons of boda-bodas asking you for a ride, street children, a LOT of poverty...it's definitely eye opening. I have so much I want to say, but I am borrowing my lovely friend Natalie's computer and I think she wants to go back on soon! I don't know if I'll get to say too much as it doesn't seem like there is a computer here...but, we shall see! I am loving everything so far...the babies are so precious. I already want to bring them all home! One funny story about today before I go...ready? Okay...today on our way home from town there was a bunch of street children who were yelling at us and calling us "Mzungus" (that's what they call white people here). They threw a toy at my eye...by accident I'm sure...but they all surrounded me rubbing my skin and trying to hold my hand. They seemed to be intrigued by us because of our skin colour...that was really funny to me. One boy told Alyssa that he wanted a picture with me...his "Mzungu"...so a bunch of little street kids piled around for a picture with me. They were so excited to see the little picture played back on the camera screen... My heart broke for all of those children who are out here on the streets all day and some all night. Everything is SO different than Canada, which I definitely expected! For one thing, you can be a millionaire here....1,000 ugandan shillings is only 50 cents! It's SOOOO crazy!

Opps...I've got to go! This computer is very popular it seems!!!

Much love,
Em

We are here!

That is all we have time to write right now! More later :)
We are here and safe and everything is amazing so far!

12 days till we leave!! (by: Alyssa)

Hello Everyone!

It's getting closer and closer. It still doesn't seem real that we will be boarding a plane in under 2 weeks!
God really blew us away with how much he provided, in terms of items for the orphanage! We have filled THREE large suitcases of clothes, books, tylenol, underwear and other things. Pretty much all of that was donated by the congregation of Greenwood Avenue Baptist Church, our church in North Bay, and we are so thankful to them for that.
Right now, I am feeling pure excitement for this trip, although I know that the nervousness will probably kick in as the day approaches. I have read some blogs of girls that are at the orphanage right now or who have been there before, and I feel that I can confidently say that this will be a unique experience for sure! I know God will use this adventure to change the way I think and feel about the world, and THAT is very exciting.
Thanks again to everyone for your support - whether that is through the donation of items, financial donations, or through your prayers! We appreciate it all so much!

Alyssa :)