A day with World Vision

World Vision and Rotary have combined forces to reduce the mortality rate due to water, sanitation and hygeine related diseases in the Gulu area.  Together, they have planned for about $1 million in projects. They have constructed 28 new boreholes, repaired 16 existing boreholes, distributed sanitation and latrine digging kits, and supported 8 model villages for training purposes, among many other wonderful things.  Today I was priveledged to see some of the projects.

This is a hand washing station in the WV Model village.  Step on the wooden board at my feet and the water pours over my hands.  The soap dish is nailed on the post. Technology at its best! 

Tim Murphy from Edina Rotary Club is laying bricks on the VIP Latrine at a Primary school.

This is the group of Rotarians/World vision staff that spent the day together. 

Here is a young man doing the dishes at the station in the model village. 

One of the new boreholesthat was drilled.

This borehole is not too busy because it has some iron in it that the people dont like, but it is still a safe water source.

This is a VERY busy borehole well.  In fact, it takes several hours to be in line to get water.

Thank you World Vision for all of the good things you are doing; not only in Gulu, Uganda, but all over the world.  Myheart is so touched when I see the good things being done here by individuals and large NGOs.  There is still so much to do, and I love being a small part of the process.  A day doesn't go by that I am not confirmed in my heart that I am in the right place at the right time.  It is a blessing to me to be here :).    

The Story of a Child Soldier

This is the story of the experience and rehabilitation of a child soldier.  World Vision operates a rehabilitation program here in Gulu, Uganda. There are still new arrivals coming from the Congo that were abducted 15-17 years ago! They are men now, and have lived most of their lives forced to be a soldier.

Peaceful Acholi home. 

Attack by Rebels.

Abduction as Child Soldier. 

Pursuit by Army.

Crossfire.  Fighting between LRA and UG Army.

Rescue by Army.

Army hands over rescued child soldier to World Vision. 

Arrival of child soldier to World Vision. 

Medical Treatment 

Documentation by World Vision and finding of families and relatives.

Various vocational skills training of the former child soldier. 

Board Vehicle for going home. Some are given beds, clothes, supplies, etc.

Parents receiving their child after years of separation and sadness.



Hangzhou and Shanghai, China

We have a wonderful day planned in Hangzhou before heading back to Shanghai for our final day. In Hangzhou, we took a cruise on the West Lake. It is a very large fresh water lake; no fishing or swimming is allowed to keep it clean. Then we went to the famous Long Jiang tea demonstrations. We learned how green tea is harvested, how to tell the different grades of green tea and we were able to taste some quality green tea. Our tea man, Dr. Tea himself, was a real showman! He was a good salesman too . It was interesting to see the Chinese workers in the tea bushes picking the leaves. The tea gardens are huge and it was a very green, lush, beautiful place to visit. After lunch, we had a very long drive back to Shanghai. We are in Shanghai for the last two nights.

When we arrived in Shanghai in the evening, we went on an evening cruise on the Huang Pu River Cruise. Both sides of the river were lit up with many beautiful sky scrapers. It was very cold for me, so I stayed below deck near the window. Then they took us to the Putong and Nanjing Road shopping area for just a few minutes. This looked like Times Square to me. It is very bright, modern buildings, expensive brands and expensive prices. This is the modern part of Shanghai; nothing local about it. It was getting late, and our last day in Shanghai is a free day, so people can return for more shopping if they want tomorrow.

For my last full day in Shanghai, I slept in until 9am . I had a leisurely breakfast, and then joined some friends to go to the “Old City” of Shanghai. It was relaxing and a great day of leisure. I am not a real shopper, so I just like to watch people, look at the local things in the shops, and occasionally try the local street food. I have been lucky in that the street food has not made me sick.

I am with the President of the Rotary Club of Shanghai exchanging banners. 

Our Rotary Club of Shanghai meeting and dinner was on our last evening in Shanghai. It was a wonderful evening in a beautiful hotel. I exchanged banners with the Shanghai Club President, an Indian man. I wish I had written down his name. The club, although not officially chartered, is very active in service projects. They showed us slides of some of their projects, including the Gift of Life project. Many Shanghai Rotarians were at the meeting representing countries from all over the world. You might remember that Chinese passport holders are not allowed to be members of the Rotary Club. I am sure that all of this will eventually change as the Chinese government sees all of the good works and service that members of Rotary and the organization itself spreads all over the world. I exchanged banners, giving them a Kapolei, Hawaii banner and receiving their Shanghai banner.

Face booking and blogging is not allowed in China. I have been writing when possible along the way and just saving them. I will start uploading when I arrive in Dubai airport. I know you will love the pictures. I have learned so much about China. I never really thought passed the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors. I had no idea what adventures lay ahead of me and all the history I would learn along the way. I didn’t even have a China tour book like I always do when I travel to a new country! My mind has definitely enlarged and my life has been so enriched from this trip. I am still in awe at all that I saw and experienced and learned.

Lots of new friendships were made on this trip :) 

But the greatest thing that happened here is the new friends I made on the trip. I traveled with a wonderful group of 27 Rotarians, their spouses, and perhaps future Rotarians from the Seattle area. I have 26 new friends in my life. I also have some new friends in China! I want to publically thank Jesse and Lilly Tam for putting this China tour together and for their endless patience with everyone. It is very hard, and actually quite impossible, to keep everyone happy in a big group like this, yet Jesse solved the problems as they came up with such finesse and professionalism. As a Rotarian, I am very proud to represent America in China and to spread goodwill and better friendships all over the world!!

Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing China

We spent the morning in Shanghai before leaving for Suzhou by bus in the afternoon. Our first stop was the YuYuan Garden. It is an excellent model of classical Chinese gardening architecture. It was built during the reign of the Ming Emperor Jiajing (1559). Before we arrived there though, we walked through by some great food vendors and a beautiful shopping area. The entire garden is walled in and the wall is topper by a very large dragon. After the garden, we went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. It has a very large model of the future Shanghai. For lunch, we had more Chinese food. The dishes are very good. We also had a quick stop at the Shanghai museum.

Suzhou is a water city. A city of canals; the Venice of China, but we didn’t get to see that part of town. We saw two or three canals, but not the “Venice” part . Some people were disappointed, but Nexus has our group on a schedule and they seem determined to keep us on it! Before we left Suzhou, Michael stopped at one of the little local alley roads and let us experience a very local area. The group loved it. We saw exotic foods, shops, local people, etc.

Our next city to visit was Wuxi. Our number one stop is the Lingering Garden, the third most beautiful garden in all of China (Summer Palace being the first). It was truly beautiful. Then we went to a silk factory. We saw how silk worms make silk! It was very cool. I learned a lot. It is really an amazing process, and silk is such a strong and beautiful and soft fabric.

We arrived in Nanjing in the evening, had another Chinese dinner, then we went to a night shopping area that was very bright and exciting. The next morning, we went to a fresh water pearl factory, Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s Mausoleum. We had a ride on a boat to see the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and had lunch at the Confusian Temple. After lunch, we had a very long bus ride to Hangzhou.

Every single day is an early start and late finish. Many of the group are very tired, but our spirit and enthusiasm is still very strong. We are seeing much more of China than we ever imagined. It truly has been an amazing experience.

Xian, China

A presentation at the Ancient City wall of Xian. 

Every Terra Cotta Warrior has a different face.  Recognize this one?

Everyone was very tired at our 6:30am wakeup call and our 8 am departure for our day in Xian. This morning I ate my fill of Dragon fruit! It was delicious! We have two nights at this hotel. Today we started our day with a visit to the Ancient City Wall. There was a show with ancient soldiers, drums and marching. It was very good. We have a new guide here called Rose. Then we stopped at one of the government mandated places; a ceramic art factory. We had lunch at a great noodle restaurant and watched them make several different kinds of noodles. Then we saw the highlight of the day, and my second favorite place in all of China besides the Great Wall; Terra Cotta Warriors Museum. The first Emperor of China thought that after this life he would be living underground, so he staffed his underground tomb with over 6,000 life-sized warriors, horses, and chariots and vast amounts of treasures for his use after death. It was just discovered in the late 70’s by a farmer who was digging a well. The tomb and all of the soldiers had been destroyed and buried thousands of years ago, but archeologists are painstakingly putting the pieces slowly back together. It will take years and years because the place is so huge! They only have about a 1/3 of the soldiers back together again. The Terra Cotta Warriors were recently named the 8th Wonder of the World! That is exciting! As with the wall, I find it difficult to put into words how over whelming seeing such an amazing site is. It’s just very moving to the very core of my soul!

Only a fraction of the 6,000 warriors have been put together again. 

Recently named as the 8th Wonder of the World!

We ate a very special local Imperial Dumpling banquet dinner and attended a traditional Tang Dynasty Singing and Dancing Show. It was another late night and we got back to our hotel at almost 10pm. We have another morning in Xian before we fly to Shanghai tomorrow at 2pm.

Our group in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda.

Before our flight to Shanghai today, April 7th, we stopped at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian. Some of the group lit incense and offered prayers at the big burning pot at the top of the stairs near the very big Golden Buddha.

We flew to Shanghai at 2:30, arriving in the evening. We have a new tour guide now, Michael. He sings us songs. He is a bit stricter on our time table, but he is very funny. We have one night at the Minya Hotel in Shanghai before leaving by bus for Suzhou in the morning.

3 days in Beijing, China

Rotary Friendship trip to China: 27 members.  17 Rotarians/10 Spouses and friends. Here we are at Tianeman Square.

Getting to China was about a 48 hour event when you consider that I have to leave Gulu for Kampala the day before I fly out. I caught a 1:00 bus to Kampala and arrived about 6pm. I stayed at the same guesthouse that I did when I was getting my China Visa. They have a wonderful dinner buffet with a lot of green vegetables. Green vegetables are hard to find in Gulu.

We ate lots of duck in China :)

Umm, I didnt eat this, but saw lots of stuff like this....

To get to the airport, I rode a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to the taxi station in Kampala, then a taxi minivan to Entebbe, then hired a private car to the airport. At one point when I was on the boda, I found us stuck between two buses that were angling toward each other. The motor cycle handle bars were almost touching the sides of both buses! It was a bit nerve racking, but I survived. I flew from Entebbe to Dubai, and then to Beijing on Emirates Airbus 380. It was huge! I watched about 6 movies on my two 7.5 hour flights.

This is our awesome group at the Great Wall of China!

I landed in terminal 3 about an hour ahead of the Seattle group. Two hours later, when I had not seen anyone that I recognized, I figured out that I was in a different terminal than they were. Yes, I caught up with the group and made it to the hotel with everyone. Finally!

This is the side I climbed as far as possible.  It was steep!  My legs hurt for days!

This is a group of 27 people. Everyone, except me, is from Seattle, Washington. Seventeen of us are Rotarians and the rest are spouses or friends. This Rotary International Friendship trip to China was organized by Rotarian Jesse Tam. We are visiting the only two Rotary clubs in all of China; Beijing and Shanghai. We are also touring 7 cities.

Me in front of the Temple of Heaven 

Day #1: Every day is packed from morning to night with sites and visits. We have had very little rest. It has been an amazing experience. Our guide in Beijing is Jo Jo. She is very knowledgeable about the area and is very personable; her stories and history lessons are endless. Our first stop of the day is the Forbidden City. It is called that because it was forbidden for common people to enter, and forbidden for the royal family within to leave the walls. It was a private city of luxury, concubines, food and riches. We walked from the Forbidden City to Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world. We had lunch at the famous Peking Roast Duck Restaurant. After lunch, we toured the Temple of Heaven. It was a full day and we were all still very jet lagged. Our hotel in Beijing is the Changan Grand Hotel. I am collecting all of the extra toiletries and hotel toothbrushes from everyone to take back to St Jude’s Orphanage.

OK, now I am sweaty and hot!  It was a big climb!

Day #2: This is the day I have dreamed about for years. Today I walked on the Great Wall of China!!! It is one of the “seven wonders of the world”, and the second one I have been to this year (Machu Picchu was in Feb). Wow, I climbed up to the very top of the steep Western side as far as we were permitted to go. I went too far, too fast, and too hard, but that is usually the way I do things. My legs were shaking when I got to the bottom, and my knee was weak. I knew I would be paying with sore muscles for a few days, and I sure did. After sitting on the bus, my legs will get sore and cramped and I can hardly go down steps now. I take hot leg baths, massage the muscles, walk, stretch my legs, use muscle cream, etc; anything to alleviate the pain and soreness! But WOW! The Great Wall of China! I can’t even describe how joyful it was to be on the wall. Words just won’t do justice to what my heart was feeling! Again, it was a dream come true for me.

Being on the Great Wall of China was a dream come true for me :)!

After the Great Wall, we went to a Cloisonné Factory, and the Ming Tombs. We also drove past the Olympic rings and the birds nest and water cube (Olympic buildings). We are fed three big meals every day and we have the best assorted Chinese food ever! It’s just too much! I have learned that in China, it is the year of the rabbit, and I am born in the year of the rabbit. It is my year. Good things will come my way this whole year, and it has! It is my year!

A beautiful vase at the Cloisonné Factory.

One of the Olympic Buildings called the "Birds Nest"

Day #3: Our first stop of the day is the Summer Palace of the Emperor, which was very beautiful. Then we had a tour of a silk carpet factory. The carpets are very difficult to make by hand and are very, very expensive. It was not originally in our schedule, but was added by the government of China for their foreign visitors. We then went to our lunch meeting with the Rotary Club of Beijing. There are only two Rotary Clubs in all of China, and we came to give support and exchange ideas and fellowship. Rotary in China is not open to any holder of a Chinese passport, so it is a club of ex-patriots and foreigners living in Beijing. The Beijing Club is not officially chartered, but it is very active in service and they showed us a video of some of their projects. Some of us exchanged Club banners with them. I now have a beautiful Beijing Rotary Club banner for my home club, Kapolei Rotary Club. Our day was not yet finished. We still had a Hu Tong visit. A Hu-Tong is the name of an older residential living area. We also had a rickshaw ride and climbed a tower (yes, more painful steps) to see a drum ceremony which is the way they kept time in ancient days. After our home visit, we went to a Chinese Acrobat show and had another great dinner before our flight left at 10pm for Xian. This day was the longest yet. We didn’t get to our hotel in Xian until about 1:30 in the morning. We are staying at the Grand Noble Hotel in Xian for two nights.

Summer Palace 

Seattle area Rotarains visiting the Rotary Club of Beijing, China 

Me with the President of the Beijing Rotary Club.

A rickshaw ride with Danner 

A Drum ceremony was an time telling event before clocks and watches.