St Jude's Orphanage

Today we visited St Jude's Orphanage for our introduction visit.  We were shown around and introduced to some of the children.  There are 97 orphans from newborn to 16.  There is also a separate section for special needs children.  There are 52 special needs (disabled) children taken care of by 6 mothers.  There are an additional 27 disabled children placed in homes in the community and the families get a small stipend for caring for them.  The orphanage runs a kindergarten for the surrounding community with 250 children, and a primary school with 350 children.  As you can see, our hands are going to be full, and we are going to be surrounded by these wonderful children!

Julius Peter Oola is the program manager.  He was very accomodating and excited to have us there to help.  they actually lost their accountant a few months ago and will be using my accounting skills.  They have quickbooks, but don't know how to use it, and it just happens that Quickbooks is my specialty!  How awesome is that?  This orphanage has to government support and relies solely on donations, and the donations are random and sparse these days with the recession.  I would love find a big source of donations for the orphange.  If any of you want to donate, let me know, and I will tell you how to get your money into the hands of Julius who has so many things he needs to provide for these children.  I wish I could win the lottery and just give all the money to places like this.  There is so much need everywhere we go....

Julius Peter Oola, Kayla, I and a teacher

It was about a 15 minute drive to the orphanage.  I think it might take an hour to walk there.  I'm not sure if we will drive there, walk there, or ride the boda bodas (fast motorcycle taxis).  Although we have been warned to stay off the boda boda due to too many head injuries.  I wouldn't mind walking occasionally, but it is the dry, hot season right now. 

My beautiful daughter, Kayla

Both Kayla and I woke up at 3 am this morning, and I got a headache later in the day.  It is so wonderful that life has slowed down enough to lay down and take a nap. We watched "War Dance" last night with Frederick.  He had never seen this movie about the war and it was very sad.  I highly recommend this movie if you want to know more about where I am and what these people have been through the last 20 years.  It is sooo good.  Rent it and watch it. It's about this very place we are in.

"The war stole everything, except their music"  WAR DANCE 

I have solved Kayla's problem of taking very long, hot showers.  We have no hot water, so you get in and then get out quickly! The cool shower actually feels refreshing, which is a huge change for me because I LOVE my hot showers too!  The other thing I struggle with is the mosquitos at night.  We need our windows open for the cool air, but the mosquitos get in.  We sleep under the nets, but until bedtime, we swat them away.  At first, Kayla was on doxycycline for malaria, but the pills kept making her nauseous.  Later, we found out that doxy will not stop the strain of malaria that the mosquitos carry here, so we have both switched to Malarone, a better anti-malaria medicine.  We are taking a few more days to settle, then we will begin our work at the orphanage.  I will keep you posted.

Cleaning Day

Kayla and Frederick in our frontroom

Our emergency supply of water and super cool broom!

Today was a day of cleaning our apartment. Kayla and I started with our bedrooms. The drawers had to be removed and cleaned and the spiders and roaches had to be evicted. We unpacked our suitcases, swept and mopped the floors and cleaned the window sills. We have the coolest broom. It is a handful of straw tied together at the top and you bend over and sweep the dirt out. It is actually quite good. We moved onto the kitchen to organize our new dishes and food. The eggs sit on the counter with the fruits and vegetables and have no need to be refrigerated. We brought some beautiful sarongs and have hung them up for our curtains and to beautify our home. It is lovely. We love our beautiful home now, and today is much better than yesterday. In fact, I know that every day here will build upon the other and life will just get better and better.

Our Kitchen

After a morning of cleaning, I took Kayla to the very large market which she had not yet experienced. The fish market, the meat market, the vegetables stands, everything you might need is all thrown together is a mishap of alleys and narrow streets that are very easy to get lost in. It’s a good thing I am not afraid to ask for directions out! There are rows and rows of tailors that sew everything imaginable! My pillow is one stuffed with bits of material from one of these places! I would need to go to Kampala to get a cotton stuffed pillow! We bought a watermelon (our second one because we somehow lost the watermelon we bought yesterday!), another bucket and some popcorn.

Kayla's bed

For dinner tonight, we went to our favorite, “Diana’s Garden”. For 5,000 schillings ($2.50), it is a buffet of different foods (don’t know all the names), including chicken, greens, sweet potatoes, etc. It was delicious. The food here is so basic and nutritious. Poor Kayla had such a headache tonight. I know it was from cleaning so hard and not drinking enough water. When we returned home, she stepped into a ditch and twisted her ankle. Now she is limping and hurting. We had to cancel our walk to the orphanage in the morning and will instead be driven there. She made her first friend today. She gets teared up talking about her though, because this is a girl in such poverty that she cannot afford the fees to go to high-school, but desires to be a nurse. I have a feeling that this new friend is just the tip of the iceberg for Kayla, and her heart is going to be touched by so many things, as is mine.

We dont have a line outside yet, so we hang our hand washed things in the bedroom for now. I WONT be doing Kayla's laundry these days- she will learn to wash them herself!

My bedroom curtains-bringing a bit of Hawaii to Africa

What the hell have I done?

Kayla and I in front of our apartment

“What the hell have I done?” is the thought in my head our first day in Gulu. It’s a big move to take my 15 year old and move to the other side of the world! Let me start from the beginning. It is an almost impossible feat to pack for a three month trip into a very remote part of Northern Uganda. It is a place that has been ravaged by over 20 years of violent war. Their children were kidnapped for many years and turned into child soldiers. The war is over at this time, and the children, now young adults, are returning home wounded and troubled. Many of the babies that the young girls conceived in the bush are being abandoned, so the orphanages are overflowing. I came to Gulu doing Rotarian Service in 2008 and 2009. I have a special place in my heart for these amazing survivors, for I too am a survivor of a different kind. I know what it takes to survive, and I know that I am overflowing with love that can help. As a Rotarian, I have dedicated my life to service above self; but as you will see, it is not always easy!

A very nice neighbor

After about 36 hours of traveling, we landed in Entebbe to the friendly faces of good friends and fellow Rotarians. This trip could not have been possible without the help of our dear friend Frederick Ocaya Bese, who arranged our transportation from Entebbe to Gulu, which is about a 5-6 hour drive north. We were accommodated overnight by a NGO called War Child Holland. We had arrived late at night, and it is not safe to travel to Gulu at night, so we left for Gulu on Saturday morning. My heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone that made us feel so welcomed and loved that night. It was a long trip for us!

Right next door to us

We drove into Gulu on Saturday afternoon. Frederick took us directly to our apartment that he had procured for us. It is in a very poor part of town. We are neighbors to some who have no electricity or running water and they live in the little round huts you see all over Northern Uganda in such poverty. When I first saw the area, I was terrified. What have I done? Our apartment is like a palace compared to those around us, yet it is very basic compared to what we came from. It needed much cleaning and it was totally empty. We needed beds to sleep on, sheets, a table, chairs, dishes, teapot for boiling our water, and even light bulbs! We needed to get the mosquito nets we need to sleep under for protection. As it was getting late, we hurried to the market to get the things we would need this first night in our new home. It was a busy afternoon full of new sights, smells, and experiences.

The Field by our home

We have a flushing toilet, a shower and running water, which is more than I hoped for. I have no fridge or stove, but I have an electric teapot to boil water; but it can also boil eggs, make hot cereal, and warm up soup. I buy milk in small boxes that don’t need refrigeration and can be poured over cornflakes. Now mind you, these are NOT Kellogg’s cornflakes- they are very different tasting. Food has become unimportant really; we only eat when we are hungry and our life doesn’t revolve around it. We have a few vegetables (avocadoes, tomatoes, garlic) and fruits (bananas, passion fruit, apples) and bread to eat. We can only drink boiled or bottled water. We can eat a good dinner at a local restaurant for 3,500-5,000 schillings ($1.75-$2.50). Our bodies still don’t want to eat during the day or sleep at night because our days here are our nights in Hawaii; they are confused. We are 13 hours ahead of our home time. We have some major jet-lag.

Our neighborhood

We were welcomed into our new neighborhood with smiles and kind faces. My first night was scary because I am out of my comfort zone. Everything has changed. I am now totally responsible, legally and physically for Kayla’s well-being. I am a newly single woman in a very large world. This new position I am in was terrifying for me this first day, but as I am writing this a few days after this first day, I can assure you that every day is getting better. I am getting more confident with my new role, and I am starting to relax.

This is our mode of transportation for now:

Frederick's Frontline Engineering Land Cruiser

You dont even want to know how this picture was taken! Notice the steering wheel on the other side? Yes, I am driving on the opposite side of the rode!  Watch out everybody!

I cried today for the poverty of the people around us. I cried for the realization that all our worldly belongings were gone and we were down to the very necessities of life. I cried for the chicken tied up and laying on the ground waiting to be eaten. I cried for the love that our dear friend has shown us as he tries to make us comfortable in this village that he so loves. Today, I give my thanks to God for bringing a dear friend like Frederick into our lives. We could not have done this without him, and he does this because he loves his people and he loves Rotary, and he knows that Kayla and I have something to offer them. He lives and breathes Rotary, and as fellow Rotarians, our minds are the same; Service above self.

Why am I in Africa again so soon?

Why am I in Africa again so soon? I am here to heal my heart and to heal my daughter’s heart. We will do this through our service to others and by making new friendships and experiencing a whole new life. We will get back to the basics of what truly is important in life-love for those around us, and volunteer work at an orphanage. After 26 years of marriage, my soul-mate chose to love an overseas girl that he met while stationed in Bahrain last year. In the last 7 months, he quit his religion, he quit his job for another, he quit the navy reserves, and he quit his marriage. To be more accurate, I divorced him when I finally discovered his girlfriend. His inability to make a choice caused me months of emotional abuse. He has been a sad man for a couple of years, and his sadness was a burden to live with. He has chosen to love this overseas girl rather than raise and live with his daughter; for this, I am so sad for him. He will never know what he missed out on. Someday he will awake from his mid-life crisis and fully understand the pain he caused so many, and I think his heart may stop. My pain has been intense, and the tears have been daily for months. It is time to put him behind me and to bring the joy back into my life. It is time to laugh and love again. It is time to go to Uganda. There is a small piece of heaven on this earth, and it is called Gulu. God has something special planned for Kayla and me. Welcome to my story.

One Week Later-Final Thoughts

St Jude's Orphange in Gulu, Uganda

How do I sum up 5 weeks of life-changing experiences?  It's hard to do, and as I sit here writing this, I am crying.  So many emotions and experiences flood me all at once.  Where do I start?  First and foremost, Uganda is in my heart and on my mind.  Those few days in Uganda just blew me away.  I just want to say thank you to all the Rotarians that traveled with me, for the life-long friendships we formed, and for the absolutely wonderful people of Gulu, Uganda who showed us their needs, their love, and their spirit.  I want to share the lessons learned and blessing received on this trip with everyone.

1.  My daughter, Kayla, is a different person today than she was two months ago.  She has blossomed into a more mature and loving individual on this trip.  She shared her life with the unfortunate, and saw a different side of life.  She volunteered for two weeks at an autistic school and made friendships and grew to love the children there.  She then spent the next few days touring a polio clinic, fistula clinic, schools, hospitals, and orphanages.  She gained an appreciation for everything she has; her health, her home, her family, her body and just life in general.  She glows today with this new found love of life.  Uganda was her favorite, as was mine.  The Kalang Mill was our project, and it brought happiness to so many people.  They danced around her and with her and for her!  She smiled and laughed and touched and held their hands.  They loved her!  She got up very early many mornings when she could have slept in. She wasn't afraid to get dirty or work hard when we fixed a borehole water well.  She put on the vest and gloves and got right to work.  She jumped into the truck to go fetch the heavy rocks to line the water run-off area.  Again, the children loved her. They wanted to touch her skin, her hair, and even her freckles!  When we visited the orphanage, she got down with the babies and played with them and loved them and touched them.  We both would like to return next year for some volunteer work at the orphanage.  They need help so much!  Kayla has blossomed into a young woman now and she continues to grow as we discuss our trip next year and start our preparations for what she needs to learn in the next few years if she wants to live over there some day to serve the people of Gulu, Uganda.

2.  I have made so many life-long friendships on this trip.  I lived with Zemi Yenus for two weeks in Ethiopia and came to love both her and her son Jo Jo.  Thank you so much you two for having us.  We had a great time.  After leaving Zemi's house, we became a group of 50 Rotarians and spent three days touring places that needed our help.  Then we spent 4 long days and many hours of traveling for polio immunizations in Harar, Dire Dara and even closer to the Somalia border where polio is coming across the border.  The hours on the bus left us much time to talk and share our stories.  We laughed and cryed and became friends.  When you share a hurt with someone, the pain is a little easier to bear, and we all shared with each other.  We had lots of good times too!  Our group got even smaller when we went to Uganda and shrank to about 15.  Now we became one very close knit group.  We shared our amazement as we were shuttled from one fantasitic experience to another.  I have to take this time to thank our leader and planner for this trip to Uganda, Ben Abe.  Ben is from Gulu, Uganda, and he has been taking a group of Rotarians to his homeland for several years. I can speak for the whole group when I say it was the most amazing experience in our lives! The Kalang Mill, fixing the well with our own hands, and spending an afternoon at the orphanage changed our lives. We had fun unwinding at the Safari Lodge Paraa and sharing our feelings and thoughts with each other.
Thank you again, Ben, for all your work.  Thank you friends for making Kayla and I feel loved and special.  Let's keep in touch!

3.  I have a renewed thankfulness for my health.  We take it for granted that we drink clean water and plenty of good food every day when many people all over the world don't enjoy this privilege.  I was sick-very, very sick for about 12 hours, then weak for a day or so after that.  I don't know if it was something I ate or drank, but it happened.  I am thankful for my strength to perservere.  I made it.  All of these experiences have made me stronger.  I am a survivor.

4.  Service is the key to happiness.  Serving others is why we were put on this earth; not pursuing money, wealth, or material things.  When we are serving others, we are serving God.  A trip like this makes me realize that my problems are minor compared to many other people.  It helps me put my personal issues in perspective and realize that, ultimately, I can survive anything that is thrown my way or overcome any obstacle put in my path.  Occasionally, certain people cross our path of life and share some very important information with us.  Several very special people crossed my path, and I know this was a gift from God.  He knew I needed to hear what they had to say at this time in my life.  I am a richer person today for meeting some very amazing people on this trip.  I now have the confidence I need to solve the problems in my life and find the balance, joy and love that I so need.  Serving others makes me happy.

5.  If service is the key to happiness, then gratitude for what we have is a very close runner-up.  Gratitude for what we have in our lives leads to contentment, and contentment leads to happiness.  Get off the fast paced whirl wind for more money and more of everything.  Be happy for what has been given to you, and appreciate everything.  When bad things happen, find the good in it, because even the bad times strengthen us.  I find that after a trip like this that I start to even down-size my belongings.  I donate more things to charity that I haven't used, and if I buy something new, I get rid of something else old.  I have started my list of things I want to remember to take to back to Uganda next year. I don't want to be attached to things.  I want to be able to give up absolutely everything I own if I had to (which of course I won't have to).  Just knowing that things aren't important to me is comforting.  My life stays simple, and I can concentrate on my inner being and my mind.  I can improve the person I am.

6.  I love who I am today.  I love my God, my life, my family, my health, my friends, Rotary, my home, my dogs, my yard, my food, my water I drink, my job, my everything!  I love life!

Paraa Lodge and Safari

We definitely needed these last two days of down time and relaxation.  Our trip has been long and we have worked hard.  Our hearts and emotions are worn thin.  We need to decompress.  We have been busy!  Some of our group seem to have sleeping sickness, in fact, one of our members was just taken to the hospital today in Kampala. It seems he has Malaria.  He was sitting next to me on the bus, and he was freezing.  He had a fever and chills.  I gave him both Kayla and my airplane blanket, yet he was still cold.  I am glad he is getting the care he needs.  He probably contacted it in Harar last week.  It was pretty rough area over there.  Others just love relaxing in the pool.  The land here is very similiar to Hawaii.  Everything is lush and green.  The biggest difference is the ANIMALS!  We have seen a male and female lion mating, which is very rare.  We saw and got very close to a hundred elephants today as we cruised on the Nile River.  We also saw many hippos and crocodiles and baboons.

Yesterday when we arrived at the Paraa Lodge, we went for a cruise up the Nile River to Murchison Falls.  Today we went down river to the delta.  Early this morning we went on a safari in the bus and saw giraffes, lots of cob, hardebeast, dic dics, and other food for lions. We saw many cape buffalo and beautiful birds.   We saw about four lions.  It has been a good two days.  We needed it before heading back home.  We will leave in the morning for Kampala, where we have one more night then we will fly home on Tuesday night.

At a later date I will upload pictures of some of the animals that we saw, but for tonight I must be done.  I have been on the computer all night and must get up in about two hours.  No problem as I can sleep on the bus to Kampala which is about a 6 hour bumpy drive.

My time in Uganda has been amazing.  Some of the best experiences of my life have been in the last few days.  I will definitely return someday to do more.  I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had to serve here.  It is a wonderful country.    The time I have spent with my fellow Rotarians has been life changing.  I know we have made relationships that will last forever.  We have had so many laughs together.  Thank you everyone for all the friendship and love that we have shared.  Rhona

Village Market and beautiful children

Gulu Market                                             Child with sling

We went exploring today in the local Gulu market.  It was busy and full of beautiful vegetable displays, sewing shop after sewing shop, stinky fish markets, and everything and anything you might want to buy.  About the only thing I was really after in Gulu are the famous Acholi paper bead necklaces.  These beautiful beads are made by the Acholi women and they sell them to support themselves.   The beads are made of tightly rolled strips of magazines and posters and then varnished to a shiny finish.  They are very colorful. They are popular and you can even find them at the Ala Moana Mall in Hawaii for $40-$80.  We were buying them for 3000 to 4000 schilling, which is $2-$3!  I bought some for our club's silent auctions, for my own personal use and for Christmas gifts. 

He's not quite sure what we are up to....

Many children suffer from worms that swell their bellies

This particular blog will also have some of the best of my pictures that I have taken of the beautiful Ugandan children.  I had to be selective as I have so many.  Their eyes are so big, and their teeth are so beautiful.  The skin is so dark and although they are very shy, I got some beautiful smiles!  I will miss Uganda as i am preparing to return home soon.  We will defintiely be back next year, perhaps for a longer period of time.  I think the orphange could use Kayla and my help.  There are still so many things that Gulu needs as the kidnapped children continue to return from the bush and get rehabilitated into the real world again.  This is a place that has just been devastated by war asthe world sat by for 25 years and did very little.  We have a lot of catching up and aid to offer these beautiful people.

A very common site as the children are the fetchers of water for their family

Everyone is waiting for the well to be fixed and a clean drink of water

This picture needs no words