I am in Dehradun, Northern India now!

This is where I am staying.  The Shree Seetaram Ashram, Dehrandun, India 

My street. 

I have been here for one full week and I haven't taken a single photo!  So sorry for that!  I will try to do better.  I arrived on Sunday, July 17th in Delhi.  I wasn't able to get on the safer and faster Shatabdi Express Train to Dehradun from Delhi.  A friend of mine in Gulu booked me on a very slow, crowded, super packed train which I just couldn't imagine getting on with all of the luggage I had. India just experienced a series of train crashes and a large terrorist bombing in Mumbia, so everyone is on high alert here. I ended up coming to Dehradun by vehicle; a bit more expensive, but safer and more comfortable, and way more convenient.

This is a monkey in the field.

It took me a few days to get used to the Indian food.  It's very spicy and hot; even the breakfast food.  For several days, I had to switch to oatmeal for breakfast and boiled pumpkin (no spices) for dinner. The Ashram is total vegetarian food; not even eggs.  Every meal is chapati, daal, and a vegetable. The other day I went into the kitchen, saw a peeled, uncooked vegetable on the counter and ate some of it.  My throat and mouth immediately started to feel very sore and constricted.  I thought I had poisoned myself.  I was truly scared.  What had I done?  It turns out that "albi" is a taro root that is toxic until boiled.  Lesson learned: Don't put anything unrecognizable in my mouth again!

The Forest Research Institue was originally British Government Offices.

I am at the Shree Seetaram Ashram.  My schedule is like this: 5:30-6:45am walk, 7-8am yoga, tea, shower, breakfast at 10am, volunteer work in the afternoon, yoga again 5:30-6:30, dinner, read, computer, bed. It does a body good! :D

My new friends of the Rotary Club Dehradun Central. We are having a blood drive.

I have made contact with the Rotary Club Dehradun Central.  I participated in a blood drive with them this morning.  Yes, I gave my foreign blood to the India Blood Bank!  I knew most of the Rotarians from my visit here last year, but there were some new faces and new names.  They asked me to speak at the club on Friday night. Oh No! Of course, talking has never been a weakness of mine, so I said "yes".  Rotary is a family every where you go in the world.  When you are a Rotarian, you are never far from a group of friends who are like minded.  We are all over the world.

Rotary President Kailesh and PP Sameer...he is not looking to well...

I also made contact with Latika Roy Foundation and will start volunteering where ever they need me this week.  As for traveling, there are three things I would like to see while I am in India; the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple, and Mussoori. I have a lot to look forward to in the next three months...

What are Acholi Beads?

What is an Acholi Bead?  They are paper beads made by the Acholi women. They are beautiful!  They are so colorful and bright. But more important, they are they way out of poverty for Acholi women.

Acholi women started making these paper beads made out of recycled posters, paper, and magazines as a way to support their family.  It took them away from the hard labor of quartz mines and other hard labor jobs and gave them a way to make a living where they could be at home and watch their children. 

I once found a strand of the long Acholi beads in Honolulu, Hawaii selling for up to $80!  These ladies hope to get $1 for their labor, and that $1 goes a very long way for their family in Uganda.  Many Charities buy these beads and sell them in the US (for much more than $1!) and they use the profits for school fees, new schools, etc. 

National Geographic is even buying the beads for their cruise ships.  In these pictures, I am helping Morgan buy beads for National Geographic and other NGOs.  On the computer, I keep track of the people she is buying from as she inspects their work.  I am also the photographer and video taper for her records.  I have enjoyed helping her, and have bought some beads for my own personal use and gifts from this great group of women.

These ladies are with Camboni Samaritans and they are making the beads.

 

If you ever see these Acholi Beads in a store, BUY them!  You will be supporting a good cause. And just a heads up everyone; its Acholi beads for Christmas again!

What I have been doing in Gulu, Northern Uganda

I helped St Jude Orphanage convert their accounting system to Quickbooks.

I cleaned up African Revival's Quickbooks and did some training for them.

I went into the bush numerous times with Aid Africa to build and mud rocket stoves.

I did some training on Quickbooks for Favor of God.

As my time draws to an end in Gulu, I want to review the things that I have been doing here. I arrived at the end of February 2011 and I leave July 16th, 2011. I lived here for 4 ½ wonderful months. That’s not time enough to make the kind of difference I want to make, so I will return again and continue my work.

 In these two pictures, I am volunteering with Aid Africa.  I am mudding a rocket stove in a hut.

I sponsored the school fees of 20 secondary school (high school) boys and girls in Gulu. Most of those 20 students are attending boarding schools because they are orphans with no support network. I did this with the help of my dear friends, family members, and Rotarians around the world who donated to The Well of Hope Foundation. I couldn’t have raised the approx $4400 to pay the school fees for these 20 students without them. I will continue to work on sustainability for them so that their next year school fees will be paid.

African Promise is a charity organization that raises funds to support and pay the school fees of children in Gulu, Uganda. They sell Acholi Beads to raise these funds. African Promise sent me money to sponsor the school fees of 15 additional students. It took me all of March to pay these school fees (WOHF 20 and AP 15). It is a process of taking money out of one bank, and taking it directly to the bank of the named school to pay. That means a lot of standing in bank lines, filling out forms, interviewing students, record keeping, etc. We changed the lives of 35 children this year and gave them the opportunity to progress. Some will succeed, some will not.

Sometimes I visited schools to see what their needs were.

The majority of my time was spent at St Jude Children Home. I was involved in various activities there. The first month I worked closely with the social workers, Ronald and Jackie, to identify students in need of school fees. Some days, I just hung out with the children and the mothers at the orphanage. Most of June and July was spent working closely with Christopher, the accountant, as we changed their accounting system to Quickbooks. It has been a lot of work inputting all of the data since Jan 1st, 2011. I helped bring a couple of groups to St Jude and guided them as to what to bring to us.  They brought much needed supplies, clothes, toys and books with them. I helped them around town and getting to Gulu via the bus.

Sometimes I visited villages to see what their needs were.

I volunteered with other charity organizations helping them with their Quickbooks and giving proper trainingon it. Some of these NGOs are African Revival, Favor of God, Aid Africa, and St Jude. I have also written previous blogs about my experiences out in the bush with Aid Africa making the rocket stoves and mudding them. All of these things were wonderful and fulfilling for me to be involved in. I love using my skills to help others.

I helped bring much needed supplies to the orphanage.

Of course, not every day was hard work. There is one swim pool and sauna at Acholi Inn that I was known to be seen enjoying occasionally. I enjoyed going to a club called BJz for Quiz night and dancing once a week. I spent time reading books, writing my blog, and communicating via Facebook with my family and friends. Life is harder here than in Hawaii. It takes time to wash my clothes by hand, boil my water to drink, and try to keep things semi-clean in a dusty environment. I spent my share of time fixing flat tires on my bike too. Everything takes longer in Africa.

This bike has saved me so much money in transportation costs; regardless of the flat tires!

I learned to have Patience here. Now, instead of getting anxious when we leave two hours after we are told to arrive, I just bring a book, relax and read. When meetings start at 6pm, I don’t get there until 7pm because I know they never start on time! I am not going to change the way things are done here; I have to adapt. Adjust. Smile. Be happy. Be Patient. This is Africa!

The Source of the River Nile

The Source of the Nile River is in Jinja, Uganda. It begins as one-fourth fresh water springs and three-fourths Lake Victoria.

From Lake Victoria in Uganda, the Nile River flows 4184 miles (6695km) through Uganda, Sudan and Egypt where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea about 90 days later from where it started.

The Nile is famous as the longest river in the world. The river got its name from the Greek word Neilos, which means “valley”. It was an amazing place to visit such a River that is so important to the world historically.

David’s Visit

I had the wonderful opportunity to bring my son to Gulu, Uganda and share with him the things I have been doing here and to meet these wonderful people. I wanted to share with him another side of life, because I believe that Africa changes a person for the better. People bring aid to Africa, but Africa gives them a gift in return; a bigger heart, more patience, more compassion and love. One cannot return home without more gratitude for all of the blessings we enjoy living in the US; electricity, clean water, and good health. The most important discovery, though, is the recognition and appreciation of the opportunities that exist for us in our developed country. And let’s not forget that wonderful thing called democracy. Most importantly, Africa taught me to simplify my life, and I no longer desire so many worldly things. I love my simple life in Gulu.

David is very sharp and interested in politics, so he talked to people about the government here. Uganda has a dictator. He would discuss the lack of laws or the enforcing of laws, the lack of sanitation and infrastructure, etc. David will be writing his thoughts about his trip to Gulu and sending them to me and I will post them on my blog. I can’t wait to read what he says. Now I will just tell you about the things we did.

David's first day at St Jude's Orphanage

Umm, this bike lasted about 2 hours and it broke twice.  It's walking or bodas for us :)

We went to St Jude’s Orphanage on his first day in Gulu. We picked up my bike so that we both would have a bike to ride. My bike plan did not work out because the bike I borrowed from a friend for David broke two times within hours of riding it! We returned the bike and decided to walk or boda to places instead.

David at the Market

We bought fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. An African market is an amazing adventure of narrow walkways and good and bad smells and unusual sites! I was so engrossed in watching David enjoy everything that I almost bumped right into a huge slab of stinky beef that was hanging from a nail! David steered me clear of it ! You will find everything you need in this market. David’s favorite meal every morning was a cut up avocado mixed with chopped tomatoes and onions and a little salt. He loved it! And it is so simple.

David and Innocent

After leaving the market, we went to Acholi Inn for a swim. He made friends with Morris and Innocent. Just that afternoon, David got to go with me to the bank to pay Innocent’s school fees. I was glad that David could be involved in an activity I have spent so much time and money on; paying the school fees of 35 kids so far! Now, he had met Innocent and they were friends. I had told David the food rules; if you can’t peel it, and it’s not cooked, don’t eat it. He forgot. He had the buffet at Acholi Inn and he ate the coleslaw that had been sitting out for hours. He paid the price the next day by being very sick. I put him on cipro, a big anti-biotic, and he was better the next day.

David is very sick, but the monkey doesn't care!

One of the days we walked to St Jude’s, although we were fearing the rain. We played with a large trail of monster ants and confused their path and watched them scramble around; all while being very careful not to get bitten! At the Orphanage, David played soccer with some kids. On a different day, he entertained the kids by playing his harmonica for them. He met Stephen again, the driver for the Orphanage and the young man who picked him up at the airport. Stephen has a monkey, Nicky, and we played with it for awhile.

David is playing his harmonica for the handicapped kids at St Jude's

David and Stephen

The next day, Stephen took us to Paraa Safari National Park. It was awesome! We did everything in one day! We left Gulu at 5:30 and arrived at the park by 8am and immediately enjoyed seeing tons of wildlife; elephants, giraffes, Uganda cob, antelope, warthogs, etc. Eventually, a park ranger joined us in our vehicle and showed us 5 lions! I thought we got a little too close to them, but I was sitting in the backseat and new the lions would eat the people in the front seat before they would come after me ! After a three hour rest at the lodge, we ate a great lunch at a local food joint. At 2pm we caught a boat for a ride on the Nile River to Murchison Falls. We saw so many hippos and crocodiles. We returned to Gulu after dark on VERY bumpy roads. I forgot to mention, we did the whole safari in an ambulance! It was a very fun day.

Thursday, we spent the day with Aid Africa in the remote village of Rowotbillo. We assembled rocket stoves for the people. I think this was probably David’s favorite experience. First we had to load the very fragile bricks. Then we went to the plant nursery where Aid Africa grows the fruit tree seedlings that they distribute to the villages. They have grafted a mango tree with 5 different fruits on one tree! It took several hours to make almost 50 rocket stoves. David was able to go inside a mud thatched house and mingle with the local people. He has a great sense of humor and makes people laugh. We always have a great time together. The staff of Aid Africa really enjoyed David’s company and hard work.

Just loaded the special bricks for the rocket stoves 

Aid Africa showed us their plant nursery 

David is making rocket stoves with Aid Africa

Our days flew by fast and before I knew it, we were riding a bus back to Kampala. We spent the night at the Nimerembe Guest House in Kampala. The next afternoon, Moses drove us to Entebbe to catch his flight back to the US.but because we had so much extra time, we took a beautiful walk along the shores of Lake Victoria, the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world. It was the perfect ending to a perfect week. I was so sad to say goodbye. It had many a couple of years sense we had spent this much time together; we had so much catching up to do.

David and I at Lake Victoria

My prayer for David is that he will take this experience and use it to do great things in his life. Success isn’t just getting an education or getting a good job. Success is using your life to make the world a better place; starting with your family, your friends, your country, and then the world. Thank you, David, for letting me share with you my love for Gulu, Uganda, Africa.