A Week With Friends From African Promise

After my trip back to Texas, I had a hard time getting used to my isolated life in Gulu.  There's only so many books to read and movies to watch before I start to lose my mind for company. So you can imagine my joy and excitement when ten friends came from the Seattle, USA area to spend a week in Gulu doing service!  They came with African Promise Foundation to do a week of service.  African Promise Foundation's main objective is paying school fees by selling Acholi Beads online. They think that I helped them with SO many things, but they have NO idea how much they helped me! Isn't it great when both parties think they are the winners?

African Promise Foundation turns these Acholi Beads into cash for School Fees.

When the group arrived at 10pm on Sunday night, the place they had reservations for had no room for them! They called me and I sent them to Hotel Roma for the night. The next day, I arranged for them to stay for a great rate at Saint Monica's Tailoring school. They went from dispair to such joy, especially when they met the famed Sister Rosemary, the 2007 CNN Hero of the Year.  The food and atmosphere at Saint Monica's is the best in Gulu.  It's my new hang out place with all my Sister friends. :)  

Suzy is sitting by Sister Rosemary at the Gulu Prison demonstration. 

Daina demonstrates how to use the "DaysforGirls" washable menstruation kits. Go Daina! 

Gulu Prison ladies get to shop for their individual under clothes.

One of the first activites was bringing the ladies of Gulu Prison some new underclothes, yeast medicine, washable menstruation pad kits from "daysforgirls", hygiene education, and snacks. They sang for us, thanked us, and expressed their happiness for what we brought.

Suzy, the Warden of Gulu Prison and I.  They need more metal beds, mattresses and blankets. 

The African Promise group and I at the Prison.

 We toured the prison and made some notes of other things the ladies need. These are tough times for them, and it is my own personal opinion that most of these ladies are serving time for fighting back in an abuse situation.  We made some ladies VERY happy today.

Suzy's group brought 100's of little dresses to make many little girls happy. We gave every little girl (and some little boys that insisted!) a new dress at St Jude Orphanage.  There were lots of smiles this day!  Here are a few more pictures of our day at St Jude Orphanage:

How many new dresses can you count? 

This little one is SO CUTE! 

Blessed is one of the many lucky little girls today!

On another day, we packed up all the kids at St Jude's Orphanage and took them swimming!  This was the first time most of them had ever been swimming.  The handicapped kids, normally wheelchair bound, were able to kick their feet and feel the freedom of movement only found in water.  I wish so much that these kids had a therapeutic pool to help them heal and get exercise for their crippled limbs.

SOme kids are feeling the freedom of movement in the water for the first time!

Can his grin get any bigger? 

Suzy's son, Joseph is carrying this handicapped girl into the pool.

Loading the kids in the van....

A bus full of excited first time swimmers!

When the water was too cold, there's a merry go round to play on.

One of my many services is helping the visitors get fair prices at the market.  I also make sure they dont get taken advantage of and help them solve problems if they do...yeah, some did. :) 

These are the African Promise beaders.  There are 20 of them.  They are so happy in this picture because Suzy just broke the news to them that they are each getting gifted a brand new bike!  Getting a bike here is like getting a new car!  Suzy put a request to her facebook friends to help her with the funds ($100/bike for $2,000).  In less then 24 hours she had the necessary money plus! 

I want to thank Suzy and her whole group, my new life long friends, for sharing their week with me.  They truly changed a lot of lives during their short stay in Gulu.  I know they changed my life for the better....I love you all. 

A VISIT TO SEE MY KIDS IN THE US

I have the most beautiful family ever.  We haven't been together as a family since November 2010, or over 1 1/2 years!!  I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them all again.  And, boy, do they love me!  Never have I felt so much love.  They are all so handsome/beautiful!

I am on Galveston Island, Texas.  It is on the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico about an hour SE of Houston Texas, USA.  It's a popular tropical tourist place.  There is a seawall for miles and miles to ride bikes, jog or take walks.  It is a very beautiful place.  Jeremy and Dustin live here.  We are all staying at Jeremy's apartment; yes, all six of us as well as 4 dogs (David brought his two dogs, Kayla brought her dog, and Jeremy has a dog!).  We are having fun, and everyone is just happy to be together again! 

 When my boys aren't working, they are fishing.  Working, fishing, and loving life.

Jeremy is helping Kayla bait her pole.  We are fishing on a pier in the bay. 

I like to eat fish, but I don't like to take part in catching, killing or cleaning them.  I like to watch my boys fish and I get excited when they get excited.  Then I turn my head away when they have to kill the poor little fish.  The best part is when we eat it :)   

Jeremy and I

Jeremy got in a brawl with an alligator, or a bear, or maybe his brother David.  I'm not sure! A couple of black eyes and a busted nose. LOL!  Boys will be boys; that's all I know!   

This picture is for my friends in Africa who only know me as the bicycle riding mzungu.  Yes, I can drive a truck!  And I remember to stay on the RIGHT side of the road, too! 

All FIVE of my kids are finally together.  David's wife, Lindsey, has joined us for the WHOLE weekend!  We are at Jimmy's on the Pier, where Dustin works.

This is a long nights work for Jeremy, David and Bryanna.   

 

Kayla rides a Segway for the first time!

David and Lindsey ride the Segway too.

There's nothing like dancing with my own son!  I was SOOO happy and having SOOO much fun! 

Jeremy and Kayla are dancing

Jeremy, Bryanna and Lindsey show us a line dance. 

Jeremy with Bryanna, Dustin, Mom and Kayla on his 23rd birthday.  After a wonderful night of grilling steak and bratwurst, we went to a great Arcade and played Glow Golf and other Arcade games with some of Jeremy's friends.  It was a wonderful evening, and everyone had a great time.

Dustin at the Arcade playing his favorite shooting game. 

Kayla beat me in Air Hockey!  She's quite happy about it too!

Jeremy is serious when it comes to his Air Hockey! 

Bryanna won this monkey and gave it to Kayla.  I think that was the best part of Kayla's night.  Thank you Bry!!  You put a great smile on my little girl's face! 

Mother and Son.  Happy Birthday Jeremy! 

Mac, Jeremy's dog

I can't fail to mention our furry friends. There were up to 7 adults (Me, David, Lindsey, Jeremy, Bryanna, Dustin, and Kayla) and 4 dogs (Mac, Lucy, Lizzy, Kona) all staying together in a one bedroom apartment.  And guess what?  We were never crowded.  Everybody was so happy to be together again that nobody complained.  It was wonderful!

Lucy is Kayla's sweet dog

Lizzy is David and Lindsey's first dog. 

Kona is David and Lindsey's second dog.  In this picture he was grounded to his crate because he kept barking...one hour for every bark...LOL...not really.

Thank you my wonderful family for the laughs and good times.  It is something this family REALLY needed after a couple of hard years.  We have many more years of good times to look forward to...I love you all so much.

Rotary in Gulu

 

A few weeks ago, Aid Africa's Executive Director and Rotarian Peter Keller asked the Rotary Club of Gulu to identify one broken borehole well that Aid Africa could pay for and rehabilitate.  The Gulu Rotarians chose the broken borehole at the bus park.  The Gulu Bus Park is like Grande Central Station of Gulu.  It is where all the buses from Sudan and Kampala arrive and leave.  It is a happening place, and all those people coming and going need clean water to drink!  So it was a very good and necessary borehole to fix!  In this picture, we have the staff of Aid Africa and Gulu Rotarians coming together to the aid of the town's people. 

 

This is the staff of Aid Africa.  From left, Water Project Manager and Rotarian George Ovola, Water Engineer Opiyo, and Water Engineer Bam. 

 

The Manager of the Bus park was SO happy we were fixing his borehole.  He had been trying to get it fixed for a long time, but the funds were not there.  It is a project that costs about $100 US dollars.  Imagine, $100, can bring so much joy to an area!  That is what having clean water is all about. 

 

 

It is almost fixed and the water is running clear.

 

Another group picture with the fully functional borehole well.  Thanks to Aid Africa and Gulu Rotarians, the Gulu Bus Park has clean water for all the travelers coming and going.

 

President of the Gulu Rotary Club, Dr Gerald Obai, is talking to the children of Gulu Primary School.  The Rotarians across the world are having a three day program called "Rotarians at Work".  We are at work making the world a better place through service.  They visited 3 Primary schools (Layibi, Gulu Prison, Gulu Primary) and did compound cleaning, rubbish collection, latrine cleaning and wash tank construction.  We also gave individual class lessons on brushing teeth, clipping nails, and menstruation hygiene.

 

Rotarians George, Thomas and Joyce and Aid Africa volunteer,Kyla, are marking lengths of rope as a measure of how far apart to dig the holes we are going to plant the trees in. We are at the University of Gulu.

 

Rotarian Dan Derrick is explaining how to plant the trees, although we never really planted any trees.  We just dug the holes; lots and lots of holes.  To clarify, they dug the holes; not me.  I wore slippers, so was not in proper attire to dig, and it was too hot. I cheered them on though, and supported them with water when they needed it. Kind of :)

 

We are wrapping things up, laughing and just having a good time in fellowship like we always do with the Rotary Club of Gulu.