I Almost Died.

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THE HEALTH CLINIC OPENING DAY

We have finally opened our health clinic! We worked many hours alongside the village people to put the finishing touches on the structure and the decorating of this clinic. The closest clinic is about 3 hours away and the only transportation for many of these people is by foot. So all you mothers out there, can you imagine going into labor and then having to walk 3 hours to the nearest hospital. Or having malaria, which has all the symptoms of the worst stomach flu, and trying to put one foot ahead of the other to get treatment. Yeah, that would be terrible. So we are thrilled to have this clinic for the people in the village. We had a remarkable turnout with government leaders, press and many villagers coming to support this clinic. It was a huge success and many patients were able to receive proper care.

 I work in skirts now.

 These are the wood posts for our urinal behind the clinic.

 They decorated for opening day.

 My little friend. Isn't she adorable.

 A camera from the 90's. Awesome.

HIV/AIDS AWEARENESS FUTBOL TOURNAMENT

Some of the girls in our group have been working tirelessly to get a soccer tournament put together for the people in the Namatala area. This area is absolutely plagued with HIV with about 10% of people affected. One town over has only about 6% so this is an area in great need of HIV awareness. We had TASO come and test individuals for HIV with a simple finger prick test. As I went around to encourage people to get tested one man was especially frightened to get tested. In my mind I thought it was ridiculous because it was just a prick on the finger. But when he said to me “How would you feel if you got tested and it came out positive?” Somehow, that really affected me as to the reality that these people face. Just a simple prick on the finger could change someone’s whole outlook on life and it is so common here that it is a total reality to them.

I was told that the invention of seedless watermelon cost millions of dollars. If that millions of dollars was spent on creating awareness for diseases such as HIV/AIDS just think of the GENERATIONS of people that could have had an opportunity at living life to the fullest. That really put things into perspective for me.

 That's me testing for HIV. He was negative!

 The TASO tent

ST STEPHENS SECONDARY SCHOOL

School started so I finally started teaching secondary school! I have never seen kids more thrilled to learn. It’s absolutely incredible. They laugh at everything too, which can either be a self-esteem boost or depressor. Haha. So I will be teaching Biology and some guidance and counseling classes.

 Market day outside St. Stephens.

RAFTING!

After all of the hustle and bustle of the big activities that we have done, we all decided to take a little vacation. So we went to Jinja and went rafting down the Nile River. It was INCREDIBLE. We went through 8 rapids (ranging from grade 3 to grade 6) and we may or may not have capsized oh about 3 times. The first time we went under was an absolutely terrifying experience. I have gone rafting before but never tipped the raft, so this was a first for me. I swear I was stuck under the water for at least 5 minutes being tossed around by the waves and hit in the head by the raft. Ok maybe it wasn’t 5 minutes but it felt like forever. My sense of direction was totally thrown off and I had no clue where I was but finally I came up and a safety Kayak saved my life. Phew, I made it! The next time we flipped I was a lot more prepared and knew how to get the raft off my head and swim out of the rapid. But the third time we flipped was worse than the first. Wave after wave after wave crashed down on me and I was trying to keep my shorts on as well as my helmet. It was intense. But again I made it out alive. It was so AWEOMSE but absolutely terrifying and totally worth the parasite that I am sure to get from all the water I swallowed in the Nile.

 Yes, i found the cameraman and smiled. That was the first time we flipped. I didn't look for the cameraman after that.

 That's my friend/guide Hydro in the back. He's awesome.

Coming to Africa I thought I would see a ton of wildlife. That hasn’t been the case. We just see cows, chickens and goats roaming around outside and toads in our toilets and cockroaches in our beds. But going to Jinja was great because we saw MONKEYS! 

Our house has not had power for 3 days, my feet are completely blistered I haven't had a hot shower in 6 weeks and as much as I try I can't seem to get all the dirt out of my hair but I am having a BLAST in Uganda and loving life!