Sincere hearts

So the thing that is taking up my time/thoughts is the health clinic. We have launched our health clinic fundraiser. Its on Indiegogo and it is really important to me. Its only going to be up for 2 weeks so it’s a little crunch time to make sure that we get the money needed to get the health clinic through its crisis time. In case you didn’t hear, the funding we had for the health clinic fell through and so the health clinic is going into more and more debt each week that it operates. Sam and I have a long term sustainability plan, but it will not bring in money until January so we have to find a quick solution for the rest of the year. Which is all explained in the Indiegogo site so if you want to learn more about it click here.

Doesn't she have a contagious smile!

Today I was also at the clinic getting videos to post on the Indiegogo site asking the staff why they chose the medical profession and why they chose to work at Zion Medical Community Clinic. It was so awesome to hear their responses. I don’t think I ever really thought about asking them that question before. Their answers were so sweet! I remember Bilah one of the nurses in station 4 told me that she got into medicine because she wanted to be able to help people. She would see so much poverty and low quality healthcare that she wanted to be able to do something about it and that is why she decided she wanted to be a nurse. Being able to give the care needed was something that was so important to her. The crazy thing is it was like she was echoing my thoughts. I mean I have always known that I wanted to help people but it wasn’t until I was here in Uganda last year that the inability to provide actual treatment began to drive me nuts. So to fix this frustration I recently decided to go back to school and get my nursing degree. And the more I think about it I realized that it is for the exact same reasons! Which makes me so happy. I love these people. They have such genuine hearts! They have been working so hard since February and they have only been paid 2 times. That’s what I call dedication.

I am going to put together a video of the interviews with the staff on the Indiegogo site so check it out here.

If you could share the link with your friends that would be very much appreciated too. We have worked so hard to make this health clinic serve the people of Bunabuyoka, any little bit helps!!!!

I know my status... and it was a long road to get there...

When i first got to the woman's health class and we talked about HIV i was completely unprepared. To be honest i didn't have enough time to help Kara to prepare the curriculum i was planning on having Kara talk most of the time. She did a great job and the class was really excited about the testing. The best part was she raised her hand and said, when can we get tested. We were so excited about that question because we had been mulling around the idea of having an HIV testing day. Having such a positive reaction made me excited to actually go through with trying to put together the testing day. One of the Country Directors Holly had worked with a an HIV agency or something and knew so much about it and so with the right motivation we set to work to make it happen. We taught the rest of the woman's health classes and talked with the Aids Information Center that would be giving the HIV testing, providing counseling, and treatment. All for free. This was very exciting. So about a week ago with just a week to go we had made "I know my status" handkerchiefs that we gave out as an incentive for coming.

The registration process to help us with the HIV support group...

These people were waiting for their test results.... I kind of know how they are feeling......

So on the day of the testing it went really really well! all of us that were working had decided that we would get tested to help the people feel more comfortable and we were also nervous that people weren't  gong to come so we thought that if they knew that mzungu's were getting tested then they might come.
And let me tell you it was a roller coaster of emotions for me. All the week leading up to it i was completely comfortable with it because there was no possible way that i would have HIV. but on that day i started to get incredibly nervous, i started thinking, i went to the hospital last week and got some blood work, they put a needle in me what if it was infected and now i am HIV.... i don't think i can handle that. or what if there was some other random way it was transmitted.... i started thinking of all of the possibilities of how i could come up positive. And i got so nervous i didn't want to get tested.
everyone that was working that day had all gone and gotten tested, and i felt so nervous in my stomach. But everyone kept telling me it was going to be fine and i should just go and do it. So i finally went in and was incredibly nervous.

We handed out some fun posters, condoms, a pamphlet and the awesome hankies.

Holly having the awkward counseling lady

They have you go to a counselor first and i felt so awkward as she was asking me questions like when the last time i had had sex was, and if i had a boyfriend, and how many partners have i had..... i am sure she thought i was lying when i told her i ahve had no partners and i don't have a boyfriend either. and i remember thinking... even in i did, i don't think i would have told her. she was a perfect stranger. So got through that incredibly awkward experience and then they sent me to the guy to prick my finger and do the actual testing. i sat there with the biggest butterflies in my stomach, i was even arguing in my head to calm down, i know i didn't have HIV. So we did the test, which when he pricks your finger KILLS i was not expecting it to hurt that bad. i have a pic of my reaction. But when i got the test back and it was negative, i was so relieved. i felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders. it was a great relief. and then i started thinking...

We really liked the hankie idea :) 

how would i have handled that if there were a possiblity of me being positive. first off i don't know if i would have had the courage to go. even with all the knowldege that i have gained in teaching about HIV and how its not a lie sentence. i still don't know if i would have the strength to go. It made me think of a few of the woman that we work really closely with that didn't have the happy announcement that i did that was negative. They were positive. There were two woman that i am particulaly attached to and it hit me. their lives are changed forever by this simple test. Something that takes 10 minutes can alter your life dramatically and i was bringing that change in to their lives. these two woman now have the added stress in their life to make sure that they get their treatment, which they have to pay for, which they don't have the money to do. And their sicknesses are taken more serious, they have to be more careful when they get a simple but on their hand, or if they scrape their knee they have to be cautious. Long were the days where they could be carefree in that way.

Her mother was getting tested and so we were glad to keep her occupied until she was done :) 

I went in knowing that there was no possible way for me to be positive and yet i almost didn't have the strength to do it. i commend the ones that came with the possiblity of them being positive, it took so much courage. They knew that it was more important to be informed and take care of it so that they could provide for their families and be around long enough to hopefully see their children grow up.
I know that some of the people that came were very very surprised when they found out they were positive, either because they were in a very stable marriage and their partner was negative when they got married and the results came back positive. which brings on a whole other set of questions.
or you are a mother that is working very hard everyday to provide for you kids and you are starting to get on top of providing for your children and then you find out that your positive.
We tested 317 people from the Namatala slum and only 12 people came back positive. Which when you look at the percentage that is less than 4% of HIV in namatala. But to the lives of the 12 people, their lives have been changed forever. My hope is that we will be able to continue to give them counseling and knowledge so that those 12 can be given the support that they need and be able to continue to be there for their children and live their lives to the fullest.

I was so nervous and i wasn't very good at hiding it....

i wasn't brave, that prick on the finger REALLY REALLY hurt.

I have a new respect for the strength it takes to be willing to receive information that at first will feel like your world is crushed, but then you pick yourself back up, remember the things that you have to do in life and keep moving. It really is better to know, even if the knowledge is scary. I don't think i could have comprehended just how much doing this HIV testing would effect my life but it has. And i am grateful for the experience.

water filters

Water filters!!!!! I am really excited, because a project that i have been working on since i got here is finally starting to see results. ill give you a little backgroud. When i first got here to Mbale we were taken by one of our previous partners Child of Hope to tour around the Namatala Slums... yeah, that name probably sounds familiar because now a days its where i spend most of my time. So we went and saw where previous Help volunteers had implemented water filters, and they were doing great! So since then me and Kara and actually most of the team have been working to be able to get water filters in the slums. i remember first having a frank conversation with Philip, (the MAN! i think i posted a pic of him last time) After we had begun teaching sanitation in the community in preparation of talking with them about water filters. We had been trying to figure out how many filters we needed and could not get a number... and it was getting really frustrating trying to create a project without a number to work with. So i finally said Philip, i know you have a number in your head of how many filters you would like to have... just tell me that number so that i have something to work with. He finally very very shyly said... 50....Great! so basically as many as possible, so we went back to the team and researched and looked at prices and tried to figure out just how many water filters we could get. 

She's got a itch, but shes is so cute!!!

Doesn't she just have such a great pose, and i love the brother in the background trying to not be interested but completely is.

So.... after many many weeks i am so excited to report that we will be putting 30 filters in Namatala!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah i am so excited about it. We had started to identify communities where we would implement the water filters. I have been teaching about sanitation and it was the best when we went back they had kept their jerri cans clean and they were trying their best do be more sanitary. So we told them that if they were willing we wanted to bring in a water filter for their community. it was cute because as i was telling them and the interpreter was interpreting i was waiting for that moment when they would get all excited and say YES! but they just smiled and in a soft voice was like yes, that would be great. i felt like i was more excited than they were so i asked them if they were excited and it was so sweet. this one woman named Peace said, we are so happy inside we dont' know how to show it outside. my heart melted. i love doing what i am doing! i will have to update you on when we implement the filters. its gonna be great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my faces are pretty great in these pictures... i have weird facial expressions.

apparently Pious was saying something very important to which i was paying very close attention. 

He was very interested in my teaching as you can see  :)  

yup, theres that weird teaching face again.

Don't mind the chickens while we teach 

Peace is the one in the blue tank top, shes so great! This is just some of the group that will get the water filter.

i was playing a song on my Iphone and dancing to it. they were pretty entertained.

thats a smirk if i ever saw one :) 

Feeling at Peace

                                     




We traveled to the Bunabukoya Village to continue to help build the health clinic, they had already dug the outline for the foundation (pictured above) When we got there we helping in getting the mixtures of the foundation together. This consisted of mixing small rocks with some cement and putting it along the outline of the clinic and then also bringing the bricks that were made previous to the site to set it. We were the manual labor that brought the rocks, cement, and sand to the building sight. Which we were able to do pretty successfully thanks to the help of a man named Henry Ford who invented the assembly line.

We put that assembly line to very good use. Throughout the days when we were doing this we would get a little grumpy because we were tired and it was really hot outside and usually just when you thought you couldn't handle it anymore…. the kids would have recess time and come and join us in the assembly line with all of their little sacks and lighten all of our spirits. i don't know what it is but when you see those kids hauling cement, bricks, sand, rocks, whatever it is i would get the strength to keep going. They were so eager to help! i don't know if it was because they wanted the clinic or if they just liked being around the Muzungu's but ill take either one because i know i wouldn't have been able to do half of the labor without their smiling faces. And if the work was too hard for them, meaning their parents told them they couldn't help they would just sit on the side and watch us, which was pretty encouraging too!!!!! AHH I love these kids!!!

        

Sarah the incredible host!

Also, Sarah taught us how to cook, i learned how to mingle posho.

She is the most excited and happy woman i have ever met! she always greets us with the biggest smiles and warmest hugs! i love it! she probably only understand 10 percent of the conversations that i have with her but her bubbly personality makes me feel like i could sit and talk with her all day! She was telling us about her life and how she and her husband Timothy, (a man that African men should follow example from because he treats his wife how she deserves to be treated) are able to provide a living. We asked her how she is able to get money to buy food and she just looked at us and was like… if we need food and i cannot grow it i sell a chicken and then go and buy it. mind you this woman is the one that we live with 3 days of the week and she has 10 -12 "guests" staying at her house sleeping in her living room and she goes out and sells a chicken so that she can make us posho and scuma (which is like spinach) and then kills another chicken so that we can have a protein to eat with our meal. And asks for NOTHING in return. We always give her money as a contribution but she never asks and i know she doesn't expect it. 

Timothy, Sarah's husband

When her husband timothy found out that i was thinking about staying in uganda longer than august (yeah that may be a spoiler for some of you its just a thought and who know if i can actually afford to stay here longer anyways)  he got so excited that he had the translator tell me that if i stay and were to come to the village i will always have a place at their home and that he would accept me like a daughter. He doesn't have any men to marry me off to so i'm pretty sure that he has no ulterior motives in offering his home to me. They this family is so incredible. i think one of the reasons why i love sarah so much is because she is a woman after my own heart. Her home is place where you can feel instantly welcomed and she takes in "stray" people every day. in Sarah's blood family there is only her, her husband, and her daughter vikki. But her home is always filled with people. there is always laughter, happiness and bodies of people strewn about the floors finding a place to sleep. She cooks to feed the masses and it is always eaten up. 

Me attempting to mingle posho

One of the many people that stay at Sarah's often

Each of these people are not immediate family to Sarah but they come and go  as if they are!! I love it!

Vikki and Sarah, can't you just feel the happiness coming from them!!!

i want a home like hers where people feel welcome to drop in to say hi. or if they are in need of a place to rest their head they know that there is always a spot at cami's house where you will be welcomed with a warm smile and a BIG hug :) 

Boda Boda

There are only a few ways of getting around in Mbale. One is walking, which is nice when it is not blisteringly hot... the other is a taxi which  an often used mode of transportation but it is a little more expensive. So the most common form of transportation is a Boda Boda. I would say a boda boda is a mix between a scooter and a motorcycle. It has one guy that is the driver and you can fit a good amount of people. I have seen two grown woman with a baby on the back, and the woman sit side saddle. which makes sense because you are in a skirt. but i haven't ventured to try the boda boda side saddle. But i did document one of our boda adventures and let me tell you, it was fun. 

We were going to the Namatala village but we didn't know exactly where we were going go we were going to meet with a man named Moses that was going to meet us at the shell gas station and then we were going to go from there. 

We flagged down a Boda driver whose name is John and we told him we needed him to take us to the Shell station near the Namatala Slum. He had a little bit of a glazed over eye look and then said, ok 2,000 schillings for both. this was pretty reasonable because we were going outside of town. So we jumped on, fulling trusting that they knew where we were going. Once we got to the first shell station it didn't look like it was where we were suppose to be so we told them the next Shell station. When we got there we couldn't find Moses. We couldn't find him, and had to wait for 20 minutes while our country director Rebecca tried to phone him and let him know where we were. 

While waiting, all of these children started coming out of their homes to see the muzungu's and we took tons of pictures with the children, then we were on our way again to find the Namatala slum. We had to make one more pit stop and then we finally arrived. it was a great adventure and i have decided that i love travel by Boda and it will be my preferred mode of transportation this summer.

We are so excited to Boda!!!

When we stopped at the first Shell gas station and were a bit confused...

I tried to learn their names so from the left to the right is boyee,( boy' e), Sophie, naumateria (Her name was the hardest to pronounce, but it sounded beautiful, she would smile every time i attempted to say her name), and Dauphine she was very sharp and had a great memory.

Video of one of the rides. 

Successful Boda ride!

Remember when...

Kimani

Remember when you were a little child and you were sitting down at the dinner table being cranky and ornery because your mom was making you eat your green beans and you didn't want to finish the green beans on your plate!  Either because you weren't hungry or you wanted to be stubborn and frustrate your mom, so you didn't eat all of your food. Then your mom seeing the stubbornness in your face says out of frustration, "There are starving children in Africa!"

I met those starving children in Africa today. They are the most loving, caring, happy, humble children i have ever met!!! We walked around their village/ slum today called Namatala. And all they wanted to do was hold the Muzungo's (whit persons) hand or touch their skin and follow us around. They wanted us to take pictures of them so that they could look at it on the screen and find the face that matches theirs. We walked for 2 hours in the village and met with the people there and saw what the previous Help volunteers had done. They put in water filters that helped many people in the village not get effected by the cholera outbreak that happened in February. We are looking to find more donors for water filters.

We also talked with a few of the woman that had been given small grants to start their own business's. It was great to hear their success stories.

But the thing that hit the most was the children... running around in rags, playing with the smallest pieces of trash as toys, and getting the biggest joy of watching the flash go off on a camera. It was overwhelming to see people living in such humble circumstances. But empowering at the same time because no matter what their circumstances are, just getting a wave from a muzungu brings a smile to their face. And when you see their incredibly beautiful dark faces matched with their pearly white teeth grin. i think.... Ah, there is no where in the world i would rather be, then walking through this filthy dirt road with the greatest people i have ever met.

So i remember when my mom use to tell me about the children in Africa and how they are starving, and now i think, yep, there are a lot of starving children in Africa, and I love them and i hope to be able to make a difference in the lives of a few of them, because they have already made a difference in mine!!!!

                           

                          Kimani was learning the eskimo kiss  :) 

They love to smile

The one being held would not let her put her down.

This is a normal thing for them to have cows just walking down the road...