so i've successfully made it here to uganda, and it only took 2 days. whew. we got into the entebbe airport around 8am thursday morning, and out of the 7 of us that came over together, i am the ONLY one whose luggage made it. i've learned how to pack a little more wisely these days. anyhoo -- rashid, the director of one of the schools we are working at came to pick us up. we loaded all of our stuff and off we went to see where we were staying. we are actually staying at a really nice place on top of the hill overlooking the city. in a way it sucks because i don't feel like we are "in uganda". we have a cook who cooks all of our meals (semi-american style) although when we go out, we get to taste some local foods. mtoke is my favorite so far, it is boiled plantaines that are mashed. they don't really taste like anything, but you can dip them in the juice from the strange array of meats they serve, and is actually quite good. so as far as work -- 4 of us have been working at bethel junior school, elementary. to say they have nothing is a gross understatement. they have no electricity, no running water, no doors, windows or floors in the classrooms. oh they have holes where the windows and doors should be -- but nothing. they have painted over the concrete wall a place to write with chalk, and have wooden benches 2 feet long each for roughly 8 children to sit on. they have no books to use, only small notebooks with 10 or so pages in which to write. i saw a student ask the teacher for a pencil yesterday, and the teacher broke it into thirds so they could share with 2 others who had no pencils. i was looking around wandering how they would sharpen these broken pencils, when the teacher pulled out a 2 sided razor blade and gave it to the little girl who had asked for the pencil. did i mention that she was 5. i watched some kids playing football (soccer) during break, they had rolled up garbage into a ball and tied a plastic sack around it to keep it together -- but were perfectly content with their creation. so in this school of 500 students 150 are boarders -- and they have no electricity or running water -- they just collect rain water. 3-4 children sleep in a bed, and most only eat porrige or bread every day. the level of poverty at this school is overwhelming. but the kids are amazing. while the american teachers go and help the african teachers, i have been working on bible verses (since it's a christian school), singing songs, telling stories, and helping to organize some donated books -- they just have no idea what to do with them. i only have a few minutes left on my computer -- so i'll wrap this up. this place is amazing, and the spirit of the people is overwhelming. they are so friendly, not shy one single bit, and are working SOOO hard with so little. i'll write more when i can get back to the computer. we go on safari monday -- so i'll have some good pic's when i get back on june 25th. hope everyone is well. sending lots of love from africa!!!! lindsey