my krazy week in africa

so it's been an interesting week here in good ol' uganda, to say the least. here's just a little crash course to my week. buckle up, cause here we go . . . monday i was on a boat in lake edward, surrounded by hippo's and water buffalo, when we found ourselves at the border with the dem republic of the congo. we had to turn around, because if we were to go any further it would be breaking international law and we figured we might be shot. (not really) (me standing on the equator) tuesday as we were driving our car out of the lodge we were staying at, we had to stop to let elephants cross the road. on our way home (9 hr drive) we decided to stop for lunch in masaka, uganda. did i mention that masaka is ground zero for the aids pandemic. yes, they have traced the start of aids back to the very place in which we had lunch (we ate packaged crackers and bottled coke's). wednesday was not so interesting as we only sat in a van at a gas station to have lunch, which consisted of crackers and coke. thursday was fun, we went to a church to have a women's conference. we were singing some songs and this woman falls down to the ground -- the pastor comes up with a concerned, yet calm look on his face and declaces "demons, yes i believe it is demons"! so they took her to the back of this 10x10 room of sticks, mud and boards they call a church and exorsise her demons -- all while serving us lunch in the front. after she was exorcised, and all of her hair had stood straight up, she came to shake our hands, tell us thank you and good bye. what a week you say, well it doesn't end there. friday after we got back from teaching, we had an earthquake -- the epicenter was in the congo, but could be felt as far away as narobi, kenya, which is to the east of us. so if you are looking for a nice, relaxing getaway vacation -- uganda is definately not for you. i thought it was a brilliant week, and have had a great time. i am at a market right now getting souveniers for you all. we are going to the source of the river nile tomorrow, which should be fun. i didn't realize that the nile starts here in uganda at lake victoria, there is a big dam, which they use to control the waters -- they say it should only be a 2 hour trip tomorrow, so hooray, more fun stuff is still to come. this pic is of me and my new kenyan friends who were in town for the east african union meeting. we are standing in front of the source of the nile. we fly out of here on thursday morning, and land in london about 3:45pm. we stay there for 4 nights and then it's back home, move to dc, and find a job. my time is running short, so i've gotta run. more love from africa, linz

boat saphari today

so today we finally got the to the myewa lodge where we ate lunch, took a hot shower and went on a boat safari. we saw lot's of cool animals -- hippo's, elephants, gazelle's, water buffalo, birds, croc's, snakes and wart hogs. i only have 3 minutes left on my internet connection, so i'll wrap up this sweet little blog by saying all is well here in the motherland, and i hope to post some pic's and video soon to my photobucket site. www.photobucket.com/albums/b255/linzzbob.

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